Chapter 91 Confess and You'll Get Better Treatment; Winning His Heart Is Just a Matter of Time! Winning Him Over...
The wind was strong at night, and a chill seeped in through the cracks in the old wooden window, causing Zhu Liushuang to instinctively shrink her neck. She pulled her collar tighter, covering the back of her neck completely.
It's the transition season between autumn and winter, and the temperature is quite low in the mornings and evenings, even colder indoors than outdoors. Unfortunately, there's no central heating in the south, so enduring the cold relies entirely on willpower. However, there are some residents willing to spend money on heating and air conditioning, like the Lü family next door.
The outdoor unit of the air conditioner was quite noisy, buzzing like hundreds or thousands of bees trapped in a large box, fluttering their wings and scattering in all directions. The Lü family had two air conditioners running, doubling the noise.
The room was chilly. Zhu Liushuang reached for two earplugs, skillfully put them in, and then crawled into bed. Her mother had changed the sheets and duvet cover to coral fleece, which, although prone to static electricity, at least made it less cold.
After her fingers regained some warmth, she began swiping her phone screen.
Unlike the guest bedroom's monotonous emptiness, the photos in the master bedroom showed more signs of life. The bedding, a refreshing beige, was neatly laid out on the double bed. A long worktable stood by the window, upon which sat several books and his laptop. The room connected to a balcony, where a chair and a few potted plants were placed…
Based on just three photos, Zhu Liushuang could seemingly piece together He Ming's daily life. He seemed to be somewhat obsessive about cleanliness, as his bedroom was impeccably tidy. Although the room was sparsely furnished, the potted plants on the balcony were well cared for, still thriving despite the harsh winter. "He's always been a meticulous person," she thought to herself.
The photo was zoomed in again, and she caught a glimpse of a white figure—the shirt cuff that He Ming had inadvertently revealed while taking the picture. Wearing only a thin shirt, wasn't he cold? Zhu Liushuang stared blankly at the white figure, her brows furrowing involuntarily.
The cursor blinked frequently in the input box, as if inviting her to answer him quickly.
She pondered for a few seconds, biting the soft flesh under her lip, and typed out a line of text.
Choosing the master bedroom would be like "usurping someone else's place," wouldn't it? The guest bedroom is perfectly fine.
As for which guest room she wanted, she did not give him an immediate answer.
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Zhu Liushuang knew that her cohabitation with He Ming was practically a done deal, but she was still making a final effort before it was officially confirmed. After all—she had promised He Ming that she would try her best to persuade her mother to change her mind.
On Saturday evening, she grabbed her mother's hand, crying and appealing to her emotions, saying she "couldn't bear to part with her."
Unfortunately, her mother suddenly became immune to her tears.
“Over the years, Mom has devoted all her attention to you. It’s time for me to think about myself. If you move to Xiao He’s place, I’ll finally have some peace and quiet. It’s fine, and I have nothing to regret.”
These were her mother's exact words, which left Zhu Liushuang stunned.
She didn't know if her mother was trying to comfort her and lessen her guilt, or if she was taking the opportunity to reveal her true thoughts after all these years.
But on second thought, perhaps it was a combination of both. Since her mother had made up her mind, her daughter, having hit a wall, had no choice but to turn back.
Wiping away her tears, she lowered her eyes and replied with an "okay," continuing to eat her still-warm food.
As she ate, the tension in her heart gradually eased, allowing her to breathe a sigh of relief. She had done everything she could. Although the outcome hadn't changed, at least she had kept her promise to He Ming.
The anxiety and unease that had been lingering in her heart disappeared, replaced by an indescribable sense of relief. Beyond that relief lay a subtle joy that quietly took root in her heart.
After dinner, my mother excused herself to go downstairs to throw out the trash and hurriedly left. Before leaving, she told her to pack her luggage carefully.
Zhu Liushuang verbally agreed, but after closing the door, she didn't do anything. She still had a weight to lift from her heart.
When she confessed her crush on He Ming to Tian Xingyu, she promised that she would never hide her feelings from her in the future. Now that she and He Ming are about to live together, rather than fearing that her friend will find out someday and cause an irreparable stalemate, it's more sincere to take the initiative and reveal it now.
So she went into the bedroom, locked the door, and made a video call to her friend.
