What about He Zhen?

Aunt Zhang's eyes lit up when she heard it wasn't Fu Xin.

Yao Tao lay filthy in the bathtub, with a bubble on the tip of her nose.

Anyone who wasn't her actual mother would have called the sight disgusting.

Aunt Zhang, however, couldn't have been happier.

"It's fine, it's fine! She's a young girl who's never drunk before. She doesn't know her limits." Beaming, Aunt Zhang told He Zhen to go shower first. "Leave her to me. I'll get you all clean and soft and smelling lovely!"

Watching Aunt Zhang's expression instantly turn delighted, He Zhen felt his chances of being rendered speechless lately had reached a full hundred percent.

"I'll leave her with you, then." He Zhen couldn't stand the smell on himself either. "Sorry for the trouble tonight, Aunt Zhang."

"Oh, don't be silly." Aunt Zhang shooed He Zhen off to wash and stayed to help Yao Tao bathe.

"Be gentle with her, Aunt Zhang," He Zhen reminded her before leaving.

"I know what I'm doing!" Aunt Zhang cheerfully urged He Zhen to hurry up and change out of his clothes.

She'd looked after He Zhen since he was a little boy. What was one bath?

Yao Tao fell asleep as soon as she finished throwing up, and once asleep, she slept like a pig.

She even had a dream in which a lovely fragrance surrounded her.

Someone was massaging her head, too, and it felt so good she was practically floating.

By the time He Zhen finished showering, dried his hair, and came downstairs, Aunt Zhang was already cleaning the living room.

"Is she done?" He Zhen came out of another room, toweling his hair.

Aunt Zhang pointed at the little sofa. "She was such a good girl. I put her on the sofa and covered her with a little blanket for now."

He Zhen glanced at the sofa.

Yao Tao reached out and scratched her head.

He Zhen looked at her, then looked again. His voice instantly filled with unmistakable shock and panic. "Aunt Zhang, why did you put her in my clothes?!"

"What else was I supposed to do?" Aunt Zhang picked up the bucket and stood to empty it. "Leave the poor girl topless?"

"I took all her clothes to wash." Aunt Zhang poured out the water. "Were you going to leave a perfectly nice young girl stinking like that?"

Faced with this reproach, He Zhen couldn't quite get his brain to work.

"What about the underwear? You didn't put her in mine too, did you??????" He Zhen's face was nearly as red as a monkey's backside.

"They're from a fresh pack. Why would I make a young girl wear underwear you've worn? That's a dangerous line of thinking, He Zhen." Aunt Zhang gave a sly smile.

He Zhen couldn't squeeze out so much as half a word.

Smiling, Aunt Zhang tied on her apron and headed for the kitchen. "Carry her into the bedroom. I'll make her something for the hangover. Good thing tomorrow's the weekend, or the poor girl's head would really hurt!"

Only then did He Zhen recover what little reason he had left. "That doesn't seem right. How about I make it, and you carry her to the guest room?"

"I haven't cleaned the guest room yet! Go look for yourself. Apart from running water in the bathroom, it doesn't even have a mattress." Aunt Zhang poked her head out, then quickly withdrew it. "Besides, with these old bones of mine, carrying her out of the bathroom was already quite a feat!"

He Zhen kept feeling that something was off, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

He brushed a finger over Yao Tao's nose. "Did I owe you something in a past life?"

No, that wasn't right. What past life did he have?

He Zhen pondered it a little longer. That wasn't right either. Maybe Yao Tao had come to save him.

Aunt Zhang started bustling around in the kitchen, leaving He Zhen no choice but to resign himself to giving up his bedroom.

He planned to sleep on the sofa.

He had only just lifted her off the sofa when Yao Tao's voice suddenly reached him.

[Honey, don't go!]

[You can go, but leave the black card!]

[I'll steal your money!]

[Pfft, I mean, I'll use your money to support Bai Qi!]

