First Marriage Then Love 《先婚厚爱》Chapter 73 Translation

073. Drunken Ling Ran



Last night was truly exhausting for her. When she slept she didn’t even hear the early morning reveille. By the time she had woken up it was already almost 9 o’clock, and Su Yi Cheng was already gone.

Her sorry self gets herself ready and changes. When she came out there was only auntie in the house, cleaning the yard.

That auntie catches sight of An Ran, and quickly says, “Shao nai nai*, you’re up. Madam just went out.”

T/N: Shao nai nai – wife of the young master


An Ran nods, and smiles at her.

The auntie puts down the broom, walks over to her, and says, “Shao nai nai, you must be hungry. Today Madam had made congee this morning, but seeing that you didn’t wake, it’s still warming up on the stove. I can go get it for you.” Saying that she washes her hands and quickly goes into the kitchen.

An Ran follows her. At first she wanted to help out a bit, but she was chased out, said that the kitchen soot was too heavy.

She was bored to death sitting at the dinner table, muttering to herself wondering where Su Yi Cheng had gone. She hadn’t even seen a shadow of him all throughout the house.

The auntie brings out the congee as she says, “Shao nai nai, this is the swallow’s nest congee that Madam made earlier. Here, be careful it’s hot.”

An Ran takes it, and smiles at her, “Auntie, please call me An Ran.” Being called ‘shao nai nai, shao nai nai’, she’s not used to it.

The auntie laughs, and nods, urging, “Here, eat it while it’s hot. Madame said you have to fill yourself well, you’re too skinny.”

An Ran blushes. She’s not fat, but she’s not exactly skinny either. She takes the ladle, and takes little scoops to eat. The congee was sweet and thick. It was made with glutinous sticky rice, and she had always preferred sweets. This kind of congee was hitting the right spot.

By the time An Ran was finished eating breakfast, Su Yi Cheng and Qin Yun still hadn’t returned. She accompanied auntie into the garden to water the flowers, then she told auntie that she would go out by herself.

She walks around the courtyard. From time to time she can hear the hubbub from the training yard. The children of the officers had no classes as it was the weekend, and at this moment in twos and threes they run over to An Ran’s side. Seeing their attitude, it appears that they were playing solider catching the thief, having a blast.

She walks along the path until she reached the activity center. There was a lot of communal equipment outdoor to keep fit: see-saws, rotating disks, poles, pairs of levers etc. There were some women sitting at the side chatting. Looking at their attire, they should be some official’s housekeeper or auntie (nursemaid). There were children who were happily circling around, their cries of joy cheerful. The mood was pretty good.

An Ran had nothing to do, but doesn’t know where to go. She was unfamiliar with the place, and she was even a little scared, because the courtyard had a lot of tall imposing doors, and the colours were solemn, which couldn’t help but make people feel awed.

Some of the children played noisily. An Ran fixes her attention to the large locust tree at the middle of the courtyard and was lost in thought. She wasn’t paying attention, as one child who was playing had bumped into her. When An Ran came back to earth there wasn’t enough time to dodge, and the two simply bumped into each other. That child’s strength was very heavy; one bump made them land on their bum, while An Ran lost her footing. In no time she fell back.

“Ah!” A subconsious cry, purely out of instinct. The screeching An Ran had closed her eyes resigned to fate, preparing for that pain to come.

Suddenly, she just felt something warm behind her, and that pain that should’ve came didn’t come. An Ran simply fell into a warm embrace. It was a person, carrying her from behind, saving her from the awkward predicament of falling.

“Miss, are you okay?” A warm voice speaks into her ears.

An Ran then reacts, and quickly withdraws from that person’s embrace. She turns her head, and quickly says, “Uh, I-I’m fine. Really, thank you for that.” Now she can see the person clearly. The man had dark, black eyebrows, a square face, and was wearing a suit. He seemed decorated, his hair was combed neatly. She wouldn’t call him very handsome, but still was charming.

The man smiles at her. He doesn’t look at her face, and turns around to the boy who had tripped and pulls him up, with a serious face, he admonishes, “Why are you so hot-tempered, you have to apologize for bumping to her.”

That little boy rubs his sore buttocks. He was strong as he hadn’t shed any tears, and in a small voice he says to An Ran, “Sorry!”

