With Lu Boyan’s tall frame pressing on top of her, it was impossible for Su Jianan to move. In her mind, there were only his previous words, which were spiraling endlessly.
Feeding him with her… Feeding him… with her…
A momentary blankness formed in Su Jianan’s mind. It took a long while and for her to react to what Lu Boyan had said. She gulped and said timidly, “Um… I don’t taste good. But my saute spicy chicken and steamed fish taste pretty good!”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. She still hasn’t got it yet?” Lu Boyan thought.
Lu Boyan stared at her silently as he lay on top of her.
Su Jianan kept staring at anywhere other than Lu Boyan. She did not have the courage to meet his gaze. Another long moment passed. All of a sudden, it hit her.
Feeding him with herself. Lu Boyan meant that?
“Pervert!” she said, glaring at Lu Boyan. Then, she pushed at him. “Get off me. I’m going downstairs.”
In truth, Su Jianan had been right to worry about him just now. Lu Boyan’s gastric problems had indeed relapsed. When she shoved him, her hand had landed on his stomach. Lu Boyan frowned when he felt the force behind her push.
Su Jianan hesitated. “Are you okay?” she asked.
Lu Boyan removed her hand. Then, he smiled in a way that exuded an evil aura. “Mrs. Lu, right now I’m the one lying on top of you. It’s better if you worry about yourself.”
Su Jianan was practically grinding her teeth when she growled out that same word, “Pervert!”
Lu Boyan smirked and released the Little Monster beneath him. He moved to the nightstand and opened its drawer, where he took out a white bottle. He poured out two white-colored pills and placed them in his mouth. Su Jianan took the white bottle and saw that it was indeed medication intended for gastric pain.
His drawer contained not only gastric medications, but also sleeping pills.
“Lu Boyan,” she asked hesitantly, “you have insomnia?”
Lu Boyan closed the drawer. “Occasionally.”
He did not wait for Su Jianan’s response and before pulling Su Jianan up by her hand. He led her downstairs into the dining room.
Billows of steam rose from the food that had been served on the dining table. There were three dishes altogether: saute spicy chicken, steamed fish, and tomato egg soup. Admittedly, these dishes seemed rather cheap and shabby compared to the luxurious dining table and chairs.
“I was in a rush, so I couldn’t make more,” Su Jianan said sheepishly, “Well, here you go. Consider this meal my apology.”
Lu Boyan’s foul mood had long since dissipated, but since the Little Monster had taken the initiative to please him, he figured he would at least try to accept.
“By the way, how many vacation days have you requested for me?” Su Jianan asked.
She had not set foot into the morgue or touched any cases for at least half a month. She was starting to feel a bit unaccustomed to it all.
“You’ll return to work after the company’s anniversary dinner,” Lu Boyan said.
“Oh, you mean Lu Enterprises’ tenth anniversary dinner?” Su Jianan paused in thought. “But… what’s that got to do with me?”
Lu Boyan’s interest was piqued. He glanced at Su Jianan, who was still confused. “How did you know that it’s Lu Enterprises’ tenth anniversary?”
“…” Err, how was she supposed to tell Lu Boyan that she had been following any news related to Lu Enterprises since the day it was established?
However, Lu Boyan did not seem too interested in Su Jianan’s answer. He stared at her, and his eyes were ablaze like two burning torches. “You’re Mrs. Lu, the wife of Lu Enterprises’ President. So, you tell me. What does the company’s tenth anniversary have to do with you?”
Putting it that way, would she be considered as… the hostess?
Lu Boyan had practically built his company from scratch. No outsider could imagine the hardships he had gone through and the amount of time and effort he had poured in to make Lu Enterprises into the way it was today. Today, Lu Enterprises was a powerful force whose roar could shake the entire business world. “To him, the tenth anniversary must be an important event, right?” she thought.
Su Jianan had never once thought that in their two years of marriage, she would have the chance to stand beside him during such a memorable and meaningful event.
“Do you need my help over at the company?” she asked. “I’ve got nothing to do at home anyway.”
Now that Luo Xiaoxi was undergoing training in preparation for her debut, Su Jianan would most likely end up spending her free time hanging out with Jiang Shaokai at the hospital.
