Chapter 33 Romanticism: It's as if you're still right beside me.

The packaging box had sharp edges and felt uncomfortable in her hand, but Zhou Jinqin still gripped it tightly, afraid that someone, or more precisely, Liang Minghe, would notice something amiss and make fun of her.

Blushing, she pulled open the bottom drawer of the bedside table and shoved the thing in with a clatter. Turning her head, she saw that it had bumped into the exact same thing she was holding. It seemed that Liang Minghe was also afraid of the moment when he could not get what he wanted.

Zhou Jinqin wasn't so desperately craving sex. She was too shy to rush to use up the box of condoms, but given their precarious behavior of teetering on the edge, things were bound to escalate eventually. She didn't want the helpless situation in the mountain cabin to repeat itself.

Just then, Liang Minghe, shirtless, pushed open the door and came in.

"Why did you go straight to the bedroom as soon as you got back?"

Zhou Jinqin hadn't prepared an answer beforehand and couldn't come up with a response, so she thought of turning the tables and skipping over the topic.

She glanced at the man's strong, well-built physique, her face flushing even more. She looked away, feeling awkward, and said softly, "Why aren't you wearing any clothes!"

Tuan Tuan is a fat cat who has grown to over ten kilograms while wandering outside. Her waist is as thick as a barrel, yet Liang Minghe can easily hold her in his hand.

Such situations were not uncommon. On the bed, he would often hold Zhou Jinqin's waist and grab her thighs in the same way. The difference was that humans and cats were not in the same league. When the same posture was used on a human, he would always have to put in more effort, until the veins on the back of his hand stood out.

Liang Minghe laughed as her face grew increasingly red: "What's there to be shy about? It's not like it's the first time we've met."

"Can they be the same? Before..." Zhou Jinqin's words were abruptly cut off as she swallowed them back down.

She had indeed seen Liang Minghe's body before, but never in broad daylight like this.

The overhead art lamp was not a beautiful but useless thing; it fiercely illuminated the entire room, its pale light pouring down from the man's head, revealing his excessively beautiful body in its entirety.

Because of his exposed body, every breath he took was visible on his strong and muscular frame.

Voice professionals are generally good at controlling their vocal placement, and the habit of focusing their breath in their diaphragm has become ingrained. Their slender and narrow waist always sways gently with each breath, and it is precisely this thin frame that supports the weight of their entire body.

Zhou Jinqin dared not look anymore. She turned her head away uncomfortably and muttered softly, "Aren't you afraid of catching a cold again?"

She turned to open the wardrobe door to get him some clothes, but as soon as her hand touched the door, the man blocked her from behind and forced her against the wardrobe door.

He said, "I think there are better ways to keep warm."

Liang Minghe had somehow gotten rid of the cat, and now his hand was restlessly on her waist. Within a palm's distance, he could hold most of her waist.

Zhou Jinqin held her breath, her breathing no longer under her control, only daring to utter a questioning sound.

Liang Minghe chuckled softly, then stepped back slightly, placing his hands on Zhou Jinqin's waist to help her turn around in the narrow crevice.

Before we could even enjoy the hard-won space, it was forcibly taken away again.

The man's hand had unknowingly reached her thighs, and with a slight effort, he lifted her up by her hips.

Zhou Jinqin instinctively locked her legs around his waist and wrapped her arms around his neck to prevent herself from falling off unintentionally.

It's fine if he doesn't trust himself this much; at least he's gotten a closer and more proactive contact, Liang Ming thought with a squinty eye.

He shouldn't blame Tuantuan for spilling the milk and splashing him with water while taking a bath; otherwise, things wouldn't have progressed to the current situation so naturally.

Liang Minghe looked at Zhou Jinqin's face, which was almost boiling over, and leaned closer to let the scalding heat transfer to his body without restraint.

He unconsciously pressed Zhou Jinqin against the door even deeper before bending down to kiss her rosy, fragrant lips.

The two were close together, their whispers becoming lip-reading. Liang Ming coaxed her in good spirits, "If you hold me tighter, I don't think I'll be cold at all."

The man before her was a demon; Zhou Jinqin was easily rendered unable to think. Bewitched, she obediently snuggled closer into his arms, and as the distance closed, his lips pressed down harder and deeper.

