Chapter 28

Chapter 28

***

December 23, Friday.

A car was steadily driving on the highway towards the airport. Inside, Shen Xi asked the person next to her uncertainly: “Do you really want to go?”

“Un.” This was the third time Shen Xi had asked him. Su Hang, as always, nodded in reply.

“Why did you suddenly decide to come?” This was also a question Shen Xi had asked before, but Su Hang, this outwardly cold but deep and passionate man, refused to answer her.

“I just had some free time.” Su Hang ambiguously replied.

“That’s not the point.” Shen Xi glanced at the man’s hands on the steering wheel. His knuckles were visibly tense and white, but his face was expressionless as usual.

“….” Su Hang didn’t know how to answer her, so he played dead.

The more Su Hang thought about it, the more aggrieved he felt. The car exited the highway into the airport, then stopped for a red light. Su Hang stepped on the brake, steadily stopping the vehicle, then asked: “Am I not allowed to go?”

His voice seemed no different from his usual tone, but Shen Xi could hear the grief in it. It made her feel like she was bullying an honest person. Ahhh, whatever!

“Forget it. If you want to go, then you can go.” Shen Xi said, defeated.

Su Hang secretly glanced at Shen Xi, a smile in the corner of his mouth. The traffic lights turned green, and Su Hang pressed on the throttle to enter the airport parking lot.

When Su Hang went into the trunk and took out only a backpack after Shen Xi’s luggage, she couldn’t help but raise a brow. “That’s all you have?”

Su Hang’s hand paused, but quickly resumed its movements. He calmly locked the car and started dragging Shen Xi’s luggage past her. He intended to use his ultimate skill: act dumb.

So childish!

“Have you bought your ticket?” Shen Xi asked the ridiculous man.

“Yes.” Su Hang replied.

He already bought his plane ticket, and he also sent his luggage ahead.

“Are you on the same flight as me?” After some thought, Shen Xi asked.

“Hm.” Buying a ticket beforehand means that this is premeditated, premeditated, ah. He must’ve felt so guilty when he confirmed his purchase.

“Pfft…” Shen Xi finally couldn’t contain her laughter. She didn’t continue to question Su Hang again, and instead, she stepped forward and said: “Come on, Yun Shu and Shang HeXu must be here already.”

With a sigh of relief, Su Hang quickened his steps and caught up to Shen Xi. The two went up the escalator side by side.

At the airport gate.

Yun Shu looked at her cell phone and said: “Xiao Xi messaged me, saying that she’s arrived. She should be here soon.”

“Un.” A casually dressed Shang HeXu nodded and looked towards the escalators.

“Xiao Xi also said that Su Hang was coming with her.” Yun Shu carefully observed Shang HeXu’s expression as she said this.

“Oh, really?” Shang HeXu was obviously stunned, but quickly tried to act casual/

“Probably because its Christmas.” Yun Shu explained. “After all, this is their first holiday after their marriage. Su Hang will want to be with Xiao Xi.”

“I know.” Shang HeXu’s face reverted back into a much more natural expression.

Yun Shu raised a brow, but ultimately didn’t say anything, instead choosing to quietly wait for the newlywed couple.

“Yun Shu.” Ten meters away from the gate, Shen Xi spotted Yun Shu.

“Xiao Xi.” Yun Shu waved at her.

All their luggage was with Su Hang, so Shen Xi was free to hurry towards Yun Shu. But when she took a step forward, her left hand was suddenly pulled.

A puzzled Shen Xi looked back, wondering why her hand was suddenly gripped.

Su Hang tightly held onto Shen Xi as he looked towards Shang HeXu with fierce provocation in his eyes. He also felt a little guilty, knowing that Shen Xi must find his actions strange.

But no. He had to stand firm.

Shen Xi found his actions confusing, but she didn’t throw off the man’s hand. She simply raised a brow and matched Su Hang’s pace as they walked towards the gate.

Looking at the couple walking towards them with their fingers intertwined (Yes, the sullen Su Hang changed it into a ten-finger clasp halfway), Yun Shu couldn’t help but give Shen Xi an enigmatic smile. Meanwhile, after seeing Su Hang’s hostile gaze, Shang HeXu’s mouth straightened into a tense line, and he looked away.

A win! Su Hang proudly smirked.

“A bit two-faced.” Yun Shu idly commented as she watched this particular scene.

“What?” Shang HeXu didn’t hear her.

“Nothing.” Yun Shu felt that Shang HeXu get enough stimulus for today, and decided not to add onto it.

When they were close enough, Shen Xi asked her friends with a smile: “Have you checked in?”

