Deep down in her bones, Xia Wei was a very conservative person. She didn"t want to live together before marriage, and had never even considered it. She made an attempt to break free from Jiang Zhi Zhou"s arms, but to no avail, so in the end she simply stood there. "Upstairs and downstairs are so close together. Why should I move down?"
"It isn"t the same." Jiang Zhi Zhou still held her, his eyes burning as hot as her heart. "If you moved down, you wouldn"t have to run up and down the stairs any longer."
"Oh, but I don"t mind stairs at all! Don"t think I don"t know what your real motives are!"
Jiang Zhi Zhou knew of her concerns. Looking down at her, he smiled. "I"ve moved into the guest room now. When you move in, you can have the master bedroom."
Xia Wei paused, looking at him in suspicion. "What"s the point then?" Wasn"t he just trying to get her into bed? Did he think she was an idiot?
Jiang Zhi Zhou replied, "Of course there"s a point. Plenty of people find that they can"t accept the other"s living habits after marriage and get into fights. If we live together, we can adapt to these changes in advance. It"s like a preview of marriage."
Xia Wei: "..."
Did even marriage have to have a preview?
"And who said I wanted to marry you?" He had completely skipped over the entire proposal step!
Jiang Zhi Zhou looked at her. "At our age, if we didn"t intend on getting married, we might get arrested."
Xia Wei: "........."
Bah! As if the police would spend time on you!
"When one arrives at the age of thirty, time becomes extremely precious. We"ve spent so much time on each other that we must take responsibility for each other. It would be a crime to do otherwise."
Xia Wei: "..."
Wake up, Mr. Jiang!
She coughed, looked up, and smiled at Jiang Zhi Zhou. "But here I am, only 18 years old. I still have plenty of time."
Jiang Zhi Zhou: "..."
She could really get under his skin. "Wake up, Miss Xia."
Xia Wei: "..."
"Woof woof woof!" Suns.h.i.+ne saw that the two were finally done kissing. Did you want to go home or not?
Xia Wei pushed Jiang Zhi Zhou off and picked Suns.h.i.+ne"s leash back up. "Let me think about it."
"I"ll wait for the good news."
Xia Wei: "..."
By the time she got Suns.h.i.+ne back to 1908, Twiggy had already had a shower and was now lying on the living room sofa, applying a mask. When she saw Xia Wei coming in, she said rather archly, "It sure took you a long time to grab a dog."
"Um, ah..."
Twiggy scrutinized her, spotting the red marks on her neck with her sharp eyes. "Did the dog bite your neck?"
Xia Wei: "..."
"I"m gonna go shower!" She fled back to her room like the wind.
The next morning, she walked the dog with Jiang Zhi Zhou and brought back breakfast. Twiggy had just awoken and was still in her pajamas, sitting at the table yawning. "Do you walk the dog so early every morning?"
Xia Wei said, "It"s nine already, not that early anymore. I"ve got to go to the shop after breakfast."
"Oh." Twiggy, still bleary-eyed, began to eat. Xia Wei scooped a spoonful of porridge from her bowl and said hesitantly, "Twiggy?"
"Hmm?"
"Jiang Zhi Zhou wants me to move in with him. What do you think? Should I?"
"Gak, cough! Ahem!" Twiggy choked on her own porridge and sat up straight. "I knew it! You were going to move in sooner or later!"
"...I haven"t decided yet! He said that I"d take the master bedroom, and that he would stay in the guest."
"..." Twiggy digested this comment. "Is it really okay for him to lie to you like that?"
"He said that it was like a preview of marriage, preparation to adapt to married life in advance."
"Hah! Can you return him if you can"t adapt to him?"
"..." She felt like Mr. Jiang had probably meant it more on the trying to adapt side.
"Well, it"s good to know each other"s living habits, or you"ll have a lot to adjust to after marriage," Twiggy said. "But looking at you, I think you should move more for my sake. Otherwise I"d be stuck eating dog food every day."
"How do I ever feed you dog food?"
Twiggy raised her hand to tap at her neckline, smiling like a rogue. "This isn"t a great place to let a dog bite."
Xia Wei: "..."
She smacked Twiggy"s hand away. "Aren"t you just worried that you can"t bring guys back here at your convenience?"
Twiggy: "..."
She opened her mouth to say something, but Xia Wei interrupted her. "Well, I get it, no need to say anymore. I"ll move."
Twiggy: "..."
You were going to move right from the start!
Since they"d moved once already, moving her from upstairs to downstairs was a breeze for Xia Wei and Jiang Zhi Zhou. Suns.h.i.+ne"s kennel was also moved in, and Jiang Zhi Zhou suddenly felt like the living room had shrunk.
"When you have some free time, let"s go see a house. We"re a little cramped in here." Tangerine was fine, but Suns.h.i.+ne was born to move and needed more s.p.a.ce.
Xia Wei"s hands paused in her tidying. Mr. Jiang had taken her to meet his parents and invited her to feel what married life would be like. Now he wanted to buy a house, but... they hadn"t even talked about marriage yet!
She put down the things she was holding and looked at Jiang Zhi Zhou seriously. "Mr. Jiang, in your mind, have you already decided on our marriage?"
Jiang Zhi Zhou asked: "Shouldn"t I have?"
Of course not!
"Mr. Jiang, you haven"t even asked me for my hand. I haven"t made you any promises. My parents don"t even know you exist."
Of course Jiang Zhi Zhou had considered all of this. There were a great many things to do before getting married. It would all take a while, but the house should be bought first. "I can meet your parents whenever, just let me know when you"re ready. And the house is looking pretty good, so we just can move in when redecoration is done."
"...That"s not the point! The real problem is that you haven"t yet asked if I would like to marry you!"
"Well, would you?"