An Ran smiles and shakes her head. Her sharp eyes catch sight of his broken skin from the fall, the blood still on his hand. She quickly says, “You’re bleeding. Does it hurt, this auntie will take you to bandage it up, okay?”

The boy shakes his head, timidly looking at the man beside An Ran.

The man beside An Ran only smiles apologetically, and says, “Sorry, This child was too mischievous.”

An Ran only then responds. So it turns out this man was the child’s guardian. She quickly smiles and says, “It’s okay, children always love to play around, it’s their nature. Right, why don’t you bring the child to get bandaged, don’t let it get infected.”

The man nods, turns to take a quick look at the boy. His brows wrinkle a bit, and after a while he extends his hand.

That boy seemed like he feared him, not daring to look at him in the face, but still timidly takes his hand.

Right when the man was about to lead the child and An Ran was about to say goodbye, Su Yi Cheng’s voice comes out from behind.

“An Ran.” Turning her head, she only sees Su Yi Cheng standing there a few feet away. His hair was somewhat messy from the wind, and he was dressed up casually.

“Yi Cheng.” An Ran smiles at him, turns around and walks over to him.

Su Yi Cheng looks at her, and also takes note of the man standing not too far. Suddenly his expression changes; the smile on his lips at once turns stiff.

The man also sees him and comes over, making eye contact with Su Yi Cheng. He was also slightly surprised, his expression becomes a little strange.

An Ran noticed the change in the two, she curiously asks, “You guys know each other?”

Su Yi Cheng then gradually comes back to earth. He turns his head, and just says to An Ran, “Let’s go. Secretary Zheng called, there’s a meeting that I have to attend to at noon. We might have to go back a bit early.”

An Ran nods. She turns to look at the man standing there, and slightly nods her head. She turns around to follow Su Yi Cheng’s lead, and leaves.

The man watches the two figures slowly retreat. Only after a while does he lower his head and says to the child he was holding, “Let’s go.”

On the way, the atmosphere was somewhat awkward. Su Yi Cheng was silent the entire time. An Ran doesn’t know what to say. She could only stand there foolishly and let him lead the way. Seeing his reaction to the man just now, the two of them must know each other. But it seems like, it seems like their relationship isn’t that good.

When they got back to the Su household Qin Yun was already back. Right at that time she and the auntie were in the yard getting ready to kill the chicken. She had just caught the chicken the traditional way, and was preparing to kill it to make chicken stock stew to give to An Ran for her health. But this chicken still wasn’t dead and even successfully heard what those two had said and went back. Her mood that was once good immediately fell apart, but she also knows that with this kind of work there is nothing to be done. She can only urge the two to come back when they have time, and said that tomorrow she’ll have the chicken stew ready and will deliver it to them.

On the road Su Yi Cheng was concentrated on driving. He looked tense, not warm like before. He seemed like an unapproachable stranger, and looked somewhat dreadful.

“Is the work really urgent?” The awkward atmosphere was weird, and An Ran attempted to break the silence.

It seemed like Su Yi Cheng had not heard her, his eyes still intently driving.

“Yi Cheng?” An Ran carefully calls out.

Su Yi Cheng then indistinctly comes back, distractedly turns his head, and asks, “Uh, what did you just say?”

An Ran stares at him. Finally she shakes her head, and says, “Do you want to switch? I can drive, you seem preoccupied.”

Su Yi Cheng shakes his head, and smiles at An Ran, “It’s nothing. I was just thinking of some stuff, wasn’t really listening.”

An Ran softly sighs, and says, “You know that man just now?”

Su Yi Cheng looks at her eyes, and nods. He doesn’t deny, “He’s from the courtyard agency. He doesn’t distance himself, so I’ve seen him a few times.”

“Oh.” An Ran nods, and doesn’t ask any more. She always felt, that if he wants to explain to her he will do it on his own. If he wasn’t willing, then asking would just be in vain, inviting a snub. She changes the subject, and asks, “Is the meeting this noon really urgent?”

“It’s at 2, but before the meeting I have to prepare some stuff.” Su Yi Cheng sates.

“Go after lunch, the doctor said you need to have 3 meals a day.” These past two days have been good. If he goes hungry there will be a problem, then these past few days will be for nothing.

Su Yi Cheng looks at her, and nods. A faint smile emerges at the corner of his mouth.

