Xu Jiaojiao had always dwelled upon her problems and never listened to others" advice. After suffering such a huge loss this time around, she thought about Lin Chu"s words and finally made sense of what Lin Chu said.
She never had any elders to guide her through issues, and as such, there was never anyone to give her direction. Now that she had gone through such an unfavorable situation, it reminded her of Lin Chu"s words in the past. As harsh as they sounded, Xu Jiaojiao thought about it thoroughly and realized that Lin Chu sounded like a warm and affectionate senior.
She raised her head and looked at Lin Chu as the corner of her mouth twitched and she asked, "Can I still call you Sister? For real this time, and with no other intentions."
Lin Chu looked at her carefully as she spoke and saw the sincerity in her words. "Alright, but I"ll say this now. If you do something embarra.s.sing or stupid again, don"t expect me to help you and don"t blame me if I don"t acknowledge you either."
Xu Jiaojiao frowned as she muttered, "I"ve just had something horrible happen to me, do you think I"ll still be this stupid?"
Lin Chu snorted in response. "Oh please, you were never that smart in the first place."
Xu Jiaojiao always thought that Lin Chu had somewhat of a nasty mouth, but after this incident, she realized that Lin Chu used her sharp words to mind her soft heart. In the past, Xu Jiaojiao had only gotten close to Lin Chu with the intention of taking advantage of her, but now she sincerely wanted them to have this relations.h.i.+p.
Lin Chu could also see that she was being genuine.
Xu Jiaojiao pouted as she continued, "Didn"t you say that I have quite a good brain? You did say that I have the ability to accomplish something in the future.
Lin Chu did not bother to play nice as she replied with another snort, "I said that to build your confidence."
"Hmph!" Xu Jiaojiao turned away to hide the small smile on her face.
Even if Lin Chu said this, she still had faith in herself that she would be able to accomplish something great.
Dai Minhui prepared a plate of stir-fried shredded potatoes and stir-fried green beans. It was a rare occasion that Lin Chu was visiting so she wanted to prepare something especially delicious, but since the ribs were frozen and there was not enough time to defrost and prepare a stew, she had no choice but to cook some shredded pork with eggs and dried mushroom.
Then, she prepared three bowls of rice and set up the dining table. She noticed the slight change in atmosphere between Lin Chu and Xu Jiaojiao, and although she did not understand what exactly had happened, she was happy.
Lin Chu spotted Dai Minhui"s eyes that were now red and suspected that she had secretly been crying. She may have become upset after thinking about all the unhappy things that had happened in the past, but this was just speculation.
Therefore, Lin Chu did not bother to ask and merely pretended not to have noticed.
Meanwhile, Dai Minhui had her eyes set on Lin Chu, eager for Lin Chu to pick up her chopsticks.
Lin Chu soon took a bite out of a piece of stir-fried green bean. Dai Minhui may have been influenced by Xu Dongguo, who was a chef, which was why the food she prepared was all delicious. It had the taste of a homey bistro, and though it was not as refined as the food from, say, a hotel restaurant, it still had a "real-world" taste to it.
"What do you think? Does it suit your taste?" Dai Minhui asked anxiously.
Lin Chu nodded in response. "Yes, it"s delicious."
Dai Minhui finally relaxed and began to eat. She constantly yearned to help refill Lin Chu"s bowl but she felt nervous as she was worried that Lin Chu would get annoyed with her, so she restrained herself.
While they had their meal, Dai Minhui got the feeling that she was forgetting something.
Xu Jiaojiao was still extremely pale, and her eyes were completely red and swollen. She placed her chopsticks down and said, "I"m full."
There was still half a bowl of rice left, which meant she had not eaten much at all.
Dai Minhui finally remembered what was bugging her and spoke up, "Lin Chu, when Jiaojiao was admitted to the hospital the other day, I b.u.mped into Lu Weining in the elevator after you left. She said she was there for a check-up. I remember what you told me before so I kept my guard up and didn"t bring up anything sensitive in front of her. I didn"t even dare get too close to her! My carelessness the other time was my fault. I used to be such a fool to believe a stranger so easily! Don"t worry though, it won"t happen again. I"ll never drag you down in the future."