He Zhen glanced at Yao Tao. She was sleeping blissfully, with a whole crowd of husbands in her dreams...

By the time He Zhen put her on the bed and tucked her in, dozens of names had already passed through Yao Tao's thoughts.

He Zhen sat on the edge of the bed, propped his chin on his hand, and looked at Yao Tao's harmless girl-next-door face. "What about He Zhen?"

Among all those people, she hadn't mentioned him once.

"Mm, mm." Yao Tao made a couple of sleepy noises and rolled over.

[My pretty little blind fictional boy.]

[Waaah, but this fictional boy has come to life!]

[Let me have a taste!]

[So delicious!]

[One more taste!]

[Mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah!~]

[I'll suck you dry! Hehehe!]

He Zhen: ...

[Be with me, and I'll steal Li Zeyan's and Lu Chen's money to support you!]

[Hehehe.]

[My darling husbands definitely won't get mad!]

[Hehehe, one in each arm.]

[I can't hold them all!]

[Oh, this crushing happiness, waaah.]

He Zhen shut the door and left his bedroom, expressionless.

Why had he even asked?

He really was asking for it.

Nothing that came out of Yao Tao's mouth or ran through her mind could be trusted.

He Zhen closed the door and turned to see Aunt Zhang setting down the hangover soup and covering it with a lid. "When she gets up in the morning, just warm this up for her to drink."

He Zhen nodded first, then looked up. "Aunt Zhang, aren't you staying?"

"Haven't you been going on about wanting your independence?" Aunt Zhang picked up the basin containing Yao Tao's dirty clothes, speaking earnestly. "I won't share a place with a grown young man like you, then. I'll go back to my place and wash these."

He Zhen's brain finally caught up. "The clothes can..."

They could go in the dryer!

But Aunt Zhang had already taken the clothes and left!

He Zhen: !

He rushed outside, but Aunt Zhang had already locked her door and was pretending to be asleep.

He Zhen: ...

When he went back inside, he glanced at the balcony and nearly popped his eyes out of their sockets!

Aunt Zhang had washed Yao Tao's bra and panties and hung them in plain sight on the balcony!

He Zhen covered his eyes with one hand. Aunt Zhang was being far too obvious about trying to set them up!

So if she couldn't stop him from thinking what he did, she'd find a way to twist Yao Tao's thinking instead, huh?

Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, he pulled the curtains shut. Out of sight, out of mind.

Yao Tao slept like the dead through the second half of the night. Her thoughts went quiet, without any more wild antics, but He Zhen didn't sleep well the entire night.

Every so often, he went to check on Yao Tao.

Every so often, he went to check on Yao Tao.

He kept feeling she might suddenly jump up at some inexplicable moment and do something he couldn't possibly imagine.

Unexpectedly, though, Yao Tao was especially quiet through the second half of the night.

Nothing happened.

Although nothing happened, the signs of staying up all night without sleep were painfully obvious on He Zhen.

When Yao Tao woke up, she smacked her lips a couple of times and pushed back the covers.

Then instantly yanked them back up!

[Holy crap!]

[What the fuck is going on?!]

[Did I black out?!]

[Whose clothes am I wearing?!]

[Where am I?!]

[These huge boxers!!!]

[Who slept with me?!]

[Fuck, I'm going to stab him!]

He Zhen hadn't even knocked yet, and the thoughts of the person inside were already hitting him in the face.

"Are you awake?" He Zhen knocked twice. "I made breakfast. Want some?"

Yao Tao yanked the covers over her head.

[I'm doomed! I just heard He Zhen's voice!]

[Holy shit, did I sleep with He Zhen?!]

Yao Tao carefully inspected her body.

She smelled lovely. She even breathed into her hand, and there was still a faint toothpaste fragrance in her mouth.

[Holy shit, I slept with He Zhen and even cleaned myself up afterward?!]

[No, no! He Zhen slept with me and then washed me clean to destroy the evidence?!]