Nuptial Chamber Next Door

Just because.. a new reader wrote nice comments and an older reader mentioned that she visited my first translation project 3 or 4 times already !

Here’s to secretgardenxx and cath

Chapter 23

It was an early summer afternoon. The sun was particularly bright

When Ye Zhengchen pushed open the door, a ray of golden sunshine followed him, throwing his face in a shadow

His eyes fell on Yu Yin, and there was a slightly surprised expression on his face.

I thought he was bewitched by the amazing beauty in front of him and had forgotten my presence, but he immediately turned and looked at me

" You came?" I asked.

My face openly showed how happy I was. I smiled and said, "You will need to wait for me for a while. Li Kai is a bit delayed."

" Doesn't matter", he smiled at me, " Take your time."

Yu Yin looked at Ye Zhengchen. He also looked at her. Their eyes met, then skittered away.

Some instinct in me made me pay special attention to the expressions on their faces. They were cold to each other, there was no spark between them.

"Is this your boyfriend?", Yu Yin asked, her eyebrows raised, " he's handsome!"

I was a bit embarrassed by her remark and could feel my face flush

"This is my boyfriend, Ye Zhengchen."

I turned towards Ye Zhengchen, "This is Yu Yin. She is Chinese as well. She lives close by and is a regular visitor."

Ye Zhengchen bowed slightly to her, a rare courteous gesture. " Hello!"

" Hello!" Yu Yin smiled elegantly and took the initiative to extend her hand towards him.

Ye Zhengchen grasped her hand then immediately released it, no longer a gentleman.

I was very satisfied!

" Are you tired?" Ye Zhengchen asked as his hand covered mine on the counter. Our matching black and white watches touched each other, the second hands moving in sync.

I raised my eyes and looked at him. The loving expression in his eyes made me feel warm all over.

" Yes. My legs are aching a bit."

" Once we go back, I'll run a hot bath for you and give you a massage…", he deliberately left the sentence hanging.

I quietly turned my hand and pinched his hand, reminding him that we were in front of an outsider and he should not be so shameless.

He raised his eyebrows in response, as if to say, I don't care who knows I am a rogue, I  am afraid of nobody.

Yu Yin was , after all, a woman. This naked flirting made her feel uncomfortable.

"I won't bother you anymore," she smiled with a slightly embarrassed expression and took her bag from me, "let's talk later."

Her fingers were so beautiful and soft as if there were no bones in her hand. But her touch was so cold!

After Yu Yin left, I smacked his hand, half in anger and half in embarrassment.

" Dont you know better than to show off in front of outsiders? What would people think?"

" Let her think what she wants", Ye Zhengchen thought for a moment and added, " We are in love with each other, we aren't betraying anyone"

What he said was true. Ye Zhengchen had turned his attention to me as soon as he saw Yu Yin. I would be more worried if he had ignored me in front of her

Some customers entered the store soon after. We weren't allowed to talk to friends during work hours.

" I have to work. Why don't you go outside and wait for me?"

" Sure",I can see you are busy", he turned away.

As I was busy attending to the customers, I could see Ye Zhengchen walk leisurely around the shelves. In order to pass the time, he stood in front of the racks and looked at the display very carefully.

When Li Kai came, and I handed over to him, I saw Ye Zhengchen holding a chic note paper thoughtfully. It was light green in color, and had a leafy design, with embossed lines to simulate the veins on the leaf.

This was a favourite of Yu Yin and she had bought this many times from my store.

In fact, even I liked the notepaper, but it was too expensive for me to buy.

" This is very beautiful, isn't it? Generally, places like ours don't sell it but our boss's friend supplies it to us."

Maybe he heard the note of longing in my voice. He took two stacks and paid for them. One he gave to me and the other one he put in his own pocket.

I generally did not use such note paper, but Ye Zhengchen's books and files were filled with notes in such paper.

…… …

Once we reached the car, I fastened the seat belt. I couldn't control the natural petty feelings of a woman and asked Ye Zhengchen, "Do you think Yu Yin is pretty?"

" Yu Yin..", he repeated the name, as if trying to recall who she was

" The woman you saw at the convenience store."

"Oh", he said," I didn't notice."

"Come on, you clearly saw her. And at the first glance, you looked stunned."

He laughed and shook his head, " Nope, she is not pretty!"

" Liar! Hypocrite."

Even the blind could see that Yu Yin was beautiful, and he had perfect eyesight.

" Ok, she's pretty", he said. Taking advantage of the red light, he kissed me on the cheek, " No matter how beautiful she is, in my eyes, you are much more beautiful than her."

" Really?", I felt really happy at this comment.

Sometimes, it didn't matter if what your man said was true or false.

There was no need to be clever and try to strip every remark of its gorgeous coat of lies. The ugly, naked truth may not bring you happiness. In fact, it may tear off the lovely dream you were weaving in your own head.

If he says what you want to hear, you should believe that that was what he wanted to say.

If he is trying to make you happy, smile and show him that you are, indeed, happy.

The sweetness in a relationship was really that simple.

" What did you say?", he asked, as his fingers stroked my cheeks and his thumb stroked my lips.

" I.."

Suddenly, his attention shifted towards the window.

I looked at what had caught his attention.

There was a second hand dealer for high end cars on this road. Many second hand cars were parked by the road, and there were placards on the windshields, displaying the performance parameters and the price of the car.

" What happened?" I looked around and saw a white Ferrari convertible. While it was still eye catching, it didn't quite meet the standards of the prodigal Ye Zhengchen.

Ye Zhenghen did not answer me.

As the light turned green, the car behind us blared its horn.

But Ye Zhengchen was lost in his thoughts and only absentmindedly tapped on the steering wheel with his fingers.

" Do you like the car?" I asked again.

" Huh?", he finally looked at me , " yes, I like it."

He stepped on the throttle and our car lunged forward. I never got to see the expression on his face

Before I fell in love with him, I always thought Ye Zhengchen was very organised, careful and cautious.

But after I fell in love with him, I realised that was not true.

He would often behave strangely. He would often cancel on me, switch off his phone and leave me waiting in the coffee shop for hours.

When I finally found him, he would actually say that he had forgotten about our meeting!

Another time, he had promised to take me out. But just before we were supposed to leave, he suddenly said that he had something and needed to cancel our date.

He seemed to be a bit crazy. Suddenly, in the middle of the night, I would be woken up from a dream as he hugged me tightly and kissed me mercilessly.

Ling Ling said : " This feels a bit like he is straying. Pay a bit more attention."

I said, " No, if he had another woman, he would tell me."

I believed him, I would always believe him.