Chapter 04
She’s My Wife
***

Sometime before lunch, Shen Xi shrugged on a khaki trench-coat and stepped into a pair of exquisite high-heels, then went downstairs.

Shen Xi’s figure looked graceful and seductive. Su Hang had been sitting in the living room and looked up when he heard her walk down. His eyes subconsciously followed her long slender legs as she descended and he found that he couldn’t look away.

“Can we go?” Shen Xi asked softly, holding onto the railing with one hand and an elegant bag on the other.

“Of course.” Since Shen Xi didn’t let him prepare anything in advance, other than feeding Chu Wan, he didn’t have anything else going on. He had simply needed to dress, then that was it.

“Then let’s go.” Shen Xi said.

“Wait for me by the door, I’ll bring the car out.” Su Hang finally managed to tear his eyes away from Shen Xi and headed for the garage.

Shen Xi walked to the front door and waited quietly, the wind occasionally blowing her clothes. Shen Xi brushed away strands of hair from her face and smiled towards the autumn sun.

At this time, Su Hang had left the garage and saw Shen Xi. Even when she’s just standing still, Shen Xi still exudes a noble and elegant temperament. This was what a noble birth and good education can do.

Unlike him; even when he was given the best and most expensive disguise, his bones still had the wear and tear that only the lower class could have.

Su Hang stopped the car beside Shen Xi then got off and opened the back door for her.

Shen Xi was shocked. She looked at Su Hang, her feet not moving.

“What’s wrong?” Su Hang was puzzled. “Did you forget something?”

“No.” Shen Xi shook her head. At Su Hang’s confused gaze, she moved to the other side of the car and opened the passenger door.

“I’ll sit here.” Shen Xi smiled, then went in the car.

Su Hang was amazed. She really had such a good education carved into her bones, staying so polite even during car rides.

Shen Xi had already buckled her seatbelt when Su Hang entered. Seeing him getting ready to go, she suggested with a smile: “Let’s go find a place near the hospital to have lunch first, then see my mother.”

“OK.” Su Hang started the car, eyes straight ahead, then slowly drove the car out to the road.

“Su Hang?” As the car passed the gates of their neighborhood, Shen Xi suddenly called out to him.

“What’s wrong?” Su Hang looked back at her.

“You forgot to wear your seatbelt.” Shen Xi pointed towards his chest.

“Oh…” His ears ringing from Shen Xi saying his name, Su Hang tried to order his thoughts and move

Probably due to Shen Xi’s perfume or just overall presence, Su Hang had long become some-what distracted. With his right hand he tried to fasten his seatbelt but just couldn’t manage it.

Shen Xi noticed that the car was already on the main road and the number of cars on the street was slowly increasing. Suddenly, Shen Xi leaned over and took the seatbelt from Su Hang’s hand. Under his dismayed gaze, she said: “Concentrate on driving, I’ll help you fasten it.”

“No.” Su Hang refused.

“We’re already on the road, it’s not safe, let me do it for you.” Shen Xi focused her beautiful pair of eyes straight at Su Hang.

Su Hang immediately turned stiff and turned his head to watch the road, hands grasping the steering wheel tightly. Eventually, he managed to choke out a thank you.

Shen Xi smiled and reached out for the seat belt. But it seems that there was something wrong with the way it was pulled and the seatbelt ended up stuck. She leaned towards Su Hang and pulled at the belt twice, eventually managing to get the seat belt out. She inserted the latch into the socket with a click.

Satisfied, Shen Xi leaned back to her seat, while Su Hang desperately tried to concentrate on his driving. His hands were gripping the steering wheel too tightly, causing his knuckles to turn white.

When Shen Xi leaned towards him, his heartbeat skyrocketed. Including their wedding day, when they had their one-touch kiss next to a witness, this was the first time Shen Xi had ever taken the initiative to get close to him.

It took a long time for Su Hang to calm down.

He was still a mess when they arrived at a mall near the hospital. Su Hang stopped the car to let Shen Xi our first, so she could go and order while he parked the car. When Su Hang arrived at the restaurant, half of the dishes had already been served.

“Sorry for the wait, I had to circle around a few times to find a parking space.” Su Hang apologized.

“Parking must be hard due to the mall being so close to the hospital.” Shen Xi said thoughtfully, “I ordered a few dishes. Check if you want to add some more.”

Su Hang wasn’t a very picky eater, but glancing at their table that was full of light dishes, he raised his hand and called a waiter over to add a spicy dish.

When the waiter left, Shen Xi hesitated, then asked: “Do you like spicy dished?”

“Oh…uh, yes.” Su Hang assented.

Shen Xi nodded and said nothing more. After a while, the waiter brought the rest of the dishes. The two people ordered a total of five dishes, with the red boiled beef in the middle looking particularly eye-catching.

Su Hang naturally remembered that he admitted to liking spicy food to Shen Xi just a moment ago, so he hardened his scalp and placed a few pieces into his plate. After eating the beef, Su Hang’s stomach hurt a little, but he ignored the pain and lifted his hand to grab a few more pieces of spicy meat.

“Eat a little less.” Shen Xi suddenly spoke up, “You have a delicate stomach. Even if you like eating it, just have a taste, don’t eat do much.”

“…alright.” Su Hang obediently moved his chopsticks form the spicy beef to the fried vegetables.