Lu Boyan raised his brows. “Come with me to the company the day after tomorrow.”
Su Jianan had known about Lu Enterprises ages ago. Even before she married Lu Boyan, she had driven past Lu Enterprises’ headquarters countless of times. Every time she drove past, she would glance towards the top floor and imagine the way Lu Boyan would look like sitting in that office.
Back then, she had been dying to enter the building, because she knew that Lu Boyan was there. The man she had been secretly in love with for over a decade was right inside that monolith.
However, that impulse would always be suppressed by rationality. Now that Lu Boyan had asked her to follow him to the company, she was trying everything in her power to hold back that same impulse lest Lu Boyan noticed anything that would give her feelings away.
“Okay! I’ll go with you!”
Lu Boyan smiled. “After lunch, drink your medicine.”
“Okay! I…” Su Jianan instantly became aware of what she had just agreed to. She stared at Lu Boyan wide-eyed. “Huh?”
“I said drink your medicine,” said Lu Boyan in an easy-going tone.
As if on cue, Aunt Liu brought out the medicine. “Young Madam, it’s a little hot. Please wait for a while before you drink it.”
“Mm,” Su Jianan said in agreement, though she was close to the point of weeping by then. She was considering pulling a whoops-my-hands-slipped-by-accident stunt while Lu Boyan was not looking, but Lu Boyan did not give her that chance. Lu Boyan’s hand suddenly reached out and took the bowl.
He scooped a spoonful of the dark liquid before letting it pour back into the bowl. Steam rose from the bowl as he repeated the same action. After a while, the medicine cooled down.
He pushed the bowl towards her. “It’s cool now. Drink.”
The thick, herbal scent entered her respiratory tracts. At that point, Su Jianan could pretty much taste the bitterness at the tip of her tongue.
Shaking her head, she gave Lu Boyan a piteous look. “Can I not drink it? I’ll do whatever you ask the day after tomorrow!”
There was not even the slightest bit of hesitation in Lu Boyan’s answer. “You can’t.”
“Lu Boyan…” She begged.
“Drink it.”
“Brother Boyan…” Time to take a softer approach.
Lu Boyan smiled. “Be a good girl. Drink.”
“…” Su Jianan felt as if her heart had been clogged up from all the grievance that filled it.
Lu Boyan noted Su Jianan’s expression, which was solemn and serious, as if she was right in the middle of an unsolved case. Gently, Lu Boyan coaxed. “Come on. Just drink it all at once. It won’t be that bitter.”
After bouts of hesitation, Su Jianan helplessly accepted that there really was nowhere out of this. So she schooled her expression into that of someone about to face an honorable death, pinched her nose, picked up the bowl, and gulped down the dark liquid in huge mouthfuls.
Bitterness overwhelmed her taste buds and swiftly pervaded her entire mouth. She was practically at the verge of tears by the time she was done. She shot Lu Boyan a resentful look. “Liar!”
Just now, Aunt Liu had brought over some candied fruits. Lu Boyan picked one and held it between his fingers. “Open your mouth.”
Su Jianan parted her pink lips slightly. Lu Boyan fed her a piece of candied fruit. The candy’s overwhelming sweetness helped suppress the medicine’s bitterness. Finally, the frown in her brows eased.
“I’m going to bed. Call me if there’s anything.” Lu Boyan stood up and was about to head to the stairway. Su Jianan called out to him, wanting to ask if his stomach was still hurting. In the end, she failed to get the question out despite having stuttered for a good half day. Lu Boyan raised his brows. “You want to come with me?”
Su Jianan’s face darkened instantly. “You! Go upstairs!”
If he could still act like a pervert, then he probably was not in too much pain.
She brought the empty medicine bowl and the bowl containing the sweets into the kitchen. Then, she opened the fridge and began rummaging through its contents.
She had nothing planned for the afternoon, so she decided to bake a few pastries for afternoon tea. She figured that was the best way to spend her time.
She found a lot of ice creams in the fridge.
