Chapter 19 — Staying the Night? Is He Hiding a Beauty in Their Marital Home?
Chi Yang polished off an entire bowl of lobster-tail noodles.
She had, in fact, stopped crying. The only lingering evidence of her earlier misery was the bandaged index finger on her left hand, which she held awkwardly aloft. It looked a little ridiculous—and strangely cute.
Xie Youci sat beside her, eating the leftovers.
He appeared as lazy and unruly as ever, but every so often he would lift his gaze and steal a glance at her. Whenever she wasn’t paying attention, his eyes would sweep quickly across her face.
As the redness around her eyes gradually faded, the knot in his chest slowly loosened as well.
He didn’t even realize it himself.
Ever since they had gotten their marriage certificate—and especially after that second drunken kiss—his unconscious attention toward her had long surpassed the dynamic of two longtime rivals constantly at odds.
Once she was full, Chi Yang put down her chopsticks.
Almost immediately, Xie Youci looked up.
“Finished eating? Anything else you want?”
The second the words left his mouth, he wanted to slap himself.
While silently cursing himself for being so hopeless, he also prayed that Chi Yang wouldn’t demand another elaborate seafood feast from him.
Of course, he did have a perfectly reasonable excuse this time.
Crab was considered a triggering food for injuries, so he could forbid her from eating it and save himself the trouble.
Fortunately, Chi Yang merely lifted her head and looked at him with a light hum.
“What, do you think I’m a pig? How much do you expect me to eat in one meal?”
Good.
That spoiled little attitude meant she had recovered her energy.
Xie Youci raised an eyebrow and casually lowered his crossed leg.
“Then should I take you home?”
He tilted his head toward her lazily.
There was even a trace of smug satisfaction in his expression, as though he were saying, See? I know you so well.
To him, this was merely a routine question.
He half expected her to toss back a line like, “At least you’re self-aware.”
After all, she had never wanted to stay in their marital home before.
Instead—
Chi Yang’s eyes widened in outrage.
Then, like a machine gun, accusations came flying out one after another.
“???”
“Xie Youci, how can you be so heartless?!”
“It’s already past eleven at night, and you’re still trying to kick me out!”
“Isn’t this my home too?”
“Or what? Are you hiding some secret beauty in our marital home and you’re afraid I’ll find out?”
“Wow—”
“How did I never realize you were this kind of person?”
“Xie Youci! We may not have any real feelings for each other, but I absolutely refuse to tolerate either divorce or cheating!”
“…”
Xie Youci stared calmly at her while her mouth rattled on nonstop.
At this point, there wasn’t the slightest trace left of the woman who had cut her finger and been stood up by her mother.
He didn’t interrupt.
In fact, he figured she probably needed to vent.
So he simply sat there with one leg crossed, listening.
Well…
Not really listening.
Everything went in one ear and out the other.
Only at the very end did he catch her concluding statement and her indignant demand:
“Well? Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?”
Xie Youci looked at her.
“Do you want the master bedroom or the guest room?”
“The master bedroom.”
The answer came without hesitation.
But the moment the words left her mouth, Chi Yang realized she’d been led completely off track.
He hadn’t answered a single one of her accusations about secretly hiding another woman.
Xie Youci hummed in acknowledgment and rose to his feet.
“I haven’t stayed in the master bedroom these past few days, but I’ve had the housekeeper come clean it regularly.”
“Go upstairs, take a shower, and get some sleep.”
Her unreasonable fussing contrasted so sharply with his calm composure that Chi Yang nearly failed to process what he’d said.
She stared at him blankly for a moment.
“You’re actually that considerate? You’ve been leaving the master bedroom empty this whole time just in case I wanted to stay there?”
“…”
Xie Youci had already started toward the stairs.
Hearing that, however, he stopped.
After a long pause, he turned back to look at her with a complicated expression.
“Chi Er’er.”
“What?”
“I sincerely hope you possess at least a little self-awareness.”
His jaw tightened, as though he were holding on to the last scraps of his patience.
