It was just a couple of retorts. Did she really have to hold a grudge like this? It was already so late, and she still hadn’t gone to bed. Looks like another argument was unavoidable tonight.
Yang Luo thought helplessly as he took out his phone and checked the time. It was nearly one in the morning, yet the lights in his apartment upstairs were still on. He shook his head lightly and walked toward the elevator with somewhat heavy steps.
Ye Zhihan sat alone on the living room sofa, her expression as dark as the sky before a storm. The moment she saw Yang Luo come through the door, her face grew even colder, like ice that had never melted in a thousand years.
As soon as Yang Luo saw Ye Zhihan’s furious expression, he immediately thought, This is bad. He knew she must have been waiting for him. He had been delayed for quite a while that evening because of Zhou Xiulin, and now it was nearly one in the morning. After making her wait so long, how could she possibly look happy?
An angry woman was hard to deal with, and a woman on the verge of losing control was even more dangerous. No matter what, he couldn’t provoke her any further right now.
“Of the thirty-six stratagems, the best is to run.” Yang Luo immediately plastered on a sycophantic smile and chuckled. “Honey, you’re still up this late? Oh, right, I almost forgot—it’s Saturday tomorrow, so you don’t have to work. But look, even if you have the day off tomorrow, it’s still pretty late. Staying up is bad for a woman’s skin. You should go to bed soon. I’ll go take a shower first.”
With that, Yang Luo darted toward the bathroom like a nimble rabbit.
However, Ye Zhihan wasn’t buying Yang Luo’s ingratiating smile and smooth talk at all. She simply ignored him. Her expression remained icy, and she glared straight at him. When she saw him trying to slip away, Ye Zhihan sprang to her feet and shouted, “Yang Luo, stop right there!”
“Honey, is something the matter?”
“Do you know what time it is? Do you have no sense of time at all? And don’t call me ‘honey’ again.” Ye Zhihan trembled slightly with anger. She had never been this angry in her life. That morning, she had tried to discuss something with Yang Luo, but they had parted on bad terms. She had planned to continue the discussion when he came back that evening.
But Yang Luo didn’t come home until one or two in the morning, making her wait all night. This guy was getting more and more outrageous, crossing the line more and more. He was the very picture of the old saying: “Rotten wood cannot be carved.”
That was why it grated on Ye Zhihan’s ears whenever Yang Luo called her “honey.” He had called her that before, but she had never found it nearly as repulsive as she did now.
Back then, she had thought that since she was already Yang Luo’s legal wife, and might not be able to escape this marriage for the rest of her life, he could call her whatever he wanted. But now, those two words made her feel awful—almost sick.
“Uh, sorry. Something came up today and held me up for a while.” This time, Yang Luo really didn’t call Ye Zhihan “honey.” He had indeed come back too late. He figured he’d let Ye Zhihan scold him a few times and vent her anger. After all, her words couldn’t hurt him, and her reprimands wouldn’t bother him.
“Don’t make excuses. You’ve disappointed me completely. You’re negligent at work, and you come home late—or don’t come home at all. Besides freeloading and waiting to die, what can you do?”
Yang Luo stood silently where he was, saying nothing as Ye Zhihan berated him.
“I just don’t understand. Grandpa dotes on you, your parents care for you so much, and my whole family treats you like a treasure. How is it that I can’t find a single good quality in you?”
Seeing that Yang Luo still didn’t say a word, Ye Zhihan grew even more agitated. “You’re a hopeless case. And you used to be a soldier! It’s a good thing you never went to the battlefield. Someone like you would only get yourself killed, and you’d drag your comrades-in-arms down with you, hurting others and yourself.”
“Ye…” A flash of cold light passed through Yang Luo’s eyes, but it vanished in an instant. Even Ye Zhihan, standing right in front of him, didn’t notice it.
“What? Was I wrong?”
“Right, right. You’re completely right. I’m a hopeless case, and you’ll never be able to help me. Mayor Ye, are you done lecturing me?” Yang Luo said in an even tone. It was the first time in months that he had called Ye Zhihan “Mayor Ye.”
“I…” Ye Zhihan was about to speak when she suddenly noticed that Yang Luo’s eyes had become unfathomably deep, like bottomless black holes. Even his entire bearing had changed completely. It was as if the person standing before her was no longer the Yang Luo she knew in her everyday life.
Was this really her husband? A strange fear welled up in Ye Zhihan, and for a moment, she was so frightened she couldn’t speak.
“Since Mayor Ye has finished her lecture, I’ll head back to my room and get some rest.” With that, Yang Luo walked straight toward his room.