Lin Chu smiled back. "Don"t do it for me, it"s for your own good. Even if it"s in your daily lives, never trust a stranger so easily."
"I know," Dai Minhui said with a nod, "Lu Weining asked me what I was doing at the hospital the other day and I kept quiet, but I still feel uneasy about it. She"s always up to something so do you think it"s possible that she had people investigate me after seeing me at the hospital?"
Lin Chu was not bothered though. Instead, she replied with a smile, "Even if she had someone look into you, they"ll just find out about Xu Jiaojiao"s abortion. They probably won"t be able to connect it to Cheng Ziming. Xu Jiaojiao got involved with a married man and although it"s a scandal, n.o.body will take notice as she"s not a public figure. If Lu Weining"s up to something, she"ll just use this incident to discredit me. To be honest, I don"t really understand how her brain functions. It"s like she always thinks my status is too low and that if I"m constantly involved in scandals, the Yan family will eventually get upset and reject me. Well, I"ve already married into the family, so even if the Yan family eventually rejects me and forces me to get a divorce with Yan Beicheng, does she think he"ll turn around and marry her?"
Dai Minhui could not help but nod in agreement. "When I met her for the first time, I really thought she was a well-taught young lady who came from a good family, but I never expected her to be this shameless."
"Don"t worry, I felt the same way too," Lin Chu responded.
With that, Dai Minhui finally heaved a sigh of relief and everyone went back to enjoying their meal in a more harmonious atmosphere.
After Lin Chu had finished eating, she quickly got up and helped to tidy up. However, Dai Minhui immediately stopped her. "It"s alright, don"t ha.s.sle yourself. It"s just a few plates, I"ll be done in a few minutes. Don"t get your hands dirty."
When Dai Minhui was done was.h.i.+ng the plates, Lin Chu looked at the time and decided it was time to leave.
With a heavy heart, Dai Minhui reluctantly brought her downstairs. "You… Please drop by whenever you"re free!"
"Alright," Lin Chu responded.
Dai Minhui could not tear her eyes away from Lin Chu as Lin Chu climbed into her car, and only walked back into the house once Lin Chu"s car finally left.
After driving for a while, Lin Chu parked the car by the road and gave Yan Beicheng a call. "Have you gotten off work?"
"No, I think I still have another hour or so." Yan Beicheng looked at the remaining tasks at hand and made an estimation.
"Alright, that"s just nice then. I"ll come and pick you up," Lin Chu exclaimed excitedly, "You"re always the one who picks me up so let me do it this one time."
"You"re outside now?" Yan Beicheng asked with a soft laugh.
"Yeah, I was out settling some things. Anyway, it"s hard to explain through the phone but I"ll tell you the details when I see you," Lin Chu replied.
"Alright," Yan Beicheng chuckled, his soft laughter tickling her ear as she heard it through the phone. "I"ll wait for you to pick me up them."
Somehow, a simple sentence like that made Lin Chu turn completely red as she swiftly hung up.
Unexpectedly, when she arrived at Yan Hui, Yan Beicheng was already waiting at the main entrance.
Lin Chu hurried up the steps and flashed a bright smile at Yan Beicheng. He smiled back as he stood under the sunlight, and she thought he looked especially handsome.
She reached over and placed her hand in Yan Beicheng"s extended palm, and since n.o.body around them was paying much attention to them, she tip-toed and sneaked a kiss on his jaw. "Why are you waiting outside here?"
"I just want to see how you look when you"re driving over to pick me up." Yan Beicheng replied warmly with a gentle, adoring look in his eyes. Rays of sunlight poured over him and though his hair blocked some of it, the remaining rays scattered over his forehead, making him look extremely warm and good-looking.
He cast a glance at the Mini Cooper that was parked by the road and turned to her. "It"s such a good feeling to have my wife pick me up from work. I"ll follow your car home and have Shao Huai drive mine back."
