The seaside villa is nestled against the mountains and surrounded by the sea. At midday, the wind brought by the waves blows into the half-open bedroom window, and the hazy gauze curtains sway in the wind, letting in a sparse amount of light.
Tan Yuchen was leaning against the headboard. He hadn't checked his phone for two days. He opened it and replied to the other person casually. The light from the phone screen faintly illuminated his satisfied and lazy face.
Meng Jiuyi leaned against him, so sleepy she couldn't even lift her eyelids. Faint red marks, like bunches of grapes, ran down her neck.
If so much is exposed, imagine what's underneath the blankets.
My phone suddenly vibrated.
It was a message from Tan Ni.
[Brother, I have some bad news for you. Only I know it right now, but you don't. I suggest you buy it out for 30 million.]
The woman in his arms frowned slightly at the slight movement. Tan Yuchen gently pulled his arm out from under her neck, covered her with the blanket, then put on a bathrobe, opened the door, and went downstairs to pour a glass of hot water.
The maid isn't here today; he instructed her to use her for the next few days.
After doing all this, he replied to her casually, his WeChat voice message revealing a languid dullness.
"I suggest robbing a bank."
She was far from the emperor's reach abroad, and with no one to supervise her, she was prone to becoming lawless. Tan Yuchen naturally had no intention of granting her every request.
Tan Ni returned aggressively.
"Hmph, you'll definitely regret this!!!"
Tan Yuchen put away his phone and ignored her completely. After going upstairs, he opened the door and found that the person on the bed was already waking up, but she couldn't lift her eyelids. She rubbed her eyes with her fists, like a kitten struggling to wake up.
Tan Yuchen put down his water glass and bent down to kiss her cheek.
"Awake? Are you thirsty?"
Last night, she cried until her voice was hoarse and her face was burning hot. The man fed her water several times. This time was no different; the warm water flowed through his lips and tongue, and the scent of sage filled her nostrils.
He wasn't satisfied after feeding her, so he pecked at her lips again and again, then kissed her earlobe.
Meng Jiuyi was trembling violently.
"No...don't come anymore..."
Tan Yuchen stopped all movement, propped himself up above her head, his eyes burning.
She turned her face away, and he gently kissed her.
Good morning, baby.
He was dressed neatly, unlike his dissolute behavior last night.
Under the covers, she looked like a naked little fish, blushing from head to toe. Meng Jiuyi glared at him, "Now you're pretending to be a big shot again. From now on, I won't speak to you for a month."
Tan Yuchen chuckled softly, "How can I pretend?"
He forced her to say many shameful things, but she bit her lip and refused to say anything. Then he ate her from head to toe.
She couldn't even remember how many times she had tried.
The villa was so well soundproofed that her cries and pleas couldn't even be heard in the hallway, which only emboldened him to do as he pleased.
Meng Jiuyi grew angrier the more she thought about it. Why should she be the only one who felt ashamed? As the saying goes, if you're not embarrassed, it's the other person who feels embarrassed.
"You bit my butt, made me sit on your face, and made me count the beats with you, saying after nine beats—"
Before he could finish speaking, Tan Yuchen covered his mouth.
His ears turned bright red, and he cleared his throat.
"Let's leave this topic aside for now."
"Why should I! You made me say it."
Meng Jiuyi reached out and grabbed his ear, channeling all her anger into it. The two wrestled and rolled around, until she wrapped herself in the blanket and clung to the man.
Tan Yuchen was indeed extremely jealous last night. When she first chose Xu Yanzhi in front of him, he could still speak recklessly even without knowing her true feelings. How much more so when it comes to her liking him for so many years, when he was not involved, she had someone else completely in her heart.
Don't think about it, because thinking about it will make you feel sour.
"I regret going to England for junior high school."
Tan Yuchen kissed her lips. "If I had returned to China for university, would we have gotten to know each other sooner?"
Meng Jiuyi didn't hold back in criticizing him, "The person I favored back then wasn't someone like you. Even if you were standing right in front of me, I'd still—"
"I was suddenly pinched on the waist," Tan Yuchen said quietly.
"I'll give you one more chance."
"Stand in front of me, I..."
Meng Jiuyi swallowed back, "I might look at you a few more times because of your handsome face."
Tan Yuchen snorted, still getting his way.
"Whether you liked me back then or not doesn't matter. Your husband is good at the long haul. Life is so long, he'll make you like me sooner or later."
Meng Jiuyi's heart skipped a beat.
"...If we had really known each other back then, the situation might be different now."
She didn't get along well with her classmates back then, and she suffered a major setback in high school, leaving her with many sharp edges.
Meng Jiuyi overheard others saying that she had a strange personality and was difficult to get along with. In addition, she went to bars and nightclubs, so bad comments started to circulate.
