"No, I'm just not hungry." Yun Xiaoran managed a faint smile. For a moment, he really felt like a husband being fussed over by his wife. He had once had days like these with Li Qingxi back in college.
"I'll still be staying here tonight, in case she does something strange again, so please bear with me, Mr. Yun..." Sister Hua told Yun Xiaoran with a smile as she quietly ate her noodles. Then she looked at the woman beside her, who was digging in with gusto, and muttered in exasperation:
"You little menace. Just wait until tomorrow, I'll..."
"It's all right." Yun Xiaoran smiled, looking like someone who had just survived a disaster.
He had never imagined that such a stunningly beautiful woman could become so terrifying after drinking.
After dinner, Yun Xiaoran retreated to his study. He took a shower first, then spent three hours writing while getting ready to sign the contract the next day.
Meanwhile, Shen Jin had reached the limits of her stamina after finishing her meal.
No matter how much she pestered Yun Xiaoran to sleep with her, she could only lie down beside Sister Hua with a satisfied smile. Hugging Sister Hua's arm, she drifted off, still murmuring "hubby" over and over.
"Where am I?" Shen Jin woke up thirsty in the second half of the night, as anyone who had gotten drunk might.
Her clothes were disheveled from sleep. Squinting, she looked around in confusion and realized she was in her own room. She felt somewhat reassured to find that she was still holding Sister Hua's hand beside her. Exhausted, however, Sister Hua was still sleeping soundly and had not noticed Shen Jin waking up.
Since Shen Jin had drunk the sobering soup, waking up in the middle of the night was hardly anything surprising.
"Sister Hua, where's the water?" Shen Jin's throat felt parched enough to smoke. Sister Hua was lying across part of her legs, so she had to wake her.
"Water... your hubby got some ready for you. It's on the nightstand..." Sister Hua fell asleep again before she could finish.
"Hubby?" Shen Jin murmured the word in puzzlement and looked toward the head of the bed. Sure enough, there was a glass of water.
It had been left there two hours earlier, but it was still slightly warm. Shen Jin drained it in one go and felt alive again.
But immediately after drinking it, she felt an urgent need to pee.
Shen Jin steadied her swaying body, her feet bare. Her earlier clothes had already been replaced with pajamas. She checked herself over and, finding no soreness or anything else strange, let out a soft sigh of relief and headed for the door.
Creak-
Shen Jin opened Yun Xiaoran's door. She could not find her cat and had spent a while calling for Fu Bao in the living room before deciding the cat had probably run into Yun Xiaoran's room.
Fortunately, his door was not locked.
Shen Jin lifted her delicate nose and sniffed the air. There was no unpleasant smell in Yun Xiaoran's room, only a faint trace of alcohol.
Fu Bao had been sleeping soundly. Opening its eyes to find its owner close by, the cat licked a paw, then walked over to nestle against Shen Jin's feet.
If her slippers made too much noise and woke Yun Xiaoran, she would never be able to explain herself, no matter how many mouths she had. Going without them was a better way to keep quiet.
And so Shen Jin had come into Yun Xiaoran's room barefoot and in her pajamas, her hair tousled and her manner languid after just sobering up.
"Phew..." Seeing that she had not woken the sleeping Yun Xiaoran, Shen Jin finally had time to look around the room.
To her surprise, Yun Xiaoran must have lied to her. His interest in music was far more than casual! He had expensive recording equipment and microphones, though the cheap guitar looked strangely out of place.
Forget it. I should head back first. It'll be trouble if Sister Hua wakes up.
The next day.
Sister Hua had other things to attend to and left early. Besides, Shen Jin had more or less sobered up, so there was no need for her to stay.
Shen Jin got up unusually late. She had meant to rise at eight, yet had slept all the way until nine thirty. She lay in bed with the covers wrapped tightly around her body, leaving only her head and tousled hair exposed, along with a light fragrance tinged with alcohol.
Yun Xiaoran had already gotten up early. Signing the contract with his editor was naturally quick and did not require much fuss.
What surprised even a veteran editor like Kong Bai, however, was that Yun Xiaoran had chosen pure revenue sharing rather than a guaranteed minimum. The split was fifty-fifty. Unless they were top authors with absolute confidence in their books, most people would choose the guaranteed minimum.
Yun Xiaoran knew how much potential this book had, so he was naturally happy to sign a revenue-sharing contract with him.
It was a mutually beneficial arrangement.
"Here's your warm milk. You got drunk last night, so a glass of milk this morning will be good for your stomach."
"Okay."
Shen Jin was already getting used to life with Yun Xiaoran. Every morning, he warmed a glass of milk for her.
They ate breakfast in the quiet morning. Shen Jin had originally expected Yun Xiaoran to volunteer what had happened the night before, but he seemed to be acting as if nothing had happened.
Shen Jin abandoned that idea.
But the moment she opened her phone, her almond-shaped eyes widened. When had the name she had saved Yun Xiaoran under become "My darling hubby"?
And that was not all. Why was there a strange voice message sitting there too? With a trembling heart, Shen Jin tapped the option to transcribe it:
"Hubby, when are you coming to pick me up?" The sight of that message made Shen Jin feel dizzy. She deliberately turned the volume down before playing it.
But as her own impossibly affected voice, coy and wheedling, slowly played from the phone, the heart that had been hanging in suspense finally gave up and died.
"Hubby, you-"
Shen Jin hurriedly stopped the message. Out of the corner of her eye, she could clearly see that Yun Xiaoran had paused when he heard it.
He had paused!
"Oh, right. Do you know what happened last night?" Hearing that voice message, Yun Xiaoran suddenly looked at Shen Jin with interest. His expression remained as cool and aloof as ever, but Shen Jin forced down her nerves and said:
"Tell me everything. Leave out even one detail and you're dead."
An hour passed.
Yun Xiaoran poured out everything he knew, along with everything Sister Hua had told him, holding nothing back.
Throughout his account, Shen Jin kept her expression perfectly normal. She even managed to calmly eat her fried egg.
In reality, though, her pink toes inside her slippers were curling so hard they could practically carve out an entire Summer Palace.
Before you continue