The melodious ringtone lasted for only a few seconds before Tian Xingyu's face appeared on the phone screen.
"Don't you think we're on the same wavelength? I was just about to send you a message when your video call came through."
Zhu Liushuang gave a guilty "hmm" and cautiously asked, "Ayu, are you alone in the dorm?"
"Of course, my roommate is dating recently, I hardly ever see her," Tian Xingyu said hastily, popping a piece of apple into her mouth.
"I... have something I want to tell you." Zhu Liushuang stammered, trying to figure out how to say it in a way that would minimize her friend's shock.
"Did you win the lottery?" Tian Xingyu asked, leaning closer.
"no."
"Oh! That Dr. Yue from last time confessed her feelings to you?"
"Ah Yu, what nonsense are you spouting!" Zhu Liushuang glared at her.
Tian Xingyu solemnly counted on her fingers and said with an air of self-assurance, "The only thing that could make you so hesitant and indecisive is that person! Shuangshuang, did you manage to win over Senior He?"
As expected... Ah Yu still understands her!
Zhu Liushuang gritted her teeth and held up her bright red marriage certificate in front of the screen.
Tian Xingyu, who was busy poking at her apple, glanced at it casually before looking down at it again: "You bought a house? Didn't you say last time that you hadn't saved enough for the down payment?"
"Ah Yu... take another look." Zhu Liushuang said shyly, forcing out a few words through gritted teeth.
The next second, only Tian Xingyu's big eyes were visible on the phone screen. Immediately afterwards, a deafening scream came from within.
"Honey, am I seeing things? What, a marriage certificate? Bought on Taobao?" My friend's speech was more than twice as fast as before, her questions coming out like a machine gun. "Don't tell me you secretly got a marriage certificate with someone behind my back! With which jerk? Ah... it wouldn't be He Ming, would it?"
Looking at her friend's face, which was all over the screen, Zhu Liushuang silently flipped open the marriage certificate and revealed the information page with their photo together.
"Wow! Zhu Liushuang, you're amazing! You did something big without making a sound and took down the person directly!" Tian Xingyu threw down the apple in her hand and couldn't sit still any longer.
Zhu Liushuang was about to close the marriage certificate when her friend suddenly interrupted her.
"Wait, what did I just see... the marriage certificate date... you two got your marriage certificate in September? Oh, Zhu Liushuang, you kept it from me again! You kept it from me again..."
Seeing Tian Xingyu's expression suddenly change, her beautiful eyes hiding a knife, Zhu Liushuang raised her hand and shouted, "Ayu! I swear, you are really the first person I told on my own initiative!"
“Tell me voluntarily…” Tian Xingyu immediately grasped the key point, “Then is there also the possibility of being told passively? Quickly tell the truth!” As she spoke, her eyebrows rose, carrying a hint of “threat.”
"Um—I hid my marriage certificate in the closet, but my mom found it." Zhu Liushuang lowered her head and stammered.
Over the next half hour, under a barrage of questions from her friend, she truthfully recounted the whole story. She thought her friend would tease her as usual, and then the two of them would move on with a few jokes.
But Tian Xingyu didn't.
After she uttered her last word, a long silence fell on both ends of the phone.
She kept her head down, not daring to look her friend in the eye. Tian Xingyu also kept her head down, making it impossible to read her thoughts.
After a long while, she heard her friend ask her cautiously.
"Shuangshuang, is it worth it? Entrusting your future to an uncertain relationship, what if you regret it later?"
Zhu Liushuang's eyes instantly reddened. She looked up abruptly and realized that her friend's eyes were also glistening with tears. The usually cheerful girl was unusually serious, and as she stared at her blankly, the heartache in her eyes was palpable.
“Ah Yu, whether it’s worth it or not, we’ll only know in the future. I want to take a gamble.” She wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes with her sleeve and said with difficulty, “These days, I often have the thought of backing out, but I don’t regret it. Maybe you will think I’m stupid… but marriage is a luxury for me. Before I reunited with him, I never included marriage in my life plan.”
“You’re not stupid…on the contrary, you’re very brave!” Tian Xingyu wouldn’t allow her to have any more thoughts of belittling herself, so she interrupted her and said, “Shuangshuang, I admire you. In love, most people are cowards. Those who dare to pursue love definitely deserve to be loved well.”