Vanilla-flavored ice creams, strawberry-flavored ice creams… All of them were packaged in small paper boxes. The boxes had English words printed on them. To confirm her suspicion, she took out a box and read the words.
—Abel Hand Made Ice Cream.
She had once told Lu Boyan about the one place in the United States that she missed the most. It was a store outside her university that sold handmade ice creams. That store’s ice creams had stolen her heart, especially its vanilla ice cream.
She had told Lu Boyan all that before he left for his business trip to New York. Before he left, Lu Boyan had promised to give her a surprise when he returned.
Afterwards, the rumors between Lu Boyan and Han Ruoxi popped up. Then, she got kidnapped and they were not on speaking terms for a while. She thought Lu Boyan had long forgotten about his promise. Naturally, she was too embarrassed to bring it up again.
But now that Abel Hand Made Ice Cream had suddenly appeared in the house, she could not help but feel suspicious.
When she found Uncle Xu and asked him about it, he answered, “These are handmade by an American Chef named Abel, who came all the way here to make it.”
Su Jianan stared at Uncle Xu. “When did the chef come? Do you still remember?” Su Jianan asked anxiously.
“I do,” Uncle Xu said, smiling. “It was the third day after Young Master’s return. The same day both of you left for G City.”
Lu Boyan’s business trip was meant to last 7 days. If he had not returned ahead of schedule, that was supposed to be the day of his return.
These ice creams were meant to be Lu Boyan’s surprise for her. She had mentioned before that it was impossible for Lu Boyan to bring the ice cream back all the way from the United States. So he brought the maker of the ice cream back instead.
“Why didn’t he tell me?” she thought.
“Young Master had instructed us to keep it from you.” Uncle Xu cleared his throat. “He said that you shouldn’t be eating them now. He was worried you wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation.”
Feeling awkward, Su Jianan stared at the ice creams. Well, her taste buds were feeling kind of tingly, that much was true. For a while, she wrestled with her thoughts. In the end, she shut the door of the fridge.
Fine. Lu Boyan did know her well. Keeping it from her was… truly a wise decision.
Nevertheless, deep in her heart, she felt undeniably happy.
The ice creams were inexpensive. In fact, their packagings were rather homespun and seemed to be made using recyclable materials. And yet, Lu Boyan had brought the chef here across thousands of miles just because she had made a passing remark about liking the ice creams.
She knew very well just how lucrative that store’s business was. The owner was also a highly principled man, so Lu Boyan must have spent quite a sum if he could get the man to temporarily close up shop and come here.
She was happy, more so than if he were to give her a piece of expensive jewelry, a branded bag, or a voguish outfit.
She did not know what Lu Boyan’s true feelings for her were. She could not even be sure whether Lu Boyan actually liked her.
What she did know was that Lu Boyan cared about her and was willing to put in the effort to be nice to her.
At the very least, it meant that Lu Boyan did not hate her.
What if she tried to fight for him?
What if she stopped feeling depressed over their impending divorce? After all, he had told her that there never was anything between him and Han Ruoxi. Also… he would always be needing a wife, right?
What if she tried to make Lu Boyan fall in love with her? What if she tried to extend this contract marriage so that she could stay by his side forever?
At the thought, Su Jianan found that her palms had turned sweaty.
With that decision, she was challenging herself. Throughout so many years, she had never had such intentions toward Lu Boyan. Before marrying Lu Boyan, even the time she spent alone with him would feel like a form of luxury.
Before, she had loved him in secret. She had loved him humbly and unpresumingly. Now that she had decided to fight for him, she felt as if she had transformed into a little giant, one filled to the brim with strength and might.
She and Lu Boyan had known each other since they were children. Tang Yulan was especially fond of her, too. Besides, they were married to each other, which meant that a lot of things would come naturally to them. These circumstances were all in her favor.
Surely, it would be relatively easier for her to pursue Lu Boyan compared to other women?
“That settles it!” she thought.
From today onwards, she would massacre those who dare approach Lu Boyan, men or women alike.
A long time from now in the future, Su Jianan would look back upon this day and realize that it was a bunch of ice cream that had given her the courage to pursue Lu Boyan. Su Jianan would come to realize just how impulsive she had been in her younger days.