This restaurant was one that Li Zhenguan’s family frequented, a private kitchen serving local cuisine. They had been going there for so long that even the head chef knew the Li family. Sometimes when new dishes came out, they would let them know and invite them to come taste and try the flavors.

Fortunately, she hadn’t ordered dinner yet, otherwise it might have gone to waste. Wang Zhao felt somewhat helpless about Li Zhenguan’s occasional overattentiveness, but thinking about it, perhaps most people are like this when in love. Moreover, they were already married now, so this was just Li Zhenguan’s way of showing care for her.

It’s just that she might be too cold-hearted to empathize. Sometimes she could clearly feel Li Zhenguan’s genuine liking for her, a liking that should have risen to the level of love in a relationship.

Thinking this way, she seemed to be the one holding back in this relationship. But liking and love are inherently mystical things, impossible to quantify. For Wang Zhao, her feelings for Li Zhenguan had remained at a certain level so far.

For her, their beginning stemmed from responsibility, so it was too difficult to elevate. For Wang Zhao, who only had a guess in her heart now, it was fundamentally hard to say whether Li Zhenguan liked the original owner or her.

For most people, the body before and after transmigration might be considered the same person, but for Wang Zhao, who had a mental cleanliness obsession, the difference was huge, almost equivalent to two different people.

Otherwise, when she first came to this world, she wouldn’t have been so cold towards the original owner’s parents.

The reason she became familiar with Wang Xuechun and Zhang Shu wasn’t because of responsibility. To be precise, being with Li Zhenguan wasn’t because of responsibility either. Responsibility was only a small part of it. The bigger reason was that to survive in this world, she had to adapt and accept certain things from the original owner, including her parents, partner, lovers, friends, and other interpersonal relationships and affairs.

These were things she had to accept to survive in this world. This was also the most cost-effective way for her to adapt to this world as quickly as possible.

So, she began to accept the original owner’s parents, accept the concepts of this world, go back and forth to the library, accept the trouble of Li Zhenguan, accept college classmates like Xu Yingchun and Xu Hao, accept Chen Fangli as an ex-boyfriend, accept all the troubles of the original owner, and also accept all that the original owner had given.

She could accept first and then reject, but she couldn’t reject from the beginning, because that would undoubtedly bring trouble. Only by understanding all the sources and inner workings could she cut off everything without worrying about future troubles.

But for the current Wang Zhao, there was no need for this at all. She had her own career plans, and the Wang family parents were not difficult people to get along with.

After some interaction, she was willing to care for these two no longer unfamiliar relatives in their old age, genuinely care for them, and also willing to accept Li Zhenguan as a person. This was the best outcome.

The dinner that night was indeed good, after all, it was the chef’s craftsmanship, although the taste definitely wasn’t as good as it would have been at the restaurant after being delivered all the way.

After dinner, Wang Zhao didn’t call Li Zhenguan. She decided to read some professional books before bed, then went to sleep. Today was very tiring, she felt she could fall asleep as soon as she lay down on the bed.

Perhaps because she had gone to bed too early the night before, Wang Zhao woke up very early the next day. It was still dark outside, but once she was awake, she couldn’t fall back asleep. She decided to jog a couple of laps around the hotel, then returned to her room for a hot shower before going downstairs for breakfast.

After breakfast, she leisurely read for a while in her room before heading to the exam venue.

The two days of exams passed quickly. After finishing the professional knowledge exam, Wang Zhao returned to the hotel to find Li Zhenguan sitting in the lobby downstairs. His belly was slightly showing now, but he was wearing a black trench coat today with a relatively loose thin sweater underneath, so it wasn’t noticeable unless you looked closely.

He looked much colder, especially in black, which particularly suited him, making him stand out in the lobby.

Wang Zhao felt that black was a color that particularly suited Li Zhenguan, giving him a different kind of aura.

“Why didn’t you call when you came over?” Wang Zhao approached the person sitting on the sofa chair, who was boredly flipping through a technology magazine.

Li Zhenguan looked up with delight: “You finished your exam?”

Wang Zhao nodded.

He then answered her question: “I had nothing to do this afternoon, so I came over. It’s quite quick to get here by taxi.”

Before Wang Zhao could furrow her brow, he quickly explained: “I told Mom and them before I left, and I sent Dad the taxi’s license plate number. Nothing will happen in broad daylight.”

“Besides, before I left, Dad told me the whole family is eating out today to celebrate you finishing your exam. So I came specifically to pick you up.”

Wang Zhao made a sound of acknowledgment, her gaze sweeping over Li Zhenguan’s face, which was flushed with a rosy hue. She asked, “I need to go up to get my luggage. Do you want to wait here or come up with me?”

“I’ll come up with you.” Li Zhenguan quickly stood up. He had been sitting here for over half an hour and didn’t want to just sit around anymore. Besides, he wanted to see the room where Wang Zhao had stayed for two nights. “If there’s anything to pack, I can help.”

Wang Zhao neither agreed nor disagreed, leading Li Zhenguan upstairs.

The hotel wasn’t very tall; Wang Zhao was staying on the fifth floor. Since she was only staying for two days, she wasn’t too particular and had booked a large bed room without windows. However, this hotel had only recently opened, so the entire decor was new, making it not so oppressive or uncomfortable to stay in.

