“By the way, the password is your birthday. I just changed it.”
The room suddenly fell silent.
The flowing air seemed to pause for a few seconds. Looking at the brilliant starlight and flickering smile in Yan Cheng’s eyes, Chen Jinyao bit her lip, her expression slightly dazed.
It felt like being shot in the chest, the bullet whizzing through, but strangely, instead of feeling pain, there was an unexpected reversal – like colorful fireworks blooming in her heart.
Undeniably, Yan Cheng’s sudden move really struck her heartstrings.
Chen Jinyao simply sat cross-legged. After several seconds, she slowly withdrew her gaze and took the card to examine it. Regaining her composure, she found her voice again, “Student Yan Cheng, your level of awareness is quite high!”
The highly aware Yan Cheng raised his eyebrows smugly, not revealing that it was Chai Yue who had awakened him to this idea. Instead, he claimed all the credit for himself.
Then, he also sat down on the floor like Chen Jinyao, naturally resting his hands on his knees, lifting his chin proudly: “Of course.”
His eyes swept up, meeting Chen Jinyao’s meaningful gaze.
He coughed lightly, playfully twirling his finger with clear intention, lowering his voice and shamelessly asking for recognition: “Don’t you… have anything to say?”
“No,” she said seriously, holding back her laughter.
Yan Cheng: “…”
Duni had been taken by Chen Jinlin days ago.
Being away for almost half a month, they didn’t want to leave Duni with other caretakers, fearing they might return home to find a dead cat.
They could have hired a housekeeper to come daily to clean and take care of Duni’s food and litter, but honestly, both Yan Cheng and Chen Jinyao disliked leaving everything to strangers, for no particular reason.
Fortunately, Chen Jinlin and Duni had always gotten along well.
She was more than happy to take care of Duni for a few days.
“Sister, brother-in-law, take your time playing, don’t worry about Duni,” Chen Jinlin covered her mouth and giggled, her bright eyes full of teasing.
Yan Cheng glanced at Duni, who was napping and occasionally flicking its tail while sunbathing on the sofa, raising his eyebrows and thinking: he really wasn’t worried about this little creature.
Chen Jinyao had also arranged everything at the clinic.
For patients who needed follow-up examinations, she had transferred them to two other dentists during this period, only explaining the general situation, “We’ll contact by phone later for specifics, thank you for your help.”
Little Liu at the front desk watched Chen Jinyao leave work with an envious expression.
As for Yan Cheng, this free spirit, just letting A-Tai know was enough.
After hanging up the phone, A-Tai felt helpless, feeling like he might as well be promoted from Er Restaurant manager to owner.
When Shao Chongsi found out, he patted A-Tai’s shoulder and said with a smirk, “Good thing you don’t have ambitions to usurp the throne.”
A-Tai shrugged, “After all, my salary has increased several times.”
After speaking, he laughed again.
Actually, Yan Cheng wasn’t completely hands-off, he had just moved to work behind the scenes.
Now, new customers at Er Restaurant would hear rumors about the owner.
First was his outstanding appearance.
Second was his prestigious background.
Finally was his mysterious nature, rarely seen in public.
Whenever acquaintances asked, “Haven’t seen Yan Cheng for a long time, where’s your boss?”
The answer was always the same, “At home with his wife.”
Without realizing it, even before he knew it himself, Yan Cheng’s image in others’ eyes had become that of a completely henpecked husband.
Ignoring the colorful world of Er Restaurant to stay home with his wife?
“This plot twist is really eye-opening. Who could have imagined Sixth Young Master Yan would be such a devoted husband? Zhou Xue must be regretting it so much now,” someone chuckled.
Another person glanced at Zhou Xue drinking alone nearby and quickly gestured, “Shh, don’t say anymore.”
Women in entertainment venues could be even more superficial in their relationships than men were with women. There was no true sisterhood, just barely concealed pretense.
“Why shouldn’t we talk about it? Isn’t it true? Tsk tsk, what does she have now besides the title of Mrs. Huo? So many people are laughing at her.”
“That’s why they say you need to look at people with your heart.”
“You can’t say that. Who could have known Huo Qidong was that kind of person?”
Zhou Xue listened to these harsh truths with mixed feelings.
They said she wasn’t good at choosing men, but how could they know that whoever she chose would be wrong? Including Huo Qidong – no one understood the twists and turns. Once upon a time, she thought she was in control, not knowing it was all a scheme within a scheme that no one could have anticipated. In the end, both she and Huo Qidong were passive players. Now, she had no way out.
