First Marriage Then Love

At night before sleeping An Ran told Lin Li"s decision to Su Yi Cheng, letting him a.n.a.lyse if her decision is the correct one.

The light in the room has already been extinguish, An Ran is currently nesting within his arms, eyes looking at the darken room, awaiting for his answer.

After a while Su Yi Cheng slowly says,"Actually there isn"t any right or wrong, there isn"t any hard measurement to indicate right and wrong with regards to emotions and feelings, you can only ask if it is worth it or not. If she feels it is worth doing this. then there isn"t any argument of right and wrong at all.  Even if there will be hurt in the end, feeling pain is not necessarily a bad thing, at times it is only when you experience pain that you learn and grow up the most. Of course, you have to pay a big price for that growth."

An Ran remains silent, after a while speaks up with a hint of sadness,"Then I would rather Lin Li not grow up forever and remain happy and cheerful for the rest of her life."

Su Yi Cheng lightly pats her back, the action meant to console her, to let her emotions calm down. Then says,"There"s always two sides to everything, maybe try to think of it this way, isn"t it better to know about this now rather than later? It"s 10 years of feelings for now, what if the truth is only known when it is 15 or even 20 years later? The pain will only escalate as the years go by and the chance of recovery will be slimmer and slower then."

"Maybe so." An Ran admitted, her voice soft and light. He is right of course, just as he says, if it is painful no matter the result, why not end the pain earlier? It"s better to know now rather than a few years later, if the truth is only known later who knows? the consequences may be even worse.

Su Yi Cheng gave a peck on her hair, as if able to see in the dark and smoothed her frowning brows then lightly speaks by the side of her ears,"Alright, let"s sleep now, stop thinking about it. It may not be as bad as you think it will be, since Lin Li has made the decision, she must have weigh the pros and cons against her own happiness, isn"t this what you wanted? Everything will be better from now on."

An Ran remains silent, closing her eyes then worms her way even deeper into his embrace, nodding her head.

Su Yi Cheng lightly pats on her back, gently, repet.i.tively, as if coaxing a baby to sleep. When he finally feels the sound of her breathing deepens and stabilize, he is finally able to relax and accompanies the rhythm of her breathing and sleeps.

The next day Su Yi Cheng is again not in bed when she wakes, the sunlight outside the window lightly streams into the room, gradually lighting it up.

Looking at the ceiling, An Ran finally got up and habitually wash up in the washroom. When she was done it was 8 am.

She had just open the room door and saw Su Yi Cheng frying an eye in the kitchen, back facing her, the toaster by the side toasting 2 pieces of bread, the bar-top already has 2 pieces of bread already toasted. The 2 plates also contains some sausages and side dishes. It all looks so appetizing.

An Ran suddenly feels a surge of happiness, looking at his back, her lips curls up in a smile.  Without thinking, she ran towards him, wrapping her arms around his waist from the back, her face plastered against his wide back. The feeling of hugging him like this feels unexpectedly good.

Su Yi Cheng was surprise by her actions and almost burnt the eggs he was frying, he quickly move the eggs a little so the eggs will not stick to the wok, but his lips unconsciously curls up in a smile, asking,"What happen?"

An Ran sticks against his back, shaking her head, admitted in a low voice,"Nothing, just want to hug you like this." Then hug him even tighter.  Hugging him like this feels incredible, pressing tightly against his back, she can even hear his heartbeat and when he speaks she can hear the vibrations of his body and feels the movement of his muscles.

Su Yi Cheng laughs, his smile widens completely,"Alright."

One hand holding her arms that"s around him, the other hand turns off the fire in the stove, using the residual heat to finish cooking the eggs.

An Ran continues to hug him for a while, and lets go at last only to see Su Yi Cheng turns over with a grin.  And she graciously grins back at him, then tips toes to give him a peck on his lips.  Just a light peck then An Ran quickly lets go of him, taking up the plates and placing them on the bar-top. She walks around the bar-top from the kitchen and sits on the high chair outside.

Su Yi Cheng touch his lips, lips curve in a laugh, laughing soundlessly shaking his head. Then retrieves a set of cutlery from the drawer, handing it to An Ran.

