True.
Xu Yanxia nodded. The wedding was fast approaching, yet they hadn't even settled on their marital home.
Although they had been staying in her dorm at Heyue Gardens for the past couple of days, it was only a temporary residence after all. It would be a bit much if a grand CEO like him continued living there with her after the wedding.
Besides, their friends and family would be visiting their new home on the day of the wedding. Given the flourishing size of the Lu family, her tiny dorm wouldn't even have enough standing room for just his cousins.
"I'm fine with anywhere, it's up to you,"
she said, looking up at him. "Where do you like?"
He thought for a moment before replying, "I'm fine with anywhere too. Heyue Gardens works, but shouldn't we get some new furniture? Let's take the bed out of the small bedroom and turn it into a study. After all, it's just the two of us right now, so one bedroom is enough."
"By the way, is there still time to renovate?"
Seeing that he was actually seriously considering it, Xu Yanxia quickly interrupted with a smile, "That's impossible. It's a company dorm, and we have to return it to the company after our wedding. Otherwise, wouldn't we be hogging resources?"
To be honest, she really liked that little apartment. The thought of giving it back made her somewhat reluctant.
But these were company rules.
After all, it was a perk for special talents. For the sake of fairness, once an employee acquired their own housing, they had to move out promptly and return the dorm to the company to accommodate other colleagues who hadn't bought houses yet.
Little did she expect that as soon as she finished speaking, Lu Jingming would chuckle and say, "Silly girl, that's already your own house."
"What?"
Xu Yanxia froze.
She then heard him continue, "I bought that apartment on the spot that day. I paid for it out of my own pocket and just used the company's name to let you live there. Now that we've gotten our marriage certificate, it is completely yours. We just need to transfer the ownership another day."
What...
Xu Yanxia was even more astonished. "You bought it on the spot that day? Why would you do that?"
That was a whole apartment, mind you!
And it was right in the city center. It had to cost at least a few million; it wasn't just some clothes or shoes...
"What else could I do?"
Lu Jingming frowned at her instead. "I told you I had ready-made houses, but you refused to live in them and insisted on renting your own place. Who knows what kind of place you would have rented? Old, dilapidated, remote, and far away. What if the landlord bullied you by arbitrarily raising the rent?"
He took a deep breath and said, "How could I let you suffer like that?"
"So you bought one on the spot and lied to me, saying it was a company dorm?"
Xu Yanxia looked at him in disbelief.
"If I hadn't said that, you wouldn't have agreed to stay there..."
Lu Jingming pulled her onto his lap and tried to explain, "I didn't have any other choice..."
He thought she was going to be angry, but to his surprise, she said, "Then did you even negotiate the price? Was that apartment a lot more expensive than others?"
Lu Jingming, "..."
Well then, it turned out his wife was worried about this.
He said, "It was alright. We paid in full, and the seller was in urgent need of money. Jiajun managed to negotiate the price down a bit for us, so it wasn't that much more expensive."
Xu Yanxia, "..."
Alright, no wonder Assistant Wen looked at him with such deep resentment that day. It turned out he had to help him accomplish such a major task in such a short amount of time.
She said, "I'll have to properly thank Assistant Wen some other day for picking out such a nice apartment for me."
With that, she let out a helpless yet amused sigh and told him, "If I had known earlier, I would have decorated it nicely. Because I thought I had to return it sooner or later, I held back on buying a lot of things."
"What does that matter?"
Lu Jingming smiled and said, "It's not too late to buy them now. Speaking of which, if you really want to live there, we can genuinely renovate it."
"There's no need."
Xu Yanxia said, "Just leave it as it is. I'm feeling much better now. We can live in Dongpan Gardens first, and then move to Zhongjiang when we have kids in the future."
Just like Xiaozhen said, the villa had plenty of space, which would be perfect for kids to run around and grow up in. When the time came, she could also grow flowers and vegetables in the yard, keep a few little cats, and properly enjoy life.
"Alright, we'll do as you say."
Lu Jingming smiled and kissed her forehead, then asked, "I almost forgot, is the bathroom at Dongpan big enough?"
What...
As his words fell, Xu Yanxia immediately remembered how he wanted to take a shower with her last night, and her cheeks instantly flushed red.
"What goes through your head all day?"
She bit her lip and, blushing, tried to get off his lap.
However, he was quick and pulled her back into a hug, whispering in her ear, "It didn't hurt last night, did it?"
What the heck.
Xu Yanxia's face turned even redder. She quickly covered his mouth and said, "It's daytime, and we're in the office."
He replied, "What's wrong with the office? We're a legally married couple anyway."
With that, he caught her hand, tightened his grip around her waist, and kissed her lips directly.
It was a passionate and lingering kiss.
Until a certain moment, Xu Yanxia pushed him away.
"We still have to go to the barbecue. If we don't leave now, everyone else will already be there."
Blushing, she disentangled his hands, stood up to smooth out the clothes he had rumpled, and went to the mirror behind the door to touch up her makeup.
Behind her, Lu Jingming took a deep breath and had no choice but to stand up from the sofa as well.
Well, if they continued, they would definitely make everyone wait for them.
He could only endure it a little longer until they went home tonight.
Ahem, at this point, he had to admit that certain things were truly addictive.
...
After finishing a lively and relaxing seaside barbecue, early the next morning, Xu Yanxia took her grandparents and aunt on a flight to Jingbei.
The flight took over three hours, and by the time they landed in Jingbei, it was already noon.
This trip had been arranged a few days ago when Aunt Xiaohua came to Rong City for their engagement party. As soon as the family exited the airport, the He family's driver immediately picked them up and took them to the accommodation Aunt Xiaohua had arranged for them.
It was one of Aunt Xiaohua's private clubs, a traditional courtyard house with its own private entrance located within the Second Ring Road. The environment was peaceful and secluded, yet it was just a short walk away from various famous tourist spots in Jingbei. It was truly a quiet oasis amidst the bustling city, extremely convenient.
But Grandpa Xu had an important matter weighing on his mind. After dropping off their luggage, he didn't even bother resting before asking Xu Yanxia to take him and his wife to the sanatorium to visit Aunt Xiaohua's elderly father, his old superior from back in the day.
Separated for over fifty years, the once high-spirited and vigorous leader had become an octogenarian in his nineties.
And the lively, energetic young chef in the prime of his life had also grown white-haired.
When they finally met, Grandpa Xu simply called out, "Minister Li, Xu Dazhu has come to see you."
The rest of his words choked in his throat.
Instead, Elder Li insisted on being helped up to his feet. He hobbled over to him, looked him up and down, and sighed emotionally, "You hid yourself well, kid! You left for so many years without even sending me a letter! You made me look for you for so long. How many years of favors do I owe you?"
"Xu Dazhu, oh, Xu Dazhu!"
Elder Li smiled and said, "Thank heavens, I finally get to see you while I still have breath in my body."
...
