The story of Rose starts with being a brother

Chapter 450 The Foot Massage Parlor's Match: Zhang Wei Suffers Another Heartbreak
At the entrance of the foot massage parlor's private room, Nuolan watched the scene unfold before her with an icy expression, her grip on her phone tightening.

The noise she made when she pushed the door open wasn't too loud, but it wasn't quiet either. The female technician in business attire, who was kneeling on her ex-husband's back, was startled.

Turning around and seeing her standing menacingly at the door, he was stunned for two seconds before he reacted and got off Wen Sheng's back.

"Madam, what is this...?" the female technician with the number "168" printed on her name tag asked hesitantly.

Nuolan stared coldly at her, then her gaze shifted to Wen Sheng, who was still lying motionless on the massage bed. She gritted her teeth and said coldly, "Wen Sheng, is this the place you asked me to come here?"

"Yes, the environment here is alright, it's quiet, and it's a good place to relax." Wen Sheng, who was lying down, said indifferently, still not getting up to look at Nuolan.

Then he turned to the technician standing next to him, and asked with a gentler tone, "Is there anything else I haven't finished?"

"Um... sir, we just finished your foot soak and foot massage, leg massage, and neck and shoulder massage. The full-body massage package still includes the abdomen, back, hands and arms, and head massage, which we haven't done yet. You also requested an ear cleaning, which we haven't done yet either."

The technician paused for a moment before quickly answering.

Hearing these words, Nuolan not only gripped her phone tighter and tighter, but also clenched her teeth, wishing she could smash the phone on this bastard's head first, and then pounce on him and bite him to death!
However, Wen Sheng seemed oblivious to Nuolan's murderous intent, simply nodding and smiling as he said, "Alright, let's leave the project here for now. You can go now. If we need to continue, I'll call the front desk to call you."

After a pause, the scoundrel chuckled and added, "Remember not to switch channels."

"Ok sir."

Number 168 nodded in agreement, then packed up her tools and left the private room. As she passed by Nuolan, she couldn't help but nod nervously and give a dry laugh, afraid that this very beautiful woman would suddenly go crazy and beat her up.

With such a beautiful wife, why would he go out and get massages from other women?

The question only flashed through her mind briefly. In the years she had worked in this industry, it wasn't the first time she had encountered a situation where a man's wife would come to his door to beat him up after he went out for a foot massage.

There were even some that actually "fought up" to the enemy's aid.

In the eyes of these men, no matter how beautiful their wives are, nothing beats the novelty of getting a massage outside. But these are precisely the customers who are their gods.

In comparison, the pretty woman who came today was actually quite good-tempered; she didn't cause any trouble, and the handsome guy was also quite calm.

Aren't they a couple?

Number 168 was filled with doubts at this moment, and even looked back once after leaving the house.

What a pity, this customer is quite handsome...

Once only Wensheng and Nuolan remained in the private room, the air became unusually quiet. The light from the wall lamps made the room slightly dim, and neither of them rushed to speak.

After a long while, Wen Sheng stretched and slowly rolled over to lie half-reclined on the bed, looking at the figure by the door and chuckled, "Aren't you going to turn on the light?"

"Bah!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Nuolan reached out and turned on the ceiling light at the switch by the door, instantly illuminating the private room.

Perhaps the dim light had swallowed up too much of Nuolan's emotions, because when the lights were turned on, her face was neither sad nor happy.

However, after her nostrils twitched slightly, the rise and fall of her chest was more pronounced than usual.

"Don't you have anything to say?" Nuolan asked softly, her tone revealing neither anger nor sadness.

Wen Sheng subconsciously rubbed his fingers together. He hadn't smoked since arriving in this world, but now he really wanted one.

"What did you say?" Wen Sheng adjusted the back of the massage bed a little higher to make himself more comfortable. "Shouldn't we have come here? Don't worry, this is a legitimate shop."

"You've been to shady places?"

"Of course not, do you think I would go?"

To be honest, this was the first time in his life that this scoundrel had ever come for a foot massage.

After a few seconds of silence, Nuolan said calmly, "I thought you wouldn't do it before, but I'm not sure now."

Just like she thought the other person wouldn't be forcibly kissed by Tang Youyou, but now she's not so sure.

Wen Sheng smiled and said, "It's okay if you don't believe me. I'm not trying to explain anything."

Why don't you want to explain?

"do you need?"

"Don't you need it?"

"do you need?"

"..."

