After saying that, Lu Sili felt much lighter.
So apparently he was not capable of being cold all the time.
He even started to realize that Su Yuan was a strange person. It was hard to play mind games with him and hard to treat him coldly, even though Su Yuan had not shown any sadness or disappointment.
Betas did not have pheromones, but when Lu Sili thought about it carefully, this honest-guy buff was even more frightening than pheromones.
Lu Sili sighed inwardly and called Su Yuan over to sit down.
“I don’t know what my grandmother prepared either.”
“I haven’t looked.” Su Yuan sat down beside him, took the gift box out of his bag, and handed it to Lu Sili. “Since it’s a gift for you, you should be the one to open it.”
It had been a busy, mentally exhausting day. Now, sitting in the warm little apartment and finally relaxing, Lu Sili crossed one leg over the other, took the box, and opened it.
“Cufflinks?” Lu Sili carefully took them out and spread them across his palm.
To be honest, Lu Sili had not expected anything especially expensive. He knew Su Yuan’s family situation. His aunt and uncle were not his biological parents, after all, so Lu Sili had assumed the gift would be something given for the sake of courtesy.
But the simple pair of cufflinks in his palm was set with sapphires. Lu Sili did not know much about gemstones, but he had seen enough fine things to know that these two stones were very good quality.
Lu Sili looked up at Su Yuan and noticed a shimmer in his eyes too. “This is too expensive.”
Su Yuan immediately adjusted his expression and said calmly, “It’s… a token of my aunt and uncle’s goodwill.”
Lu Sili thought about it. Since he had already said they would divide everything fairly, there was no need to argue. He could simply accept it.
But when he thought about how Su Yuan’s aunt and uncle, with their ordinary family circumstances, had prepared such an expensive gift, he was still touched and a little embarrassed.
He did not lack this amount of money, but to them it had to be a major expense.
Lu Sili was not deliberately emphasizing the difference in their economic circumstances. He simply understood that money really was important, and ignoring objective financial differences could actually hurt people.
That kind of pressure and harm was like constantly asking a colleague on an average salary to join you at expensive places. Of course, that assumed the other person genuinely wanted to be your friend instead of trying to profit off you.
“All right. Thank them for me.” As he spoke, Lu Sili picked up the document envelope his grandmother had given him and opened it.
The envelope was thick enough that he could feel there was more than paperwork inside.
Lu Sili opened it and dumped everything onto the sofa.
“Let’s see what’s in there.”
Following Lu Sili’s instruction, Su Yuan picked the documents up and quietly read them aloud. “A 428-square-meter villa at No. 28 Caisheng Road, twenty percent of the shares in the high school division of Royal Foreign Language School, five million in savings… one set of Desert Starlight diamonds.”
“…” Lu Sili blinked. He was still holding another pouch that had been tucked inside the envelope. Written on it were the words: From Xia Lizhi.
“This one’s from my mother. She never gives gifts and doesn’t really understand this kind of thing. It’s probably just a bankbook.”
Lu Sili opened it. “One Wally new private yacht…”
He looked at Su Yuan. Su Yuan had a helpless smile on his face, but he did not look embarrassed or inferior. Instead, he simply pointed to the small box on Lu Sili’s lap. “What about that?”
That was from his mother too. Lu Sili opened it and found two rings inside.
The design was simple, each ring set with a tiny diamond. There was also a miniature note in Xia Lizhi’s handwriting.
“Wishing you a happy marriage.” Lu Sili turned the note around and showed it to Su Yuan.
The two of them had already told their families that they would not hold a wedding. After registering the marriage, they would travel abroad. Lu Sili happened to be leaving for a business trip to Japan on Friday, so they would call that their honeymoon. Lu Sili’s mother and father both had projects of their own; managing to come home for this meal had already required them to take time off, so there was no possibility of their waiting around for some formal wedding ceremony.
Lu Sili said nothing. He put down the note, took the rings out, and said, “Try them on. Let’s see which one fits.”
There was not the slightest trace of romance. The two of them chose rings that fit as casually as though they were trying on clothes.
