The sound of her footsteps quickly faded, and the surroundings became silent once again.

The breeze brushed past. The sun rays fell on his body, the warmth melting into his skin and gradually heating up.

Xie Shuo lowered his gaze. His thick eyelashes were long, casting a faint shadow on his cheeks.

He sat peacefully. After a long time, his fingers on the table moved slightly. 

After entering the house, she went to the kitchen and took out some strawberries from the fridge. She took them to the sink to wash.

Aunt Zhou frantically came over. “Madam, I can do it.”

Ye An looked up and smiled. “It’s no problem; I’m almost done.”

Aunt Zhou looked at her, her gaze becoming gentle.

After washing the strawberries, Ye An quickly exited the house.

As the sound of footsteps approached, Xie Shuo’s eyelashes fluttered open.

“I washed some strawberries. If you want to eat anything else, I can let Aunt Zhou know.” Ye An sat by his side and placed the strawberries on the table.

Xie Shuo didn’t reply.

Ye An thought that he didn’t want to eat anything else, so she used a fork to bring a strawberry to his mouth. “Come taste it. I just ate one, and it was really sweet.”

Xie Shuo didn’t move his lips and lifted his hand instead. Approximating the distance, he clasped onto her wrist and moved up to finally take the fork from her hand.

Ye An: “…Alright, eat it yourself.”

She grabbed another fork to stuff a strawberry in her mouth. Unlocking the phone single-handedly, she opened the app and began to read a question.

“I’m starting! Who wrote Qimin Yaoshu: Li Shizhen, Sun Simiao, or Jia Sixie?”

Xie Shuo had a cold expression, obviously unwilling to participate.

Ye An anxiously urged, “Hurry up, this one has a time limit!”

Xie Shuo remained silent for two seconds before reluctantly answering, “Jia Sixie.”

“The masterpiece of historians, the Li Sao without rhyme–whose work are these praises describing?”

– Li Sao, or “The Lament” is a highly esteemed poem written by Qu Yuan from the Warring States period in ancient China.

“Sima Qian.”

Xie Shuo got most of the answers right. After the first round, Ye An had become extremely excited. Her eyes gleamed, reflecting fragments of light.

When a new round started, Ye An read a certain question that was quite long. She took up a large portion of time just by reading it out loud, and when she was done, she hurriedly urged, “Quickly!”

Xie Shuo only paused before immediately giving the correct answer.

“That’s right, that’s right!”

Ye An was so excited she couldn’t resist bringing a strawberry she already had on her fork to his lips. 

Xie Shuo didn’t want things to be even more troublesome and didn’t refuse it. He opened his mouth to bite down.

Suddenly, Ye An saw an incision on the strawberry. 

……

She suddenly remembered that… she had just taken a small bite of it just then.

However, it was too late to take it back.

Ye An: “…”

Sorry. 

Ye An watched Xie Shuo eat the strawberry. Her lips twisted, and she couldn’t bear to tell him the truth.

Forget it. If he were to know, his face would probably turn cold again. It’d be better for him not to know.

Before they knew it, there were only two strawberries left on the plate. Ye An was a little bit guilty, so she turned off her phone. “Let’s stop playing and rest for a little bit.” 

The strawberries had made her somewhat full, so she looked around and suggested, “How about we go on a walk?”

Xie Shuo didn’t move.

Ye An tugged at his sleeves. “We’re going to easily get fat by sitting too long, and we also just ate strawberries.”

As she spoke, she glanced at his waist and abdomen.

“Seriously, aren’t you scared of losing your abs by sitting around all day and not exercising?”

Xie Shuo was wearing a casual shirt, and the wrinkles around the waist made it impossible to see any abdominal muscles.

Ye An looked again and asked curiously, “Hey, do you have an eight-pack?”

Xie Shuo coldly faced her, uninterested in answering her senseless question.

Seeing that he wasn’t speaking, Ye An recalled the night of their wedding. She couldn’t help but worry. “Could it be that you had them before but lost them now?”

She blurted out, “Do you want me to help you check?”

Xie Shuo: “…”

Xie Shuo supported himself using the table. His expression was complicated, as if she had said something terrifying. 

.

It was just one look; was that look necessary? With those slanderous thoughts, Ye An reached out to support him and walked towards the sidewalk.

“I’m telling the truth. It’s easy to grow a belly after sitting too long. You should come outside and walk more for the sake of your abs…”

The sun gradually rose higher, and the shadows of the two merged together.

At the villa’s doorway, Grandfather Xie stood there for an unknown length of time. Hearing the distant laughter, the expression on his aged face softened.   

He stood there for a while before turning to speak to Aunt Zhou, “Let’s go inside.”

    —

Xie Baiyan, who had barely been home in the past few days, had suddenly returned at dinnertime. 

Hearing that Xie Shuo went outside today, he was in high spirits, and his gaze towards Ye An became even kinder. 

Ye An estimated that it was about time. She took advantage of this opportunity to mention that she was going to start returning to the recording studio starting tomorrow. 

Hearing that, Xie Baiyan’s smile faded. His choice of words was deliberate, “An An, since you married into the Xie family, you don’t have to work so hard anymore. This job requires you to leave early and return late; it’s not suitable for a girl like you…”

Ye An was prepared for it to not go smoothly and recited her rehearsed reasoning, “It’ll be finished in around ten days, so it won’t be too long. I’ll also take on fewer projects in the future.”

Xie Baiyan frowned lightly, still not agreeing. 

“Dad,” Xie Shuo spoke up on the side.

He put down his chopsticks and said lightly, “She told me about this already, and I agreed.”

Ye An was taken aback and looked up at him in surprise.

Did the sun rise from the west today; he really spoke in her defense?

Even if his personality were to change, wouldn’t this be too quick?

Since Xie Shuo spoke, Xie Baiyan could no longer say anything and could only accept it.

After eating dinner and returning upstairs, Ye An looked at Xie Shuo. She couldn’t help asking, “Just now… why did you help speak up for me?”

Xie Shuo didn’t reply to her and returned to the study instead.

Just as she mentioned his personality changing, he began to ignore her again.

Ye An really couldn’t understand his thoughts. She busied herself with workplace news and didn’t follow him in, staying by herself in the bedroom.

Around half an hour later, Xie Shuo returned from the study and suddenly handed her a black card. 

Ye An was stunned. “You…”

Xie Shuo said, “Take this card. Quit your job if you don’t want to work.”

Ye An returned to her senses and widened her eyes in surprise. “You finally realized how badly you treat me, and this is how you want to make it up to me?”

A second later, cold water was poured on her.

“Don’t make yourself out to be so miserable in the future, or else it’d seem like the Xie family treats you badly.”

His tone was as cold as ever. 

Ye An: “…”

Why was this person so disdainful even when trying to gift a card?

Ye An’s chest was stuffy, and she suddenly felt insulted. 

If it were like usual, she would definitely take such a large sum of money. However, this time, she couldn’t stand this charitable attitude.

She could be killed but not humiliated! No matter what, Xie Baiyan would still give her 500,000 yuan every month. She didn’t need his charity!

Ye An looked up and used the same arrogant tone to reply to him, “No need, I have money.”

Hearing the unhappiness in her tone, Xie Shuo frowned, not understanding why she would suddenly be angry.

Ye An also didn’t wait for him to understand, grabbing her phone before going directly to the balcony.

Xie Shuo was left in the room by himself holding a card. His figure was lonely, and his expression was blank.

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