To You Whom I HATE The Most Chapter 4

Fourth Letter

"No way."

"Impossible!"

"Well, you could consider it," Shi Jiaxu sighed, "It's not like you two will be sleeping in the same bed if you live in the same house."

He Zhiying nodded. "The sofa can work too. How about you two just make do for now?"

Cen Wei crossed her arms over her chest, her face full of resistance as she shook her head repeatedly.

Zhou Ran said, "Someone will eventually need to move out."

He Zhiying raised her chin slightly. "Cen Wei’s going to resign and return to Shancheng soon. You can just continue living there after that."

Zhou Ran turned to look at Cen Wei, his tone sounding genuinely surprised, "You’re going back to Shancheng?"

Cen Wei had almost forgotten about that herself. She scratched her head and said, "Oh, right, I’ll probably stay for another couple of months."

Zhou Ran opened his mouth as if to ask something else, but in the end, he didn’t say a word.

Shi Jiaxu clapped his hands together. "How about this? For now, you two just deal with it. There are bedrooms upstairs, and the sofa bed in the living room can be used too. You can just think of each other as neighbors."

He Zhiying pressed her hands together in apology. "Who knew things would turn out this way? We're really sorry, it's both of our faults."

"No, no," Cen Wei quickly waved her hands. "It’s great that you’re letting me stay in the apartment. You don’t need to apologize. We should be the ones feeling sorry."

Zhou Ran shot Cen Wei a glance, feeling displeased with the way she included him. He had gone through formal rental procedures with Shi Jiaxu, so he had no reason to feel embarrassed.

"Cen Wei, don’t worry," Shi Jiaxu assured her with a serious tone. "Zhou Ran is an honest guy, he won’t do anything wrong."

He Zhiying nodded vigorously. "Exactly, we’ve known each other for so many years. If anything happens, just call us immediately."

Cen Wei forced a smile, feeling awkward but too embarrassed to say anything more. "Alright then, I’ll talk it over with Zhou Ran and see what we should do."

Zhou Ran had been silent the whole time. Cen Wei glanced over at him to ask, "What do you think, Zhou Ran?"

"Huh?" Zhou Ran seemed distracted. "Alright, let’s just leave it at that for now."

As soon as the video call ended, Cen Wei immediately dropped her smile and spoke seriously, "I don’t think this will work."

Zhou Ran ignored her statement and asked, "Why are you resigning?"

"Because..." Cen Wei started to respond, then realized there was no need to explain herself to him. She stopped and didn’t continue.

"You should go stay in a hotel for now. Once I leave, you can move back in."

Zhou Ran nodded. "Alright, you pay for the room. I’m not asking for much, just a place that costs three hundred a night."

Cen Wei's eyes widened. Three hundred a night didn’t sound too bad, but that would add up to a full nine thousand in a month. She would have to starve herself to afford that.

Zhou Ran: "How about it?"

Cen Wei: "I’ll pay half."

Zhou Ran: "With that money, I could buy a new TV for my family."

Cen Wei: "Exactly."

They exchanged a glance, then both quickly looked away.

After a moment, Cen Wei cleared her throat and said, "How about this: the upstairs is mine, and the downstairs is yours."

This time, Zhou Ran agreed without hesitation. "Alright."

It was settled. Cen Wei stood up to move her suitcase.

Zhou Ran sat on the couch, watching her struggle to climb the stairs.

His phone screen lit up. He glanced at the message, then got up from the couch and walked over to her, offering to take the suitcase from her hands.

"No need," Cen Wei didn’t let go of the suitcase.

Zhou Ran didn’t let go. He used his other hand to wake up the phone screen and hold it up in front of her.

The message displayed was from Shi Jiaxu, but judging by the tone, it was clearly written by He Zhiying.

"Your best friend said so, give it to me," Zhou Ran said.

Cen Wei let go of the suitcase, quietly protesting, "She's not my best friend."

"Hmm?"

"Actually, we haven’t been in touch for many years. I wouldn't call her my best friend, I guess."

Zhou Ran responded with an "Oh," clearly surprised.

"Then how did you meet her boyfriend?" Cen Wei followed him, noticing that his height wasn’t just for show. With one hand, he effortlessly lifted her large suitcase without even catching his breath.

From this angle, she could clearly observe the contours of his arm. His skin was fair, his muscles well-defined, strong but not overly bulky.

Cen Wei couldn't help but quietly think to herself, Wow.

Zhou Ran answered, "We were in the same class during the second and third years of high school."

"Huh?" Cen Wei was surprised. "Shi Jiaxu also went to No. 7 High? How come I feel like I've never seen him at school before?"

"That's normal. Your Class 11 was on the fifth floor, and the science classes were on the third floor."

