Chapter Thirty-Seven: House Hunting Again

When Liu Yurou was pulled into Zhang Wei’s arms, she was startled at first and instinctively tried to push him away. But Zhang Wei only held her tighter, leaning close to her ear and whispering, “Miss Liu, if you don’t want things to go wrong, you’d better cooperate with me. If that woman loses her temper, I won’t be able to help you.”

Hearing his soft murmur by her ear, Liu Yurou glanced up at Zhang Wei. Seeing him nod encouragingly, she finally relaxed her body, forcing a faint smile onto her lips, though it was tinged with a subtle bitterness.

“So, you’re saying this girl is your girlfriend?” Mrs. Zhou, the wife of the fat Zhou, was taken aback. She pointed at Liu Yurou, her mouth agape in surprise.

“Yes, is that a problem, sister-in-law?” Zhang Wei drew a deep breath, striving to appear calm and spoke with confidence.

“Oh, no, I must have misunderstood earlier!” Although Mrs. Zhou’s tone softened, her suspicion was far from dispelled. She widened her eyes, scanning both Zhang Wei and Liu Yurou.

“Yurou, aren’t you going to greet sister-in-law?” Zhang Wei patted Liu Yurou’s slender waist with his right hand, a silent signal.

The reason Zhang Wei was able to react so quickly was because he recalled his relationship with Murong Xuan. Back then, to avoid Lin Hongwen’s entanglement, Murong Xuan had pretended to be his matchmaking prospect. Now, to clear up Mrs. Zhou’s misunderstanding, Zhang Wei employed the same tactic.

His relationship with Murong Xuan had only been for show, and even in front of Lin Hongwen and Li Mengfei, they hadn’t claimed to be a couple. This time, however, Zhang Wei directly declared himself as Liu Yurou’s boyfriend to win Mrs. Zhou’s trust.

“Hello, sister-in-law, my name is Liu Yurou. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Please look after me,” Liu Yurou said, forcing herself to remain calm, though her voice quivered slightly.

“Oh, I’m so sorry about earlier. I saw you standing with my husband and thought…” Mrs. Zhou apologized, somewhat embarrassed.

Though she was still doubtful about Zhang Wei and Liu Yurou’s relationship, with the two holding each other and even addressing her as sister-in-law, she couldn’t very well get angry again. Instead, she turned to her husband and scolded him, “Weren’t you going to play golf? What are you doing here?”

“President Liu… he had something come up and couldn’t make it,” Fat Zhou stammered, clearly frightened by his wife’s presence. He had no attention to spare for Zhang Wei and Liu Yurou embracing. Now, with his wife’s anger redirected at him, he hastily made up an excuse.

“Nonsense! President Liu’s wife just invited me to play mahjong, saying her husband’s been on a business trip for a week! How could he have arranged to play golf with you?” Mrs. Zhou thundered, “Oh, Fat Zhou, if you don’t tell me the truth, you’ll regret it. You just won’t learn until you hit rock bottom!”

“Wife… I didn’t mean to lie, I—” Fat Zhou tried to explain but couldn’t think of a suitable excuse.

“Sister-in-law, you really misunderstood Fat Zhou. He didn’t mean to deceive you; he just wanted to surprise you, so he made up a reason to keep it secret!” Unlike Fat Zhou, Zhang Wei wasn’t afraid of Mrs. Zhou. In the brief time just now, he’d already come up with a countermeasure and spoke with calm assurance.

“What surprise? Why did he have to hide it from me?” Mrs. Zhou shot Zhang Wei a sharp look.

“Fat Zhou wants to buy you a house in Beijing, so he asked me to find one for him. I thought you’d come along, so I brought my girlfriend to accompany you. I didn’t expect you to misunderstand,” Zhang Wei said. Even he was impressed by his own quick thinking. He’d turned Fat Zhou’s embarrassment into the actions of a model husband.

“Buy me a house? Why?” Mrs. Zhou was astonished by Zhang Wei’s answer.

“Sister-in-law, that’s not fair. Fat Zhou’s already picked out a house for you, and you still don’t know why he wants to give it to you?” Zhang Wei said, feigning mystery. In truth, he hadn’t thought of a good reason yet, so he deliberately guided Mrs. Zhou to say it herself. “Think carefully—why would Fat Zhou want to buy you a house?”

“My birthday is next month! Is he planning to give me a birthday present?” Mrs. Zhou blurted out, then shook her head, denying it. “Impossible. We’ve been married for over ten years and he’s never even bought me a pair of socks, let alone a house!”

“Sister-in-law, Fat Zhou has always remembered your birthday; he’s just not good at expressing himself. That’s why he’s finally decided to buy you a house as a gift,” Zhang Wei replied, giving Fat Zhou a meaningful look. “Isn’t that right, Fat Zhou?”

