He lay lazily against the pillow, bare-chested, the quilt casually draped around his waist, his subtly revealed abs particularly alluring.
His taut, sculpted muscles disappeared downwards, hidden by the quilt.
Xia Wantang swallowed, her gaze darting away.
With a body like that and a face that could drive men to sin, wasn't this just asking for trouble?
Ling Yucheng looked up at her, casually placing his phone aside, and asked, "Some of my close friends want to meet you, are you willing to go?"
Xia Wantang dared not look at him again, only replying, "Mm, you should get up first."
Seeing her agreement, Ling Yucheng got up and went to the bathroom to wash.
As the approaching footsteps grew louder, Xia Wantang's heart pounded.
Finally, the footsteps passed by her side and continued on, growing further away.
On the bed, Ling Yucheng's phone kept buzzing with notification sounds.
Xia Wantang glanced back. The bathroom door was closed tight.
Curiosity getting the better of her, she walked to the bedside and saw that the phone screen was lit up and unlocked.
The displayed page was a group chat, with messages popping up one after another.
From a distance, Xia Wantang couldn't see the words clearly. Driven by curiosity, she moved closer.
It was an unnamed group chat, showing only four participants.
The latest messages were all sent by someone named Situ Jun.
Xia Wantang knew him; he was Situ Jing's brother.
The content of these messages was entirely amusing emojis.
Xia Wantang wasn't particularly interested in those.
What she was curious about was what else Ling Yucheng's phone held.
Although she knew it wasn't good to pry into someone's privacy, she just couldn't help herself.
Glancing back a few more times, there was no sound from the bathroom. He wouldn't come out so soon, right?
She was Ling Yucheng's wife, so what was wrong with looking at his phone?
As her hand drew nearer, Xia Wantang's heart raced, fearing Ling Yucheng might suddenly appear.
Fortunately, nothing unexpected happened until she had the phone in her hand.
She casually sat on the edge of the bed, her eyes occasionally flicking towards the bathroom. Not only that, her ears were also tuned to any sounds.
The phone was still warm from use. Xia Wantang directly exited the group chat and began browsing his contact list.
There were few messages, and her chat was at the top, but without a nickname.
Below hers was the group chat, followed by Father, Mother, Grandfather, Grandmother, Situ Jun, Li Bowen, and Jiang Zexi.
Finally, Xia Wantang's gaze fixed on the name "Situ Jing."
Her hand involuntarily tapped to open their chat interface.
The latest chat record was from the day before yesterday, a good morning message from Situ Jing. Ling Yucheng hadn't replied.
Before that were call records, but they were all very short, less than a minute.
"What are you looking at?"
Xia Wantang was engrossed in her reading when Ling Yucheng's voice suddenly came from above her.
She was startled, her heart leaping. The phone slipped from her hand and fell to the floor.
The bright screen still displayed the chat interface, with the name "Situ Jing" prominently visible.
"I, I'm sorry." Xia Wantang didn't dare to look up at Ling Yucheng's eyes, her hands instinctively clutching the hem of her clothes.
It's over, it's over! Would Ling Yucheng be angry?
Ling Yucheng picked up the phone and glanced at the screen, his expression unchanged.
He simply hadn't expected Xia Wantang to be so easily startled.
"Can't even hold your phone steady..."
Ling Yucheng handed the phone back to Xia Wantang and then, as if nothing had happened, went to the walk-in closet to get dressed.
In the brief moment he turned away, a hint of a smile flickered in his eyes.
He had heard from Situ Jun before that when a woman looks at your phone, it means she cares about you; it's commonly known as checking up on you.
Xia Wantang held the phone in a daze, but her heart rate slowly began to return to normal.
She directly looked up at Ling Yucheng, but could only see his back.
He wasn't angry.
He wasn't blaming her.
He had even handed the phone back to her.
The screen still displayed the chat with Situ Jing, but Xia Wantang no longer wanted to look.
She pressed the screen to turn it off and placed it back in its original position.
As soon as she put it down, the phone rang.
The caller ID showed Li Bowen.
She didn't answer, but called out towards the walk-in closet, "Your phone is ringing. It's someone named Li Bowen."
Ling Yucheng walked out. He was wearing suit trousers, a black belt around his waist, and only a shirt, unbuttoned.
An intense allure washed over Xia Wantang. Her eyes were filled with his firm, muscular physique and the perfect outline of his waistline.
She took a deep breath and quickly looked away.
Really, must he be so captivating?
Ling Yucheng buttoned his shirt with one hand and answered the phone with the other.
A gentle male voice came from the earpiece.
"Yucheng, you're really married?"
Xia Wantang found the contrast rather striking. Such a gentle voice, yet it carried a hint of gossip? It didn't fit at all.
Ling Yucheng's voice was as cold as ever, except when he spoke to Xia Wantang.
"Mm, just got married a few days ago."
"This is marriage, are you going to be so casual about it?" There was a pause on the other end of the phone, as if he were processing the news.
"Whose daughter is she, that she could tame you? I'm imagining she must have superpowers or be so beautiful she's not of this world."
This was clearly said in a teasing tone.
Ling Yucheng seemed to have little patience for jokes and directly said, "You'll know when we meet tonight."
With that, he hung up the phone and turned to look at Xia Wantang.
"Hurry and change, we're going to dinner."
After changing, they went directly to the restaurant for a meal.
They were the last to wake up. In the dining hall, Grandfather, Grandmother, Father, and Mother were all present.
They greeted Xia Wantang with their usual warmth.
However, Xia Wantang felt very embarrassed.
Because she kept thinking of the big rooster.
On the table, the breakfast spread was lavish.
There were noodles, dumplings, xiao long bao, and congee.
The delicious food temporarily made Xia Wantang forget other things. The only drawback was that Ling Yucheng wouldn't let her add too much chili sauce.
It was because the injury on her forehead hadn't healed yet.
After breakfast,
Zhu Yunfei said with a smile, "Wantang, want to go shopping? We can buy some clothes."
Xia Wantang thought that they wouldn't return to the old town until the afternoon, and she had nothing to do in the morning. Seeing Zhu Yunfei's enthusiastic expression, she agreed.
Ling Yucheng drove, while Zhu Yunfei and Xia Wantang sat in the back seat.
The person in front had clearly become the chauffeur.
The car stopped directly in the underground parking lot of the mall, which was also owned by Tengkong Group.
After getting out of the car, Zhu Yunfei and Xia Wantang walked ahead, arm in arm, with Ling Yucheng following behind alone.
Taking the escalator, the three of them went directly to the high-end women's wear section on the fourth floor.
The clothes here were all incredibly expensive, and ordinary people wouldn't dare to enter and shop.
Zhu Yunfei was eager and very happy.
She never had a daughter, and she always wanted to buy pretty dresses. But unfortunately, there was no one to wear them.
Especially when she saw other people dressing their daughters beautifully, she longed for a daughter even more.