Chapter 26 Eggnog "You'd better say that kind of slutty talk in front of your wife."
After seeing Shen Cen off, Jiang Shiyu went to Siji and went straight to his favorite private room on the second floor.
Cheng Jingyan was lounging on the sofa in the private room with his legs spread wide like a lord, happily texting his new girlfriend.
Jiang Shiyu walked over and kicked Cheng Jingyan's leg, which was domineeringly occupying most of the sofa. "Move over a bit, you're smiling like an idiot."
Cheng Jingyan tactfully withdrew his leg: "What's wrong? You look both happy and unhappy."
If you say Jiang Shiyu is happy, you really can't find a trace of happiness on his face. If you say he's unhappy, his tone of voice is still relatively relaxed, and he even has the interest to joke with Cheng Jingyan.
"Married men are so unpredictable," he couldn't help but mutter again.
Jiang Shiyu ignored Cheng Jingyan, picked up the wine on the table, poured a glass into a clean glass, and prepared to drink it all in one gulp.
"Hey brother, slow down, this liquor is really strong, take it easy." Cheng Jingyan snatched Jiang Shiyu's glass. "I heard about how you deliberately got drunk last time, you must have caused your sister-in-law a lot of trouble, carrying you, a grown man, home. This time you're drunk and nobody's taking care of you."
Jiang Shiyu, perhaps having taken Cheng Jingyan's advice to heart, ordered a cocktail from the waiter.
"What happened? He looks half-dead."
"My Cen Cen is away on a business trip."
Cheng Jingyan: "...I thought something serious had happened. You look like the sky has fallen."
Jiang Shiyu retorted, "If I don't see my Cen Cen for a week, isn't the sky falling down?"
Cheng Jingyan rolled his eyes: "Get lost. You'd be better off saying those kinds of slutty things in front of your wife. What's the point of saying them to me?"
After their last get-together at the bar, he quickly noticed something amiss, based on Jiang Shiyu's past reactions. Later, after confirming with Fu Cheng, he learned that Jiang Shiyu had been secretly in love with that girl for over a decade.
"He's usually carefree and irresponsible, but a coward when it really matters." That's how he described Jiang Shiyu. He said that if it were him, he would have said it on the very first day after they got their marriage certificate.
Fu Cheng explained for Jiang Shiyu: "Think about it, if you got a fake marriage certificate with someone you'd only known for a short time, and then that person suddenly told you that she'd actually had a crush on you for over ten years, and that all her work over the years had been related to you, how would you feel?"
Cheng Jingyan felt a chill run down his spine: "It sounds terrifying..."
"So, Brother Yu was afraid of scaring Shen Cen, and wanted to wait until the two of them had a foundation of feelings before confessing his feelings."
"That makes sense, but I still think he's a coward."
Fu Cheng was speechless.
-
Meanwhile, more than two hours later, Shen Cen landed safely in City A.
As luck would have it, she ran into Chen Shili, who was flying directly from his tourist destination to City A, as soon as she arrived at the airport.
Chen Shili was wearing sunglasses, but as soon as he saw Shen Cen, he quickly took them off: "Junior Sister Cen!"
Shen Cen walked up to Chen Shili with the bunch of lisianthus in her arms: "Sister Shili, what a coincidence."
Chen Shili noticed the flower in Shen Cen's hand at a glance. After examining it closely, she suddenly covered her mouth in surprise and took two steps back: "My God, Junior Sister, is something going on?"
Shen Cen was surprised that Chen Shili could tell at a glance that roses weren't the flower used to express love. But since she had noticed, Shen Cen took the opportunity to reveal it: "Yes, Senior Sister, how did you figure it out?"
Chen Shili took off his sunglasses and pinned them to his chest, looking like he thought, "You didn't know that, did you?" He continued, "These are lisianthus, also known as thornless roses. Their flower language is: 'Eternal love is my sincere affection for you.' Lisianthus aren't just given away casually; the person who gives them the flowers has a special thought in mind."
As soon as she finished speaking, she suddenly realized that Shen Cen had just admitted that she was in a relationship, and then she covered her mouth in surprise: "Oh my god? You're in a relationship? Who's your boyfriend? How far have things progressed?"
