Chapter 196: The Ex-Boyfriend’s Clothes

After dinner, An Nan took the initiative to do the dishes, while Gu Zhiyu helped wipe the table and collect the plates.

Remembering Zhao Ping’an’s performance earlier that day, Gu Zhiyu asked An Nan,

“Is Zhao Ping’an really good at chemistry?”

An Nan answered as she washed the dishes, “Not just chemistry—he’s good at everything. Building gadgets, inventing things, data analysis, you name it.”

Gu Zhiyu nodded. “He’s quite the talent.”

Something seemed to occur to An Nan. “Oh, right, he used to work at Taiyu.”

Gu Zhiyu wasn’t surprised.

With someone that talented, if he wasn’t in the Gu Corporation, odds were Taiyu had snapped him up.

An Nan continued, “But he didn’t agree with the company’s philosophy, so he quit and started his own thing.”

Gu Zhiyu nodded. “That’s pretty normal.”

An Nan was puzzled. “What do you mean, normal?”

Gu Zhiyu replied, “Not agreeing with Taiyu’s philosophy is normal. I don’t agree with some of their ideas either.”

An Nan remembered the animal experiments he’d mentioned before and nodded. “Me neither.”

Gu Zhiyu chuckled. “How do you not agree?”

An Nan said, “I don’t like their mutation experiments, or that Xiao You boss or whatever.”

Gu Zhiyu thought for a moment. “Yeah, your personalities would clash.”

After dinner, An Nan usually cuddled Fugui on the sofa to watch TV, but with Gu Zhiyu there, she felt a bit uneasy.

Gu Zhiyu seemed to notice and said, “Do your thing, don’t mind me,” then headed into his room.

An Nan breathed a sigh of relief. She’d never lived under the same roof as a man before, and it made her feel awkward.

She turned on the TV and started a drama.

Not long after, Gu Zhiyu suddenly came out of his room, looking gloomy.

An Nan glanced up, puzzled. “What’s wrong?”

Gu Zhiyu’s face was expressionless. “Nothing.”

An Nan turned her attention back to the TV, then suddenly remembered, “Oh, did you see the pajamas and change of clothes I set out for you?”

Gu Zhiyu’s face darkened even more. He was silent for several seconds before saying, “I saw them.”

An Nan was baffled. She’d thoughtfully prepared clean clothes for him, so why did he look even less happy?

He’d been fine before he went into the room!

Was this man having his period or something?

She couldn’t figure it out, so she just stopped thinking about it and kept watching TV.

Gu Zhiyu, still radiating low pressure, sat down next to her.

After a while, he finally spoke. “I don’t wear other people’s clothes.”

“Huh?”

An Nan was confused. “What do you mean, other people’s?”

Gu Zhiyu gritted his teeth. “Ex-boyfriend.”

An Nan was even more confused.

What ex-boyfriend? Whose ex-boyfriend?

It took her a moment to realize what he meant—he thought she’d given him her ex-boyfriend’s old clothes?

He actually remembered the “ex-boyfriend” she’d made up last time?

An Nan turned to him, half-smiling. “If you don’t wear the clothes I prepared, what will you do when the ones you’re wearing get dirty?”

Gu Zhiyu pressed his lips together. “Go shirtless.”

An Nan: …

She rolled her eyes at him. “Those are all new clothes for you! The tags are still on.”

Gu Zhiyu was stunned. He cleared his throat, got up, and went back to the room to check the closet again.

Sure enough, all the clothes still had their tags.

His mood immediately improved.

When he’d first gone into the room, he hadn’t expected An Nan to have prepared clothes for him. When he opened the closet and saw all those brightly colored, flashy T-shirts…

He’d just assumed they were left behind by some tasteless guy—like her supposedly “unforgettable” ex.

A while later, An Nan saw Gu Zhiyu come out of the room with a spring in his step, now wearing the green pajamas she’d put in the closet.

She smirked. “Now that you know they’re new, you’re willing to wear them?”

Gu Zhiyu’s eyes glinted with amusement, but he kept a straight face. “Your taste could use some work.”

He usually wore black, white, or gray. Opening that closet and seeing all those bright colors and bold patterns, anyone would think he was about to go on a tropical vacation.

An Nan pouted. “I just grabbed whatever I could when I was out scavenging. Having clothes to wear is good enough—who has time to pick styles?”

Gu Zhiyu shot her a look but didn’t say anything.

This woman was lying again.

She’d cleared out his entire mall—what style couldn’t she have picked?

She hadn’t even spared the potted money trees inside.

But Gu Zhiyu didn’t call her out. Instead, he glanced down at his clothes.

Did An Nan actually like this style?

After hesitating a moment, he asked, “Does it look good?”

An Nan thought he was talking about the TV show. “The beginning was good, but the ending was ridiculous. After all that drama, it turned out to be a dream!”

Gu Zhiyu: “I meant me.”

An Nan didn’t get it at first. “Huh?”

Then she turned to look at him.

He was wearing loose green pajamas. On anyone else, it would have looked sloppy and effeminate, but on him, his skin looked even fairer, and there was a relaxed, effortless charm.

“It… looks good.”

An Nan had deliberately chosen the ugliest men’s clothes she could find, just to stop him from using his looks to distract her.

Who would have thought he could make even ugly clothes look good!

To keep herself from staring, An Nan quickly turned away and kept watching TV.

The previous show had ended, so she randomly started a new one.

Just then, Gu Zhiyu sat down on the sofa too.

An Nan jumped. “What are you doing?”

Gu Zhiyu: “Watching TV.”

He sat so close that if either of them moved, their legs would touch.

An Nan quietly scooted away. “This is an 88-episode melodrama, ‘The Devil’s Stepmother.’ You won’t like it.”

Gu Zhiyu: “I like it.”

An Nan: …

The two of them sat side by side.

The TV drama was full of twists and melodrama, but An Nan stared at the screen without taking in a thing.

All she could hear was Gu Zhiyu’s breathing beside her, and she couldn’t focus on the show at all.

An Nan was annoyed with herself. Was she getting neurotic? How could she hear his breathing so clearly?

Sure enough, being too close to this devilish man made her feel out of control.

Irritated, she turned up the TV volume.

Now, the only thing filling the room was the actors’ shouting from the TV.

Gu Zhiyu glanced at her with a half-smile.

In the hallway—

A little girl, about ten years old, crept up quietly.

After hesitating for a moment, she knocked on the door of the 14th floor.

The TV in An Nan’s apartment was so loud that neither of them heard.

Soon, Chu Peipei came out to check.

She called through the door, “Who is it?”

The little girl tilted her head and asked, “Are you my mom?”"