Chapter 46

Separated by more than a thousand kilometers, it was an extravagance to expect him to commute every week, so she never hoped for it.

But he was content with just that.

Wei Lai’s arms encircled his broad back. Even such an embrace was not enough to express her current mood. She leaned her nose close to his neck, the cool scent from his body filling her nostrils.

With his black shirt collar slightly open, the veins on his neck were clearly visible, winding down. She held her breath and placed a gentle kiss on his sexy, sharp Adam’s apple, just as he had kissed her neck a moment ago.

Zhou Sujin’s breath faltered for two seconds. He lifted his hand and grasped her head, instinctively leaning back.

He didn’t say anything, but Wei Lai judged from his reaction that his Adam’s apple was his most sensitive spot.

She didn’t kiss his Adam’s apple again, instead planting a kiss on the vein, and whispering softly, “How many days will you stay each time?”

“At least one night, preferably two.”

“I only heard the last half of the sentence.”

Zhou Sujin was already accustomed to her pushing boundaries. With both hands around her, he casually unbuttoned his cufflinks as they talked.

Wei Lai felt his arm rubbing against the pajamas on her side. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing, just unbuttoning my cufflinks.”

“I’ll help you.”

She pulled away from his embrace.

Zhou Sujin had already unbuttoned one, leaving the other for her.

As Wei Lai unbuttoned the cufflink, she told him that she wasn’t busy tomorrow.

Zhou Sujin watched her unbutton the cufflink and carefully roll up his sleeve. “Where do you want to go?” he asked.

“You arrange it.” Wei Lai found it hard to imagine what it would be like to go on a date with him. From pretending to be a couple to now, they had never formally arranged a date.

Zhou Sujin had work plans for tomorrow, but he adjusted them on the spot.

“What about the day after tomorrow? Will you still let me accompany you?” she asked.

Putting down the cufflink, Wei Lai hugged his waist. “Hmm, I’ll also have a day off the day after tomorrow.”

Zhou Sujin postponed all his work until two days later and switched his work phone to silent mode.

Until now, he had never gone two consecutive days without working even during vacations, he would still handle some emails at night.

After taking a shower and coming out of the bathroom, Wei Lai had already turned off the floor lamp.

Zhou Sujin put on his bathrobe and opened the door to leave.

Wei Lai wasn’t asleep. Seeing his back, she asked, “Are you still working overtime?”

“I pushed the work to later, no overtime.”

As he left the bedroom, his footsteps gradually faded away in the hallway.

Wei Lai wasn’t sleepy. She reached out and picked up one of his cufflinks, playing with it between her fingers. Before she could examine the details of the cufflink, the door was pushed open, and Zhou Sujin returned.

“What are you holding?” he asked before the rest of the sentence came out, but Wei Lai judged from the size and shape of the box what it was.

It turned out he had bought them when he came home, holding two or three boxes.

Wei Lai put the cufflink back and turned around, only to be pulled into his arms.

Zhou Sujin let her rest against his arm and kissed her cheek. “Were you unhappy last night?” he asked.

Wei Lai shook her head, leaning against his chest. “I wasn’t unhappy, but at the time, I still hoped you would hold me.”

Zhou Sujin hugged her tightly again, rolling over and covering her, leaning down to kiss her lips.

Wei Lai welcomed his tongue, her hands climbing up his back, gripping his bathrobe.

Their body temperatures were still not quite familiar, and Zhou Sujin’s kisses explored her lips and body inch by inch, making her familiar with him.

“Husband, where are you planning to go tomorrow? I don’t want to have a date at home.” She broke the silence, also to disguise some of her own voice.

“Not at home,” Zhou Sujin replied.

As for where he didn’t say.

Their large areas of skin touched, and Wei Lai wanted to kiss his Adam’s apple.

Zhou Sujin reacted faster than her, capturing her lips before she could reach that sensitive spot.

She never kissed that sensitive spot of his.

His lips never left hers.

In the air around them, his dominant and chilly aura merged with her warm and gentle breath.

Wei Lai suddenly paused her breath, wrapping herself around him as he held her tightly.

A tremor went straight to her heart.

Unfamiliar, yet no longer strangers.

There was no overtime tomorrow, and there was no longer a clock in the bedroom, allowing time to be freely controlled.

He also made up for yesterday’s lost time with her.

The next morning, Wei Lai was awakened by the incessant vibrations of messages in the group chat.

Squinting, she followed the sound to reach for her phone, forgetting to switch it to silent mode before going to bed last night.

Instead of finding her phone, she found a long and powerful hand.

Wei Lai suddenly opened her eyes, and Zhou Sujin, dressed neatly, was bending down to hand her the phone.

“What time is it?” She lay back and waited for him to hand her the phone.

Zhou Sujin looked at his watch. “It’s 8:20.”

Wei Lai noticed that he was wearing a different watch today. Both she and his car had arrived in Jiangcheng last night, and the watch had been brought by Uncle Yan. She knew the origin of this watch her grandfather had bought it and given it to him a few years ago.

Zhou Sujin handed her the phone. “Do you want to get up? If you want to sleep more, we can go out in the afternoon.”

