First Marriage Then Love 《先婚厚爱》Chapter 95 Translation

095. Bloodstains on the chest



As she was waiting in Huang De Xing’s car, she finds out that the dinner was with Tong Wen Hai. That was a surprise. Xiao Xiao isn’t coming, so it’s no wonder that she said such nonsense in the washroom.

The dinner took place at a very fancy Chinese restaurant. Tong Wen Hai still hadn’t arrived yet, so Huang De Xing went ahead to order some food, but asked the kitchen to wait, because he also ordered a bottle of Mao Tai liquor. An Ran heard the price of it, and bit her tongue with her eyes wide open.

Tong Wen Hai came in alone. Seeing An Ran, he looked surprised. He looks at her, with an inexplicable expression in his eyes.

Huang De Xing enthusiastically greets him to sit, “Bureau chief Tong, sit sit sit. Thank you so much for taking some time out of your busy schedule for this meeting, I am extremely honoured, extremely honoured.”

An Ran also got up to greet him, “Bureau chief Tong.”

Tong Wen Hai smiles at An Ran, then shakes Huang De Xing’s hands, then takes a seat.

Huang De Xing turns his head and signals An Ran to go inform the waiter to serve. An Ran gets up, but the waiter wasn’t outside. She walks along the hallway, until she was almost at the lounge does she finally see a waiter. She lets him know that they can serve now, and when she got back Huang De Xing and Tong Wen Hai were both laughing over something.

An Ran smiles at them and nods, and takes a seat.

In fact, the purpose of this meal with Tong Wen hai was not that simple, but it was too make a deal with him, since Su Yi Cheng’s side isn’t putting their hand in, then he can only look for an opportunity elsewhere. And Tong Wen Hai was Jiang City’s Construction Bureau Chief, now that the committee has decided to develop the new Ke Ji City, even though you should look for the person in charge, but when all is said and done, it’s not a one-man show. These things involve many people, and the number of people assisting naturally won’t be few. Tong Wen Hai is in charge of the city’s construction, roping him in, is no harm done.

The food was served very quickly, Huang De Xing and Tong Wen Hai ate and chat at the same time, chatted about the current trends and politics, then bit by bit talked about the upcoming Ke Ji City.

Tong Wen Hai has had this position for many years, naturally he’s met all kinds of situations and people; he was well aware of the purpose of this dinner. He will not say too much, and will only speak in riddles, leaving room for speculation.

However, based on the clues he left, Huang De Xing was naturally able to guess the meaning behind his words.

During their conversation An Ran just aptly smiles, not getting into the conversation. Huang De Xing was also intentionally, or otherwise, bringing up Su Yi Cheng, so An Ran can only smile, giving an excuse that Su Yi Cheng was busy, and regarding work he doesn’t mention much about it to her, so she doesn’t really know anything about it.

The meal lasted for over 3 hours, by the time the three left it was almost 9 o’clock. Tong Wen Hai and Huang De Xing had drank, and left their cars at the parking lot. An Ran bids goodbye to the two of them, and walks to the side by herself, to give Su Yi Cheng a call, to let him know that he can pick her up. However the phone had rang for a long time, and wasn’t getting answered. She frowns and calls him again, but still no one had answered.

“Why isn’t he picking up, where did he go?” An Ran muttered to herself.

“Are you calling Special Assistant Su?”

“Ah!” An Ran was startled, and uttered a cry. From behind, she didn’t know when Tong Wen Hai had come over. At the moment, he was smiling as he was looking at her.

“Did I scare you?” Looking at her, Tong Wen Hai asks apologetically.

An Ran forces a smile and shakes her head, “No.”

Huang De Xing went ahead and left. Tong Wen Hai was about to go as well when he caught sight of An Ran standing aside making a call, so he walked over to her side.

“Bureau Chief Tong is still here, are you waiting for your driver to come?” An Ran asks politely, the smile on her face was painstakingly wide.

Looking at her, Tong Wen Hai’s expression became strange, as if he were thinking of saying something, but didn’t dare to say it. Finally he just looks at her and shakes his head slightly, only says, “I drank too much tonight, so I wanted to stand and blow wind.”

An Ran nods, formulating a way of how to politely excuse herself.

When An Ran was still thinking of an excuse, Tong Wen Hai started to look at the neon streetlights down the street. He starts to say, “You and your mother are very much alike.”

An Ran stares at him blankly. She doesn’t say anything, because she doesn’t really know how she should respond to that.

Feeling her gaze on him, Tong Wen Hai turns to look at her. Looking at her, his eyes compared to past affections, looking at her, was as if he were looking at his own children. He softly starts to ask, “These past few years, your mother must have gone through hardship.”

“What does Bureau Chief Tong want to say?” An Ran stares at him as she asks.

Tong Wen Hai then realized that he had forgotten his manners. He quickly turns around, and only says, “Nothing, nothing.”

An Ran doesn’t know what he’s hiding, but regarding him, she doesn’t want to get involved with him too much. She always has this feeling of fear, this feeling that she’d be happier being ignorant. She just faintly says, “My mother has been through great happiness, even though our household may not be prosperous, but my father treats her very week, really loves her. I believe that she’s happy, blessed.”

“Is that so.” Tong Wen Hai steadily says. After a while, he slowly starts to say, “Your father is a good man.”

An Ran nods, “My father is not only a good husband, but he is also a good father.” After saying that, she looks at him in the eye, and says, “Bureau Chief Tong, please continue to blow wind, I will take my leave first.” Saying that, she turns around and walks towards the taxi parked to the side.

“An Ran!” Tong Wen Hai calls out from behind.

An Ran turns around startled, and looks at him puzzled, “Is there anything else Bureau Chief Tong?”

Tong Wen Hai looks at her, and starts to open his mouth, but then hesitates. Finally he can only force a smile, shake his head, and just says, “Be careful on the road.”

An Ran looks at him for a while, and slightly nods, “En.” Then she opens the door to the car and gets in, and gives the address to the driver, so he can leave right away.

In the car, An Ran calls Su Yi Cheng once again. As before, no one answered. She finally gives up, guessing that he is probably still in the shower. She compiles a text to say that she is taking a taxi and is on her way back, and sends the text. The flickering neon lights outside, dazzled the entire city. To her, it was beautiful.

The taxi slowly stops in front of the neighbourhood. She pays the fare, and gets out of the taxi. She presses the elevators to go upstairs. Compared to the day, the elevator in the evening was a lot more free. She didn’t wait, and it came immediately. It arrived at the 10th floor, and she gets out of the elevator, walking towards her flat, only to see that the door was slightly ajar. A golden light from inside was sprinkling out, and you can see a dusky outline of a person walking past it. An Ran pushes the door open with suspicion, only to see that the living room was a mess. On the small coffee table was a broken cream cake, and it seemed like something had fallen and broken on the floor. An Ran looks at the scene in shock for a while, and then recognizes that the fragment on the floor was the blue and white porcelain vase that used to sit beside the TV.

An Ran’s first thought was that a thief had broken in, but this assumption was immediately proved wrong, because the door did not seem to have any trace of being pried open. The living room was in a sorry state but it was just the ruined cake on the table, and because of the broken vase, a little bit of water stained the floor, and rose petals were scattered on the floor. Besides that An Ran could also see Su Yi Cheng’s dropped phone. There were 5 missed calls, 3 of them belonged to her, and of the two of them one was from Ye Zi Wen, while the other was from his family courtyard landline.

“Su Yi Cheng?” An Ran called out softly. She avoids the fragments of porcelain on the floor, at the same time calling out while walking over to the room, “Su Yi Cheng?”

He wasn’t in the studio, nor was he in the master room. She even checked the bathroom, but he wasn’t there.

An Ran doesn’t know where he had gone, even his cell phone was left at home, so even if she wanted to call him to find him, no one will even answer.

An Ran started to panic, everything in the room made her somewhat scared. She doesn’t know what had happened tonight, but she couldn’t find him in the flat. Taking a seat on the sofa, because of worry, she could hear her heart thumping.

Only a while later does her emotions start to stabilize. At this time, she had Su Yi Cheng’s phone in her hand and it started to go off. It was from Ye Zi Wen.

She connects the call, and Ye Zi Wen started to spit out, “Ah Cheng, I just called you why didn’t you pick up, right now I’m at ‘Ye Se Mi Ren’, why don’t you come out and give me the chance to treat you to a drink, let me properly wish you a happy birthday!”

So today was his birthday, that was why he had asked her to come home early. The cake on the table, was that something he had prepared so that he could celebrate it together with her?

As An Ran was thinking of that, Ye Zi Wen hadn’t heard anything from Su Yi Cheng, so he looks at his cell phone. Certain that he didn’t call the wrong person, he says once again, “Ah Cheng, you still there?”

She regains her attention, and she faintly replies, “It’s An Ran.”

“Uh.” On the other line, Ye Zi Wen was clearly taken a back, taking a few seconds to react. Then he recalls that Ah Cheng had gotten married, so hearing a woman on the other line isn’t something that was baffling. He opens his mouth and carefully asks, “Is Ah Cheng out with you?” If that was the case, then as expected he values sex over friendship.

An Ran looks about the messy floor, and says, “I don’t know what happened either, I just got home, only to see that the living room is a mess. Su Yi Cheng isn’t here at all.”

“Uh.” Ye Zi Wen was speechless, not expecting that type of answer, “Where did he go? Isn’t it his birthday today? He didn’t tell you?”

“I don’t know, I ……” An Ran was about to say something, when she hears the sound of the door being opened by keys. She turns to look at the door.

Su Yi Cheng enters, his whole body exhausted. With one hand he expertly massages his brows, with the other hand he starts to take off his coat. His white dress shirt, had a few opened buttons. His sleeves were also tucked up, additionally, An Ran noticed, his shirt seemed to have a stain on it, and it wasn’t a small one either.

No longer wanting to talk to Ye Zi Wen anymore, she hangs up the phone. An Ran gets up from the sofa, and starts to softy call out to him, “Yi Cheng.”

Su Yi Cheng only then notices An Ran in the living room. He smiles distractedly, and walks over to her while smiling, “You’re home.”

An Ran nods, and hands over the phone in her hand to him. She says, “I gave you a call, and sent you a text. You didn’t respond, so I took a taxi back.”

Hearing that, Su YI Cheng apologetically strokes her face, and says, “Sorry, something happened this evening. When I went out I didn’t have time to grab my cell phone.”

