Chapter 1
That morning she quarreled with Lu Chuan, which led her to lie on the sofa in a bad mood.
It started because a person that lived two buildings down had died and was buried today. When she heard the beating drums and blowing trumpets, Jian Yan suddenly asked Lu Chuan, “Today is my seventh day, right?”
Lu Chuan flared up and scolded her for being sick in the head, that’s why she felt she was a dead person, and also punished her by forbidding her to talk to him all morning. After speaking, he went to work in the study, leaving her alone outside.
Jian Yan felt a little aggrieved. Lu Chuan hadn’t gone to work the past few days, bringing his work home instead; he said that he was too busy before, so he would spend more time with her now… but the result was she was still left alone.
“Liar!” Jian Yan pouted. She slowly walked to the study and knocked on the door, but there was no response from the inside. Looks like he’s still angry.
In short, she didn’t know what was wrong with her when she had said those words impulsively. If Lu Chuan hadn’t been angry at the time, she was going to ask what tribute he prepared for her.
The door couldn’t be forced open and Jian Yan also did not want to move, so she sat on the floor and listened carefully to the sounds inside the room.
When Lu Chuan came out at noon, this was the scene that greeted him. Jian Yan was like a small, abandoned animal crouching on the ground. Because of the inertia from the door opening, her head fell onto his legs.
He sighed helplessly, picked her up with one hand, and patted her head comfortingly. Then he took her hand and led her to the dining room table, sitting her down before going to cook.
Jian Yan had little appetite lately. Looking at Lu Chuan serving up a feast of colors and flavors, it was clear that they were her favorite dishes. Still, she lacked interest in moving her chopsticks.
However, she had just committed a crime today in upsetting Lu Chuan, so she had to be good. To placate him, Jian Yan reluctantly lifted her chopsticks to pick up some vegetables to eat.
The more she chewed, the more uncomfortable she felt. The food in her mouth was like dry wood, and she couldn’t help but spit it out onto the table. Only after she acted did she remember that Lu Chuan was sitting opposite of her. Like a thief, she peeked up at him. Luckily, he wasn’t paying attention to her.
Noticing that Lu Chuan didn’t see it, she became even more unscrupulous. She told him that she wanted to watch TV, and without waiting for his coonset, she took the bowl to the living room, pretended to turn on the TV and watched it for a while before secretly dumping the food in the trash can.
“I’m done eating.” She put the bowl down on the table and smugly told him,
“Why are you eating so slowly? Stop eating and come watch TV with me.”
Lu Chuan’s temper had all but disappeared, so he put down his bowl and let her drag him away. When they got to the sofa, he sat down first, then pulled Jian Yan onto his lap, and the two watched a mother-in-law drama together.
Nestled in Lu Chuan’s arms, Jian Yan felt comfortable all over. She played with his fingers while leaning her head against his neck, licking it from time to time like a little kitten.
“Lu Chuan, you’re so warm.”
“En.” He gathered her against his body. “I am a man, ah, it’s normal to be a little hotter. You are just too cold, usually you wear more clothes to keep warm.”
Jian Yan laughed cheekily, “I like to lean on you, ah!” Then she raised her head and nuzzled against his forehead.
Lu Chuan lightly kissed the corner of her eyes, speaking softly,
“Yan Yan, you scared me today. Don’t talk nonsense in the future, okay?”
She hummed obediently, and after receiving another kiss, she clung to Lu Chuan’s body all afternoon.
Jian Yan was a bit unhappy recently because he wouldn’t let her go out.
The thing was it was almost time for Tanabata. She counted with her fingers and discovered this was the tenth year that she had been together with Lu Chuan. How memorable, ah!
She was prepared to sneak out to prepare a gift for him, but Lu Chuan had been staying at home recently, so Jian Yan couldn’t sneak out alone.
She thought she had found an excuse and told him that she hadn’t contacted her best friend for a while, and wanted to make an appointment to go shopping and have a SPA day.
Then, Lu Chuan got angry again and called her a little liar.
Sigh, Lu Chuan’s anger has grown recently, getting mad at every turn. This time he didn’t even prepare lunch, it’s too much!
Lu Chuan locked himself in his room until 10 p.m. before coming out. When he opened the door, the room was filled with smoke. When he came out, he went to wash his face.
When she looked up, Jian Yan saw Lu Chuan’s red eyes.
Her grievance suddenly turned into heartache and fear. He looked like he was crying. There was something in his eyes that she couldn’t read, as if something delicate was on the edge of shattering.
This kind of Lu Chuan, Jian Yan seemed to have seen before. She couldn’t remember when, but at that time Lu Chuan was even more sad than now. Although she didn’t know the reason, her heart was faintly radiated with pain.
She walked up and gently patted his back, but he just bent down and continued cupping the water in his hands and splashing his face.
Jian Yan leaned over and slowly kissed his head, bit by bit, like a wordless consolation.
