Marriage First, True Love Later

By the time Su Yicheng finally returned, it was almost twelve o’clock. In the evening, he had dinner with a few people from the municipal party committee, along with a few entrepreneurs from Jiang City. Each and every one of them were regulars. As they ate and drank, there were countless topics for them to discuss with each other, such as the economy and the current state of affairs. Sometimes they even discussed women. This way, time flew by quickly, and by the time the drinking ended, it was already midnight.

Su Yicheng reeked with alcohol as he opened the door to find that the entrance was dimly lit. The corners of his mouth lifted. He usually came home to complete darkness, so coming home with the room lit up dimly gave him the feeling that someone was waiting for his return. This feeling made him feel good inside.

He placed his briefcase on the sofa in the living room, then opened a crack in the bedroom door. Yet the room was dark, and he didn’t see the woman that he expected to be asleep on the bed. He frowned slightly, then left the room.

Since the door of the study room wasn’t tightly closed, Su Yicheng saw a beam of light coming through the tiny crack in the door. His lips curled up, and he approached the study. He pushed open the door to see her all sprawled out on the desk as she slept soundly. There was a drawing sketch pillowing her face, and there was still a pencil in her hand.

Su Yicheng shook his head with a chuckle. He carefully pulled the pen out of her hand, set it aside, then gently pushed the swivel chair away and bent over to swoop her up. Yet, after all this, Anran was still asleep, so, presumably, she really was tired. She shifted around until she found a more comfortable position in his arms, then continued to sleep peacefully.

After carrying her back to the bedroom and placing her in bed, Su Yicheng returned to the study room, gathered up the drawing sketches and materials on the desk, then snuck a few more looks at her nearly finished drawing sketches. The design was unique, and the building appeared modern yet stately. He didn’t know if the design was good or bad since, after all, he was a layman in terms of architecture.

After he finished organizing everything for her, Su Yicheng returned to the room and took his pajamas into the bathroom.

After he finished taking a shower, he stepped out of the bathroom to see the figure on the bed rubbing her eyes with drowsiness. She stared at him for a long time before finally getting out of her stupor, then yawned and said, “You’re back.”

“Oh.” She nodded and staggered to get out of bed.

“Where are you going?” Su Yicheng asked as he watched her with amusement.

“To take a shower.” She walked toward the closet and randomly grabbed a set of pajamas, then walked toward the bathroom without even looking at what was in her hands.

Although she hadn’t gotten a clear look, Su Yicheng, who was standing next to her, did see clearly. Glancing at the clothes in her hand, he couldn’t help but swallow and ask, “Anran, y-you really plan on wearing this later?”

At first, Anran was confused by his question and simply stared at him blankly for a while before finally looking down at her hands. As soon as she got a hard look, all her drowsiness instantly vanished, and her cheeks turned bright red. Goodness, how could she have taken out the lingerie that Lin Li had given her? She quickly threw the lingerie back into the closet and grabbed her conservative pajama set. Then, she headed into the bathroom without looking back. She made a mental note to herself that tomorrow, first thing in the morning, she would get rid of that scourge by throwing it into the trash bin.

Su Yicheng watched her childish behavior with amusement, then shook his head as he hopped onto the bed and randomly picked up a magazine from the nightstand, flipping through it.

At that time, the phone next to him started to ring. Su Yicheng glanced at the caller ID and frowned when he saw that it was an unfamiliar number. He had no idea who would be calling so late, but nonetheless he reached out to pick up the phone. “Hello, who is it?”

The person on the other end was silent, and there was no sound for a while.

Su Yicheng frowned, then demanded coldly, “Speak.”

There was still no voice coming over the phone, but unlike the previous dead silence moments before, this time, there was a low sound of weeping—a woman’s weeping.

Su Yicheng remembered this voice. For a long time, the owner of this voice had been inseparable from him. But this was all in the past now and had nothing to do with the present.

Su Yicheng didn’t speak again and wanted to hang up, but the moment before he did hang up, the person on the other end responded, as if sensing that he was about to hang up. She said, “Yicheng, don’t hang up. It’s me.”

“What do you want?” Su Yicheng asked impassively, without the slightest hint of warmth or emotion in his tone.

“Yicheng, I’m back,” Ling Ye stammered while sobbing.

“Um.” Su Yicheng replied curtly, and didn’t reveal any emotion or thought toward her return because she was irrelevant to him.

“Yicheng, can w-we meet?” Ling Ye asked with pleading in her tone.

“No need.” Su Yicheng refused. Hearing the sound of water in the bathroom stop, he knew that Anran had probably finished her shower, and since he didn’t want to give her any unnecessary misunderstandings because of this call, he simply frankly, “Sorry, it’s too late, and I don’t want your phone call to give my wife any misunderstandings, so that’s it. Goodbye.” After he finished speaking, he abruptly hung up the phone without bothering to wait for her to answer.

Anran came out as she dried her damp hair with a towel, and, seeing that he was still awake, she asked, “Why aren’t you sleeping?”

Su Yicheng smiled at her and said, “I was waiting for you.”

Anran’s face appeared a little flushed, yet it was unknown whether or not it was because she had just finished taking a shower or because of his words. She turned her head to avoid his eyes and started haphazardly rubbing her hair with the towel, then went to the other side of the bed with her back to him. She closed her eyes and prayed that she would fall asleep quickly.

Su Yicheng smiled, then switched off the lamp and lay down beside her. As always, he embraced her from behind and placed her hands into his with their fingers intertwined. He previously thought that he would have trouble getting used to sleeping with someone else since he had grown accustomed to sleeping alone, but it felt so good to hold her in his arms that now he would have trouble getting used to not holding onto her at night.

“I-I have a meeting tomorrow morning, so I c-can’t be late,” Anran muttered with her back to him.

Su Yicheng buried his head on her shoulders and chuckled. Just how much was she afraid of him? All he wanted to do was simply hug her.

“I-I’m tired. I’m going to sleep f-first.” Seeing him simply laugh without answering, Anran quickly made her position clear. She was really afraid of this man now, so she really needed to find a compromise so they could adjust accordingly. Or else, sooner or later, she would be burnt out from exhaustion.

After laughing for a while, Su Yicheng whispered, “Go to sleep. I’ll hold onto you.”

Upon hearing this, Anran was relieved. She closed her eyes and slept peacefully in his arms.

Su Yicheng watched the moonlight spill through the window, and, in the dark night, the entire room was so quiet that only Anran’s breathing could be heard. He lowered his head and gently planted a kiss on the center of her head. Then, he closed his eyes and fell into a heavy sleep.

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