After Yang Luo went into his room, Ye Zhihan sank onto the sofa as if her legs could no longer support her. She began to reflect. Had she gone too far by mercilessly berating him just because she had waited for him all night?
Ever since they started living together, she had said they shouldn’t interfere in each other’s private lives. From that perspective, Yang Luo didn’t seem to have done anything wrong. She had only cared about venting her anger, tearing him down as if he were worthless. Wasn’t that too hurtful?
Ye Zhihan suddenly felt guilty. After all, she was his wife. Who could accept being criticized like that? And she was a City Mayor, yet she had been so unable to control herself, getting angry so easily.
Yang Luo hadn’t actually been angry. It was just that Ye Zhihan’s words—“you’d drag your comrades-in-arms down with you, hurting others and yourself”—had pierced straight into his heart like a sharp knife, filling him with unbearable pain and self-reproach.
Lying in bed, Yang Luo couldn’t fall asleep for a long time. Those painful memories came flooding back like the tide…
No matter how late he went to bed, Yang Luo still got up early, right on time. When he returned from his run, he found Ye Zhihan already up, sitting quietly on the living room sofa.
“Morning!” Yang Luo hadn’t taken last night’s unpleasantness to heart at all. With a smile, he greeted Ye Zhihan of his own accord.
“Morning.” Because she felt guilty about the night before, Ye Zhihan was unusually polite to Yang Luo for once. In the past, she wouldn’t even have acknowledged him.
Still, Ye Zhihan found it very strange that after she had been so merciless in berating him the night before, he hadn’t gotten angry.
“I’m all sweaty. I’ll go take a shower.”
“Wait…” Ye Zhihan had just started to say something else, but Yang Luo was already striding toward the bathroom.
Forget it. I’ll talk to him when he comes out.
“I’m going to work.” After his shower, Yang Luo tossed out those words and headed for the door.
“Wait…” Ye Zhihan called out urgently.
Yang Luo knew, of course, that Ye Zhihan had to have something to ask him. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have gotten up so early. He turned around and asked, “Is something the matter?”
“My younger female cousin is coming over this morning, but I have an important meeting and really can’t spare the time to pick her up. My position is rather sensitive, so it wouldn’t be convenient for me to appear in public. Could you pick her up at the airport and bring her back for me?”
“All right. What’s your cousin’s name, and what time is her flight?” Yang Luo asked.
“Her name is Shu Qian. Her flight is at eight.”
“All right, I’ll go pick her up.” Yang Luo opened the door and was about to leave when Ye Zhihan called him back.
“Is there something else?”
A faint blush rose on Ye Zhihan’s face. Stammering, she said, “To, tonight, you… you can sleep in my… my room.”
“Ah!” Yang Luo’s mouth fell open in shock.
Ye Zhihan hurriedly explained, “D-don’t get the wrong idea. My cousin is going to stay with us, and I don’t want her to know we sleep in separate rooms.”
“How about I stay in the dorm at work?”
“No. My cousin knows we’re married. If you stay in the dorm, that’ll make her even more suspicious. When you bring her back, don’t go into your room, or she might notice something. I’ll tidy up your room in a bit.”
“Got it.”
After Yang Luo left for work, Ye Zhihan really did go into his room, intending to tidy it up for him. But as soon as she opened the door, a strong smell of smoke hit her. Ye Zhihan frowned and quickly backed out of the room.
Just how many cigarettes does this guy smoke a day?
After hesitating by the doorway for a while, Ye Zhihan went into Yang Luo’s room again. She really didn’t want to, but she had to tidy it up!
This was the first time she had tidied Yang Luo’s room. To be precise, it was the first time in her life that she had tidied a man’s room.
Ye Zhihan carefully surveyed the room and found that apart from the strong smell of smoke, everything else was quite neatly arranged. The blanket in particular had been folded into a perfect square, like a block of tofu. Ye Zhihan was astonished.
Then she suddenly remembered that Yang Luo had been a soldier for several years, and the surprise immediately passed.
At ten in the morning, Yang Luo asked for two hours off from work. After changing into casual clothes, he rode his motorcycle to the airport.
At the passenger exit, Yang Luo took out a sheet of A4 paper he had prepared in advance. The name “Shu Qian” was written on it in neat block letters.
The flight had been scheduled for eight, and it was nearly noon already, but the person he was waiting for still hadn’t appeared. Yang Luo couldn’t help wondering which airline had such a terrible delay.
Suddenly, Yang Luo’s stomach started rumbling loudly in protest.
Who knew when she would get here? Forget it. I’ll go get something to eat first. With that thought, Yang Luo went into a noodle shop inside the airport. He found a seat and casually placed the A4 sheet he was holding on the table.
