Chapter 60: Returning to the Country, Unpredictable Changes

When Fang Chuning regained consciousness, it was already the second day after getting drunk. There was no imagined skull-splitting headache, just a bit of dizziness when getting up.

She stumbled to the bathroom to wash up and also took a shower. After coming out, she felt refreshed. Fang Chuning pulled open the curtains in the room. At this time, the sun outside was scorching hot like a fire. Looking at the time again, it was almost noon, twelve o’clock.

Today might as well be considered a day off, anyway she didn’t want to go to the company again.

Remembering that she hadn’t checked her messages since getting drunk yesterday, Fang Chuning flopped onto the bed and fished out her phone from under the pillow.

She had thought that Xu Muzhou must have sent her many messages from yesterday to today. After all, usually when she didn’t pay attention to her phone for an hour or two and then opened it, there would be a dozen or twenty unread messages from him.

However, after opening it, she found that there wasn’t even a red notification in the upper right corner of his avatar.

Fang Chuning doubted for a moment if there was a problem with her phone or the software, but messages from others were displayed normally.

Could something have happened?

Thinking of this possibility, her brow jumped and she hurriedly sent him a message. There was still no reply from the other side for a long time. She made a phone call, but it was busy.

Fang Chuning sat on the edge of the bed and calmed down. She rummaged through the drawer for her passport, but then thought, even if she went there it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack since the phone call couldn’t get through.

Maybe he was just too tired from practicing piano or going out to play yesterday and didn’t message her. It’s understandable that the phone might be on silent if he hasn’t woken up yet, as it’s not daylight in Country F. Fang Chuning began to comfort herself.

She went downstairs. Besides Ye Yi the housekeeper and the maids cleaning, she didn’t see her father or Fang Tianli. When asked, she learned that the two had gone out shopping.

It wasn’t until almost four in the afternoon that Xu Muzhou finally replied to her message. Fang Chuning didn’t notice anything wrong and went to work at the company as usual the next day.

Today, the atmosphere in the office was very different. When working, no one openly ate snacks or chatted anymore, nor did anyone clock out for breaks or frequently go to the bathroom. Everyone had become dedicated and hardworking employees.

“You can ask me if there’s anything you don’t understand. Just hand over the complicated documents to me to do.”

The colleague at the next desk was friendly, a complete turnaround from the initial attitude of not even looking at her properly.

During the lunch break, under everyone’s watchful eyes, a woman dressed as an executive walked into the office without any attempt to hide. She came to Fang Chuning and said, “Miss Fang, the boss wants you to go upstairs.”

Just after hanging up Hong Jie’s call, someone came. Such speed.

…

In the top floor office, after hearing the conditions proposed by the woman, Fang Chuning’s brows were full of displeasure. “Study abroad?”

“Yes, if you still have contact after that, I won’t interfere in your affairs anymore.”

What a good calculation, how is this any different from making them break up?

“No.”

“I’m not asking for your opinion.” Hong Jie put the documents aside and picked up her coffee. “I can give you time to think about it. Come back and tell me when you’ve decided.”

Fang Chuning sneered contemptuously and was about to leave when she heard the person behind her say, “If you agree, I can unfreeze your bank card. You can have a carefree time for a while.”

Such words coming from Hong Jie’s mouth were indeed a great concession. She didn’t speak, using silence to resist this unfair decision.

In the afternoon, Fang Chuning lost the motivation to continue working and left an hour early. The people in the office didn’t dare to be angry or speak out.

After she left the office, they finally breathed a sigh of relief, their straight backs instantly collapsing.

“Guess what her relationship with the boss is?”

“Do we need to guess? She must be her daughter. Didn’t you hear that person call her Miss Fang? There’s only one Fang family in the entire Z City.”

“Then Ah Mei is in trouble. She desperately pushed work onto her on her first day. When it’s reported, you won’t even need to work anymore.”

The woman called Ah Mei’s hand shook, and she broke out in a sweat. “How would I have known at that time! Besides, you all had a part in it too. Don’t push all the responsibility onto me!”

The others fell silent.

No one had expected that the new intern would turn out to be the boss’s daughter! They also didn’t understand why someone of her status still needed to come out for an internship!? They didn’t dare to speak or ask, they could only work more diligently than before, afraid that the young boss would think they were slacking off.