“The room is pink.”
“Pink.”
“No heterosexual man in his right mind wants to sleep alone in a room full of LinaBell dolls.”
“…”
Chi Yang fell silent.
Two seconds later, she reluctantly parted her lips.
“Oh.”
Then she proudly brushed back her hair.
“Well, I designed it for myself in the first place.”
Another two seconds passed.
Then she added with perfect confidence:
“Besides, we’re just a plastic couple. It’s not like you’d ever come sleep there with me.”
“…”
The muscles along Xie Youci’s jaw twitched.
Not enough to make it seem like he was about to punch someone.
Just enough to reveal a rare, deeply repressed frustration.
It was an unusual sight.
Xie Youci had always been wild and untamed.
Yet somehow, Chi Yang had him restrained completely.
“Go take a shower and go to sleep!”
Before he’d even finished speaking, Chi Yang had already spun around and scampered off in her slippers.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Gone in seconds.
Left behind, Xie Youci lowered his head and rubbed at his throbbing temple.
Damn it.
He had almost fallen into her trap again.
Chi Yang’s moods had always come and gone quickly.
After all, she’d grown up being stood up by Chi Qing.
If she’d drowned herself in sadness every single time, she never would have made it this far as the cheerful person she was now.
She would’ve become permanently depressed ages ago.
This time was no different.
She bounced back quickly.
Coincidentally, an auction she had been looking forward to arrived in Beijing.
Without hesitation, she charged in and spent three hundred million yuan.
Jiang Li: “…”
She stared at Chi Yang as though questioning her entire existence.
“Classmate Er’er… did you win the lottery or something?”
What kind of lottery paid out three hundred million?
“Of course not.”
Chi Yang lifted her chin proudly.
With a flick of her pen, she signed the paperwork and instructed the auction manager to deliver everything to her address.
Then she turned to Jiang Li and held up five fingers.
The white bandage was still wrapped around her injured index finger.
“I merely acquired a perfectly ordinary five hundred million yuan.”
“Where did it come from?”
Jiang Li looked utterly bewildered.
“Sure, your mom gives you more spending money than anyone else’s parents do, but not that much!”
“And—”
Her gaze landed on the single piece of jewelry Chi Yang had chosen to carry away herself.
“You’re a commitment-phobic single woman. Why did you spend nearly two hundred million on a diamond ring?!”
She didn’t even want to think about how intense the bidding war had been.
Chi Yang had practically snatched that ring out of Sheng Lanqing’s hands.
Rumor had it that the young master of the Sheng family would soon become engaged to Lin Zhixian, the number-one beauty in the classical dance world.
He had specifically skipped work to bid on this ring.
Only for Chi Yang to swoop in and steal it right from under his nose.
At first, Sheng Lanqing had intended to keep bidding.
Then he’d received a phone call.
No one knew who was on the other end or what was said, but after that, he abruptly gave up and let the ring go.
“Who doesn’t like beautiful things?”
Chi Yang refused to answer directly.
“Besides, why should I make it easy for Sheng Lanqing to marry Miss Lin?”
Jiang Li: “…”
That somehow sounded reasonable.
And yet…
Something about it felt suspicious.
“Er’er.”
“Don’t call me that.”
Chi Yang had never liked the nickname.
It hadn’t come from her parents.
It had come from a joke among Beijing’s elite circles.
“Ci Mu Er’er, fireworks year after year.”
“Ci admires Er’er.”
The phrase had been twisted and repeated so often that everyone eventually started calling her Er’er, teasing that Xie Youci and Chi Er’er were destined to be together.
Jiang Li couldn’t be bothered with those details right now.
“Chi Er’er, I have a bold theory.”
Chi Yang blinked.
A question mark practically appeared above her head.
Jiang Li suddenly leaned in close and studied her face.
“You haven’t been arranged into a family marriage alliance too, have you?”
“This five hundred million…”
“Was it a wedding gift from your future husband?”
“And did he tell you to buy a wedding ring while you were at it?”