An Ran takes a piece of toast, eating it, the perfectly toasted taste is very good, nods her head and cheekily smiles at him, giving him a thumbs up, praising him.

As they were eating, Su Yi Cheng asks,"Do you have to work overtime tonight? Or is there any planned activity after work tonight?"

"Nothing tonight." An Ran shakes her head.

"Then accompany me to a dinner party tonight, is that fine?" Su Yi Cheng asks for her opinion. If she is not willing to, he will not force her to go, placing the priority on her.

An Ran nodded,"What kind of dinner party is it?" she asks. Actually she does not like such occasions, everyone is dressed up to their nines and pa.s.sing by each other in the ballroom, talking and laughing with strangers or acquaintances. But since he asked, she naturally have no objections.

"It"s nothing, just a birthday party for an elder family member." Su Yi Cheng says laughingly.

An Ran nodded,"What about the present?" She wants to be a qualified wife, to be able to share some of his burdens that"s within her capacity to handle.

Su Yi Cheng laughs and shakes his head,"The present"s already prepared, no need to worry, I"ll pick you up after work."

An Ran nodded, smiling.

As always, Su Yi Cheng ferries her to work, she has protested against this more than once and each time he always gives a smile, and continues to insist on ferrying her to work everyday, completely unaffected by her protests.

The car stops in front of An Ran"s office building. Before alighting, An Ran turns over suddenly, looks at Su Yi Cheng seriously, says,"Special a.s.sistant Su, can we have a serious talk?"

Su Yi Cheng looks at her laughing, asks,"What does Designer Gu wants to discuss about with me?" Mimicking her style of addressing him, Su Yi Cheng also uses her official occupational t.i.tle to address her.

An Ran did not notice, says it plainly,"Mr Su, can you let me drive to work by myself in future? I feel very happy having you send me here everyday BUT!" An Ran paused, punctuating each and every word,"But this is really very inconvenient for me!" Her work determines if she is able to stay in the office everyday and at times she has to be at the work site. Some days only once a day but at times multiple times, it"s completely random.  So not having a car is inconvenient or a machinery idiot like her would not have even considered applying for a drivers" license in the first place.  Actually in addition to that, she also does not want him to suffer. The city hall office building is so far away from hers and he has to make a detour everyday just to ferry her to work. She just feels so bad about it.

Su Yi Cheng lightly twitches his eyebrows, looked at her, asking,"Did I created trouble for you by doing this?"

An Ran paused for a while, unable to answer. Well, it"s not exactly troubling, she actually feels very gratifying when he ferries her everyday, in addition, she won"t be going to the work site often these days because she has almost completed the projects on hand right now. Strictly speaking, she is just worried about troubling him and does not want to tire him out.

Su Yi Cheng looks at her, waiting, waiting for her to reply.

An Ran looks at him, the expression on his face looks as if he feels guilty and hurt.  She suddenly feels so guilty inside, he was doing it for her out of goodwill after all but here she is accusing him of doing wrong instead. Thinking about this, An Ran"s originally inflated aura dissipates to nothing immediately.  She looks at him, ashamed,"I.. I did not mean it that way..."

Actually Su Yi Cheng wants to laugh out loud, her att.i.tude now is completely different from what it was a second ago, it"s as if it"s another person altogether.  Enduring any hint of a smile, he looks at her, gently raises her head, looks at her in the eye and says,"I have always consider myself fortunate being able to ferry you to work so I have always treated this as a benefit you"ve given me."

An Ran looks at him, unable to utter a single word but her heart is turning to mush, being so touched by his words.  This man... this man is too scary, to be able to say sweet nothings so naturally, so well without it being too overboard.

"An Ran, are you willing to continue giving me this benefit?" Looking at her, Su Yi Cheng asks seriously.

An Ran nodded dazedly, completely forgetting her insistence at the beginning, how can anyone refuse after meeting the him at this moment!

Su Yi Cheng smiles, leans over and kisses her on her forehead, between her brows and finally her lips.

Letting go of her again, An Ran"s face  has again turn reddish and she"s breathing hard.  Looking at her right now, he can"t resist and gives her a few more pecks on her lips, then finally lets her alight the car.

Standing in front of the lift waiting, An Ran"s lips curve up unconsciously in a smile.

