Wei Qinan focused on driving and asked, “What?”
“Just fooling the old man isn’t enough; we need to make everyone believe we are deeply in love. Simply entering and exiting certain occasions together in public won’t be enough.” Shi Jing thought for a moment. “Do you know how to act affectionate?”
“I’ve never been in a relationship,” Wei Qinan replied, his expression as steady as usual, “but I can learn.”
That meant he was agreeing.
Shi Jing continued, “It would be best to make my friends and yours feel like we are head over heels in love, so that when our relationship breaks down a year from now and we propose a divorce, even if they want to persuade us to patch things up, they won’t be able to.”
“You’ll just have to bother posting a bit more affectionate content in your daily life, making everyone think you love me dearly. But this might affect your social circle; in the future, everyone will remember that you dated and got married to an Alpha named Shi Jing.”
The number of WeChat Moments posts Shi Jing made in a year could be counted on one hand, so this matter was still up to Wei Qinan to handle.
As he spoke, Shi Jing mentally calculated how much money he had on hand. “How about this? I’ll give you twenty million as remuneration. If you feel it’s not enough, we can discuss the amount further.”
Wei Qinan raised an eyebrow. “You doubled it?”
“Mn, consider it as buying your first marriage.”
Wei Qinan fell silent for a few seconds. “No need. Ten million is already more than enough.”
Shi Jing assumed he was just being polite. “Alright. If you feel the money isn’t enough in the future, you can ask me for a price increase at any time. I’ll have the lawyer write this clause into the agreement as well.”
Wei Qinan smiled and agreed, “Alright.”
With the matter settled, Shi Jing sent the new requirements to his lawyer, asking him to revise the contents of the agreement accordingly.
The hospital and the apartment were in opposite directions, and it took over an hour of driving to finally return home.
Hearing that Shi Jing and Wei Qinan were coming to live here, the housekeeper had already cleaned the beds in advance and bought a brand-new set of daily necessities.
As soon as Shi Jing opened the door, he saw the housekeeper bending over to tie up the opening of a garbage bag. “Auntie Wang, you can head back once you’re done. Thank you for your hard work.”
“Alright, I’ll just wipe down the kitchen one more time and then I’ll leave.”
Shi Jing took off his shoes and stepped inside, subconsciously pulling the door shut behind him.
With a soft click, a hand reached in from behind the door, stopping the closing door panel in its tracks.
Shi Jing: “…”
He had never brought anyone home before, and he had completely forgotten that someone was still following right behind him.
Under Auntie Wang’s watchful gaze, just as he was wondering how to smooth things over, he saw Wei Qinan walk inside. One hand was carrying the anti-inflammatory medicine bought at the pharmacy just before entering the residential compound, while the other hand naturally wrapped around Shi Jing’s waist.
Shi Jing’s waist was very narrow, yet it was filled with the unique sense of strength belonging to an Alpha.
Wei Qinan had already learned this last night.
He smiled as he leaned in closer, resting his chin in the crook of Shi Jing’s shoulder and affectionately rubbing against him. “Trying to lock me outside? Still angry with me?”
“I won’t do it again next time. I was wrong, darling.”
This was a cue fed directly to Shi Jing.
Shi Jing had never been called “darling” in his entire life. Stunned and thoroughly electrified by the cringe-inducing nickname, he nevertheless pushed down his goosebumps and picked up the cue. “There’s someone else at home.”
With that, he brushed Wei Qinan’s hand away.
Acting the part to perfection, Wei Qinan looked up toward Auntie Wang, finally revealing an expression of surprise. “Hello, I am Wei Qinan, Shi Jing’s boyfriend.”
Auntie Wang instantly wore a motherly smile and said, “Hello, hello, just call me Auntie Wang. I’m almost finished here.”
Shi Jing remained silent, listening to them chat as he sat down on the sofa, turned on the projector, and pulled up a movie to watch.
