ATLAS TRANSLATES

Being frank with each other is a necessary course in the process of a husband and wife getting along. Being able to patiently communicate and understand each other is the key for passing this course.

Things that can be spoken about without any barriers are never big issues.

Yan Cheng understood all these principles, but still couldn’t help feeling a little unhappy.

Especially since he wasn’t working and was at home all day with nothing to do, it was even easier for him to channel his vigorous energy into meaningless fantasies.

After a few days, the little bits of moodiness he had gradually accumulated reached a boiling point.

In the dim bedroom, only two small orange wall lamps were on. The heating lamp in the bathroom, however, was bright. The strong light illuminated half the space outside. Behind the door was the pitter-patter of water, mixed with Chen Jinyao’s indistinct yet cheerful singing.

As the singing reached Yan Cheng’s ears, it made Chen Jinyao seem even more carefree.

“……” He leaned lazily against the headboard, suppressing his temper. Staring at the bathroom door, he ground his teeth. After a while, his eyes slowly glazed over.

Chen Jinyao really liked sleeping in Yan Cheng’s arms.

The reason was simple. When they had just climbed into the icy bed during the dead of winter, Yan Cheng gave off body heat and was like a heating unit. Hugging him was like hugging a giant hot water bottle. After hugging for a while, it allowed her formerly icy stiff limbs to gradually warm up and regain sensation, thus ensuring she could more easily fall asleep.

That night, as usual, after washing up and drying off in the bathroom, applying body lotion and putting on pajamas, she dripped on the bath mat for a bit to shed some water. After not too long, she slowly climbed into bed. The hot shower had washed away all her fatigue. Lying in bed felt so comfortable it made one sigh contentedly. A few seconds later, she scooted a little to the right, actively moving closer to the heat source.

Halfway through slowly scooting over, Chen Jinyao suddenly felt an external force stop at her waist. She glanced up at Yan Cheng. Just as she was staring blankly in confusion, the external force at her waist unceremoniously pushed her out to the left.

“…………”???????

Yan Cheng coldly watched her stunned, disbelief written all over her face. He raised a brow, “Sleep on your own side, stop always sticking to me and getting used to it.”

His tone was cold and stiff. He merely lowered his eyes to look at her without much expression.

In just that moment, the image of a considerate good husband completely collapsed.

After staring blankly at each other for a few minutes, Chen Jinyao suppressed the unexpected feeling in her eyes. “I’m the one earning money for the family now, I advise you not to be so unreasonable with me.”

The man pursed his lips and said nothing, his expression still gloomy.

“I’ll give you one more chance, take back what you said.” She narrowed her eyes.

Hooking his lips lazily, he silently resisted to the end.

Outside the bedroom, Dunni was not willing to be left out and kept meowing at the door, successfully attracting Chen Jinyao’s attention. She thought about it and figured Dunni was also a small heater. She didn’t need to stand her ground against Yan Cheng here. Although she didn’t know why he suddenly rejected her, but since rejection already existed, then she could only take a step back and make do with second best.

She climbed out of bed, wearing slippers, preparing to go out and carry Dunni in.

“What are you doing?” Yan Cheng finally couldn’t stand it.

Chen Jinyao glanced at him, chattering her teeth, “Since you won’t let me stick to you, I’ll stick to Dunni.”

“……” This was blatant threat!

Their gazes held steadily for a full twenty seconds.

Then, just as Chen Jinyao was about to walk around the end of the bed, Yan Cheng suddenly lunged up like a spring, nimbly reaching out to block Chen Jinyao. Lifting a hand, he grabbed her arm, then used a bit more strength to directly fling her onto the bed.

The sudden action caught her unprepared. “Ah!” Chen Jinyao cried out reflexively, then fell silent again when Yan Cheng flipped over to press down on her.

“Hugging, hugging, Young Master will let you hug.” Yan Cheng seemed somewhat exasperated.

On closer analysis of his tone, rather than exasperation, what came through even more was chagrin at sulking alone which led to the current situation.