The path back to Yan Cheng was completely blocked – or rather, there never was a path. It was all her own fantasy. With that fantasy shattered, all she could do now was maintain her position as Mrs. Huo.
Even though Huo Qidong was now openly cheating in front of her.
Zhou Xue gritted her teeth and raised her head to drink a glass of wine, then violently threw the glass to the ground. The shattering sound finally stopped all the discussions about her.
In the awkward silence, Zhou Xue sneered: “No matter what, I’m still Mrs. Huo, which is better than never being able to show your face in society.”
Zhou Chao stirred restlessly: “Sister, looking at it now, Yan Cheng really seems better.”
Zhou Xue glared at him: “Shut up.”
She now hated Zhou Chao extremely. He had lost all the jobs she had humbled herself to find for him, and not only that, but he had also made enemies everywhere.
Huo Qidong had fought with her several times over the troubles Zhou Chao caused, and in the end, without asking why, directly blamed her.
This time Zhou Chao asked to meet her at Er Restaurant, it turned out he had ulterior motives.
Zhou Xue gritted her teeth and gave him one last warning: “Zhou Chao, one day you might not even know how you died.”
Unexpectedly, these words would later come true.
But that’s a matter for another time.
Yan Cheng didn’t know about this scene that had played out at Er Restaurant a few days ago.
Right now, they had almost finished packing.
Two suitcases – anyone would think they were moving house.
Mainly because Chen Jinyao packed so many things – lotions, sunscreen, everything included. Yan Cheng had been constantly chattering in her ear, causing her to prioritize sightseeing while the class reunion became secondary. Like most girls, once she thought about going traveling, she couldn’t help but want to make herself look pretty. Plus, with summer quietly arriving, it was time for beautiful dresses to shine. Chen Jinyao kept comparing clothes and dresses in front of the mirror, making selection difficult, especially with Yan Cheng blindly praising her from behind.
After a series of “beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, wife you look good in everything” comments, they ended up in their current situation.
“…” Chen Jinyao looked complicated, “Did we pack too much?”
Yan Cheng sat on the edge of the bed, leaning back on his hands with his legs crossed, openly indulging her: “Not at all, as long as you’re happy. You can change twice a day.”
After a moment of silence, Chen Jinyao’s heart melted pathetically, and she agreed with his logic, nodding seriously: “I think what you said makes a lot of sense.”
The setting sun cast gentle light through the window.
When it fell on Yan Cheng, it highlighted his clean appearance.
However, within a minute, he destroyed this image himself.
Just as Chen Jinyao was about to direct him to close the suitcases with her hands on her hips, Yan Cheng suddenly fell back on the bed, moved up a bit, opened the bedside drawer, and took out all the remaining unused small boxes.
Chen Jinyao was startled by his sudden movement and quickly stepped back, then tugged at the corner of her mouth, somewhat between laughing and crying: “What are you doing?”
“We need to bring these,” he said, raising his eyebrows.
Hearing this, Chen Jinyao smiled and reminded him, “Then this contradicts your wish for children at Mount Putuo.”
“…”
In fact, both sets of parents had stopped pressuring them about this matter.
The children had patiently shared their thoughts, and the parents understood. Besides, while they could advise, ultimately it was the young couple’s life to live. Who knew that when the parents stopped rushing them, the couple would become anxious themselves.
They had done all the preparation work for getting pregnant, even going as far as praying to Buddha.
When Yan Cheng told his mother about it, she was stunned, then burst out laughing: “You child, how can you be more superstitious than me?”
He pretended to be serious: “Better to believe it exists than not.”
“Also, I’m praying for a girl.”
Mother Yan nodded with a smile: “A granddaughter is good, a granddaughter is good.”
“Little Six, I always said you were most like me.”
“????”
“You’re willing to put your heart into family, that’s more important than anything.”
After a pause, she struck at his heart again: “No wonder I find you most pleasing while your father finds you least pleasing. Sigh, he often criticizes my thinking as only knowing about romance and not striving for progress.”
Yan Cheng: “…”
As she spoke, Mother Yan laughed angrily: “Hmph, in the future, let him be buried with his career.”
“…” Yan Cheng looked elsewhere, maintaining his silence.
He couldn’t carelessly respond to these words.
But subconsciously, he could sense that his father might like him even less in the future.
The class reunion was scheduled for the twelfth and thirteenth.
Apparently, quite a few classmates had already arrived in Shanghai.
Yan Cheng had booked flights for the morning of the eleventh, and also booked the hotel that Chen Jinyao’s class monitor had sent – the romantic suite they missed last time, this time they’d stay their fill, though it couldn’t compare to the one halfway up the mountain in Beijing.
