Chapter 150: Self-Control

October 18, 2023

Author: Zi Tao

On the way back to shore, Chu Xuan was filled with mixed emotions.

In her previous life, she and Mu Chenze had been husband and wife—they’d done everything together. But in this life, they weren’t married.

Thinking about where his hand had just been, Chu Xuan felt both shy and helpless, but to her surprise, she didn’t dislike it.

That was dangerous.

If this kept up, she might not have enough self-control.

In her past life, she’d never cherished the little moments with Mu Chenze, only ever caring about money. In this life, she knew to treasure those things, but right now, she couldn’t date him, let alone marry him.

Otherwise, she’d only be hurting him.

Mu Chenze followed behind her, calling out, “Chu Xuan, don’t be mad. I just meant to grab your arm just now… I’m sorry! I can take responsibility—I’ll marry you!”

He felt like this was even more serious than a kiss.

Chu Xuan’s heart raced. She could tell Mu Chenze wasn’t joking—if she agreed, marriage would be a done deal.

But she couldn’t marry him now.

Without looking back, she refused, “I know you didn’t do it on purpose, I’m not mad. But don’t bring it up again—let’s just pretend it never happened.”

With that, she kept walking toward the shore.

Mu Chenze trailed after her, cautious. “But you were clearly angry just now. It’s only right that I take responsibility.”

Chu Xuan didn’t respond, hurrying to get out of the water.

She took off her shoes and put on new cloth shoes, trying to act calm. “It’s just like that time we kissed—it was a misunderstanding. We’re just buddies, I don’t need you to take responsibility.”

She quickly changed into clean clothes.

But she didn’t take off her wet clothes.

Mu Chenze came ashore too. A gust of sea breeze made him sneeze, his voice a little stuffy. “So… will you still let me teach you to swim?”

Chu Xuan’s expression was calm. “To avoid any more misunderstandings, I’ll just teach myself from now on.”

“That won’t do. It’s dangerous to swim alone.”

“I’ll tie a rope to myself. It won’t be dangerous.”

Mu Chenze felt a bit frustrated—he didn’t want to lose his job as her swimming coach.

He quickly thought of an idea.

“If you don’t let me come, it means you mind what happened. And if you mind, then I have to take responsibility. I’ll go propose marriage today.”

Chu Xuan surrendered immediately, changing her tune. “You can come. But you have to promise nothing like today ever happens again. If it does, all our cooperation is over.”

Mu Chenze promised right away, “From now on, when I teach you to swim, I’ll keep my distance. Unless you’re in danger, I won’t touch you at all. Ah-choo…”

Chu Xuan didn’t want him to catch cold. “Alright! Hurry up and change your clothes.”

“Okay. Ah-choo…”

Mu Chenze found a sheltered spot and changed into dry clothes.

Half an hour later, Chu Xuan arrived home to find the gate locked.

Luckily, she had her key. She unlocked the door and headed straight for the kitchen to boil some hot water for a bath.

Gao Meijuan and the others were already back from work, but Xiao Feng wasn’t home. There was hot water in the stove, though—she wondered who had so thoughtfully prepared it.

She carried a bucket of hot water to her room, took a hot bath, and changed into fresh clothes.

At that moment, Mu Chenze was taking all the seafood to the dock.

He planned to buy more swimming crabs and mantis shrimp to sell in the city.

He was still renting Lin Yong’s truck—even the days he’d been in the hospital, he’d had to pay the rental fee.

Around four in the afternoon, Gao Meijuan and the others returned from work. Only then did Chu Xuan find out it was Qin Mahua who had boiled the water for her.

Everyone chatted as they cleaned fish.

Gao Meijuan had just heard about Feng Jun’s death. She looked at Qin Mahua and asked, “Now that Feng Jun’s gone, will you still be able to get compensation for Chenze’s medical bills?”

Qin Mahua deftly gutted a fish in seconds. “Luckily, we got it before his accident. Otherwise, it would’ve been hard. It was Chenfu who went to ask, and Feng Jun paid up right away. We have Xiao Xuan to thank for that—she had something on him.”

At the mention of “something,” everyone looked at Chu Xuan with curiosity.

Especially Hua Daling, who couldn’t help but ask, “Xiao Xuan, you knew about Feng Jun and Niu Ping’s affair, didn’t you? How did you find out? I heard even Feng’s family didn’t know.”

Darlings, that’s all I can update for now—it’s too late and I’m exhausted. I’ll post more at noon or in the afternoon."