“When we met back then, you might have misunderstood me, thinking I was weird, prickly, a strange person who wore a mask at school and had no friends, yet hung out in shady places,” she said in a low voice. “I didn’t actually like myself back then.”
Besides, there are so many things to do in this world. It's not like we're surviving on a desert island. There are new things every day. Who can overcome all the obstacles to understand others?
Tan Yuchen snorted with a laugh, "Wasn't I weird enough when I first met you, a paparazzi with a fake face?"
Meng Jiuyi was immediately embarrassed.
He lifted her face up and made her look at him. "But I'm still attracted to you. I'm drawn to the mysterious contrast in you. I thought I'd spend a few more minutes to see what you're up to."
But this turned out to be the beginning of his inescapable addiction.
“Back then, whether you were in the cafeteria, in the bar, or even on the street, whenever we had a chance to meet, my subconscious would make me create opportunities to get to know you.”
He gently stroked her cheek with his fingertips, "You said that the period you disliked the most is the past that I wish I could build a time machine to go back to."
His pupils were dark, and in the dim light of the fluttering curtains, her face was completely reflected in them.
Meng Jiuyi suddenly felt a lump in her throat as she heard his slow, deep voice, as if it were trying to penetrate her soul.
“Meng Jiuyi, Tan Yuchen will love you just the way you are.”
--
After she got up, Tan Yuchen ordered food and at the same time called someone to upgrade the villa's security system.
The other party was in the shadows while she was in the open. Except for specific outings where he accompanied her, Tan Yuchen did not plan to let her go out.
The recording pen had interrupted her thoughts. She took out the loose-leaf pages of the sketchbook left by Gao Xianyue and arranged them one by one, trying to see if she had missed any clues.
Tan Yuchen's gaze swept over the picture albums.
"She prefers Impressionism?"
Meng Jiuyi hummed in agreement. "Gao Xianyue once said that she likes Monet's paintings and that she can find peace when she paints."
After she finished speaking, she paused for a moment. She had almost forgotten that the two of them had once been on friendly terms. Gao Xianyue had told her everything, and Meng Jiuyi was very surprised to see her smoking.
Gao Xianyue chuckled to herself, saying how could such a good student be so well-behaved?
Meng Jiuyi went through all the numbers related to her preferences, but still had no clue.
The doorbell rang, and after answering the phone, the food delivery person arrived.
Seeing that she was so engrossed in the activity that she wanted to disappear into the room, Tan Yuchen told her to go get the food while he put the picture book away.
Meng Jiuyi had been fed by him for the past two days and was already hungry. She put on her slippers and went to the door. When the door opened, she froze.
Aside from the men in suits who deliver food, there were many other people standing outside.
Tan Ni, who had sent her photos of Austrian scenery just a few days ago, was standing outside in a flurry of activity. Old Mrs. Tan was also there, supported by Tan Sheng and a maid, along with a refined-looking man whom she had never seen before.
For a moment, several pairs of eyes looked at each other, and their steps seemed to freeze.
Tan Ni was the first to react.
After that moment of surprise rushed through her mind, she felt like she was on a roller coaster, plummeting suddenly, and then a banner was suddenly stretched out in front of her that read—
Oh no!
Having failed to extort money from Tan Yuchen, she brought her fourth brother along as well.
She's going to die!
The old lady, being a woman of wide experience, quickly recovered from her initial surprise and smiled.
“Nine Yi…”
Meng Jiuyi swallowed, her mind reacting as quickly as her mouth.
"Grandma... I'm here to deliver something to my cousin. After I finish... I'll leave."
She was eager to distance herself, but she couldn't quite articulate her thoughts.
With such a commotion by the door, how could Tan Yuchen not hear it? He slowly stepped forward and remained calm despite seeing so many people outside, without even raising an eyebrow.
Just as Meng Jiuyi was racking her brains to clear her name, he put his arm around her shoulder and pressed his lips to her ear.
"Alright, if you say a few more words, it will only make it seem like you're trying to hide something."
Meng Jiuyi's ears burned instantly.
"you....."
Tan Sheng's breathing was rapid, "You..."
"What do you mean, 'you'? You're so happy you can't even speak properly. Call me sister-in-law."
Tan Yuchen casually continued, "Why don't you help the old lady inside?"
He glanced indifferently at Tan Ni beside him, a light and casual look, but Tan Ni's neck suddenly felt cold.
It's over! She's really going to die.
Among them, Yu Huai looked puzzled, his mind filled with thoughts of how beautiful his sister-in-law was.
But why does Tan Sheng look at Tan Yuchen with the eyes of someone who has stolen his wife?
---
good evening
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