Song Xinya looked at the message Qin Yuhe had just sent on the screen: [If you want me to, I'll come back], and her heart skipped a beat.
She looked up and gazed outside, suddenly feeling that today's sunlight was exceptionally bright.
Tiantianquan pulled her arm, walking further inside. "I'm tired from shopping, we absolutely need to grab some KFC to munch on."
Song Xinya stopped in her tracks. "Quanquan, I can't have dinner with you tonight."
"Why?" Tiantianquan leaned her face toward the phone screen. "Ooh-la-la, 'Do you want me to come back tonight? Yes.' So sweet, I'm dying of sweetness."
"Song Xinya, confess honestly, what do you want your husband to come back and do tonight?"
Song Xinya's face flushed as red as the evening glow.
Tiantianquan teased, "You, of course."
Song Xinya regretted not bringing two bitter melons with her today to stuff Tiantianquan's mouth shut again.
Her good friend was going home to see her husband, so of course, Tiantianquan couldn't delay the newlyweds' romantic affairs.
"No more shopping, no more eating here, I'll go home and order takeout."
The two of them walked toward the mall exit together.
Tiantianquan asked, "Do your two-faced stepmother and manipulative stepsister know about you marrying the crown prince of the capital circle, Qin Yuhe?"
Song Xinya replied, "They don't know."
Tiantianquan said, "You haven't seen them since you successfully lost weight, right?"
Song Xinya said, "I'm not so cheap as to eagerly run over to see people who don't like me."
Tiantianquan nodded, "Exactly, a person needs to be this free and easy. I am who I am; as for whether you like me or not, it's neither needed nor important."
She turned to look at Song Xinya. Ever since Song Xinya successfully lost weight, every time she saw her face, she would be amazed.
"Babe, really, I'm especially looking forward to Li Cuirou and Zhang Yingying seeing how you look now. Losing eighty pounds in a year—I reckon even if they saw you face-to-face, they wouldn't recognize that the great beauty in front of them is you."
"Once they confirm it's really you, they'll be so shocked it'll be like getting hit by an atomic bomb."
"I heard Zhang Yingying has been trying every possible way to get close to Qin Yuhe lately, wanting to reach the heavens in a single bound and become Mrs. Qin, while you are already the rightful Mrs. Qin, hahahahaha."
"According to the age order in your Song family, if Zhang Yingying sees Qin Yuhe, she'll have to call him brother-in-law. The man she likes has become her brother-in-law, hahahahaha."
Whenever Tiantianquan thought about these things, she felt incredibly thrilled.
The two walked out of the mall's exit, while just two meters away at the entrance, Li Cuirou and Zhang Yingying walked in.
Li Cuirou looked toward the exit and saw the back of a girl in a white dress, as well as the back of a girl in a red dress.
"Yingying, look at that girl in the white dress, isn't that Song Xinya's best friend, Tiantianquan?"
Zhang Yingying also looked over. "It is Tiantianquan. I know all the friends who are close to Song Xinya."
She looked at the woman beside Tiantianquan and asked in confusion, "Who is that woman in the red dress?"
Li Cuirou's gaze swept up and down Song Xinya's figure, and she said, "I don't know her. This woman is tall, slim, and fair-skinned; she has such great elegance."
Zhang Yingying was also sizing up Song Xinya. "Tiantianquan and Song Xinya are always joined at the hip, constantly shopping together. Why isn't Tiantianquan with Song Xinya today?"
Li Cuirou said, "It's obvious that Tiantianquan made a new friend. That girl in the red dress is so beautiful. Going out with a great beauty like her gives you much more face than going out with a fatty like Song Xinya."
Song Xinya walked over to a frozen-berry pink sports car. Just as she pulled the car door open and was about to sit inside, she looked up and made eye contact with Li Cuirou and Zhang Yingying.
The mother and daughter were both stunned. This woman was truly breathtakingly glamorous. Just standing there, everyone around her seemed plain by comparison; only she was vivid, bright, and eye-catching.
Who was such a beautiful woman?
Song Xinya looked at Li Cuirou and Zhang Yingying, her eyes calm and unrippled. A hint of mockery curled the corners of her rosy lips as she sat into the driver's seat.
The frozen-berry pink sports car drove down the road, looking like a streak of floating liquid gold.
Zhang Yingying's eyes were full of envy. It was one thing for this woman to be beautiful, but she was also driving the frozen-berry pink car she had always wanted to buy but couldn't afford.
Li Cuirou stared in the direction the frozen-berry pink car had disappeared and asked, "Don't you think that woman looked a bit familiar?"
Zhang Yingying replied, "She did look a little familiar, I feel like I've seen her before."
Li Cuirou searched her brain for all the young women she knew but couldn't find a match.
Then Li Cuirou said, "Looking at her outstanding appearance and noble temperament, she must be a low-profile heiress from some wealthy, aristocratic family."
