"Sis, are you kidding me?" Su He confirmed again.
"Why would I lie to you? Do I get any meat out of it?" Su Ying scoffed.
"Bring him over to see," Su He immediately requested.
She was dying of curiosity to see what her future brother-in-law looked like.
"No, I'm afraid you'll scare him away," Su Ying refused without a second thought. They had just started dating, so there was no question of meeting the family. At least, they should wait until their relationship was stable.
Su He: ...
As expected of her sister!
"Also, please keep it a secret for me. I don't want to be rushed into marriage yet, thank you." Su Ying was quite content with her current state and didn't want to complicate things.
Although she wasn't young anymore and most of her peers were already mothers, she was Su Ying, and she didn't want to be tied down by family. Moreover, her current dynamic with Fu Zheng was working well. They were both work partners and romantic partners. Dating and work were not mutually exclusive!
"Hmm, so when do you plan to let me meet him?" Su He asked, unwilling to give up.
"In a while." Su Ying doted on her only sister.
After a brief exchange, Su Ying went back to her work.
Affected by the news, Su He took a while to recover.
She had promised to keep it a secret, but she had no intention of hiding it from her closest confidante. It was too difficult to keep such explosive news to herself, so she needed someone to share it with.
Thus, as soon as Lu Yanbei returned home from work, he was enthusiastically embraced by his wife.
"I have good news for you," Su He said with a smile, encircling his neck.
Lu Yanbei's gaze involuntarily flickered towards her belly.
"What are you thinking!" Su He playfully slapped his hand. "It's not that!"
"Oh?" Lu Yanbei was taken aback, then visibly relieved.
He had been using protection, so it would have been strange if Su He were pregnant.
It turned out that during a recent physical examination, Lu Yanbei had discovered a minor issue and was actively undergoing treatment. During the treatment period, it was crucial to prevent Su He from getting pregnant, for fear of having a child with problems.
Furthermore, Lu Yanbei didn't want Su He to worry. It wasn't a serious issue, and the doctor said a year of medication would cure it, so he kept it to himself.
In any case, Su He was still young, and it wouldn't be too late to have children in a couple of years.
What he didn't know was that his concealment led Su He to mistakenly believe that there was something wrong with her own body, which was why she hadn't gotten pregnant yet, causing her significant psychological burden.
"What I wanted to tell you is about my sister. She's in love! But she refuses to tell me who her future brother-in-law is, deliberately teasing me! Hey, what kind of man do you think my sister would like? And what kind of man managed to capture her heart?" Su He said incessantly, unaware of his unease.
Lu Yanbei put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her down to sit beside him. "Perhaps it's someone close to her?"
"How do you know?"
"She's so busy with work usually, how would she have time to meet someone outside her circle?"
Su He thought his analysis was quite accurate. "Thinking about it, it makes sense. I wonder if it's a designer from the circle, or a client from the studio..."
"Ah, I'm so curious!" Su He wished she could rush to Su Ying's studio and investigate immediately.
"You'll meet him one day," Lu Yanbei said patiently, trying to placate her. To distract Su He, Lu Yanbei took two concert tickets out of his pocket and handed them to her. "A client gave them to the company. If you're interested, you can ask your best friend to go with you."
Su He eyed them suspiciously and asked, "Are you very busy lately?"
"Yes, there's a project, and I might have to go out of town for a few days." Lu Yanbei had already tried to minimize his business trips, but sometimes it was unavoidable.
"How long will you be gone?" Su He turned around and hugged him.
They hadn't been apart much since they got married.
Without him around, Su He always felt like something was missing.
"I won't be able to sleep without you," Su He pouted playfully.
"About five days. I'll come back as soon as possible." Lu Yanbei kissed her forehead. He actually didn't want to leave her alone at home. "How about you go stay with your mother for a few days?"
He wasn't entirely at ease with her being home alone.
"I don't want to go back and be a third wheel!" Su He noticed that her adoptive parents seemed to be more clingy as they got older, showing affection even more than young people.
It was sickeningly sweet!
Su He didn't want to endure that.
Lu Yanbei was amused by her words. "Alright, then ask your best friend to come stay with you. In any case, don't be alone."
"Okay, I'll try asking her." Su He picked up her phone and sent a message to Jiang Xiaoxiao.
However, ten minutes passed, and Jiang Xiaoxiao still hadn't replied.
The situation seemed very strange.
Su He didn't bother waiting and simply called her.
On the other end, Jiang Xiaoxiao was being reprimanded by Su Chen, who had her pinned against the wall. Hearing the special ringtone for Su He, Jiang Xiaoxiao hurriedly pushed Su Chen away. "Your sister needs me for something!"
Su Chen touched his lip, which had started bleeding from being bitten, and snatched the phone from her hand. "We can talk about this later."
With that, he leaned in and kissed her again.
After Su Chen recognized his feelings, he had no intention of letting Jiang Xiaoxiao leave. During their previous cohabitation, they had been like strangers sharing a house, maintaining polite distance.
Not long ago, the Qi family had shown up. Upon learning that Su Chen and Jiang Xiaoxiao were living together, they began to trouble Jiang Xiaoxiao. The first few times, Jiang Xiaoxiao endured it for Su Chen's sake. However, those people became increasingly aggressive and started to grope her.
This scene was exactly what Su Chen walked in on. Thus, Su Chen, who had always prided himself on his composure, got into a fight for the first time and sent the ninth member of the Qi family to the hospital.
It was at that moment that Su Chen realized his feelings for Jiang Xiaoxiao had changed.
He had developed a damned possessiveness towards her.
Just like his feelings for Su He in the past.
Su Chen decided not to avoid it any longer, so he laid his cards on the table with Jiang Xiaoxiao, asking her to be his woman.
Perhaps his words had startled Jiang Xiaoxiao, or perhaps she had misunderstood him, thinking he wanted her to be his mistress. Jiang Xiaoxiao flatly refused.
This led to a misunderstanding between them.
Jiang Xiaoxiao wanted to move out, and Su Chen immediately lost his temper, resulting in the scene they were in just now.
Jiang Xiaoxiao struggled, almost suffocating from his kiss.
"Are you still leaving?" Su Chen asked threateningly, pinching her chin.
Jiang Xiaoxiao pouted aggrievedly. "You're too much! I don't want to be a mistress who can't see the light of day!"
"When did I ever say anything like that?" Su Chen was slightly taken aback.
"Don't you mean that?" Jiang Xiaoxiao glared at him. Letting her live with him without any official title, wasn't that just keeping a mistress!
Su Chen ran a hand through his hair, a rare flush of red appearing on his face. "I mean, I want you to be my woman, in a proper, legitimate way!"
"What do you mean by a legitimate woman?" Jiang Xiaoxiao was confused by his words.
"I mean, my girlfriend!" Su Chen said through gritted teeth.
Girlfriend? Jiang Xiaoxiao's eyes widened in disbelief.
Had she heard him correctly!