She kept asking questions, and Shen Cen didn't know which one to answer first.
Chen Shili decided to question them one by one:
First of all, who is your boyfriend?
"Jiang Shiyu".
"That name sounds familiar; I've heard of it before."
"That boss who's so frightening."
"Huh???" Chen Shili had lost count of how many times she had covered her mouth since she first met Shen Cen, but at this moment, the shock in her heart had reached its peak. "Boss Siji??? Did I hear that right? It's that Siji Bar?"
Shen Cen nodded: "Mm."
"My goodness, what stage are you at now?"
"I'm already married."
"Huh???" Chen Shili was so shocked that she almost fell to the ground.
Compared to the information contained in that sentence, the shock she felt at that moment was only at its peak; she had just been at the foot of the mountain.
"No way, I still doubt if I heard you right. You two got married after knowing each other for just over a month? A whirlwind marriage?"
"It was a whirlwind marriage, but we knew each other for more than a month."
Shen Cen briefly explained to Chen Shili about her marriage to Jiang Shiyu, specifically mentioning that the incident at Siji was not an intentional attempt to hide it from her, but rather that the two of them had not yet discussed whether to make it public.
Chen Shili is, after all, a modern woman with a very open mind, and she is not surprised by talk of "flash marriage" or "contract marriage".
It was unexpected that Shen Cen's husband would be that handsome bar owner; the two seemed like people who would never cross paths.
"Tsk tsk tsk, no wonder so many people asked Boss Siji for his WeChat, but he didn't give it to a single one. Turns out he's already married. But speaking of which..."
Chen Shili took out his phone, looking down as if searching for something. "Found it!"
Shen Cen looked over and realized that it was a video of the owner, Jiang Shiyu, that had suddenly gone viral shortly after Siji opened.
"Look at these comments below. They must have been from the beginning of this year, before you and Jiang Shiyu knew each other, right?"
When Shen Cen saw the January post, many people commented below:
I must say, the boss is really handsome, and also really aloof.
[I agree with the comment above. My girlfriends and I tried to get their contact information, but we were both unsuccessful.]
[Oh my god, I thought it was my fault for failing to strike up a conversation, but now it seems the boss didn't respond to a single one!]
There are many more comments like this.
Shen Cen quickly understood Chen Shili's meaning. Jiang Shiyu never gave other girls his contact information, so why did he suddenly make an exception and agree to add her?
Soon, the two noticed the latest comment, which was posted today.
[All you ladies who're still thinking about the handsome boss, you can stop now, he's married.]
Someone quickly replied: "Huh? Are you serious?"
Just now, Siji is having a promotion, saying they're celebrating two months since the boss got married, and they're having a buy-one-get-one-free event.
【No? Married for two months? I've never heard of that before.】
[According to unreliable rumors, the handsome boss's wife didn't want to go public with the relationship.]
[OMG, she has such a handsome husband but doesn't want to go public!]
[Maybe the boss's wife is an absolute beauty, and the boss's good looks are nothing in her eyes, hahaha~]
Anyone want to form a group to go to Siji to see the boss's wife? We have a buy-one-get-one-free deal.
[Upstairs, I'll go after I get off work at 5 PM!]
Chen Shili was already laughing so hard he could hardly breathe: "My God, it's a good thing you came to City A. I can't imagine how awkward it would have been for you to be surrounded by a bunch of people."
Shen Cen silently sent a message to Jiang Shiyu: 【What's going on?】
Jiang Shiyu replied immediately: 【Arrived in City A?】
Shen Cen: [Just arrived, what's the wedding anniversary thing?]
Jiang Shiyu: [That's right. I heard from He Yan that business hasn't been good lately, and they're thinking of organizing some events to attract more customers.]
Shen Cen: [Isn't there any other reason for this activity?]
Jiang Shiyu: [That's all I can think of.]
As soon as the message arrived, Jiang Shiyu replied immediately: [Does Teacher Shen have any better suggestions?]
After careful consideration, Shen Cen couldn't find a better reason for the activity.
Shen Cen: [Then let's use this for now. But I definitely won't dare come to Siji again for the next month.]