“What happened, why did the house become like this?” An Ran examines the room, and turns to look at him suspiciously. She notices the stain on his shirt, and as she walked closer she then sees that the stain wasn’t some kind of oil or any other stain, but it was blood!

“W-why is there blood!” An Ran was alarmed, she quickly pulls him to examine him up and down, “Where did you hurt yourself? Why is there blood?” Just what on earth happened, why is the home such in disarray? Even if it was his birthday, they shouldn’t be this violent!

Su Yi Cheng reaches out and settles his arms on her shoulder, to let her calm down. He fixes on her, and says, “I’m not hurt. The blood isn’t mine, don’t worry.”

Hearing that, An Ran was relieved. She lets out a big sigh, and looks at him for a while. Then she asks again, “Then whose blood is it?” Also, why is the living room like this. Ye Zi Wen just called and said that today was your birthday, why, why is it like this?”

Su Yi Cheng pulls her and seats her down on the sofa. He prepares to tell her the outline of the not-so-simple events of tonight. Today was his 32nd birthday, and originally he wanted to celebrate it with her with a meal, but didn’t expect that because of her work, she had a dinner party tonight.

Actually he wasn’t a romantic person. Birthdays, in the past he had always just gone out with Ye Zi Wen to a quiet place and had drinks with him, then they would go to their respective homes and sleep. But this year was different, this year in this life a woman appeared, and that woman was very important to him. She’s a person who he’ll spend the rest of his life with, from now on he will spend every birthdays with her. Thus, even though he was regretful that due to her work she couldn’t come home early so they could go out and eat, but, he will still order a cake for when she comes home from work, thinking that, at least she could eat cake with him.

As he was waiting for her he wasn’t idling about either. He returned to his studio to deal with a few documents that he didn’t get to earlier in the day. The committee has been pretty busy these past few days, with Ke Ji City’s construction going into full motion next month, at that time when the bids go up, the committee’s publicity, and foreign investments, all of that needs to be fully launched. And according to Secretary Zhang’s opinion, his promotion had already been approved, and the documents should be coming down in a few days. When the moment comes he will also have piles of work.

While he was conscientiously examining the documents, at this time the doorbell had rung. He doesn’t know who would come this late. He left the studio, and through the peephole he could see Ling Ran outside the door. He couldn’t help but frown, and doesn’t open the door immediately. He doesn’t welcome her arrival. Perhaps he shouldn’t open the door so she could think that there was no one home and would leave herself.

However Ling Ran did not get the message. She continued to ring the doorbell for a long time, not seeing him open the door, she uses her hands to knock on the door as she yells, “Ah Cheng, I know you’re home. Can you open the door?”

Su Yi Cheng was helpless, and does not want to draw other people’s attention because of her, so ultimately he opened the door to let her in.

Ling Ran smiles as she looks at him, and holds up the cake in her hands as she steps forward. She sweetly calls out to him, “Ah Cheng, happy birthday.”

He stares at her for a while, not reaching out, not saying anything, but just looks straight at her.

Ling Ran felt unnatural being stared at, and because her arms were holding the cake they were starting to ache, she looks at him and acts coquettishly, “Ah Cheng, my arms are aching, are you not planning to accept this?”

Su Yi Cheng just looks at her straightly. He expressionlessly says, “Ling Ran, can we not do these boring things? Doing this, what’s the point?"

He said it so bluntly, and it made Ling Ran incredibly embarrassed, but she still was able to react to it. She forces a smile and puts her hand down, carries the cake into the living room, and then puts the cake down onto the low table. As she opened the packaged box she says, “I know you don’t like sweet things, so I bought one that’s not too sweet - hazelnut cake.” She uses the plastic knife that came with the cake and slices a piece, places it on the plastic plate, and hands it over to him. She smiles as she says, “This cake isn’t sweet, I tried it when I bought it. You’ll like it.” Looking at him, Ling Ran’s eyes seemed to be begging, “Eat a bit okay, today’s your birthday, I know you don’t like celebrating birthdays, but just have a bite, okay?”

Su Yi Cheng looks at her, and helplessly shakes his head, “Ling Ran, you need to go back. I will celebrate my birthday, but not with you.” Saying that, he turns, wanting to go into the studio.

“Are you saying that you’re going to celebrate it with Gu An Ran? But she doesn’t even know it’s your birthday, don’t tell me that’s not so. I know that she’s not even home.” Ling Ran says from behind.

Su Yi Cheng turns, looks at her, his gaze so sinister it made people shiver. He looks at her straightly, his tone deeply displeased, “You’ve been tailing An Ran?”

Ling Ran turns her head, doesn’t look at him. Feeling wronged, she just faintly says, “I didn’t. But I know she’s not here tonight. I actually don’t want to destroy anything between you two, so I specially chose a time when she won’t be here, because I don’t want her to misunderstand that there's something between you and I. I don’t want to intervene your lives, if today An Ran is here, then I wouldn’t have come up. But she isn’t here today, so that’s why I’m here, and only to celebrate your birthday together, that’s all, there’s nothing else.”

Hearing that, Su Yi Cheng’s expression doesn’t change much. He says indifferently, “No need. You can go back.” After he was done speaking he turns towards the studio.

Behind, Ling Ran watches him. The piece of cake she was holding rustles, and smashes onto the floor, her eyes turning red with tears. Then they spill over, each of them rolling down like pearls. She says indistinctly, “Why, why won’t you give me a chance, don’t tell me that one mistake, just sends you to 18 stratums of hell?”

Hearing that, Su Yi Cheng pauses his steps, but doesn't turn to look back.

“I truly do love you, ever since I was a child til now, the person I’ve liked has always been you. That time I was too lonely, it was a long time since you’ve come back to see me. If I went to find you, and you always gave me an excuse saying that you’re busy. I don’t know if you really were busy or you didn’t want to see me, because you were always so unenthusiastic with me, I don’t have a sense of security.” Ling Ran slowly says, explaining everything about that year, “That day, on account of the shop front’s decoration my head was big, and for that period of time you didn’t even contact me, that day Zhou Han came to find me. I said I wanted to drink, so he went to go buy a pack of beer and came back. The two of us drank like that, I don’t know how things became like that after, maybe because of the alcohol, I mistook him for you, but when you appeared from the doorway, I then realized that I was dead wrong. I really don’t know how things became that way.” As she was speaking, she squats down, burying her face into her palms, crying mournfully.

Su Yi Cheng does not turn back. Really, regarding that incident, he was always brooding over it. But hearing her bring it up, he doesn’t feel an ounce of heartache over it anymore. It turns out time truly is the best antidote. He’s long forgotten it.

“What’s the point of going over the past. We cannot return to the way we were, now I have my life, and I am very satisfied with it.” Su Yi Cheng just says so faintly, “Go back. It’s late, I don’t want others to misunderstand.” This time, he directly goes into the studio.

Just as Su Yi Cheng entered the studio, he hadn’t even closed the door yet, when he heard a thump from outside, as if something had smashed.

Hearing the noise Su Yi Cheng comes out of the studio, only to see on the living room floor, the blue and white porcelain vase had been smashed to pieces, and the cake on the small table was also ruined. Ling Ran looks at him with hatred, and roars at him, “Why don’t you give me a chance, in which way is that Gu An Ran better than me! I was with you for 10 years, don’t tell me because of that one mistake you sentenced me the death penalty? Don’t tell me over the last 7 years, my punishment is not enough? What more do you want me to do?”

Su Yi Cheng looks at her coldly, and just faintly says, “It’s all too late. Ling Ran, we shouldn’t live in the past. You’re no longer the Ling Ran of the past, and I’m no longer the past Su Yi Cheng. Time changes, people also change. There is no need to cling to the past.”

“Cling... ha, I’ve loved you for so many years, even if we parted for 7 years my heart has only you. Now you tell me not to cling, Su Yi Cheng, how could you be to ruthless to me!” Ling Ran shrieks at him.

Su Yi Cheng just fixes on keeping a distance from her and looks at her. He doesn’t advance. A while later, seeing that her emotions had calmed down a bit, does he faintly say, “Go back.”

Ling Ran looks at him, suddenly grabs the fragment of ceramic on the floor, and presses it against her wrist. She smiles at him and says, “You don’t want me, then there’s no point in my return from America.” Smiling, that fragment firmly cuts into her wrist. Blood trickles down from the opening of the cut.

Upon seeing this, Su Yi Cheng mutters a swear, “Damn it!” He rushes towards her.

Ling Ran leans against his chest, a smile hangs from the corner of her mouth. With her pained expression, she says, “You don’t want me, there’s no need for me to live.”


---END OF CHAPTER---

Merry Christmas guys! Sorry for ending it on this note, lol. Hope you guys enjoyed anyways!


Next Chapter

First Marriage Then Love 《先婚厚爱》Chapter 94 Translation

094. I’m on top



Lin Li left. She only called right before she got on.

An Ran was feeling down. Sitting on the flight of stairs, her tears fell continuously. She recalled the ten years of friendship, laughing together, crying together. When Mo Fei betrayed her, it was Lin Li who was with her. If not for her, she wouldn’t get back up from her wounds in such a short period of time.

However, now it was her who was hurt, yet she has to lick her wounds herself, and she can’t do anything. In fact An Ran knew that it would do her better to leave, after all she and Cheng Xiang had too much memories here. If you want to forget about a person, leaving is the best option.

She erases the tears from her face. Grabbing her phone, through her misty vision she looks for Lin Li's name. She doesn’t call this time, but sends a text.

“---Have a pleasant journey, take care of yourself. ---Forever your friend, An Zi.”

Lin Li doesn’t reply. An Ran knows that Lin Li hated turning her phone off, she was always like that. If she didn’t want to confront she would avoid, and this time, she was running far away.

An Ran sat at the staircase for a while, waiting until she calmed down. Then she gets up and goes towards her office.

She returns back to her office. Constructor Chen was by himself looking a little worried as he looks at the blueprint.

An Ran enters, and takes the blueprint from his hand, “Is something wrong?”

“Uh.” Constructor Chen looks up at her, and cautiously asks, “Architect Gu, are you okay?” Seeing her like that just then, it seemed like something happened, so he assumed that she had left, and didn’t expect her to come back so quickly.