“Boss, a bowl of hand-pulled noodles, please. Could you make it quick? I still have to pick someone up.”
“Coming right up.”
The noodles were served quickly, and Yang Luo immediately began wolfing them down. Suddenly, a young woman wearing a baseball cap stopped in front of him.
In fact, Yang Luo had noticed the young woman walking into the shop, but he hadn’t looked up. He just kept eating, thinking he should finish quickly so he could return to the passageway and wait for Shu Qian.
The woman in the baseball cap stood perfectly still, glancing from Yang Luo, who was eating with his head down, to the A4 sheet on the table. When Yang Luo didn’t even look at her, anger gradually showed on her face. After a while, she finally shouted, “Yang Luo!”
Hearing an unfamiliar woman call his name, Yang Luo looked around. Seeing no one else at the nearby tables, he finally raised his head and looked at her. She was glaring at him furiously.
So she was calling me. I thought someone with the same name was sitting nearby. But why is she looking at me like that?
As Yang Luo wondered about this, he suddenly realized something and thought, Oh, no.
“Excuse me, are you calling me?” Yang Luo asked deliberately.
“Who else is here besides you?” the woman said irritably.
“But I don’t know you.”
The woman took a deep breath and demanded, “Did you come to the airport to pick someone up?”
“Yes. How did you know?”
“Oh, great! My older female cousin called and said you’d already arrived at the airport. I went around outside and couldn’t find you. I didn’t expect you to be hiding in here, enjoying the air-conditioning.”
It turned out that Shu Qian hadn’t seen Yang Luo outside. Since she was hungry, she had gone back into the airport to get something to eat. Then she happened to notice the A4 sheet on Yang Luo’s table and immediately understood what was going on.
“Are you Shu Qian?” Yang Luo asked tentatively.
“Don’t call me Shu Qian like that.”
“Then what should I call you?”
“Your wife is my older female cousin. What do you think you should call me?” Shu Qian said irritably.
“Let me think. What do you call your wife’s younger female cousin?” Yang Luo pretended to ponder the question seriously, murmuring, “What do you call your wife’s younger female cousin?”
“You call me ‘cousin.’ Also, I’m definitely telling my older female cousin what you did today when we get back.”
“Look, I’m really sorry. I waited for almost two hours, and when you didn’t come out, I happened to get hungry, so I came in to grab something to eat.” This time, Yang Luo told her the truth without making excuses.
After speaking, Yang Luo gave Shu Qian a careful look. She seemed to be about twenty-one or twenty-two. She was beautiful and poised, and her clothes had a youthful, energetic style. She was probably still a college student.
“Would you like something to eat?”
“I’m already full. I don’t have an appetite,” Shu Qian said coldly.
“Then… let’s head back.”
As they walked out of the airport, Shu Qian asked, “Where’s the car?”
“It’s in the parking lot up ahead. I’ll go get it. Wait here for a bit.”
“I’ll come with you.”
When they reached a quiet corner of the parking lot, Shu Qian saw Yang Luo get on a motorcycle and immediately widened her eyes in disbelief.
“Y-you came to pick me up on a motorcycle?” Shu Qian asked in shock.
“Is there a problem?”
“N-no problem.”
Oh my god, what kind of man had her older cousin married? If he didn’t have a car, he could at least have called a taxi. Shu Qian was completely speechless.
“Then let’s go!”
There was nothing she could do, so Shu Qian climbed onto the motorcycle. Yang Luo started it and headed home.
“Hold on tight.”
“Mm.”
Shu Qian couldn’t remember how long it had been since she’d ridden a motorcycle. For some reason, she felt a little scared sitting on it and didn’t know where to hold on. In the end, she simply grabbed the clothes on both sides of Yang Luo’s shoulders.
At first, Shu Qian sat with a little distance between herself and Yang Luo. But as they rode along, he kept braking from time to time, making her body press against his back despite herself.
It was the height of summer in July, and the weather was especially hot. Shu Qian was wearing a thin T-shirt that day. Her curvaceous figure let Yang Luo clearly feel the softness of her chest against his back, rubbing against him vigorously.
On top of that, the distinctive fragrance she gave off made Yang Luo’s thoughts wander.
She was Ye Zhihan’s younger female cousin, someone he mustn’t disrespect. Yang Luo quickly shook his head, trying hard to keep his thoughts in check.
Shu Qian felt extremely uncomfortable. She seriously suspected that Yang Luo was deliberately taking advantage of her, and she resolved to tell her older female cousin as soon as they got back.
Fortunately, Shu Qian gradually managed to steady herself. Otherwise, she really would have gotten off the motorcycle.