Zhou Jinqin was so overwhelmed by the kisses that her eyes were half-asleep and half-drunk, as if she would fall into this mysterious and alluring pond with just one glance.

If they continued kissing, things might get out of hand. Liang Minghe thought about Zhou Jinqin starting her job tomorrow, so he finally called a halt.

He nestled in Zhou Jinqin's neck and shoulder for a long time before laying her down on the bed, and then lay down beside her.

As her fever subsided, Zhou Jinqin's mind cleared somewhat, and she asked softly, "Are you alright?"

"If tomorrow were the weekend, I would be really good." Liang Minghe's voice was muffled and heavy, muffled by the blanket.

Zhou Jinqin touched her swollen, red lips, then suddenly jumped out of bed and ran outside, afraid of being caught and brought back: "It's a pity tomorrow is Monday, I have to go to work, and you have to go to work too."

Most domestic voice-over work is concentrated in the capital and Shanghai. When there are collaborative voice-over projects, Liang Minghe inevitably has to travel to these two places. This time, his work location is in Shanghai. In addition, Tongle Group is about to launch a new series of events. As the group's regular invited designer, since he is in Shanghai, he has to attend the offline meetings and discuss them.

In short, the newlyweds will be living apart for a short period due to work commitments.

Liang Minghe's flight was in the morning, and even though time was tight, he still ceremoniously dropped Zhou Jinqin off at her company building before turning around and taking the subway to the airport.

After the report was completed, HR led Zhou Jinqin on a general tour of the company before finally taking her to the medical department to meet people.

Zhou Jinqin had a very good memory; she could match people's names after hearing them only once. For example, the woman with short, curly blonde hair in the middle was called Reba, the man at the workstation opposite her was Ken, and the oldest woman was called Fiona...

People weren't exactly enthusiastic; at most, they'd exchange a couple of polite greetings. Occasionally, a few would be quite sarcastic, giving a silent, blatant stare.

Due to the high requirements for education and experience, the colleagues in the medical department are generally older. There are people in the same age range as Zhou Jinqin, but few can directly reach key positions such as medical consultant.

Regardless of how strict the age limit is for doctoral degrees, no one has such a "blank" work experience as Zhou Jinqin. Although the job posting clearly only required three years of medical work experience, in practice, applicants with more extensive experience tend to be chosen, and Zhou Jinqin had never worked in a pharmaceutical company before.

The undisguised stares from all directions made Zhou Jinqin feel a little uneasy. Fortunately, the HR department noticed her embarrassment and introduced her to someone else.

She pointed to a man and said, "This is Raymond, who is serving as an MSL (Medical Liaison Officer). There will be a lot of work that will require your cooperation. You can learn more about him."

The man stood up and introduced himself gently: "Just call me Jia Yang."

Jia Yang was a tall, thin man with a gentle and reserved demeanor. He didn't seem very old, and at first glance, he didn't seem like someone who was good at communication, like a capable liaison officer.

Zhou Jinqin smiled politely and gave her Chinese name.

The HR person said, "Speaking of which, you two are alumni. Did you know each other before?"

Zhou Jinqin carefully examined the man's face and shook her head: "I probably don't know him. There are a lot of people at school, so it's not an easy thing to run into him."

Jia Yang nodded, seemingly agreeing with her words.

Since she had just joined the company and was still adjusting to various aspects, the supervisor didn't assign Zhou Jinqin any work, only giving her some documents to familiarize herself with, so she had a relatively relaxed time.

At noon, her supervisor offered to treat her to lunch, but worried that a man and a woman together might cause misunderstandings, so he also invited Jia Yang, who was relatively familiar with her, to join them.

Lunch was arranged at a Japanese restaurant near the company. Zhou Jinqin rarely ate meat, so she avoided the thick-cut eel and raw sea urchin sashimi on the table. In the end, she only ate some black tsukiyaki rolls and ramen to fill her stomach.

Jia Yang didn't eat much either.

The supervisor joked, "Is the pressure at your school really that high? You guys are all eating so little."

Eating takes a while, so you always have to find something to talk about at the table.

