Qin Yuhe looked at the shirtless man. His gaze was like a knife, carving him up inch by inch from head to toe as he carefully scrutinized this thin, immature body.
He secretly evaluated him with a few words in his heart: Nothing worth looking at.
This guy looked to be about seventeen or eighteen. Although he was lean and upright with clean lines, his shoulders, back, waist, and abdomen still carried the tenderness of someone who hadn't fully grown yet, lacking the lean muscularity a mature man should have.
To sum it up in a few words: Still wet behind the ears.
Song Tingye lowered the hand he was using to rub his eyes and saw Qin Yuhe standing in the middle of the living room.
"Holy shit! Who are you?"
Qin Yuhe looked at him with sharp eyes. "I'd like to ask you the same thing."
Song Tingye puffed out his chest, clenched his hands into fists, and forcefully threw his arms back like a proud and aggressive little bull.
"I am the rightful male master of this house!"
Qin Yuhe's gaze grew even sharper.
Song Tingye: "Everything in this house is mine. Don't even think about stealing from me, you won't get a single thing!"
Qin Yuhe's dark eyes were cold. "And if I insist on taking it?"
Song Tingye: "You've messed with the wrong guy. Even if I have to put my life on the line, I absolutely won't let you take anything!"
Breaking into a private residence and acting like he was in the right—Song Tingye instantly grew furious.
Song Tingye grabbed a mop resting to the side, raised it high, and swung it at Qin Yuhe. "Ahhhhhhh, I'm going to kill you!"
The door to the master bedroom opened and Song Xinya walked out, only to be met with this exact scene.
"Song Tingye, what are you doing!"
She ran toward Qin Yuhe and threw herself into his arms.
She had just taken a shower. Water was still dripping from the ends of her hair, and her half-dry locks clung damply to her snow-white neck. Her shampoo and body wash shared the same sweet, elegant rose scent.
She gripped his arms tightly with both hands. The soft hair on the top of her head brushed against his Adam's apple, and her soft body pressed against his chest, her soft and full contours clearly defined.
She had run over so fiercely that she crashed completely into his embrace. Accompanied by a sweet fragrance, he wrapped his hands around her waist.
His long, beautiful palms rested on the small of her back; the sensation beneath his palms was thin and supple.
Song Xinya looked up and saw the prominent Adam's apple on his cool, pale neck. Its shape was distinct, the lines clean and sharp, and moreover, it was quite large.
Her gaze followed his Adam's apple up to his strikingly angular face. "Mr. Qin, are you alright?"
Qin Yuhe looked down at her. A fair, tender face as small as a palm, bright and clear fox-like eyes brimming with concern, and lips as red and moist as sweet jelly.
His Adam's apple bobbed. "I'm fine," he said.
Song Tingye stood frozen in place, holding the mop high in the air as if someone had pressed the pause button on him.
"What is going on here? Sis, why are you hugging a home invader?"
Song Xinya released her grip on Qin Yuhe's arms and pulled her body away from his solid chest.
Qin Yuhe's arms felt suddenly empty, and her faint, elegant scent drifted away from his nose.
Song Xinya turned around to look at Song Tingye. "What home invader? He is..."
"Who is he then?" Song Tingye slammed the raised mop onto the floor, holding it with one hand while placing the other on his hip.
"No matter who he is, you can't just go hugging him. Men and women shouldn't touch each other so casually. How can a girl like you hug a man, and so tightly at that? As a college-educated person, haven't you ever learned this principle?"
Song Tingye glared coldly at Qin Yuhe. "He's so handsome, you can tell at a glance he's up to no good."
From the "Sis" Song Tingye had just yelled, Qin Yuhe had already guessed his identity. Looking at Song Tingye, he said, "I think you're even more handsome."
Song Tingye's eyes lit up. "Really?"
Qin Yuhe replied, "I genuinely think so."
Song Tingye grinned happily. "Now I think you might actually be a good guy."
His aggressive hostility vanished, and he no longer rejected Qin Yuhe.
Having navigated the business world and dealt with all kinds of people, Qin Yuhe understood best how to use different communication styles for different personalities.
In other words, different strokes for different folks.
Seventeen or eighteen-year-old youths had relatively simple personalities. Their minds lacked greasy, malicious schemes. A pure nature also meant they were prone to acting impulsively.
Moreover, boys of this age generally cared a lot about their appearance.
By praising him as "even more handsome," Qin Yuhe not only complimented his looks but also gave him a sense of victory, satisfying his male competitiveness. Naturally, this won over his goodwill.
Song Tingye looked at Qin Yuhe again, his gaze now soft and full of friendly curiosity. "Who is this gentleman, then?"
Song Xinya: "Your brother-in-law."
Song Tingye's eyes widened. "Don't tell me he's Qin Yuhe, the head of the Qin family?"
Back when Song Xinya had told Boss Wang and The Perm that Qin Yuhe was her husband, Song Tingye had thought his sister was just showing off.
If his sister really had that kind of capability, would they still be living in this rundown little apartment?
Qin Yuhe took out his ID card and handed it to Song Tingye.
