CH 22

Alex got a cup of green bean porridge, peeled off the top plastic film, and slowly drank it. As he drank it, he sat down on the long table where Guo Zhi sat on.

“Sister Guo, we haven’t seen each other in a long time…”

Guo Zhi: “…”

Alex looked to the front and moved closer to the right to be closer to Guo Zhi.

“Sister Guo, have you been busy recently? Why did you never reply to me?”

Guo Zhi: “…”

Alex moved closer to the right again. Their shoulders were almost touching each other.

“Sister Guo…”

‘Pa’, Guo Zhi slapped the papers in her hand on her legs, straightened her waist, turned her head, and stared at Alex.

Alex embarrassingly shut his mouth.

Guo Zhi turned her head back and rolled her eyes. She glanced at the door. Currently, it was still early, and people still had not arrived. She felt that it was a good idea to make use of the time to make things clear with the little kid.

“Alex!” She turned her head to look at him with a serious expression, “don’t mix work and private matters together, that is not appropriate.”

After hearing what she said, Alex’s head lowered again, his waist bent, and his back also hunched….

Guo Zhi: “…”

Being speechless for a moment, she rolled the papers in her hand into a tube and with a ‘pa!’ hit him on the back.

“Sit straight! Don’t hunch your chest! What did I tell you just now?” Guo Zhi reprimanded him.

Alex obediently sat straight, blinked his eyes, and looked at Guo Zhi at a loss.

Guo Zhi sighed, and her voice softened: “I’m telling you Alex… it’s actually not your fault… the matter between me and Liu Chan Yue cannot be explained properly to you. It just makes me suffocated…”

“I’m sorry, sister Guo…” the handsome boy depressingly apologized. He did not dare to hunch his back again, but he lowered his eyes and head. That appearance…

Guo Zhi’s hands felt itchy. She was not able to resist and extended her hand to pat his head. “I’ve already told you that it’s not your fault.”

“Then… can I look for you in the future?” Alex lifted his head, his eyes full of hope.

Guo Zhi almost said ‘yes’, but she kept her rationality in the working environment. She sucked on her lip for a long time before saying: “Never mind… let’s keep our current status quo.”

Alex eyes dimmed, and he looked down.

Guo Zhi watched him like that and felt that her heart hurt. She raised the paper tube and ‘pa, pa’ hit Alex two times.

“I told you already! Stand straight!”

Alex hurriedly stood straight.

“You…” Guo Zhi also felt helpless, “I just don’t want to have that kind of relationship anymore… we at least had … once, I’m also not someone that pulls on their pants and washes their hands clean from everything. In the future, if you have any problems or have anything that you don’t understand, you can look for me.”

Pull…pull what?

Alex wanted to kneel to sister Guo!

“Did you hear me?” Guo Zhi kicked him.

“Yes!” Alex hurriedly said.

The fact that Guo Zhi spoke to him made his heart return to his chest. Even though in the future they would not … that anymore and he felt regretful in his heart, emotionally, he felt better.

Guo Zhi looked at her watch and pointed to another place: “Move! Sit over there!”

Alex knew that people would be arriving soon and that letting other people see him and Guo Zhi being so intimate was not good. Because Guo Zhi did not like it.

He obediently sat in another place to drink his porridge, far away from Guo Zhi… when everybody began arriving one by one, what they saw was the usual scene of Guo Zhi checking people off from her list in her papers to see if anybody was missing, and that in between the models this time, there was a little boy that was said to be 19-years-old sitting on the side obediently eating his breakfast.

Very polite and that greeted everybody that he saw.

It made people like him.

In the afternoon, Alex received a call from his mother.

“I’ve asked around. He did go to the hospital, but it wasn’t that serious. When he drank and was about to swallow, he noticed that there was something wrong and spit it out. Only a bit was ingested. They did a gastric lavage, but it wasn’t anything serious.”

Alex already knew. Last night and today in the morning he had called. When he was told that his dad had in fact drunk the wrong thing and gone to the hospital, he felt a feeling of relief in his heart.

At that time, that woman did not tell him that the problem ‘was not serious’, she only said that her dad was not in a life-threatening condition and that he had to be observed. Later, she also said many beautiful compliments such as that they had not raised him for anything and that it was all thanks to him.

In the end, she said: “This time, your dad hurt his body very badly and must be nurtured well. Buy some supplements for him so that we can help him regain nutrition. Ay, since you are so far, it won’t be convenient to bring things back, just send the money and I’ll buy it for your dad!”

Alex was silent for a long time.

“I already don’t have any money.” He said, “I sent you all the money I had yesterday. I need to pay rent today and don’t even know what to do. Do you have any remaining money? If you do, give me some so that I can pay the rent.”

That woman cried, saying that she was poor. She saw that she could not get anymore money from him and rapidly hung up the phone.

Alex could only sigh. Thinking about how last night, the landlord had blocked him at the entrance to ask him for money, he started to feel anxious. The landlord had already given him an ultimatum, three days, at the latest on Friday.

Alex knew the consequences of being unable to pay the rent on Friday. He saw it once; a big iron lock would be placed all over the door. If you could pay the rent, he would open the door. If not, then he would also open the door.

The landlord did not force anyone, but the tenant also could not drag it on and had to get all their things out.

“How much money did you give to that bitch?” His mom asked.

“Don’t worry about this matter.” Alex sighed. Even if she knew, her battle prowess was far below of that woman, otherwise, that year she would not have been able to break their family.