When her supervisor asked Zhou Jinqin why she resigned from her job at the hospital, Zhou Jinqin simply said she wanted a change of environment.

The supervisor didn't press the matter, since many people in the medical department had medical backgrounds, and the reason wasn't really important.

He cited Jia Yang as an example, who also resigned from a hospital to join a pharmaceutical company. However, Jia Yang was originally a pharmacy student who worked in research at a hospital after graduating with a master's degree. He resigned two years ago to join a pharmaceutical company, implying that Zhou Jinqin's company was an excellent place.

Before parting, Jia Yang secretly told her, "I can't say whether it's good or not, I just think the salary here is relatively high."

Zhou Jinqin found his frankness amusing, thinking that he might not be as dull as he seemed on the surface, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to hold onto the position of medical liaison officer.

I left work promptly at five o'clock, and then it started raining heavily again.

Zhou Jinqin stood under the eaves, hesitating whether to wait for the rain to stop or rush to the subway station in one go.

She had checked the weather forecast when she left home in the morning, which showed sunny skies all day. Thinking that it was her first day on the job, she had brought a lot of things with her, so she didn't take an umbrella. Who would have thought it would turn out like this?

Seeing that the rain showed no signs of stopping, Zhou Jinqin sighed and prepared to brave the storm, but an umbrella was placed over her head to block out the wind and rain.

Jia Yang smiled at her and said, "I'll lend you my umbrella."

Zhou Jinqin refused, worried about what would happen to him, but then she saw him slip under another colleague's umbrella, say a brief goodbye, and leave without looking back.

When she got home, Tuantuan was sitting at the door looking aggrieved. When she saw her mother come back, she rushed over and acted coquettishly for a long time.

Since being adopted, Tuantuan has rarely been home alone, and waiting from dawn to dusk like today is even rarer. Right now, Little Pearl is almost crying her eyes out.

Fortunately, Liang Ming has more free time, and he can occasionally play with the kitten in front of the monitor, which makes it feel better.

He spent most of his free time on Zhou Jinqin, asking her from time to time how she was doing at the company.

Zhou Jinqin finally had a moment to spare and returned the video call.

Liang Minghe carefully examined her face and said, "You seem to be doing quite well today."

"Yeah, it's great. My supervisor even treated me to lunch." Zhou Jinqin smiled, pointed to the umbrella Jia Yang had lent her, and added, "It rained when I got back, and a colleague lent me his umbrella too."

She was a little apprehensive after not working for a while, but after a day of experiencing it, it didn't seem as bad as she had imagined.

Seeing this, Liang Minghe was relieved and asked, "I bought flowers for you to celebrate, have they been delivered to your home?"

“Received.” Zhou Jinqin nodded, turning the camera around to face the already frenzied and obsessed Tuantuan on the ground. “Look, it loves it to death.”

Liang Minghe never forgets that there is a little member in the family. Before leaving, he arranged for Tuantuan to have an automatic poop scoop, an automatic water bowl, and an automatic feeder. In the afternoon, he ordered flowers and also bought a small bouquet of lisianthus for Tuantuan to celebrate together.

Tuantuan is lying next to the flowers, and every now and then she goes up to smell them and rub them, looking like she loves them very much.

Liang Ming looked at it with a smile for a while, then asked, "And you? Do you like it?"

Zhou Jinqin turned the camera back to herself, then held the brightly colored bouquet of flowers, smelled it, and earnestly told him, "I really like it."

This bouquet consists of about ten kinds of flowers, bright and not cluttered, and the scent is also fresh and pleasant, which is Liang Minghe's taste.

"Really? Let me smell it." Liang Minghe also moved closer to the camera and sniffed.

Zhou Jinqin found his earnest feigned gestures amusing: "Can you smell it even through the screen?"

Liang Minghe suddenly brought out a bouquet of flowers that looked exactly like hers from off-camera. He buried his face in the flowers and smelled them again: "Immersed in the same scent, it's as if you're still right beside me."

He sighed, then smiled and asked her earnestly, "Do you think what I'm doing is self-deception?"

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Author's Note: Xiaoming is an absolute romantic [laughs]

Xiaoqin starts her working life; second male lead, please step in! [doge emoji]