Night Rose

Tu Ying leaned half her body out of the window and called out to the people busy in the garage, "Su Jin, come up for dinner!"

Hearing the shouts, Su Jin looked up in surprise. It was already getting dark. She hadn't eaten lunch and had relied on the two breakfasts she had for most of the day.

When Tu Ying called for dinner, she realized she was really starving, and her stomach rumbled loudly.

"Okay, coming right away."

Su Jin put down the wrench in her hand, her gloves were black and oily, and casually threw them on the hood of the car before rinsing her hands outside the garage.

She used the standard seven-step handwashing method, a technique used in hospitals for practical tests, to ensure that her fingers and the spaces between them were thoroughly cleaned.

Tu Ying's voice came from upstairs. As Su Jin looked for the stairs, she wondered, "Zhou Zheng has been gone all day. Has he come back?"

In a daze, Su Jin suddenly bumped into someone in the dark stairwell, and the person groaned from the impact.

The noise sounded somewhat ambiguous in the darkness, and Su Jin blinked rapidly, inevitably thinking of a certain night.

Before she could even think it through, the person spoke.

"Miss Su, if you have a grudge against me, just say it. Don't wait for an opportunity to retaliate," Zhou Zheng said in a low voice.

That deep, magnetic voice tickled the ears.

Su Jin stood firmly, holding onto the railing, and glared at him. "You scared me here first! You're the one getting revenge on me."

In the darkness, the two could only make out each other's eyes by the faint light. Their staring at each other without any power was instead filled with a strange emotion.

Zhou Zheng raised his hand and turned on the hallway light with a click.

Su Jin thought she would be blinded by the sudden light, and the words of cursing Zhou Zheng were already on her lips, but a dry, warm hand covered her eyes, shielding her from the flashing light.

After the lights came on, the hand quickly withdrew.

Zhou Zheng walked ahead as if nothing had happened, leading the way for her. His shoulders were slightly slumped, indicating fatigue, and his gait was somewhat slow.

Su Jin silently followed, thinking: What exactly does this kid do every day? Why does he always look so exhausted whenever I see him?

But she ultimately didn't ask. As Tu Ying had said, it's better not to pry into other people's secrets.

The dining table was set up on the second-floor balcony. The open-air balcony was large and had many vegetables growing on it. Each plant was lush and green, clearly showing that someone had taken good care of it.

The tantalizing aroma of the wok wafted from afar, enticing everyone's appetite. Su Jin sniffed the air, quickened her pace, and arrived at the table even before Zhou Zheng.

"Who made this? It smells so good!" Su Jin looked up at the three of them expectantly.

Tu Ying held a pair of chopsticks in her hand, Wang Tianle was adding rice to her bowl, and Zhou Zheng was the only one who was free. He was the first to sit down and opened a bottle of beer for himself.

"Takeout," Zhou Zheng said.

Su Jin pointed to the variety of vegetables on the balcony and chuckled, "You guys eat takeout and grow your own vegetables?"

Zhou Zheng took a bowl of rice and buried his head in it, eating. "Why are you so nosy? Are you from the neighborhood committee? Are you eating or not?"

"eat!"

Su Jin didn't want to make things difficult for herself. When she came to her senses, she realized that she was starving. With the delicious food in front of her, why wouldn't she eat it?

Arguing with Zhou Zheng and not eating? Only a fool would do that.

Dinner consisted of just a few simple home-cooked dishes, yet Su Jin managed to eat two bowls of rice. Tu Ying praised her for her good appetite, while Wang Tianle secretly prepared to have a third bowl of rice for himself.

Zhou Zheng suddenly grabbed his rice bowl and looked at him earnestly, "You're fat. You can't eat so much. Listen to your sister Su, you need to lose weight."

Hearing the person call her "Sister Su," Su Jin, unusually, looked up and gave her a proper look. She nodded to Wang Tianle, "Yes, eat less, you need to control your diet."

Wang Tianle looked around, but no one spoke up for him. Reluctantly, he put down his rice bowl and sat down awkwardly to the side. "Okay, alright."

Zhou Zheng was amused by Wang Tianle's reaction and laughed to himself for a while until Su Jin looked at him with a strange expression. Then he lowered his head and took a sip of beer.

"Your beer... never mind, I won't say anything." Su Jin shut up in a huff.

Tu Ying tactfully took her bowl and left the table to chat with Xiao Pang.

Zhou Zheng put down his glass and poured the remaining wine into the flowerpot. "I won't drink anymore, I'll listen to you."

Su Jin looked at him in surprise, reaching out to feel his forehead temperature. "Is this really you, Zhou Zheng? You're actually behaving so obediently?"

"Tsk." Zhou Zheng clicked his tongue lightly and brushed her hand away.

He hesitated, unable to speak, and changed the subject instead, "Are you coming or not? I'll take you back to your hotel."

"Okay, let's go," Su Jin replied.

As the two passed the garage, Zhou Zheng saw the race car he had driven there, now "grossly" dismantled, and turned to Su Jin, asking, "You really know how to do that?"

"Of course! If I didn't know how, what kind of engineer would I be? Once it's installed, I'll bring my computer over and connect it to the data so I can accurately analyze and adjust the settings to better suit your driving style. I'm sure I can maximize your and its performance!" Su Jin said confidently.

Zhou Zheng was moved by her spirit, and he recalled the elegance and aloofness she exuded when she talked to others at the auto parts factory.

He exclaimed, "How come you're even more confident than Boss Tu?"

"Because I have faith in you!" Su Jin said, smiling at him.

Zhou Zheng was speechless for once. Faced with Su Jin's straightforward praise, he felt that if he didn't win the championship, he would be letting Su Jin down.

"Don't think that just because you say a few nice words, I'll fight tooth and nail to win the championship for you."

"It's not for me, it's for yourself. People should always fight for themselves; it's not worth it for others." Su Jin's smile faded.

Seeing her like this, Zhou Zheng couldn't help but be sarcastic.

"What's wrong? Thinking about your ex-boyfriend? Did he dump you?"

"I'm the one who abandoned him," Su Jin glared at him.

Zhou Zheng stroked his chin, stood still in front of the crowd, put his hands on his hips, leaned forward slightly, and looked at Su Jin with an imposing aura. "So it really is because of your ex-boyfriend."

Su Jin wasn't comfortable with men being so close, but Zhou Zheng didn't smell of sweat, only of lemon scent after a shower, which made her feel much better.

"I'm 27 this year, isn't it normal to have ex-boyfriends? Unlike you, you're not still a virgin, are you?"

Su Jin regretted her words as soon as she said them, and her expression crumbled slightly.

Has she been spending more time with Zhou Zheng? Has her speech become so greasy?

What is she talking about, this whole "virgin" stuff?

Zhou Zheng gave her a deep look, chuckled cryptically, and turned to leave.

He didn't confront the question, or rather, he didn't want to answer it.

He still finds the events of New York two months ago absurd. He doesn't even know the woman's name or what she looks like, yet he gave her many of his firsts.

Who is she?