He remembered very clearly. That time, she did not want to divorce. In the end, she was forced away by that woman.

Fortunately, she looked beautiful, found a widow rapidly, and remarried.

“You…” The woman on the other side of the phone was anxious and angry. But she understood that even if she went to protest, the chances of getting the money back from that woman were low. Her husband also did not like it when she tried to reconnect with her ex-husband’s side of the family.

Ultimately, she could only sigh.

The way she sighed was very similar to him. Both were filled with exhaustion and helplessness…

After Guo Zhi ate lunch and brushed her teeth, she returned to the photo studio, looked at the surroundings, and found Alex.

The young boy shrunk himself in a corner and sat on the equipment box in a daze. Decadent, lacking energy, confused.

It was not the first time that Guo Zhi saw him with that type of expression, but before, she and him were only related through work and did not have any connection privately, so when she saw him like that, she would only shrug and have thoughts like ‘Why is this kid so decadent?’ before letting it go.

However, now their relationship was not the same. Even though Guo Zhi did not want to keep on having a physical relationship with him, she also did not want to cut everything and act as if they were strangers. He called her ‘sister’ so fluidly and sweetly. When she saw him with an air of decadence now, she could not do something like turning away and leaving.

“Alex…” Guo Zhi walked over and called out, but the boy did not show any reaction.

Guo Zhi was silent and then raise her voice a bit: “Alex!”

“Ah? Ah!” It was then that Alex confusedly looked at Guo Zhi as if he had woken up.

“Cheer up! I’m telling you… I don’t care what your mood is like right now, but when I say ‘let’s continue working’, you will have to put away your emotions.” Guo Zhi folded her arms and reprimanded in front of him. Seeing his confused face, her heart softened and the way she talked also softened: “Cheer up. YOUNG from Sheng Yuan is a top brand in the country. When the project is done and out, your value will increase, do you know that?”

Alex brightened up a bit from the scolding he received from her.

“Alex, work is the source of a person’s standing in society, not the ability to just live on. If you want to be successful, then you must have the disposition. Do you know what disposition means? No matter what happens and what emotions you are feeling, when work starts, you must be able to put them aside and get into working mode. That is called disposition.”

“Of course, if you only want to be able to earn enough to live, capable of feeding yourself for today and not tomorrow, then just act as if I haven’t said anything. But I must warn you. When you work with me, those who do not have the right disposition will not have a next opportunity. Do you understand?”

Alex’s black eyes looked at Guo Zhi, and after a while, he softly said: “I understand, sister Guo.”

Guo Zhi saw that he had cheered up and was satisfied. Her arm moved and lightly swung at him: “Straighten your chest, how many times have I told you already! Cheer up!”

Guo Zhi had a bad habit of swinging at other people and was well-known for it. The staff members in the studio saw that she was talking with the model. They could not hear what they were talking about clearly, but they saw the swing. Some people immediately felt the pain.

They all had been swung at once.

Guo Zhi had a lot of strength, and it was very painful when she hit them. Anyone who had suffered did not forget about it.

The reason why Guo Zhi had the nickname of ‘Guo Ye’ was closely related to that.

Omg, look at that model! Look at the way he cheered up after being swung at! Guo Ye has always been very good at fooling people!

Whether he was fooled or not… Alex really did cheer up after being hit.

He watched Guo Zhi turn her back, slap her hands two times, and call out ‘Let’s continue working!’. The crowd that was originally idling about immediately started to busy themselves.

Envy sprouted in his heart.

He envied Guo Zhi’s energy. Every time he saw this sister, she was always full of energy, as if no difficulties were able to beat her.

However, he knew that not everything could not bring her annoyance since he had heard her talk with her family. He knew about her age and that she was being forced by her family to go on blind dates and pressured to marry soon. She was a woman; he could imagine the pressure that she was facing. She never exposed her frustrated, discouraged, and restless self though. At work, she was always the pillar of everybody. Wherever she stood, everything would become orderly.

When there were problems, or things cropped up, everybody would first turn to look at her. She was always able to calmly point in the right direction and think of ways to solve problems.

She was someone that made people feel that she was reliable.

Alex suddenly felt ashamed. Because in his heart, the impulse to rely on her surged. However, he was a man.

Guo Zhi was only a woman.

In the morning, she had made things clear that they would not go back to their previous relationship. He was disappointed in his heart.

But she was also not angry at him anymore, which made him let out a breath.

She said that he was not at fault in that matter, but he did not actually feel the same. He felt that… a man, two women… mm… it really seems like I was in the wrong…

It seems like it’s only normal for Guo Zhi to be angry…

In fact, he also did not comprehend well. His brain was not appropriate to think about these matters.

The shooting went smoothly, and work finished on time in the evening. When Alex left, he saw that Guo Zhi did not have the intention of leaving yet and was still discussing with the photographer in front of the computer.

He saw that she was busy and did not disturb her. he silently left.

When he returned to the underground basement, under the lights, a note paper was pasted on the door of his room. On it, the number 2 was written with a marker.

That meant, after today, he still had two days of time. Tomorrow, a ‘1’ would be pasted. When Friday arrived and he still did not have the money to pay up, what would be waiting for him would be an iron lock.

He had seen that note on the doors of other people before. He had also seen the iron lock. At that time, he felt that the personality of the landlord was interesting.

When that note was pasted on his door, Alex did not feel that it was interesting anymore.

He only prayed that the payment that he was waiting for would be given to him on time.

Please don’t let anything happen.