Four Years Ago, Her Husband Cheated on Her Body - Chapter 44

For Qianhe, after all, was founded by Zhu Nanyu himself, and he had attended the “Farewell to the Old” party several times.

Because he never put on airs and took into account that the employees had finally survived until the end of the year, he was almost always responsive to requests and answered every question. This was how the corporate culture of “bullying the leaders at the year-end party” was formed.

The so-called “karma” was probably just like this.

Zhu Nanyu was afraid that Jia Qiao would be bullied, so he risked the possibility of having his identity revealed in public to follow along, thinking that if things went too far, he would step in to help Jia Qiao out of the predicament.

Who would have thought that within five minutes of Jia Qiao entering the venue, he would face an unprecedented crisis.

“Director Jia, are you alright?”

“You guys can play and mess around, but how can you make someone drink like their life depends on it? I’ve told you, toast culture is a bad habit!”

“We’ve been wronged! This is champagne, the alcohol content is only 12%. I usually drink this stuff like water!”

“Is Director Jia’s alcohol tolerance really that bad? Does he not usually socialize with clients?”

As the words fell, everyone exchanged glances and reached a conclusion: He really doesn’t.

Jia Qiao rarely came to the company, especially in winter, and wasn’t familiar with the clients. When faced with socializing occasions, naturally, the executives who were more silver-tongued would step up.

On the rare occasions where Jia Qiao had to appear, it was usually a formal setting where the invited guests would control themselves to avoid making a scene, so it was naturally impossible to get dead drunk.

When Jia Qiao did show his face, eight or nine times out of ten he was sick, strictly following doctor’s orders to stay away from a drop of alcohol. Seeing his frail and pale appearance, the people around him naturally found it hard to pressure him into drinking.

So, up until now, Jia Qiao had never touched alcohol.

Zhu Nanyu knew that previously in the Infinite World, Jia Qiao possessed a very strong “poison resistance.” There were many players skilled in concocting top-tier poisons, yet they couldn’t harm him in the slightest.

Although there was no such thing as “poison resistance” after coming to the real world, it could be seen from the few times he was sick before that even if Jia Qiao’s bodily functions were limited to the minimum, the abilities he once mastered would still leave some residual influence. His drug tolerance was very high; he would probably form an immunity after taking a medication twice.

He thought that alcohol should be a similar case.

Who would have known that his body probably judged alcohol as the type that “doesn’t need to avoid addiction,” and he unexpectedly had zero resistance to it.

“So many people.” Jia Qiao looked around, his beautiful eyes stained with a bit of confusion, seemingly unaware of what year or day it was. “Are you all… here to challenge me… ugh.”

Before Jia Qiao could finish his sentence, Zhu Nanyu gently covered his mouth.

He pressed a finger to his lips and signaled softly, “Shh.”

Even if he wasn’t quite sure what the scenery looked like in Jia Qiao’s eyes, instinct told Zhu Nanyu that things would turn out badly if this continued.

“Are you the first one?” Jia Qiao brushed away Zhu Nanyu’s hand, sized him up, and shook his head in disappointment. “You are too weak, it won’t work.”

“…” Being told he was “no good” by his wife for no reason, Zhu Nanyu fell into a deep silence.

“You should hurry up and run away,” Jia Qiao said in a small voice, covering his eyes. “I’ll pretend I never saw you.”

This human was too weak; it would take at most one minute… no, thirty seconds and he would die.

Although he didn’t understand the reason, Jia Qiao didn’t want him to die.

“Jiao Jiao, come back to reality.” Zhu Nanyu raised his hand and snapped his fingers in front of him, drawing his wife’s gaze to himself.

He held up three fingers with his left hand and four with his right, bringing them close to Jia Qiao. “How many is this?”

“Hands,” little friend Jia Qiao answered seriously. “And fingers.”

“…” It seemed that before Jia Qiao came to the real world, that brain of his was truly 100% brand new and unused.

Zhu Nanyu had wanted to complain about this for a long time.

Doesn’t the Infinite World require compulsory education?

“Second question.” Zhu Nanyu pointed at himself. “Who am I?”

“Huh?” A look of pure confusion appeared in Jia Qiao’s eyes.

Great, the marriage was entered for nothing.

Zhu Nanyu’s fist tightened for a moment and then quickly relaxed. Even if everything had returned to square one, he couldn’t just leave his drunk wife behind.

He scanned the area and saw Cai Xi wearing a striking red dress, just finishing two rounds of drinks and hiding in a corner to catch her breath.

Over the past few years when Jia Qiao was absent, the Financial Queen Cai Xi had shared the brunt of the “firepower.”

“Director Cai, hello.” Zhu Nanyu approached silently, his voice lowered, secretly thinking about which way would be easiest to gain her trust.

To his surprise, when Cai Xi saw him, her voice went even lower. “Why are you here, Chairman Zhu?”

“…?” It was Zhu Nanyu who was caught off guard. “You knew it was me?”

“The first time you showed your face, Xiao Chen put ‘Zoa’ forward.” Cai Xi glanced warily at her surroundings and said while covering her mouth, “At first, we thought it might be a coincidence. Later, when you participated in the online meetings, there was no way to deny it anymore.”