After Lu Chuan finally finished, he lifted his head and wiped his face with his hands. With eyes closed, he tilted his head up, took a deep breath and opened his eyes again after a few moments. Then, he turned around and held Jian Yan in his arms.
“Yan Yan, do you want to go home? Do you think I’m annoying?”
Jian Yan’s head was pressed against Lu Chuan’s shoulder, and she heard his voice above her.
“No, Lu Chuan, I like staying with you the best.” She said in a muffled voice.
Lu Chuan’s voice was a bit erratic, “Then why do you want to go out? You even lied to me that your best friend had made an appointment.”
Jian Yan did not know why Lu Chuan was so sure that she had lied to him. He probably confirmed it with her best friend over the phone. In her mind, she complained that her friend was not loyal at all.
“I wanted to give you a gift since we’ve been together for ten years. Didn’t you prepare a surprise for me?” Jian Yan said honestly.
“It was clearly eleven years……”
“Eh?”Jian Yan lifted her head, “What did you say?”
“I didn’t say anything, you got it wrong,” Lu Chuan denied.
Jian Yan pinched his waist in anger until she heard Lu Chuan suck in a breath of cold air.
“You lied to me, I heard it clearly. This morning when I lied you were angry all day, now it’s your turn to lie and you want to pretend that it’s nothing. This is called a double standard!”
“All right, it’s my fault, I apologize.”Lu Chuan raised his hands in surrender. “Just now I said I would go out with you, and I regretted it a little bit, who knew that you still heard me.”
Jian Yan jumped up with a cry. The height was a bit high, as she almost hit the roof, but luckily she did not sprain her ankle when she landed.
She happily circled Lu Chuan twice and kissed him. “Lu Chuan, you’re so handsome, I love you so much.”
He laughed helplessly, “Little liar, you still say you like to stay at home with me, but after only a couple of days inside you feel suffocated like this.”
Jian Yan chuckled.
Whenever they took the car, he rarely asked Jian Yan to wear a seat belt. However, after driving for a while, she remembered this matter by herself and was ready to put it on.
“Don’t bother, the seat belt is broken and I haven’t gone to repair it.” Lu Chuan looked straight ahead, but her every move was clearly felt.
She uttered an ‘oh’, and let go of the seat belt. Secretly, she breathed a sigh of relief. She actually didn’t like that thing.
“If I don’t wear it, you’ll have to pay for it if you’re caught on camera.” She said hypocritically.
“Don’t worry, your husband still has that small amount of money.”
The couple went to the shopping mall where she often liked to go, a place with only a few customers. Lu Chuan declined the shopping guide who wanted to introduce the stores and took Jian Yan’s hand to stroll around slowly.
After arriving at the mall, Jian Yan threw away the idea of buying a gift. Instead, her eyes were filled with beautiful women’s clothes.
When passing by a store she was immediately fascinated by the clothes in the window, dragging him inside to find the clerk and ask for the right size to try.
Halfway through, she was stopped by Lu Chuan. He took her arm and smiled,
“You came out to buy a gift for me, how about letting me serve you today? Be good and wait here, I’ll go get the clothes.”
Jian Yan was immediately charmed by him. She took a seat close to him and watched as he went to negotiate with the clerk.
Not long after, Lu Chuan brought over several articles of clothing and pulled her into the fitting room.
Jian Yan hung up her clothes. When she saw that Lu Chuan hadn’t left yet, she asked curiously, “Why are you still here?”
Lu Chuan looked at her with a smile, “Haven’t I seen all of you, why are you still shy?”
After she thought about it, she realized he was right. So instead of asking him to leave, she started getting changed.
It was unknown what happened to the clothes, but she could not put them on. Jian Yan and the clothes were tangled for a long time. Eventually, Lu Chuan came to help, but even he failed to help her.
Jian Yan was so angry that she threw the clothes to the ground and cursed, “What kind of clothes are these? Why put them out for sale if you can’t wear them?”
Lu Chuan hurriedly consoled her, stroking her hair as he scolded the unscrupulous merchants with her. He finally coaxed her and led her out.
Watching Lu Chuan walk out, the two shop assistants behind him huddled together and whispered, not knowing what to say, then they walked to the fitting room where Lu Chuan had entered, and opened the curtain to see that the clothes were lying on the ground.
“What a weirdo, buying the clothes and not taking them,” The clerk said strangely.
After leaving the store, Lu Chuan took Jian Yan to the first floor and picked out a men’s bracelet for himself as a gift, and the two of them drove home.
In the parking lot, Jian Yan didn’t look at the road as she walked. A car went by when she wasn’t paying attention and almost hit her. Lu Chuan yanked her to the side with a dark face.
“How old are you, don’t you know how to look at the road when you walk?”
He couldn’t hit me anyway.
Jian Yan smiled at Lu Chuan, “You were watching.”
Mentally, however, she sighed and felt that her neurosis was becoming serious again. She hoped it wouldn’t be discovered by Lu Chuan.