By the time they returned to their apartment it was 11. Because he still has time, An Ran took advantage of the time when he went in to go change and hurried herself to make noodles, soup and small side dishes, even adding an egg.

When Su Yi Cheng had freshened himself up and came out with his clothes changed, An Ran was breaking an egg and adding it into the noodles. She sees him come out of the room, and quickly says, “Here, eat and go.” Saying that, she takes the bowl of noodles and carries it to the counter.

Su Yi Cheng nods, and walks to the stool and sits down.

He takes a sip of the soup. Truthfully the flavour was ordinary, but there was ample feelings, which made him feel that this bowl of noodle soup was especially delicious. He nods his head in admiration, and says to her, “It’s really good.”

An Ran smiles faintly. She sits across from him, props herself up against her cheek, and watches him eat, not doing anything else.

Su Yi Cheng ate quickly, but his table manners were graceful. There wasn’t a drop of soup that was spilled out, and there weren’t any crumbs either.

As he was eating, he suddenly hands over an egg to An Ran, motioning her to open her mouth.

An Ran shakes her head, “You eat.” This intimate action made An Ran feel somewhat uncomfortable. Her face flushes.

Su Yi Cheng doesn’t take back his chopsticks, still insisting on giving her the egg to eat.

She was defeated, as she can’t beat his stubborn persistence. An Ran had no other choice but to open her mouth and take a bite from the egg. Because her skin was thin, it was extremely rosy.

Su Yi Cheng smiles in satisfaction, then grabs another piece from the bowl and gives it to her.

An Ran frowns, but still helplessly opens her mouth and takes a bite. When Su Yi Cheng went back to take another piece for the third time, An Ran pretended to be angry and says in seriousness, “Su Yi Cheng, are you avoiding my food because it’s unpalatable, that’s why you’re not eating?”

Su Yi Cheng was startled. He didn’t expect that she would come up with that. He shakes his head, lowers it and takes a big bite of the remaining food, even the soup. All of it was in his stomach. Then he puts down his chopsticks, and looks at An Ran earnestly as he says, “My wife’s noodles are the best noodles in the world, from now on I will finish everything you make.”

An Ran smiles from his earnest expression. She ignores him, takes the utensils and puts it into the sink.

He looks at the time. There wasn’t a lot of time left. Su Yi Cheng grabs his briefcase, goes over to An Ran to say something, then directly goes out.

‘Jade Lake Garden’s case was under construction. If it goes smoothly next month it’ll go into the second stage of engineering. She had already withdrawn from the municipal committee government project, so now that she’s idle she’s kind of bored.

She returns to the study room and takes the 1/4 finished design draft. She likes to make sure that every design she makes is thoroughly drawn from beginning to end. Even though she lost this project, at least this can be considered her form of conclusion.

Inspiration is actually a very uncertain, serendipitous thing. Originally she had thought for a long time, had many compositions, many consultations. She spent nearly half a month until she could draw one nearly to completion. Now, maybe because she doesn’t have that burden, that afternoon, An Ran was able to easily design. She didn’t break concentration, for the entire afternoon, to her surprise she was able to draw something good, even better than before. She was even more satisfied with this design.

Suddenly, at this time, the doorbell rings, its tinkling ringing throughout. An Ran puts down her pen, and cautiously walks over to the door.

She doesn’t know who it was, but they were probably looking for Su Yi Cheng, as this is Su Yi Cheng’s place, and she had just recently moved in, so she hadn’t told anyone that she was living here.

She gazes into the peephole, only to see Ling Ran standing outside, her body trembling, her stance did not seem stable.

An Ran reaches out and was about to open the door, but as she was holding the knob she suddenly hesitates. Intuition tells her that she should distance herself from Ling Ran, as she doesn’t seem like she treats people so simply. She hasn’t yet generously told her what was between her and Su Yi Cheng.

The doorbell was still ringing. There was that determination that wouldn’t be abandoned if you don’t open the door. Ultimately she still opened the door.

As she opens it, An Ran only smells a burst of alcohol. The smell was so strong, that it was difficult to bear.

Ling Ran seemed intoxicated. Her gaze seemed misty.

“Miss Ling?” An Ran gently calls out to her.

Ling Ran stands there swaying. Her eyelids seemed heavy. One blink, another blink. Her entire person was swaying back and forth, it looked like she was about to collapse at any time.

