“Hiss—”
Xie Youci winced in pain, taking a sharp breath. He lifted his head slowly, narrowing his eyes. “Chi Erer, are you trying to murder your own husband?”
“If you dare expose our relationship and let everyone know about us, you’ll be the first one I kill!”
“Finished buying the 500 million wedding gift?”
“No.”
“So you want to become a widow?”
“Isn’t it the same if I inherit your estate and spend it?”
“…”
“And I could spend even more.”
Chi Yang answered with righteous confidence, every word leaving Xie Youci unable to retort.
“Fine.” Xie Youci gritted his teeth. “I’ll go back tonight and write a will making you the primary beneficiary.”
“You’re such a nice person.” Chi Yang smiled.
Xie Youci was almost amused by her audacity. “Chi Erer, you haven’t been home in a week, and you still think you’re in the right?”
“Why should I go home?” Chi Yang glanced at him sideways. “We agreed it’s all an act. When we don’t need to pretend, I can do whatever I want. What’s it to you?”
Xie Youci: “…”
His dark, deep eyes grew sharper and more intense. He then scoffed lightly and leaned back. “Fine.”
It served him right for thinking about her all the time.
He even thought this woman might have feelings for him, considering how she always stole kisses when drunk, and wondered if he should take this marriage seriously. But she was doing just fine.
What a joke.
She was just a drunk female hooligan.
It was all an illusion.
“Come home with me tonight.” Xie Youci’s voice was low and muffled.
Chi Yang: ?
Her eyes sparkled with suspicion as she scrutinized him. “Xie Youci.”
Xie Youci raised an eyebrow, signaling her to continue.
Chi Yang leaned closer, observing him thoughtfully. “You’re not actually falling for me, are you?”
Xie Youci paused as he lifted his teacup.
He slowly lifted his eyelids and tapped the side of the cup with his fingertip. “…Are you crazy?”
“First, you ‘accidentally’ run into me at the mall, then you invite me to dinner through Xue Rang, and now you want to take me home.”
Chi Yang analyzed on her own. “Did you know I was going to the National Museum to sign a contract today and guessed I’d come to this mall to shop, so you deliberately set up this ‘coincidence’!”
Xie Youci: “…”
He picked up his teacup with a complicated expression and took a sip.
“Xie Gou, you’re done for, you’re done for. You’ve fallen in love, but unfortunately, I’m destined to be the woman you can never have.”
“…You’re overthinking it.”
“You’re so nervous you’ve started drinking water.”
“…I’m just thirsty.”
“Really?” Chi Yang looked at him suspiciously. “Then why did you suddenly invite me back to our marital home?”
Xie Youci set down his teacup, lowered his head, and closed his eyes, massaging his throbbing temples with a headache. He truly couldn’t understand Chi Yang’s train of thought.
“I’m not—”
Xie Youci opened his eyes to explain, but suddenly, Xue Rang’s noisy voice came from outside the private room. “Where is it? Where is it? Xiao Tianli, which room did you say we were in?”
“Over there.” Jiang Li rolled her eyes helplessly.
Xue Rang responded like a rooster with an “okay, okay,” and their voices grew closer. Chi Yang kicked Xie Youci again. “Don’t talk to me at the dinner table later.”
Xie Youci: “…”
He leaned back again, taking another sharp breath, the veins on his neck bulging. The bite marks on his jaw and collarbone had faded, but was this woman a woodpecker?
She was going to kick holes in his legs.When Jiang Li and Xue Rang returned, the atmosphere in the private room felt strange.
Chi Yang and Xie Youci didn’t seem to have taken the chance to argue, yet there was an inexplicable sense of icy tension—as if the heat of a blazing fire had suddenly plummeted—making it hard to pinpoint exactly what was off.
“Ahem…”
Xue Rang raised an empty fist to his lips, thinking these two were truly troublesome, and attempted to shoulder the burden of socializing, opening a new topic for everyone present.