"Heh, you two are really so sweet~."

Turning round, Xiao Xiao appears behind her suddenly, looking at her, her lips curved, not quite a smile.

An Ran looks over, restraining her smile,"Thanks for the compliment." Then turns back, looking at the lift door, ignoring her.

Xiao Xiao looks at her from the side, she just happen to stumble on the two being intimate in Su Yi Cheng"s car, and an anger just surges from within her heart.

She is frustrated, really frustrated, why are all the men she meet all so superior and outstanding? Mo Fei is one, Su Yi Cheng even more so.  And what about herself? She has been at Huang De Xin"s side for 8 years now since she was 18.  She has to endure the hugs and kisses from a man that is as old as her father, but have to smile about it and acts as if she enjoys them.  Not to mention, what has she gain after all these years? Nothing! And she even has to endure the scolding and slaps from the female tiger* in his house.

DING___

The lift arrives, An Ran is just thinking of entering when Xiao Xiao b.u.mps into her shoulder hard.  As An Ran was holding on from almost stumbling, Xiao Xiao turns around, s satisfied smile on her face, says without any sincerity,"Oops! My apologies, I did not see you there."

An Ran looks at her furiously, enters the lift, ma.s.sages the sore parts, retorts,"It"s alright, some of us are born with small eyes, so naturally they can"t see anything."

"YOU!" Xiao Xiao looks at her, almost convulsing, as if she is short of breath, she wants to retort back but was unable to say a single word.

An Ran ignores her, looking at the ever changing red lit numbers and finally they reach their floor. "DING__" the door opens. Taking her bag, An Ran exits the lift.

Looking at An Ran, her eyes darkens even more than before.

She gave a call to Lin Li in the afternoon as she is worried.  The Lin Li today seems to feel better, at least not as lifeless compared to yesterday. Of course more time is needed for her to recover and revert back to her previous carefree self.

"Is your appet.i.te better today?" It"s worrisome that she does not seem to have any appet.i.te,"I"m telling you, even if you have no appet.i.te, even if you don"t wish to eat anything, eat something anyways, don"t forget, you"re not eating for only one person now."

"I know, I know, you"re turning into my mom, even my mom is not as naggy as you." Lin Li protested laughing, her moon seems good.

"I wish I could transform to be your mother, and give you a scolding if you refuse to eat next time." An Ran teased.

"Alright alright, I ate, I ate, Cheng Xiang cooked some noodles for me and I had a big bowl of it, I even ate my share of yesterday"s meals too", Lin Li replied.

An Ran did not say anything more, she already knows the only one who could make her eat is Cheng Xiang, but it"s good that she"s eating again.

"Oh, when is your parents arriving, I"ll arrange my schedule to accompany them to go shopping." Lin Li"s parents stay in another city, a typical middle-cla.s.s working household.  Once during university summer vacation, they planned a vacation and one of the destinations was Lin Li"s hometown. Her parents are warm and simple people, when they were there, they took care of their every needs.  And they made sure to send extra portions whenever they send Lin Li things so she"s able to share with the rest.

"The day after tomorrow, Cheng Xiang will be taking leave the next few days, the wedding will be handled by the Cheng family side, so he will accompany my parents around when the time comes.  So you don"t have to specially take leave for that.  If you have the time join us for dinner, and oh yes, bring your Mr Su along." Lin Li says.

An Ran remain silent, and speaks only after a while,"Lin Li."

"En?"

An Ran cannot help asking,"You really don"t regret it?"

Lin Li speaks only after a while,"I don"t, actually it"s not as bad as you think, everything was just a misunderstanding. Cheng Xiang has not even seen xiao xiao since. The promise to go to America was just an excuse to calm her mood-swings."

"I really don"t care about how bad it is BUT, you have to be happy you got that?!" An Ran says with a threatening voice, wishing for her happiness.

"En." Lin Li sounds choked up on the line.

The two chatted for a while before finally ending the call.

Su Yi Cheng"s car was already parked outside the building when she got off work.

The two started the journey back home. Only when they alighted did An Ran notices the two paper bags on the backseat.

"What"re those?" An Ran asks curiously,"Clothes?"