Jiang Shiyu: [No problem, I'll make you some drinks at home if you want.]
Shen Cen: [Do I have a buy-one-get-one-free offer?]
Jiang Shiyu: [It depends on your performance.]
What do you mean by "watching her performance"?
Unable to figure it out, Shen Cen simply put his phone back in his bag and didn't reply to Jiang Shiyu.
The research assignment in City A was quite demanding, and for the first five days, Shen Cen was so busy that she barely had time to check her phone. After arriving at the hotel at night, she would only lie on the bed and play "Summer Echoes" for a while before quickly falling asleep.
Therefore, on the sixth day, when Shen Cen was visiting the History Museum in City A, he received a message from Jiang Shiyu.
Jiang Shiyu: [Poor performance.]
The message, along with the preceding phrase "[It depends on your performance]", was strangely amusing. Shen Cen couldn't help but laugh out loud and replied: "[I've been too busy the past few days, so I only have free time today.]"
Jiang Shiyu: [I don't believe it.]
Shen Cen forwarded the detailed schedule from the group chat to Jiang Shiyu: 【Look for yourself.】
At this moment, Zhou Mingrui suddenly walked over and said to Shen Cen and Chen Shili, "Junior sister, how about we go and browse the cultural and creative shops on the second floor?"
“Okay, okay.” Chen Shili readily agreed, but saw that Shen Cen stood there without saying a word.
In fact, Shen Cen really likes cultural and creative trinkets, and she always buys a lot to bring back whenever she goes to museums for research. However, this time, because of the airfare issue, the atmosphere between her and Zhou Mingrui was a bit awkward, and she didn't really want to go with him.
"Junior Sister Cen, come along with me! Come shopping with me."
Chen Shili was unaware that Zhou Mingrui liked Shen Cen. In fact, Shen Cen hadn't noticed at all before Zhou Mingrui confessed his feelings, and she was quite startled at the time. Seeing Chen Shili's words, she had no choice but to agree.
"All right."
Chen Shili pulled Shen Cen upstairs, with Zhou Mingrui following behind them without saying a word.
Upon entering the store, the dazzling array of exquisite cultural and creative products immediately caught Shen Cen's attention. She and Chen Shili swept through the store from the entrance to the back, their arms almost overflowing with items.
"Junior sister, let me help you carry these?" Zhou Mingrui casually grabbed a refrigerator magnet, clearly not paying attention to these cultural and creative products.
"No need, senior brother. We'll just get a bag from the cashier later."
Seeing this, Zhou Mingrui gave an awkward chuckle and walked over to the side to pick up a few creative bookmarks to look at.
Shen Cen had already finished selecting her own cultural and creative products when she suddenly thought about whether she should buy some for Wen Jie and Jiang Shiyu. So she took some pictures of the store and sent them to Wen Jie and Jiang Shiyu.
Wen Jie quickly circled the item she wanted in the picture: "Baby, I want this imperial concubine's sachet, mua~"
A few minutes later, Jiang Shiyu also sent a message. However, he still went all out with his "choice paralysis": [If you can't choose, pick one for me.]
Shen Cen thought for a moment, then picked up a refrigerator magnet shaped like a golden rice bowl, inside which were a bunch of small gold ingots: "How about this? It has a nice meaning."
Since Siji's business hasn't been doing well lately, it would be perfect for her to send some small gifts that symbolize good fortune.
Jiang Shiyu: [Okay.]
Shen Cen took the refrigerator magnets to the cashier to pay. Actually, she and Wen Jie had already paid for theirs while waiting for Jiang Shiyu's message, when there were fewer people around.
However, Zhou Mingrui clearly misunderstood that she had paid for another item and then returned, so he rushed ahead of Chen Cen and handed her the payment code.
"Junior sister, let me give this to you."
Shen Cen was taken aback, and then suddenly realized that this was a good opportunity to tell Zhou Mingrui that she was already married.
She smiled and said gently, "Senior brother, this is for my husband. It's not appropriate for you to pay for it for me."
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Author's Note: Someone's coming in the next chapter, and then... *cough cough* [doge emoji]
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