An Ran purses her lips. She faintly smiles at him, and only says, “It’s nothing. Is there something that Constructor Chen is unclear of, we can talk it over. However this case is a bit rushed, there isn’t much time left, so we must seize the moment.”

Constructor Chen nods. He looks at the blueprint and points out his doubts.

When An Ran had left the office, it was already almost 9 o’clock. Before knocking off Su Yi Cheng had called her, and said that he would come pick her up, but because she has to work overtime, she doesn’t know when she’ll be done, so she told him not to come. Su Yi Cheng was still uneasy, and reminded her again to call him after she finishes her work, he will come pick her up.

The moon tonight was very round, and bright, only a bit desolate. It hangs high in the sky, no other stars beside it. How lonely one felt when looking at it.

An Ran doesn’t make the call to Su Yi Cheng. Walking down the lonely street, across the street was a happy couple wearing matching outfits, smiles upon their faces. The man had said something, and the woman bashfully glares at him, pouting and scolding him, “Hateful.” Then she turns around and runs off, the man laughs as he chases after her, overtaking her after 3 steps. Then from behind he hugs the woman, laughing out loud as he carries the woman and spins her around. The woman laughs and slaps the man on the shoulder, crying out in fear. Everyone around them was looking at him with envy in their eyes, as well as blessing.

An Ran remembered that Lin Li and Cheng Xiang where once that sweet too, that Lin Li was practically stuck to Cheng Xiang every day, not caring about the people around them, showing off how loving they were. But as they say, ‘time flies’, looking back, things may remain the same but people change. Similarly, she and Mo Fei broke up, while Lin Li and Cheng Xiang have reached the end of their road together.

While walking, her cellphone goes off at this time. Surprisingly, it was Cheng Xiang.

She let her phone ring for a while, so it would stop on it own. It then started ringing again, repeatedly. Apparently Cheng Xiang was very patient. An Ran knows that he wants to ask about Lin Li, she knew he’d be like this. People always want what they’ve lost, only then do they know what they had, and sometimes held, never knowing how to cherish it.

She sighs softly, nevertheless she still answers the phone.

Not waiting for An Ran to open her mouth, Cheng Xiang urges, “An Ran, tell me where Lin li is!” His tone was anxious, apparently he was very emotional, unlike the normally mild-mannered, refined Cheng Xiang.

“Where she goes, what does it have to do with you.” An Ran faintly says, “Should have known earlier, is this necessary.”

“Tell me where Lin li is. I went to the hospital this afternoon, only to find out that she had discharged today. But where could she go, I went to the hotel and couldn’t find her.” He looked at many places, but couldn’t find any news of her. He doesn’t know where she went, so he ultimately called An Ran. He knows that everything he says is too late now, knows that he had deeply wounded Lin Li, but he truly loves her!

“Cheng Xiang, that’s enough. I can’t tell you where Lin Li is, she’s hiding precisely because she doesn’t want to see you, She wasted 10 years on you, do you want her to waste even more time with you! People with integrity shouldn’t be too selfish, you think now that you’ve turned your head back she will still be there waiting for you. What the hell is that, are women that lowly to you? Still expect them to love you even after you’ve hurt them so deeply, there’s no such thing!” An Ran emotionally shouts into the phone.

“An Ran, tell me, I know I was sorely wrong before, but I vow that I will love her properly from now on, I truly love her, I truly want to return to her side.” Cheng Xiang begs. Today he couldn’t find Lin Li, every place he looked he couldn’t find her. He was truly afraid. Before he thought that Lin Li would be angry for a few days, but she still loves him, sooner or later she will forgive him and return to his side, but now he can’t find her, not even a single trace was left behind. He was scared, scared that he truly has lost her forever.

“I told you, I can’t tell you. You can die with this heart.” An Ran was done, so she hangs up.

Lin Li’s injury needs time, needs time to heal. She escaped from Jiang City, for herself so that she could have time to relax, slowly lick her wounds.

Clenching her fist, her phone starts to ring again one second later. It was still Cheng Xiang, and now he was determined to redeem himself. Back then, even if he spent a little time with Lin Li, she was still regarded as a substitute for someone else, and that was why Lin Li had such heartache.

She takes off the back case of her phone and removes the battery, and puts them back into her bag. She looks up again, the streets was still lively, from afar the crowded night market, the street was densely packed with vendors selling all kinds of goods.

An Ran was a little gloomy, and doesn’t call for a taxi right away, but rather she continues to walk on her own down the neon flickering streets, slowly walking towards the direction of her home. When she neared the neighbourhood, only then does she see Su Yi Cheng’s car pass by her. She had sat in that car for this long, so naturally An Ran recognized his car. She turns to it blankly, unable to utter anything, only to see the speedy car suddenly stop after 5-6 meters. Then the car door opens, and Su Yi Cheng’s expression seemed solemn. He stares at her as he walks over to her, then when he was in front of her, he fixes his gaze at her.

An Ran blankly looks at him. From his face she can tell that he wasn’t in a good mood. She doesn’t know what had happened, so she can only be obliged to ask, “You’re going out?”

Su Yi Cheng looks at her, looking angry. He has been waiting for her call at home, but never seeing it come in. It was getting late, and she hasn’t even come back yet. He was worried, and gave her a call, but was met with a busy dial tone. He hung up and called again, but now her phone was turned off. He has no idea what had happened to her, not sure whether or not she had more work to do or she was preparing to go home, he completely had no idea. He redialled, and the phone was still off. He waited a little longer at home, and still she wasn’t back. He was getting worried that perhaps something had happened, and with this anxiousness he became restless, so thinking along those lines, he couldn’t sit around anymore. He grabbed his keys from the coffee table, and went directly to her company to see if she had got off work or not. Even if she hadn’t, he will be bringing her home this time. However he hadn’t even left the neighbourhood yet, when he sees her leisurely strolling in with her bag. Seeing that she was fine, that anxiousness that was hanging in his heart was finally laid down, but now in place of that anxiousness was a feeling of anger and wrath.

She didn’t hear his reply, so she asks him once again, “What’s wrong?”

Su Yi Cheng doesn’t say anything, and just pulls on her hand. He opens the door to the car and lets her in, his action quite rough, not at all gentle.

An Ran, surprised, lets him push her into the car. Then he starts the car and turns his head, directly turning the car back.

The entire way home, Su Yi Cheng hadn’t said a word. He just has a terse expression on his face, grasping An Ran’s hands with force.

He opens the door to let her see, then turns around and traps her between the door and himself. Fixing his gaze on her, Su Yi Cheng starts to interrogate, “Didn’t I tell you to call me to pick you up, why didn’t you call me.”

“Uh, I, I was afraid of troubling you.” An Ran was a bit scared seeing him like that. Such overbearing intensity contrasted against his usual gentle and refined self made him seem like two different people.

“I called you just a moment ago, but you were in the middle of a call. I hung up and called again, yet this time your phone was already off. I don’t know your office number, don’t even know your co-worker’s phone number, not even one, so I can’t get to you at all and I don’t even know what to do. I don’t know if you were off work yet, don’t know if you’ve left the company yet. I was worried, worried that I can’t reach you, I don’t know if any accident had happened to you, so I waited at home for a while, yet it was getting later and later and I still don’t see you home. I wasn’t assured, so I decided to grab my car keys and go over to your company and see. Yet I meet you here, leisurely strolling in carrying your bag.” With both hands propping against either side of her, Su Yi Cheng stared at her, saying each word determinedly.

An Ran felt sorry. She looks at him, and apologizes, “Because I was afraid of troubling you, so I didn’t call you. Sorry.”

Su Yi Cheng stares at her. Only after a long time does she slowly start to say, “An Ran, because I was worried about you that’s why I told you that I would pick you up. But yet you say that you don’t want to trouble me, we are married, do you think there is really any use of the word ‘troubling’ when it comes to us?”

An Ran stares at him, somewhat speechless for a while.

“If you were afraid of worrying me at least give me a call, don’t let me be unable to reach you. Even if you lost your phone, use a landline to call me, but just don’t make it so I can’t find you. If I can’t find you, I don’t know what I should do, this kind of feeling is very unsettling.”

Looking at him, An Ran apologetically says, “S-sorry.” She didn’t think about it, so she turned off her phone and didn’t give him at a call at all.

“Ai!” Lightly sighing, Su Yi Cheng slowly eases his manner of speaking. Fixing on her, he says, “An Ran, I’m angry because I was worried about whether something had happened to you and I didn’t know about it, apart from knowing where you work, I don’t have the slightest clue of where you went. If I can’t find you at work, I don’t know where else I can go to find you. It’s not troubling at all for me to pick you up, because that way it makes me feel reassured. Only if I can’t contact you will I feel uneasy, be sitting at home with this inexplicable fear.”

Saying that, Su Yi Cheng’s hand slowly strokes her face, softly touching. He slowly starts to say, “From now on don’t be so polite with me, it’s not troublesome, if I can’t reach you, I will be worried and scared, understand?”

An Ran looks at him, unwittingly tears had come streaming down. She had no control over it, and it was coming ferociously.

Su Yi Cheng was taken aback, frightened by her tears. He couldn’t help but blame himself for using such a harsh tone before. He reaches out and wipes her tears, while consoling her, “Don’t cry, I was just worried. I didn’t mean to blame you.”

An Ran looks at him, crying and laughing, unable to say anything, can only shake her head. Of course she knows his intention, because she knew, therefore she felt moved. Being treasured by someone like that, besides her parents, he is the first one. Back then she would have said that Mo Fei had treated her well, but he was never so worried about her.

An Ran’s tears were like a disobedient child, wiping over and over but it was not enough, Su Yi Cheng erasing her tears but unable to remove them. Helplessly, he can only lean over, clasp her face, and bit by bit kiss the tears on her face, the tears being eaten by him, salty with astringent and bitterness.

An Ran reaches out and puts her arms around his shoulders, earnestly returning his kiss.

The passion always came quickly. Not a moment later Su Yi Cheng lifted her and relocated to the room. An Ran lied down on the bed, looking at him with misty eyes. She reaches out to softly stroke his face, the corner of her mouth carried a slight smile. Once again she was glad for her impetuousness, and glad that she had gotten the wrong date and the person she met was him. She was grateful that he treasured and doted her, thankful for his warmth and consideration. In fact her expectations for marriage was never that high, she doesn’t need her partner to be very wealthy, because the household’s burden does not need to fall only on the man, she can also take part of it, try her best to make the home better and go to work. She is a simple person, doesn’t need feelings of ups and downs, only needs someone considerate, who understands her, that kind of man. And he, absolutely met all of her ideal standards, even going above and beyond it.

