During the October National Day holiday, the hospital’s scheduling was quite humane. Shi Niannian had four days off. Jiang Wang had been busy with a new product launch these days, and Auntie happened to ask Shi Niannian if she wanted to go traveling with her to a neighboring city.

“I’ll finish my remaining work at the company tomorrow and go with you,” Jiang Wang said.

“Aren’t you too busy to get away?” Shi Niannian said. “My belly isn’t that big anyway, so I’ll just go play with Auntie for a few days and come back. Don’t worry. Besides, didn’t the doctor say it’s good to move around more during pregnancy?”

Jiang Wang frowned slightly, pulled out a suitcase from the side and opened it, helping her pack a few clothes into it. “I’m not comfortable with you going alone.”

“I’m not a child.”

Shi Niannian stood up, her slender arms circling his neck. She tiptoed to kiss his lips, half-coaxing: “Be good and make money, and I’ll go spend it.”

Jiang Wang finally smiled, looked at her for a while, and compromised: “Alright, but remember to call me every day.”

Shi Niannian’s luggage consisted of just a few clothes and some toiletries. Jiang Wang organized everything for her, zipped up the suitcase, and took it downstairs to the living room in advance.

Shi Niannian said, “Don’t bother, just take it down tomorrow morning.”

Jiang Wang: “If I leave it here and you get up at night without seeing clearly, what if you trip?”

“…”

Since she became pregnant, Jiang Wang had completely treated her like a child who couldn’t even walk.

She was going traveling tomorrow, so the two cuddled together and chatted for a long time that night. Shi Niannian didn’t even know when she fell asleep. When she woke up, Jiang Wang was already gone.

The curtains in the room were tightly closed, blocking the sunlight outside. The room was dark, no wonder she could sleep until now.

Shi Niannian quickly finished washing up and pushed open the bedroom door, hearing Auntie’s voice from downstairs.

She paused and called out: “Auntie.”

“Hey.” Auntie walked from the living room to the staircase, smiling. “You slept until now? But being pregnant does make you sleepy, especially since you’re carrying two.”

“Come down slowly.” Jiang Wang said as he walked forward to help Shi Niannian down.

Shi Niannian: “Auntie, have you been waiting for a long time?”

“Not long. I just happened not to have had breakfast and ate a bit at your place.”

The two weren’t planning to go far for their trip, just having someone drive them to a neighboring city to look around. The accommodation was still a suite at a local star-rated resort hotel booked by Jiang Wang. The car was already parked at the door. Shi Niannian ate breakfast and prepared to depart.

Jiang Wang helped her carry the luggage into the car.

“Don’t get too tired. Send me a message when you arrive,” Jiang Wang said.

Shi Niannian responded with an “Mm,” circling her arms around his neck, her soft lips pressing against his. “I’m off then.”

Auntie sat in the car, smiling as she watched the two, teasing: “Come on, you’ve been married for two years already. How are you still so lovey-dovey every day?”

The highway journey took three hours. The two ate two bowls of noodles at a service station. Fearing Shi Niannian would get tired, the itinerary was arranged very loosely. They reached the hotel in the afternoon, put away their things, and only went out to explore after dark.

This small town had many ancient areas. The streets and tiles all exuded an antique flavor. People on the streets all seemed to be living a slow-paced life.

Shi Niannian wandered around with Auntie for a while, then took out her phone to take a photo of the street scene and sent it to Jiang Wang.

Jiang Wang was still at the company at this time. The company had been genuinely busy with the new product launch, making it very difficult to get away. After Shi Niannian left for her trip, he had been working overtime until now.

He curved his lips and replied: Is it fun?

Shi Niannian: It’s fun. There are many cute little trinkets in the ancient town. I bought some to show you when I get back.

Jiang Wang: Good, don’t stay out too late.

This was their first time apart since getting married, except for business trips. They talked on the phone for quite a while after returning to the hotel in the evening.

In others’ eyes, this somehow inexplicably became a marriage crisis—Shi Niannian wasn’t at home, and Jiang Wang worked late that day, so he slept directly at the company.

