Chapter 5: Free Money

If I thought my room was over the top, that was nothing compared to what I faced the moment I left my room.

Everywhere I could see, the house was... more than I ever thought possible. It was tastefully done, in my opinion. There wasn’t any bright colors on the walls, or disgusting carpets on the floor, or things that made you scared to breathe just in case you broke something.

Instead, I actually felt... comfortable. Maybe I would get whoever did the rest of the house to redo my bedroom.

It was a thought.

Walking over to the staircase, I stopped and listened.

There was two sets of voices that carried up from the floor below.

From my vantage point, I was looking right down into an open concept main floor and the massive kitchen off to one side of the house.

There, there were two men were talking in low voices. I couldn’t hear every word that they were saying, but I could hear enough to know they were probably discussing work.

The two men were near the island counter, their posture relaxed like they were long time friends.

They were about the same height, and probably both in their late thirties, early forties. The one sitting on the stool had lush black hair that was effortlessly styled, and his clothes looked expensive even to me. He was relaxed, but still carried himself like he was always the most important person in any room he was in. Even the way the other person reacted to him, I knew that the man was used to people listening when he talked.

He definitely was not military—military men moved sharper than that—but no one would ever question whether he was in charge.

If this was my last life, I would definitely get him to scratch my itch, he was exactly my type. But if it came down to fucking a hot guy or surviving.... well, I didn’t get a lot of my itches scratched.

Shaking my head, I turned to look at the other man, the one leaning against the back counter. He was pouring himself a cup of coffee, his shoulders tense in a way that said he knew I was there and was choosing not to turn around yet.

This one screamed ex-military or security, just based on how he held himself even while doing something as mundane as coffee. Not to mention he was drinking his coffee black.

Only military and psychopaths drank their coffee that way.

That must make me a psychopath.

I smirked to myself as I walked toward them. I would have to be careful until I learned the layout of the land.

Both of them were capable.

Both of them dangerous in different ways.

They looked up at me when they heard my footsteps but quickly returned their attention to what they were doing before. It was like having me in their space was just part of the norm.

The only problem was that I didn’t have a sweet clue who they were.

The man sitting at the counter put down his phone froze for a second, then his shoulders relaxed as he stood up and walked toward me.

"Rouxi," he sighed with relief. "You’re finally out of your room. I was worried when you didn’t come down for dinner."

When I didn’t bother to reply to his statement, the man cleared his throat before continuing. "You didn’t come down for two days. I thought you were still angry."

I blinked, still not sure what was going on, but not wanting to give anything away at the same time. If the three of us lived together, then they knew the original host a lot more than I did.

"About Aspen," he added, his eyes searching mine. But those two words didn’t shed any additional light on the matter. I had no idea what Aspen was supposed to be or mean. In fact, I have never heard that name before.

The man rubbed the back of his neck and gave a small sigh. "I already said I’m sorry. I know you wanted to go with your friends. I just didn’t think a month-long ski trip overseas was a good idea."

I blinked at him blankly. Someone actually had the ability to go on a month-long ski trip?!? What the fuck? I didn’t think that was actually a thing.

Apparently, the original girl must have argued with him before I took over the body. That explained why the room upstairs looked like someone had been hiding in it for days.

I shrugged, not wanting to keep going with the subject. The girl that got pissed had gotten pissed to death. It had nothing to do with me. "Okay."

Now it was the man’s turn to blink. "You’re not going to argue?" he asked.

"Who are you to me that I would argue with you?" I mean, in my head, it was a valid question. I had never seen this man before. I had no idea who he was, let alone who he was to me.

The coffee man’s hand jerked hard enough that liquid sloshed over the rim of his cup and onto the counter before slamming his cup down with enough force that I was surprised it hadn’t broken.

"You know, I don’t know what you did in a past life to get the life you have now, but you really don’t deserve a man like Xu Zhenlan," he growled, his voice deep with the kind of rage that came from holding something in for too long and finally hitting the limit. "He has worked his ass off to give you everything your spoiled little heart demands, and when he finally says no to you for once in the ten years since he became your guardian, you lock yourself in your room for two days like a child throwing a tantrum. And now you come down here pretending you don’t even know who he is?!?"

I processed his words, getting the main points that he didn’t even know he was giving me.

The parents of the body I was wearing was dead. Xu Zhenlan took her...me.. in. I had been in my room for two days, which at some point the original host died and I appeared in her place. Oh... and I was supposed to be pissed that I couldn’t go to Aspen... wherever that was.

I could only guess that the body I was wearing had a history of being difficult, which explained why this man felt justified in his anger.

"You refused to come down for meals," he was still going, his hands gesturing sharply. "Refused to answer when he knocked on your door, acted like the world revolved around you and your demands, and now, you’re just going to—"

"Zhou Chenghai." Xu Zhenlan’s voice cut through the tirade with the kind of quiet authority that made Zhou Chenghai stop mid-sentence, his mouth still open on whatever he’d been about to say next. "I get it. But it’s not up to you."

The temperature in the room shifted and I watched Zhou Chenghai’s jaw tighten, and his shoulders square in a way that said he wanted to argue more but knew better.

He had to be ex-military, that was the only way to explain his bearings, the protective anger, the way he moved like someone trained to assess and neutralize threats. This was a man who worked for Xu Zhenlan, who answered to him, who could be angry all he wanted but would ultimately do what he was told because that was how the power dynamic worked.

Xu Zhenlan turned back to me and reached into his jacket, pulling out a black card that caught the light in a way that said it was made of metal rather than plastic. He held it out to me with the kind of smooth motion that suggested he’d done this before.

I took it without hesitation, without gratitude, without any of the performance that might have been expected. "There’s a million dollars on this card," he said softly, watching my face for a reaction I didn’t give him. "Use it for whatever you need."

I nodded my head and slipped the card into my pocket. Who was I to turn down a million dollars from someone so stupid?

I wonder if he would be heartbroken to know that his ’niece’ was dead and he just gave more money than most people see in their lives to a complete stranger?

Like I said... stupid.

"You drive," Xu Zhenlan continued, taking me out of my thoughts. I thought he was talking to me until I saw him looking at Zhou Chenghai. "Make sure that she gets everything that she wants. If you need more money, text me and I’ll send over more."

I turned my back on the two men so they couldn’t see the smirk on my face. I had to agree with Zhou Chenghai, the old Rouxi was a spoiled brat, and I was going to take full advantage of that.

Besides, I needed him to drive me around; I had no idea where to even start spending this money.