Wei Ran felt that he must have saved the entire world in his past life. No, probably the entire universe. Otherwise, how could he possibly be this lucky in this life to have met Lin Shenzhi?
At the mere thought of Lin Shenzhi, the corners of Wei Ran’s mouth curled up uncontrollably, stretching almost all the way to his ears.
Wei Ran fished out the marriage certificate from under his pillow, the very one he had been looking at right before falling asleep last night, and pressed a kiss to it. To make sure none of this was a dream, he hugged the certificate and started rolling around on the bed.
Three circles to the left, three circles to the right, until the laughter bubbled up from his throat. Hearing his own silly giggles, he finally stopped.
“Hehe.” With his hair thoroughly messed up from rolling around, Wei Ran beamed happily at the marriage certificate in front of him.
He, Wei Ran, was married to Lin Shenzhi!
They were married!
Come to think of it, it had only been about two months since he first met Lin Shenzhi. Yet, in just those two short months, he and Lin Shenzhi had already experienced the entire journey of love at first sight, probing each other’s feelings, and diving headfirst into a passionate romance.
Today, they had finally achieved a happy ending and stepped into the sacred halls of matrimony.
“Hehe.” Thinking about all this, Wei Ran couldn’t help but press another kiss to the marriage certificate.
Glancing at the empty half of the bed beside him, he quickly sat up.
He carefully tucked the marriage certificate away into the bedside table, smoothed out the blanket, tousled his hair with his fingers, and walked toward the door.
Stepping out, Wei Ran immediately spotted the man busy in the downstairs kitchen through the second-floor view: Lin Shenzhi.
Standing well over six feet tall, wearing tailored suit trousers, a white shirt, and a little bear apron, with his collar slightly open because he hadn’t yet tied his tie, a fair and slender neck, slender and well-proportioned hands gripping the mug tightly, and a flushed face turned sideways in a look of reluctant endurance to keep from making a sound.
The man and the kitchen seemed utterly mismatched, yet somehow wonderfully harmonious.
Especially the look on his face, cold and completely focused on the eggs in the pan before him, which was enough to make a person’s imagination wander.
Wei Ran rubbed his burning nose and jogged downstairs.
Hearing footsteps, Lin Shenzhi in the kitchen turned his head. “It will be a little longer.”
Wei Ran didn’t go into the kitchen to add to the chaos. Instead, he sat down at the bar outside the kitchen, propped his chin in his hands, and quietly watched the man in front of him.
When fully dressed, Lin Shenzhi carried an aura of aloofness, his brows and eyes frosted over as if they could never be warmed. In reality, the person beneath those clothes was someone who couldn’t withstand even the slightest bit of teasing or bullying.
A body experiencing these pleasures for the first time would easily sink right into it. If Wei Ran pushed things a bit too far, those eyes, usually devoid of warmth, would stare straight at him with a pitiful look.
Wei Ran’s throat bobbed as he felt his thoughts heading down a progressively dangerous path.
“What time are you getting off work today?” Wei Ran asked.
Mentioning this, Wei Ran couldn’t help a minor trace of grievance. They had clearly only received their marriage certificate yesterday, yet today Lin Shenzhi already had to go to work.
“I will come back an hour early today.” Lin Shenzhi looked at Wei Ran as he placed the eggs onto a plate, a faint look of apology in his eyes.
He didn’t want it to be this way either, but he and Wei Ran had gotten married so suddenly, and Wei Ran’s proposal had come so out of the blue, that he hadn’t managed to prepare anything properly.
“Okay.” Wei Ran instantly tossed all his unhappiness to the back of his mind.
He stood up, leaned over to carry the plate of eggs across from him to his own spot, and moved Lin Shenzhi’s portion right next to his own.
While moving the plates, Wei Ran was already calculating how they should spend the evening.
Lin Shenzhi took off his apron, walked around the bar, and sat down on Wei Ran’s left-hand side.
