Dreamland

Wen Zhi had a rather sensual dream.

The male protagonist in the dream was still her best friend's cousin.

The next day, Wen Zhi quietly said to her best friend, "Your cousin has a red mole on his chest."

Her best friend advised, "My cousin is like a flower on a high cliff, utterly devoted to his career and devoid of romantic entanglements. There's no future for you two!"

Wen Zhi believed her.

However, one night in the dream, the cousin pointed to his body and said to Wen Zhi, "There's another mole here, do you want to see it?"

——

The thick flannel curtains were lightproof, and intermittent sobs could be heard in the darkness.

Wen Zhi was confined, with the man's breaths falling by her ear; she was frightened and wanted to escape.

The man sensed her fear and slowly caressed the side of her face with his palm.

Staring in the darkness, Wen Zhi could only make out a blurred outline. She tried to see more clearly, but in the end, she only clearly saw the red mole on the man's chest.

It was the middle of the night.

Wen Zhi, with her weary body, got up. Slowly searching for the direction of getting out of bed, she accidentally touched the man's hand and instantly stiffened, not daring to move anymore.

The man was awake.

He grasped Wen Zhi's wrist and asked in a deep voice, "Who are you?"

This time, Wen Zhi seemed to see his face.

"I am..." Her eyes filled with terror, she slowed down her speech, and then, mustering courage from nowhere, suddenly lifted her head and struck the man's forehead with her own head.

Pain enveloped her.

Wen Zhi also woke up from the dream.

She sat up, holding her forehead, her little face looking particularly pained.

Buzz buzz buzz-

The cellphone beside her pillow was vibrating.

Wen Zhi lingered for a moment before freeing her hand to answer the call. Meng Fan's voice came through the phone, asking her, "Where are you?"

Wen Zhi looked bewildered.

Where? What do you mean where?

After a long pause without hearing Wen Zhi's voice, Meng Fan asked again, "Did you just wake up?"

"..."

Wen Zhi finally remembered.

Last night, she and Meng Fan had agreed to meet at Jiuqu Villa today, and now she was just waking up!

Meng Fan chuckled on the other end of the phone, "I knew you overslept. Lucky for me, I predicted this and delayed my departure. But I'm about to leave now, so you should hurry too."

Wen Zhi sighed in relief and responded, "Got it."

Putting down the phone, Wen Zhi raised her hand to touch her forehead.

Compared to the vivid pain she felt when she woke up, there was now no sensation at all.

She looked down at the Buddha Beads on her wrist, thinking that she needed to be more careful the next time she used the beads to dream. Otherwise, she would end up like last night, encountering a pervert and being harassed by him all night.

Getting ready to go out, Wen Zhi first took off the Buddha Beads and put them back in their box, then changed into a fresh set of clothes and left the house.

The taxi she took was caught in a short traffic jam today because the viaduct was closed.

After arriving at Jiuqu Villa, Wen Zhi was led by the manager to Meng Fan's private exclusive Hot Spring Pool. Passing through the antique-style rockery and the Spotted Bamboo Forest, the manager stopped outside the door, raising his hand to indicate to Wen Zhi, "Just go inside."

Wen Zhi nodded and stepped inside.

The closer they got to the Hot Spring Pool, the clearer the sound of the conversation became.

It was Meng Fan getting fired up, she was laying into someone, "Song Yuxing, are you crazy? Didn't you consider your uncle's age, how much he weighs, how many wives he's had, and what a character he is? Calling him a toad lusting after a swan's flesh is already putting it mildly."

Song Yuxing explained, "Don't listen to what others say about those rumors; I think Wen Zhi marrying my uncle is the most suitable match, and besides, older men tend to be more caring."

Meng Fan suddenly asked, "Your uncle is forty-seven this year, right?"

Song Yuxing crouched down by the edge of the Hot Spring Pool, "He hasn't had his forty-seventh birthday yet. Once Wen Zhi marries my uncle, we can have the birthday party and the wedding reception together and invite all of Bai City's high society to attend. Won't Wen Zhi be glamorous then?"