The class monitor kept sending messages and calling Chen Jinyao to check on things.
This behavior finally made Yan Cheng frown. It wasn’t that he was overly suspicious, but he really started to feel that the joke he had made before might not have been a joke.
The taxi driver kept his eyes straight ahead as they got on the elevated highway.
After hanging up the phone, Chen Jinyao glanced at him and could see Yan Cheng’s unease. She raised her delicate eyebrows, tilted her head to rest on his shoulder, “You’re overthinking it. I already told the monitor I’ve been married for a long time.”
“It might not be your monitor,” the man said with a serious face, brows locked in concentration.
He had clearly cast himself as Sherlock Holmes.
Chen Jinyao’s temple twitched: “Are you okay?”
“I’m sorry,” he suddenly apologized, “I’m overthinking.”
“…”
Yan Cheng: “Very seriously.”
Chen Jinyao: “…”
Yan Cheng: “And my eyelid is twitching.”
As it turned out, a man’s intuition was like a dog’s nose – sensitive enough to dig three feet underground to find a bone.
Chen Jinyao wasn’t sure if this comparison was appropriate.
But when the monitor sent her a WeChat contact the next second, she was left speechless and remained silent about Yan Cheng’s “unreasonable behavior.”
Monitor: [Class assistant’s WeChat. He’ll pick you up at the airport.]
Chen Jinyao: [No need, I’m very familiar with Shanghai.]
Monitor: [He’s on the way anyway, there are several others arriving today, their flights are earlier than yours.]
In the original body’s memories,
When she first entered university, the class assistant had helped her a lot.
He was one year ahead of her, a gentle and refined young man.
Because she was the study representative and he was their class’s study representative, they needed to communicate about many things. The two had quite a few interactions, and over time, her roommate had even asked the original body if she was dating the class assistant.
The original body had shaken her head and said no.
Later, the class assistant went abroad for further studies in his senior year.
They gradually lost contact.
Initially, they had each other’s WeChat, but somehow it disappeared and she wasn’t quite sure how.
Chen Jinyao: “…”
Looking at it from an outsider’s perspective, she would probably ask the same question as the original body’s roommate. She lowered her eyelashes, frowning slightly in confusion.
“Add him.”
“Hm?”
From Chen Jinyao’s expression earlier, Yan Cheng could guess what was going on. While proud of his observational skills, he also made sure to show his emotions with a stern face, though his words were those of a magnanimous man.
He frowned slightly, then said nothing more.
Looking at the retreating scenery outside the window, his inner thoughts were extremely childish.
‘Let him see with his own eyes and know to back off!’
‘We can always delete him after adding!’
The weather had turned hot, and Yan Cheng, expressionless, realized he was also feeling restless and uneasy.
He turned to look at Chen Jinyao: “Is this person…”
Before he could finish, Chen Jinyao intuitively picked up his thought and nodded: “I think so.”
“…” Yan Cheng’s heart suddenly sank.
But he quickly recovered.
He actually understood clearly: there was nothing to fear, nothing to fear.
Time passed slowly in the waiting hall.
Chen Jinyao had exchanged greetings with the class assistant and briefly told him their arrival time in Shanghai through questions and answers. After that, there was no more conversation.
Really, the awkwardness was palpable even through the screen.
“Sigh.” She sighed deeply, “If I had known, I should have insisted more and declined this reunion.”
Yan Cheng had already adjusted his mood, lifting his chin: “Why decline? We should have brought wedding candy to share with your classmates.”
“…”
After thinking for a moment.
Chen Jinyao made a decision: “Shall we take a photo?”
“I want to post on Moments before boarding.”
She rarely posted on Moments.
Her privacy settings were set to only show the last three days.
And her most recent post was still from May when she received the rose transfer.
The luggage had already been checked in. Chen Jinyao pulled Yan Cheng up: “Come on, let’s find a place with better lighting.”
Outside the huge floor-to-ceiling windows were blue skies and white clouds.
The background was a China Eastern Airlines aircraft.
Chen Jinyao found a good spot with good lighting and raised her phone.
Yan Cheng silently followed behind her, going along with her wishes without a word.
There was a noticeable height difference between them.
When Chen Jinyao said “Hey, look at the camera.”
Yan Cheng slowly spread his legs and bent down slightly to match Chen Jinyao’s height, then moved closer to her from behind, saying softly: “Ready.”
The man’s expression was gentle, his eyes dark and bright, the corners of his lips slightly curved upward.
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