ATLAS TRANSLATES

This was how it always went in TV dramas.

The third party who destroys a family loves sneaking around sending intimate messages in the dead of night, deliberately using nostalgia to play on emotions.

Yan Cheng lowered his eyes to stare at the phone screen for dozens of seconds until the screen went completely dark. Only then did he come back to his senses. Slowly retracting his gaze, he lazily leaned against the desk and scoffed “can’t get rid of her ghost”. He planned to secretly block Qi Dong, exercising rights he should have as a husband yet wasn’t entirely honest about. Then he picked up Chen Jinyao’s phone and lit up the screen.

The white light reflecting on his face made him look ominous.

He was thinking about how to do everything without anyone knowing. But in the next second, Young Master Yan who was happily committing mischief suddenly froze. His expression shuttered as he stared dazedly. “……”

The password was a long string of numbers he knew nothing about.

Just then, Chen Jinyao in bed flipped over.

The rustling sound frightened Yan Cheng who thought he was up to no good. He reflexively lifted his head, holding his breath, not even daring to breathe loudly.

But even so, even though he had lowered the noise to the minimum…

Chen Jinyao still woke up. She was woken up by her need to pee and the sudden stabbing pain in her stomach. After waking up she curled into a ball and flipped over. She immediately felt a familiar hot flow gushing out from inside her body.

“……” Because she was still muddled with fatigue, she still clung to some wishful thinking, refusing to open her eyes. Her hand slowly reached under the quilt to the area her butt was. Well now, the warm quilt let her heart go completely cold.

Her mind was still groggy. As her fair arm reached out to turn on the bedside lamp while groping around, Chen Jinyao leaped up from the bed with her messy bedhead. She flung off the quilt, stepped into slippers and rushed to the bathroom as fast as she could, too lazy to even lift her eyes. With a glance forward, she saw Yan Cheng leaning mysteriously against the wall. His face was illuminated by the phone light and he looked like a ghost, motionless without a sound. Abruptly seeing such a figure when the bedroom was almost completely shrouded in darkness, Chen Jinyao unavoidably shrieked in fright. The moment she looked up to see him, she screamed and took a step back, sitting heavily on the bed. After clearly making out who it was and reacting, a burst of anger flared up inside her. “Standing there scaring people in the middle of the night, what the hell is wrong with you!”

With this shout, unable to hold back her irritation, another bout of the “bloody storm” came rolling in.

Chen Jinyao’s complexion changed. She immediately disregarded everything else, also forgetting to bring a change of clothes. With a whoosh she raced into the bathroom like an arrow leaving its bowstring.

The door slammed forcefully shut.

Just as Yan Cheng was getting over the shock of being labelled sick: “????”

The young master who grew up bathed in glory had never heard anyone roar at him so fiercely before, let alone curse him to his face. He immediately narrowed his eyes, internally making plans about how to deal with this woman who didn’t know the immensity of heaven and earth. Yet halfway through his calculations, the cell phone in his hand like a hot potato reminded him—he was the one in the wrong first.

It was also portrayed in TV dramas that domestic conflicts began from peeking at the other’s phone.

Moreover, for him to stand here not sleeping indeed was rather creepy.

……

Silence for half a beat.

Yan Cheng decided to make the first move. He walked to the bathroom door and lazily leaned against it. His expression was innocent as he knocked on the door. “What’s your phone password?”

It was almost at that same moment Chen Jinyao, who was now sitting on the toilet, started realizing she didn’t bring anything and it was very awkward being unable to come out. The lingering water vapor had left behind some white mist inside the bathroom. The stuffy air slowly brought clarity back to her mind. “Ah!” It occurred to her. “What for?” she asked.

“Qi Dong added you on WeChat. I just happened to catch sight of it.” The man cleared his throat, speaking righteously. “I’m going to block him now. Do you agree?”

A silence lasting five full seconds followed his words.

Such a long reaction made Young Master Yan rather unhappy. “Are you hesitating?” he asked this way, a dangerous threat creeping into his tone.

“No.” Chen Jinyao frowned slightly. Without thinking she immediately answered, “I agree, but before that I have another condition.”

She reported her password. Yan Cheng unlocked it as he wished and swiftly blocked Qi Dong. He and Chen Jinyao were of the same opinion that things like these should be handled swiftly and decisively.

Their keen intuition told them—this was definitely not a cordial New Year’s call from the jackal to the chickens.

The night rain gradually stopped with no more pitter-patter.

Light unique to the deep of night flashed outside the window curtains.

If the tea house was still open for business, perhaps it could still stand out brilliantly amongst these neon colors.

Chen Jinyao struggled for a few seconds before finally still being defeated by reality. She stated her condition, “I want to take a shower. Bring me a change of clothes.”

Upon hearing this, Yan Cheng’s first reaction as a straight man was ‘wtf can’t you get it yourself’, then he raised a brow. “A shower this late into the night?”

“Weren’t you taking one too?” Chen Jinyao retorted back.

They were silent for about three to four minutes. Just when Chen Jinyao’s patience was about to vanish, the man outside the door suddenly chuckled lowly.

He lazily called out “yo”. His hoarse voice was meaningful, the hooked corners of his lips teasing. Then he cracked a dirty joke in a seemingly smiling yet not smiling manner, “If I wasn’t taking a shower, then you should be getting screwed by me right now, instead of still having the strength and arrogance to order me around.”

“……”

Although the new year hadn’t arrived yet, winter was about to pass.

