Chapter 6 One Bedroom Aren't you going to sleep with me?

To Zhou Jinqin, these words sounded no different from sweet nothings. Liang Minghe could say them so casually, he was a true master of romance.

Although he had taken off his earrings and rings and dressed more formally today, his extremely flamboyant face still made him far from being associated with the word "honest."

He walked among countless flowers, each petal clinging to him, giving the impression of a playboy who attracted bees and butterflies.

Zhou Jinqin thought for a moment, then suddenly asked him, "You don't have a girlfriend outside, do you?"

Liang Minghe chuckled at her sudden question: "I don't have one outside, nor at home, but I do have a wife."

Her face flushed uncontrollably again. Day after day, Zhou Jinqin felt like water being boiled repeatedly.

Zhou Jinqin had to admit that she was no match for the man in front of her, and she didn't know if choosing to marry him was the right decision.

Liang Ming and she stood side by side under the eaves of the restaurant. He suddenly pointed to an address on the map and asked her, "There's a nail salon nearby. Do you want to get your nails fixed?"

He was referring to the square diamond that had fallen off Zhou Jinqin's ring finger. It had been chipped off when she was helping an elderly person pick up a box, and her fingernail still had a noticeable gap.

She herself hadn't paid attention to this, but she didn't expect the other party to be so observant.

Zhou Jinqin shook her head: "This is good too. I used to complain that it scratches my hair."

As the drill fell, she even felt a sense of relief, as if she had unloaded some pressure.

She looked at him and said, "Let's go straight to your house."

Liang Minghe pulled out the red marriage certificate from his bag: "Have you forgotten? We're already tied together."

Zhou Jinqin paused for a moment, then smiled slightly, revealing a shallow dimple: "Yes, let's go home."

Before going home, the two went to the vet to pick up the cat.

Liang Ming and Dr. Chong said, "Hello, we've come to pick up the cat."

"What's your name?" The vet saw many pets today, and he remembered the person, but not which kitten it was.

Liang Minghe said, "Zhou Xiaomao."

The cat was found last night and hasn't been named yet, so this is a name Liang Ming made up on the spot.

The vet brought the cat out and couldn't help but joke, "It's not small at all; it'd be more like 'Big Zhou Cat'."

The kitten, now clean and fluffy, looked much prettier and plumper, and felt quite heavy in Zhou Jinqin's arms.

The doctor said with a smile, "This fat cat was brought here by a kind person before. They thought it was about to give birth because of its big belly, but it turned out it had just been eating too much."

He carefully instructed, "It's about eight years old, not young anymore. It's not good for it to be a stray outside. It's a good thing for it to come home with you."

"Its heart isn't very good, and the bones in its hind legs aren't in good condition either. You should observe it closely when you get back..."

Zhou Jinqin carefully wrote down every single doctor's order and asked about some precautions before stopping.

The doctor gave her some nutritional paste: "Your husband said you're both new to this job, and he was worried this morning that you wouldn't do a good job. But if you're a complete novice like this, you're actually very suitable to have a cat."

Zhou Jinqin smiled shyly: "I didn't ask what it thought when I brought it home. I just wanted to make up for it in other ways."

She asked, "Can I add you on WeChat? This is my first time raising a cat, and I might need your help with any questions I may have later."

"Of course, you're welcome to consult me," the doctor readily agreed.

On the bus, Zhou Jinqin suddenly remembered some questions she had missed, and she was currently exchanging ideas with the doctor.

Liang Ming glanced at her a few times, but received no response. He cleared his throat and spoke first: "You seem to care a lot about this cat."

Zhou Jinqin didn't even look up, continuing to type diligently: "After all, it's my responsibility to raise it, and I want to try my best to cause you as little trouble as possible."

“I don’t care about that,” Liang Minghe said quietly.

Zhou Jinqin finally put down her phone and looked at him: "Then what do you care about?"

After a long silence, Liang Ming replied, "I thought you never replied to other people's messages."

So that's what he was arguing about. Zhou Jinqin didn't know how to explain for a moment, because she really hadn't replied to anything he sent...

I've heard that some people are particularly concerned about other people's responses. For example, Xiang Ziqing is especially attentive to liking posts on WeChat Moments. If a mutual friend likes someone else's post before hers, she will definitely feel emo for a long time.

Zhou Jinqin thought for a moment, then unlocked her phone again, found Liang Minghe's chat window, and sent a message.

While waiting at a red light, Liang Minghe opened the app and saw a screenshot of a note she had written down things to note about raising cats.

"..."

If Zhou Jinqin is still at the theoretical stage of raising cats, then Liang Minghe has already reached the practical stage.

In just one morning, this house was filled with cat scratching posts, cat trees, and other cat-specific equipment.

Liang Minghe said, "I hadn't considered having anyone move in with me before. The decoration was designed according to my personal preferences. You can bring up any ideas you have, and I'll find someone to redo it, or you can move to another house under my name. Of course, if you think it's too old, you can buy a new one."

After seeing his balance, which seemed to exceed his lifespan, Zhou Jinqin was completely convinced that he had such ability.

"No, no, this is fine as it is." She waved her hand in refusal, then muttered under her breath, "Besides, it's your house anyway, it's already very kind of you to let me live here for free."

“You don’t seem to have gotten used to the fact that we’re married yet. Now we’re a community, what’s mine is yours, and by the same token…” Liang Minghe pointed at her, “what’s yours is mine.”

Zhou Jinqin said, "But it seems like I have nothing to give you..."

Liang Minghe disagreed: "Of course it does. For example, the cat you brought home, it's half mine now."

“But this time I want to be a little greedy,” he said, using a chopstick to draw a dividing line along the cat’s spine from the top of its head. “I want the half with the ears.”