Song Tingye glanced down at it. "Holy shit! It really is Qin Yuhe!"
He swallowed hard and asked, "Are you really married to my sister?"
Qin Yuhe pulled out the marriage certificate he carried with him. "Really."
Song Tingye turned to look at Song Xinya. "Marriage is such a huge deal, why didn't you discuss it with me?"
Song Xinya: "If I discussed it with you, do you think this marriage would have even happened?"
Song Tingye: "Well, I definitely would have suggested you test him for a good eight to ten years first."
Listen to that—this was exactly why she hadn't told him beforehand.
Song Tingye pulled Song Xinya out to the balcony, turning his back to Qin Yuhe as he said worriedly, "You married a man so quickly. What if he turns out to be a scumbag?"
Song Xinya: "Even a man you've known for years can betray a woman in the blink of an eye."
The length of time you've known someone has never been a reliable measure of whether a man will cheat. What matters is character.
Qin Yuhe came from a prestigious family and was surrounded by countless wealthy heiresses. Countless women wanted to throw themselves at him, yet he never had any scandals. This showed just how solid his character was and how clean his private life was.
In elite circles, many rich young masters took pleasure in toying with women. Their girlfriends weren't changed monthly, but daily; they indulged in the bodies of different women, never tiring of it.
But clearly, Qin Yuhe was not that kind of person. He was a career-oriented man who preferred stirring up storms in the business world, enjoying the sense of accomplishment that came with career success.
Song Xinya felt that Qin Yuhe was far better than most men.
Song Tingye still felt uneasy. "Sis, I'm just worried about you."
Song Xinya: "If you have so much free time to worry about me, you'd be better off worrying about yourself. Can you rank first in your grade? Can you rank first in the city? Can you get into Tsinghua or Peking University? Can you bring honor to our ancestors? Can you make something of yourself? Have you finished the 'Five Years of Gaokao, Three Years of Mock Exams' workbooks I gave you last night? Have you finished those sixty sets of test papers?"
Song Tingye's head buzzed. "Ok, fine, I'm not worried about you anymore. I'll just worry about myself."
Seeing that he was no longer talking about her getting married, Song Xinya's expression softened a bit. She asked, "Are we still having beef for dinner tonight?"
Song Tingye: "Yes!"
Song Xinya pulled open the balcony door and walked out. "I'll go make tomato beef noodles."
She called out to Qin Yuhe, "Mr. Qin, please have a seat and wait a moment."
Qin Yuhe sat down on a three-legged stool.
Song Xinya went to the kitchen to busy herself, leaving Qin Yuhe and Song Tingye staring at each other in the living room.
Qin Yuhe pointed at the blue men's underwear hanging on the balcony. "That's yours, right?"
Song Tingye: "Of course. It's not like it's my sister's."
The corners of Qin Yuhe's lips curled up.
He looked at the electric razor on the table. "It's fully charged. Should I unplug it and put it away for you?"
Song Tingye: "I use it myself, so I'll put it away myself."
Qin Yuhe's lips curled up again.
He asked, "Do you like to exercise?"
Song Tingye: "Yeah, I play basketball a lot. See, that basketball in the corner is mine."
Qin Yuhe smiled once more.
As for the Ultraman figure sitting on the table, there was no need to ask. Such a childish thing definitely belonged to Song Tingye.
Qin Yuhe looked toward the entryway and said, "I saw a new pair of men's slippers over there. I figured if your sister bought them for someone else, it wouldn't be appropriate for me to wear them, so I didn't put them on."
Song Tingye: "It's fine, go ahead and wear them. My sister bought those for me."
The curve of Qin Yuhe's smile grew even wider.
He gazed at the slender, graceful figure in the kitchen, stood up, and walked toward her. "I'll go help."
...
In the kitchen, Song Xinya sliced the beef into thin, evenly sized pieces.
To make the beef more tender and smooth, she liked to add a little baking soda.
The previous bag of baking soda was used up, and a backup bag was stored in the upper cabinet.
She stood on her tiptoes and reached out her arm to grab it.
It was pushed too far back. She reached and reached, but couldn't quite grasp it.
A warm chest pressed against her back, and the crisp, clean scent of a man swept over her, enveloping her body.
Qin Yuhe's arm reached over her head, easily grabbing the item from the back of the cabinet and handing it to her.
Song Xinya took the baking soda, and as her arm dropped, her elbow accidentally jabbed the man behind her.
She felt his body stiffen.
Qin Yuhe's pained voice sounded: "You jabbed my stomach."
Song Xinya panicked even more and turned to look at his abdomen.
Out of habit, she usually rubbed the spot after a bump. In her fluster, her body completely followed its instincts, and she reached out, placing her hand over Qin Yuhe's abdomen to rub it for him.
Beneath her soft, pale palm, his skin was scorching hot, and the more she rubbed, the hotter it got.
At this moment, Song Xinya was bent over, her face positioned right in front of Qin Yuhe's abdomen.
Song Tingye walked over with a look of utter disbelief on his face. "Sis, brother-in-law, what are you two doing?"