“They look pretty good.” Lu Sili held up his hand to admire the ring and murmured almost unconsciously, “Wearing this to business dinners and banquets will save me a lot of trouble.”
He did not notice Su Yuan’s expression. He lowered his head to divide the gifts and analyzed the matter seriously. “Transferring shares is a hassle. How about this: you take the villa and the savings, and I’ll take the shares and the diamonds.”
That was absolutely not unfair in terms of value. The villa alone was worth enough for Su Yuan to live lavishly through three lifetimes.
Su Yuan said nothing. Only when Lu Sili looked up at him for confirmation did he give a slight smile. “All right. Thank you.”
He did not seem especially happy, but Lu Sili did not have the patience to keep asking.
“We’ll have the lawyer handle it.” With the day’s business finally settled, Lu Sili got lightly to his feet. Seeing the cardboard boxes around the apartment, he immediately began making arrangements. “We’re leaving for Japan on Friday. If you have time over the next few days, you can move in first.”
Su Yuan said, “Okay. I’ll tell you once I’ve packed.”
With everything settled, Lu Sili prepared to leave.
Lu Sili put on his coat and headed for the door. Su Yuan followed behind, intending to walk him downstairs, but Lu Sili quickly said, “No need. It’s freezing outside.”
The period of heavy suppressant use during his heat had passed, and Lu Sili’s complexion looked a little better. The most troublesome family meeting had also ended without disaster, so he was in a good mood.
“Then message me when you get home,” Su Yuan said.
He had gradually come to understand that Lu Sili disliked pointless back-and-forth. Once Lu Sili decided something, it would ultimately be done his way, and Su Yuan did not want to irritate him.
“All right. Bye.” Lu Sili turned to leave.
The doctors’ dormitory had been built a long time ago and did not have underground parking. Cars were parked in marked spaces in the courtyard.
Beside the entrance to the apartment building were several large trash bins for the residents. Lu Sili had a tissue in his pocket. As he passed, he stepped closer and tossed it in.
With just a casual glance, he unexpectedly spotted something familiar inside the trash bin.
The Sailor Moon apron.
For no reason, Lu Sili laughed. He remembered how ridiculous Su Yuan had looked wearing it. But why had he thrown it away? It was still fairly new, and it was not as though he had to wear the thing outside.
With Lu Sili’s level of emotional intelligence, the conclusion he eventually reached was that perhaps Su Yuan thought it would be troublesome to pack during the move, or maybe he had simply never liked it much.
The drive home went smoothly. Once there, Lu Sili took a shower and immediately shut himself in the study to deal with work messages.
This business trip to Japan was for an Asia-region management meeting, and Parker would be attending. No matter how busy the year-end gala was, Lu Sili had to go.
F&A’s Asia regional headquarters had remained unestablished for years. Every year rumors surfaced that it would finally be established, and every year nothing came of them.
The annual management meeting within the Asian region was something of a weather vane. China’s box office had grown quickly over the past two years, but F&A placed enormous emphasis on quality, and the China branch’s original productions had been fairly average, with little international influence.
Two award-season films were scheduled for release next year. Lu Sili had to go personally, build influence, and paint an enticing picture of the future.
The Asia regional headquarters had to be established in China.
That was Lu Sili’s goal.
By the time he finished working, it was already past midnight. Lu Sili closed the company’s internal communication software and casually picked up his phone. Only then did he notice that Su Yuan had messaged him at 9:11, 9:40, 10:00, and 11:02, each time asking whether he had gotten home safely.
Lu Sili slapped his forehead. He had completely forgotten.
The main problem was that after all these years, Lu Sili had genuinely never developed the habit of reporting mundane things like “I’m home” to anyone.
He quickly replied: [I got home. Around nine. I’m really sorry, I forgot to tell you.]
Su Yuan replied instantly: [That’s good.]
Su Yuan: [Good night.]
Lu Sili returned the good night. But once he lay down, he could not sleep. After tossing and turning for a long time, he finally got up and took a sleeping pill.