Zhang Yingying prayed in her heart: Amen, please don't let this great beauty compete with me for Qin Yuhe.
...
On her way back to the Forbidden City Mansion, Song Xinya stopped by a flower shop.
She bought a bouquet of pink and blue hydrangeas.
After returning home, she filled a transparent glass vase with water, placed the hydrangeas inside, and set it in the center of the table in her bedroom.
A ray of spring light flooded into the monotonous black, white, and gray room, bringing it a gentle warmth and color.
Song Xinya went down to the first floor and walked into Song Tingye's room. "Have you finished the five sets of exam papers?"
Song Tingye slapped the math papers on his desk, making them rustle loudly, his tone full of heroic pride. "Check them however you want."
Song Xinya picked up the five sets of math papers, checked them one by one, and carefully graded them with a red pen.
Each paper was out of a hundred points, and Song Tingye scored a perfect hundred on every single one. He didn't get a single question wrong; everything was completely correct.
Song Xinya placed the papers back on the desk. "Good job. Your reward tonight is eating beef."
Song Tingye said, "I want cumin beef, boiled beef in chili sauce, spicy beef, dry pot beef, and braised beef brisket."
Song Xinya replied, "Eat, you can eat as much as you want. Put it all on your brother-in-law's tab."
Song Tingye spoke from the bottom of his heart, "It feels so good to have a brother-in-law, I'm thrilled."
"You got the questions right, but..." Song Xinya pointed at the papers, "Shouldn't you practice this chicken-scratch handwriting of yours? Even a hen randomly scratching the dirt would write better than you."
Song Tingye retorted, "Why practice? A real man doesn't bother about trifles."
Song Xinya said, "You might not bother, but the grading teachers do. Especially the language arts teachers. When they're grading essays and see a whole page of your chicken-scratch, their heads will ache. How would they be in the mood to carefully read whether your essay is good or not? With a bad first impression, they'll deduct five points right off the bat."
Song Tingye was severely unbalanced in his subjects. Every time he took an exam, he could get perfect scores in math, but sometimes he struggled just to pass language arts.
Song Xinya asked, "In your sophomore year's final exam, what did you score on your essay?"
Song Tingye muttered, "18 points. I went off-topic again."
Song Xinya said, "The essay is worth 60 points in total, and you only got 18. Just how badly did you go off-topic?"
Song Tingye explained, "My language teacher said I'm the ancient Greek god of going off-topic. I can run from Greece to India, circle half the globe to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The angle at which I veer off is so tricky that not even a Dongfeng missile could catch up to me."
Song Xinya stared at him. "And you're proud of this, are you?"
Song Tingye lowered his head. "I wouldn't dare."
Song Xinya asked, "Tell me, why did you go off-topic?"
"If I knew why I went off-topic, would I still go off-topic?" Song Tingye said, sounding aggrieved.
That actually made a lot of sense.
Song Xinya was momentarily speechless.
The conversation had hit a dead end. If they kept talking, Song Tingye worried he wouldn't get to eat beef tonight.
He quickly changed the subject. "Sis, is brother-in-law coming home for dinner tonight? I haven't seen him all day, and I kind of miss him."
Song Xinya figured Qin Yuhe wouldn't be back, as the message he sent her mentioned "tonight," not "dinnertime."
"He probably won't be back."
Song Tingye suggested, "Just send him a message and ask, then you'll know."
Song Xinya reached for her phone, but then she remembered what he had said before they got their marriage certificate: *Mutual respect, no interference.* She curled her fingers back.
"Mr. Qin is very busy with work. We shouldn't disturb him."
Song Tingye sighed. "Brother-in-law is so busy. He has time to make money but no time to spend it. I unilaterally declare that from now on, I'll generously sacrifice myself and spend the money he makes for him."
Song Xinya gave him a look. "A real man stands on his own two feet. Don't think about spending other people's money. Think about how to make money to provide a comfortable life for your future wife and children."
"What wife and children? The only person in my eyes is my beautiful sister. I'm going to study hard, make big money in the future, and spend it all on my fairy-like sister," Song Tingye said.
Song Xinya smiled and scolded him playfully, "Smooth talker."
Song Tingye rejoiced inwardly. His sister smiled; tonight's beef was secured. Haha.
...
After dinner, Song Xinya returned to her bedroom.
Having finished washing up, she walked out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel and took out the two new pieces of lingerie she had bought.
Since she was married to Qin Yuhe, there was no reason for him to hold back if he had needs. Naturally, she would cooperate and fulfill her marital duties.
Knowing that Qin Yuhe pursued perfection in everything, she had specifically gone to a lingerie shop today to buy something sexy to add some spice to their sex life.
After all, it would be their first time together, and she wanted both of them to have a perfect experience.