“Yes, I’ve always remembered your birthday! Didn’t we get together on your birthday? How could I forget?” Fat Zhou, catching Zhang Wei’s cue, rushed to show his loyalty.

“It’s a wonder you still remember my birthday. But don’t think you can fool me that easily. I’m not so easily swayed,” Mrs. Zhou snorted coldly.

“Sister-in-law, Fat Zhou really does want to buy you a house, and the place is already picked out. You just need to sign the contract. If you don’t believe me, I can take you to see it right now,” Zhang Wei offered, stepping in to cover for Fat Zhou. Of course, he didn’t do this out of charity—he’d already shifted the idea of buying the villa onto Mrs. Zhou.

From the way things had played out, Zhang Wei could tell Fat Zhou was completely henpecked. So, he’d deliberately claimed the villa was a gift from Fat Zhou to his wife, believing that with her suspicious nature, she’d insist on seeing it for herself. That would give him the chance to persuade her to buy it.

“Fine, since I’m here, I might as well take a look,” Mrs. Zhou agreed after a moment’s thought, still uncertain. She scrutinized Zhang Wei, Fat Zhou, and Liu Yurou before deciding to see whether the house really existed or if the three of them were colluding to deceive her.

“Fat Zhou, we saw three houses, didn’t we? Which one do you want sister-in-law to see?” Zhang Wei asked, though he already had the answer in mind. With Fat Zhou’s wealth, there was no way he’d buy a simple two-bedroom apartment for his wife. Even if he did, she’d probably scold him for being insincere.

“Let’s just see the third one. The first two weren’t very good,” Fat Zhou replied, catching on quickly.

By now, Liu Yurou had recovered from her initial shock. Noticing Zhang Wei still had his arm around her waist, she shot him a look of disgust, deliberately lagging behind so she could slip free from his grasp.

Zhang Wei didn’t mind her little protest. His mind was fully occupied with convincing the Zhou couple to purchase the villa. The price was around fifty million, and with a three percent commission, he stood to earn nearly one and a half million—a fortune by any measure.

The four of them chatted idly as they made their way back to the Xiangjiang Villa District. This time, the security guard didn’t stop them, only asking Mrs. Zhou to register before letting them in.

“Sister-in-law, what do you think of the neighborhood?” Zhang Wei inquired.

“It’s not bad. Much nicer than where we live now. Seems like a good place to settle down,” Mrs. Zhou said as she looked around. “How much does a house here cost?”

“On average, about fifty million per unit,” Zhang Wei replied.

“That expensive?” Mrs. Zhou was shocked. She turned to Fat Zhou, asking, “Would you really spend that much on me?”

“What’s money compared to your happiness? If you want it, it doesn’t matter how expensive it is!” Fat Zhou declared, pounding his chest with sincerity—though who knew how much of it was real.

Watching Fat Zhou put on this display for his wife, Liu Yurou felt a pang of bitterness. When she’d wanted to buy a villa, Fat Zhou hadn’t even bothered to accompany her. But now, for his wife, he was not only attentive but swore up and down that he’d buy any house she wanted.

Liu Yurou studied Mrs. Zhou. She was pleasant looking, not short, but a bit plump. For most men, having a wife like her would be considered a good match. But who was Fat Zhou? He was worth billions and barely in his thirties, with countless women eager to marry him. Take Liu Yurou herself—her age, looks, bearing, and figure all far surpassed Mrs. Zhou’s. Yet in Fat Zhou’s eyes, she was worth less than a tenth of his wife.

“Yurou, the sky’s getting darker and it might rain soon. I left the windows open at home this morning—why don’t you go check on them?” Zhang Wei shot her a look, quietly signaling her to leave.

Liu Yurou’s position was indeed awkward. If anything slipped now, all Zhang Wei’s efforts would come to nothing—a risk he wasn’t willing to take. Rather than keep an unpredictable bomb by his side, it was better to send her away.

“Yes, sister-in-law. It’s so stuffy at noon—why don’t you head back?” Fat Zhou chimed in, taking advantage of his wife’s distraction to make a discreet gesture for Liu Yurou to leave.

Seeing both men wanted her gone—and even hearing Fat Zhou call her "sister-in-law"—Liu Yurou’s lips twitched with resentment. She felt wronged and, instead of leaving, became even more determined to stay.

“Honey, if I’d waited for you to do it, the house would’ve flooded ten times by now. Don’t worry, I already closed the windows,” Liu Yurou said sweetly, pretending not to notice their signals. She looped her arm around Zhang Wei’s, calling him "darling" in a coy tone that drew sidelong glances from passersby.

Hearing Liu Yurou call him "darling" right in front of the Zhou couple, Zhang Wei felt his heart skip a beat, a sense of foreboding creeping over him. Glancing at Fat Zhou, who also looked back at him, both men could only force a bitter smile. Zhang Wei thought to himself, “Looks like this won’t be easy. Neither of these women is a pushover.”