05. After the Banquet

After the family dinner, Jiang Nan's life in Chen Yunsheng's home entered a subtle period of silent coexistence.

The most immediate change was for Chen Yunsheng's grandfather, who seemed to genuinely like her honesty. Every now and then, Qian Yuan, the housekeeper of the old house, would call, either asking Jiang Nan to come over to play chess with him on the weekend or to try the newly arrived seasonal fruits.

Jiang Nan walked on thin ice every time she went there, for fear of being too honest and telling the truth about her marriage to Chen Yunsheng. But Old Man Chen seemed to enjoy watching her trying hard to play the role of a lady and then breaking it from time to time. He was cheerful and looked like an old naughty boy.

Chen Yunsheng's parents, on the other hand, were a completely different story. After the family dinner, they met Jiang Nan for afternoon tea at another upscale club. Chen's father, Chen Mingyuan, was a refined man of few words, and his questions were mostly to the point. They asked questions like, "Is Nannan's work going well?" and "How is she getting along with Yunsheng?"

Chen Mingyuan's eyes were gentle, yet they carried an invisible coldness and politeness. His inquiry about Jiang Nan was merely a courtesy, not to say how satisfied he was with Jiang Nan, his nominal daughter-in-law—he didn't even mention asking Jiang Nan to change her mind.

Chen's mother, Su Wanrong, was well-maintained, with delicate makeup, and from head to toe exuded the sophistication of a wealthy lady. She spoke softly, but her words were full of hidden ulterior motives.

"Nannan," Su Wanrong elegantly stirred the coffee in her cup with a small silver spoon, her eyes fixed on the ordinary-looking smart bracelet on Jiang Nan's wrist. "I heard you're quite busy at work. It's not good for a girl to work too hard. Yunsheng is also busy at work, and someone has to take care of the family. You still have to be mindful of some of your status." She paused, then added meaningfully, "Although the Chen family isn't a very old-fashioned family, we still have some respectability to maintain."

Jiang Nan agreed nicely: "Thank you for your concern, Auntie. I will pay attention to it."

But she just agreed to wear it anyway, and silently made a note to take off the bracelet when they met next time.

Later, out of caution, Jiang Nan reported the entire meeting to Chen Yunsheng in detail. Chen Yunsheng's attitude was subtle, especially when he heard Su Wanrong's instructions. A slightly sarcastic smile appeared on his lips, but it quickly disappeared.

Then, he told Jiang Nan that she didn't need to pay attention to Su Wanrong's instructions.

Jiang Nan agreed, and also felt that their mother-son relationship did not seem very good, but she chose to remain silent about it.

After two contacts, Jiang Nan guessed that Chen Yunsheng's icy temperament that kept people at a distance was somewhat inherited from his mother who seemed gentle but was actually cold.

As for Chen Mingyuan, he was more like an observer pretending to be oblivious to what was happening outside.

But whatever their true nature, this afternoon tea made Jiang Nan deeply realize that in the eyes of Chen Yunsheng's parents, she, their daughter-in-law, was more like a temporary employee who needed to follow the rules. Sometimes, she even felt that they were sure of her true identity and were just waiting to see what would happen.

This realization actually made her feel relieved - since she was an employee, she just had to act well in front of her boss Chen Yunsheng and important client Mr. Chen and not break the rules. This nominal in-laws should not bother to interfere too much in the details of her cooperation with Chen Yunsheng.

They were probably more concerned with whether the image presented by Mrs. Chen was appropriate and whether Chen Yunsheng could successfully take over and consolidate the family business. As for who their son married, as long as it wasn't too outrageous and didn't cause major trouble or affect the Chen family's reputation and interests, they didn't seem to care much.

After all, the essence of a wealthy marriage is that it's about interests rather than romantic interests. A tool like Jiang Nan, who appears to have a simple background, is easy to control, and has no ambitions, may not be very helpful to the family business, but it actually saves them trouble.

However, Chen Yunsheng's second uncle Chen Minghui and second aunt Li Li expressed their contempt for her more directly.

At a family gathering after the family dinner, Second Aunt Li Li casually asked about Jiang Nan: "Nannan, I heard you studied art? I wonder who your master is? That up-and-coming painter who's been making a splash in the art world lately seems to also have the surname Jiang. Is he from your family?"

Her eyes held undisguised inquiry and a hint of amusement as if she was watching a good show.

Jiang Nan sensed something was wrong and nearly blurted out, "I'm studying advertising." But then she suddenly remembered the information Wei Yan had given her, which mentioned the name of a lesser-known art school and a mentor abroad. She gritted her teeth and mumbled it out.

Li Li said "oh" meaningfully, and stretched out her voice: "It's that person...it seems...not very famous." The contempt in her tone was almost undisguised.

