Chapter 67

Towards the end, Wei Lai’s eyes were misty, tears continuously welled up and rolled down to the corners of her mouth, salty with a hint of sweetness.

Her tear ducts might have burst, unable to be stopped, flowing down her chin, unable to be halted, and dripping onto the love letter. Coincidentally, it landed beside the “unique” word, diluting the blue-black ink, and making the character blurry.

In a panic, Wei Lai grabbed a tissue, carefully wiping away the tears, leaving traces of moisture to dry on the love letter.

They had been married for two years, and he had given her countless gifts, but this love letter was the most precious.

Footsteps approached the bedroom door, which soon opened from the outside. Today, he wore a black shirt, no cufflinks, sleeves rolled up, collar slightly open, a bit more casual than usual.

“Aren’t you going to the office?” Wei Lai carefully folded the love letter along its original creases, her voice hoarse from crying.

Zhou Sujin closed the door behind him. “No rush, there’s a meeting at ten.”

Her eyes and nose were red, and there were two obvious dried tear streaks on her face, as he headed straight to the bathroom.

Taking advantage of the moment, Wei Lai unfolded the love letter again, engraving each word into her heart.

He soon returned from the bathroom, holding a damp towel.

Wei Lai laid the love letter face down on the bed, and took the towel, feeling its warmth in her hands. She pressed it to her face, taking a deep breath in the warmth.

Zhou Sujin placed the love letter in an envelope, noticing the dried tear stain.

“Is there any cake you’d like this year?”

“No need to buy more, my dad and mom buy one every year, just a few bites are enough.” Having eaten too many sweets in the supermarket as a child, she now only loved bread.

She placed the towel on the bedside table and reached out for a hug.

Zhou Sujin embraced her along with the blanket.

Wei Lai’s face rested on his shirt collar, her hand finding his, gripping his fingers, lips against his neck. “Zhou Sujin, I love you.”

Zhou Sujin’s Adam’s apple bobbed as her lips moved over it, his abdominal muscles tensing, blood rushing through his body.

The blanket between them was pulled aside.

The surging tide soaked her through.

Lately, she has been wearing more black clothes, in various fabrics and styles, paired with straps of different lengths, all in black.

Her pink-white skin contrasted beautifully against the black.

Zhou Sujin kissed her all over.

Sitting in his embrace, Wei Lai’s fingertips traced his smooth abdomen, while Zhou Sujin looked deeply into her eyes, letting her do as she pleased.

She was like the roses he had given her today, enveloping him with their petals.

The alarm clock kept ringing until half past seven.

She still had to go to the office in the morning.

So the room slowly calmed down.

The interior of Jiang’an Yunchen’s home was not like his villa; in the bathroom, you could see the backyard flowers, while here, outside the bathroom window, there were only distant mist-shrouded green mountains, and the vast sky stretching endlessly into the distance.

Wei Lai turned on the shower, and outside the bathroom window, the sunrise was splendid.

Today, she was later than usual to the office, arriving at half past eight, just in time for work.

She had brought the love letter with her to the office, intending to read it during her lunch break, but by noon, she remembered she had to have lunch with her father.

Zhou Sujin would accompany her to her birthday dinner in the evening, while she celebrated with her father at noon.

Wei Huatian had booked a restaurant near his daughter’s company and arrived early to wait.

From where he sat, he could see the office building of Jiang An Group. The law firm used to be on the same floor as his daughter’s office.

Everything had changed.

He took off his glasses and stopped looking out the window until his daughter arrived, then he put them back on.

Wei Lai stared at her father’s glasses. “Dad, did you get new glasses?”

Wei Huatian said, “The leg of that pair of glasses got accidentally bent by me.”

Wei Lai complimented him sincerely, “You look even cooler in this pair.”

Wei Huatian laughed, “Still trying to look good at our age.”

“I’m just flattering myself.” Wei Lai laughed, taking out her phone to take a few pictures of the cake, then cut herself a piece and ate it.

Seeing his daughter start eating the cake without making a wish, Wei Huatian said, “You haven’t made a wish yet.”

“All my wishes have come true; I don’t have any others.”

Wei Huatian could tell that his daughter was in an exceptionally good mood today. She noticed he had changed his glasses with just one glance, and she even tasted a small piece of cake, though she didn’t like it.

He ordered two flavors of cake for his daughter and switched one to her side.

“Take a few fewer bites of each. Your mom will definitely buy you more cake tonight.”

Nowadays, he wouldn’t stay silent when his father mentioned his mother.

They had both come to terms with it.

She was also moving forward.

The birthday cake at night was still two flavors, and her mother had ordered a dual-flavored cake for her.

He Wancheng booked a private room at a riverside restaurant, a table for four.

Her mother only focused on eating the whole time, even letting He Wancheng serve her the dishes. Feeling a bit embarrassed, she avoided looking at her mother intentionally afterward.

He Wancheng raised his glass to Zhou Sujin, saying with a smile, “I never thought we two would have this connection. Let’s learn from each other in the future.”