Even though Wei Ran was left-handed, he liked having Lin Shenzhi sit on his left. The two of them always sat too close together, which meant their hands would bump into each other every time they ate, but Wei Ran relished every bit of it.
Lin Shenzhi didn’t understand it, but Wei Ran liked it.
Wei Ran hooked his finger under Lin Shenzhi’s chin, making him tilt his head up slightly, and planted a kiss on his lips. “Morning.”
Being kissed, Lin Shenzhi’s long eyelashes fluttered lightly as he replied in a low, husky voice, “Morning.”
Wei Ran’s breath hitched. He hadn’t noticed it before, but now that they were close, he realized there was a faint hoarseness to Lin Shenzhi’s voice, the kind left behind after total satisfaction, since they had tossed and turned until very late last night.
Throughout breakfast, Wei Ran found the food somewhat tasteless as he kept casting frequent glances at the person beside him.
Lin Shenzhi had impeccable breeding; he was always elegant and quiet when eating, a habit ingrained in him since childhood.
Perhaps infected by Lin Shenzhi’s composure, Wei Ran found himself chewing his food slowly as well.
After finishing the meal, Wei Ran walked him to the door, demanded another kiss, and watched as Lin Shenzhi got into his car and disappeared outside the villa.
Back inside the house, Wei Ran put the dishes into the dishwasher, did a little spin, and grabbed the apron Lin Shenzhi had just worn, holding it up to his nose to take a light sniff.
Wei Ran felt like he was losing his mind, truly losing his mind, completely crazy with happiness.
How could there be someone as wonderful as Lin Shenzhi in this world, and how happened it that he bumped right into him, with the other person actually liking him back?
Wei Ran felt that in his past life, he must have saved the entire universe!
“Clatter!” Something struck the floor-to-ceiling window.
Wei Ran jumped in fright, completely jolted out of his floating, euphoric state.
He followed the direction of the sound. Right outside the glass wall, something pitch-black was crawling along.
Holding his breath, he crouched down and crept closer bit by bit. Stopping a step away from the floor-to-ceiling window, he craned his neck to peer outside.
When he saw clearly what was on the ground, Wei Ran let out a sigh of relief, though he simultaneously frowned. It was a moth. Its chubby body and tiny wings lacked the beauty of a butterfly, making it look rather ugly.
Wei Ran didn’t like things like that, not at all.
In fact, what he hated most were soft, boneless, squishy bugs. Moths didn’t strictly fall into that category, but its large, bloated belly, as if it was about to burst, still made Wei Ran deeply uncomfortable.
Wei Ran glanced at the securely locked floor-to-ceiling windows, then looked out at the vast flower garden beyond. Fortunately, the day he moved in, he had locked all the windows and glass doors facing the garden side.
A phone ringtone suddenly chimed out.
Wei Ran hurried toward the sofa, reached the coffee table, and seeing the caller ID, picked up the phone and lay down on the sofa to answer.
“Are you awake?” a young man of about Wei Ran’s age asked from the other end of the line.
“Awake.”
“So early on your first day of marriage?” Fang Zheng raised an eyebrow. He knew all about Wei Ran getting married.
“Hehe.” The moment marriage was brought up, Wei Ran couldn’t help breaking into a silly grin.
Unable to take it, Fang Zheng interrupted, “All right, all right, I know you are happy. I just wanted to ask, did you find that bug yet? My life is basically riding on you here.”
Since Wei Ran had gotten married yesterday, Fang Zheng shouldn’t have disturbed him today, but he truly had no choice; he was at his wit’s end.
The game he was developing was scheduled for release at six o’clock this evening, yet it still had a glaring bug. How could he not be anxious?
“Found it. It is not a major issue; I have already written out the solution for you. Just copy and paste it.” Wei Ran got up and headed toward the upstairs study to grab his laptop.
On the other end of the phone, Fang Zheng let out a triumphant howl of excitement.