She was afraid that Ling Ran would really fall over. Without any better option An Ran reaches out and supports her, “Come, come in.”

Ling Ran hangs onto An Ran, crying and laughing as she held onto her, “An Ran, I’m in pain, really in pain.”

Although she wasn’t heavy, and she looks thin, but having this big person push down on her, An Ran really couldn’t endure, moreover, she isn’t calming down, she was really intoxicated, swaying and staggering.

“Hu---“ With great difficulty she helps her onto the sofa. An Ran lets out a long sigh, turns around and was planning to get her a cup of water, but she didn’t think, that when she turned around, her hand was being pulled by her.

“Let go first, I’m going to get you some water. If you’re like this, drinking water might ease it a bit.” An Ran says.

Ling Ran shakes her head, holding onto An Ran tightly and not releasing her. She looks at her with a wronged expression and says, “An Ran, I’m in pain, really painful.”

“You’re in pain because you’re drunk. Let go, I’ll get you some tea to sober up. If you drink it you’ll feel better.” An Ran was really defeated. It’s reasonable to say that she has seen two sides of her, and even though they weren’t friends, she still got drunk and ran to her, so what is the meaning of that! An Ran was pondering, perhaps, she should call Ling Lin, and have her get her sister.

Ling Ran shakes her head, points at her chest and says, “I’m not drunk, it hurts here, really hurts!”

An Ran looks at her, not knowing what she should say. Her hand was being pulled on, but she couldn’t leave, so she had no choice but to sit beside her.

“I really love him, really, really love him. Even though I left for 7 years, but I still think of him every moment, think of the days when we were together. I really regret it, really regret why I drank that year. I clearly know that I can’t drink, otherwise, otherwise that sort of thing wouldn’t have happened.” Saying that, Ling Ran cries mournfully.

An Ran stays silent, because she knows that the ‘he’ that she was mentioning is referring to Su Yi Cheng. She was Su Yi Cheng’s ex, and she herself is Su Yi Cheng’s current wife. An ex-girlfriend coming to look for the wife to cry about how much she loves her husband, how much she regretted breaking up. Regarding those kinds of circumstances, she was completely at a loss, because she doesn’t have any experience at all.

As she was weeping, Ling Ran suddenly lifts her head up, and looks around the house. Then she suddenly smiles foolishly, and says, “Do you know, this place hasn’t changed at all. It’s still decorated the same as that year.”

An Ran frowns, looking around at decoratives of the place.

Ling Ran suddenly gets up. Her body staggers, her foot was also unsteady. She staggered along towards the kitchen counter. She gently strokes the marble of the counter, that tall red footstool, and smiles sadly. She mumbles, “Back then, I always sat on this chair. Then Ah Cheng would make the best food. After first his cooking wasn’t good at all, but for me, because I was picky, he secretly learned how to look for a long time, and finally, made it so that he was even better than those famous restaurants outside and was even more delicious.”

An Ran stays silent, fixing her gaze at her. Su Yi Cheng’s culinary skills are indeed good. From the first time that he had made a meal, Ling Ran wasn’t exaggerating, indeed it was better than any restaurant’s and was even more delicious. But she never thought of it, that he had learned how to cook because of her.

Staggering about, Ling Ran walks over to the study room. She opens the door, and looks at the still-familiar decorations. Her hands cover her mouth, and inarticulately says, “Still, still the same as before. Nothing’s changed, really nothing has changed!”

An Ran looks at her, her two hands unconsciously grips onto each other. Her heart, has this inexplicable feeling of unhappiness. She couldn’t say what the reason was, but can only feel unbearably stuffy.

Ling Ran trips as she was walking over to lie on the master room. An Ran’s heart suddenly tightens, she takes large strides, and catches the hand that was reaching out to open the door. She coldly says, “Miss Ling, you are drunk. I’ll bring you up.” The bedroom was her’s and Su Yi Cheng’s. It was a place where they sleep and hold each other, mutually lingering and grinding. She doesn’t want to hear whatever assessment from other people, and even more she doesn’t want to know how it was before.