Lin Chu smiled in agreement and followed him into the car while telling him about Xu Jiaojiao"s incident.
"I don"t think it"s anything troublesome. In fact, I"m glad that she"s finally figured it all out," Lin Chu heaved a heavy sigh. "I didn"t get to meet Xu Jiaojiao"s father when I was at the Xu"s place earlier. It"s… Dai Minhui was the one who prepared lunch. Well, I"ve thought it through and the situation"s good as it is. They"re good people and they don"t want to trouble me, so as long as I"m able to, I"ll help however I can. Although we"re not close, there"s no need to treat them like strangers."
Yan Beicheng reached over, and using his index and middle finger, he caught hold of the stray strands of hair from her ponytail and tucked them neatly behind her ear.
However, within seconds, the strands ended up falling loose and dropping over her face once again
Yan Beicheng laughed at the sight of it, and, as if he were addicted to playing with her hair, he tucked the strands of hair behind her ear again. The same scene repeated itself again and again.
Lin Chu was driving as he continued disturbing her, and every time he tucked her hair behind her ear, his fingertips would gently brush over her ears.
At first, she thought it was just an innocent act, but when his fingertips began to slowly slide down from the back of her ear to stay on her earlobe for a second longer than necessary, she knew he was doing it on purpose.
The tips of his fingers were slightly plumper, so when they stayed on her ears, it made them itch, making her flick him away.
Lin Chu"s face flushed red. She had one arm on the steering wheel as the other reached over to grab Yan Beicheng by the arm.
"Hey, stop it! I"m driving now!" She called out as she pushed him backward. She was quite skilled in driving as she has had plenty of practice.
To her surprise, Yan Beicheng stopped bothering her and placed both hands on his knees obediently. However, he soon turned around to stare at Lin Chi with his head tilted to one side.
Lin Chu usually would not opt for a ponytail when she went to work. She wanted to look more professional and mature, and a ponytail made her seem younger than she was.
However, she did not go to work today so she had a hair up in a neat ponytail, making her look nothing like a married woman. No matter how anyone viewed her, they would think that she looked like an innocent young lady who just graduated university. If not for the wedding ring on her left hand, Yan Beicheng would never have let his guard down.
Perhaps beauty would always be in the eye of the beholder, which was why Yan Beicheng always felt that Lin Chu was getting more and more beautiful each day. He could never get enough of her beauty.
He simply adjusted his sitting position, as he leaned his body against the car door and rested his head on his arm that was on the car window frame. He tilted his head as he continued to stare at Lin Chu with a wide grin as she drove.
Lin Chu could not stand him anymore and turned toward him, only to come face to face with the fascinated expression on his face.
The sunlight that poured through the window and showered over him accentuated his feature as the shadows cast by his hair and eyelashes warmed up his face.
Lin Chu immediately blushed and hurriedly parked the car by the road.
Similarly, Yan Beicheng seemed to have finally regained his composure. "Why are we stopping?"
He looked around and spotted the shops along the street. "Do you need to get something?"
Lin Chu stared at him with a complicated look in her eyes, and before he could make sense of what she had mumbled under her breath, she had grabbed him by his tie and pulled him toward her.
Yan Beicheng was beyond shocked at her swift movements. He never knew Lin Chu had such a wild side to her. Before his mind could even process what was happening, his lips were pressed against hers.
As Yan Beicheng slowly recovered from the shock, his mouth began to turn upwards as he grinned. Soon enough, the tables were turned as he reached over and pressed against her into the seat.
There was a small gap between the driver"s seat and the pa.s.senger seat, and there was also the center console blocking them. Thus, Yan Beicheng was forced to twist his body at an uncomfortable angle, but he could not resist Lin Chu"s kisses.
For the first time ever, Yan Beicheng realized the inconvenience of Lin Chu"s mini car. After some consideration, he picked Lin Chu up before pus.h.i.+ng her back against the car door. He climbed over to the driver"s seat calmly, then placed his left leg in between Lin Chu"s knees while leaving his right knee bent on the driver"s seat to support himself. After this, his hands curled around Lin Chu"s waist as he leaned down to deepen the kiss.