Su Yi Cheng takes off both of their clothes, looking at her because of ** and both his eyes had become misty, his eyes carried a vague mist, those pair of large eyes, looked especially seductive. His hands slowly covered her silky skin, reluctant to leave contact. He knows all of her sensitive spots, knows where to touch to make her shiver and let out that attractive sound. He has never thought himself as a person with vigour, but he was infatuated with her body, sinking into it every time.

Slowly leaning over her body, he leaves behind light kisses on every possible place.

An Ran was aroused, trembling below him, feeling each and every kiss that he was leaving behind, including the spots that shall not be named. In between movements, An Ran’s mind suddenly came up with a bold thought. She gives him a tight squeeze around his neck, then flips over to press down on him. Because of the action her long hair had scattered down her shoulders, her bareness and her cape of long hair could bewitch people, made her look especially lovely.

Su Yi Cheng looked on like a fool, that certain place in his body had become incredibly taut.

“An Ran…..” Gently calling out her name, Su Yi Cheng wanted to flip her back down and press down on her body, but the way she slightly pushed him down stopped him.

Because An Ran was shy, her face had reddened. She stares at him, and slowly leans over to softly speak into his ears, “Tonight, tonight I’m on top.” 

That soft, gentle voice carried her unique charm, and as she spoke, that warm breath sprinkled directly into his ears, that slight feeling of ticklishness made his entire body shake, only after a while does he react. He repeatedly swallows, and with difficulty, asks, “You, what did you say?” His voice had already turned incredibly dark, unlike his usual warmness, but it was pleasant to hear.

An Ran was embarrassed, her face had turned incredibly red. She acted on her own boldness and was feeling embarrassed, and now straddling over his figure made her feel even more ashamed, “I, I I had better…..” She wanted to flip once more, but then he presses on her delicate thigh, not letting her switch positions. Su Yi Cheng laid there flatly, with a large palm he strokes her thigh, with the other he covers her butt, not allowing her to leave.

An Ran reddens. She looks into his eyes, suddenly regretting her own impetuousness. Because she has no idea what she should do, she has no experience, not even a little bit.

Su Yi Cheng’s breathing became erratic, his stomach heaving. Looking at her, his entire person had become tense.

An Ran looks at him, she herself was nervous and at a complete loss. She stares at him, the sweat on her forehead slowly starts to form. Blushing with shame, she looks at him defeated, and scowls, “I, I I don’t know what to do!”

Su Yi Cheng starts to chuckle, places both hands on her lower back. Looking at her, with his dark voice, he says, “I’ll teach you.”


After the ** An Ran laid spread out across the bed exhausted. The weight in her eyes were so heavy she could barely open them, as for tonight’s string of high-energy-consumption, high-calorie-burning, physical activity, tonight she had a new experience. Normally she thought that lying there was already so tiring that she couldn’t even utter a word and go straight to sleep, but seeing after tonight, she had a new-found knowledge, that the person on top was actually the most energy consuming! But seeing Su Yi Cheng, he even had enough strength to carry her into the bathroom to shower together, she couldn’t help but be suspicious over how his physical strength got to be that good.

She allows Su Yi Cheng to carry her into the bathroom and the two wash off together. In between her sleepy dazedness, An Ran vaguely recalled the moving issue. She unconsciously had her arms wrapped around his neck, making sure that she won’t be dropped. Then she slowly lets go of him, resting her head on his strong chest, and dazedly, foolishly says, “Let’s, let’s find a day to move.”

The place was close to her company, walking would only take a few minutes, thus, he doesn’t need to take the long route to drop her off to work first, she can go herself. Not only that for the next few months, she will be busy with the physical activity manor, and staying overtime will probably become more common. She knows that he is also busy, so he cannot come to pick her up and drop her off everyday. Living that close, she can walk home herself and he doesn’t have to worry.

Su Yi Cheng looks at the figurine in his embrace. He smiles and nods, replying, “En. Alright.” Her word is the rules, so if she doesn’t like it, then he can disregard everything.

Concerning her work, An Ran truly could not find a time for the move, and actually there isn’t really much to pack up, apart from their own clothes, furniture, appliances, all of that has already been arranged at the new place, the only thing that is needed is to find a time to pack up their clothes.

Today, just before finishing work she received a call from Su Yi Cheng, asking if she can come home a bit earlier tonight. Actually the work today was more or less completed, only this afternoon Huang De Xing had notified her that there will be a banquet tonight and he needs her to come accompany him. Dinner parties are naturally a part of the work, even if An Ran wasn’t fond of them, it’s not good for her to evade them. She can only nod, and say yes.

“There’s a banquet tonight, not sure when it’ll finish.” An Ran stated.

“Oh.” Su Yi Cheng faintly replies. His tone carried a slight disappointment, but it wasn’t obvious.

An Ran could hear his disappointment, and couldn’t help but ask, “What’s wrong, is there something tonight?”

Su Yi Cheng chuckled over the phone, and only says, “Try to come home as early as you can. When the banquet is over, remember to give me a call, I’ll come pick you up. Don’t be afraid of troubling me.”

An Ran’s heart warms up, as she smiles and nods, “En.”

Ending the call, not even half an hour after finishing work, An Ran was about to go find Constructor Chen to discuss about how to rectify the problem of the prototype’s balcony. She then leaves her office, and sees Huang De Xing walking over towards her, telling her that he will let her get ready, in a moment she will take his car and they can head to the restaurant together. Without choice, An Ran had no alternative but to nod, and turns back to go to her office. She grabs her make-up pouch, and was about to go to the washroom to touch up. When she got the washroom she happened to run into Xiao xiao who was coming out of the washroom. The two women were mutually taken aback.

Xiao Xiao looks at her hands, holding the make-up pouch. She couldn’t help but mockingly smile, and says, “Married women are truly different ha, even going to banquets more now.”

An Ran glances at her, but doesn’t say anything. She just wants to pass the person beside her, and enters the washroom.

From behind Xiao Xiao coldly says, “Didn’t I warn you that you should look after your man carefully. Aren’t you afraid of someone making their way into your space?”

An Ran halts her steps. She doesn’t turn back, and just faintly says, “Are you trying to say that you’ll be the person making their way into my space?”

Xiao Xiao smiles, and says, “I just wanted to tell you. Because of Su Yi Cheng’s conditions, besides me, there won’t be short of other women thinking the same thing.” Saying that, she turns around and twists her hips as she leaves.

When An Ran turned back to look she only saw her flirtatious way of walking. About her mindless words, she can only feel baffled by it.

---END OF CHAPTER----



Next Chapter



Sorry for taking so long guys, lol. As much as I love the steamy love scenes, but man they are hard to translate 😂 

First Marriage Then Love 《先婚厚爱》Chapter 93 Translation

093. Parting calls


In the car, Su Yi Cheng had put on some calming music. He was concentrated on the road before him. The car wasn’t going too fast, but rather very steadily.

At the traffic light, the car slowly came to a stop. He turns to look at the sleeping An Ran beside him, he can see the tiredness and darkness beneath her eyes that couldn’t be concealed. He slightly frowns, feeling sorry for her.

Last night she had spent the night designing, so An Ran did not sleep at all. She drank cup after cup of coffee throughout the night, even though she hated bitterness she was more afraid of falling asleep, so she would rather brave the bitterness. Finally only after 5 in the morning did she finish up her draft. When she got to the bed she immediately fell asleep. As a result, because he was afraid that she wouldn’t sleep soundly, he didn’t go for a morning exercise, but accompanied her to sleep until 8 o’clock.

She was truly tired. Since getting on the car to falling sleep, not even a minute had passed. Actually, with the whole Lin Li debacle, made her very tense, and so she hadn’t slept very well these days.

He sweeps her bangs aside, and calmly gazes at her. The car behind him honks its horn. He looks up ahead of him, and the light had already turned green.

The car slowly starts forward. He doesn’t accelerate, and tries his best to be as smooth as possible, so it doesn’t jolt. This way, it wouldn’t disturb her sleep. Finally when the car stopped in front of ‘Jing Cheng building’, An Ran still hadn’t awaken. She was still against the seat, apparently in deep slumber, even slightly snoring.

Su Yi Cheng looks at his watch. Even though he hates to wake her up, but he knows that if he doesn’t then she would be very late.

“An Ran, An Ran, wake up. We’re at the company.” Su Yi Cheng softly pats her face.

An Ran wakens up from her slumber. Her eyes were still incredibly heavy. She turns to look outside, aware that she was already at her company. She rubs her eyes, and tries her best to sober up, and drive away that slumber. She looks at her watch.. If she doesn’t go up now she’ll be late. She hastily turns around and gets her briefcase from the backseat, and quickly turns to look at Su Yi Cheng, “I’m going first.”

Su Yi Cheng looks at her. He pitied how exhausted she looked, and says, “If you’re too tired just ask for a sick day.” He also couldn’t stand that she was this tired.

“Can’t. There’s a meeting today, and anyways, I've always wanted to do cases like this, and to me this is a huge opportunity, I have to seize this nicely.” She says as she gets out of the car. She leans over to the window, and gives him a slight smile, “Alright, I’m going up. Drive carefully. You don’t need to pick me up tonight, I might need to go to the site tonight with a colleague, so I’ll be late.”

Su Yi Cheng nods. He suddenly remembers that he had bought her milk and bread on the way, and quickly calls out to her, “AN Ran, wait.”

An Ran halts. She turns to look at him, and puzzledly asks, “What’s up?”

Su Yi Cheng carries the bag out of the car. He goes around the car to give her the bag of milk and bread, and softly says, “Eat this when you’re up there. You can’t miss breakfast.”

An Ran accepts the small bag. She has a small smile on her face and nods at him. She steps forward, with a slight blush on her face, she quickly gives him a peck on his cheek, and rapidly says, “I’m going up.” She turns around and avoids looking at him as she enters the building.

Su Yi Cheng stared into space for a while. This was the first time that she initiated the kiss. This kind of knowledge and awareness made the corner of his mouth rise. He rubs the spot that she had just kissed. His mood immediately became joyful, that even his eyes were smiling.

When he was about to start the car to leave, he suddenly heard someone call him from behind.