The former couple were speaking nonsense in a calm tone, as if they were arguing, but it seemed that they were arguing about more than just whether Wen Sheng had been to an unlicensed massage parlor.

Nolan pursed her lips, skipped over the topic, and went straight to the point: "What did you mean by what you said at home just now?"

"Didn't I just say that? It's exactly what you're thinking."

"I want a straight answer. I don't want to hear any more riddles from you!"

Nolan's carefully maintained composure was finally broken; she raised her voice, adding anger to her tone.

Wen Sheng nodded, but didn't answer immediately. He pointed to the empty massage bed next to him and said, "Standing and talking will be tiring. Why don't you sit or lie down? There are fruits and snacks here, so you can eat and chat at the same time."

"No need, I just want to hear your answer quickly!"

Nolan's voice rose a little higher, and her eyes turned cold again.

“I’ve actually made it very clear before that since you care so much about this matter and want to find out the truth yourself, you can go and investigate it more thoroughly.”

Wen Sheng spoke these words calmly, but to Nuolan, they almost made her lose her temper.

She took two steps forward, staring intently at Wen Sheng, and said, "Shouldn't I have cared about that? Did I do something wrong?"

“Of course you’re not wrong, Nuolan.” Wen Sheng sat up straight on the bed and looked into his ex-wife’s eyes. “You should doubt everything. You should doubt why I didn’t let you go to the apartment, and you should doubt that I was having an affair with another woman there. You should have used the opportunity of treating people to dinner to test them one by one. You should have used threats and inducements to Zeng Xiaoxian to find out about my situation at the apartment. You should have proven to everyone that we are a couple!”

"..."

As Wen Sheng finished speaking, Nuolan seemed to be processing the information in his words. She stared blankly at her ex-husband for a long time without saying a word.

In the quiet private room, the two gazed at each other for a long time, until the sound of high heels clicking in the hallway outside the room came from the distance. Nolan, not knowing which masseuse was passing by, snapped out of her reverie, her eyes lowered, and said:

"So, you think I ruined your relationship with your friends?"

“Of course not.” Wen Sheng looked away and shook his head. “My relationship with them won’t be ruined because of this. They’re all a bunch of carefree and interesting people.”

"So you think they're more important than me?"

"Heh, Nuolan, your question is even more interesting! Why don't you just ask me who I should save if my mom and you both fell into the water?"

"..."

Nolan swallowed her words, realizing she had just asked a stupid question.

At this moment, Wen Sheng looked at her and continued, "Nuo Lan, I know why you are so troubled and concerned about these things, so I didn't stop you much during dinner yesterday. I didn't want to embarrass you at this banquet that should have been a welcome dinner and a celebration of your promotion."

He paused briefly, then added, "But that doesn't mean I have no issues with you, which is why I invited you here."

"If you have a problem, just say it! If I hadn't spoken first today, were you just planning to keep it to yourself?!"

Nuolan suddenly became agitated, glaring angrily at Wen Sheng: "What do you mean by inviting me here? Do you even care about my feelings?!"

"If expressing our opinions verbally were effective, we wouldn't have gotten divorced in the first place, would we?"

Wen Sheng's voice was neither soft nor loud, but it struck Nuolan's heart like a heavy hammer, quickly dissipating the anger in her eyes and leaving her bewildered.

“I know you’ve been suspicious and insecure lately, so I brought you into my apartment to try and ease your suspicions, but things didn’t turn out that way.”

At this point, Wen Sheng smiled and said, "You treat every girl who appears next to me like a major threat. So when you saw that female masseuse massaging me just now, did you even want to slap her?"

"..."

Nuolan's expression changed. Looking at her ex-husband, she moved her lips slightly but couldn't help uttering two words: "Disgusting!"

"Disgusting?" Wen Sheng laughed indifferently. "To you, any other woman around me is disgusting, right?"

"Yes, what's wrong?!"

"nothing."

Wen Sheng shook his head, sat up straight, and then half-lay on the bed again. He looked at Nuolan and said calmly, "Then I want to ask you, what is our relationship now?"

"..."

Nolan's breath hitched; the question instantly left her mind blank.

Several answers welled up in her mind, but she couldn't bring herself to say any of them.

Wen Sheng suddenly sighed, then looked into her eyes and said softly, "Nuo Lan, we are no longer husband and wife. We have lost our love for each other and our right to everything."

...As October arrived, the temperature in Shanghai finally dropped after a torrential rain during the National Day holiday.

