ATLAS TRANSLATES

Sometimes, one should be grateful for having strong psychological resilience.

It took Chen Jinyao about two to three minutes to completely calm down. The ripples deep in her heart gradually disappeared as she discreetly composed her expression, even hiding her initial “shock” well.

Under such a facade of peace, she believed she could now calmly deal with Su Ran and demonstrate her professional attitude as a doctor.

“Sit,” Chen Jinyao pointed to the seat across from her.

Su Ran nodded, thanked her, and pulled out the chair to sit.

At the same time, receptionist Xiao Liu brought in tea. For a moment, Chen Jinyao felt the awkward atmosphere she had created slightly dissolve, but after Xiao Liu placed the teacup on the desk, she quietly left, gently closing the door.

Su Ran: “Dr. Chen, I just came today to consult about my situation.”

“I know,” Chen Jinyao narrowed her eyes, nodded, then stood up and walked around the desk to her. “Open your mouth, let me see.”

Apart from their brief encounter as strangers at Er Guan, they had mainly communicated through WeChat. In terms of a doctor-patient relationship, this could be considered their first real meeting.

Compared to discussing orthodontic options through a phone screen, it was clearly better to make decisions after examining the situation in person. Su Ran deliberately chose to come near closing time, purely for consultation. She feared being pressured into immediate surgery, knowing that many such places primarily aimed to extract money from people.

Su Ran had previously been tricked at a gym with her classmate, somehow ending up with a membership in a daze. In the end, she barely went there to exercise in a month – it would have been better to just run on the track field.

She pressed her lips together, thinking that one must learn from past mistakes.

“Your little fangs are quite cute, why do you want to correct them?” Chen Jinyao released her hold on Su Ran’s chin and slowly withdrew her gaze.

As soon as the words left her mouth, Chen Jinyao realized what she had said and was stunned, her ears turning slightly red as she quickly looked away.

The professional attitude she thought she had was now completely backfiring.

Su Ran’s upper teeth were slightly uneven, and the two protruding teeth on either side weren’t particularly pointed – they couldn’t even be called fangs.

“…” Chen Jinyao lowered her eyelashes and unconsciously licked her lips, feeling slightly mischievous, harboring some ulterior motives.

A brief sense of embarrassment crept up, causing a bit of havoc before disappearing without a trace before she could even feel its itch.

Su Ran was slightly stunned, not expecting such a comment. What a way with words. She blinked and said, “I don’t think they’re cute.”

After a pause, “They’re ugly,” she emphasized seriously once more.

Chen Jinyao puffed her cheeks, feeling even more mischievous: “…”

Half an hour later.

The consultation of “observation, inquiry, and prescription” finally ended.

Chen Jinyao’s professional advice when she got serious satisfied Su Ran much more. She lowered her eyelashes, thinking Ji Xiao hadn’t recommended wrongly, though it was a bit expensive. Su Ran sighed, took out her phone to check the time, pressed her lips together, and stood up to say goodbye, “Dr. Chen, I’ll think about it some more.”

She was actually very tempted, feeling an irresistible urge.

“Alright,” Chen Jinyao thought her initial reaction had made the other party unsatisfied, leading to such polite words. She curved her eyes and said: “Let me know in advance if you decide to proceed. We’ll need to make an appointment for the correction.” The clinic could get extremely busy at times, and without proper scheduling, it wouldn’t work. Past painful experiences had taught them that much.

“Mm, goodbye then, Dr. Chen.”

Near evening, sunlight struggled to pierce through the glass windows, passing directly through several green plants on the windowsill. The small leaves of the vegetation now desperately crowded forward, competing to absorb the light. They seemed willing to sacrifice each other just to thrive, though their ultimate goal was simply to photosynthesize after gaining position.

Clearly, their vitality was abundant this season.

The orange light barely reached the right side of Chen Jinyao’s body as she sat in her office chair.

Though it was only early May, the temperature had lost its expected mildness.

Without any transition period, it had suddenly risen to thirty degrees Celsius, and even now the residual heat was unbelievably intense.

Just as Su Ran finished saying goodbye to Chen Jinyao, her phone rang.

She clutched her bag, took out her phone, and after glimpsing the caller ID, hurriedly answered, “Hello.”

Chen Jinyao’s gaze followed her flustered figure as she rushed out with her head down, not even watching where she was going, until she disappeared through the doorway.

Suddenly relaxing, she collapsed back into her chair.