Before Shi Niannian returned to the country, Jiang Wang often slept at the company, but this was the first time since they got married.

Not going home, working overnight, thus rumors of a marriage crisis began to spread.

“Since the Empress got pregnant, doesn’t Mr. Jiang take time to accompany her for lunch every day? Maybe after becoming pregnant, her personality became sensitive and suspicious. I’ve seen many pregnant women become like this, and then Mr. Jiang got annoyed?”

“How could Mr. Jiang be like this!! It’s already not easy for women to be pregnant, and he’s just being asked to accompany her, what’s the big deal!! What’s there to be annoyed about!!”

“But the company has been really busy lately… How much pressure is Mr. Jiang under in his current position? If he goes home and still has to argue, I think that would be annoying too…”

“The wedding was just not long ago. At that time, he held such a grand wedding, and now he’s suddenly tired of it. The sincerity of capitalists is indeed worthless.”

“I don’t think it’s necessarily a marriage crisis. With our Empress being the way she is, who could bear to be angry with her? At least I couldn’t be upset at a face like that.”

Everyone had different opinions, with no conclusive explanation.

By the second night, Jiang Wang was still sleeping at the company, and the rumors about the marriage crisis became even more lively.

Naturally, no one dared to mutter these words in front of Jiang Wang, but after two days, he still heard some of it—simply that Shi Niannian had gone traveling and he was busy working overtime.

At noon, he told Shi Niannian about this. She couldn’t stop laughing, saying it must be because he usually kept a stern face, so people thought he wasn’t a good person.

Shi Niannian would return tomorrow. Jiang Wang had the servants clean the house thoroughly again, and still worked late and slept at the company.

He wearily pressed his brow, one hand loosening his tie and throwing it on the sofa. The buttons of his shirt were loosely undone, three of them open, as he sent a message to Shi Niannian.

Back at the hotel yet?

She didn’t reply immediately. Jiang Wang went to take a shower first. When he came out wearing a bathrobe, he saw a woman sitting on the sofa. The tie he had casually thrown on the sofa had also been neatly arranged.

There were few people on the 19th floor to begin with, and this bedroom was exclusively Jiang Wang’s. No one except Shi Niannian and the cleaning staff had ever entered. After Jiang Wang entered the room, he hadn’t locked the door.

He frowned, raised his hand, and switched on the light with a click. The woman squinted at the sudden brightness.

Jiang Wang didn’t recognize who it was.

The woman said coquettishly: “Mr. Jiang.”

Jiang Wang recognized the voice only then—it was Chu Xuejie from the planning department, who had come to the 19th floor to find him once before.

He frowned, his voice turning cold, his furrowed brow gathering a patch of irritation: “What are you doing here?”

“The company has been busy with the product launch recently. I heard that Mr. Jiang has been so busy that you’ve been sleeping at the company. I was worried about your health, so I specially brought some food for you from outside.” As she spoke, she picked up the bag beside her.

The woman was wearing a thin, transparent lace shirt, with a faint line visible at her chest.

Jiang Wang, of course, wasn’t so foolish as to not see her intentions. When he first took over the company, there were quite a few people sending women to him, whether to plant spies or to curry favor. Later, when they found out that Jiang Wang truly did not engage with women, they all gave up.

Today, another foolish one had come.

Jiang Wang raised an eyebrow. Before he could say anything, his phone rang from the side.

The contact was labeled “Wife.”

He picked up the phone but didn’t answer it immediately, lifting his eyes to coldly look at Chu Xuejie: “Get out.”

“Mr. Jiang…”

Jiang Wang interrupted her: “Get out.”

“Please eat something, it’s still hot.”

His last bit of patience was finally exhausted. Shi Niannian’s call had already ended. He said coldly: “Do you plan to walk out of this door yourself, or should I have someone drag you out?”

Chu Xuejie looked at him, tears welling up in her eyes. Seeing that the man was truly not moved at all, she reluctantly gathered her things and stood up.

Jiang Wang redialed Shi Niannian’s number.

