The Man in the Black Sweater - Chapter 7: Wait a Moment

Luo Xu lifted the puppy’s hind leg to check its injury. The little white dog yelped loudly, as if she were about to neuter it.

“Relax, I only like you in a normal, non-weird way,” Luo Xu said with a laugh, gently stroking its fur.

She picked it up and sat with it on the tatami by the window. As she caressed its fur, the dog made a low, contented “woo-woo” sound in its throat.

“I’ll give you a name, okay? How about Ross?”

“Woo-woo-woo…”

“Ross was my ex-boyfriend. He cheated on me—with a spider-legged vixen.” Luo Xu’s voice lowered. “I always thought people with out-turned feet are more likely to cheat. Guess I was right.”

“Woo-woo-woo-woo…”

“Don’t be upset about the name yet. It’ll come in handy someday. For example, if I ever run into him again, I can say, ‘Hey kid, my little dog at home’s also named Ross!’” Luo Xu grinned broadly, clearly savoring the thought. “Considering I saved your life, you don’t mind helping me out a little, do you?”

“Woo-woo-woo-woo…”

She pulled the curtains wide open. The moon hung high in the sky, and beneath it, a girl and her dog were chatting in harmony.

After a while, the sound of a car engine came from downstairs, followed by a beam of white headlights.

“Ross, can you see well? Help me check if the big boss has come back,” Luo Xu said, setting the puppy down and kneeling on the windowsill to peek outside.

“Woof-woof-woof-woof!”

“Oh, right, you haven’t met him yet.” Luo Xu patted its head, chuckled softly, and said under her breath, “R…”

She glanced at the clock on the wall—ten o’clock sharp. Exactly the time people usually finish dinner and chat a bit before saying goodbye.

Just then, the phone rang. Startled, Ross twitched, then darted under the blanket, leaving only his round little butt sticking out.

Luo Xu picked up the phone, smiling as she gave that exposed butt a light smack. “You’ve got the guts of a hamster, huh?”

Tang Huang’s cheerful voice came from the other end. He was calling to wish her a happy new year.

“You’re two hours early. Not very sincere.”

“If you weren’t living alone in my uncle’s house, I wouldn’t have bothered to call at all,” Tang Huang said teasingly.

“Watch that mouth of yours, or I’ll go downstairs right now and tell your uncle all about our little deal.”

“Then you’d get kicked out—and lose your paycheck.”

Luo Xu: “…”

“Too naïve, little lady. Hahaha!” Tang Huang laughed boisterously, clearly in a good mood.

Luo Xu guessed boldly, “Don’t tell me—too many handsome guys in Egypt are making you happy?”

“Tch, don’t remind me. Every good-looking guy I met was taller than me—they all wanted to be on top.”

“With your build? Were you planning to be the one on top instead?”

Tang Huang rubbed his freshly shaved chin. “I’m still a man, you know. Is it so strange to have ambitions?”

“Heh.”

“Alright, alright, not gonna argue with you. How have you been? My uncle treating you well?”

“Pretty well.”

“I’ve transferred the money to your account, check it.”

“Which card?” Luo Xu suddenly sat upright.

“The one you always use.”

“Are you kidding me? That’s my American card! I’m in China now!”

Tang Huang burst into uncontrollable laughter. “Hahahahahahahaha!”

“I’ll open a new account. You’d better send it again.”

“Oh no, bad signal—what did you say? Can’t hear you! Let’s talk another day, gotta hang up—bye!”

“Beep… beep… beep…”

He hung up the phone swiftly, leaving Luo Xu staring at her screen with eyes as wide as copper bells.

Ross crawled out from under the blanket, glanced at his petrified owner, and wagged his little butt as he climbed up onto the windowsill on all fours.

“Hey, look at you! One phone call and suddenly you’ve grown a spine?” Luo Xu reacted fast and quickly scooped him up.

Downstairs, Pei Yan sat on the sofa. The dimly lit living room had only a few wall lamps on. The atmosphere was calm and elegant, but his overly proper sitting posture made one feel an odd urge to kneel and burn incense, begging the King of Hell for mercy.

Luo Xu dawdled her way down the stairs, groping in the dark before sitting down beside him.

“Sit over there,” he said, stopping the motion of scrolling on his phone.

Luo Xu slid her butt sideways and sat on the single-seater sofa.

“What are you sitting here for?” she asked.

“Thinking.”

Luo Xu was self-aware enough not to pry into what exactly he was thinking about.

“You… must be doing quite well in business, huh?” she asked cautiously.

“Mm.”

“Generally, successful businessmen have unique vision—they can spot opportunities others can’t, which is why they make so much money.”

Pei Yan rested his folded hands on his knees. “Are you flattering me? If you are, you can stop now.”

Luo Xu sighed. “I’m kind of short on cash lately. Do you know any good investments for someone like me?”

Pei Yan’s gaze darkened slightly. “I’m not your financial advisor.”

“But you’re literally the only person I know who works in finance.”

“Do you even know how much my time is worth?”