Inside the study of 3601.

"Yifei, I saw you bought a lot of milk the other day, do you have any left?"

Lu Ziqiao pushed open the door and entered the study. After seeing Hu Yifei, he asked her a question.

Hu Yifei, who was holding a notebook and preparing a paper, shook her head upon hearing this: "There used to be, but now it's uncertain."

"What do you mean?" Lu Ziqiao asked, puzzled.

"Here."

Hu Yifei gestured with her chin toward the corner of the study. Lu Ziqiao looked over and saw Zhang Wei half-lying on the bed. The bedside table was full of milk. He was holding a tall wine glass, poured half a glass of milk, and then tilted his head back and gulped it down with a "drunk" look.

"..."

Lu Ziqiao raised an eyebrow, his expression strange, and said, "Is he... trying to get himself drunk?"

Hu Yifei tugged at his clothes, gesturing for him to bend down, before mouthing, "Heartbroken."

"Heartbroken?!"

Lu Ziqiao suddenly raised his voice, instantly attracting the attention of Zhang Wei, who was trying to numb himself with "milk".

Hu Yifei quickly patted Lu Ziqiao's arm and whispered, "Keep your voice down. That female traffic cop from before, after the last banquet, the relationship fell through when we met again a couple of days ago. Zhang Wei has been paralyzed like this all day. You're here just in time to talk to him, but be careful not to mention the words 'heartbroken' in front of him. I'll make room for you two."

After saying that, she picked up her laptop and was about to leave, but Lu Ziqiao nodded and said to Zhang Wei, "Zhang Wei, I heard you got dumped again."

"..."

Hu Yifei stumbled and almost tripped over the chair.

Lu Ziqiao turned his head and said innocently, "What's wrong? I didn't mention 'heartbreak'!"

"..."

Hu Yifei rolled her eyes, shook her head, and left the study, too lazy to care.

At this moment, Zhang Wei saw Lu Ziqiao walking over, and immediately poured himself another glass of milk, saying in a drunken voice, "Ziqiao, you've come at the right time. Tonight, let's... drink until we drop."

“Zhang Wei, I’m telling you to be more resilient. Victory and defeat are common occurrences in war,” Lu Ziqiao said, sitting down beside his bed to comfort him.

However, Zhang Wei, who had already given up on himself, said, "Failure is common, but I have never won."

"I always thought that Moran was the one I had been looking for, but she actually complained that I wasn't a rich kid!"

"Rich second generation?"

"If your salary can cover your car loan and mortgage, then you're a second-generation rich kid."

"..."

Lu Ziqiao was speechless for a moment, but after thinking for a moment, he asked, "Didn't you have a persona? An elite lawyer who drives luxury cars, how did the other party see through you so quickly?"

"It's all because you said before that wearing a vest isn't good for long-term relationships. I told her the truth when I asked her out the other day, and then..."

Feeling upset, Zhang Wei drank another glass of wine—or rather, a glass of milk—and then his face contorted with the rage of someone who had just drunk strong liquor, as if he were tasting whether the milk was soy sauce-flavored or strong-flavored.

Finally, he sighed and said self-deprecatingly, "I know I'm a poor wretch, even with a loan I can't afford a house."

"But what's wrong with wanting to find a gentle and virtuous marriage partner?" Zhang Wei became agitated again.

Hearing this, Lu Ziqiao shook his head helplessly and said, "I mean, wearing a disguise is not good for long-term relationships, but the problem is, have you entered into a relationship with that Mo Lan? You've already made a mistake by trying to have a relationship while wearing a disguise from the beginning. Besides, where in this world are there so many gentle and virtuous marriage partners? You've got the direction wrong."

"You mean I shouldn't date women?"

"..."

"What I mean is, don't just meet a girl and think about dating her and getting married. It's not like you're on a blind date."

"But my dean taught me that any relationship that doesn't aim for marriage can be classified as immoral!"

"Brother, what era are we living in? Your thinking needs to keep up with the times. Do you know why McDonald's is a Fortune 500 company? Because fast food is more in line with the pace of modern life. Which is more popular, a dashing playboy or a marriage fanatic who only drinks milk?"

"But……"

"No buts, Zhang Wei. Get rid of your outdated ideas. Haven't you failed enough?" Lu Ziqiao sneered. "Besides, how many relationships have you had since you started college? And how many of them were successful?"