Now that he had adjusted his position, he felt much more comfortable and his movements slowed down.
His fingers naturally reached out and ran through her hair. He looked at her with her tousled head and half-open eyes that were s.h.i.+ning brightly while her flushed red cheeks made her seem as if she was drunk. At this moment, her beauty was indescribable.
Yan Beicheng stretched his arm and tugged at the hair tie that was holding her ponytail to let her hair fall loosely around her face. She instantly looked even more delicate.
Yan Beicheng could not get enough of her, whether it was the touch of her fingers or her lips, he was absolutely captivated. He continued leaving a trail of kisses all over her, making his way from her lips to her forehead, her hair, her eyelids, the corner of her eyes, her nose, then her nose. He made sure that every inch of her above the neck was kissed.
Lin Chu could feel her face getting wet from his kisses as she blushed even more.
"Don"t tie your hair in a ponytail anymore when you go out." Yan Beicheng held her face gently as his thumb caressed her soft, delicate cheek while his other arm grabbed her by the waist.
Lin Chu turned to him with a confused expression. "You look too young when you wear a ponytail, and you already look young enough. No one will believe that you"re a married woman when you look like twenty-one or twenty-two with your hair up. I"ll be worried when I walk you around," he explained in a hoa.r.s.e voice.
Lin Chu, "..."
Walk her around? Did he think she was Chu Xi?
"Alright, I won"t then," Nevertheless, Lin Chu nodded and agreed obediently.
Seeing how obedient his wife was, Yan Beicheng"s heart immediately settled down as he let out a wide grin and began to brush her hair with his fingers.
At that moment, Lin Chu"s heart was still beating rapidly. She stared at his fitted s.h.i.+rt that was hugging his muscular chest tightly and could not help but reach out and touch it. The second her palm touched his chest, she retracted it. She could feel his heartbeat galloping as fast as hers.
Right as she retracted her hand, Yan Beicheng grabbed ahold of it and brought it to his lips, where he gently planted a kiss.
The sun was still s.h.i.+ning outside so the car windows could not hide anything. Lin Chu did not want the two of them to lose control in the car, so she quickly pushed him away.
Yan Beicheng had no intention of going further either. He knew it was not the time or place.
He took a deep breath and got ahold of himself. Since he was not the designated driver, he could slowly calm down along the way. Nevertheless, he could not resist the urge to pinch her cheeks. "You"re always luring me during inappropriate situations with bad timing so I"m never able to continue what you started. Are you doing this on purpose? Why aren"t you this proactive at night? You"re always so shy then."
Lin Chu felt embarra.s.sed even though this time around, she really had not done it with ill intentions. "Hey, it"s because you"re always playing with my hair and my ear. You"re always watching me too, aren"t you? While I stare back at you and admire how handsome you look, I can"t help but kiss you, that"s all."
Yan Beicheng laughed at her words. What sort of logic was that?
"So, I"m the one who started it by teasing you?" Yan Beicheng asked back with his eyebrows arched.
Lin Chu felt herself shrink under his stare and she could no longer justify herself. She answered softly, "Then… We"re even now!"
Yan Beicheng shook his head. "I finally understand what the old saying means by "it is hard to live in peace with women and small people" (TN: By direct translation, "small people" means vile people, villains with ill intentions.)."
Lin Chu pouted and buried her face into his neck before fiercely biting it. "How dare you compare me with a small person!"
"When you get pregnant in the future, won"t there be a small person in your stomach?" Yan Beicheng responded with a laugh.
"..." Lin Chu punched him softly on the chest. "Nonsense!"
After fooling around, Yan Beicheng reluctantly finally let go of Lin Chu, but only because he did not dare continue fooling around with her. If he kept hold of her a second longer, he would be unable to restrain himself.
Both of them tidied themselves and made sure they looked presentable. Lin Chu pulled down the car sun visor to check herself in the mirror as she tidied her hair.
