Chapter 34.2

The radio crackled with entertainment news:
“Divorced Zhou Yalan yesterday, today cruising with Fang Jiamin—Lin Yihe, the most flamboyant playboy in Hong Kong…”

Talk about timing.

Fan Qi turned to Chen Zhiqian. “Guess rich men are all like that, huh? You better carry on the fine traditions of our fathers—be a model husband who listens to and loves his wife. Stay loyal to your future sister-in-law, and prove that even successful men don’t have to ditch their wives. Just look at these tycoons in Hong Kong…”

The report went on to dredge up more dirt about Miss Fang. When she had tried to seduce another tycoon before, she even showed up at the man’s house to scold his wife, saying the husband found her disgusting—how could she still cling to being the ‘main wife’?

And now, not even two months later, she had latched onto Lin Yihe?

Well, in this era, in Hong Kong, no one seemed to care. People even treated it like a joke.

She remembered an episode of Tonight No Defense—a talk show hosted by three of Hong Kong’s famous literary figures. The conversations were bold and unfiltered. One actress had even openly admitted on air:
“I’ve tried guys with girlfriends, tried married men. If I want it, I go for it.”

You can’t use past-life thinking to make sense of this.
If there had been the internet in a past life, and a female celebrity had done something like this? She would’ve definitely trended—negatively. Her career would’ve been over.

Fan Qi couldn’t help but recall the original owner of this body. This Lin Yihe was the same “Boss Lin” from the toy trading company who once tried to get the original owner to accompany him for drinks. And this Fang Jiamin, the original owner also knew her. She was another actress who came to Hong Kong from the mainland. She wasn’t as pretty or talented as the original owner, but she was bold and unrestrained. Because of that, she got way more opportunities and quickly became famous.

From the original owner’s perspective, being constantly soaked in such a morally murky environment, watching someone like Fang Jiamin rise by clinging to wealthy men and landing top-tier resources—it would mess with anyone’s mindset.

Gradually, the original owner began to change. She came to believe that no matter how hard she worked as an actress, it wouldn’t be enough. Only with the support of a rich backer could she succeed. And her looks and figure—those were her best assets.

The radio was playing. It mentioned that Zhou Yalan, who had just finalized her divorce, had once been considered Lin Yihe’s virtuous wife. She’d contributed a lot to his career over the years. After ten years of marriage, she finally made the decision to divorce him.

“This Lin Yihe really is scum,” Fan Qi sighed. “Being the legal wife of a rich man in this city is practically a high-risk profession. So many of these tycoons just cut off their wives as soon as they make it big.”

Chen Zhiqian drove into an open-air parking lot near home and parked. Just as Fan Qi was about to get out of the car, she heard him say, “Don’t forget—you’re my legal wife.”

Fan Qi paused, then quickly denied it. “That doesn’t count. You know exactly what kind of situation we’re in.”

They crossed the road together, and Chen Zhiqian tugged her along. “If I ever strike it rich and then divorce you, people will say I’m even worse than those other guys—ungrateful and heartless. Your family has been nothing but good to me.”

He wasn’t wrong. If she divorced him and people blamed him, he’d really be getting the short end of the stick.

The fridge was empty, so they went grocery shopping on the market street nearby. Just before they got there, Fan Qi suddenly lit up, as if inspiration struck. “I’ve got it!”

She followed behind Chen Zhiqian, full of excitement. “Think about it! You do real business, I trade stocks—it’s way more likely I’ll get rich quickly. So when I strike it rich, I’ll buy a yacht, take two ridiculously handsome young guys out to sea, snap a photo: me holding a glass of red wine, one guy giving me a leg massage, the other doing a pole dance. I’ll be the villain who ‘makes it big then dumps her man,’ and you’ll be the innocent party. That way your reputation stays intact, and later when you and your future wife have your happily-ever-after, people will still praise you.”

After just suffering the blow of realizing her social skills and cultural knowledge were lacking, she finally regained some footing. Pretty clever, right? She was still buzzing with excitement when she noticed the person in front of her had slowed down and turned around. She bumped right into Chen Zhiqian’s back and grumbled, “What’s your deal? Why’d you suddenly stop?”