“Brother Yi Cheng!”

Su Yi Cheng turns around, to see Ling Lin coming out of the car, accompanied by a chauffeur. He was caught off-guard, but immediately nods his head at her. His smile changes into a polite and distant one.

“Brother Yi Cheng, why are you here?” Ling Lin can see that Su Yi Cheng’s mood was rather good, so she smiles back at him.

“I was sending my wife to work.” Su Yi Cheng faintly responds. Then he asks, “Do you also work here?”

Hearing that, Ling Lin’s complexion changes. Unhappiness was written all over her face. She nods slightly and replies, “En.”

Su Yi Cheng just nods slightly. He smiles gently at her and says, “Well I will take my leave first, I should hurry to work.” Saying that, he opens the door and gets in his car. It wasn’t that he didn’t see her emotion, it’s just that it had nothing to do with him. She isn’t anything to him. Strangers - he doesn’t inquire much or cares much about them.

An Ran gave Huang De Xing her draft for him to look over. He looks at the blueprint earnestly. The corner of his eyes rise, and even the corner of his mouth slowly starts to point up. A while later, he couldn’t help but nod and say to An Ran, “Good, very good. Your composition is very bold, new and original. If we open up the ceiling for the children’s area, not only does it allow the children to breath, it gives a fresh atmosphere, and even arouses the childrens’ interest. Not bad, this idea is not too bad.” He puts down the blueprint. Huang De Xing smiles from ear to ear, “I knew you could do it, An Ran, you really did not let me down.”

An Ran holds back her smile, and just says, “If director thinks there’s no problem with the design, then I will modify it, so this afternoon they can start building the prototype and sample."

Huang De Xing nods his head, “En. We should rush, the tendering deadline is close. However, even though we have to rush, the quality should still not be compromised. This is an international project, the quality that everyone is expecting will be very high. If we manage to win this project, to you, to this company, will be of great significance.”

An Ran nods, “I got it.” Saying that, she turns around to leave. However, Huang De Xing calls out from behind.

“An Ran, wait.” Huang De Xing gets up from his seat, and smiles as he makes his way over to her.

“Is there anything else Director?” An Ran asks.

Huang De Xing smiles and looks at her. With intention behind his words, he says, “I heard recently that the municipal committee had officially passed the proposal for Ke Ji City. Construction will probably be starting within the next few months.”

An Ran was taken aback. She naturally heard the meaning behind his words. She bows her head slightly, not giving a reply to his statement.

In response, Huang De Xing smiles again and says, “I heard the committee had selected Special Assistant Su to take over the case. He will probably transfer posts within the next few days, at that time Special Assistant Su will indeed get a promotion.”

Hearing that, An Ran raises her head to look at him. She just smiles slightly, and shakes her head and says, “Actually regarding Yi Cheng’s work, because of the special nature of his work, Yi Cheng very rarely talks about it with me. So, about whether or not the construction of the newly built Ke Ji City was passed, and regarding whether or not Yi Cheng is taking over, to be honest with you, I’m still not too sure.”

Huang De Xing also smiles, and says, “I’m just gossiping. However, if this nomination really does happen, when the time comes please give Special Assistant Su our favour. You also know, these projects, our company is capable of competing for them too.”

An Ran looks at him. She smiles, but doesn’t know how to answer. She understood the meaning behind his words, she isn’t stupid, it was loud and clear. In fact she personally is disgusted by such injustice and unfairness through nepotism. Since you can only obtain these projects if you have the connection, then why bother with the pretence of tendering, toying with those who have no connections and only have this chance during tendering, where is the fairness and impartiality in that. But it seems like society is just like that, not just in relying on connections to fight for projects, even when children go to school to study, if you don’t gift the right people red envelopes, it will be difficult for the child. This kind of practice is very bad, but the present society is already accustomed to it.

“An Ran, don’t be burdened, I don’t have any other meaning, I just want to do good for the company. If the company is well then everyone will be well, besides, the strengths of our company is not lacking, our reputation is one of the best, you know that. Of course, you don’t have to do anything, but just wanted to ask you to pull some strings with Special Assistant Su. Additionally the company board members are also interested in you. When the time comes be prepared to come down.” Huang De Xing laughs.

An Ran doesn’t answer. Carrying her blueprint she has her eyes on the ground. She hates it when he speaks this way, but she can’t refuse to his face. Actually she also knows, nowadays, just knowing that she was Su Yi Cheng’s wife, so long as they know that Su Yi Cheng will be in charge of the newly built Ke Ji City, every single person will try to slyly get close to her, thus holding onto a thread connecting to Su Yi Cheng.

A while later, does An Ran slowly lift her head up. She looks at Huang De Xing, and steadily says, “Director, if there’s nothing else, then I will take my leave first.”

Huang De xing looks at her profoundly. She has been with him for 6 years, so he has some understanding of her. She and Xiao Xiao are two completely different people, it can be said that they are opposites. Xiao xiao was an expert at social interaction, so naturally, he doesn’t care about her methods, but she is very good at interacting with people. She doesn’t have the gift of designing, so even though she is eager to study and work hard, but everything she designs, is too reserved, too rigid, nothing novel, while An Ran was the opposite. An Ran has a unique gift in designing, every time she designs something would make people’s eyes shine, however regarding her social interaction, she was always too stiff, not smooth enough. He reckons that even this time’s attempt at roping Su Yi Cheng through her failed. Perhaps he should try another method, perhaps, another route would be more practical. If he could be a part of the Ke Ji City case this time, at the year-end CEO selections, he will probably have a very big God looking over him.

Only after a while does Huang De Xing nod. He still carries a smile on his face, and says, “Alright, there’s nothing else. You should make the most of this physical activity manor, you should pay special attention to the sample and prototype.”

An Ran nods, and retreats from his office. The moment she closed the door, she let out a long sigh. Then she turns to go back to her own office.

The afternoon was spent with the builder to construct a sample, and the model was beginning to get constructed. Knocking off work, when she left her office, she bumped into Xiao xiao. The two faced each other coldly, remaining silent, both turning their eyes away.

The two silently wait for the elevator. When they left the company doors, Xiao xiao looks at her with a meaningful smile, and says, “I advise you, if you have time you should look after your man better.” After speaking, she turns and leaves.

An Ran bewildered, watches her purposefully swing her hips as she catches a taxi and leaves.

When An Ran returned Su Yi Cheng was already home, speaking on the phone with somebody.

An Ran changes her shoes and enters the room, only to see him hurriedly end the call, “Alright, I got it. I’ll ask An Ran about the move, I’ll get back to you later. Oh right, these past few days Yi Jiao has been hounding me about looking for you, she seemed serious, what did you say to her you rascal?”

Ye Zi Wen was taken aback. Slightly diffident he says, “I, what could I say to her. Alright, alright, I still have matters, not going to talk to you anymore.” He hangs up first.

She places her briefcase on top of the coffee table. An Ran sits on the sofa, staring at the man sitting across from her.

Su Yi Cheng puts away the phone. He looks at her, a small smile hanging at the corner of his mouth. He reaches out to her, “Come.”

An Ran calmly walks over to him. She puts her hand into his large palms, and was pulled by him so she sat on his lap. An Ran was still not yet used to this kind of closeness. She half pushes him, only to have him hug her even tighter, so that there wasn’t much struggle, so she had no other choice but to let him hug her tightly. She sighs. Leaning against him, she says, “I handed in my blueprint.”

“En.” Su Yi Cheng faintly replies. He asks, “What did they say?” His wife had worked so hard all night, if they dared reject her, heng, he won’t stand aside!

“Huang De Xing seemed to be very pleased.” An Ran steadily stated.

Behind her, Su Yi Cheng nods slightly. The corner of his mouth seemed to have no smile, but in fact he enjoyed this moment of quietness and happiness.

An Ran slowly turned around. She looks at Su Yi Cheng, and steadily says, “Huang De Xing says you will be getting promoted.”

Su Yi Cheng subconsciously frowns. He looks at her. Distracted, he asks, “What’s going on? What did he say?” My goodness, news sure does spread fast. His side hadn’t even carried it out yet, and those outside already know it like the back of their hand. As it relates to their interests, always attracting their attention, this is not at all a good thing.

“He wants me to say favours to you, and on behalf of the company entice you, so that it creates more benefits for work, and even promised, if I help the company fight for the project, I would have a chance for promotion.” An Ran honestly confesses to him.

Su Yi Cheng looks at her and gently smiles. He just asks, “Then what did you say?” He can ignore other people’s attitude, as he’s encountered these types of people many times, these issues, he’s heard it countless times. He doesn’t care about anything else, what’s important is her attitude towards this issue.

An Ran looks at her for a while. Finally she shakes her head, forthcoming, she says, “I didn’t say anything. I can’t just carelessly guarantee others in your place.” His status was too special, to be regarded as his wife, she’s afraid to talk too much, to say the wrong thing.

“Besides.” An Ran looks at him. She lowers her head and faintly says, “Besides I don’t really like this kind of thing. I think things should be fair and equal, but what is this, those with the skill and strengths are not considered, only because they don’t have the connections, and can never get what they fairly deserve.” She shakes her head, and whispers, “I don’t like it.”

Su Yi Cheng smiles softly, he reaches out to lift her head. Then he lowers his head and kisses her on the lip, tightly affixed on her lips, he says, “The internal committee has been talking about it. Secretary Zhang had also told me the news, so I can make the proper preparations, but the nomination probably won’t be happening until next week. But no matter if it was me in charge of the city’s urban construction, regarding the project’s tendering, I don’t plan to be swayed by personal affairs, even if it were you asking for favours, or Ye Zi Wen, all should go through the procedures properly, I will not make it easy for you guys, or secretly select you guys, otherwise the tendering will all be but a show for others to see. I have no such plans, you understand what I mean?”

Hearing that, she stares at him. The corner of An Ran’s mouth slightly rises, as if she had worries that existed for a while, but only until now was it completely put to rest. She has always known that the political darkness was no better than the business world, how much officials collude with each other, only for their own benefit. Some even go into the position only for that reason, doing it for their own friends and family to monopolize the business. She hated such behaviour, and it was fortunate that he was not like that. His sense of justice let her worries down.

Su Yi Cheng pinches her nose lovingly. He suddenly remembered of Ye Zi Wen’s call about the apartment, that it was all ready and even the furniture and appliances were already bought and installed, and only need to pack up and move in at any time. With them delaying the moving, he still has to find someone to take a look at the area, this inconvenience was giving him a headache, so these past few days he has been urging them to move soon.