Though the office had air conditioning on and Chen Jinyao had been sitting quietly without any energy-consuming movements, somehow she was still sweating, her white coat damp with perspiration that had soaked through her shirt underneath. Chen Jinyao looked up at the ceiling, and after a while, closed her eyes.

The whole process didn’t take long, counting only a few seconds.

In the end, she still wasn’t steady enough, always unable to control her concerns.

The next second, there was a loud bang outside.

It sounded quite close to her office.

Chen Jinyao suddenly opened her eyes, slightly furrowing her brows.

Almost without hesitation, she stood up and walked out to see what had happened. As she pulled open the office door and stepped out with her right foot, what she saw made her stop in her tracks.

Yan Cheng had knocked Su Ran down.

Su Ran looked angry: “Don’t you watch where you’re going?”

Yan Cheng narrowed his eyes, chin slightly raised, emotions unreadable, expression blank: “I’d say you’re the one who was too busy on the phone to watch where you were going.”

Su Ran’s phone had fallen nearby. Fortunately, it hadn’t shattered.

Having witnessed all this, Chen Jinyao remained silent, though her feelings were extremely complicated, so complicated it made her stomach hurt: “…”

The wheels of fate were turning again.

In the original novel, the third meeting between the male and female leads was when the male lead knocked the female lead down. The only difference was that the “incident” happened somewhere else.

Chen Jinyao felt this was probably the last straw that broke the camel’s back.

But the camel wasn’t killed by the weight.

It was killed by a woman’s overthinking.

Dead with regrets!

At eight in the evening, after dining out.

As the elevator continued climbing upward, Chen Jinyao frowned while staring intently at the growing red numbers, her mind already a tangled mess.

Her tendency to overthink suddenly surfaced, impossible to suppress.

Chen Jinyao bit her lip, lost in thought, while Yan Cheng stood beside her, lowering his eyes to quietly observe her. Yan Cheng collected himself, expressionless, then briefly furrowed his brows before his expression quickly returned to normal.

That unpleasant feeling had returned.

Chen Jinyao couldn’t hide anything on her face, and Yan Cheng could tell something was wrong with her mood with just a glance. Compared to before, it was even worse. He squeezed her palm, reclaiming her attention.

When she turned to look up at him, he found her eyes lacking their usual spirit, surprisingly dull, and even red. The man’s heart suddenly tightened. After some thought, he finally chose to raise his hand and gently, somewhat indulgently, mess up her hair. Considering they were in public, he didn’t ask anything.

Until they reached their floor, left the elevator, and entered their home.

As soon as the door closed, before the lights were even on, Chen Jinyao had just bent down to change her shoes when Yan Cheng suddenly grabbed her arm, pulled her back, and in the moment when her mind went blank and couldn’t react, he had her pinned against the door.

Yan Cheng held Chen Jinyao’s face, making her look at him.

Then, he bent down slightly, pressing his forehead against hers, his nose gently brushing against hers as he asked softly: “What’s wrong?”

In the dim environment, his voice carried a sense of deep affection.

“Did something happen at work to upset you?”

Chen Jinyao felt dizzy and responded reflexively, “I was thinking about divorce.” As soon as the words escaped her lips, she regretted it.

After she suddenly fell silent, the surroundings instantly became quiet.

So quiet that only their breathing and heartbeats could be heard, quiet enough to be frightening.

Chen Jinyao tensed up, clearly feeling Yan Cheng’s breathing suddenly become heavier, with a subtle change in his demeanor. She swallowed, and just as she was considering how to remedy the situation, Yan Cheng suddenly grabbed her hands, pinning them against the door. His grip was strong, forcefully holding her wrists, and after a moment, he changed his approach, holding one hand in each of his, his fingers pushing between hers until they were intertwined. The man pressed most of his body against her, nearly making it difficult for her to breathe. She twisted her waist, struggling: “Let me go.”

“Let what go?” Yan Cheng’s voice instantly became harsh.

Chen Jinyao calmed herself and cleared her throat: “Let me go.”

Yan Cheng narrowed his eyes and lazily clicked his tongue: “No.”

Chen Jinyao: “…”

Thus, they remained in this close standoff for a moment.

It felt like an equal match where neither would yield to the other.

But such close physical proximity in this standoff felt too dangerous.

Outside the window, the city lights twinkled, while inside their small world had its own order.

After a long while, the man spoke first, breaking the silence. His eyes drooped slightly, the emotions in his dark eyes unreadable. His voice was sensually hoarse, but his next words carried a sharp warning: “I’ll give you one chance to say that again.”

Chen Jinyao tucked her head in like a turtle.

But at this point, whether she faced it or not, the outcome would be the same.