Looking up, his eyes were just as deep as ever. She must’ve imagined it—but why did it feel like there was fire in them?

“You’re mad?” Fan Qi scratched her head. That’s when it hit her—she remembered what kind of man he was in that book.

He’d been so good-tempered and accommodating lately, taking such good care of her, that she’d forgotten herself. Was this scheme she just came up with too similar to the shady things the original owner used to pull?

Staring into his stormy eyes, Fan Qi tilted her head. “Chen Zhiqian, every person is their own individual. Even if you’re mad, you can’t just—”

His eyes darkened, like the calm before a storm. “Can’t just what?”

Fan Qi reminded him, “Our marriage is fake. We’re basically like siblings. Even if I did cozy up to a couple of hotties, your face shouldn’t look like you’re about to devour me.”

The moment she said that, she saw the anger fade from his face.

Chen Zhiqian chuckled at himself. Why was he even mad at this silly girl? “What do you want for dinner?”

See? Still a reasonable guy. Fan Qi glanced at a vendor’s stall. “I want chive pockets.”

Chen Zhiqian looked down at her—was that a hint of distaste in his expression? She quickly added, “Never mind, anything’s fine. You’re going golfing on Sunday anyway, I’ll just cook for myself.”

“Come with me.”

“I’m not going. What’s so fun about watching a bunch of old men take forever to hit a ball?” She finally had a day off—of course she wanted to stay in. “I’m playing video games at home.”

Chen Zhiqian didn’t argue. He just bent down and started picking out clams at the seafood stall. He got a small bag, then went to the pork stall to get a bit of liver—called “pig’s mo” here—and some lean meat. Then tofu, beef balls, fresh rice noodles…

He even crossed the street to the dried goods stall to get shrimp skins and seaweed. Fan Qi followed him from stall to stall, all the way to the back where he picked up a fresh bunch of chives.

“This is where you should buy leafy greens from now on,” he told her. “Auntie Fu’s veggies are always super fresh.”

The plump vendor overheard and beamed. “This celery’s great too. And the sponge gourds just came in this afternoon!”

Chen Zhiqian picked up a bit of everything. “Let’s go home.”

With the chives in hand, Fan Qi was in high spirits.

As they passed the poultry stall, the owner recognized her right away. “Miss Fan! I’ve got half a duck left—want to take it? Cheap price!”

“You making saltwater duck?” Chen Zhiqian asked.

“Sure!”

He bought the half-duck.

Back home, the moment they stepped inside, Fan Qi saw the big white teddy bear on the table. She ran over and hugged it, beaming. “Chen Zhiqian, it dried!”

“You’re not even going to wash your hands first?” he asked.

“I forgot.” She darted to the bathroom, washed up, then immediately went back to sticking herself to the teddy bear.

Chen Zhiqian started kneading dough. While the dough rested, he worked on the filling.

Fan Qi spent a good while cuddling the bear before remembering he was cooking alone. She put the bear away and came to help.

“Go marinate the duck first. Then come help with the chive pockets,” he said, already busy making lean pork and loofah seafood soup.

After letting the dough rest, Chen Zhiqian turned on the TV. While watching the financial news, he and Fan Qi worked together—he rolled out the wrappers, and she filled the chive pockets.

Strangely enough, the financial news seemed to be overlapping with the entertainment news. Both were covering the divorce of Lin Yihe, but the financial segment focused more on the division of assets after the split, especially because it involved the publicly listed company “Yihe Trading.”

Chen Zhiqian finished cooking the first chive pocket and, seeing the news had moved on to another topic, said to Fan Qi, “Try this.”

Fan Qi picked it up, blew on it, and took a bite. “Delicious.”

“When you’re done, could you chop some scallions for me?”

“Sure.”

Fan Qi chopped the scallions and handed them over. Chen Zhiqian served two bowls of pork liver and seafood rice noodles and placed them on the table.

Each bowl was generously loaded with ingredients. Even though she had already eaten beef brisket noodles for lunch, it didn’t stop her from devouring another big bowl for dinner.