Thinking so, Su Yi Cheng asks without thinking, “An Ran, Zi wen said that the apartment is already finished, when do you think we should move, en?”

After he said that, An Ran only then remembered that Ye Zi Wen had asked the same thing to her, and also remembered that there was another thing he had said. She withdraws from his embrace, and fixes her eyes on him. An Ran’s expression was serious.

Su Yi Cheng looks at her in confusion, not really understanding why she was suddenly looking at him like that. “What’s wrong?”

She looks at him for a while, only then does An Ran start to ask, “Before I met you at the blind date, we met each other, right?”

Su Yi Cheng was surprised, not quite understanding why she was asking, but still thought about it earnestly. He asks back, “You mean when you were forced to kiss and happened to pass by and saved you?”

“Wh-who’s talking about that.” An Ran pouts. “Before that, you’ve met me right?”

Su Yi Cheng stares at her, and asks, “An Ran, what are you thinking?”

An Ran lowers her head and looks at her fingers. She slowly starts to say, “Ye Zi Wen said that you guys were there at my blind date that day, sitting behind me. You witnessed everything during the blind date.”

Su Yi Cheng chuckles, and asks back, “Is that really important?”

An Ran shakes her head, and says, “Sometimes I just think, that if it were another woman who had proposed, maybe you would have also agreed, and if so then you’d be another woman’s husband.” The thought that he could have been another woman’s husband, she started to feel this uncomfortable feeling in her heart. Really, she has to admit, it was easy to fall in love with him. He’s too beautiful, too considerate, it’s very hard to reject this kind of man. Obviously when she proposed to him she did it freely, but recently, from time to time she started to think, if the person he met wasn’t her, if it were another woman who took the risk to propose a marriage to him, then would he have agreed?

Su Yi Cheng stares at her. Only after a while does he shake his head, and pokes fun at her, “Nope. There wouldn’t be anyone else who’d be so brazen, proposing a marriage upon the first meeting.”

“I’m just saying if.” An Ran glares at him. The point isn’t whether or not someone would do that, but if he would agree or not!

Looking at her, Su Yi cheng laughs. He shakes his head, “I wouldn’t, because I knew it was you, so that’s why I said yes.” Thinking about it now, maybe it was because he knew it was her, which was why he didn’t think twice and just said yes. However he was afraid that if he hadn’t agreed, perhaps, she would go find another man to ask.

Hearing that, An Ran looks at him, the corner of her mouth faintly displayed a pretty dimple. Regardless if it was true or not, hearing these words, really does sound nice.

Su Yi Cheng laughs and rubs her head, “Alright, let’s eat. After that you have to get right to bed for me, you have to make up for last night’s sleep.”

An Ran laughs. She looks at him and asks, “Then are you going to go to sleep with me?”

Su Yi Cheng raises his brows. He gazes at her for a while, seeming to struggle for a bit. He then shakes his head, “I’m afraid if I accompany you, we won’t simply be sleeping, you probably would stay up another night, and be even more tired.”

An Ran was shocked, then finally heard the meaning behind his words. She reacts, her face turning incredibly red. She glares at him, “Pervert!” Saying that, she turns around to walk over to the kitchen, her face still incredibly hot, it looked like you could cook an egg on it.

Su Yi Cheng plops down on the sofa and lets out a hearty laugh, you could see that he was in a very good mood.



Today An Ran was discussing about the engineering of the sample building with Constructor Chen, and explained the details about the design, working hard.

At this time Lin Li’s call started to come in. These past two days because of the engineering stage of the project, An Ran hadn’t the time go to the hospital to see Lin Li, but she still called her everyday to check up on her condition. Through the phone she could hear Lin Li’s laughter, and she could finally feel relieved.

“Hello, Lin Li, what’s up?” An Ran used her head to press her phone against her shoulder, at the same time using her hands to give directions to Constructor Chen.

“An Zi, I’m call you right now to tell you that I’m preparing to go back, after that, don’t miss me too much ah, if you really miss me you come over and find me okay.” On the other side, Lin Li tried to speak as softly as possible.

An Ran was shocked. She suddenly stood up, and takes her phone into her hand. She raised her voice and asks, “What’d you say?” Constructor Chen beside her was startled by her action, he looks at her oddly.

“Hehe, I’m already at the station, the 3 o’clock one.” Lin Li laughs weakly. “Because I don’t like parting, so that’s why I didn’t dare tell you the time, so only before going did I call you.”

An Ran looks at her watch. It was already 2:45. She puts down her pen, and leaves the model room, while running she says, “Where are you? Train station? Bus station?”

“An Zi, don’t come. I don’t want to see you cry.” Lin Li says, choking with emotion.

“Tell me where!” An Ran roars. She was really going insane, she unexpectedly, she unexpectedly thought that she could secretly sneak away, not even letting her say farewell. What is this, what is this!

She ran until she got to the elevator. The elevator was still on the first floor, even after she pushed it for a while it wasn’t coming. She can’t take up any more time, so she decided to run down the stairs instead. The her right now, had apparently forgotten that she was on the 15th floor!

“An Zi, thank you for walking with me through this journey all these years, from school to society, because I had you, I wasn’t that lonely. These ten years, we learned, slowly grew up, you gave me so much, so much beautiful memories. Even if the entire world left me, you would still be there with me, encourage me, comfort me, because of you I understand the meaning of ‘true friendship’. From now on we’ll be in different cities, from now on we won’t be able to see each other anytime we want or go out to eat anytime we want, but I don’t believe that our relationship will drift apart because of the distance, because I think when I’m bored I will disturb you from time to time, when I’m lonely and unhappy the first person I’ll think of is you, just telling you first, no matter what you’re doing, you aren’t allowed to ignore my calls ha.” Lin Li purposely tried to speak lightly, but An Ran did not miss the faint sob from the other side of the line.

“Lin Li, don’t give me that damn nonsense, I’m telling you, you can’t go! Don’t go, you hear me!” An Ran shouted into the phone, her tears uncontrollably streams down her face.

Lin Li also couldn’t contain her tears, she was also emotional. She sobbed uncontrollably, “An, An Zi, th-thank you for the ten years, I-I have to go now, forgive me for only calling you now, because, because…..” Lin Li couldn’t hold back her emotions, and only after a while does she take a deep breath. She continues, “I don’t want to see your parting figure, or else I wouldn’t be able to leave.”

An Ran was also weeping. She tried to keep it down, holding onto the phone standing in the corridor of the stairs, she powerlessly leans against the wall, finally squatting at the corner. She chokes up as she says, “Then don’t leave, stay!”

On the other line, a deep breath. With great difficulty, Lin li stops her tears, and pulls out a smile, speaking into the phone she says, “An Ran, goodbye!”

---END OF CHAPTER---

Next Chapter

First Marriage Then Love 《先婚厚爱》Chapter 92 Translation

092. Small emotions


An Ran was also surprised that the person Zhou Han had called over was Ye Zi Wen. However, thinking about it they used to be close friends. Right now Zhou Han was not present, so contacting him wasn’t that out of place.

“Why are you here?” Ye Zi Wen comes forward, looking at her oddly.

An Ran stood there, and explains, “I’m here to see my friend. Just happened to run into this child. Then the nurse said that the child was left at the hospital for a few days, so I called Zhou Han.”

Ye Ze Wen nods. He comes forward and squats down to face the child, smiling as he speaks, “Xiao Bin, your dad is on a business trip. Is it alright if you stay at uncle’s place for a few days?” In fact, after last time, he still stayed in contact with Zhou Han, sometimes even asking him to come out for a drink.

An Ran takes a quick look at the child. She rubs his small head, then speaks to Ye Zi Wen, “Since you’re here, I’ll take my leave first.” She turns around to leave. She has to return and fix up today’s blueprint. The deadline that Huang De Xing gave her was tomorrow, and it looks like she has to stay up all night today.

“Are you familiar with Zhou Han?” Ye Zi Wen asks from behind.

An Ran turns around, looks at him suspiciously. She just says, “If you consider running into each other a few times ‘familiar’.”

Ye Zi Wen frowns, “Has Yi Cheng told you about Zhou Han?”

An Ran nods. She was grateful for Su Yi Cheng’s honesty, because it gave her faith in this marriage.

Ye Zi Wen chuckles and talks to himself, “If he can tell you this stuff, looks like he really is over it.”

An Ran didn’t catch what he had said, and frowns. Puzzled, she asks, “What’d you say?”

Ye Zi Wen shakes his head, and says, “Uh, nothing.”

He isn’t telling An Ran so she doesn’t press on. She nods, turning around to leave.

“Hey, right, the room is ready. When are you guys going to move in?” Before, Su Yi Cheng, that brat, continually urged him like a ghost to hurry up. And now he was all caught up with the project, but he hasn’t even said anything about it. Before he had called to ask if he was moving or not, that it was ready. He said his wife wasn’t in a good mood, so they have to push it back a few days. He never would have thought to see that this brat would become a slave to his wife!

An Ran was stunned, and asks, “It’s ready?”

When Su Yi Cheng had brought her to take a look it didn’t seem ready. According to a normal project progress, at the least it would have to take half a month!

Ye Zi Wen rolls his eyes, and says, “It’s been ready for a few days now. Ah Cheng said that you weren’t in a good mood, so he pushed the moving date back a few days. Anyways, so when is your mood going to improve, I’ll arrange the move for you guys.” Look at how good he is, even following up with the after-sales service.

Being told that, An Ran started to feel embarrassed. It’s probably because of the thing with Lin Li, that Su Yi Cheng yielded to her. He didn’t want to bother her, so he never mentioned moving.

“I’ll ask him when he comes back tonight.” An Ran just says so. She started to feel this sweetness swell up because of Su Yi Cheng’s consideration of her.

Ye Zi Wen nods, and says, “Did you drive here? If not I can send you home, in any case it’s on the way.”

An Ran thinks about it, not declining.

The two handle the outpatient procedure for the child. By the time they left the hospital doors it was almost nightfall.

In the car, An Ran and the child sit behind. The child quietly sat there, head down, playing with the Transformers in his hand. An Ran rubs his head. This child rarely smiled, apart from the time when he was outside at Jun Qu courtyard happily playing by himself, the few times after that, she hasn’t seen him smile at all, and he seemed to be afraid of Zhou Han. He clearly likes him, that she can tell from his expression when he woke up last time and saw Zhou Han.