Even if names could be changed and voices could be altered, the management of Qianhe had, after all, fought alongside Zhu Nanyu. His style of doing things and his logical thinking were too distinct; it was very hard to pretend not to recognize him.

“Because there’s too much going on in the company during this year-end period, we planned to slowly reveal everything during the New Year holiday.”

“Sorry, I actually planned to explain everything during the New Year holiday too.” Seeing that he couldn’t hide it, Zhu Nanyu simply told her, “Don’t call me Chairman Zhu. Even if I return to the company, I will continue to hold my current position.”

“Alright.” Cai Xi nodded and smoothly changed her address. “Engineer Zhu, is there something you need from me?”

In fact, the management had discussed it in their small group chat before.

“Engineer Zhu” (Zhu Gong) sounded like “Lord” (Zhu Gong), and it felt more like the vibe of following Zhu Nanyu to conquer territories.

Zhu Nanyu had no objection to the new title and glanced toward Jia Qiao. “He’s drunk. I might have to trouble you guys tonight.”

“That doesn’t matter. In fact, Director Jia only needed to show his face; the goal has already been achieved.” Cai Xi put down her wine glass, took a card from her bag, and pointed upstairs. “Thirteenth floor. Have a sweet dream.”

After saying that, she gave an ambiguous wink, brushed her wavy long hair that she had specially permed for today, and walked toward the boisterous crowd in her high heels.

Looking at her back and then down at the room card, Zhu Nanyu thought to himself that he really owed her a huge favor.

Zhu Nanyu went back, and Jia Qiao was sitting quietly in his previous spot, munching on the macarons Zhu Nanyu had brought him earlier.

The chef of this hotel was invited from Europe and was proficient in various Western pastries. The only problem was that the flavors were much sweeter, and the macarons were at a level where most people would find them cloying after eating just one.

Jia Qiao seemed to have lost his sense of taste; he was eating the macarons one after another. After finishing them, he asked for a large plate for himself.

“That’s enough, you’ll get cavities.” Zhu Nanyu quickly walked over to his side, intending to pull Jia Qiao up.

“Macarons…” As he was being pulled, Jia Qiao grabbed two macarons with his other hand, like a cat protecting its food.

“If you like them that much, I’ll invite the chef to our home next time.” Zhu Nanyu coaxed him, finally getting Jia Qiao to leave the banquet hall and follow him into the elevator on the side of the hotel.

After swiping the room card at the sensor, the “13” button lit up automatically.

Jia Qiao seemed to find it curious, staring at it left and right, displaying a baby-like curiosity.

“What are you looking at?” Zhu Nanyu asked with a smile.

“4.” Jia Qiao held up one finger with his left hand and three with his right. “I learned it.”

Seeing him gesturing with his fingers and thinking back to the questions he used to test Jia Qiao earlier, Zhu Nanyu smiled and rubbed his hair. “Yes, yes, very good, very good. Should I reward you with a little red flower?”

“I don’t want that. That’s for tricking kids.”

A few days ago during the tutoring session, every time Jia Qiao got a question right, Zhu Nanyu would draw a little red flower next to it. He even told Jia Qiao that kindergarten teachers reward children this way. At the time, Jia Qiao silently accepted the setting and didn’t protest.

Who knew he actually held a grudge?

“Then what do you want?”

Jia Qiao thought seriously for a moment, turned his head, stood on his tiptoes to get closer, and stared straight at him with those beautiful eyes.

“Why… haven’t you kissed me yet?”

It was clearly Zhu Nanyu who proposed the deal: one hour of tutoring in exchange for one kiss.

But since the first time, he had never mentioned it again. Even if Jia Qiao followed the rules and initiated the closeness, Zhu Nanyu would intentionally dodge it. Jia Qiao tried a few times and gave up after being avoided every time.

He thought that given the man’s personality, not saying anything meant he didn’t care.

“Why?”

Jia Qiao insisted on getting to the bottom of it; he clearly cared a lot.

Just then, the elevator stopped at the thirteenth floor.

The elevator doors opened to reveal a few people in the hallway and a staff member in charge of reception standing by the elevator.

“Jiao Jiao, let’s go to the room first.” Zhu Nanyu held Jia Qiao’s shoulders, wanting to create some distance.

“Why go to the room?” Instead of keeping his distance, Jia Qiao became even more persistent, wrapping his arms around Zhu Nanyu’s neck. “If we don’t go to the room, will you not like me? Is it embarrassing to let others see you kiss me? Then I—”

Zhu Nanyu was so pestered he had no choice. He raised his finger to hook down his mask and gave him a fleeting kiss on the corner of his lips.

“Be good,” Zhu Nanyu coaxed in a low voice. “I will always like you. But, you are too attractive like this; I don’t want to share you with others.”

“…” Jia Qiao blinked his eyes and tilted his head. “What does that mean?”

Zhu Nanyu was completely defeated.

From now on, he had to keep a close eye on Jia Qiao and not let him touch a single drop of alcohol!

