Chapter 1953: Cleanliness

Lu Zhenzhen let out a few muffled laughs. “How thick is your skin?”

“Not that thick, but I’m afraid you won’t give me any face.”

Lu Zhenzhen frowned. “And if I don’t?”

“Then I’ll just shamelessly cling to you.” Gao Zhe lifted her foot onto his knee, added hot water to the basin, then carefully put her foot back in. “Anyway, I’ve been hanging around you for half a lifetime already. Another half a lifetime isn’t exactly hard work.”

Lu Zhenzhen suddenly felt convinced.

No one else had seen this shameless side of Gao Zhe; she had.

And somehow this man always, every single time, managed to coax her back into a good mood.

Her whole temper had been cultivated by him, just like the scheme he’d planned out since they were little; put any other man in his place and he wouldn’t be able to do what Gao Zhe does.

Lu Zhenzhen shoved the alpaca plush into her arms and leaned back into the throw pillow.

She’d been being dramatic for so long, making a fuss for so long. Ever since she found out Gao Zhe was dealing with the Zhou Family, she’d just been waiting. Waiting up to this point, she couldn’t really keep it in any longer.

She shifted her foot, and Gao Zhe asked, “What is it, too hot?”

Lu Zhenzhen tipped her head back against the sofa, staring at the chandelier above, and spoke haltingly. “Gao Zhe, I’ve had a cleanliness obsession since I was a kid.”

“I know.”

“I don’t like wearing perfume, but I like being washed till I squeak. I like burning incense when I sleep. I like my clothes all carrying that smoked scent. I don’t like a speck of dirt on my body or hands. Even if I go horseback riding, when I’m done, those gloves and clothes get thrown out.”

Gao Zhe said, “I know.”

“I really can’t stand filth…”

“Mm.”

“But I was filthy for a few years when I was little. When you found me back then, I think it was a rainy day. The country roads were full of potholes, the rain was pouring, puddles everywhere on the muddy road. I was wearing the white dress the director gave me, and I fell twice. I got up, but I couldn’t walk anymore, and I just sat in the dirty water and cried my eyes out.”

Gao Zhe’s hands paused, alert to the way she looked. His expression went taut, but only for a moment. Then he went back to massaging her foot, the pressure very light. He wanted to say something, but was afraid to say anything. That stretch of memory was the one Lu Zhenzhen least wanted to recall, and also the one she least wanted to forget.

She’d been a pampered little heiress who loved cleanliness from the start, but at the orphanage she was often hungry and couldn’t wear pretty clothes. That little dress was something the director had scrimped and saved to buy for her, and it stirred up the other kids’ jealousy. They tore her dress, and Chu Yao and Nan Jiaojiao shielded her. The three girls fought with a dozen kids, all their age. The three of them were beaten badly, and those two girls told Lu Zhenzhen to run out first and go find the director for help.

The Lu Family and Gao Family had been searching for her for years, nearly driven mad by it. When they finally got a lead that she was in an orphanage, Gao Zhe rushed over without a second thought. He didn’t find her in the orphanage itself. The kids lied, and even after looking at her photo, they all claimed not to know her. The two families had been through too many disappointments, but Gao Zhe refused to accept it. His gut told him Lu Zhenzhen was there. He wouldn’t leave with the adults; he insisted on getting a car and circling the village again and again, until finally, just before dark, he saw Lu Zhenzhen sitting in the pouring rain, bawling her eyes out.

She’d been filthy all over, mud packed under her fingernails. She tried to wipe her tears away, but the mud on her face just smeared worse and worse. She was crying so miserably, her whole body wrapped up like a little mud doll.

“When you walked up to me, I thought you were so pretty, but I didn’t recognize you. You handed me a piece of candy and called me ‘Zhenzhen’…”