Borrowing the strength from her drunkenness Ling Ran shakes off her hand, and staggers back to the study room. She looks at the ash gray sofa, and smiles bitterly. She turns around, looks at An Ran, and says, “Back then Ah Cheng really liked to hold me on the sofa and watch TV. He liked to watch current political news, but I always liked to watch dramas. He finds them boring, but even though it was boring he still watched them with me. When I cried he’d give me napkins, when I laughed he’d laugh with me. Then he’d pamper me and pinch my nose, kiss my forehead. Those times were my happiest days.” Saying that, she weeps sorrowfully. She turns to walk to An Ran, grabs her clothes, and cries as she says, “Give Ah Cheng back to me, give him back to me okay? I really love him, I can’t be without him!”

An Ran only frowns. Her chest was painfully stuffy, she can only feel that her breathing was beginning to quicken. She takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, and says, “Miss Ling, I can’t understand what you’re saying. You’re drunk, let me take you up!”

Ling Ran suddenly pushes her away. She was worked up as she says, “He doesn’t love you. He doesn’t love you at all. I’ve been gone for 7 years, and not once has he had a woman by his side. Why do you think that is. He was waiting for me, he was waiting for me to come back!”

“But in the end he still married me, and now I am Mrs. Su, I am Su Yi Cheng’s wife!” An Ran fixes her gaze at her as she says that, her hands tightly clenched.

Ling Ran looks at her, stares at her. Then she suddenly sits down, frozen. It looked as if gas were leaking out of her body like a ball; void of anger. Her gaze was elsewhere, yet her two eyes did not lose focus. She can only accept defeat, as if she were thinking aloud, “I made him wait for too long, so long that his heart had gone cold. I was wrong, I should have came back earlier. I should have came back earlier…..”

An Ran’s chest tightens. Because of her words, because of what she said she thought of her impulse to marry. Now she thinks back to his words ‘suitable’, her heart suddenly tightens painfully.

“Hehe, hehe…….” Ling Ran who was sitting down suddenly starts laughing. She looks at An Ran, as she says in a bitter and scathing tone, “Why do you think Ah Cheng married you?”

An Ran looks at her, her lips purse up. Her trimmed fingernails left a deep mark in her palms because she was gripping too tightly. Faintly painful!

“It’s because of your name, An Ran! Ling Ran, your ‘Ran’ and my ‘Ran’, you are merely my replacement! You are my substitute!” Ling Ran shrieks, then lets out a loud cry. She shouts out erratically, “Ha ha ha ha, you are my substitute, the person Ah Cheng loves is me, the one he loves is me.”

Ling Ran …… An Ran ……

Ran equals Ran?

An Ran blanks. She felt dizzy. Was it like that? He agreed to marry her because of her name, because in her name she had a homophone of his ex-girlfriend’s name? Really, he has such good conditions, how could he be worried about finding a suitable woman for marriage!

She takes a deep breath, and painfully shuts her eyes. She opens them again, her eyes cold as ice and frost. She forces out, “Miss Ling, please leave.” She doesn’t want to be in the same space as her. She only felt this painful feeling in her chest.

“I don’t want to.” Ling Ran apparently was truly drunk, as she speaks out in a childish tone. Then she dazedly grabs her hair and walks to the sofa, her mouth muttering something, “I want to wait for Ah Cheng to come back, wait for him to come back, hug me like before, kiss me…….” Saying that she walks to the sofa in the study room, then grabs a cushion and hugs it against her chest until she reaches the sofa in the living room. She closes her eyes, mumbling. Then she closes her eyes, and not long after a faint breathing sound appears, evidently fallen asleep.

An Ran stands there confused, apparently all her strength was sucked out of her.



Evening. Su Yi Cheng pinches his sore eyebrows. The meeting took up the entire afternoon, staring at the screen the entire time, his eyes were now aching a lot. He takes out a key from his bag. Opening the door, he sees a silent, dark space. He knits his brows. Is An Ran not here?

He reaches out and turns on the light, “Pa----“ The white light illuminates the entire house. With one hand he pulls on his necktie. He was thinking of calling An Ran, when he suddenly sees An Ran sitting against the wall. He only sees her looking at him woodenly, her face seemed to have traces of tears.

He doesn’t know what had happened. He puts his briefcase aside, and walks over to her in large strides. He squats in front of her, and looks at her puzzled. He asks, “What’s wrong? Why is the light turned off?”

An Ran woodenly shakes her head, but doesn’t say anything.