She didn’t have much to pack, just two sets of clothes that needed to be washed at home, and some books. These things weren’t heavy, and she had already packed most of them on the table, ready to be carried away.

With two people packing, it was even faster. Ten minutes later, they went downstairs and checked out at the front desk.

Then the two of them drove directly to the agreed restaurant. When they arrived, Wang Xuechun and Zhang Shu were already there and had even ordered the food. As soon as they arrived, the waiter was called to start serving the dishes.

The place was lively, with many middle-aged people bringing their families to eat and drink tea. The whole restaurant was bustling with chatter everywhere. Wang Xuechun hadn’t booked a private room, instead finding a spot in the main hall that could seat four people.

While eating, Wang Xuechun also asked about Wang Zhao’s plans after the exam, mainly inquiring if she was confident. If not, Wang Xuechun suggested using her connections to get Wang Zhao a job at a renowned company.

Li Zhenguan also turned his head to glance at Wang Zhao.

Wang Zhao, however, remained calm. She poured a cup of tea for each of the three people at the table. “I’ve already agreed with a friend to work at their firm for half a year.”

“It’s good that you have a plan,” Wang Xuechun said.

The atmosphere at the table became a bit heavy after this exchange. Zhang Shu couldn’t help but pat Wang Xuechun, turning to Li Zhenguan with a smile, “Zhenguan, is there anything else you’d like to eat? The home-style dishes here are quite good. It’s an old establishment that’s been here for over twenty years. We live nearby, and Wang Zhao has been eating here since she was little.”

Li Zhenguan smiled, pursing his lips, and shook his head. “Dad, no need to order more. I’m almost full.”

Zhang Shu stopped talking then, smiling as he used the serving chopsticks to place some more food on the plates of the two young people across from him. Li Zhenguan had been particularly fond of sweets lately, so Zhang Shu put the last small piece of brown sugar ziba on his plate. However, Li Zhenguan didn’t eat this last piece of ziba; instead, it ended up in Wang Zhao’s stomach.

Zhang Shu noticed this, of course, but seeing the young wife and husband being affectionate made him happy, so he pretended not to see and let it pass.

After dinner, the family returned home. They had originally planned to view the house on Golden Avenue on the third day, but the designer happened to say they were available tomorrow, so the next morning, Wang Zhao took Li Zhenguan there.

The house was a large flat with a private entrance elevator. It was basically fully decorated. As soon as you exit the elevator, there’s the entryway. Walking further in is the dining room, with a circular living room space design in front, and 270-degree floor-to-ceiling windows on the other side. Being on a mid-high floor, it offers a nice night view.

Li Zhenguan looked around; this was his first time here. But Wang Zhao seemed to remember something and asked, “Is the upstairs also being renovated?”

Zhang Shu had mentioned to her before that about half a month ago, the upstairs unit had also been sold to a new owner. Apparently, they were eager to move in, so the renovation was being rushed.

Today, the designer didn’t come; instead, it was the designer’s assistant, a young man in his early twenties who seemed nervous in front of Wang Zhao, clearly sent by his superiors to handle the matter.

“Yes, it’s been under renovation for about half a month. It probably won’t be finished until next year.”

Wang Zhao glanced at Li Zhenguan, who was wandering around, and said to the designer’s assistant, “You still need to urge the construction team to resolve the bathroom floor issue and the socket problem behind the living room sofa. Otherwise, I won’t have the custom bathroom fixtures brought in. It’s almost the end of the year, and your construction team will surely take a spring break. I don’t want the progress to be delayed until next year.”

“We’ve decided that this house should be ready for occupancy in the first half of next year. It still needs to be ventilated for a month or two. There’s a pregnant man in the family, so I’ll have to trouble you to keep an eye on things for us.”

Except for some furnishings, she had basically entrusted all the hard decoration to this studio, letting them design and liaise with the renovation company and various material and equipment manufacturers. However, quite a few annoying issues had occurred in the process. Previously, Zhang Shu and Wang Xuechun, fearing to disturb her exam preparation, had resolved these privately without telling her. It wasn’t until after her exam, at yesterday’s dinner table, that Zhang Shu briefly mentioned some unreliable practices of the design studio.

After a thorough inspection, the house still had some minor issues. She was much stricter than Zhang Shu, writing up a document of the house’s problems and sending it to the assistant, asking him to print it out and stick it in these places for sequential rectification.

When they went downstairs and the elevator opened, they found it was already occupied, presumably by people from upstairs – a man and a woman holding a thick stack of blueprints, seeming to be in the process of renovating.

Wang Zhao was somewhat surprised, thinking, “Could it be such a coincidence to meet the upstairs neighbors?”

The people inside glanced at them, then looked away, instinctively moving to one side to make some space.

However, after Wang Zhao, Li Zhenguan, and the third person entered the elevator, they realized something was a bit off. Mainly, Wang Zhao and Li Zhenguan noticed that the casually dressed woman holding a stack of documents behind them couldn’t stop studying Wang Zhao, her gaze moving back and forth between her and Li Zhenguan, seeming somewhat confused.

Perhaps the woman thought they were blind, so she didn’t bother to hide her scrutiny. Especially the expression when her gaze fell on Li Zhenguan – it was too strange.