“Not yet. We wanted to wait for you.” Yun Shu replied.

“Hello.” Shang HeXu politely extended his hand towards Su Hang.

Both of Su Hang’s hands were occupied. He was holding Shen Xi’s hand with his right and her luggage with his left. It would be hard to shake Shang HeXu’s hand with his left, but Su Hang refused to let go of what his right hand was holding. So, in the end, he simply gave Shang HeXu a sharp nod.

“…..” The always elegant Shang HeXu suddenly wanted to shout out a curse.

Shen Xi, who wanted to take out her passport from her bag, didn’t notice they turbulent situation between the two men. It wasn’t convenient for her to rummage through her purse with only one hand, so she wanted to release Su Hang’s hand. But after two attempts, she found that she couldn’t let go.

Shen Xi then noticed Yun Shu’s enigmatic smile. With a fierce blush, Shen Xi yanked at the man, saying: “Let go.”

He didn’t understand why his wife suddenly wanted to make trouble, but after seeing her expression, Su Hang obediently let go.

Shen Xi shoved her hand into her bag and pulled out her ID card. She gave it to Su Hang and, with a stormy look, said: “Go check-in.”

“Oh.” Having been glared at, Su Hang felt a little wronged as he left to do the check-in procedures.

“Then, I’ll be troubling you, Shen HeXu.” Yun Shu also pulled out her ID and handed it to Shang HeXu with a smile.

Shang HeXu accepted Yun Shu’s ID with an amiable smile and turned away.

After the two men left, Yun Shu began to tease Shen Xi: “You newlyweds are really showing off your affections, ah.”

“What nonsense are you spouting.” Shen Xi was so embarrassed.

“You couldn’t even shake his hand off.” Yun Shu looked at Shen Xi’s left hand. “Let me see. Hm, it’s not red.”

“Stop it!” Shen Xi laughed as she avoided Yun Shu’s teasing.

Yun Shu laughed along with her. She was happy for her friend. “After seeing him act so nervous, I feel much more relieved.”

“He’s just the ‘outwardly cold but passionate inside’ type.” Shen Xi had no scruples when talking with her best friend.

“How so?” Yun Shu asked, curious.

“This morning, Su Hang said he would take me to the airport, but halfway through the journey, he told me that he would be coming along to our trip. I asked him why he wanted to go all of a sudden, but he didn’t tell me. Instead, he acted like a dead fish.” Shen Xi explained.

“You still needed to ask? Isn’t it obvious? He wanted to accompany you, ah.” Yun Shu saw the truth at just one glance. “How can he let you and Shang HeXu go someplace he can’t see for three days and two nights?”

“What do you mean, Shang HeXu and me? Aren’t you here?” Shen Xi retorted. “Besides, what’s there between Shang HeXu and me?”

“You two are a recognized couple in our circle. It may not be true, but I’m afraid no one believes that except for me.” Yun Shu reminded her.

“And he has a first love he can’t forget.” Shen Xi couldn’t help but complain.

“Oh, right. It’s said that Su Hang has a sweetheart he had been secretly in love with for over ten years.” Yun Shu realized. “How could I have forgotten? Is it true?”

“Maybe.” Shen Xi sullenly replied.

“And you tolerate it?” Yun Shu was indignant on behalf of her friend.

“I don’t.” As they talked about this, Shen Xi thought of that embarrassing night again. Her expression turned vicious as she said: “He sleeps in the guest room until he makes it clear to me.”

“So you…” Something dawned on Yun Shu as she looked at Shen Xi.

“Don’t say it.” Shen Xi was embarrassed at her slip.

“Truly worthy of being my good friend.” Yun Shu smiled and gave her a thumbs up.

On the other side, there was no such harmony in the conversation between the two men who were queuing for check-in.

“Thank you for attending my sister’s birthday.” Shang HeXu thought that no matter what Su Hang’s actual intentions were, at least on the surface, he was coming with Shen Xi to celebrate YingYing’s birthday. Shang HeXu had to thank him for that.

“I’m going to accompany Shen Xi.” Su Hang replied in an honest and upright manner.

Shang HeXu: “…..” Can’t you be a little more polite? Are you really coming after this master?

Su Hang: “…..” I already consider this to be a significant restraint on my part to meet my rival without pulling out a knife.

At the same time, a staff member had already been waiting for half a minute. Impatient, she shouted: “Hello? This is the line for check-ins. If you aren’t coming, please step aside. There are others behind you.”

“Sorry.” Shang HeXu took the lead by turning away from Su Hang.