“Have you decided where to go?”

“I’ll take you to a coffee shop in Shanghai.”

“Is the coffee shop special?”

“You should like it.”

Instantly, Wei Lai wasn’t sleepy anymore. Glancing at her phone, she saw messages in the Plastic Sisters group, already numbering 61. Not in a hurry to read them, she put down her phone and quickly got up.

There were several new dresses brought over from the previous year in the closet. She picked out the one she thought looked the best, but upon seeing herself in the mirror, she couldn’t wear it because it had a purplish-red hickey on the neck.

She had to take it off and change into a turtleneck sweater.

After a simple breakfast, they set off from home at nine o’clock.

They didn’t let Uncle Yan follow; Zhou Sujin drove to Cullinan by himself.

Wei Lai sat in the passenger seat and browsed through the messages in the Plastic Sisters group. There were over a hundred messages in total.

Qiao Sitian sent the most, followed by Yin Le, with others chiming in.

Early in the morning, Qiao Sitian posted several photos in the group. The photos were of the gnocchi her husband made for her in the morning. She complained that the tangyuan had burst while cooking and that the filling had leaked out.

The focus wasn’t on whether the gnocchi burst or not, but that her husband had specially made them for her.

Yin Le replied, “It looks pretty delicious. Where did you buy the gnocchi? I’ll ask my aunt to buy some. My husband insisted on making tangyuan himself this year, and they all turned out badly. They were so terrible.”

Wei Lai almost couldn’t bear to look. They were all subtly showing off their husbands.

Qiao Sitian was overshadowed by Yin Le, and she must not have felt good about it.

Their marriages were all business alliances, but their feelings after marriage were still okay. Yin Le and her husband were childhood sweethearts, so their emotional foundation was a bit deeper. Qiao Sitian and her husband had just started living together, and their feelings gradually developed.

Both of them were born with silver spoons in their mouths, with similar family backgrounds. Before marriage, they compared boyfriends; after marriage, they compared husbands. It had never been peaceful.

In their small group, no one was closer to anyone else. They were all superficial, but they had never had any conflicts.

Qiao Sitian mentioned her several times, “Baby, what New Year surprises did Mr. Zhou give you? Tell us so we can envy you.”

“Baby, where are you?”

“Baby, come out for hotpot tonight.”

These messages were sent half an hour ago when she had just gotten up.

Wei Lai finally had the time to reply to Qiao Sitian, “Not today, I just arrived in Jiangcheng. I don’t know what time I’ll be back tonight.”

Qiao Sitian replied instantly, “You’re still on a business trip during the New Year?”

Wei Lai: “Zhou Sujin said there’s a nice coffee shop in Shanghai, so he’s taking me to try it.”

Qiao Sitian immediately knew that she couldn’t keep a low profile forever. Sure enough, she couldn’t resist showing off today.

“When are you free? Both Lele and I miss you like crazy.”

Yin Le chimed in, “Baby, how about the day after tomorrow?”

Wei Lai: “I’m not free the day after tomorrow either. Zhou Sujin rescheduled all his work for that day.”

They played light music on a loop in the car, so it wasn’t too dull.

Seeing her put away her phone, Zhou Sujin lowered the volume of the music. “Stopped chatting?”

“Yeah, they’ve all shown off enough, so I’ll stop for now.”

“…”

Zhou Sujin observed the road, but he could still glance at her from the corner of his eye. “Is chatting in this group a way for you to relax after overtime?”

Wei Lai was about to touch the screen to change the song when she heard this. She was stunned, and her finger didn’t press the next button. Instead, it pressed the pause button, and suddenly the car fell silent.

She turned to look at him, feeling both surprised and warm in her heart, unable to describe the inexplicable feeling.

He was the first person to understand why she didn’t leave the Plastic Sisters group, even Zhang Yanxin had failed to understand before.

She nodded in response to him. “Yeah.”

Zhou Sujin asked, “Is there anything they have that you don’t?”

“Many things,” Wei Lai replied.

She hurriedly explained, “Not material things; they never compare to those.” Jewelry, luxury cars, and haute couture were all part of Qiao Sitian and Yin Le’s daily lives; they had long since taken them for granted.

“They show off things that money can’t buy.”

Her voice lowered involuntarily. “Like you taking me out for coffee. But I’ve already shown that off.”

Zhou Sujin: “…”

They had just left Jiangcheng, and they hadn’t even had the coffee yet, but she had already advanced her claim.

Wei Lai mentioned the competition in the group this morning, “Qiao Sitian boasted that her husband cooked gnocchi for her, and Yin Le immediately followed suit, saying her husband made gnocchi too.”

“We don’t eat dumplings for the New Year; we eat gnocchi. There are sweet and savory ones. I like sweet ones the most, savory ones are second.”

Zhou Sujin fell silent for a while.

“Honey, why aren’t you talking?”

“You’re implying it so obviously. If I say I won’t make them, you’ll feel wronged. I’m thinking about how to solve this.”

Wei Lai chuckled, “I won’t feel wronged.”

