Living Only For Myself: Make Those Who Hate Me Regret It-Chapter 93 - 92: This Road Is a Bit Hard on Cars...
When Zhou Mochen dropped her off that morning, he had taken a call and left immediately. Xu Su worried he had official business, so she was reluctant to contact him first.
She waited until two-thirty. Just as Xu Su started to worry that Zhou Mochen wouldn’t be free in the afternoon and she would miss the bus back to Kang County, she received a text from him: Susu, I’m waiting for you downstairs.
She breathed a small sigh of relief, grabbed her packed luggage, and went downstairs with her backpack on.
The "downstairs" Zhou Mochen referred to was a spot some distance from the Xu Family’s apartment. At home, both Chen Shulan and her husband were at work.
Xu Yang was on break from school, and for once, he hadn’t gone out. He was sitting on the sofa watching TV. When he saw Xu Su about to leave with her bags, he didn’t even glance away from the screen.
Xu Su acted as if he wasn’t even there, not bothering to say a single word of greeting as she walked straight out the door.
~~
As soon as she got into Zhou Mochen’s car, Xu Su said, "If you’re busy, you can just take me to the station. I can get a ride from there on my own."
She thought she was being very considerate. After all, she knew he was a busy man, and the drive to Kang County was long. Not to mention, he was even planning to follow the local bus into the countryside.
All told, the round trip would take at least seven or eight hours. He wouldn’t get back to Chang City until the middle of the night.
Zhou Mochen smiled. He took a moment from driving to glance at her, his eyes gentle. "Your affairs are more important, Xu Su. Believe it or not, you’re the reason I’ve stayed in Chang City for so long."
The implication was clear: at least in Chang City, nothing was more important to him than she was.
Xu Su turned to look out the window, not wanting to engage with him.
’She could have guessed. In her past life, besides the Times Square project in the old city district, Zhou Mochen had two other property developments in Chang City, and none of them were small. Ten years later, Times Square in particular would become one of Chang City’s most iconic landmarks.’
’That whole area became the most prosperous central district.’
’But those investments alone weren’t enough to make Zhou Mochen stay in Chang City for three whole years.’
’And in her past life, he had genuinely stayed for three years.’ 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖
The car soon got on the highway, and Xu Su started to feel drowsy.
Zhou Mochen reached over and gently nudged her. "There’s a jacket of mine in the back. You should cover yourself with it. The AC is on, so you’ll get cold if you fall asleep," he said softly.
Xu Su was, in fact, feeling a little chilly. She groggily turned around and reached for a black jacket in the back, hooking it with her fingers. Obediently, she draped it over her stomach and drifted into a deep sleep.
As she drifted between waking and sleeping, the scene felt vaguely familiar. But the overwhelming drowsiness won out over her thoughts, and Xu Su gave up trying to think, sinking deep into sleep.
If Huang Chao had been there, he would have remembered the look of disdain on Xu Su’s face when she was offered Zhou Mochen’s jacket in this very car last year on October 1st.
....
Xu Su slept so soundly that even when Zhou Mochen called her name to wake her, she didn’t feel like moving.
A voice, Zhou Mochen’s, sounded next to her ear. "Why don’t you keep sleeping? Forget transferring to the bus. I’ll just drive you straight to your grandma’s house."
Xu Su was tempted. She was so tired...
But then she snapped to her senses, her eyes flying open. Completely awake now, she asked, "What time is it?"
Zhou Mochen glanced at his wrist. "Almost five."
He frowned, looking out the window at the Kang County Bus Station. "Are there still buses running to your grandma’s place?"
Xu Su had gone to middle school in Kang County, so she knew perfectly well what time the last bus back to her village ran. She nodded. "Yes."
She got out of the car with her bags and stopped Zhou Mochen from getting out too. "If you’re going to follow me, then just stay in the car and drive behind. But, Zhou Mochen, don’t drive if you’re tired. Be careful."
Zhou Mochen looked up at her through the car window, an undisguised smile on his face. "I’m going to take that as you worrying about me, Susu. I’m very happy."
"..." For a second, Xu Su was speechless. Then she turned and walked into the station.
Calling it a "station" was generous; it was really just an old, open-air parking lot. The ground wasn’t paved with concrete and was riddled with potholes.
Thankfully, it hadn’t rained. Xu Su, knowing the place like the back of her hand, easily found the bus to Shuinan Town.
Her grandmother’s house was right by the main road. The bus to Shuinan Town passed through Chen Family Village, so it would drop her off right at Grandma Xu’s door.
Less than ten minutes after she boarded, the bus filled up with students from the county seat heading home for the school holiday.
As the bus rumbled and swayed out of the station, Xu Su happened to lock eyes with Zhou Mochen through the window. Then she watched as the black Range Rover started its engine and pulled in behind the bus.
"..." Xu Su couldn’t quite put a name to what she was feeling.
She decided not to dwell on it, instead losing herself in the rural scenery outside the window.
Once they left the main roads of the county town and turned onto the dirt roads of the countryside, the ride grew a bit bumpier.
’These roads are rough on a vehicle...’
It gets dark late in the summer, so when she got off the bus at around six o’clock, the sun was still quite bright.
The moment Xu Su stepped off the bus, she glanced back over her shoulder and immediately spotted Zhou Mochen, who had been following them the entire way.
He kept his promise not to appear before her grandmother’s family. The car didn’t stop, but merely slowed, as if he were memorizing the location before slowly driving past her.
’The car will probably turn around and head back in a few minutes...’ Xu Su thought. ’I have no idea what he gets out of following me all this way...’
She stood there for a few seconds, only turning around after Zhou Mochen’s car had driven off into the distance.
The bus made quite a racket when it stopped. The gate to her eldest uncle’s courtyard by the side of the road opened from within, and Chen Ni came out, apparently to see who had gotten off.
She spotted Xu Su immediately and let out an excited shriek. "Susu, you’re really back! I knew you’d come see us for summer break!"
She shook Xu Su so hard it made her dizzy. "Stop, stop, stop! I’m carrying my backpack."
Hearing the commotion, Chen Dong ran out too. He took the backpack from Xu Su, and Chen Ni, following his lead, snatched the duffel bag from her other hand.
Suddenly unburdened, Xu Su looked at her younger cousins and asked, "Is Grandma home?"
She started walking toward the house without breaking stride.
Chen Ni set the bag on a lounge chair in Grandma Xu’s yard and dashed toward her own house. "She is! We’re about to eat. I’ll go tell my mom to make an extra dish."
Watching her cousin dash off in a flash, Xu Su said with a laugh, "She’s starting high school after the break, but she’s still so rambunctious."
Grandma Xu came out of the house. After squinting and studying Xu Su carefully, she spoke with a smile in her voice. "You’ve gotten taller, and prettier too. Looks like your parents are feeding you well."
Xu Su didn’t say anything, simply walking over to hug her grandmother. "And what about you? How’s your health? Have you been taking your blood pressure medicine regularly?"
When she came back for the National Day holiday last year, Xu Su had taken her grandmother to the town hospital the very next day to get her blood pressure checked. It was only after the doctor confirmed that Grandma Xu’s blood pressure was dangerously high that her two uncles found out their own mother had the condition.
At the time, Xu Su had pleaded with her two uncles to make sure their mother took her medicine every day.
Unfortunately, the holiday had been short, and she had returned to Chang City after staying for only a couple of days.
