The red light had not yet entered the countdown.
Chen Jinyao gauged the situation and put on a measured, appropriate smile that looked refreshing at first glance. Looking more closely a second time, one could notice she was subtly giving off a sense of distance, raising and lowering her fingers rhythmically, tapping the side of the steering wheel, “Hurry up!” she urged.
This was the first time since getting married that she saw Xue Zhou call Yan Cheng.
This feeling was like discovering a hidden time bomb, making one afraid yet excited at the same time. Whether to dismantle it or not depended on the person who put the bomb in the house.
Chen Jinyao could vaguely guess Xue Zhou’s purpose in making this call.
It must be related to Chao Zhou being kicked out of the tea house last night.
But she guessed Xue Zhou would probably not mention a word about Chao Zhou falsely accusing Yan Cheng and getting him taken to the police station.
The original Chen Jinyao did know Xue Zhou a bit.
Anyone in the upper-class circles of the imperial capital who had contact with Xue Zhou had almost the same evaluation of her in three words: princess syndrome. The princess syndrome that emerged after she was elevated to prominence.
The specific manifestation of this princess syndrome was probably arrogance from favoritism.
Especially towards men who used to fawn around her skirts, her arrogance from favoritism would expand without limits, to the point of indescribability.
Relying on the fact that Yan Cheng used to be utterly devoted to her, she acted recklessly and willfully.
Therefore, based on Xue Zhou’s personality, Chen Jinyao guessed that she had come to condemn them, or possibly just simply complain, nothing as severe as condemning. Xue Zhou should be able to understand that one shouldn’t go overboard.
“Watch for the traffic lights.”
Chen Jinyao imagined many things herself until Yan Cheng poked her cheek to bring her back to her senses. She immediately sat up straight, eyes forward, and when she saw there were still more than ten seconds left on the light, she couldn’t help but turn to look at the man in the passenger seat.
The ringtone stopped abruptly as Yan Cheng hooked his lips and directly hung up the phone.
“Oh no, I still wanted to see if you two had any lingering affections,” Chen Jinyao sighed regretfully. “You’re not secretly still in contact, are you?”
Yan Cheng scoffed. His bangs still hung messily over his forehead, and his fingers moved swiftly over the screen. After hanging up the phone, he directly blocked the other party. This was beyond Chen Jinyao’s expectations. Not yet content, while she gaped in astonishment, Yan Cheng opened WeChat, found Xue Zhou, dragged her out, and decisively blocked and deleted her.
“……”
It had to be said, such conscious behavior was very pleasing to the current wife.
Snow began to drift down outside the window again. At this time the green light came on, and the words that had reached Chen Jinyao’s throat were choked off before she could say them, and were forgotten before she had a chance to speak.
He casually threw the phone aside. Drowsiness invaded Yan Cheng’s mind, he yawned lazily, half-closed his eyes and stared at her for quite a while. After a long pause, he asked, “Satisfied?”
“What?” Chen Jinyao kept her eyes fixed ahead, concentrating wholeheartedly on driving.
Yan Cheng: “I’ve cut off contact with Xue Zhou, are you satisfied?”
“……” With such a blunt question, Chen Jinyao’s expression was unchanged, but her heart suddenly became a tangled mess. Pressing her lips, she thought for a moment. “So-so.”
“Pfft, women are so contradictory.” He concluded.
She pretended not to hear him, too lazy to respond.
The two rode in silence the rest of the way.
The car moved slowly and steadily. Lulled by the soothing, relaxing music, Yan Cheng turned his head to look out the window, gazing at the snowy scene outside. Drowsiness grew heavier and heavier, his eyelids grew heavier and heavier, until finally he slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep, breathing long and evenly.
“Maintaining distance is right, after all she’s married to someone else and you’re married to someone else too.”
No one responded to her. Chen Jinyao sniffed disdainfully, feeling silly talking to herself.
The prenuptial agreement stated it very clearly, she should set her mind at ease.
The Huo residence.
After Xue Zhou called again and found she was blocked, she got so angry she smashed a cup. The sudden crash frightened the servant girls and made them glance her way repeatedly. After calming down, she naturally attributed it to Yan Cheng’s wife messing around.
When vanity is unsatisfied, emotions can easily become irritable.
Chen Jinyao, the woman who once toyed with her and got severely rebuked by Qi Dong.
Ugh, coming from a good family background really makes a difference. After so many years she could still take her leftovers, marrying Yan Cheng who she once used as a backup and eliminated.
The car drove into the underground garage.
After finding a parking spot, stopping the car and turning off the ignition, Chen Jinyao undid her seatbelt and leaned over to pat the still dead-to-the-world, fast asleep Yan Cheng. Thinking of how he spent the whole night isolated in the police station, she couldn’t help chuckling softly. After laughing, she pushed him and gently called, “Wake up, wake up Yan Cheng, we’re here, we’re home.”
He still didn’t wake up after pushing and shoving him, so she simply switched battle lines and went to pat his face instead.
