Chi Yang polished off an entire bowl of lobster tail noodles.
She had indeed stopped crying, but her bandaged left index finger was held up in a somewhat comical and adorable way.
Xie Youci sat nearby, finishing the leftovers.
He appeared aloof and lazy, yet from time to time, he would lift his eyelids to glance at Chi Yang. Whenever she wasn’t paying attention, his gaze would sweep quickly across her face.
Seeing the redness around her eyes gradually fade, the worry that had gripped his heart slowly eased.
Even he hadn’t realized it.
Since they got their marriage certificate, especially after Chi Yang drunkenly kissed him for the second time, his unconscious attention toward her had long surpassed their previous bickering dynamic.
After eating her fill, Chi Yang put down her chopsticks.
Xie Youci almost immediately looked up at her. “Full? Anything else you want to eat?”
But as soon as he asked, he wished he could slap himself. Cursing his lack of restraint in his heart, he feared Chi Yang might ask him to prepare another hundred-crab feast.
Of course.
Crab, being a stimulating food, gave Xie Youci a legitimate reason to forbid her from eating it, thus escaping this potential ordeal.
Fortunately, Chi Yang hummed cheerfully and looked up at him. “Do you think I’m a pig, eating so much in one meal?”
Alright.
This haughty attitude meant her energy was back.
Xie Youci raised an eyebrow. Casually lowering his leg, he asked, “Should I take you home then?”
He tilted his head lazily toward Chi Yang.
His expression even carried a hint of smug arrogance, as if to say, “See how well I understand you?”
Xie Youci thought this was just his usual inquiry, perhaps even expecting Chi Yang to retort with something like “At least you know your place,” since she had never wanted to stay in their marital home before.
Unexpectedly, Chi Yang widened her eyes in feigned anger and launched into a rapid-fire tirade—
“???”
“Xie Youci, you’re so heartless!”
“It’s already past eleven, and you still want to kick me out of here.”
“Isn’t this my home too? Are you hiding a mistress in our marital home, afraid I’ll find out?”
“Wow—”
“How come I never realized you were this kind of person before?”
“Xie Youci! Even though we don’t have feelings for each other, I absolutely won’t accept divorce or infidelity during our marriage!”
Xie Youci: “…”
He watched calmly as Chi Yang’s mouth ran nonstop, her demeanor now showing no trace of the earlier distress from cutting her finger or being stood up by her mother.
Xie Youci didn’t interrupt.
He figured Chi Yang might need to vent, so he sat there with his legs crossed, listening—
or rather, not really listening.
It all went in one ear and out the other.
But in the end, he heard Chi Yang’s concluding statement and her bold question: “Do you have anything to say for yourself?”
“Do you want the guest room or the master bedroom?”
“The master bedroom.”
Chi Yang answered without hesitation.
But as soon as the words left her mouth, she suddenly realized Xie Youci had steered the conversation off track, and he hadn’t answered her earlier question about hiding a mistress.
Xie Youci hummed in acknowledgment, then stood up and lowered his leg. “I haven’t used the master bedroom these past few days, but I’ve had the housekeeper clean it regularly. Go upstairs, take a shower, and get some sleep.”
Her unreasonable outburst and his calm composure created such a stark contrast that Chi Yang almost didn’t react in time.
She stared blankly for a long moment. “You’re that considerate? You’ve been keeping the master bedroom empty for me to sleep in?”Xie Youci: “…”
He had just leisurely stood up, also planning to head upstairs, but upon hearing Chi Yang’s words, he suddenly paused his steps, turned to look at her with a rather complicated mood.
“Chi Erer.”
“What?”
“I hope you have some self-awareness.”
Xie Youci’s jawline tightened, as if holding onto the last shreds of his patience, “The master bedroom has been decorated pink by you. No man with a normal sexual orientation likes sleeping alone in a room filled with LinaBell!”
Chi Yang: “…”
She fell silent for two seconds, then reluctantly opened her mouth slightly and said, “Oh.”
After that, she proudly reached up to smooth her hair, “Well, it was originally designed just for me anyway.”
Another two seconds passed.
Chi Yang quickly added, “Besides, we’re just a plastic couple. It’s not like you’d come sleep with me.”
Xie Youci: “…”
His jawline trembled faintly, but it didn’t seem like he was about to throw a punch the next second—only a sense of suppressed frustration, a temperament rarely seen on him.
After all, he had always been wild and unrestrained, never expecting to be so thoroughly “restrained” by Chi Yang now.
“Go take a bath and sleep!”
Before Xie Youci’s words had fully landed, Chi Yang had already turned around and disappeared, her slippers tapping away.
He lowered his head, massaging his throbbing temples.
Damn.
Almost fell for her trick again.
…
Chi Yang’s emotions always came and went quickly.
After all, she had been used to being stood up by Chi Qing since childhood. If she wallowed in sadness every time, she probably wouldn’t have been able to stay happy until now—she’d have turned into an emo person long ago.
This time, she quickly bounced back too.
Coincidentally, an auction she liked came to Beijing, and she rushed straight over and spent three hundred million.
Jiang Li: “…”
She looked at Chi Yang with disbelief, “Er Er, did you win the lottery or something?”
What lottery gives a prize of three hundred million these days?
“Not at all.” Chi Yang lifted her face proudly. With swift decisiveness, she signed the forms, instructing the auction manager to deliver all these items to her address.
Then she turned to Jiang Li, extending five fingers—the white bandage wrapped around her index finger still hadn’t been removed—”I just happen to have a perfectly ordinary five hundred million!”
“Where did it come from? Although no one gets more pocket money than your mom gives you, it doesn’t seem like it should be that much!”
“And—”
Jiang Li looked at the only piece of jewelry Chi Yang had taken with her, “Why did you, a marriage-phobic single dog, spend nearly two hundred million on a diamond ring?!”
She didn’t even dare recall how intense that auction had been.
Chi Yang had snatched this diamond ring from the Sheng family’s young master, Sheng Lanqing. Rumor had it he was soon to be engaged to Lin Zhixian, the top beauty in the classical dance circle. He had specifically taken time off work to bid on this ring today, only for Chi Yang to snatch it right from under his nose.
Sheng Lanqing had initially wanted to keep bidding.
But then he received a phone call—no one knew who called or what was said—and in the end, he let Chi Yang have it.
“Who doesn’t like beautiful things?”
Chi Yang avoided answering directly, “Besides, why let Sheng Lanqing have it so easily? Make it that simple for him to marry Miss Lin?”
Jiang Li: “…”
It sounded reasonable, but for some reason, it felt a bit suspicious.
“Er Er.”
“Don’t call me that name.”Chi Yang didn’t particularly like this nickname, as it wasn’t given by her parents but rather stemmed from a playful saying in the capital’s social circles—
“Farewell to the twilight, year after year, fireworks bloom.”
“Farewell to the twilight, farewell to the twilight.”
Thus, the nickname had been jokingly used to this day, with everyone teasing that Xie Youci and Chi Erer were destined to be a perfect match.
But at this moment, Jiang Li couldn’t be bothered with such details. “Chi Erer, I have a bold guess.”
Chi Yang: ?
Jiang Li suddenly leaned in and stared at her. “Could it be that you’ve also been arranged by Madam Chi Qing for a family alliance marriage?”
“Is this five billion a wedding gift from your arranged marriage partner? And they also asked you to buy a wedding ring along the way?”