A girl named Song Wei and the boy next to her also had sarcastic expressions on their faces.

Jiang Nan's face was a little embarrassed, but she didn't know how to turn it around—it was all fake to begin with, and she couldn't argue confidently. Finally, Chen Yunsheng, who had been eating in silence, suddenly put down his knife and fork. He raised his head slightly, looked at Li Li calmly, and asked kindly, "Second Aunt, are you familiar with the art world?"

Li Li choked and looked a little embarrassed: "Uh... I know a little bit."

"Well, that's it." Chen Yunsheng looked away and said nothing more. He picked up a napkin and wiped the corner of his mouth slowly and modestly. But the atmosphere at the table had clearly cooled. Old Man Chen glanced at Li Li and said nothing. Chen Minghui, however, gave his wife a light kick under the table and gave her a look.

Li Li snorted, looking very unconvinced, but did not dare to ask any more questions.

Jiang Nan secretly breathed a sigh of relief, a rare feeling of gratitude towards the icy-faced boss beside her. She understood. Chen Yunsheng held considerable influence within the Chen family. His uncle and aunt might have had their own ulterior motives, but with Chen Yunsheng's dominance and the old man's favoritism, they couldn't stir up any trouble.

At most, they were like clowns, occasionally making sarcastic remarks, harmless enough. With a simple rhetorical question and a look, Chen Yunsheng warded off trouble for her. This feeling of power, though crude and crude, was truly satisfying, leaving Jiang Nan feeling lost for several days.

However, Jiang Nan quickly regained consciousness and even began to consider why Chen Yunsheng had come to her. She had approached her distant cousin again, but she was very professional and refused to say anything. However, considering their thin blood relationship, her cousin hinted that someone was trying to force Chen Yunsheng into marriage, which was why he had come up with this plan.

While Jiang Nan was curious about who this person who wanted to force marriage was, she tried hard to reduce her presence and make herself as quiet as a cold shadow.

At the same time, Chen Yunsheng still went out early and came back late, so the two people met very rarely.

But no matter how careful Jiang Nan was, she couldn't avoid leaving some traces of herself in this cold and empty place.

Chen Yunsheng's life is as regular as clockwork, but there are occasional exceptions.

Sometimes he forgets to turn off the floor lamp in the living room.

At first, she just quietly turned off the light. Then one day, she saw the light was on all night, and Chen Yunsheng had obviously left the house. She thought for a moment, then dug out a stack of sticky notes with cartoon bunnies printed on them from her bag—these sticky notes were a gift from Wenwen.

Wenwen assumed she liked rabbits, so whenever she saw something related to rabbits, she would buy it and give it to her. Correspondingly, when she saw something related to cats, she would buy it and give it to Wenwen.

Jiang Nan found a pen, wrote a sentence, then tore off the pink bunny sticker, walked to the floor lamp switch, and placed the sticky note neatly on the blank space below the switch button. In beautiful handwriting, it read:

Mr. Chen, please turn off the lights when you go out (＾＾●)

After finishing writing, she looked at the cute pink bunny and the smiling face she had drawn, scratched her forehead a little guiltily, and prayed sincerely that he would not find it childish and ridiculous, tear it into pieces, and throw it in her face.

That day, Chen Yunsheng returned and glanced at the sudden pink patch next to the switch. He paused, then turned around. He looked at the smiley face and the elegant handwriting on the sticky note, his expression calm. Then, he reached out his finger and gently pressed the switch, turning on the light. Then he pressed it again, turning it off.

This lamp was actually reserved for Jiang Nan, who often worked overtime and came home late recently, but the other party did not seem to understand the meaning.

Chen Yunsheng felt helpless and amused, then he walked towards the study as if nothing had happened.

The next morning, Jiang Nan was surprised to find the sticky note still there and the lights off. She felt a little elated, as if she had won some inexplicable victory.

From then on, sticky notes began to appear sporadically in the corners of the mansion - there would be red rabbit sticky notes on the refrigerator door to remind him that the milk was about to expire, or blue rabbit sticky notes to remind him that she had left some dishes for him after cooking and he could try them.

She wrote a few words of advice on sticky notes for all sorts of chores.

It was only at this time that Jiang Nan realized that Wenwen had really given her a lot of rabbits.

Chen Yunsheng never made any comments about Jiang Nan's sticky note behavior, nor did he tear up any of them. He even prepared a box as a storage box for those expired sticky notes.

In other words, Chen Yunsheng would follow the instructions on the sticky notes—turn off the lights, take away his coat, check the expiration date on the milk, turn off the coffee machine, and so on. And those little pieces of paper with cute designs and warm reminders, like inconspicuous seeds, quietly took root and sprouted in this cold land of order.