Su Wan’s little calculations were clicking away in her mind like a machine.
With Lu Zhaoye’s future ability to dominate the business world, if she could rope him in now… no, not rope him in pull him onto her ship… or rather, onto her “battle vessel”…
Wouldn’t that mean she could just lie down and count money in the future?
Lu Zhaoye looked at the pretty face right in front of him. Her eyes were bright and sparkling, full of ambition and energy. There was no trace of the grievance she had shown when talking about Fan Li earlier.
He suddenly curled his lips, a slightly mischievous smile appearing on his face. His deep voice carried a hint of teasing.
“So this is… your ‘couple’s romance’?”
Su Wan froze.
It took her a moment to realize what he meant.
Earlier at the restaurant, to spite Fan Li, she had shamelessly said:
“When my man takes me out to eat, that’s just our couple’s romance…”
Boom
Su Wan’s face turned completely red in an instant, even her ears burning hot.
She had just been talking big without thinking at the time, and never expected Lu Zhaoye who always looked so serious and reserved would actually remember it and bring it back to tease her now.
“You…”
Embarrassed and furious, she glared at him hard.
“How can you be like this?!”
In a fluster, she shoved him.
“Are we still going shopping or not? If not, I’m going home!”
She even pretended to jump off the bike.
But suddenly, a large hand wrapped around her waist. His scorching palm pressed through the fabric onto her lower back and with a slight pull, he pushed her back onto the seat.
“Sit properly.”
Lu Zhaoye withdrew his hand, his voice clearly carrying a smile.
The next second, he kicked off the ground, and the bicycle rolled forward steadily.
Caught off guard, Su Wan was forced by inertia to hug his waist again.
Her face pressed against his broad back. She could hear the steady, heavy thumping of her own heartbeat completely out of rhythm.
This feeling… was really strange.
It was just riding a bicycle. So why did her heart always get so chaotic whenever she was with this man?
The wind brushed past her ears. Su Wan buried her burning face against his back, but in a place no one could see, the corners of her lips quietly lifted into a smile.
At the department store, the dazzling variety of goods made people dizzy.
Lu Zhaoye spent money as if it grew on trees, not the least bit careful. He pointed at items in the display cabinet and told the salesperson to wrap them up.
“This, this, and this take them all.”
“Hey, not that one! That one isn’t needed!”
Su Wan hurriedly grabbed his hand to stop him.
“Why are you buying so much? I already almost had to beg my father just to get him to prepare my dowry. This is just a return visit, there’s no need to make such a big fuss.”
Then she suddenly remembered something and slapped her forehead.
“Oh right! When we go back later, we need to bring back that cabinet from my dowry! It’s not even anything fancy, but it’s mine. Why should Lu Ming get to keep it? And that carved washstand too we’re taking that back as well!”
Lu Zhaoye looked at her scrappy, slightly indignant expression. The smile in his eyes deepened.
He resisted the urge to pat her head and simply gave a low reply.
“Alright.”
But as soon as he turned around, he started buying things again.
Two bottles of Maotai liquor, two rolls of Daqianmen cigarettes, malted milk powder, canned goods, and even two jin of the most sought-after White Rabbit milk candies…
Su Wan’s heart practically bled as she watched the pile grow.
She really wanted to say that instead of buying all this good stuff for that old man, they might as well secretly buy some tonics for her poor mother.
But Su Jianmin was still her biological father. Family shame shouldn’t be aired in public, and she didn’t want to complain too much about her messy family in front of Lu Zhaoye otherwise she’d seem petty and unfilial, and he might even look down on her.
So in the end, she swallowed her words and kept trying to stop him.
“Enough, enough! Really, that’s enough!”
But no matter how hard she tried, in the end Lu Zhaoye still walked out of the department store carrying bags and bundles.
Aside from the “four essentials” of cigarettes, alcohol, sugar, and tea, he even bought a bolt of dacron fabric, saying it was for making clothes for her mother-in-law.
Su Wan looked at the bicycle overloaded with goods and felt a sharp pain in her heart.
“You’re really…”
Lu Zhaoye straddled the bike and glanced back at her, speaking calmly.
“My reputation already isn’t great. If I bring cheap return gifts, people will just label me as stingy again. Besides…”
He paused, his gaze deep.
“You’re my woman. If I bring something too shabby, wouldn’t you lose face too?”
Su Wan opened her mouth, but no rebuttal came out.
In the end, she could only sigh helplessly and accept it.
When they returned home, they ran straight into Su Wan’s stepmother sitting in the main hall drinking tea.
Seeing the large bundles in their hands and recognizing at a glance that they were all high-end goods her hand shook so badly she almost dropped her teacup. Her face instantly turned green.
She didn’t even need to ask to know these were for the return visit tomorrow.
That Lu Zhaoye!
Hadn’t come home for years, didn’t bring a single thing for the family when he did but now, for a return visit, he was buying all this?!
And worse, it was all for that poor, rundown Su family!
Su Wan pretended not to see her expression and greeted her with a smile.
“Mom, you’re home? Has the west courtyard been cleaned up? If not, we can do it ourselves later.”
Without waiting for a reply, the two of them walked straight past her carrying their things.
Her stepmother’s chest rose and fell in anger. She couldn’t find a reason to scold them, so she could only slam her teacup onto the table and storm back into her room to sulk.
Back in their room, Su Wan and Lu Zhaoye put down the things, drank some water, and headed straight to the west courtyard.
As expected, the yard was a mess, and the room was filled with Lu Qianqian’s art supplies and other clutter no sign at all that anyone had cleaned.
“Looks like we’ll have to rely on ourselves.”
Su Wan wasn’t surprised at all. She rolled up her sleeves and started working.
Without a word, Lu Zhaoye took off his outer jacket and casually draped it over a dry branch.
Inside, he was only wearing a faded black undershirt. As he bent down to move things, his strong, well-defined muscles immediately became visible.
Sweat slid down his bronze-colored neck, tracing over his chest before disappearing into his collar.
His body radiated raw masculine energy, like a leopard ready to strike wild and dangerous.
Su Wan only glanced once before her cheeks started to feel warm.
She silently cursed in her mind
This man really had no sense of boundaries.
Under the open sky, he just casually showed off like that, not afraid of blinding people.
She quickly looked away and pretended to sweep the leaves on the ground, but her eyes kept betraying her secretly drifting back toward his broad back and strong arms.
Those lines… tsk…
A hundred boiled chicken breasts couldn’t compare to him.