Wednesday was the auspicious date his grandmother had chosen, and on one busy Wednesday morning, Lu Sili and Su Yuan were supposed to meet outside the Civil Affairs Bureau.
Before getting out of the car, Lu Sili reminded Fiona, “I’ll be out quickly. Don’t go far.”
Fiona did not find it especially strange that her boss had come to get married without parents or friends but had brought his assistant. She merely could not help thinking privately that the fake husband he had found really did have an excellent temper.
When Lu Sili walked in, Su Yuan was already waiting, holding their queue number. “Did you bring all your documents?”
Lu Sili nodded. “Mm. I have everything. How many people ahead of us?”
Su Yuan glanced at the notice board. “We’re third. Perfect. We can fill in the forms first.”
Lu Sili had asked Fiona to look up the marriage-registration process beforehand. It was quick. The only incident happened while they were waiting for the official seal, when an Alpha there to get divorced caught a glimpse of their identity information and gave Su Yuan two pointed looks.
Naturally, Lu Sili snapped at him.
Everything else went smoothly.
“Do you want to have lunch together?” Su Yuan asked.
He looked quite happy. Lu Sili could tell. Lu Sili was happy too, actually. No one would be able to nag him about marriage anymore, and he would face less unwanted attention at work.
But lunch was impossible.
“I have to go to the venue. I don’t have time,” Lu Sili said.
Of course Su Yuan did not make things difficult for him. He simply said okay.
At that moment Fiona’s car pulled up at the curb. Parking was not allowed there, so they had to leave immediately. Lu Sili said goodbye and turned to go.
“Lu Sili!” Su Yuan chased after him.
Lu Sili said, “What’s wrong?”
Su Yuan said, “I told you last night. I’m moving this afternoon.”
Realization dawned on Lu Sili. “Right. Sorry, I forgot again.”
Anything unrelated to work always got pushed to the back of Lu Sili’s mind. He secretly glanced at Su Yuan. Fortunately, he did not look angry.
Lu Sili ducked into the car, found the access card and key, and handed them to Su Yuan. “I’ll send you the door-lock password on WeChat too.”
Su Yuan accepted the key.
Lu Sili looked out at him from inside the car. A gust of wind happened to blow past. The north wind cut like a blade, tearing the last dry leaves from the tips of the branches and sending them spinning through the air.
The man standing beside the car wore a neat suit today. His black wool coat made his fair skin look especially refined. His hair had been lightly styled, clean and natural, and the fingers holding his tote bag were long and strong. He waved at Lu Sili through the window.
“Drive carefully. Remember to eat,” Su Yuan said.
The car merged into traffic. Lu Sili stuffed the marriage certificate into the glove compartment in front of the passenger seat. When he turned to speak to Fiona, he noticed that she was smiling.
Lu Sili said, “What are you smiling about?”
Fiona said, “Nothing.”
Lu Sili said, “Tell me.”
Fiona said, “You actually got married.”
Lu Sili shook his head helplessly. He said nothing and picked up his phone to approve some OA requests.
The afternoon’s work went unexpectedly smoothly and finished earlier than anticipated. Lu Sili was treating the year-end gala project team to dinner that evening, which left him with an hour and a half in between. Going back to either the office or home would have been inconvenient, so he simply went shopping with Fiona for warm clothes to wear in Japan, since the Asia-region year-end management meeting was being held in Hokkaido.
Lu Sili reasonably suspected this was because Parker personally wanted to visit Hokkaido.
There was a large shopping mall near the gala venue. Once Lu Sili and Fiona arrived, they went straight to a well-known outdoor clothing store.
Both of them shopped with maximum efficiency. Even after buying everything, they still had nearly fifty minutes left.
“I want to look in there.” Fiona pointed toward a women’s lingerie store.
Lu Sili said, “Go ahead. I’ll browse next door.”
Next door was a large multi-brand concept store called moonlight, carrying everything from clothing to home goods.
Lu Sili never shopped in stores like this. It was not that he disliked them; there were simply too many categories, which made browsing time-consuming.
But he had to wait for Fiona now, so he wandered around casually.
