Chapter 18

“Tomorrow, after I formally visit your family, we’ll go get our marriage license, okay?” Shang Yanci asked politely, while gently stroking Pei Yuning’s left hand with his calloused fingertips.

Instantly, Pei Yuning remembered that night’s spring dream, it was like this, from her fingertips to her knuckles, back and forth, touching each of her fingers, each line, like a flirtatious caress.

The only difference was that he was speaking formally now, not like in the dream, where he was so bad, possessive, and wouldn’t let her refuse.

Not hearing her answer, Shang Yanci looked up, seeing Pei Yuning’s eyelashes tremble, her delicate earlobes flushed a delicate pink, “What are you thinking about?”

Pei Yuning shook her head, “…Nothing.”

Shang Yanci put the silver pinky ring on her middle finger, “Use this as a placeholder for now. I measured your size earlier, the wedding ring will be custom-made tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Pei Yuning nodded in agreement.

The scent of cedarwood and ebony intertwined, a clear and rich fragrance, Shang Yanci’s woody scent was unique.

The invisible fragrance turned into tangible threads, gently invading her chest, wrapping and imprisoning her heart, every blood vessel was tinged with his scent, like a declaration of ownership.

Shang Yanci needed a clear answer, “That ‘okay’, is it for the marriage license time, or the wedding ring?”

“Both.” Pei Yuning looked at him and said seriously, “Before we get the marriage license, I need a prenuptial agreement.”

“Okay, I will fulfill any of your requirements. I will have my assistant organize our conversation into an agreement, we will sign it before getting the marriage license, two copies, and each of us will keep one.” After saying that, Shang Yanci turned on the recording function on his phone, nodding for her to begin.

He was twenty-seven years old, he should be using the posture of an elder to unconditionally accommodate her, and Shang Yanci enjoyed this process.

Pei Yuning adopted a matter-of-fact attitude, “During the marriage, both parties cannot engage in any physical infidelity, even flirtatious chats are not allowed, in short, maintain an absolutely reasonable social distance with the opposite sex.”

Shang Yanci didn’t say anything, and added, “First, I can guarantee absolute fidelity to my wife; second, if I cheat, then all my assets will be transferred to your name. Of course, this assumption is not valid; finally, you can unilaterally file for divorce, I unconditionally agree, and half of my assets will be transferred to your name after the divorce, as compensation for you. I only have one request, within one year, no matter what, we cannot divorce, I need time to stabilize the group.”

It seems that Shang Yanci really wants to regain control of the Shang Group, he is willing to bear this agreement, which is harmful to him and has no benefit, just for her one year of marriage, he doesn’t leave himself any way out, and how could he make such a low-level mistake?

Pei Yuning was slightly stunned, “This part can be cut, and we’ll talk about it again after you think it through.”

Shang Yanci looked at her seriously, his thin lips curled up, “I’ve thought it through, please continue with your requirements.”

Adults are responsible for their words and actions, since he has already thought it through, then Pei Yuning continued, “Regarding post-marital physiological needs, you cannot use coercive methods to make me fulfill them, it must be based on my will.”

Shang Yanci casually raised his hand, gently touched her cheek with his fingertips, and then withdrew, “Is that what I am in Miss Pei’s eyes?”

Pei Yuning blinked, innocently, “You told me to continue.”

Shang Yanci chuckled, “Yes, but I also said I hope it’s a permanent partnership, divorce is just the worst-case scenario, I don’t expect that to happen. Now we’ll get the marriage license first, after we have the foundation of love, we’ll choose a good day and hold the wedding. The physiological needs you mentioned will not happen before we hold the wedding, I can guarantee that.”

To avoid her misunderstanding, Shang Yanci said, “Not holding the wedding for now is not because I want to save trouble, but because I think the wedding is a sacred thing, only those who love each other can walk hand in hand into the hall, exchange rings and kisses.”

As those two words appeared, the atmosphere seemed to slowly become ambiguous.

Her heartbeat coincided with the second hand on the clock for a moment. Pei Yuning looked up at the time, realizing that she had been upstairs for a while, wondering if the meal downstairs was over, and if anyone was looking for her?

Pei Yuning: “I’m done, that’s all.”

“If you think of anything else later, you can add it anytime.” Shang Yanci saved the recording and sent it to his assistant.

Pei Yuning stood up, “Then I’ll go down first.”

“You first?” Shang Yanci easily grasped her wrist, he was still sitting on the sofa, lazily lifting his eyelids, his amber eyes fixed on her, taking the initiative to look up at her from a lower position, “Let’s go down together, after all, we are about to get our marriage license, Miss Pei.”

Pei Yuning’s heart skipped a beat from his casual words and actions, his hand was very large, lightly resting on her soft white wrist skin, his palm was hot, hard to ignore.

“What should we say if we go down together?” Pei Yuning couldn’t even imagine the stimulation.

“Don’t worry, leave it to me.” Shang Yanci stood up, his hand slid from Pei Yuning’s wrist to her palm, and then very naturally intertwined their fingers.

Pei Yuning looked at their intertwined hands, a thought popped into her mind: Daddy must be like Shang Yanci. Calm and introverted, noble and elegant, gentle and well-mannered, very stable emotionally, he does everything with ease, as if everything is under his control, without exception.

Shang Yanci’s gaze stopped at her side. Pei Yuning was wearing a cheongsam with a side slit today, as she moved, her fair and slender legs were half-hidden and half-exposed, with a pure and alluring sensuality, hard to describe.

He saw Pei Yuning’s nervousness at this moment, his low and mellow voice was gentle and calm, “Forgot to mention, Miss Pei, you look beautiful in a cheongsam.”

Pei Yuning politely thanked him, and then continued to be nervous.

After the meal, everyone moved to the hall for tea.

Pei Yuchen asked, “Has anyone seen Ningning?”

Yi Huan, Shang Heng’s mother, saw Pei Yuning leave the table, she thought that Miss was angry because Shang Heng didn’t show up at the engagement cancellation party. Her son was wrong, and she, as his mother, couldn’t speak, so she lowered her head.

Everyone looked around, and only then did they realize that Shang Yanci was also missing, but no one would connect him with Pei Yuning.

Except for Jiang Minzhi, who knew the truth, and Pei Yuchen, who had the protective instincts of a brother?

Old Mrs. Pei: “Maybe she went out for some fresh air, its okay.”

Pei Yuchen was worried, “I’ll go look for her.”

“Ningning is an adult.” Pei Yunzhi glanced at him, clearly disapproving of his actions. This wasn’t their home, they had to be careful.

Pei Yuchen didn’t know how to explain to his brother, who didn’t understand love.

The sound of high heels came from upstairs, everyone looked up, and saw Shang Yanci and Pei Yuning walking down, hand in hand.

A dull thud, Shang Xuan’s teacup was unsteady in his hand, and fell to the carpet, the carpet was instantly wet, steaming, and the tea stains were very obvious.

Old Mr. Shang took a few seconds to find his voice, “What is this?”

Shang Yanci calmly said, “On the evening of the day Shang Heng cheated, I happened to meet Ningning at the private kitchen in City Z. I was smitten by her, I fell in love with her. Ningning just agreed to my proposal.”

So that’s why he called her “Ningning,” Pei Yuning couldn’t help but look up at him, Shang Yanci noticed, and affectionately squeezed her finger.

Everyone was stunned, their eyes focused on the butterfly brooch on Shang Yanci’s suit lapel, and the ice-blue jade butterfly clasp hanging from Pei Yuning’s cheongsam buttonhole, as if they had planned it in advance.