╔════ Author's note ═════╗
Edited by Psycho S.
╚═══════════════════╝
"Aren't you afraid that your spouse will stop his payments? What if he leaves you because of all the scandals that involve you?" Li Jie asked. How much would an average scientist make for his wife to be so carefree about everything?!
"Then I'll just earn my own pocket money. No biggie." Bing Shi used a rolling cart to carry her keyboard outside. "I wouldn't call those things scandals. They're more like free advertisements that benefit me in the end." She paused as she realized, "Hey, is it just me, or did we switch roles? Do you also want to follow me home?"
"Ugh! No! I'm just worried about your financial situation!" Li Jie huffed as he carried on walking with her in the store. He didn't know this, but after Xuan Mu's death, Bing Shi managed his business for two years before she gave up.
The wealth Bing Shi accumulated still couldn't save her from misery. (Do you remember in chapter 3.03.06 how Bing Shi contemplated during the chat with Ziek whether she was 26 or 28? Time stopped for her together with XM's death.)
Despite Bing Shi's business-like mind and cunning nature, money held no significance to her or Xuan Mu's heart. To them, money was only a tool to be used. It was something to mock, even more so after everything they went through together.
"That's nice of you, but I'm more worried about my acting career." Bing Shi walked out of the store, accompanying him to his car before they went their way, "He's coming home today. Do you want to meet him?"
"Sorry, maybe next time." Dismissing her offer, Li Jie drove to visit Su Min. He didn't want to end up as a third wheel again. Instead of one, there were now three women he wanted to protect.
Once he finished dropping her off, he reflected on himself with self-pity. Why did he fling his love onto women who were already called for? Was it his talent?
· · ──────── · ⊱❈⊰· ──────── · ·
An hour later, Bing Shi found her way on how to get to their nest unnoticed...
Don't ask why Bing Shi chose to buy an apartment at the center of the metropolis instead of having a house isolated from others. Lu Kai was quite sure that this was because of her mission, 'At least this isn't a penthouse in a skyscraper.'
Lu Kai watched his wife fondly. The view of her taking a bath was quite nice, in his opinion. It was a shame the doorway and the billowing steam from the running hot water obstructed most of his view.
He leaned his body against the kitchen counter and asked Bing Shi, loud enough to be heard in the bathroom from his position, "Are you done with your bath?"
"Not yet! Give me ten more minutes, please!" Bing Shi called out to him as she gradually crawled out of the wooden tub. Bless the herb water. It soothed the blisters on her feet and hands.
Lu Kai acknowledged her with a subtle hum before returning his attention to the task at hand, continuing to cook.
Bing Shi sighed as she stepped out of the wooden tub, feeling the chill in the air as it enveloped her. She wrapped herself up in a fluffy towel. After patting herself dry, she threw on an equally, if not even more so, fluffy bathrobe. She was too tired to dress herself up, and she was comfortable as was. There was no one here but her husband; what hadn't he seen anyway?
After making her way toward the living room, she laid her robe-covered body on a big couch with a table right beside it. The couch was big enough to support her body, which sprawled outwards in a 5-star shape.
Her body was sore; her bones were achy, and her resentment for special training increased tenfold. With another long sigh, she ached to go back into the wooden bath. Even though the tub was already drained, she wanted to rewind time and relax. All the herbs she'd obtained from her hubby's list were for the sake of her having one of his special herb baths at the end of the long day.
Lu Kai carefully exited the kitchen, holding a frying pan. His gaze shifted from the sizzling contents of the pan to his wife, who was engrossed in her phone. A hint of disappointment curved his lips downwards into a faint, ghostly pout. Her attention seemed entirely consumed by the screen, leaving him curious about the reason behind her Cheshire cat-like smile.
In his attempt to capture Bing Shi's attention, Lu Kai approached her and exclaimed, "Sweetie, I traveled all the way from another country just to prepare this dinner for you." As he spoke, he emphasized his dedication by placing the sizzling frying pan on the table, filling the air with a delectable aroma that demanded notice.