Meng Fan laughed sarcastically, "It does sound somewhat reasonable."

Song Yuxing smiled with curved lips, "Could you bring it up to Wen Zhi? I know you two are close."

Meng Fan looked at Song Yuxing, "How about this then, two happy occasions at once, introduce me to your grandfather, and I'll be your grandmother? That would be adding kin to kin."

Song Yuxing's beautiful eyes widened as she stood up, "Meng Fan, you're shameless! My grandfather is eighty-nine! What are you after him for?"

"After his old age, after his lack of bathing!"

Meng Fan, leaning on the edge of the Hot Spring Pool with skin glowing on her shoulders, laughed while saying, "At that time, I'll have my wedding with your grandfather coincide with his ninetieth birthday celebration and invite all of Bai City's high society to make me glamorous too."

Wen Zhi nearly laughed out loud from behind the screen.

She and Meng Fan had known each other since childhood. Meng Fan had always been incredibly outspoken, never letting herself be shortchanged either verbally or materially. Anyone who got reprimanded by Meng Fan could be moody all day long.

At this moment, Song Yuxing, infuriated by Meng Fan, had an ashen face, "I meant well in finding Wen Zhi a place to belong, and it's not like my uncle is bad, he's very wealthy. Why are you being so sarcastic?"

Meng Fan took a grape from the fruit platter and popped it into her mouth, clucking her tongue twice, "Look at you, Song Yuxing, defending him so vigorously. If this were ancient times, you'd definitely be married to your uncle."

Song Yuxing pointed at Meng Fan in the Hot Spring Pool, gritting her teeth, "You, you're just too much."

Meng Fan mocked Song Yuxing's tone, "You you you're just too much hehehe."

"..."

Song Yuxing turned and walked away.

But after a few steps, Song Yuxing turned back.

She was simply too angry, and told Meng Fan, "Now it's only you protecting Wen Zhi, who else in the Wen Family cares about her? Today you're ruining such a good match for her, if she ends up marrying worse off in the future, you'll be the first one she resents—ah—!!"

Just as Song Yuxing finished speaking, Meng Fan grabbed a piece of watermelon from the fruit platter and threw it at Song Yuxing, "Say that one more time and see! Want me to sew your foul mouth shut!"

Song Yuxing couldn't dodge the thrown piece of watermelon and got it all over herself.

She was infuriated and stuttered without being able to curse out a single word, finally just walking away.

Wen Zhi stayed away from a face-to-face encounter with Song Yuxing, retreating to the other side of the screen, waiting for Song Yuxing to leave before pushing aside the bead curtain in front of the screen.

Meng Fan looked up and saw Wen Zhi arriving, smiling and asking, "Heard all that, did you?"

Wen Zhi nodded.

She walked in, adjusted the black-framed glasses on her nose and asked, "Why is Song Yuxing here?"

"When I arrived she saw me and insisted on coming in to find trouble, so I had to smack her down a bit to spoil her day."

While she was talking, Meng Fan gestured for Wen Zhi to come closer, "Quick, take off your glasses, it's just the two of us here."

The service staff handed over the prepared tube top and shorts to Wen Zhi, who removed her glasses that were covering her pretty features, went in, changed, and came out.

Meng Fan glanced at her teasingly, "Look at those snow-white legs, if only I were a man, you wouldn't leave the Hot Spring Pool before dark."

Wen Zhi, accustomed to Meng Fan's flirtatious banter, calmly replied, "Too bad you're not a man."

Meng Fan chuckled cheekily, "Is it still in time for me to head to Telande now?"

Wen Zhi got into the Hot Spring Pool and moved closer to Meng Fan, "You laugh so lewdly."

In front of Wen Zhi, Meng Fan never cared about her image, resting her chin on Wen Zhi's shoulder, "You weren't angry at Song Yuxing's words just now, were you?"

Wen Zhi shook her head, "No, I wouldn't marry her uncle anyway."

Meng Fan added, "Right! If you were to marry, you'd marry a man like my uncle!"