Su Yi Cheng nodded,"En, I remember the one you had on last time cannot be worn anymore."

Only then does An Ran remembers, the orange dress was stained with red wine after being stumbled on by the Zhang family nasty b.i.a.t.c.h. And she had forgotten to send it for to be dry-clean. "Oh G.o.d I almost forgot!" She was still intending to wear that today.

Su Yi Cheng gently caresses her head, holding her hand,"Let"s go."

In the washroom in front of the mirror, An Ran looks at the light purple one piece dress she had on. It"s unlike the traditional gown, the dress material is very soft, with a high neck design. the dress is not very lengthy, only covering the knees.  She has to admit Su Yi Cheng has a keen eye, the size fits her exactly as if tailor made.

"Kyaaa__"

The door opens, Su Yi Cheng already changed into his suit, smiling gently at her. After seriously taking her sights in, he walk to her and hug her from behind, his chin resting on her shoulders. Looking at An Ran"s reflection in the mirror, swaying both of them about, he says sincerely,"You look gorgeous tonight."

An Ran is still not used to such directness, her face reddens slightly and lowers her head, the edge of her lips curved upwards. As if a thought comes to mind, she turns and asks,"How did you know my measurements?"

Su Yi Cheng laughs in a low voice, the hands holding her starting to roam around her body improperly. His sultry husky voice says besides her ears,"Like this." He would much rather let her understand by showing her instead of just saying it,"do you understand now?"

An Ran immediately reddens, unable to speak as if a cat got her tongue.  She only regrets that she had asked, the proverb is so true, curiosity really does kill the cat!

Quickly grabbing onto the roaming hands that"s inciting flames everywhere on her,"I, I, I got it."

Su Yi Cheng gives a low laugh as he buries his head into her shoulders, and only stops laughing after a while, then lets go of her, holding her hand and walks out the door.

The dinner at night is still held at "Jiang City hotel", unlike the previous time, the dinner party was held at a slightly smaller ballroom on the third level.

An Ran walks out from the elevator holding onto Su Yi Cheng"s arm. They had just step out only to see a huge banner,"Wishing "Xu Dong Corporation" President Xiao Ying Tian a happy 60th birthday!"

Only then does An Ran realize, the elder he meant was Xiao Ying Tian.

The two entered, the party had already started, soft music was playing.

A lot of people attended the party tonight, not only from the construction industry, there are a lot of renown persons around as well. Of course there are also quite a number of high ranking officials.

This dinner party is literally a gathering of the elites.

An Ran looks over at Su Yi Cheng, whispering,"What a big turnout!"

Su Yi Cheng smiles, patting her hand.

Along the way, people kept coming over to speak with them. Because Su Yi Cheng did not make his marriage known widely , a lot of people was asking,"Special a.s.sistant Su, this is?" when they sighted An Ran besides him.

And then Su Yi Cheng will always turns to look at An Ran with pa.s.sionate eyes, then turns over to the person,"My wife." An Ran will stand to the side and when the person looks over, she will give a smile towards him and nods, appearing dignified.

When this repeated for the fourth or fifth times, Su Yi Cheng turns over to look at her, righting an errand strand of hair, asking,"Tired?" He is aware she does not like nor is she used to such dinner parties, her lips has almost stiffen from smiling.

An Ran shakes her head,"I will try my best to adjust to it." trying her best to be a qualified wife because he is a very qualified husband.

"No need to push yourself, if you don"t like it, we"ll not join next time, alright?" If such events really causes her distress, he will not force her, he does not wish for her to distress herself in order to accommodate to him.

An Ran shakes her head, smiling at him,"I"m not pushing myself, because I want to try my best to adjust to this for you as well."

Su Yi Cheng pinches her nose, holds her hand,"Let"s go."

An Ran nodded, fingers interlocking with his.

When the two reaches Xiao Ying Tian"s side, he was talking to someone. Looking at Su Yi Cheng and An Ran, he says with laughter,"Ah Cheng, An Ran, you two came."

"Uncle Xiao, happy birthday." Su Yi Cheng presents his gift to him, a scroll containing the writing by the renowned calligrapher,"This is the writing by Guo Mo Ruo, wishing Uncle Xiao longevity and happiness*."