“En….” Ling Ran, on the sofa, was disturbed because of the sudden illumination. She lifts her hand to cover her eyes, mumbling as she slowly wakes up.

Hearing a sound, Su Yi Cheng suddenly turns his head. Only then does he notice that there is a third person in the room, and that person was Ling Ran!

Ling Ran dazedly props herself up, apparently forgetting about everything before. She touches her head that became painful because she had drank. Her misty gaze takes in the environment, finally landing on the startled Su Yi Cheng.

“Ah Cheng?” Ling Ran calls out. She clearly remembered that she had bought a lot of alcohol to bring home, then she drank at home. Why is Ah Cheng here? “You, why are you here?”

“I should be asking you that.” Su Yi Cheng says coldly, his gaze disapproving.

Ling Ran was shocked. Then she notices An Ran crouching down behind him. She then examines her surroundings, suddenly discovering that she wasn’t in her own home. But she has no recollection of why she was here! “I, why am I here? I was just drinking at home a moment ago!”

Taking a deep breath, Su Yi Cheng coldly says, “Ling Ran, all along I thought that I had sorted everything out clearly that night, what we had in the past was past, now we have our own respective lives, and I am very satisfied and happy with my life now. I don’t want you to disturb me or my family.”

“I, I didn’t…..” Ling Ran looks at him, her eyes looked like she was wronged.

“Please leave.” Su Yi Cheng says coldly, not giving her any face. After saying that he turns around, doesn’t look at her, and helps An Ran up.

“Ah Cheng….” From behind, Ling Ran calls out to him, tears sliding down her cheek. Her heart tightens painfully, she mumbles in grief, “Don’t be like that to me, don’t be like that okay……” She begs, holding onto a strand of hope.

Su Yi Cheng was indifferent. He holds An Ran and goes over to the master room, not once turning around to look at her.

Su Yi Cheng supports An Ran to the bed. He looks at the tear-stains on her face that had not yet dried. Reluctant to part, he reaches out and strokes her face, softly says, “Fool.” He doesn’t know what Ling Ran had said to her, but seeing her like this, he was afraid that she had thought too much. She was too soft, her temperament was too gentle. Even if she was bullied, she wouldn’t say anything mean. He likes her warm appearance and personality, but he also worries that she would be hurt when bullied. He never knew that he was such a contradictory person.

Sighing and shaking his head, he doesn’t know if her personality was good or bad. But seeing her like this, he felt this unspeakable pain. He lowers his head and gives her a soft kiss on her forehead, then turns to go into the bathroom. He wrings a warm towel, then carefully wipes the tear stains on her face, as he says, “Don’t think about what she said."

An Ran lets him wipe her sorry face. She only stares at him, looks at his brows, looking at this, strictly speaking, man who she has only known for a month yet is already her husband.

A while later, when he was about to turn around to go back into the bathroom, she suddenly grabs his hand, and starts to ask, “Why did you agree to marry me that time?”

She knew the answer. She doesn’t care that they didn’t marry out of love, she doesn’t care that it was because of suitability or chance that she became his wife, but she cared that she was someone’s substitute because of unclear circumstances, became a shadow of someone else.

Su Yi Cheng looks at her. He frowns. This question again. He thought he had explained it clearly. What did Ling Ran say to her?

An Ran stares at him, determined to hear the reason from his own mouth.

“If I said my reasons were the same as your’s, would you believe me?” Su Yi Cheng asks. He doesn’t want to lie and say it was love, because that was not reality. Originally they were not acquainted, so where would love come from. Even though the time they've been together has been short, he clearly knows that he is fond of her, and he is glad that he had agreed to get married with her, but as for the real reason for getting married, was not because of love.

An Ran was silent. For a long time, she still couldn’t help but ask, “Was, was it not because you wanted me to substitute Ling Ran?” Only if it came from him, would she believe it. Holding in her breath, she waits for his reply.

“Of course not!” Su Yi Cheng was certain, moreover he says it seriously. Not even a bit does she resemble Ling Ran, how could he look at her as Ling Ran’s substitute! Besides, his feelings for her were long gone, no love, not even hate. She was an irrelevant person, like a stranger.

“He he.” An Ran lets out her breathe, chuckling. Whispering to herself, she says, “Then that’s good, that’s good.”