Before coming to Wei Ran, they had checked things countless times themselves and even spent money hiring others to look into it. But no matter how they searched, they simply couldn’t find the problem.
He had even prepared himself for the worst-case scenario: delaying the release.
Wei Ran had practically saved his life!
Listening to the thanks and howling over the phone, Wei Ran sent over the file he had written yesterday afternoon, chatted with the other person for a couple more minutes, and then hung up.
As soon as the call ended, Wei Ran skillfully flipped through his contacts and found Lin Shenzhi’s pinned WeChat chat.
First, he carefully edited the contact name from “Lin Shenzhi” to “Wife,” thought about it for a second, and added an extra word: “My Wife.” Then he clicked into the chat window, typed a message, and hit send.
“Can we go to the supermarket together first after you get off work?”
Lin Shenzhi was still in the car and hadn’t reached the company yet. He replied almost instantly: “Okay. What do we need to buy?”
“Insect spray.”
Lin Shenzhi’s villa came with its own private garden. While a garden was a paradise for all kinds of bugs, it was naturally Wei Ran’s personal hell!
After sending the message, Wei Ran didn’t get an immediate reply.
Had Lin Shenzhi arrived at the company?
A few seconds later, a new reply popped up in the chat window: “Okay.”
Wei Ran beamed with joy, already starting to look forward to meeting up tonight.
He checked the time. Lin Shenzhi had left the house less than ten minutes ago; there were still a full seven hours left until he came home in the afternoon.
At the thought of how much time remained, Wei Ran wilted instantly like an eggplant touched by frost, feeling as though every single day was passing like a year.
Shifting his focus to his laptop, Wei Ran checked his email, but the resumes he had sent out earlier still hadn’t received any replies.
With nothing to do, Wei Ran decided to run back to the bedroom to look at his marriage certificate again.
He and Lin Shenzhi were married. Hehe.
Staring at the marriage certificate and grinning stupidly all day, Wei Ran packed up early and left the house at three-thirty in the afternoon, planning to wait for Lin Shenzhi downstairs at his office building.
Lin Shenzhi’s company wasn’t far from where they lived; rumor had it that this villa was bought specifically to make his commute easier.
When Wei Ran arrived, there were still ten minutes left before Lin Shenzhi got off work. Wei Ran didn’t make a phone call; instead, he simply waited downstairs.
During those short ten minutes, he alternately felt like time was flying by at lightning speed and dragging like molasses. The only constant was the bright, radiant smile plastered across his face.
When Lin Shenzhi came downstairs and caught sight of him, a flash of surprise swept across his face, making Wei Ran’s heart feel as sweet as honey.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Lin Shenzhi walked up to him.
“I just wanted to experience what it feels like to wait for my wife to get off work,” Wei Ran murmured softly right by Lin Shenzhi’s ear.
Lin Shenzhi was the largest shareholder and CEO of the Lin Corporation, and this was his company, after all, so they still needed to maintain a bit of a public image.
Furthermore.
With a keen look of interest, Wei Ran glanced up at Lin Shenzhi. Sure enough, their mighty President Lin, who usually wore a stiff, expressionless suit and eyes as cold as ice, had both ears turning bright red at a speed visible to the naked eye, flushing completely through.
Lin Shenzhi lowered his gaze, looking thoroughly flustered. “Don’t be like this.”
“Hmm?” Wei Ran feigned confusion.
Lin Shenzhi remained silent.
“Can’t I call you, my wife? But you are my wife, after all.” Wei Ran put on an innocent look.
Lin Shenzhi’s breathing hitched slightly; he knew all too well what a little mischief-maker Wei Ran could be.
“The supermarket is going to close.” Lin Shenzhi quickened his pace toward the car parked by the entrance, leaving Wei Ran behind with nothing but his back and a pair of glowing red earlobes.
Wei Ran chuckled softly to himself. What supermarket closes at four in the afternoon?