"Director Xiao, happy birthday." An Ran follows after Su Yi Cheng.

Xiao Ying Tian was reaching  over for Su Yi Cheng"s gift when he heard An Ran. He looked up, looking at An Ran and says slightly disapprovingly,"Sigh, why are you still addressing me as Director Xiao!"

An Ran paused, unable to react, But he IS Director Xiao, can"t I call him that?

Looking at her perplexed expression, Su Yi Cheng whispers to her,"Call him Uncle Xiao."

An Ran then realized this, and offers him her greetings again,"Uncle Xiao, happy birthday."

Only then does Xiao Ying Tian nods, satisfied,"That"s right, that"s right." Then he takes a look at Su Yi Cheng"s present, nodding as he examines it,"Among all the rest I still like Guo Mo Ruo"s writings the most, Ah Cheng you still remember my likes and wants, unlike Zi Wen. He isn"t even here yet."

"Uncle, are you saying bad things about me?"

Behind him, a soothing voice came over, Ye Zi Wen appears from behind Xiao Ying Tian.

Grinning broadly,"I wish my beloved Uncle days of happiness*, today being 60, tomorrow 58, getting younger everyday!"

"You lad, only knows how to play around, keeps saying crazy things."Xiao Ying Tian scolds laughingly, jokingly extends his hand towards him,"So where"s my present, you came empty handed?"

Ye Zi Wen touches his nose,"For me, I know that Uncle you do not lack anything and loves to admire writings. Ah Cheng will also be one step ahead of me to give you that present, so I won"t be ab;le to even buy that for you. Thinking about that I finally decided not to buy any present and say more words of congratulations, isn"t that better than anything else? Don"t you think so?"

Xiao Ying Tian pats him on the shoulder, smiling," You and your weird logic."

Ye Zi Wen smiles back, turns over and saw Su Yi Cheng, suddenly reminded that he has been hara.s.sed by Su Yi Jiao for the past two days already.  Calling him ten to twenty times everyday, he almost has to turn off his mobile!  Questioning,"Ah Cheng, did you give Yi Jiao that la.s.s my other mobile line, I"m almost being driven crazy by her these past two days!" If this continues, he will surely collapse!

Su Yi Cheng smiles, thinking that Yi Jiao is really keeping to her word, calling him ten to twenty times daily.

Looking at him, Ye Zi Wen knew he guessed correctly, says in frustration,"Hey Ah Cheng, did I offend you in any way recently?"

Su Yi Cheng kept the smile on his face, pulls over An Ran who is standing besides him, one hand holding her waist,"An Ran, let me introduce, this is Ye Zi Wen."

Only now does Ye Zi Wen notices An Ran who was standing besides Su Yi Cheng and he stood, totally stunned, staring wide eyes in disbelief, Gu An Ran, Ah Cheng"s wife after suddenly getting married is actually Gu An Ran!

Xiao Ying Tian looks at Ye Zi Wen, then at Su Yi Cheng, then another look at An Ran who is a little stun, his lips curl in a smile, patting his nephew"s shoulders,"Didn"t I tell you already, An Ran has an influential background."  But he just have to disturb that which should not be disturb.  Everyone knows that Su Yi Cheng is infamous as a black hearted smiling tiger*, hiding his knifes behind his smiles*.

Comparatively, although An Ran is not as shocked as Ye Zi Wen, she is still taken aback that that glib tongue Eric is actually Su Yi Cheng"s best friend Ye Zi Wen!

Only after a while did Ye Zi Wen manage to get his wits back, turn over looking at Su Yi Cheng, he loudly protested,"Ah Cheng, your actions are just too fast now aren"t they?!"

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*female tiger - a fierce wife
*longevity and happiness - the word for word translation is Richness(or happiness) as the east sea, life as the southern mountain.
*days of happiness - word for word translation is "year year having today, age age having this dawn", the meaning is like what Spock says,"Live long and prosper"
*smiling tiger - it actually translate to smiling mask tiger, means someone who looks kind and gentle (the smiling mask) but is actually very dangerous underneath the mask. (the tiger)
*hiding his knifes behind his smiles - translates to laughing inside hidden knifes

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