Cen Wei stopped in her tracks, looked up, and lightly asked, "Didn't you say you don't remember who I am? How do you know I was in Class 11?"

Zhou Ran froze in place.

"W-wasn't He Zhiying in Class 11? Then you must have been in Class 11 too," he said, continuing to walk up the stairs.

"Nope," Cen Wei replied with a slight smile at the corner of her mouth, as if she had figured something out. "Her family didn’t initially want her to study art, so she was in the regular class. Later, she came to the studio and joined us for training."

Zhou Ran didn't say anything and climbed the stairs silently.

Cen Wei quickened her pace to catch up. "You haven’t forgotten me, have you? I can tell you remember me."

Zhou Ran pretended not to hear her. "Bedroom or the storage room?"

Cen Wei persisted. "Why are you pretending not to know me? Are you worried I'll try to use our connection?"

With a thud, the suitcase’s wheels hit the floor.

"What about you?" Zhou Ran asked, his gaze always slightly downward due to his height, giving him an air of coldness and detachment.

"What?"

Zhou Ran asked, "Why do you recognize me?"

Cen Wei found it a bit funny. "Why wouldn’t I recognize you?"

"Haven’t I changed quite a bit?" Zhou Ran’s voice lowered.

To be honest, Cen Wei didn’t really remember what he had been like before, so she had no reference for this "change" in her mind. "What do you mean?"

Zhou Ran furrowed his brows. "My appearance?"

Cen Wei thought for a moment. "Oh, right, weren’t you really chubby back then? You've lost a lot of weight."

She seemed like she had just realized this. This was the transformation Zhou Ran was most proud of, but she hadn’t even noticed it.

Zhou Ran’s brows furrowed even deeper. He had no interest in reminiscing or getting closer to her. He just wanted to get to the bottom of it. "So how did you recognize me then?"

"I..." Cen Wei honestly couldn’t answer right away. She hadn’t thought about it before.

Zhou Ran took a step forward. "Not the face, not the name, so how did you recognize me? It’s really strange."

"Strange?" Cen Wei asked him back. "You don't just remember someone by their face and name, do you? It's also their voice, the tone they use, their habitual gestures, even the scent they wear."

"So which one was it that made you recognize me after ten years?"

Cen Wei looked at him, puzzled. "Why are you so hung up on this?"

Realizing he had been a bit too aggressive, Zhou Ran looked away and let out a breath. "Forget it."

He walked past Cen Wei and headed down the stairs.

Cen Wei turned and stared at his retreating figure, lost in thought.

"Maybe it's because I used to hate you so much," Cen Wei said suddenly. "Out of all the high school classmates, you were the one who left the deepest impression on me, so I..."

Zhou Ran stopped in his tracks and looked back at her. "You'd recognize me even if I turned to ash?"

Cen Wei shrugged. "Mm-hmm."

Zhou Ran’s figure disappeared around the corner of the stairs.

"Quite exquisite," Cen Wei raised an eyebrow. "Looks like the guy’s changed a lot."

"Melatonin?" Cen Wei picked it up and examined it. Did Zhou Ran have trouble sleeping?

When she went downstairs, Zhou Ran was sitting on the sofa, looking at his phone.

The man looked up and said to her, “I have to go out for something. I’ll pack my stuff when I get back.”

Cen Wei nodded. “Okay.”

Zhou Ran went upstairs to change clothes. Cen Wei walked toward the door, intending to place her usual perfume in the entrance hall.

She raised her hand but wasn’t sure whether she should put it down.

Cen Wei suddenly felt unsure of what to do. Hearing footsteps on the stairs, she hesitated for a moment before putting down the perfume and casually sitting on the sofa.

Zhou Ran had changed into a dress shirt and trousers, his hair neatly styled, revealing a smooth, full forehead.

Cen Wei sat with her legs crossed, subtly stealing glances at him. It was a rainy weekend, where was he going?

He put the car keys in his pocket and, as usual, reached for the perfume bottle on the entryway table, only to notice something odd.

He reached for the doorknob, and just as one foot crossed the threshold, he heard someone behind him say, “Hey, the umbrella.”

Zhou Ran turned around.

Cen Wei: “It’s raining outside. You should take an umbrella.”

“I have one in my car.”

“Oh.” A hint of embarrassment flashed across Cen Wei’s face. “Then, take care.”

Zhou Ran gave a small nod.

The security door slammed shut.

Cen Wei finally didn’t have to keep up any pretenses and relaxed, slumping onto the sofa.

Having not eaten anything since the morning, her stomach started growling. She reached for her handbag, pulled out a piece of mint dark chocolate, unwrapped it, and put it in her mouth.

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