CH 55.1

In the door lock that had been quiet for a long time, there was the sound of a key turning.

The wheels of the suitcase turned slightly, touching the light-colored ground for a long time and leaving clear marks.

The owner, who had been traveling for more than half a month, finally returned home.

It was with the spring air of the whole of April.

The moment Chi Xueyan arrived home, he nestled on the sofa. His eyes were tired and he didn’t want to care about anything. It was as if he was so tired that he could fall asleep the next second.

He Qiao consciously took on the finishing touches after the trip.

He first turned on the TV for the lover who had slept on the plane. Then he cleaned the slightly dusty house, opened the suitcase and threw the laundry into the washing machine.

The new coat that he bought temporarily in order to go to the cold island also needed to be washed.

The wrinkled woolen coat fell into the laundry basket. It was still a dark color.

It was reminiscent of the same dark night, the warmth of the hotel room and the sleepless sea tide outside the window.

He Qiao stared at it and thought for a while. He was unable to find the experience of how to clean the woolen coat in his mind.

But other experiences lingered.

Thus, he dropped what he was supposed to be doing and went back to the living room.

The person snuggled into the sofa was watching TV with a thin blanket casually draped over him.

The temperature at home was pleasant. He took off his coat and was wearing a light, short sleeved shirt. There were small red marks at the wide neckline that distinctly lined his fair skin.

Chi Xueyan heard the footsteps and instinctively looked over. “Are you finished?”

In the next second, he didn’t get an answer from He Qiao. He instead crashed into a thick and dark gaze.

He was startled. Then after realizing, he casually picked up a sofa pillow and threw it mercilessly.

“No, I’m going to work tomorrow.”

Now He Qiao often had different ideas than him.

He would also put the ideas into practice.

This was requested by Chi Xueyan himself.

The thrown pillow was picked up and put back on the sofa, faithfully fulfilling their original mission.

“…One day, I am going to beat you up.” His lover who was good at fighting threatened him, but Chi Xueyan’s voice was intermittent and he had lost strength. “…He Qiao.”

In the chaotic breathing, He Qiao coaxed him in a low voice. “It’s okay.”

The soft spring days gradually slid into the hot summer days.

The streets were full of green maple trees that shook their branches and leaves. The early morning sun fell through the open shutters and a long-lost familiar figure finally appeared in the clinic elevator.

The moment An An at the front desk saw the dazzling red hair, she blurted out, “Good morning, Dr Chi! Why did you come back a few days later than your scheduled vacation?”

God knows how long she had been looking forward to this day.

It was because she had discovered a secret. She kept holding back because she wanted to ask Chi Xueyan in person.

“Dr Chi, did you and your husband go on a trip in an RV? You also sold ice cream, right?”

An An was surfing the Internet when she saw a photo posted by a travel blogger about the ice cream truck couple who would give ice cream a strange name.”

The blogger didn’t post clear positive photos. There were only some partial photos that shouldn’t affect their lives, as well as vivid and interesting text descriptions.

But just looking at the atmosphere, they were very handsome. The names of the ice cream and the details of tearing off a piece of the paper every day were particularly cute. It was forwarded by many people for a while who were screaming to see their faces.

An An recognized this unusually familiar hair color instantly.

The body shape was also similar to the two of them.

Strangers who saw the photos shouldn’t recognize them if they were seen again in life.

But for those who knew both Chi Xueyan and He Qiao, it was actually very recognizable.

Finally, when Dr Chi came to work today, An An deliberately lowered her voice. She finished asking the question impatiently and suddenly discovered something.

Her eyes widened with some shock. “Dr Chi, this is the first time I’m seeing you wear a shirt like this…”

In the past, Chi Xueyan always dressed casually. He wore mostly simple and casual t-shirts and sweatshirts. Meanwhile, today he was wearing a white shirt that looked very high-end and expensive. It didn’t look like his clothes.

It was because the shirt seemed a bit big. The originally well-fitted tailoring was worn loose and lazy while the neckline was the opposite. The top button was tightly buttoned and covered the shirt near the collarbone. He inexplicably looked very abstinent.

It wasn’t like Dr Chi’s style at all. An An couldn’t help thinking this.

Instead, it was more like Dr Chi’s other half.

Facing her curious gaze and a basket of questions, Chi Xueyan walked out of the elevator, responded first to her good morning greeting and then answered her one by one.

“I caught a cold on the way back from the trip so I took a few extra days of sick leave.”

The annual leave plus personal leave that Chi Xueyan applied for before leaving was just enough. Later, he really didn’t have the mind or physical strength to work well so he took a few extra days off.

He couldn’t think of a suitable reason for asking for leave so he took sick leave.

After all, the marriage leave was used last year.

Who made some things come so late?

“I drove an RV to sell ice cream.” Chi Xueyan finished speaking the only truth and continued to talk nonsense without changing his expression. “It is a newly bought shirt. I occasionally want to change the style.”

“The moment I saw the photos on the Internet, I guessed it was you. It is romantic,” An An said with a smile. “You also look very good in this style!”

Chi Xueyan exchanged a few words with her before walking to the office.

He opened the blinds and saw the man who appeared downstairs on time to drink coffee.