“Drink some soup too.” Shen Xi put some soup in a bowl and passed it to Su Hang.

“Thank you.” After taking the bowl, Su Hang held if carefully, as if reluctant to drink.

Shen Xi served another bowl for herself. After a moment’s thought, she asked: “Have you always liked spicy food?”

“Nn.” Su Hang nodded.

“I used to like it too.” Shen Xi replied.

“Used to?” Su Hang remembered that Shen Xi had always liked eating spicy food. How come this suddenly changed?

“Yeah.” Shen Xi nodded but didn’t explain.

Truth be told, she changed her preferences five years later for him.

In their last life, during their marriage, they never actually communicated all that much. She didn’t know any of his preferences so when Mrs. Zhang had asked her what food she liked Shen Xi honestly answered and said she liked to eat spicy food. She figured that Mrs. Zhen would have a better understanding of Su Hang’s tastes and would take this into account when she cooked for them.

Since then, the dishes in their home had all been Hunan or Sichuan cuisine. Su Hang never had any objections during meal times and always seemed to enjoy it. So this kind of spicy cuisine was present in their meals for more than half a year. Until one day, Su Hang had a stomach perforation in the middle of the night and ended up hospitalized. Once there, she found out that he actually had a serious stomach ailment and couldn’t eat any spicy food at all.

When she heard this, she looked at the unconscious and sweaty Su Hang, obviously still in pain. For the first time, he felt doubt in her heart. Was it because he liked spicy food so he didn’t control himself? or was it all just to accommodate her? The thought only flashed through her mind for a second before she denied it. She knew that Su Hang had another girl in his heart, one that he loved deeply. In this marriage of theirs, love wasn’t in the picture from the very beginning.

After this event, Shen Xi came home and asked Mrs. Zheng to cook a spicy and non-spicy dish from now on. But who knew that Su Hang’s chopsticks would still end up on the spicy dishes. Shen Xi couldn’t stop him. After a few times of Su Hang stubbornly keeping to his ways, Shen Xi had to ask Mrs. Zheng to just stop putting any sort of chili in their meals. After a few years of eating like this, Shen Xi slowly stopped eating spicy food.

“What do you like eating now?” Su Hang couldn’t help but ask.

Shen Xi looked up, a little surprised.

“I…I was just casually asking.” Feeling like he’d been seen through, Su Hang’s gaze awkwardly drifted down.

“I like eating lighter dishes nowadays. Before we left I asked Mrs. Zheng to make lighter dishes in the future.” Shen Xi then hesitated, “I’m sorry I made the decision without asking for your opinion. If you aren’t used to such dishes I can talk to Mrs. Zheng again.”

“It’s fine, I’m not a picky eater.” As Su Hang said this, he immediately felt that he had just contradicted his previous assertion that he liked spicy food. He promptly tried to salvage the situation: “But my stomach is a little sensitive, the doctors said that I should eat less spicy food.”

Shen Xi smiled and didn’t reply. The two then bowed their heads and resumed their meal. However, as she ate, she suddenly found a strange phenomenon. Any food she liked seemed to be liked by Su Hang too. As long as her chopsticks lingered in a particular dish, Su Hang would also take a few more bites of it. Shen Xi bit her lip, wondering if Su Hang was a little too sensitive.

After eating, the two went to a flower shop on the first floor. Su Hang stood at the sidelines and let Shen Xi pick the flowers. Shen Xi eventually picked a 30 yuan potted aloe vera.

“This one.” Shen Xi said.

“Just this?” Su Hang was stunned. This was the first time he’ll be seeing his mother-in-law after getting married. Wouldn’t it be too insincere to give her a worn out 30 yuan potted plant?

“Yeah.” Shen Xi smiled. “Mother will definitely love it.”

“Well, if Miss Shen…if Mom likes it.” Su Hang took out a hundred yuan bill from his wallet and went to the counter to pay for the pot. As he waited for the clerk to count his change, he noticed the beautiful roses nearby.

“Did you want to buy some roses too, Sir?” The clerk took the opportunity to recommend, “These flowers arrived just this morning. They’re very fresh, and for only 10 yuan, you can buy a nice gift for your girlfriend.”

“She’s my wife.” Su Hang corrected.

“Oh, you two really look like a perfect match. Why not buy one for your wife?” The female clerk continued her pitch.

“No need.” Su Hang hesitated, but ultimately decided against it. He figured that if he suddenly bought a rose that represented love and gave it to Shen Xi she would be very surprised.

Now that they were getting along far better than he had ever expected, Su Hang didn’t want to do anything that might change this.

“Alright, your change is 70 yuan, have a nice day.” The clerk handed Su Hang his change.

Su Hang nodded, then turned around and left the store with Shen Xi.

Right after, a younger salesgirl who saw the situation approached her colleague and said: “That man looked really handsome and rich, but he wasn’t even willing to part with 10 yuan to buy his wife a rose.”

“Is this the difference in attitude between couples before and after marriage life?”

***

I had to google seatbelt parts for this. Also, Shen Xi is pretty clueless. So many clues in her previous life that alluded to him liking her, or just him actually caring about her wants. But I guess she was too focused on the ‘he loves someone else’ part, that she essentially built walls around herself. And lol, they didn’t get together in the best of terms either.