Ye Zi Wen looks at An Ran through the rear-view mirror. In his mind he has some regrets. He had been interested in An Ran, only he hadn’t made his moves, only to discover that she was already Ah Cheng’s wife. Life is truly full of wonders, he and Ah Cheng had seen her together, but in the end she became Ah Cheng’s wife. For many years Ah Cheng wasn’t one to talk about emotions, did not talk about love, but he didn’t expect that he would suddenly marry her at the spur of the moment. And now looking at the relationship of the wedded couple you can see that they were very good.

“Looks like your’s and Ah Cheng’s relationship isn’t too bad. How did you get to know each other?” He always wanted to know how Ah Cheng made his moves, seeing how easily things went, if one day he also meets someone, perhaps he too could try it out. But whenever he had asked, that dude would just smile and not say anything, so mysterious.

Hearing that, An Ran was taken aback. She truly does not know how to describe their mistakened encounter. Her eyes flicker, and hollowly laughs, “Just, just met through a blind date.”

“Blind date?” Ye Zi Wen frowns and mutters, “Didn’t he always reject those? Or did he go because he knew it was you?”

“En? What’d you say?” An Ran was puzzled. Knew it was her? Did they know each other before?

“I knew that dude was two-faced. He definitely had known earlier that it was you, and that’s why he agreed to meet you for the blind date.” Ye Zi Wen says confidently. He was a little regretful that he hadn’t made the first move that time, if not for this how could he, as a person with such distinguished and excellent qualities, be unable to compete against that moody and uninteresting black bellied wolf. But after experiencing this, next time, next time if he meets someone like this he will strike first too.

“He’s seen me before?” An Ran probes.

“I said me, I saw you before. You insist on not believing me. When you were on a blind date at Da Cheng you met a ‘high quality’ man, who used a coffee coupon to pay the bill. That time, Ah Cheng and I were sitting behind you. When you left, I snuck a look at you.” Ye Zi Wen says. “Didn’t expect that dude was already interested in you, using such underhanded means to strike first and cheat you into marriage. I didn’t even get a chance.” As Ye Zi Wen was speaking, his tone was a little gloomy.

An Ran was taken aback. She did not expect that they would be there behind her, and even witnessed everything. With this realization, An Ran started to feel embarrassment. However if you had to ask who struck first, it wouldn’t be Su Yi Cheng, but her. After all it was she who had proposed marriage upon the first meeting.

“But anyhow, you seem to be quite incredible. You managed to get Ah Cheng under your leash, I’ve never seen him treat women so well.” Ye Zi Wen mutters, “Even when he was with Ling Ran he was never that good with her.”

“He wasn’t good to Ling Ran?” An Ran curiously asks, but deep inside she started to feel this indescribable sour feeling. She doesn’t know if she was feeling envious or jealous, but she doesn’t like to hear about him and Ling Ran.

“How do I put it. Back then when he and Ling Ran were together, it was like a matter of course. Ling Ran had liked Ah Cheng since childhood, everyone had known that. Should say that Ah Cheng didn’t dislike her, and both their parents knew each other. Over time everyone naturally assumed that they would get together, so the two really did get together. If you just look at Ah Cheng from the surface you can see that he is gentle and agreeable, when the fact is he is quite detached to people, doesn’t stay in touch. At first Ling Ran complained to us a few times about it, then after time she slowly got used to it.” As he said that, Ye Zi Wen looks at her through his spectacles, and continues, “But it looks like he’s treating you very well. Is it you that is dominant or was he originally such a whipped man?”

An Ran glares at him, and says in seriousness, “We both respect each other.” She can’t believe that the man before is really ‘Eric’, the acclaimed talented architect Eric! His personal character and his style of designs do not match up at all.

Ye Zi Wen glances at her, and indifferently shrugs. He shakes his head, “Maybe that dude had secretly mapped it out. You just don’t understand Ah Cheng, that dude holds evil intentions behind his smile, he’s a black bellied wolf.” And from his experience from growing up and going through thick and thin with him, Ah Cheng would never do transactions that risk losses, just to take it at face value, to him it looks like, either this dude truly acted on his emotions, or he had schemed something, and Gu An Ran probably doesn't have any schemes up her sleeves.

Being told that, An Ran was taken aback. She didn’t worry about whatever scheming he was talking about, but it really was as he had said. She really doesn’t know him, doesn’t know what he likes, doesn’t know his tastes, she can’t even tell what his mood is from the expression on his face. They are together everyday, obviously they are close, but sometimes she feels that he is really far away. Perhaps it is what Ye Zi Wen had just said, she really doesn’t know anything about him.

When they got back to the apartment it was almost 5 o’clock. Because she had gotten up late this morning, she doesn’t know if Su Yi Cheng has a dinner party or not. But, just in case, An Ran planned to go to the neighbourhood supermarket and buy food, make a simple meal. This way even if Su Yi Cheng doesn’t have a dinner party and comes home, there would still be food, and if he doesn’t come home, she can treat her own stomach.

She pushes her cart into the market. She realizes that she doesn’t know what she should buy. There are some stuff that she can make, but she doesn’t know if Su Yi Cheng would like them or not, so she was hesitating if she should buy or not. And there are some things she can’t make. Even if she buys the ingredients, she isn’t sure how to make it.

In the end she circled around the market, and her cart was still empty. Finally An Ran decided, she should buy things that she could make, even if she doesn’t know if he’ll like it, but at least she can make it, better than leaving an empty fridge until he came back from a whole day of work.

An Ran goes back around with her cart, and goes to the fruits and veggies aisle to grab some fresh veggies and corn. Then she goes to the meat aisle and grabs from fresh pork loin. When she was thinking of going to get eggs she accidentally bumped into another cart. An Ran automatically apologizes, “Sorry.” But the moment she raised her head she was taken aback.

Ling Ran smiles back and looks at her. She was still bright and beautiful. Today she was wearing a light blue striped bohemian style long skirt. Her elegant long hair trailed down her shoulders. She was beautiful like an angel, carried this celestial air, like she appeared from the mist.

“What a coincidence, also here to buy food?” Ling Ran initiates the conversation, her performance appearing to be very generous.

An Ran slightly nods and smiles at her. That smile, was a bit distant. After last time, seeing her again, An Ran always felt slightly uneasy.

“Let me see what you bought.” Ling Ran was cordial as usual, only An Ran had always felt that there was something behind that cordiality, not as simple as it appeared.

Not waiting for An Ran to neither reply nor decline, Ling Ran already went ahead and lowered her head to examine the stuff in her shopping cart. Seeing the corn in the cart, she doesn’t hold back, “Ah, why did you buy corn, Ah Cheng never eats corn. He says that corn has a weird taste, he’s not used to it.” Saying that, she also picks up the rapeseed, looks at An Ran and shakes her head again, “Ah Cheng also doesn’t eat rapeseeds. He says it’s a bit bitter, he prefers rhizome’s bok choy.” She looks at the box of pork loin, and couldn’t help but frown and sigh, continuing, “An Ran, do you not know anything about what Ah Cheng likes to eat? He doesn’t like to eat greasy food at night, otherwise after eating he has to do vigorous exercise to burn the calories.” She finished speaking, and takes the box of pork loin and puts it back on the shelf.

She smiles and says to An Ran, “Let’s go, I’ll show you what to buy. Otherwise if you really do buy that stuff, Ah Cheng will starve and not eat.”

An Ran felt uneasy, especially when she was talking about what Su Yi Cheng does and does not like to eat, as she was hearing it she felt incredibly stuffy. She felt peeved and takes back the box of ribs and puts it back in her cart. She looks at her and says, “What I eat, Yi Cheng will also eat.”

Ling Ran stares at her in shock. Only a while later does she smile and says, “Right. I completely forgot, Ah Cheng is very considerate of people. He always thinks of others, so naturally he will yield to you.”

An Ran stares at her. She speaks right after, “Yes. He really loves me, and is very yielding to me. What I want to eat he will buy, make. Even if he doesn’t like it, he will still eat it very happily.”

Ling Ran looks at her and nods, “He’s just like that. He had also treated me that way, ever since we were kids if I liked it, he would do anything to get it. Sometimes I worry that he is caring too much for my feelings, doing so much for my moodiness, that he will feel like he was wronging himself, so I would always make it up to him as much as I could. For instance what he likes to eat, what he likes to make, I will do my best to satisfy him. After all we can’t be too selfish, only thinking of ourselves and wronging him. Don’t you think?”

She doesn’t know this emotion. After hearing her speak like that, An Ran couldn’t help but tighten her grip on her shopping car, with indescribable strength, so much that her knuckles turned white. She looks at her. An Ran wanted to smile, but she couldn’t manage to bring one up. It turned out stiff, and she says, “I don’t at all think that what he does for me is wrongful for him. I think he takes a lot of pleasure out of doing it.”

“Really.” Ling Ran smiles faintly. She looks at her. There was this indescribable meaning behind her smile. In An Ran’s eyes, it made her even more uneasy.

“Yes.” Clenching her fists, An Ran says indifferently, “I think I have everything I want. Miss Ling can continue buying as she wishes, I will say goodbye first.” She smiles faintly, looks at her wristwatch, and says, “Sorry, Yi Cheng should be coming home from work soon. I better hurry back and cook, can’t chat anymore.”

Ling Ran looks at her and still has a smile on her face, she nods, “As you wish.” Although she was smiling as she spoke, her tone, that smile, was much more rigid and unnatural than before.

An Ran nods, and pushes her cart past her. She doesn’t glance at her, just walks straight ahead.

Ling Ran turns to look at her from behind. The smile on her face turns still, only her grip on the cart was clearly tightened, so much that her fingers turned white.

An Ran returns home. Peeved, she places the stuff on the kitchen table. She stares at it, a while later, she mumbles to herself. She washes the rice and puts it in the rice cooker to cook. While the rice was cooking, she grabs the corn. Her movements were a bit clumsy. She picks out each grain and puts it on a plate, then puts it aside for later.