The store’s buyers clearly had excellent taste. Although it carried many types of products, the overall style never felt chaotic, and everything had a sense of quality.
Lu Sili browsed without much attention. After turning a corner into the kitchenware section, he saw three aprons. One was cotton-linen with small panels of soft leather, its overall palette linen and brown, giving it a gentle look.
“Hello, sir.” A sales associate passing by noticed Lu Sili staring at that apron and came over to introduce it. “This apron comes from…”
“Please pack one for me. Thank you,” Lu Sili said.
He had no interest in where it came from, who had designed it, or what the design philosophy was. He had simply remembered that Su Yuan had thrown away his apron and probably needed a new one. He could treat it as a thank-you gift for agreeing to accompany him on the Hokkaido business trip.
He paid and walked out just as Fiona finished shopping too.
“Let’s go, Director Lu. It’s almost time.” Fiona noticed the bag in Lu Sili’s hand as she spoke.
“What did you buy?”
Lu Sili had never really bought gifts for other people like this. Whenever gifts were needed for work, he had Fiona handle them, so he suddenly felt a little awkward.
“Just something random.”
“Home goods?”
“You talk too much.” Lu Sili put on a stern face.
Fiona shrugged. She was neither afraid of him nor interested in making things difficult. She simply walked ahead first and even smiled at Lu Sili.
Lu Sili followed behind, feeling thoroughly deflated.
Why had he bought the thing? Su Yuan was a doctor capable of earning a position at Municipal Hospital. Did Lu Sili really think the man did not know how to buy his own apron? Now Fiona had laughed at him for it too.
After getting into the car, he angrily shoved the apron bag into the bag containing his down jacket.
The annoyance did not last long. In Lu Sili’s eyes, the team dinner was work too, and once he was working, he forgot everything else.
In fact, until the moment he pushed open his front door, he had completely forgotten something else as well.
Su Yuan had moved in.
Two large cardboard boxes sat in the living room, and there was movement from the other bedroom.
Probably hearing the door open, Su Yuan came out from the room opposite Lu Sili’s. “You’re back.”
Lu Sili said, “Mm. Sorry. You were moving today and I still came home this late.”
Compared with Su Yuan, Lu Sili was the one who looked uncomfortable.
He had been drinking. His neck was flushed, and he had thrown up in the bathroom before coming home. His stomach was empty now.
Su Yuan noticed. Wearing a sweater and pajama pants, he walked over and tilted his head slightly. Hearing Lu Sili’s stomach rumble, he asked, “How about I make you a bowl of noodles?”
“Mm.” Lu Sili looked a little embarrassed.
How strange. Why did Su Yuan act so much like a live-in caretaker? But then again, he was Lu Sili’s husband now.
Su Yuan brushed past him and went into the kitchen.
Lu Sili changed his shoes and glanced toward the kitchen as he came inside.
Su Yuan was not wearing an apron.
Lu Sili took the apron bag out of the clothing bag and looked inside. Linen-colored. It would go nicely with Su Yuan’s light-brown sweater.
“Su Yuan.”
“Hm?” Su Yuan was about to poach an egg and glanced toward the paper shopping bag.
Lu Sili had not given anyone a gift since his student days. He felt awkward now and gently placed the paper bag on the counter.
Su Yuan was much more natural about it. He leaned over to look. “What’s this?”
Lu Sili said, “An apron. You can use it.”
Hearing that it was for him, Su Yuan held the egg in one hand and said, “For me? Thank you.”
Then he reached into the bag and took the apron out.
“It came free when I bought clothes today,” Lu Sili added, trying to cover himself.
Su Yuan said, “Either way, I really like it.”
He put the apron on without making a big show of thanking him, then told Lu Sili to go wash up and wait for the noodles.
After Lu Sili left, Su Yuan looked at his reflection in the range hood while wearing the apron, turning from side to side several times. The corners of his mouth lifted as he cheerfully cracked the egg into a bowl of warm water.
He knew perfectly well that this apron had not come free with clothes at some mall.
Because he was a regular customer at moonlight.