He wrapped an arm around Chen Jinyao’s slender waist, pulling her into his embrace as he pressed her down. Their bodies were tightly pressed together without the slightest gap.

So close they could feel each other’s chaotic, intermingled breathing. A subtle ambiguity.

Not long after, the confusion in Chen Jinyao’s eyes completely dispersed and she regained her senses.

She reached out to push the man on top of her but failed to budge him.

Next to her ear was his hot, humid breathing, both itchy and numb. Before she could knit her brows, he gave a soft “pfft” chuckle, lazy yet magnetic.

“……” She was bewildered.

Right after, without dropping his smile, Yan Cheng lifted a hand and wrapped them up in the quilt, easily locking them inside an almost inseparable narrow space. In a flash everything before her eyes sank into darkness.

Dunni outside probably gave up. He didn’t call out again either, and their surroundings fell completely silent.

Her heart pounded like thunder. The temperature began climbing, strangely making her somewhat restless.

Yan Cheng lowered his head, his every breath falling on the side of Chen Jinyao’s neck. Chen Jinyao reflexively shrunk her neck. The “Yan Cheng let go of me” on the tip of her tongue was left unsaid as her neck was gently bitten—more of a lick.

The suggestive implications were strong.

Chen Jinyao’s whole body stiffened, not daring to move at all.

She was afraid that moving even a little would trigger something irreversible.

But the facts proved the switch was already in the “on” position regardless of whether she moved or not.

She swallowed and struggled to wriggle free.

But Yan Cheng ignored her completely. After quite a while, he finally stopped moving. His breathing rose and fell lightly. He called her name, “Chen Jinyao.”

His big hand gently caressed her smooth, delicate back.

Only after forcibly propping himself up, maintaining some distance between them, did he continue speaking, “I’m a normal man with urges.”

His hoarse voice held a tinge of sexiness. He paused, then slowly continued opening his mouth, deliberately dragging out his words, “If I wasn’t making allowances for you, I’m afraid by the first time you clung to me like an octopus to sleep, I would’ve already had my way with you.”

Upon hearing this, Chen Jinyao seemed frightened as her eyes suddenly widened, “……………”

Yan Cheng wasn’t lying.

This was indeed one of the reasons why he had rejected Chen Jinyao’s overtures tonight.

“Be more careful next time when you want to cling to me to sleep.”

He was a virile youth in his prime, and Chen Jinyao was beautiful with a nice figure. She was also his lawful wife. Ordinarily sleeping together in the same bed was fine, but her rubbing intimately against him also inevitably made him have fanciful thoughts and desires……

The occasional morning excitement that Chen Jinyao attributed to him acting like a rogue, he truly wanted to refute. Refute that Chen Jinyao was the one who provoked him first, he was merely provoked.

“That’s not the only reason, right?” Chen Jinyao came back to her senses, cleared her throat, and tilted her head, relying on a woman’s accurate sixth sense. After pondering for a few seconds she skeptically asked outright.

If that was the only reason, she should’ve been pushed away on the very first day she hugged him. Moreover, which man in this world would be so self-restrained as to voluntarily choose to reject it when it was handed to him on a platter. Wouldn’t that be silly?

Therefore, being rejected definitely meant there was interference from some other external factor. “Tell me,” she said.

“……” Yan Cheng flipped onto his side. He unnaturally pursed his lips. After quite a while he glanced at her, vexedly raking a hand through his hair with a click of his tongue. He asked, “Earlier when you said you secretly admired Qi Dong, what about now?”

“What about now?” She didn’t understand what he meant for a moment.

“I mean, do you still like him now?” He still had some doubts.

He was worried that, the same as the rumors about him outside, the one she loved married/was married to someone else, and disheartened, she casually found someone to marry just to get married.

If that was truly so, then even with all those restrictions he added in the prenup, in reality it would still be the same as not having any. No matter what, it would still be upsetting.

Chen Jinyao clicked her tongue, nearly laughing aloud.

Unrestrained, she easily flipped onto her side. Looking at him, she poked his chin with a fingertip, then solemnly said, “I stopped liking him ages ago.”