“You were just zoning out a second ago,” Luo Xu said boldly, biting her lip.

“I was thinking, not zoning out.”

“Well, I don’t have money, so I can’t pay you a consultation fee.”

Pei Yan looked her over and asked, “Tang Huang—he won’t help you if you’re broke?”

“He… I had the baby voluntarily, okay? I’m not using that to tie him down or make any deals with him. Don’t get the wrong idea—I’m not that kind of person,” Luo Xu stammered, not even sure what she was explaining anymore. In a mosquito-sized voice, she added, “Besides, he transferred the money to the wrong card…”

A soft laugh came from the air. Luo Xu closed her eyes, lamenting her sheer bad luck.

“How much money do you have on hand right now?”

Luo Xu lifted her head and held up one palm. “If we’re talking RMB, about this much.”

Pei Yan tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Fifty thousand? What can you even invest with that—learning how to make money out of thin air?”

Luo Xu pulled her hand back and ran it through her hair. “Uh… actually, you misunderstood. Not fifty thousand—five thousand…”

Pei Yan: “…”

The two of them sat quietly under the dim light for half an hour. Pei Yan closed his eyes to rest, while Luo Xu slumped sideways on the sofa, mentally calculating how much “emergency grain” she had left.

The puppy’s treatment and vaccination fees—she still owed Brother Liu a thousand yuan for those.
And from now on, the puppy needed a six-in-one vaccine shot every twenty days until it turned one year old, plus rabies vaccinations afterward… She couldn’t even calculate how much that would cost. She might as well declare bankruptcy now.

Luo Xu lay sprawled over the armrest of the sofa, looking pitifully at Pei Yan.
“There’s really no other way? If it comes to that, I can work as a cleaning lady in your company. That should pay decently, right?”

“The current cleaning staff are doing fine. One position per person—no openings.”

Luo Xu shrank back, feeling wounded. She couldn’t even get a janitor’s job now. Was she that useless?

“Have you ever worked as a gardener before?” Pei Yan asked suddenly.

Her eyes lit up. “I have! Why, does your company need one?”

“The company doesn’t—but my home does. Uncle Cui is getting old and his back isn’t great. If you can help him out, I’ll pay you the standard market rate.”

“Really? It’s a deal then!” Luo Xu clapped her hands together, instantly full of energy.

Pei Yan said, “Start tomorrow. For the details, ask Uncle Cui.”

Luo Xu nodded so eagerly her head was almost bobbing like a drumstick. The dim lighting made her wonder if he could even see it.

Dong…
The big clock in the living room chimed once—it was eleven o’clock sharp.

“Just one more hour till New Year’s. Happy New Year,” Luo Xu said cheerfully, clasping her hands in mock formality.

Pei Yan replied flatly, “New Year’s greetings that aren’t said on the dot lack sincerity.”

Luo Xu’s face darkened. That was exactly what she had said earlier to Tang Huang.
Karma, she thought.

She scratched the edge of the sofa with her fingers, thinking for a while before asking casually, “Was your date tonight not very smooth?”
He’d come home looking gloomy and dark—like someone who’d just been dumped.

She smiled as she asked, as though it were mere friendly concern, not gossip.

“How did you know I was on a date?”

“Aunt Chen told me. She said your date was your fiancée—pretty and capable.” Luo Xu rested her chin in her hands and looked at him with a teasing smile.

“She’s not my fiancée.” Pei Yan picked up the cup on the table and replied calmly.

“Is she pretty, though?”

“Prettier than you.”

Luo Xu pouted, then grinned and said, “Oh, I see… so you’re using me as the benchmark for judging beauty now?”

Pei Yan paused for a moment, caught off guard. “You really know how to twist things.”

Luo Xu scooted closer to him and said, “Since you offered me a job, I can reluctantly listen to you vent a little. But not for too long—half an hour max.”

“I don’t have anything to vent about.”

“You totally do! You’ve got that ‘I’m upset, please comfort me’ face right now,” Luo Xu teased, pointing at his face and waving her finger playfully.

Pei Yan blinked and said, “Do all women enjoy making random assumptions like this?”

“Absolutely.”

“It’s almost midnight. You should go to bed,” he said, lowering his gaze, clearly not interested in letting the conversation drift beyond polite boundaries.

“I’ll stay with you a bit longer. You did give me a job, after all.”

“That excuse—you already used it.”

“Well, I didn’t get to finish using it before. Recycling is good, right?” She winked her right eye quickly, quick-witted as ever.

Pei Yan stood up. “I’m going to sleep. Suit yourself.”

As he walked past her, Luo Xu moved fast—she grabbed his wrist and blurted out, “Wait.”

Pei Yan looked down at her. Her slender fingers were resting on his wrist, warm to the touch, sending an odd, electric jolt through him that made the hairs on his arms stand on end.

“What are you…”

His low voice lingered in the air. The big clock chimed again—midnight.

“Happy New Year,” she said with a smile, releasing his wrist and looking up at him brightly.