Zhang Wei thought about it. He had dated someone in college, but she was ten years older than him and was incredibly insatiable. He was almost completely drained. Then there was Xiao Li, but she ran away from the wedding just when things were about to get going. Then there was this Mo Lan, but this time it wasn't exactly a relationship.

“Two and a half times,” Zhang Wei replied.

"So, not only do you have few relationships, but your failure rate is also 100%. Why don't you know how to change?"

Relationship coach Lu Ziqiao was determined this time and said, "Starting tomorrow, I'll teach you how to be a new person!"

……

The next day, at Lonely Corner Bar.

"If you were a firebird, I would be the flame—burning you, burning you!"

Zeng Xiaoxian held a guitar and sang in his unique, hoarse voice.

Hu Yifei, Guan Gu Shenqi, and Qin Yumo were sitting on the sofa, but their expressions as they listened to Zeng Xiaoxian's performance were still hard to describe.

After Zeng Xiaoxian finished singing, the group looked at each other, and Qin Yumo was the first to applaud: "Not bad, Teacher Zeng, you've improved a lot since last time."

"Of course, the preliminary rounds of 'Dancing with the Stars' are just around the corner, and I've been practicing extra lately," Zeng Xiaoxian said proudly, putting away his guitar.

"If this is all the extra training has to offer, then I think we should pray that the show will add a 'most bizarre' award, then it'll definitely be given to you." Hu Yifei mocked Zeng Xiaoxian as always.

Zeng Xiaoxian, used to this, didn't bother to argue and snorted before saying:

"I have some good news to tell you..."

"Ta-da! Look who's here!"

Just then, Tang Youyou's voice came, and everyone looked over to be surprised to find that the person following behind Tang Youyou was actually Neo.

"Neo?! What are you doing here?!"

Hu Yifei exclaimed in surprise and immediately stood up to greet him, her smile impossible to hide.

"Oh, there's another customer here. I ran into Youyou when I came over, so I thought I'd drop by." Neo said, then smiled and greeted everyone.

At this moment, Guan Gu Shenqi asked Zeng Xiaoxian, "Teacher Zeng, what was the good news you were about to tell us?"

"..."

Zeng Xiaoxian looked at Hu Yifei, who was sitting opposite Neo with a big smile on her face, touched the things in his pocket, gritted his teeth and laughed, "No, nothing, you misheard."

……

Night, Shanghai Broadcasting Building.

As Zeng Xiaoxian was packing up to leave after the live stream ended, he noticed Nuolan still sitting in her chair, lost in thought. He couldn't help but ask, "Director Nuolan, what's wrong? Aren't you leaving after get off work?"

"Hmm?" Coming back to her senses, Nuolan glanced at him, then shook her head and said, "You go first, I'll sit for a while longer."

"Oh, okay, Wensheng is coming to pick you up tonight, right?"

Zeng Xiaoxian casually mentioned that when Nuolan was the main character in Love Apartment, he had hitched a ride with Wen Sheng to pick her up. However, he felt like a shining third wheel on the way back, completely out of place with the couple. So after that, he preferred to take a taxi rather than hitch a ride.

However, at that moment, after Zeng Xiaoxian uttered those casual words, he suddenly realized that Nuolan's emotions were not right.

Seeing that the other person was staring at him coldly, Zeng Xiaoxian shrank back and asked cautiously, "What's wrong?"

"No, it's nothing." Nuolan breathed a sigh of relief, then added, "Wensheng will come to pick me up later, you can go first."

"Okay okay."

Zeng Xiaoxian nodded quickly. He had just racked his brains for a while, but couldn't figure out the reason. After all, neither of them were the type to make their thoughts obvious.

So he packed his things, put his phone in his pocket, and was about to leave when he froze when he touched something else in his pocket.

Thinking of the scene of Hu Yifei and Neo getting together during the day, Zeng Xiaoxian, feeling frustrated, gritted his teeth and pulled out the item, saying:
"Oh, right, Director Nuo, these are two tickets for the inner field from the 'Dancing with the Stars' program team. Thank you for taking care of me these past few days. These two tickets are for you. If you and Wensheng have time, you can come and watch... Hehe, just consider it a date for entertainment..."

Anyway, he and the people in the apartment had essentially teamed up to keep Yu Mo's affair a secret from Nuolan, and since they had done something to damage their relationship, this was a good way to make up for it.

However, after hearing his words, Nuolan stared blankly at the two bills.

Dating?

(End of this chapter)