She then washes each rapeseed and plucks out the leaves. Finally she works on the pork loin, washing it clean, then puts it in a pot of unboiled water to cook. When the loin was fully cooked, there was a half-pot of soup left over. She adds vinegar, soy sauce, salt, and sugar and lets it simmer. She waits until there was only a quarter of the soup left, until it had thickened, and adds two scoops of white sugar. She ups the fire to collect the juice, then transfers it onto a dish.

She grabs ham from the fridge, thinly sliced it, then puts the cooled fat from the pan, directly on the corn grains and ham and uses the cooled fat to stir fry it. She stir fries it until a sweet smell appeared, and loads it onto a pot. Then she puts the cleaned rapeseed and directly puts it into the soup.

She learned how to make these three dishes from Cheng Xiang’s cookbook when she was at Lin Li's place. It was relatively easy to understand, the steps weren’t too complicated, so she was able to remember it after reading it once. However, it was the first time she had made it, as to how it tasted, is unknown.

An Ran arranges the dishes, and at this time the rice cooker began to whistle indicating that the rice was done. She places the dish back down on the counter behind her, and at the same time someone had opened the door.

Su Yi Cheng enters carrying his briefcase. He changes his shoes at the vestibule, then enters the living room. He asks where the sweet fragrance was coming from, raises his head to see An Ran standing behind the counter. She was wearing an apron, hand still balancing a plate that was yet to be placed down. So quietly watching, this kind of scene seemed to have appeared in his dreams. Coming home from work everyday, his home no longer has that cold and lonely atmosphere. He now has someone leaving a warm lamp on by the door, and leave his briefcase down by the living room sofa, he could see into the kitchen, there is someone holding freshly made food smiling at him, gently calling him over to eat.

He smiles as he looks at An Ran. He puts his briefcase down on the sofa, calling her over with a smile. He doesn’t come to take a look at the dishes on the counter, but just stares at her. He wraps an arm around her waist, and chuckles as he asks, “What did you make tonight?”

An Ran stares at him, with a confused look in her eyes, she almost couldn’t come up with a response. She was lost in the warm expression in his eyes. She looks at the dishes on the counter. Suddenly she recalled what Ling Ran had said at the market. She started to feel uneasy, and a little depressed. She reaches out and pushes him away slightly. A little damp, she says, “Take a look yourself.”

Su Yi Cheng doesn’t notice the change in her mood. He turns to look at the food on the counter. He smirks, and only says, “Looks pretty good.”

An Ran doesn’t say anything, and goes to wash a rice scooper from the cupboard. Then she places the bowl of rice on the table. She takes a quick look at him, and only says, “Go wash your hands first and eat.” Then she turns to scoop herself a half bowl of rice.

Su Yi Cheng giddily turns around to the kitchen sink and washes his hands clean. Then he grabs a towel and dries his hands off, and excitedly sits down by the counter. He picks up his chopsticks and starts picking the food. He takes a bite of a piece of sweet and sour pork, chewing it slowly. His brows wrinkle slightly. He looks at An Ran to his side. He was saving her face and did not spit it out, just swallows it down.

An Ran did not miss the momentary frown that he had put on. She was secretly disappointed. Perhaps it was as Ling Ran had said, he really does not like these sort of dishes. Only he is a considerate man, if he doesn’t like it he wouldn’t display it, wouldn’t let everyone see it, he could finish eating it without changing expressions.

An Ran picks up the ladle from the table, and takes a large scoop of ham corn grain and puts it in his bowl. She smiles faintly and says, “Try this one.”

Su Yi Cheng still looks at her and smiles. He nods, and scoops up half of it into his mouth. The unique flavour of corn made him feel a little unwell. He frowns slightly, but doesn’t take too long to chew it, and just swallows it down.

An Ran did not miss that slight frown he made from eating the corn, this confirmed the truth. When Su Yi Cheng stretched out to get some of the vegetable soup, An Ran suddenly reached out and grabbed his hand. She shakes her head, and just faintly says, “If you aren’t used to eating it or don’t like it don’t force yourself.”

Su Yi Cheng stared at her, at a loss for words. He then realizes that she was a bit off tonight. He asks, “What’s wrong?”

An Ran shakes her head. She gets up and says, “I’ll make noodles for you.” Maybe compared to these, soup is better suited for his appetite.

Su Yi Cheng, unconvinced, reaches out to grab her. He gets up, and stares at her, asking, “What’s wrong?”

An Ran lowers her head, and just unenthusiastically shakes her head. She mutters, “Nothing.”

Su Yi Cheng stares at her. He reaches out and lifts her head up, allowing her look at him in the eyes. With a compelling force she couldn’t ignore, he says, “An Ran, tell me. What happened today?”

An Ran looked at him for a while. She turns her head aside. She doesn’t want to look at him, and stuffily says, “I just unintentionally found out that you actually don’t like this stuff.” Just as Ye Zi Wen had said in the car, she does not understand Su Yi Cheng at all. Don’t even mention about what his thoughts were, those vague things, even what he likes to eat, what he doesn’t like to eat those simple issues she had to learn from other people. This kind of feeling felt terrible, and it made her very unhappy.

Su Yi Cheng was taken aback. Her answer was a little unexpected. He catches sight of her face, and sincerely asks her, “Who told you that?”

An Ran stares at him for a while. Finally she slowly says, “When I went to the supermarket I bumped into Ling Ran. She saw that I bought these, and told me that you actually don’t like eating these things.” She lowers her head, and mumbles, “I don’t even know what you like to eat, what you don’t like. It’s as they said, we are married, and I don’t even understand you, even the basic things like your every day habits and what you like, these simple things I had to learn from other people. The more I thought about it the more unfathomable I felt. I don’t like this feeling, and I especially don’t like learning about what your pleasures are, hearing it makes me feel awkward and uncomfortable.” She confesses honestly. Those were the thoughts that came to her.

Hearing that, Su Yi Cheng was speechless for a while. He then reacts, and returns to his senses. He says, “If you want to know, you can just ask me. It’s no biggie.”

An Ran was taken aback, looking at him, neither shaking nor nodding her head.

Su Yi Cheng chuckles as he rubs her face, and asks, “The way you were just now, could I say that you were jealous?”

An Ran looks away, and whispers, “I’m just a little awkward. Also, I feel like some things I could slowly learn on my own, slowly get to know the interesting facts, it’s just meaningful. To learn from another person is a terrible feeling.” Especially when that person was Ling Ran. She doesn’t know what was wrong with herself, but to have this kind of mood in her, clearly she cares about the prior relationship between her and Su Yi Cheng. But to compare their relationship to her own, she starts to feel incredibly uncomfortable, and her mood becomes especially gloomy. She never thought this way, but she can’t control it. She doesn’t like this side of her at all.

Su Yi Cheng smiled. He turns to pick up the ladle from the bowl, and reaches out to scoop up the corn. He takes a mouthful of it. He really could not get used to that distinct flavour of corn, but the thought that she had made dinner for him, made him so joyful that it overrode that flavour. The first time he tasted the corn it had a sweet flavour, fresh and crisp, not at all something that he would hate or cannot have. He looks at An Ran, and chuckles, “It’s really good.”

An Ran looks at him and says, “Don’t force yourself. You being like this makes me feel like I’m selfish.”

Su Yi Cheng shakes his head, and takes another spoonful and puts it into his mouth. Then he swallows, and says, “I actually don’t like the favour of corn, but because you made this, so it’s different. My desire to eat it overpowers the flavour of it, so I’m not forcing myself. I only want to eat it because it’s a meal that my wife had personally made for me, I’m not wronged, but rather I feel blessed.”

An Ran looks at him, and utters, “You really know what to say to coax me.”

Su Yi Cheng laughs and shakes his head, “I’m telling the truth. When people speak the truth it tends to be especially pleasant to hear.”

An Ran sneers at him, and jokingly scolds him, “Twisting words and forcing logic, why does everything you say have to be so reasonable.”

Su Yi Cheng pulls on her. He takes her small hands and puts it against his large palm, chuckling and looking at her, he says sincerely, “An Ran, I know our pace has been pretty fast. You can’t possibly know everything about me in such a short period of time. What’s between us and others is different, others fall in love then marry, we married then fell in love. Our sequence is reversed, you can’t compare yourself to them who had been together for several years. We can only slowly understand each other through our everyday lives. If you feel like this kind of pace is too slow, then whatever you want to know, just ask me directly. I will tell you everything, I won’t hide, okay?"

An Ran looks at him. She fixes her eyes on him, for a long time. Her mouth slowly turns up, and enthusiastically nods her head, “Okay.”

Su Yi Cheng laughs, then pulls her down to sit again. He says, “I’m hungry. Don’t make noodles, accompany me to eat.”

An Ran nods, and sits up straight in her seat. She picks up her bowl, and takes small bites of her food. Then she reaches out get some of the sweet and sour pork. Today’s meal doesn’t look like a lot, and in fact it was the first time she had made this. Even when she was done she didn’t have the time to taste it. He had returned home, so she herself did not know how her dishes had turned out.

An Ran’s chopsticks hadn’t even touched the pork yet, when Su Yi Cheng pulled away the dish. He looks at her and mightily says, “I really like the pork, so all of this is mine. Eat something else.”

An Ran looks at him unconvinced. This kind of mighty attitude was different from his usual self, but she can’t describe what was strange. She frowns for a while, then nods. She reaches out to grab a piece of bok choy.

Su Yi Cheng chuckles and finishes off the plate of pork cutlet, not even a strip was left over. As he ate, he also drank the large bowl of veggie soup, as if he were incredibly thirsty.

Finishing dinner, Su Yi Cheng took the initiative to wash the dishes. An Ran didn’t insist, and only thought that she should catch up on her designs tonight, so she went into the studio.

Soon after Su Yi Cheng enters with his briefcase. He puts it aside and sits down on the rattan chair, opens it up and takes out some documents to look over. Because she really needed to catch up on her drafts, An Ran did not ask out of courtesy if he wanted the room to himself. She was absorbed in the draft she drawn up yesterday and tweaked it little by little to make it perfect. However, as she was drawing she noticed Su Yi Cheng’s oddness. Finally, when he got up to make a cup of tea, An Ran eventually couldn’t help but ask, “What did you eat tonight, why are you drinking so much water?” Was her food too salty? It shouldn’t be, she tried it and it didn’t taste salty!

Su Yi Cheng looks at her. He struggles for a while, finally shakes his head and says, “Wife, the sweet and sour pork, from now on can you not use the salt like it's sugar?”

---END OF CHAPTER--- 

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