Seeing how happily she was eating, Chen Zhiqian asked, “Tastes good?”

“Very good! Tastes authentic.”

Authentic? Chen Zhiqian did like pork offal noodles, but that was a taste he developed many years later, after Shanghai had become a distant, unreachable hometown. His palate had shifted over time.

But now, he shouldn’t have had this preference for “authentic” taste. He had been careless. He smiled and asked, “Authentic?”

Fan Qi took another bite. “If I had to be picky, I’d say it’s missing some garlic oil.”

In that moment, Chen Zhiqian’s concern shifted—from worrying about whether he’d slip up in front of this time-traveling girl to realizing she was just someone who could always find a flaw in anything.

Still, Fan Qi was happily eating. “A tiny bit of imperfection doesn’t make it any less delicious.”

One bowl of noodles and three chive pockets later, she was stuffed. She went to grab the giant white teddy bear, plopped into a chair, and started watching TV. She didn’t care that he had cooked the meal—washing dishes didn’t even cross her mind.

Chen Zhiqian wiped down the stovetop and hung his apron on the back of the door. “Come on, let’s go downstairs.”

Fan Qi, too lazy to move, looked up slowly. “What for?”

“I need to buy razor blades. Want to come?”

You need company just to buy razor blades? But fine, for the sake of the chive pockets and pork offal noodles, she’d go with him.

They visited one convenience store, but it didn’t carry his brand. Then they hit two more shops—still no luck.

“Forget it. I’ll go buy them tomorrow. Let’s head back.”

Hearing that, Fan Qi nearly exploded. They’d walked for half an hour already, and now they had to walk back—in this sweltering heat? Outrageous.

Back home, she was too sweaty to even want to hug the bear. She went to grab clothes to shower. When she pulled open the drawer for underwear, she accidentally opened the wrong one—Chen Zhiqian’s drawer. And inside were brand-new razor blades.

Fan Qi suddenly remembered how earlier they’d passed a lady walking a fat corgi. The dog had flopped to the ground, panting and refusing to budge. She’d commented on how cute the dog was, and the lady had said, “He’s too fat. I have to drag him just to make him walk.”

Fan Qi had looked down and scolded the dog: “Lazybones.”

And Chen Zhiqian had laughed beside her.

So… who was he laughing at?

After her shower, Fan Qi plopped on the bed hugging the teddy bear, still fuming. Chen Zhiqian came in and hung up his clothes.

“You’ve walked enough today. You have an exam tomorrow—maybe don’t go running in the morning,” he said.

Listen to that—wasn’t he just taking her out for a walk earlier?

Fan Qi pulled the blanket over her and curled up with the bear, grumbling softly, “Night night, Bear Bear.”

Chen Zhiqian heard her and responded, “Hm?”

She didn’t want to talk to him, so she shut her eyes and pretended to be asleep.

He shook his head. He’d only dragged her out for a walk to help her digest—after all, she ate three chive pockets and a bowl of seafood noodles! But now she was sulking.

Soon, her breathing became soft and even. She really had fallen asleep.

Sleeping while hugging something—wasn’t that uncomfortable? He had no idea how she’d developed such a bad habit. Propping himself up, he reached for the teddy bear and tried to gently pull it away. But in her sleep, she tightened her grip like someone was trying to steal it from her.

Just as he was about to give up, Fan Qi scratched her face in her sleep. Taking advantage of the moment, he successfully pulled the bear away and placed it at the foot of the bed.

Now she could sleep more comfortably. Chen Zhiqian lay down again.

Not long after, Fan Qi rolled over in her sleep and draped an arm over him, just like she always did.

Then, in the middle of the night, Chen Zhiqian sensed her sit up. Click—she turned on the light.

He opened his eyes and saw her rubbing hers, looking at the teddy bear at the foot of the bed. She leaned over, scooped it up into her arms, and mumbled, “Bear Bear, it’s all my fault. How could I have left you down there?”

She turned the light off and snuggled back to sleep with the bear.

Chen Zhiqian: ???