Before coming over, Wei Qinan had looked at the apartment’s floor plan, so he familiarly found the bedroom, placed the anti-inflammatory medicine on the nightstand, and then turned around to enter the kitchen.
Shi Jing had hardly ever come to live here after the apartment was renovated, so the refrigerator and pantry were completely empty.
Wei Qinan opened the supermarket shopping bag Auntie Wang had brought over, helping to place various food items into the corresponding compartments of the refrigerator by category.
“Auntie Wang.”
“Ah, Xiao Wei, what is it?”
Holding a bag of mangoes in his hand, Wei Qinan placed it back into the shopping bag. “He can’t eat this. He’s allergic.”
Auntie Wang had only been hired by the Shi family last year, mainly responsible for cleaning Shi Jing’s home.
Today, because Shi Jing had suddenly decided to move places, she had been asked to buy some things when she came over.
Realizing what was happening, Auntie Wang’s face filled with apology. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know the young master was allergic to mangoes. I’ll take this back with me.”
Auntie Wang quickly wiped clean all the areas that needed it, placed the bowls and chopsticks into the sterilizer cabinet, and then left.
Once the sound of movement at the doorway faded away, Shi Jing leaned back against the sofa, tilting his head to look at Wei Qinan. “How did you know I’m allergic to mangoes?”
He hadn’t known he was allergic to the stuff himself until one day he ate a piece of mango mille-feuille at a friend’s birthday party and broke out in numerous papules around his mouth, terrifying his friend.
Only the few people present at the time should have known about this.
Meeting Shi Jing’s suspicious gaze, Wei Qinan revealed a helpless smile. “You told me yourself.”
“Me?”
“Yesterday, you said yourself that you wanted to eat fruit cuts, but no mangoes because your mouth would swell up.”
At first, Wei Qinan hadn’t known that Shi Jing was drunk when he picked him up, until he caught the strong scent of alcohol radiating from the other person.
When Shi Jing drank too much, he didn’t throw drunken tantrums; instead, he looked completely normal, except that his expressions were much more vivid than when he was sober.
After a whole lot of tossing and turning inside the bedroom, Shi Jing, who had almost been coaxed to sleep, suddenly opened his eyes and fussed about wanting to eat fruit cuts.
By the time they wrestled with the issue into the late hours of the night, fruit shops were already closed and there was no inventory left in the fridge.
Wei Qinan had no choice but to ask him if he wanted to eat some other food, only to be treated like a fruit cut and nibbled on by Shi Jing.
He even still had a few unfaded bite marks on his shoulder.
The excitement of yesterday didn’t stop there, but Shi Jing had forgotten all of it after waking up from a sleep. Only Wei Qinan remembered every single thing.
Shi Jing: “…”
Last night?
He didn’t have a single memory of it.
Shi Jing nodded. “Oh, I see.” In reality, he had no idea at all.
He finished watching the rest of the movie without speaking to Wei Qinan again, and walked into the bathroom by himself.
The anti-inflammatory medicine Wei Qinan bought him was just for show.
As an Alpha, he was unwilling to admit that he couldn’t hack it.
However, once he sat down in the bathtub and made contact with the hot water, he still let out a hiss.
Shi Jing subconsciously reached out to grip the outer rim of the bathtub to keep his movements within a smaller range, and his fingertips brushed against something.
There was a small recessed storage shelf on the side of their bathtub.
Shi Jing picked up the item placed inside, and after clearly reading the text printed on it, his entire face turned beet red.
It was a condom packaging bag.
He led no private life, and he had never bought such things before.
Nor could it be Wei Qinan, since today was his very first time coming here.
That meant it could only have been left behind by Auntie Wang; Shi Shunde must have said something to her.
A bad premonition instantly rose in Shi Jing’s heart. Disregarding his discomfort, he stood straight up, pulled open the drawer underneath the sink, and discovered quite a few similar items.
Shi Jing: “…”
Damn it!