Fortunately, after getting the kiss he wanted, Jia Qiao stopped being clingy and obediently followed Zhu Nanyu toward the hotel room.

The other people in the hallway stifled their laughter and tactfully looked away, for fear of disturbing the young couple.

The hotel room Cai Xi booked was prepared for colleagues who got drunk at the party; it was just an ordinary suite with nothing special inside.

However, Jia Qiao hadn’t stayed in many hotels. When he traveled with Zhu Nanyu before, they stayed in rented villas, so he was full of curiosity about this room.

“The bathroom… it’s transparent, you can see everything clearly.” Jia Qiao reached out to touch the glass wall of the bathroom and said with a frown, “There’s no bathtub, I can’t take a bath.”

“Even if there was, don’t use it. Many people have soaked in it.” The reason Zhu Nanyu rarely let Jia Qiao stay in hotels was because too many people had used them, and he felt it would soil his clean wife.

“Have many people slept on the bed too?” The space inside the room wasn’t large; Jia Qiao walked to the bedside in a few steps and curiously observed his surroundings.

On the bedside cabinet was a tray containing consumables for sale, including drinks and condoms.

Jia Qiao had drunk a lot of “water” downstairs and wasn’t very interested in the drinks. He reached out and picked up the small square box, looked at it twice, and put it back.

Zhu Nanyu thought he was shy and finally knew when to stop.

To his surprise, Jia Qiao muttered quite seriously, “Only three, and the size isn’t right either. You can’t use them.”

Zhu Nanyu covered his face in a breakdown. He hadn’t planned on using them anyway.

“Jiao Jiao.” Zhu Nanyu called out to Jia Qiao, trying to awaken his reason. “How do you feel now? Is your head dizzy? Do you want to sleep?”

“No.” Jia Qiao shook his head and looked into Zhu Nanyu’s eyes, answering seriously, “I feel like my body is very light now, like I’m about to fly.”

“Are you sure it’s not an out-of-body experience?” Zhu Nanyu sighed helplessly. “Your tolerance is really poor. Lie down and sleep for a bit. When you’re better, I’ll take you home.”

With that, Zhu Nanyu got up, planning to go out and buy something for Jia Qiao to sober up.

Before he could take a step, his clothes were caught.

“Where are you going?”

“I…” Just as Zhu Nanyu was about to answer, he heard Jia Qiao’s second question.

“Are you coming back?”

The remaining words suddenly couldn’t be spoken. It took a long time for Zhu Nanyu to move his lips and call his name in a low voice.

“…Jiao Jiao.”

Jia Qiao’s voice was very thin, showing no anger or accusation, as if it were the most peaceful narration.

“I have always been here, waiting for you to come back, for a long, long time.” Jia Qiao lowered his head, his long hair hiding his expression. “It’s okay, I can wait. I used to always be waiting.”

It didn’t matter.

Jia Qiao had told himself that over and over. He was used to waiting.

But—

“If I wait until the end and you still haven’t come back, what should I do?” Jia Qiao looked up and tilted his face to look at him.

“I’m sorry.” Zhu Nanyu’s guilt reached its peak. He didn’t choose his usual indirectness or push-and-pull, but solemnly and devoutly promised Jia Qiao, “From now on, I won’t make you wait anymore.”

“Why?” When Jia Qiao was sober, he seemed not to care about anything, but after getting drunk, he had especially many questions. “You never told me why you suddenly disappeared.”

“You didn’t ask, so I thought you didn’t care.” Zhu Nanyu leaned over, bending one leg to kneel on the ground, looking up at Jia Qiao from below. “Do you remember that we met before?”

“Yes.”

“I would often be like that, forcibly taken to a world that didn’t belong to me. But it won’t happen again. I have completely cut ties with them.”

Jia Qiao only half-understood what he heard and could only use his own situation to deduce Zhu Nanyu’s.

He probably had some kind of ability before, just like himself. Now that he was back in the “real world,” that ability was taken back.

“Then… what price did you pay?”

Returning to being an ordinary person required a price beyond imagination; Jia Qiao had always known this.

Zhu Nanyu froze for a moment. Many images flashed through his mind, and he finally shook his head.

“I am different from you; I didn’t need to pay a price.”

“Liar.”

“Really.” Zhu Nanyu kissed his fingers. “At most, it counts as me… asking for trouble.”

Jia Qiao believed him this time. Zhu Nanyu indeed liked making things hard for himself.

“Then…” Jia Qiao stared at him without blinking. “Do you like me because of my face?”

Gradually becoming aware of the emotion of “love,” Jia Qiao always felt that Zhu Nanyu had fallen too quickly. It took him so long to realize it, yet Zhu Nanyu could say “I like you” the very first time they met.

“I heard there are three people in the world who look exactly the same. If you met the other two first, would you like them too?”

“Of course not.” Zhu Nanyu denied it without a second thought. “In fact, what attracts me most about you isn’t your appearance.”

What Zhu Nanyu didn’t say was that back then, because he died too quickly, he actually didn’t have time to see Jia Qiao’s face clearly.

“…” Jia Qiao rarely guessed Zhu Nanyu’s thoughts, but he asked with a bit of disdain, “Are you an M?”