Zhou Sujin gave a faint smile and drank his glass.

He Wancheng put down his glass. “I should thank Zhao Yihan properly someday too, for sending a few projects to their company.”

Zhou Sujin didn’t respond, picking out the seafood from the seafood risotto onto an empty plate.

Wei Lai keenly caught the word “also” and asked Zhou Sujin sideways, “You gave projects to my sister’s company?”

“Lai Lai, you didn’t know?” He Wancheng spoke up.

Wei Lai said, “He didn’t mention it.”

He Wancheng tapped the glass of Cheng Minzhi, now cold, and refilled it with warm water, saying to Wei Lai, “Then Zhao Yihan probably doesn’t know either.”

Zhou Sujin placed the plate of seafood risotto in front of Wei Lai and explained, “Their company already has the strength, so cooperation is mutually beneficial.”

He didn’t give the project to Zhao Yihan because she had brought Wei Lai to the dinner, leading to their relationship.

After that dinner, when Zhao Yihan walked to his car and begged for Wei Lai’s sake, he was deeply impressed.

Begging, handing over the invitation to the banquet to Wei Lai, he and Wei Lai had signed a contract to pretend to be lovers, and Zhao Yihan was the only one who knew about it.

Anything was worth a project.

“How are you two planning for the Spring Festival this year?” He Wancheng invited them to Haicheng.

Zhou Sujin leisurely picked out seafood from the seafood risotto and politely declined the invitation, “Wei Lai has to patrol the stores on New Year’s Day, so we’ll just have a New Year’s Eve dinner at home.”

He Wancheng pondered for a moment, then changed his New Year’s plans on the spot, saying to Cheng Minzhi, “I’ll spend New Year’s in Jiang Cheng. Is that okay with you?”

Cheng Minzhi hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to respond in front of her daughter and son-in-law.

Wei Lai intervened with a light smile and said, “Uncle He, then you can help us put up couplets in the supermarket.”

He Wancheng clinked glasses with Wei Lai, readily agreeing, “No problem. Putting up couplets this year will be mine and Sujin’s task.”

It was only November, but Wei Lai was already looking forward to the New Year, looking forward to putting up couplets at the Jiang’an Yunchen store with Zhou Sujin.

On the way home from the riverside restaurant, Zhou Sujin received a work-related call, leaving Wei Lai with nothing to do. She took out the love letter from her bag to read.

If it were Qiao Sitian or Yin Le, they would have taken a photo and shared it in their group the next second.

The word blurred by tears was just right.

“Bringing it out?” Zhou Sujin ended the call and noticed the love letter in her hand.

“Yeah, once is not enough.” Looking at the last sentence. “I will love you forever,” she thought of what she had written on the birthday card for Zhang Yanxin, “Love me forever.”

He was responding to her here.

Zhou Sujin asked her, “Can you spare a few days at the end of next month to accompany you to Australia?”

“Huh?” Wei Lai was focused on the love letter and didn’t hear clearly. “I’m not traveling there for work recently.”

Zhou Sujin took the love letter from her hand and put it back in the envelope. “I’m not asking about a business trip, but to accompany you for a few days of relaxation.”

He had finally figured out some of her personality traits. When she was tired or in a bad mood, she just wanted to stay home and read, and she only felt like traveling when she was in a good mood.

There were fixed armrests on the rear seats, and Wei Lai couldn’t move over to his side, so she could only hold onto his arm and lean closer to him, her eyes twinkling with joy and excitement. “I can spare the time. Are you not busy at the end of the year?”

Zhou Sujin casually replied, “Not busy. I’ll adjust my work schedule for those days.”

At the end of December, there was Christmas, followed by New Year’s Day. Qiao Sitian and Yin Le had also invited her to celebrate New Year’s together.

Wei Lai asked him roughly when they would leave and how many days they could stay there.

Zhou Sujin said, “It depends on how many days you can spare.”

Teasing him, Wei Lai said, “Two weeks. Can you accompany me for two weeks?”

Two weeks exceeded his plans, but Zhou Sujin still nodded, “Yes. I might have to spare a few hours to deal with work in the evenings and won’t be able to accompany you all the time.”

Returning to the main topic, Wei Lai said, “Just kidding, I can’t spare that long of a vacation either. At most, I can take a week off.”

She planned to fly over on the 26th and return on the 2nd.

【Zhou Sujin will accompany me to Australia for New Year’s. I can’t join you two for the New Year’s celebration. We’ll treat you to a hotpot when we get back.】

She posted this in the Plastic Besties small group.

Since Zhou Sujin had been deeply involved in various industries in Jiangcheng and had cooperated with Qiao Sitian and Yin Le’s families, Qiao Sitian had set up another small group of three for occasional discussions about projects. They rarely bubbled up in the Plastic Besties large group anymore.

They might be out shopping and hadn’t responded to her message.

Back home, Zhou Sujin went to the study and casually closed the door behind him.

He only closed the door during video meetings, immediately opening it afterward for her to find him if she needed anything.

There were no meetings tonight. He called his grandfather in advance to let him know that he would be spending a day in the orchard next month.