“But my parents all think I loved him to the point of breathlessness.”

Yan Cheng grabbed her troublemaking hand and pinched it. “Really?”

“Really. Haven’t had any contact for 800 years already. If you don’t believe me I’ll swear……” She smiled, eyes curving, “If I liked him, may I be struck by five thunders.”

Yan Cheng blanked slightly, raising his eyes to stare at her for a moment before arching a brow.

He was silent for a bit.

Then he played Captain Hindsight:

“No need to make such vicious oaths.”

“I didn’t doubt you anyway.”

“Heh.” Chen Jinyao wrapped herself up in the quilt and rolled to the corner.

After the giant hot water bottle tried testing fate at the edge of courting death,

No matter how attractive his body heat still was,

In the end, he still suffered “abandonment”!

Rectifying the tea house actually didn’t require going to great lengths.

Yan Cheng’s idea was to simply restore it back to the operational model from before Chao Zhou’s management. After all, if it was changed even more, it was afraid it would be changed into an abstinent tea house.

Then it wouldn’t be a place young people loved going to anymore.

However it went, he still had to do business and make money.

Moreover, restoring it back to its previous state really didn’t require a month and a half. The police station only gave that long of a deadline. As long as rectifications were completed within the deadline, business could resume. When it came down to it, Yan Cheng was still of the Yan family in the end. The police station side still had boundaries and would give them face. Atai was extremely efficient in taking action. He was also someone who couldn’t sit still to begin with. After getting it close to done, he immediately called Yan Cheng without stopping.

Asking if the tea house could resume business.

At that time, Yan Cheng was just preparing to go to Chen Jinyao’s clinic, to give a sense of his existence while also conveniently having lunch with her to foster their relationship. Hearing Atai ask him this, he was expressionless. “So fast?”

“Dragging it out longer means losing more customers.” Atai knitted his brows, honestly reporting, “It’s already been a month. That’s not fast at all.”

“The original employees of the tea house are all waiting to continue working so they can have wages.”

Yan Cheng singlehandedly straightened his tie, the corners of his eyes raised. “Weren’t wages still issued as usual during the shutdown?”

“Yes, so their conscience feels bad.” Atai said.

“……”

It had already been a continuous week of sunny days.

Clear skies as far as the eye could see. The brilliant sun shined down, sweeping away some of the bitter chill and bringing traces of warmth. Only the sun still wasn’t enough to contend with the frigid gusts of wind that blew head-on when stepping outside.

Being able to resume business sooner seemed to resonate with this good weather.

After recuperating at home for so long, especially after takeout stopped and there were cooking fumes in the kitchen giving a sense of hearth and home, Yan Cheng also gradually, little by little, broadened his mind and put on some weight.

The exact date to resume operations was still pushed back by him to next week. He left everything to Atai to handle during this period. Atai was a capable assistant. He was also a good friend. Yan Cheng was very at ease leaving things to him. “Oh right, what about that Chao Zhou?”

Atai hesitated for a moment before saying, “He’s working at Qi Dong’s company now.”

“Oh?” Yan Cheng lowered his eyes, bending down to change shoes.

Then he paused, the tip of his tongue clicking the roof of his mouth as he scoffed, “He really thinks highly of himself.”

Atai also laughed softly. He simply brought out all the gossip he recently heard, “I heard from Brother Shao that because of Chao Zhou, Qi Dong and Xue Zhou had a huge fight. Qi Dong is staying at the old residence now and doesn’t even go home.”

“Xue Zhou cried to her friends and now became the joke of their circle.” Atai sounded somewhat cautious when saying the second half of that sentence.

If they weren’t talking on the phone, perhaps his expression lifting his eyes to observe reactions could be seen.

Yan Cheng, however, completely lost interest in all this.

He didn’t have that much patience to listen to other people’s domestic disputes.

After some perfunctory responses, he decisively ended the call with “You go ahead and see to the tea house matters first” and “I’m going to drive now.”

Atai: “…………………”

To tell the truth, he felt he understood his boss less and less now.