Zhou Jinqin was amused by his serious nonsense and smiled. She went along with him, her eyelashes curving and her voice soft: "Okay, then I want the half without the ear."

"Ahem..." Liang Minghe glanced away from her face, "Have you decided what to name it?"

Zhou Jinqin nodded, seemingly having prepared for this all along. She asked, "Is Tuantuan okay?"

“Of course, this is your kitten, it’s all up to you,” Liang Minghe said.

Zhou Jinqin stared stubbornly at the man who was much taller than her, seemingly dissatisfied with his words. But due to her nature, even when correcting him, she did so in a gentle and consultative manner: "It now has half of you, so your opinion is also very important."

Liang Minghe chuckled at her serious expression. After pretending to ponder for a moment, he said, "Then I'll vote for Tuantuan."

Unexpectedly, Zhou Jinqin was stunned for a moment when her eyebrows unconsciously curved into a smile. Yue Sheng, who hadn't appeared during the typhoon, was at home: "Okay, then it's decided."

"Hmm." Liang Minghe looked away from that gentle face, leaning against the dresser and casually waving a cat toy. "Shall I show you the layout of the house first?"

Even with his legs bent comfortably against the meter-high cabinet, he could still bend them quite a bit; his legs were truly exceptionally long.

The cat was willing but unable; its round eyes were locked on, but its body was too lazy to move an inch.

Zhou Jinqin bent down, wrapped her arms around the cat's chubby waist, and lifted it high to help it grab the little bell on the cat toy.

She seemed even happier than the cat, her nose glowing red from smiling.

"Well... thank you for your hard work."

Because she was sitting, the height difference was greatly reduced, and Liang Minghe could almost look directly at the small light brown mole hidden at the base of her lower eyelashes, which appeared and disappeared with the fluttering of her eyelashes, like a dark star.

"Hmm." The man's Adam's apple bobbed, and he unusually remained silent for a few moments.

Liang Minghe leaned on the counter and stood up with a little effort. He pushed open the door to the nearest room and introduced himself: "This is my workspace. I haven't had a chance to introduce myself to you yet. I am a freelance illustrator, mainly drawing children's picture books, and occasionally contributing to companies."

This study is about 20 to 30 square meters in size. Apart from the area around the desk which is still empty, the rest of the space is filled with various design products, including dolls, ornaments, books, daily necessities, and stationery. Liang Minghe's expertise seems to be much broader than the children's picture books he introduced.

In a way, this study can be seen as a "itasha" (a Japanese anime/manga-themed room) with a high level of dimensional intensity.

Seeing that Zhou Jinqin remained silent, Liang Minghe quietly added, "If you feel that the income from this job is not stable enough, I have five other houses under my name that are rented out. The decoration and location are quite good, and there are almost no vacancy periods during the rental period. The rental income is stable and quite considerable."

Okay, that's enough.

Guangdong truly lives up to its reputation; in just two days, she's already encountered two landlords (or landladys)...

Zhou Jinqin was speechless, her eyes unconsciously turning melancholic.

Just like the expression on Zhou Xiaomao's face when he wasn't given extra food, Liang Minghe couldn't help but chuckle: "Never mind what I said, let's go look at the bedroom."

bedroom……

Zhou Jinqin remembers that apart from the living room, this house only had four separate enclosed spaces: the kitchen, the bathroom, the study, and a bedroom.

A room...

Zhou Jinqin lingered in the bathroom for a long time, making sure every part of her body was clean and fragrant before finally emerging from the bathroom with her face flushed red.

"We're husband and wife now, it's perfectly normal for us to do things together," she muttered to herself, as if trying to reassure herself.

At that moment, Liang Minghe was disciplining the kitten at the dining table when he saw her come out with a flushed face and asked, "Why is your face so red?"

"Maybe the water temperature was set too high..." Zhou Jinqin replied haphazardly.

Liang Ming stared at her face for a while, making sure she didn't have a fever before looking away.

He nodded, not pressing further: "You didn't eat much for dinner. I ordered a cake, would you like some?"

She wanted to politely refuse, but it was too hard to go against her conscience to say no to the dessert, so Zhou Jinqin nodded and obediently sat down opposite Liang Minghe.

It's a palm-sized mango crepe, just the right size for two people to have as a late-night snack.

Liang Minghe unpacked the outer packaging and inserted a beautiful candle from his collection.

Then he took out another small cardboard box from the bag in the cake shop. Inside was a small portion of animal-based cream, which he had ordered specifically for Tuantuan.

Liang Minghe gestured to Zhou Jinqin to light the candles on the cake. Through the dim light, he smiled at the woman opposite him and said, "Let's celebrate becoming a family today."

After saying that, he released the kitten with bright, piercing eyes that had been punished. Tuantuan, who hadn't eaten for two hours, shot straight for the cream like an arrow, meowing noisily as it ate.

Zhou Jinqin's heart softened, and she smiled gently, her eyes crinkling: "Congratulations on becoming a family."

The new beginning of their life wasn't as nerve-wracking or agonizing as they had imagined. The day went more smoothly than any outcome they had anticipated, but newlyweds always have certain issues they have to face.

Time to sleep...

"Good night." The clear male voice did not come from behind.

Zhou Jinqin suddenly turned her head to look at the man whose hand was already on the study doorknob, and subconsciously asked, "Aren't you going to sleep with me?"

Liang Minghe stopped what he was doing, and suddenly slammed the door shut behind him.

He turned his head, looking at her with a half-smile, his melodious voice sounding like a nagging question: "Are you inviting me?"

A note from the author:

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Thank you everyone for the nutrient solution! [Heart eyes]

There's reason to suspect that Liang Minghe was deliberately moving slowly, perhaps to lure Celery into opening her mouth. [Question mark]