She had barely patted him a few times when her hand was suddenly grabbed. Chen Jinyao froze, eyes wide, tugging hard but unable to pull free. On the contrary, she felt another burst of strength. The disparity in strength between men and women was too great. Chen Jinyao already off-balance, before she could react she was pulled over with an “ah!” cry of fright, then collided straight into his embrace, their clothes rustling.
“……” Down jackets really are soft, she had grabbed the wrong point.
At least Yan Cheng still knew to protect her. Pinning her waist with his right hand, he gave a roguish whistle, his voice low and hoarse with sleep, “Don’t be impatient, wait until we get home to be passionate.”
The more she played along, the more excessive he would get. Chen Jinyao now understood him very well, so she employed unchanging tactics to respond to his moves, saying “Let go” then keeping silent.
But he didn’t let go, only saying, “Wife, I’m going to make an honest confession.”
Chen Jinyao felt that Yan Cheng was simply a psychopath.
Moreover, a psychopath with abnormal thought processes.
Yet somehow, she still believed what that psychopath said.
Before getting married, she had asked him straight out, “If your white moonlight1, meaning Xue Zhou, got into trouble someday and called you, what would you do?”
He answered her, “It’s got nothing to do with me, she should call her husband.”
“What if she got divorced?” Chen Jinyao pressed step by step.
Lazily leaning back in his chair, Yan Cheng slowly sipped some coffee. “Then it still has nothing to do with me, I’m a married man.”
Although it was also possible he was just saying things men say. But since he laid it out this way, Chen Jinyao chose to believe him. She needed a marriage, not love.
As long as he could do the few things he said, she would feel it was totally fine.
Questions were hypothetical. When not encountering actual situations, they could be embellished, then forced along to develop in the best direction.
But once running into reality, it might just be that talk is easier than action.
Therefore, when Yan Cheng arranged work for Chao Zhou, Chen Jinyao felt she had probably believed the wrong person. She even had a fight about it with Yan Cheng. She remembered he seemed quite happy at the time, even telling her, “Don’t be jealous, you’ll understand later.”
Indeed, now she understood.
And understood extremely, extremely thoroughly.
After understanding, she didn’t even know what to say.
Yan Cheng had created a image of a faithful male supporter for outsiders. He didn’t care what kind of colored glasses people used to look at him and talk about him, he would play the faithful role to the end.
Yet who could have expected the result would be him messing with Qi Dong and Xue Zhou in every possible way.
They got married, yet he deliberately got drunk and acted decadent and down, when actually he was secretly delighted, even secretly hatching a master plan to thoroughly sever ties with Xue Zhou.
“Wife, do you feel bad for me? I’ve endured humiliation and hardships for so many years.”
“Actually I wanted to block her a long time ago.”
When saying these words, his tone was really spineless and petty.
Hugging the meowing Dunni as she sat cross-legged on the bed, Chen Jinyao suppressed her smile and started expressionless upon hearing the pitter-patter in the bathroom and all the complaining.
“I really don’t understand, what’s the point of you doing this, so much effort for so little gain?”
“Moreover, from the information I’ve put together now, I strangely feel you’re really scum.”
Yan Cheng washing off in the shower didn’t accept this accusation: “The one who made the first move is petty. You don’t understand.” After a pause, “As for effort, they probably won’t pay me any attention from now on anyway, as the loser.”
“It would be best if we completely lose touch until death. I would be very satisfied with that outcome.”
Chen Jinyao narrowed her eyes. “This seems like you’re avoiding things.”
“It’s not avoiding, it’s that there’s no need to interact with people I dislike.” Yan Cheng interrupted her. “Xue Zhou thinks herself so clever, but Qi Dong doesn’t love her either.”
So why did you still interact with them in an entangled, emotional way for so long?
With this runaround, Chen Jinyao felt she didn’t understand again.
Listening to a man tell stories takes too much effort. If she didn’t understand, he wouldn’t bother explaining further, only letting her figure it out herself. Yan Cheng was too lazy to explain further either. He figured he would just live his own life from now on, that was it. After the shower gel was rinsed off clean, he turned off the faucet, toweled dry, put on underwear, casually grabbed a towel to wrap around his lower body, and sauntered out, unhurried.
The room had the heat on, so there was no fear of cold. She simply went along with however he acted.
“Oh right, in a few days I’ll take you to meet several of my good buddies, ‘kay?”
He had a great figure. The lines of his spine and the dimples on his back were very well-defined, and the blocks of muscles on his waist and abdomen were also evenly distributed. He deliberately swaggered around in front of Chen Jinyao to show off.
Chen Jinyao retreated back a few steps. “Please put your clothes on.”
“Such great benefits, don’t you want to touch?” Yan Cheng walked forward a step, leaned on the bed, the corners of his eyes raised teasingly, seemingly smiling yet not.
The words had just left his mouth when the Dunni in Chen Jinyao’s arms shot out like an arrow loosened from a bowstring, leaping up and viciously swiping a sharp claw at Yan Cheng’s lower abdomen before landing steadily on the floor again, extremely fierce: Meow!!!
Although it didn’t hurt Yan Cheng, he still gritted his teeth, “……You stupid cat.”
- “White moonlight” is a Chinese internet slang meaning an idealized love that one never stops yearning for, often used in context of a first love (also used in Chapter 1). ↩︎
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