"Mm, my hubby is the best! How about you take a little break with me while the food cools down a bit?" Bing Shi's attention remained tethered to her phone, her enthusiasm for his home-cooked meal as faint as a whisper in a storm.
"..." Lu Kai gently wrapped his hand around Bing Shi's, effectively obscuring her phone's screen, forcing her to meet his gaze. Simultaneously, he embraced her with his other arm, engulfing her in an affectionate, albeit somewhat overbearing, hug.
Amused by Lu Kai's theatrics, Bing Shi playfully squirmed within his embrace in protest.
Lu Kai pretended to be oblivious to her struggle as he carried on talking, "Are you married to me or your phone?"
No matter how much Bing Shi tried to give him the cold shoulder as a mini rebellion against the special training, Lu Kai seemed hell-bent on stealing the spotlight, ready to wrestle her attention with her phone.
Bing Shi flopped against him with a mock dramatic sigh, "Aren't we glued to each other every night? Is my little phone fling really that big of a deal to you?"
"Yes." Lu Kai stubbornly insisted as he held Bing Shi hostage in his arms. He then mock grumbled, picking up chopsticks with the flair of a man wronged, "Here I am, flesh and blood before you, and you're giving me the cold shoulder for a gadget."
"Okay, okay," Bing Shi couldn't help but chuckle and let go of her phone as if it had suddenly turned hot. She opened her mouth, expecting Lu Kai to feed her his stir-fried vegetables.
Her husband, amazing as he was, did just that: He served her a spoonful of his stir-fried veggies, a dish where the seasoning seemed to have gone on a vacation, leaving behind just a love-infused tang of vinegar that somehow, miraculously, tasted like home.
With the vinegar aftertaste and all, Bing Shi hummed in delight.
"You look excited. Did you get some good news?" Lu Kai commented as he fed her some more food.
"Mmmfg..." Bing Shi patted Lu Kai's hand to stop him from stuffing her mouth with another dubiously delectable broccoli.
Lu Kai ceased his assault of fried vegetables and waited for her answer.
"Well, I haven't received any good news yet, but I'm working on it," Bing Shi replied. Then she opened her mouth again, wordlessly asking for more food.
Lu Kai used his skills with chopsticks to satisfy his wife.
· · ──────── · ⊱❈⊰· ──────── · ·
While Li Jie had quite a lot of influence, even his backdoor couldn't help Bing Shi get decent acting roles. There weren't any movies Mo Luwei couldn't reach besides her own ones that didn't exist yet. But to be fair, making her own movie was too much work, and there wasn't a guarantee that it would succeed.
Later that night...
Mo Luwei picked up his phone.
3:15 AM (Silika Lin): Don't you want to know why you wake up in the middle of the night? There's an 80 percent chance that it's your unborn baby staring at you in the afterlife.
Bing Shi didn't forget to send him pictures of dead fetuses. Mo Luwei's lips curled in disgust as he attempted to wipe his mind clean from the jelly-like substances. He deleted the text with a sneer.
3:15 AM (Silika Lin): Look in the dark for ten minutes without blinking, and you'll eventually see it climbing up your bed.
The moment Mo Luwei spotted the crying XiaoPu peeking his chubby head from the end of the bed. Mo Luwei immediately threw his phone at the crying XiaoPu as he jumped in fright.
The phone slammed against the wall; the last text he'd seen before he switched on the light in a panic was a mocking taunt from Silika.
3:16 AM (Silika Lin): Hahaha, gotcha! Never mess with the vulnerable. Good luck with the exorcism.
Mo Luwei frantically looked around the empty room. Was seeing that crying thing an illusion, or was it a dream? He couldn't tell.
When Mo Luwei reluctantly turned the lights off, he ignored his phone and attempted to go back to sleep.
╔════ Author's note ═════╗
If you like this story, you can leave behind a vote or a review on ScribbleHub or Webnovel. Thank you! ヾ(≧∇≦)ゞ
╚═══════════════════╝