“My grandmother and I plan to go around January. We’ll postpone it a few more days and go after your vacation.”

Grandpa Ning understood his grandson and called specifically to confirm when they would go to the orchard. He wanted to take Wei Lai to relax thoroughly and didn’t want Wei Lai to have to deal with the elders anymore.

Zhou Sujin chatted with his grandfather for a few more moments, then got up and opened the study door.

He kept the door open every day when working late, and Wei Lai had hardly come in.

Wei Lai sat cross-legged on the sofa, editing her moments. She rarely posted personal updates, occasionally sharing promotions at the Jiang’an Yunchen store.

She had taken photos of both the birthday cakes at noon and in the evening. She also snapped a picture of the roses when she left in the morning, selecting three photos to accompany a cake emoji.

She had never posted Moments for her birthday before, nor would she put her parents’ cakes together.

Her father liked the post, and her mother left a comment, just a few hugging emojis.

She replied: 【I will always love you both, just like when I was a child.】

After exiting Moments, she took out the love letter and went to the study. The door was open, so she knocked a few times, “Husband.”

Zhou Sujin was replying to emails. He looked up, “What’s up?”

“I’m going to make a copy of the love letter.”

“Why do you need to copy the love letter?”

“You wrote this one to keep at home, and I’ll keep the copy in my bag. That way, I won’t feel bad if it gets worn out.”

Zhou Sujin said, “Isn’t taking a photo more convenient than making a copy?”

“The paper version has a feeling.”

“No need to copy.” Zhou Sujin asked her to wait, finishing his current email, then found paper and a pen. “I’ll write another one for you.”

Wei Lai suddenly had an idea, “Let’s write this love letter together, and you can hold my hand while writing.”

Zhou Sujin moved his chair back a bit, letting her sit on his lap.

He wrapped her around the desk, and she picked up the old pen, her right hand enveloped by his strong and long hand, his cool breath brushing past her ear.

Wei Lai’s heart thumped wildly, and it took a few seconds for her mind to calm down.

She reached for the envelope with her left hand, intending to open it and write according to the love letter inside, but Zhou Sujin took it from her hand. “No need to look. I remember it all.”

Wei Lai turned her head, only catching a glimpse of his profile before turning back.

He held her fingers and practiced a few words on the blank paper first. Both of them were holding the pen, but the strokes weren’t smooth enough.

Wei Lai didn’t demand much, “Just write it out.”

But Zhou Sujin held himself to high standards. He led her to practice writing to find the feeling first.

“Do you remember what color dress I wore that day?”

She jumped to the content of the love letter.

Zhou Sujin replied candidly, “I do. You wore it at Director He’s dinner.”

But she hadn’t seen her wear that dress since. It should be related to Zhang Yanxin.

“It’s been a month since we met downstairs at the Riverside Restaurant for Director He’s dinner. Do you still remember me?”

“I didn’t recognize you at first, but remembered when you sat next to me.”

Led by him in writing, Wei Lai didn’t need to think about what to write herself; she just followed his lead.

After a moment, she said, “I also remember the cufflinks you wore that day.” She still vividly remembered the patterns on the cufflinks.

Zhou Sujin practiced a few more lines, finding the feeling before starting to write.

He held her hand and wrote the last two sentences of “There is no longer you in this world, and I don’t know where to find you.” When he wrote these words, her eyes warmed, as if she could feel his mood when he wrote the love letter.

Many years later, when there was no longer him in this world, where would she find him?

They spent an hour and a half writing the three to four hundred words of the love letter together.

The tears on her face had dried.

Messages in the besties’ group had been buzzing non-stop for the past twenty minutes, but she only opened them after putting down her pen.

She wanted to sit in his arms for a while longer, even after finishing writing the love letter.

After climbing back upstairs, she replied to Qiao Sitian: 【Not for a business trip, just going to play for a few days.】

Qiao Sitian replied: 【On your birthday, your Mr. Zhou at home just gave you a bouquet of flowers. Not romantic enough, deducted points!】

They must have seen the roses she posted on her Moments.

Gifts like watches and diamonds weren’t considered gifts in their eyes; they were just everyday items. Wei Lai didn’t mention the watch cabinet or the watch.

Zhou Sujin hadn’t looked at her phone, his profile was facing the emails on the computer.

Wei Lai locked her phone screen and picked up the freshly written love letter. “If Qiao Sitian and Yin Le received love letters from their husbands, they would have shown them off by now. But I’m different from them.”

Zhou Sujin: “…”

In less than two seconds, Wei Lai turned around, snuggling into his arms and bursting into laughter.

Laughing at her own embarrassment.

Zhou Sujin took out the love letter he had given her from the envelope and picked up her phone to take a picture.

Hearing the sound of the camera shutter, Wei Lai turned back to look, “Why are you taking this?”

Zhou Sujin selected the best-lit photo and said, “I’ll send it to your group. Consider it your birthday wish for this year, now being fulfilled.”

At the moment he hit send, her breath was swept away by a flutter of excitement.