They had yet to regain their composure as they had only just ended the heated moment, so Lin Chu dared not immediately start the car. Like Yan Beicheng, she desperately wanted to calm herself down. Only after this did she start the car once again.
"Do you want to go and have a look at the villa?" Yan Beicheng suggested.
Lin Chu thought about it and suddenly realized that they had never taken a look at the new place. Ruan Danchen and Yu Zi were the ones who helped them keep track of the work going on there, so this was slightly embarra.s.sing.
Although Ruan Danchen and Yu Zi constantly kept her up to date on the work progress, it meant nothing if she never looked at it herself, so she nodded her head in agreement and turned the car around to head to Ding City.
When the two arrived at the gate of the villa, they coincidentally b.u.mped into Yu Zi who was there getting the daily progress update. When she heard the familiar voices by the door, she turned around in surprise. "Why did the two of you show up without giving me a call?"
"We didn"t know you were home," Yan Beicheng replied with a smile.
Lin Chu let out an embarra.s.sed smile as she held onto Yu Zi"s hand. "It"s clearly our matter to handle but we"ve never taken the responsibility to come and have a look at it ourselves. I"m sorry for troubling you and Danchen all this while."
"It"s no trouble at all, we"re live next door and it"s a Sat.u.r.day. Ningbai"s at his swimming lesson and we don"t have anything else to do so I"m just here to have a look around. Since I stay so close by, it"s convenient for me to help out with such a small matter, isn"t it?" Yu Zi returned a warm smile.
Lin Chu felt that it was indeed a convenience that they were neighbors, as it would be good to have someone close by and for them to keep an eye out for each other. Furthermore, if Lu Zhenghang and Lu Weining suddenly decided to try anything on her when Yan Beicheng was away on a business trip, she would not have to be worried about being alone anymore.
Yan Beicheng and Lin Chu had a quick look around the house, which was already almost fully furnished. "Wow, they work really fast!"
"Well, Danchen"s putting in extra effort because you guys are the clients. The work wouldn"t be done this quickly if the client was somebody else. Danchen pulled some strings to get the construction company to hurry up with the renovation work so that it could be finished as soon as possible that you guys may move in soon," Yu Zi explained.
Lin Chu looked around the kitchen, which was already almost fully furnished except for the kitchen cabinets. After putting in the kitchen cabinets, they just needed to order the miscellaneous electrical appliances like a refrigerator, a microwave, and an oven. Then, the kitchen would be complete.
"We"ll remember to treat you to something good during our house-warming!" Lin Chu said with a grateful smile.
"No problem!" Yu Zi responded as she stayed behind. Although the renovations work was still incomplete, it would be inconvenient for her to tag along as the lightbulb in case the couple wanted some privacy.
Thankfully, Yan Beicheng and Lin Chu merely had a quick glance around the place.
"Do you have any plans later? Why don"t you join us for dinner at our place? Ningbai mentioned that he"s craving hot-pot."
Yan Beicheng immediately accepted the invitation, but since Yu Zi had probably only prepared the enough ingredients for three, he called Ding Shang to have them bring some food over.
Since they were already done touring the new place, Yan Beicheng and Lin Chu followed Yu Zi back to her place.
Hot-pot was a simple dinner to prepare too since not much preparation was needed - they just needed to soak the noodles and potato flour. Yu Zi had also ordered some handmade fish paste, squid paste, and meatb.a.l.l.s from Ding Shang whilst Yan Beicheng had also called Ding Shang to order more earlier as well.
"My colleague brought back some really good hotpot soup base when she went to Chong Qing for a trip," Yu Zi said, "We tried it once and it"s very delicious."
After almost an hour, Yan Huaian finally came home after picking Yan Ningbai up.
Yan Ningbai was probably carrying a backpack that was very light, seeing as to how he dashed into the living room after taking off his shoes almost immediately after he spotted Yan Beicheng and Lin Chu. He exclaimed in surprise, "Big nephew! Big niece-in-law! What are you guys doing here?"