Before setting off together in the morning, He Qiao picked out a shirt of his own in the dressing room of the master bedroom. He Qiao helped him fasten every button with a displeased face and said similar things.

In fact, in the beginning, Chi Xueyan just wanted to wear his coat once.

It was because on the night that he found the bridge, he suddenly felt that something he had once considered dispensable had become indispensable.

The emotions surging in his heart couldn’t be described in words. He was no longer satisfied with kissing and hugging. He needed more deep-seated confession and integration.

Words didn’t convey the meaning but the timing was just right.

But there would always be differences between those who had just opened up and those who had endured for a long time.

Dabbling in being a dentist and being concerned about the duties of a dentist ultimately lost to the long loss of control that required him to take some leave.

…Seeing that this spring trip overwhelmingly won over the aurora New Year’s Eve, Chi Xueyan decided not to argue with He Qiao.

Ever since Han Zhenzhen saw the photo of the two of them selling ice cream on the Internet, Chi Zhongyuan hadn’t fought with his son in the family’s group chat for a while.

It was said that he was busy learning romantic plots from love movies and trying to improve themselves.

Su Yu’s reaction was more direct.

[Su Yu: Marriage doesn’t prevent you from having fun. The two of you are very playful!]

[Su Yu: However, speaking of which, is that prenuptial agreement really being properly implemented?]

[Su Yu: Let’s not talk about your private life. How come you have even started to learn from others when wearing clothes?]

[Su Yu: …Was the prenuptial agreement just the two of you having fun? I’m not part of the game, am I?”

Faced with this type of question that was difficult to answer right now, Chi Xueyan usually used the simplest and most effective way to change the topic.

[Shahryar: Where are you going to take your girlfriend on the weekend?]

The other person immediately started a long and eloquent speech.

This was the longest relationship Lawyer Su had been in to date. No matter what the future held, at the very least, he was in love at this moment with his favorite female lawyer in the law firm he hated the most.

Chi Xueyan would still receive his bombardments from time to time.

[Su Yu: Lawyer Su is the sexiest profession in the world! I love lawyers! I love being a lawyer!!]

[Shahryar: That isn’t what you said the last time you received a client that made you crazy. You said that your brain must’ve been filled with water on the day you filled out your major application.]

[Su Yu: Hahaha, people will change.]

[Su Yu: Even you have been assimilated!]

People did change.

It was shirt season again.

Now Chi Xueyan felt that it wasn’t only a casual and simple shirt that looked good.

A delicate and expensive couture shirt also looked good.

It was especially the case at certain special moments.

It was just that every time he woke up, his backache and soft legs made him want to hit the person next to him.

But he had to admit that he liked the way the originally meticulous person lost control.

Perhaps he had subconsciously felt this desire since the wedding day when Chi Xueyan loosened the tie of his marriage partner after the kiss.

However, as a well-educated doctor, he still had a sense of propriety.

Under the dark green parasol, the man looking at the documents in his hand carefully picked up his phone that rang with a special tone.

[Shahryar: Sleep in separate rooms today. The end time will be determined.]

He put down the documents and was typing a reply when he received the next message.

[Shahryar: No appeals. I’m going to work.]

He Qiao’s finger movements stopped.

Immediately, he deleted the protest that he had prepared and looked up at the high window. He imagined the dentist in the white coat turning away with a faint smile in his eyes.

He Qiao hadn’t set any notes for Chi Xueyan.

He had imagined many names but none of them felt satisfactory.

Shahryar was the perfect name for him.

The aroma of coffee drifted around him, past the signboard of the cafe and crossing the busy road, flocking to the new signboard that was being renovated opposite them.

The sun was shining and the summer heat was getting stronger.

The stores on the ground floor of the street were often changed. In the hot summer, a new cold drinks store opened in the building opposite the cafe.

Every time An An left the building when she got off work, she could see this new store. She watched it complete its decorations and start the trial operation. The freezer was full of ice creams of different colors and flavors.

Her self-control, which she was very proud of, eventually completely disintegrated at noon with the sound of cicadas.

She took advantage of her lunch break to go downstairs. She looked at the ‘buy one, get one free’ activity banner hanging outside the cold drinks store and was ruthless. She decided to eat both by herself.

When An An was in line, she looked at the ice cream in the transparent glass cabinet and immediately chose the vanilla flavor.

Once she ordered, she habitually said, “Two cacti flavors.”

The employee had a blank expression. “What flavor?”

An An finally reacted and quickly changed her words. “Two vanilla flavored sundaes!”

“Okay, it is a total of…”

At the same time, An An heard a lively laugh behind her.

She looked back and saw a girl about her own age with exquisite makeup and wearing classic professional clothes. She was waiting in line to buy ice cream.

The other person met An An’s curious gaze and repeated softly with a smile, “Cactus flavor.”

She instantly understood that this was a stranger who had heard the story of the ice cream truck.

The employee handed two sundae cups to An An, who had finished paying. She thought about it and handed one over. “I can’t finish two. Do you like the vanilla flavor?”

On a midsummer afternoon, meeting a stranger who might’ve seen those photos as well and sharing the buy one, get one free vanilla sundae with the other person made this ordinary day beautiful.

What’s more, An An knew the two protagonists of the photo.

Later when she returned to the clinic, she was going to tell Dr Chi about this wonderful thing.