The Yan Cheng before her had lost his usual unreliability and casualness, replaced by seriousness and solemnity. He was like a cheetah ready to pounce, who, after catching its prey, would still play with it before consuming it.

Du Ni was meowing and seemingly heading their way. Chen Jinyao momentarily lost focus and shifted her attention to Du Ni, instantly becoming distracted.

Probably due to not receiving her response, Yan Cheng’s patience ran out. He lowered his eyes to focus on Chen Jinyao, then sighed in defeat: “Why are you like this again?”

The tone alone suggested he was tired.

No one can endlessly tolerate another person’s overthinking and drama.

“…” But she truly didn’t know how to explain it to him.

However, what Chen Jinyao didn’t expect was that Yan Cheng took all the responsibility upon himself: “Am I not giving you enough security?”

Chen Jinyao was stunned, and after counting silently for a few seconds, slowly shook her head.

It’s not your problem.

It was mainly the hurdle in her own heart.

This hurdle of vague unease made her anxious about gain and loss.

Yan Cheng sighed, released her hands, then wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted her up. The sudden weightlessness made Chen Jinyao cry out, and she instinctively wrapped her arms around Yan Cheng’s neck, her legs also naturally encircling his waist.

Yan Cheng took off his shoes, planning to carry her to the bedroom.

Chen Jinyao buried her head in his shoulder, then after a moment, carefully turned to look at his serious face, her eyes unblinking, as if trying to set him on fire with her gaze. “I just always feel like you don’t belong to me.”

She chose a different approach to express what she wanted to say.

Yan Cheng walked steadily, speaking clearly: “Has your brain stopped working?”

Chen Jinyao: “…”

The master bedroom door made a loud bang.

Followed by a barely audible “click.”

Instantly, the lights came on.

Unable to adjust to the sudden light, Chen Jinyao closed her eyes, and the next second, she was thrown onto the soft bed. She propped herself up on her elbows to rise, her eyes slightly squinting open, only to see Yan Cheng standing at the edge of the bed removing his black T-shirt, instantly revealing his toned abs. The black T-shirt was carelessly tossed aside somewhere, and as Chen Jinyao’s gaze wandered, in that moment of distraction, Yan Cheng pressed directly towards her. He looked angry, but when he accused her, it wasn’t quite what she expected – instead, he seemed full of grievance: “In the end, you still think I’m unreliable.”

“That’s not quite right, I’m the one who lacks confidence in myself,” Chen Jinyao looked away, speaking with genuine sincerity.

She felt she couldn’t fight against the plot.

Yan Cheng leaned down to kiss her temple, and when he looked up again, his face showed bewilderment, “Why don’t you have confidence in yourself? You’re fair-skinned, beautiful, and have long legs – you should be fully confident in your ability to enchant me.”

“To enchant me so that I can’t do without you,” he added.

Chen Jinyao was speechless: “…”

The previously tense atmosphere instantly dissipated.

Perhaps it was never really there to begin with.

Chen Jinyao thought for a moment, “We didn’t have an emotional foundation at first…”

“But we do now, Chen Jinyao, I really like you,” Yan Cheng propped himself up to look down at her, interrupting her words.

Chen Jinyao quietly tried to move upward, attempting to slip out from under him, but just as she moved a small step, she was discovered. His large hand gripped her waist, pulling her back, “We have a marriage certificate, and that certificate means I’m yours until death, understand?”

After a pause, he added eloquently: “You pushing me towards the so-called unknown is actually the root cause of why you feel I don’t belong to you.”

“…” Chen Jinyao nodded repeatedly like garlic.

He poked her forehead, exasperated: “If you dare mention divorce again, just try and see if I don’t finish you off.”

Chen Jinyao returned to her expressionless state: “You’re being a bit fierce.”

“I think it’s because I’ve been too good to you, that’s why you have time to think about all these things,” he said through gritted teeth.

“…”

The scene became harmonious several times over.

A stubborn worry that had persisted for so long was suddenly resolved.

However, Chen Jinyao wanted to test if being favored meant she could act with impunity, so she blinked at Yan Cheng and then pushed the boundaries of his previous warning: “Yan Cheng, let’s get divorced.”

“Heh.” The man gave a cold laugh.

Chen Jinyao shuddered, sensing trouble.

The next moment, her slender white wrists were grabbed and pinned to the pillow. Yan Cheng’s alluring peach blossom eyes matched his pretend fury as he leaned down, gently biting and kissing Chen Jinyao’s small, round earlobe, breathing forcefully: “In your dreams.”