Chapter 37: The Phone That Wasn’t Turned Off

“The music inside was too loud, I couldn’t hear the ringtone of your and Zhenwei jie’s calls,” Wang Zhao explained.

Li Zhenguan let out an “oh”.

In his view, it was already quite rare for Wang Zhao not to lie to him about this matter. Some concealment was understandable, after all, he couldn’t possibly tell Wang Zhao that his friends wanted to take him to experience college student services at a club.

Another reason was that Li Zhenguan had very low expectations for Wang Zhao. He was quite double-standard. If Wang Zhao had an affair, he would probably think it was the fault of other men rather than Wang Zhao’s.

After all, he had always known that Wang Zhao didn’t necessarily have to be with him, while Li Zhenguan himself couldn’t marry anyone but Wang Zhao. He was very clear that their current marriage was actually the result of various coincidences plus his own insistence.

So, he was also very clear that everything at present was like a thin layer of ice that had just formed on a winter lake, too fragile to withstand even a slight impact.

After hanging up the phone, the driver quickly took him back to the original shopping mall. The mall here had already closed its doors, the entire building had gone dark, with only a few street lamps still lit in the square. Li Zhenguan found a place under a street lamp and sat quietly, waiting for Wang Zhao’s arrival.

In the distance were buildings shrouded in darkness. The car hadn’t left yet, it was parked quietly on the road not far away, waiting. The driver was sitting in the car watching Li Zhenguan’s side. It was already late at night, and although Li Zhenguan had told him to leave first, the driver didn’t dare to really leave Li Zhenguan alone here.

In the dead of night, a pregnant man, if something happened to him here, probably couldn’t even find someone to call for help. That would really be a case of crying to heaven with no response and to earth with no reply.

Wang Zhao arrived here around 10:30. The designated driver she called was a very young woman, looking not much older than her, still seeming to be in college. But the platform should have verified everything, so Wang Zhao wasn’t too worried.

She sat in the driver’s seat, entered the address in the navigation, and because there weren’t many people on the road at this time, they arrived at this mall in less than twenty minutes. They immediately saw the young man sitting under a street lamp.

Fortunately, at this time of year, there weren’t many mosquitoes and insects. However, sitting in this place for a long time was quite cold. During the day there was still sunlight, so Li Zhenguan hadn’t worn an extra coat when he went out today.

Moreover, because he had to go for a prenatal check-up, he was wearing loose clothes both top and bottom. On top was an oversized loose sweater, exposing half of his collarbone, and on the bottom were casual pants.

At this time in the evening, the wind was strong, and the cold air crept up from the trouser legs, making even the bones feel cold. It was now approaching late autumn.

Wang Zhao had the designated driver pull the car over. Almost as soon as her car pulled up, the slightly dazzling headlights and the sound of the engine caught Li Zhenguan’s attention.

He instinctively squinted his eyes before opening them. Due to the darkness and the car lights, he couldn’t see the car in front of him clearly, so he showed a slightly guarded expression.

Even Li Zhenguan would be a bit alert when a car stopped in front of him so late at night, but the next moment, seeing the woman getting out of the passenger seat, his tense body immediately relaxed.

Wang Zhao looked around. Perhaps because the mall had closed, this area had become somewhat desolate. Most of the lights were off, the bright lights of the surrounding shops had also gone out, only a few street lamps were still lit. Occasionally a few pedestrians would hurry past. Li Zhenguan was quite brave to sit here alone at ten o’clock.

“Why didn’t you wait in a brighter place?” Wang Zhao couldn’t help but touch the young man’s cheek and exposed hand with the back of her hand.

They were ice-cold. Who knows how long he had been sitting here.

The next moment Li Zhenguan answered: “Not long, just over ten minutes. The mall just closed not long ago.”

As Wang Zhao was about to pull her hand away, he couldn’t help but grasp her hand, his cheek rubbing against her palm with an unusual attachment.

Wang Zhao smiled: “How are you like a cat?”

Li Zhenguan retorted: “You’ve never raised a cat, how do you know I’m like a cat?”

Wang Zhao laughed, her hand touching the young man’s forehead, lightly patting it: “Alright, stop nuzzling. Get in the car first. You’ve been sitting here for so long and don’t feel cold, but if you catch a cold after going back it would be troublesome. You can’t take many medicines now.”

Li Zhenguan made a sound of agreement, holding Wang Zhao’s hand as he stood up from the bench, their fingers intertwined, not wanting to separate for even a second.

The two sat together in the back seat.

After sitting down and fastening his seatbelt, Li Zhenguan couldn’t help but wrinkle his nose, saying softly beside Wang Zhao: “You smell strongly of alcohol.”

“Is it very smelly?” To be honest, Wang Zhao was a bit concerned by this remark.

She had drunk a few glasses of wine tonight, but for her it was just a small drink, not too much. At least of the two bottles ordered, she only drank less than half a bottle, leaving more than half for Xu Yingchun and the others.

Li Zhenguan shook his head. His nose actually smelled many different scents.

The scent of unfamiliar men.

He felt somewhat nauseated instinctively.

Li Zhenguan’s mood became low. At this moment, he couldn’t even control himself, feeling inexplicably disappointed.

He had actually prepared himself mentally. After all, a place like a bar is a mixed bag, with all kinds of people. Just entering would make one’s body pick up various scents. But Li Zhenguan still very much disliked it. He didn’t like Wang Zhao going to such places.

However, what kind of person was Li Zhenguan? All unhappiness, as long as he didn’t want to show it in front of Wang Zhao, he could make it undetectable. Once it was shown, it meant it was unnecessary to hide, or even that he expected Wang Zhao to notice.

Wang Zhao sniffed herself. She actually didn’t like going to such occasions very much either. There were too many people, and the sound was too loud. Staying there for a long time made her whole body uncomfortable. She still preferred slightly quieter bars.

“If you don’t like it, I’ll go to such places less often in the future,” Wang Zhao said casually, having already noticed Li Zhenguan’s unhappy mood under his denial.

This wasn’t a big deal. If she wanted to drink, she could drink anywhere. Moreover, she wasn’t a chronic alcoholic, it was take-it-or-leave-it for her regarding this matter.