She said, “I’ll make them. Tomorrow I’ll let you taste the tangyuan from Jiangcheng.”

She had been wracking her brain on how to arrange tomorrow’s date, so they could celebrate the New Year just for the two of them.

The road was busy, and they got stuck in traffic again when entering the city, finally arriving at the coffee shop around noon.

She seemed to understand why he wanted to take her out for coffee across the city. It was their first official date, and he was taciturn, unsure of how to handle such a long period of over ten hours. To prevent awkwardness and to keep her happy, while also creating a bit of a romantic atmosphere, going across the city was the most suitable option.

The coffee shop was indeed special, situated by the wide Huangpu River.

It was luxuriously decorated with a low-key elegance, exuding a dark sense of luxury. Each coffee table was adorned with many books, both for customers to read and for decoration.

A cup of Geisha coffee and an old prose book were both her favorites.

She took a photo and posted it on her Instagram.

This was her first life update in half a year.

Zhou Sujin’s private phone rang, it was a call from his friend in Shanghai.

He silenced it and answered the call outside the coffee shop.

“I saw your Cullinan. Did you drive it yourself or let Lu Yu use it?”

“I drove it myself.”

“Then let’s have lunch together.”

“No, I’m accompanying someone for coffee.”

His friend was surprised, “Who’s so important that you specifically made a trip to accompany them for coffee?”

“My wife.”

It was awkward to say, but he managed to say it without pausing.

Since Wei Lai was mentioned, his friend added a couple more words.

Zhou Sujin had heard about him leaving Xinming Group. “You have no room for negotiation with Xinming anymore?”

“No.” Zhou Sujin glanced at his watch; it had been almost three minutes since he came out. Wei Lai would start looking for him soon. “Let’s talk another day.”

He returned to the coffee shop, and the first thing Wei Lai said to him was, “Why did you go out for so long?”

Zhou Sujin sat down beside her without saying a word.

Three minutes was a long time for her.

They had a simple lunch at the coffee shop and spent the afternoon reading.

Zhou Sujin found a book to read, none of which interested him, but he had promised to read with her, so he persisted until the last page.

After closing the book, he asked her where she wanted to go next.

Wei Lai no longer pressured him; she knew it was uncomfortable for him, a person accustomed to high positions and only thinking about work, to suddenly put aside work for a date. He was extremely unaccustomed to it.

As the sun was setting, she put the two books they had read back in their place. “Let’s go home.”

Actually, going out on a date wasn’t as good as staying at home. In both cases, they were reading, but outside, they couldn’t get close. At home, at least she could snuggle up to him and tease him.

On the way back, Zhou Sujin said to her, “You can tell me what kind of date you want in the future.”

Wei Lai replied, “Just being with you is enough.”

“Don’t you find it boring?”

“Not at all. Because we’re in a long-distance relationship, we don’t contact each other every day. The time we spend together is short, but the time apart is long. So when you leave in the middle of our date for a few minutes, it feels very long to me.”

Zhou Sujin realized that he didn’t have much bottom line left. When he decided to marry her, the mode of interaction they had during their pretense took up the dominant factor.

He had visited Jiangcheng to see her for two or three weeks, where they didn’t have to maintain a relationship during the long-distance phase and had enough personal space.

Now, it had become a weekly visit, with a special time set aside for a date.

They remained silent in the car for a while, then he turned on the music and selected a song she liked.

When they arrived in Jiangcheng, it was already dusk, and the supermarket closed early during the holidays, so it was already closed.

Zhou Sujin dropped Wei Lai off at her doorstep and didn’t go in himself.

“You’re going out again?”

“Yeah, I have something to do.”

Wei Lai looked at him and said, “It’s been a day since you hugged me.”

Zhou Sujin wrapped her in his arms and hugged her tightly. “It won’t be too long. I’ll be back soon.”

Wei Lai didn’t ask where he was going. He had spent the whole day with her today, so he might need a few minutes alone in a quiet place.

She took off her coat and sat quietly on the sofa for a while.

Although today’s date was just in one place, reading books and drinking coffee, she felt especially satisfied. Finally, there was someone willing to accompany her to read.

Zhou Sujin went downstairs, drove out of the parking garage, and turned right.

It took him two tries to find an open flower shop. He parked and got out of the car.

Feeling that today’s date for her was boring, he was clear in his mind, yet couldn’t think of a more suitable place.

The owner was about to close the shop and had already turned off one of the lights. When Zhou Sujin arrived, they turned it back on and asked what flowers he wanted and who they were for.

“Roses.”

The owner opened the refrigerator and took out a rose. Zhou Sujin said, “I’ll do it myself.” It was his first time choosing roses, having only bought forget-me-nots for his aunt before.

He picked out a bouquet and chose wrapping paper that Wei Lai might like. He asked the owner to wrap it up simply, without being too extravagant.

“Do you have a card?” he asked the owner.

The owner was busy wrapping flowers and gestured to the pile of cards on the table by the door. “You can find one yourself.”

Zhou Sujin took a simple light brown card, without any fancy decorations. His handwriting was neat, and he wrote only one sentence:

Happy New Year.

— Zhou Sujin