On the occasion of the advent of spring when all things would revive, all sorts of signs showed Yan Cheng seemed to have entered mating season prematurely. There was some restraint to his actions, but the restraint wasn’t too obvious either. He was completely unscrupulous with his words, releasing his true self without shame or propriety, saying such things as if they were only natural.

Fortunately, after some interaction before falling asleep, Chen Jinyao lost her earlier coquettishness for the most part. At worst her ears turned red and her face flushed slightly, but she would surely snap back. And in her current circumstances, it was as if she held a precious sword in hand. His provocations and teasing carried no need to take responsibility— “Since I’m awake now anyway……”

Full of implication, the implications were enough to strangely get Yan Cheng’s blood pumping for no reason.

“So, can you go get me some clothes now?”

“Mm.” His eyes lazily lowered.

The big light in the bedroom turned on, bright.

The middle drawer of the wardrobe was pulled out. Inside were folded neat piles of underwear and bras, some sexy, some cute.

Small, yet enough to reignite the doused flames for the man.

“……” A certain taut string seemed about to explode.

Yan Cheng barely dared look too much. He hastily grabbed one then rushed to the bathroom like his life depended on it.

The bathroom door wasn’t locked. He knocked once. From inside came a soft, feeble, listless “come in”. This sudden unconditional freedom to enter each other’s bathrooms made Yan Cheng’s heart leap.

It could be said to be very daring. He unconsciously held his breath.

Yet upon barging in, he still couldn’t help chuckling, “I feel I can take another shower too, together with you.” No problem even if he scrubbed his skin off.

Chen Jinyao lifted her head to gaze blankly at the man who seemed to be on the verge of making advances.

The lighting wasn’t dim. Her sickly pale complexion truly gave Yan Cheng a huge shock. His casual, roguish image ready to screw like rabbits instantly faded away.

“You……” He trailed off for quite a while unable to finish his sentence.

They held each other’s gaze for a good while. Some embarrassment lingered in the air before Chen Jinyao cracked an agonized smile, “Yeah, Aunt Flo came.”

“…………” It was like having a basin of cold water poured over his head. Yan Cheng was expressionless. “Was that a cheap trick to tease me?”

She nodded ambiguously. “Please change the sheets, thanks.”

This was really an endless night.

Moreover, not wonderful at all.

Yan Cheng heaved a long sigh and turned to leave.

The immense contrast from before and after marriage inevitably made him grumble some complaints. “I’ve never done things like this before. Ah, I miss having maids around.”

Back when all these trifling matters never required him to worry about.

Yet the Chen Jinyao inside, as if having grown rabbit ears, said, “Yan Cheng, I have to make this clear to you.”

The man who didn’t know how to change sheets was making a huge mess of the bed.

“You married a wife, not a maid.”

“So household tasks should be split equally between us.”

Upon hearing this, Yan Cheng pursed his lips and kept mute.

He thought that if Chen Jinyao could still talk about splitting household chores after seeing the pitiful state he left things in when she finished her shower, then he admitted defeat.

Fifteen minutes later.

Yan Cheng sensed the shower being turned off then hastily fled to the living room.

No clue what he was busy clattering around with in there.

Yet Chen Jinyao, coming out of the bathroom and seeing the chaos, cracked a smile with great difficulty. She barely managed to maintain her composure on the surface after the cracked smile. Dragging her feeble body, she first tidied up the dog’s breakfast into something humans could inhabit before not bothering where the person who dumped this hot mess ran off to. She dove into bed, preparing to cherish the last three hours until daybreak.

Then Yan Cheng came stomping in wearing slippers.

He tossed her a fully charged hot water bottle.

“I made you a cup of brown sugar ginger tea.” Almighty Baidu taught him how to successfully curry favor and apologize for abandoning something halfway through.

However, the matter still wasn’t settled.

After taking small sips of the brown sugar ginger tea, Chen Jinyao didn’t forget to glance his way, “If you don’t know how, don’t rush to avert your eyes. You can learn.” She paused then smilingly added, “I can teach you.”

Yan Cheng’s expression was complicated. He struggled for a bit before still choosing to stubbornly resist in the end, “……………………I’m good.” I won’t learn.

The discord between Qi Dong and Yan Cheng began in university.

He couldn’t quite remember clearly anymore what exactly was the cause.

It was probably out of jealousy, or possibly some other reason. But one thing for certain was Qi Dong himself was arrogant and selfish. He was especially good at disguising himself as righteous while essentially narrow-minded, shady, and cunning.

He looked down on Yan Cheng. Therefore, no matter what Yan Cheng owned or what Yan Cheng liked, he would snatch it away by any means.

After snatching it, he would flaunt mightily, extremely pleased with himself.

For instance Xue Zhou. Xue Zhou finally chose to marry him in the end. He felt it was his most dignified win yet. It was just, gradually, he also vaguely sensed things might not be how he imagined…

Long-standing discord would form a kind of inertia.

The sinister side deep down emerged. He couldn’t stand seeing Yan Cheng live so well now even after losing his sweetheart.

Adding Chen Jinyao on WeChat late at night with an intimate tone in the verification message, Qi Dong had to admit he did that on purpose.

Upon seeing Yan Cheng and Chen Jinyao living harmoniously, he developed this idea. He had a lot of mutual friends with Chen Jinyao. Getting her contact info wasn’t actually difficult at all. Adding her late at night was suggestive.

He only needed to quietly wait until daybreak, wait for Chen Jinyao to accept his request when it was light out.

With Chen Jinyao’s previous admiration towards him, this was too easy.

Yet all the way until the next night.

There was still no message on WeChat.

And when he tried adding her again, he discovered he had already been blocked.

“……”