"Thank you, Ayu." Zhu Liushuang forced a smile, tears still welling up in her eyes.
"Besides, since He Ming agreed to get a marriage certificate with you, you must be special to him," Tian Xingyu said confidently. "I've said it before, he treats you differently from others! Winning his heart is just a matter of time!"
"Oh no, you're going to be living together soon, so winning him over is a good idea. He let you choose the bedroom, right? You should choose the guest bedroom without an ensuite bathroom... Trust me, you can't go wrong..."
Suddenly, Tian Xingyu moved closer to the phone screen, lowered her voice, and added mysteriously.
Hearing her friend's words, Zhu Liu forced back the tears in her eyes, and a suspicious blush crept onto her cheeks.
That night, she took the initiative to message He Ming, asking him to come to her house at nine o'clock the next morning, and told him that she would choose the guest room with the walk-in closet.
As soon as the message was sent, her face involuntarily flushed again. Her mind was completely filled with Tian Xingyu's suggestive words: "The guest room doesn't have a bathroom, so you'll have to use the guest bathroom to shower. After showering, wear a sexy, alluring nightgown and casually walk through the living room…tsk tsk tsk, let's see how he resists. Or, if you run out of shower gel, have him bring you a bottle… Opportunities, you have to create them yourself!"
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At 8:59 a.m. on Sunday, He Ming knocked on the Zhu family's door right on time.
At that time, Zhu Liushuang was busy packing her seasonal clothes.
"Xiao He, have you had breakfast yet?" Gu Chunling asked while helping her daughter pull her suitcase. "There are zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) in the kitchen. If you haven't eaten them, go and have some first."
"I've already eaten." He Ming glanced casually at the several large cloth bags on the living room floor and said, "I'll take these down and put them in the trunk."
"Alright, it's a bit heavy, be careful going downstairs," Gu Chunling instructed, taking a moment to quietly observe this quiet but efficient "prospective son-in-law."
Girls have a lot of things, and they filled many bags with odds and ends, yet it seems like they can never finish storing them all.
When He Ming went upstairs again, Zhu Liushuang was standing at the bathroom door with a bitter face, pacing back and forth.
"What's wrong?" He approached Gu Chunling and asked when he saw that she wasn't there.
"There's so much stuff, it's giving me a headache." She put her hands on her hips, blew a breath into her hair, and her cheeks puffed out, creating a few fine lines at the bridge of her nose.
From He Ming's perspective, she looked like a cat whose fur was about to stand on end. Especially her wrinkled nose and eyes, which made her look even more playful than usual, making him want to reach out and smooth her fur.
“Here…didn’t you say you were coming to stay this weekend? Leave your daily necessities here,” He Ming suggested. “There’s a large supermarket not far from my apartment complex; I can take you there this afternoon to buy some supplies.”
"Don't you have to work overtime?" Zhu Liushuang asked subconsciously, staring blankly at him with her glassy eyes.
He Ming was slightly taken aback, but quickly recovered and chuckled, "We're not so busy that we have to work non-stop on Sundays. Our firm has weekends off in the second half of the year."
Did he just laugh?
Zhu Liushuang rubbed her eyes and found that He Ming's face remained as calm as ever.
She probably misread it!
She lowered her head, put away the canvas bags in her hands, and gave up the idea of packing her daily necessities.
"The things are almost sorted out..." she said softly, standing beside him.
"Okay." He Ming glanced down at her and said, "Shall we say hello to Auntie and go over now?"
Zhu Liushuang hesitated, then remembered something, and asked shyly, "Senior, do you have an oven?"
He Ming immediately understood what she meant and said, "We have an oven and a steamer, all new, so you can experiment with them as you like. As for other tools and ingredients for making desserts... you can either pack them up and take them with you, or buy new ones."
Zhu Liushuang thought to herself: This means I have to bring way too much stuff! I can't possibly bring her stall cart along too, can I?
"No need, I was just asking."
"Do you want to drive your stall cart over there? There are two underground parking spaces available."
As she waved her hand and smiled sheepishly in refusal, his voice rang out at the same time.
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Author's note: Ayu is a very good best friend! [Chin resting on hand] I almost fell asleep while writing. This was written in a hurry, I'll revise it tomorrow.
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