“How about—”
“I tell you some gossip about Ji Fengting? He recently got his heart broken by a girl again!”
“Hmm?” Jiang Li looked up, chopsticks between her teeth.
Although Xie Youci and Chi Yang ignored him, at least someone at the table was interested in the topic, so Xue Rang launched into a vivid retelling.
He had always been the liveliest of the group.
Like a loudspeaker.
Sacrificing his good friend to liven up the mood.
He recounted how Ji Fengting met the girl at a bar, how during their interactions, Ji Fengting mistakenly thought she had a secret crush on him. Smugly pleased with himself, he paid extra attention to her because of this misunderstanding, only to end up falling for her—only for the girl to tell him in the end that he had read too much into it.
Jiang Li: “I’m dying of laughter. He’s had plenty of relationships, how could he still misunderstand someone liking him?”
“Ah.” Xue Rang waved a hand. “Beauty blinds people, I guess. I doubt the girl even did anything; it was purely him wildly overthinking and convincing himself.”
Xue Rang kept talking.
But Xie Youci wasn’t listening.
He had never been interested in such gossip, so he leaned back lazily, took out his phone, and sent Chi Yang a WeChat message.
“Beep—”
Chi Yang’s phone suddenly chimed.
She looked up and saw Xie Youci lower his head, then slowly lift his chin, subtly gesturing with his eyes toward the phone in her hand.
Chi Yang inexplicably felt like a thief.
She glanced at Xue Rang, then at Jiang Li, before lowering her head to secretly check the WeChat message.
【Xie Gou】: Go home tonight.
【Chi Yang】: ? You think I’ll go just because you say so?
【Xie Gou】: Not the marital home. Dad asked me to take you back to the Xie family for dinner tonight.
Chi Yang’s brows furrowed slightly.
Not the marital home?
So she had misunderstood earlier?
How embarrassing!
【Chi Yang】: Not going.
【Chi Yang】: Unless you coax me.
【Xie Gou】: …
Chi Yang smiled sweetly, propping her cheek with one hand, her eyes gleaming with triumph as she looked at Xie Youci.
Xie Youci narrowed his deep, long eyes, staring at her.
The two exchanged a covert glance.
As if playing some thrilling game of secret intelligence right under Xue Rang and Jiang Li’s noses.
“Hey, Ci-ge! Are we continuing the inspection later?” Xue Rang suddenly turned to him.
Xie Youci instantly withdrew his gaze.
Chi Yang reacted just as quickly, lowering her lashes and happily picking up her chopsticks to grab some food.
“No.” Xie Youci glanced at Chi Yang a couple more times. “I have some other personal matters to attend to today. Go back and write your reflection report to hand in to your dad.”
Xue Rang had been thrown here by his father.
It just so happened that Xie Youci was out today to inspect investment projects, so Xue’s father had sent him along to learn, which was why he was here with Xie Youci.
“Alright.” Xue Rang chewed on some crispy cartilage. “Then I’ll head back after we finish eating. What about Xiao Tianli?”
“I need to go back and edit videos too.” Jiang Li said. “I haven’t posted anything on my account for days.”
She was a cultural content creator on social media.
She had to keep her content updated.So the lunch gathering quickly came to an end. As they were leaving, Xue Rang was still on the verge of tears, saying, “Brother Ci, wasn’t it agreed that I’d treat this time?”
“Next time,” Xie Youci replied lazily.
Arrogant and unrestrained, he strode forward with his hands in his pockets. After leaving the restaurant, his gaze wandered and happened to notice a jewelry store on the floor below that specialized in custom wedding rings.
After Xue Rang and Jiang Li had left.
Xie Youci casually glanced at Chi Yang, then tilted his chin in that direction. “Want to go take a look?”
Chi Yang: ?
She remained skeptical. “Trying to cheer me up?”
“Yeah,” Xie Youci replied in a low tone. “After all, I need to ask Mrs. Xie to cooperate with me in tonight’s performance. How about we go pick out a pair of rings?”