For Fang Chuning, who didn’t have a hint of money on her, even taking a taxi was impossible, let alone eating at a high-end restaurant. She could only obediently go home.

Walking along the bustling street towards the subway station, she saw a familiar figure in the restaurant they frequently visited. Fang Chuning thought she had seen wrong and unconsciously stopped.

The young man turned his face to look out the window. It was indeed the person she had been thinking about day and night.

Fang Chuning was both surprised and delighted. She crossed the road and headed straight for the restaurant.

The young man was ordering at this moment, and the person taking his order was Lin Yuechan, who was working a summer job here. She felt a fleeting sense of subtlety in her heart, but quickly ignored it and sat down happily opposite the young man. “Muzhou, when did you come back!? Why didn’t you tell me!?”

Xu Muzhou didn’t seem surprised at all, and there wasn’t even a joyful expression on his face. “Yesterday,” he pursed his lips and said indifferently, “I didn’t have time to tell you.”

Fang Chuning grinned, showing her white teeth. “That’s great, I’ve been thinking about how to find you these past few days!”

“Is that so.” Xu Muzhou’s eyelashes lowered, his light pupils showing a faint coldness.

Fang Chuning, who was a bit too excited, didn’t notice his difference.

Lin Yuechan, who was serving the dishes, had initially felt happy that the young man had taken the initiative to find her, but her mood sank when she saw Fang Chuning. The chance to get close that she had finally gotten was ruined again.

“Please enjoy your meal.” Lin Yuechan glanced at the young man and stood for a while before preparing to leave.

“If Lin classmate is about to get off work, you can eat with us.”

This sentence surprised both girls. Xu Muzhou seemed not to have noticed and looked up with a slight smile. “We’re all classmates, consider it a gathering.”

Lin Yuechan stared blankly at his smile. “Then, I’ll go change my clothes first.”

Xu Muzhou nodded. After she left, he looked at the person opposite him. “It’s just classmates having a meal together, you don’t mind, right?”

To say she didn’t mind would of course be a lie. Fang Chuning finally noticed something was wrong. He had come back yesterday, so why didn’t he come to find her? Coming to eat at this restaurant, could it be because he knew Lin Yuechan was working here?

Fang Chuning felt she was becoming as suspicious as Hong Jie, unable to control herself from speculating about her boyfriend with a narrow mind.

She turned her gaze to the sunny street outside, timely stopping the uncomfortable thoughts in her heart, and smiled at him, “Of course I don’t mind.”

After the meal, Fang Chuning instinctively stepped forward to pay the bill. When it came time to pay, she embarrassingly remembered that she only had some small change on her. “Muzhou, can you pay first? I’ll transfer it back to you when we get back.”

“So, Classmate Fang always has her boyfriend pay for dates?”

Fang Chuning, used to spending lavishly, didn’t feel any pressure from pushing the bill onto her boyfriend. After all, the cost of a meal was finer than cow hair or light rain for them, it didn’t matter who paid.

But when Lin Yuechan said it like this, the flavor changed. It was like saying she was used to living off others.

“It’s okay.” Xu Muzhou still said, just about to pay when he was stopped by Lin Yuechan. “Let me, I can use the employee discount.”

“But…”

“I can afford this much, don’t look down on me too much.” Lin Yuechan winked at him playfully.

Fang Chuning suddenly felt like an outsider. She felt that Xu Muzhou had changed, but also seemed not to have changed. The tone and attitude of his speech were all the same as before, it’s just that he didn’t seem to be as clingy to her anymore.

She finally realized the importance of money. Early the next morning, she went to ask the department manager, only to find out that the salary for interns was only 5,000. Fang Chuning had no concept of high or low salaries, she only knew that this amount of money would be gone after just one meal, not even enough to buy a decent gift.

Although Lin Yuechan was a bit unlikable, what she said seemed not wrong. She couldn’t always have Xu Muzhou pay for their dates, that would make her too useless as a girlfriend.

So she went to find some odd jobs. Originally, she thought about not going to the company and using a day outside to possibly earn more, but she didn’t expect that the wages outside were even lower than what the company gave.

So every day, Fang Chuning would do odd jobs during the little time she had after getting off work.

As a result, she didn’t have much time to see Xu Muzhou, right up until the week before the summer vacation was about to end.