She didn’t answer. After Chu Xuejie opened the door, she stood there without moving. Jiang Wang felt an inexplicable thump in his heart and turned to look.

He saw Shi Niannian standing at the door with her luggage, stunned as she looked at Chu Xuejie.

Jiang Wang never thought he would encounter such a scene one day—himself just out of the shower wearing only a robe, with a woman coming out of his room.

He had no time to think. He strode toward Shi Niannian, bent down, held her in his arms, rested his chin on her shoulder, and patted her back one stroke after another.

The young woman was frightened by the scene before her. She didn’t react for a good while, even forgetting to get angry.

Jiang Wang patted her back and comforted her gently: “It’s okay, it’s okay, baby, I’ll explain it to you slowly.”

Chu Xuejie stood to the side, also stunned as she looked at the current Jiang Wang. She had never seen Shi Niannian before, but she could now guess who this was. However, the scene before her was completely inconsistent with the marriage crisis rumors that had spread throughout the company these days.

Shi Niannian had also recovered from her shock. She raised her hand to push away the man hanging on her, frowning: “Jiang Wang, let go.”

“I won’t.” He turned his head and kissed her ear.

Shi Niannian raised her hand to push him away messily, ending up slapping his face, angrily: “Don’t kiss me.”

Jiang Wang wasn’t annoyed. After coaxing her a few more times, he pulled her luggage and her into the room and directly closed the door.

“I just finished my shower, and that person was already there. I was just about to drive her away when I ran into you.” Jiang Wang hugged her to the bed, soothingly stroking her belly.

It had already risen into a slight curve.

“How can she be like that?” Shi Niannian was unhappy.

After coming out of the initial shock when the door opened, she could roughly understand what the situation was. She also trusted Jiang Wang enough, but such a scene still made her very uncomfortable.

Jiang Wang coaxed: “Mm, I’ll have the HR department ask her to leave tomorrow.”

He turned over and pressed her under him, kissing her without lust, asking in a low voice: “Why did you suddenly come?”

She turned her head away from his kiss, glaring at him: “To catch you cheating.”

Jiang Wang laughed, rubbed her head, a bit helpless: “Did I scare you?”

Shi Niannian tilted her head, not mentioning this matter anymore. “I missed you, so I came back early to give you a surprise.”

A young girl softly saying “I missed you” from beneath was truly deadly. Jiang Wang felt as if his heart had been squeezed tightly, sweet and soft.

He lowered his head and said softly: “I’m sorry.”

Jiang Wang rubbed her face: “I’ve made our Niannian suffer.”

The next day, Secretary Zhao saw the two of them coming out of the bedroom on the 19th floor together. As the head of company gossip, she immediately spread this news, and thus the marriage crisis rumors collapsed on their own.

At the same time, the news that Mr. Jiang had personally ordered Chu Xuejie to pack up and leave also spread.

Shi Niannian would only start work tomorrow. Today, she stayed in Jiang Wang’s office all day. In the afternoon, when Jiang Wang went to a meeting, Shi Niannian chatted with Secretary Zhao for a while.

“That Chu Xuejie is particularly disgusting. She previously came to the 19th floor for some trivial matter.” Secretary Zhao rarely complained to Shi Niannian, indignantly cursing: “She thought we couldn’t see through her intentions.”

After cursing, she covered her chest and made a vomiting gesture: “Disgusting.”

Secretary Zhao looked at the computer, checking the latest emails received, while giving Shi Niannian a thumbs up: “Indeed, men need to be trained.”

Trained…

Shi Niannian recalled what Jiang Ling had said to her in high school. At that time, Jiang Ling had encouraged her to give her hair tie to Jiang Wang.

While listening to Secretary Zhao, she sent a message to Jiang Wang.

Do you still have the hair tie I gave you in high school?

He quickly replied.

I’m keeping it at home. Are you hungry? Do you want me to have someone buy you something to eat?

Secretary Zhao spoke continuously, finally clapping her hands twice, giving Shi Niannian a conclusion.

“You certainly know how to manage your husband.”

“…”