Su Hang handed two ID’s to the staff and said: “Please arrange our seats to be together.”

The staff member quickly arranged things. Su Hang accepted the boarding passes and left without looking back.

The corners of Shang HeXu’s mouth ticked upwards as he gave the staff member the ID cards he was holding.

“Do you want to be seated together too?” The staff member asked.

“We aren’t together? But we bought the tickets together.” Shang HeXu asked.

“You were originally all together, but that passenger before changed the seats, and you’re now one aisle away from them.” The staff member explained. “Do you also want to be transferred?”

“…..”

Su Hang returned to the boarding gate and handed Shen Xi her boarding pass and ID. He also took over and grasped the handle of her luggage.

“Why are you alone? Where’s Shang HeXu?” Seeing that Su Hang had come back alone, Shen Xi was a bit confused.

Su Hang: “….” Why ask him.

“I’m back.” Just as Su Hang was hesitating to answer, Shang HeXu also arrived back.

“Let’s go in.” Shang HeXu gave Yun Shu her boarding pass and ID, then the four people moved to check-in.

It takes three and a half hours to fly from S City to Y Province. After getting off the plane, their prearranged car and driver was already waiting for them outside. But because they didn’t know that Su Hang would be coming with them, they arranged just one car. Although everyone would probably fit, it seemed a little crowded.

Shang HeXu looked at the vigilant Su Hang and spontaneously sat on the passenger seat.

The remaining three squeezed themselves in the back seat.

Y Province had a well-developed tourism industry, with many white-collar city workers coming to experience a peaceful and romantic atmosphere. The place YingYing was settled in was at the edge of a prosperous tourist town surrounded by mountains and rivers. Because it wasn’t too developed, there weren’t a lot of people, and the environment was particularly good.

Because it was a tourist attraction, the airport was very close to the town. After fifty minutes, the four people finally reached BaGua town, the place Shang YingYing lived.

Most of the buildings in this particular town had blue roof tiles and white walls. When it turns dark, red lanterns will light up in rows along the road. All this made one feel like they were transported back to a thousand years ago.

“Brother!” When Shang HeXu got out of the car, a white figure jumped into his arms.

“YingYing.” Shang HeXu hugged his sister. The twelve-year-old girl had a bright and energetic smile on her face.

(T/N: Note, in the raws YingYing is described to be 十二三 years old, which is twelve-three. This is very most likely a typo, but I’m unsure if she’s actually supposed to be 12 or 23. I’m tentatively saying that YingYing is twelve because of her actions, but who knows. In Chinese novels, some women certainly act like children. But I’m pretty sure this is me being overly cautious. She’s probably twelve.)

“Hello, YingYing.” Yun Shu and Shen Xi also made their greetings.

“Hello, Sister Yun Shu, Sister Shen Xi.” Shang YingYing held her brother’s hand and turned around to say her hellos, but was stunned to see Su Hang. The sweet young girl asked: “Who’s this handsome brother?”

Su Hang looked down at the little girl and instantly softened.

“This is your Sister Shen Xi’s husband.” Yun Shu introduced.

Shang YingYing looked at Shen Xi in disbelief, while Shen Xi nodded with a smile.

Shang YingYing looked back at her brother. When she turned back towards Su Hang, her expression had soured. “I don’t like you.”

“…..”

Shang YingYing’s words had embarrassed three out of the four adults around her. It was only Su Hang’s expression that remained neutral, although he did raise a brow.

“YingYing, apologize.” Shang HeXu gave his sister a solemn look.

“I don’t want to!” Shang YingYing ran back into the house.

“…..” Shang HeXu had no choice but to apologize on behalf of his sister. “Mr. Su, I’m sorry about this. My sister has been spoiled.”

“It’s nothing.” It honestly didn’t matter to Su Hang. Apart from Shen Xi, why would he care whether other people liked him or not?

Apart from Su Hang, the other people had visited this place before, so they didn’t need the guidance of the housekeeper. They were all familiar with each other and found their own rooms with no problem. But Su Hang couldn’t do this, so he could only follow his wife silently. When Shen Xi opened the door, and Su Hang saw the one bed in the room, his heart couldn’t help but jump.

We’re going to be staying in the same room?? (*^__^*)

The author has something to say:

Shen Xi: Is this thief having fun?

Su Hang: No *shakes his head crazily*

Su Hang’s inner thoughts: Ah, ah, ah, we should visit other people’s houses in the future. Since we’re husband and wife, we’ll definitely be arranged in a single room. Shen Xi has a thin face and certainly wouldn’t refuse. I’ll be able to live together without needing an excuse! So happy.