Shen Liubai arrived at the restaurant to find Lin Zhuyin already waiting for him.
Today, Lin Zhuyin was wearing a floral cotton dress, her long hair braided into a side ponytail slung over her right shoulder. At first glance, she looked like an ethereal fairy untouched by worldly affairs.
However, her complexion seemed unwell. Lost in thought, she didn't notice him until he reached her side.
It wasn't until a bouquet of fiery red roses was placed before her that she startled awake.
She immediately accepted the flowers and smiled at Shen Liubai, "You're here."
Shen Liubai lowered his head and pressed a kiss to her smooth, beautiful forehead. "What were you thinking about? So lost in thought?"
Lin Zhuyin's gaze flickered slightly. "Nothing... Nothing, sit down quickly."
"Okay."
After they were seated, Lin Zhuyin took a delicate box from her bag and handed it to Shen Liubai.
Shen Liubai looked surprised. "A gift for me?"
Lin Zhuyin nodded.
"Can I open it now?"
"Of course."
Shen Liubai took a deep breath. When they were first dating, he occasionally received gifts from Lin Zhuyin. Her hands were skilled, and he cherished the scarves, gloves, and slippers she knitted, keeping them safe.
However, after they got married, he had received very few gifts from her.
Today, with a date and a gift, Shen Liubai felt as excited as a child on New Year's Day.
He opened the box and found a watch inside.
It was a new model from Shen Liubai's favorite brand, and it was quite expensive.
Shen Liubai smiled helplessly. "Compared to this, my roses seem so cheap."
Lin Zhuyin shook her head. "No, I really like the flowers you gave me."
Usually, on every holiday, big or small, Shen Liubai would give Lin Zhuyin various expensive gifts.
His salary was not low, and he had invested in several projects that had been profitable.
He himself didn't spend much, so where else would his earnings go but to his wife?
It was just that Lin Zhuyin's call today was too sudden, and he was too eager to see her, leaving him no time to buy a gift. He had simply bought a bouquet of roses from a roadside flower shop.
After all, dates always called for roses.
While they were eating, Lin Zhuyin, uncharacteristically, ordered a bottle of red wine. When the waiter was about to pour, she asked him to step aside and rose to pour the wine for Shen Liubai herself.
She raised her glass to Shen Liubai. "Liubai, thank you for these years..."
Shen Liubai sensitively sensed that something was amiss with Lin Zhuyin. "Yinyin, what's wrong? Did something happen?"
Lin Zhuyin smiled faintly. "No, I was just thinking that we've been married for seven years. It really flew by. Thank you for your care and tolerance."
Yes, seven years had passed in the blink of an eye.
Shen Liubai smiled gently. "You don't need to thank me. There are countless more seven years ahead of us."
Lin Zhuyin smiled and nodded, saying nothing more, and downed the wine in her glass.
That day, Lin Zhuyin drank quite a bit. Shen Liubai had a little with her, and since he couldn't drive, he had his assistant come to pick them up.
Upon arriving at the villa area, Lin Zhuyin felt carsick and insisted on getting out.
Shen Liubai asked the assistant to drive home and got out to walk with Lin Zhuyin.
Before they had walked a few steps, Lin Zhuyin could walk no further. She looked up at Shen Liubai with an intense gaze and wrapped her arms around his neck, "Liubai, you're so handsome."
Shen Liubai, rarely seeing Lin Zhuyin so adorably silly, felt his earlobes turn red and his heart race.
The moonlight was beautiful. Looking at Lin Zhuyin, Shen Liubai's heart stirred, and he leaned down to kiss her.
After a passionate kiss, Lin Zhuyin's legs felt weak. "I can't walk anymore. Carry me."
"Okay."
Shen Liubai carefully steadied Lin Zhuyin, then turned and knelt on the ground.
Lin Zhuyin looked at his strong, broad shoulders, feeling a pang of heartache. She climbed onto his back, her hands tightly clasped around his neck.
Whether they were dating or married, Lin Zhuyin had always been reserved in her feelings for Shen Liubai.
Shen Liubai was too good, and she was afraid of falling too deeply.
If Shen Liubai knew that she had approached him with ulterior motives, that marrying him was only to seek revenge on his father, what would he think?
But if she didn't do this, how could she face her parents?
Seeing that Lin Zhuyin was motionless on his back, Shen Liubai called out cautiously, "Yinyin, are you asleep?"
Lin Zhuyin remained silent. She didn't know what tone to use to speak to him, nor what to say.
She feared that the more she said, or the more she heard him say, the more she would waver.
"Do you remember how we first met? That day, after I rejected a girl's confession, she dumped a whole bottle of cola on my face. Everyone was staring at me, and only you took out a tissue and handed it to me, telling me to wipe my face."
Recalling their first meeting, a faint and happy smile graced Shen Liubai's lips. "I still remember that tissue smelled like peaches."
Listening to Shen Liubai's clear and pleasant voice, Lin Zhuyin's chest ached as if she had been deeply cut by a knife.
What he thought was a chance encounter was actually a long-planned scheme.
She had approached him only because he was Shen Zhengcheng's son.
"Before I met you, I never knew what it felt like to have my heart moved. When everyone was talking about which girl was pretty or lively, my eyes were only on studies and data."
"You thank me, but I'm the one who should thank you. Thank you for appearing in my life."
Suddenly, Shen Liubai felt his neck get wet. He paused, stopped, and looked back. "Yinyin?"
He thought Lin Zhuyin was crying, but he saw that Lin Zhuyin had tilted her head and fallen asleep.
Shen Liubai smiled. She, who never drank, had drunk so much tonight; she must be quite drunk.
Back home, Shen Liubai carried Lin Zhuyin to the bedroom. After he placed her on the bed, he was about to make some hangover soup for her to prevent her from feeling unwell the next day.
However, before he could get up, Lin Zhuyin suddenly opened her eyes, wrapped her arms around his neck, and pulled him down, her soft, beautiful lips meeting his.
His wife's sudden warmth sent a tremor through Shen Liubai. Though he had held back for a long time, for Lin Zhuyin's sake, he gently patted her back. "Yinyin, be good, I'll get you some hangover soup..."
Before he could finish speaking, Lin Zhuyin interrupted him in a low voice. "Shen Liubai, you're so long-winded. Are you impotent?"
Shen Liubai: "..."
When his wife questioned his virility, he naturally had to prove it with action.
The hangover soup was instantly forgotten by Shen Liubai. He shed their clothes and embraced his wife in a passionate embrace.
They spent most of the night entangled.
After Lin Zhuyin fell asleep from exhaustion, Shen Liubai got up to clean her, then held his soft wife and drifted into sweet dreams.
Shen Liubai felt like he hadn't slept long before his phone rang. It was Xi Ruxue. Fearing he would wake Lin Zhuyin, he picked up his phone and walked to the balcony. "Hello..."
"Liubai, something has happened to your father."