Seeing her response, Su Yi Cheng can roughly guess what had happened. He sighs, turns around, and sits beside her once again. He reaches out and pulls on her hand, sighing. He fixes his gaze on her, raising his hand to move the bangs on her forehead aside, then softly says, “Anything else you want to ask me?”

An Ran stares back at him. She actually only needed to know that she wasn’t a substitute for someone else. As for the rest, she won’t impose. After all, their marriage does not need to be out of love. She herself had even waited for Mo Fei for 6 years, so how can she ask him return her former emotions when it was all like blank paper. That would be too unrealistic.

She then wanted to shake her head and wasn’t going to say anything, but the words that came out of her mouth, came out completely different, “She also lived here.”

Su Yi Cheng looks at her, doesn’t deny it, nods, followed by a smile. He felt this indescribable joy. The fact that she is bothered at least confirms the truth that she cares, not indifferent. That discovery made him suddenly be secretly delighted.

Seeing that he nodded, An Ran lowers her gaze. “Oh.” She softly replies. She hangs her head down and doesn’t speak anymore. Perhaps affected by her heart, she suddenly felt sitting on the bed was uncomfortable. Recalling that they were always intimate on this bed, she felt extremely depressed.

Su Yi Cheng can see her thoughts. The corner of his mouth rises, and reaches over to her body, “An Ran, look at me.” He asks her to look at him face to face.

An Ran blankly looks at him, unsure of what he wanted to do.

“It’s changed, everything in this room, has been changed several years ago. Not a trace of anyone else.” Su Yi Cheng says determinedly. The fact is he didn’t move because he was used to living here. At first he hadn’t changed the layout or decorative in this room, but a lot of time has passed, the decorative was starting to come off, so, he later let Ye Zi Wen renovate everything. Although the layout hadn’t changed much, but the furniture and what not, had already been changed to new ones.

An Ran nods, and gives him a small smile, but the smile did not reach her eyes.

Su Yi Cheng doesn’t say any more. Actually he couldn’t come up with anything, what his mood was right now, because she had minded, he felt this mysterious sense of vanity.

However seeing that her brows did not relax, and that smile that was not a true one, he still felt sorry. He wasn’t happy with parting her when she was like that. He sighs, reaches out and holds her tiny chin, staring into her eyes. He says, “I’ll pick you up after work tomorrow, then we can go to this place together.”

An Ran stares at him confused, and asks, “Go where?”

Su Yi Cheng gives her a faint smile, and only says, “Secret. You’ll know when we get there.”

By the time Su Yi Cheng came out from the room Ling Ran was sitting in the living room, her pretty eyes kept in her tears. The tear-stained face of a beauty would make people take pity on her, feel sorry for her. However these, Su Yi Cheng couldn’t see them any more.

Seeing Su Yi Cheng appear, Ling Ran quickly got up from the sofa. Watching him, she softly calls out, “Ah Cheng…….”

His brows slightly knit. Su Yi Cheng hadn’t a bit of pity or love on his face. He just asks indifferently, “Why are you still here.”

“Ah Cheng…..” Ling Ran calls him, so much emotion, as if those seven years, that mood, her voice hadn’t changed at all.

Su Yi Cheng looks at her indifferently. Even though she hadn’t changed, still pretty and graceful, but after all seven years had passed. Even if she was still the same person as before, he wasn’t the same Su Yi Cheng as before.

“I, I drank too much. I also don’t know how I came here, don’t know what I said to An Ran, I, I didn’t do it on purpose…..” Ling Ran says as she cries, her expression appeared as if she was wronged.

Su Yi Cheng looks at her, passes her and draws out a tissue from the tissue box and hands it to her. Then he says indifferently, “Not important, you should go back.”

Ling Ran looks at him regretfully, her tears falling faster. She adds in, “Did An Ran misunderstand something, I’ll go explain to her, I don’t want to hurt the relationship between you because of me. “

“No need, I’ll make it clear to her. You go back, not going to see you out.” Su Yi Cheng relentlessly declines. After he spoke he turns around to leave, yet when he was about take a step he turns around again, recalling something, and says, “Oh right, from now on drink less, I don’t want this kind of thing to happen again.” Saying that, he turns around, doesn’t look back and goes into the master room.



In the living room, Ling Ran stands there despondently, watching him leave. Her cheeks were still stained with tears. Her two hands clench into a fist. 


---END OF CHAPTER---


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