You are the only person I’ve ever thought about marrying.

“You’re going on a blind date again?”

In the bedroom, Xiao Ming lazily leaned against the headboard, watching Sheng Sui pick out clothes in front of the mirror, completely bewildered: “Didn’t you just encounter that awful guy? Are you jumping into another fire pit this quickly?”

“Maybe my brain isn’t too clear.”

Sheng Sui held a yellow long dress against herself and turned around to ask: “Is this one okay?”

Having been on nearly ten blind dates, this was the first time she felt nervous before meeting someone. Even though the dinner was scheduled for the day after tomorrow, she was already agonizing over what to wear.

Zhou Shiyu’s conditions were too superior in every aspect, making Sheng Sui subconsciously feel she needed to be extra cautious about everything.

“Trust me, you’d look good even wearing a plastic sheet,” Xiao Ming enviously surveyed Sheng Sui’s palm-sized face and curvaceous S-shaped figure, squinting suspiciously: “I’ve never seen you dress up for blind dates before. Something’s fishy here?”

Since nothing was set in stone yet, Sheng Sui didn’t want to jinx things later, so she spoke vaguely: “The other party has a rather special identity.”

“We’re all human, how special can he be,” Xiao Ming had been dreaming about securing investments lately, casually saying: “What, is that person Zhou Shiyu or something?”

Sheng Sui nodded seriously: “It is indeed him.”

“……”

“Baby, if it’s really Zhou Shiyu,” Xiao Ming reached out to pull Sheng Sui to the bedside, patting her shoulder with utmost solemnity as she entrusted her with a heavy responsibility,

“Please marry him the day after your blind date, then use your status as the boss’s wife to make Cheng He invest 100 million in me.”

After saying this, she was the first to burst into laughter, affectionately hooking her arm around Sheng Sui’s neck: “Enough of that. It’s your birthday on the 14th—do you want to go shopping or watch a movie?”

Sheng Sui didn’t have a habit of celebrating birthdays: “Either is fine.”

“Then leave the evening to me, big sister will take you out for some fun.”

The matter of choosing clothes was temporarily settled. The two lay down on the bed, with Xiao Ming pillowing on Sheng Sui’s slender arm as she began venting her frustrations, talking about how a large corporation had taken interest in their project and even sent people to discuss terms.

“But I always feel like the person in charge looks at me strangely, and we keep running into each other inexplicably.”

Xiao Ming was sharp and capable in business matters but particularly slow when it came to romantic affairs, puzzling over it for a long time without understanding: “Maybe it’s because I equally discriminate against all men—as long as they’re male, I assume they have ill intentions.”

“I’ll come pick you up after work these next few days,” Sheng Sui’s intuition told her things weren’t simple, so she sat up: “If you notice him following you, call the police immediately.”

After speaking, she turned to grab her phone, preparing to look for new rental properties so they could move at any time.

“It’s not that dramatic,” Xiao Ming quickly stopped her, sighing: “And how do you manage to say all that with such a straight face?”

Sheng Sui smiled: “You gain experience after seeing a lot.”

When she was young, the construction site area where she lived was a mixed bag of people. Even walking during the day would attract whistles, let alone walking at night when she’d occasionally encounter thugs wanting to get handsy.

Xiao Ming had grown up in a sheltered environment. Hearing Sheng Sui casually laugh while talking about these experiences made her both heartbroken and amused: “What kind of horrible life did you live before?”

The two sisters chatted about this and that, wasting time until Yu Xuemei called. She said she and Xu Xu were going on a business trip for a few days and asked if Sheng Sui could look after Xu Yanze.

It was more nominal care—Xu Yanze stayed in the school dormitory on weekdays and wouldn’t need anyone to worry about him unless there were special circumstances.

Sheng Sui agreed to the request.

After handling business, Yu Xuemei routinely worried about her lifelong happiness, probing indirectly: “The young man who moved in across the hall seems quite nice, and his age looks about—”

“Mom, I have someone I’m getting to know.”

For the first time ever, Sheng Sui finally had the confidence to refuse: “Please don’t introduce me to anyone else, okay?”

Yu Xuemei was first stunned, then asked various questions repeatedly. In the end, she was still worried: “How long have you been seeing each other? Is he reliable?”

Sheng Sui couldn’t help but feel puzzled.

In the past, her mother could unhesitatingly send her on blind dates based solely on photos and written introductions. Now when she rarely took the initiative to try, her mother instead hesitated and questioned her judgment.

After hanging up the phone, Xiao Ming also went back to her room to rest.

Sheng Sui lay down alone on the bed, thinking about how she had agreed that afternoon to go on a blind date with Zhou Shiyu. She still felt the unreality of being deep in a dream.

But she had never regretted it.

Her phone vibrated beside her pillow, followed by a cheerful ringtone. Sheng Sui looked at the three-character name displayed on the screen and sat up in bed before answering the call.

“Mr. Zhou?”

“The private chef restaurant for our meeting requires advance ordering of dishes. I’m sending you the menu—see what you’d like to eat.”

Sheng Sui opened the image and saw the densely packed options on the menu.

Zhou Shiyu said this restaurant had small portions and charged per person. She quickly selected four dishes and typed out their names to send over.

Zhou Shiyu asked her: “You don’t like fish?”

A third of the menu featured various preparations of fish, so it was normal for Zhou Shiyu to notice. Sheng Sui explained softly: “I loved it as a child, but later got a fishbone stuck in my throat, so I don’t really eat it anymore.”

The man chuckled lowly upon hearing this: “So you like the taste, but don’t like picking out the bones.”

He made her sound like a child. Sheng Sui quietly protested: “If you like it, you can order it yourself.”

Hearing the indignation in her tone, Zhou Shiyu deliberately said slowly: “Then I’ll listen to Teacher Sheng and order a golden shrimp soup crucian carp.”

Men were indeed fickle. During the day, his tone had been heavy enough to make her feel guilty, but at night he was casually teasing her.

Sheng Sui puffed out her cheeks. Just before hanging up, she remembered to ask: “For the meeting day, is there anything I should pay attention to regarding attire?”

In her impression, people of Zhou Shiyu’s status only appeared at high-class banquets. Sheng Sui didn’t want to show up looking shabby and embarrass herself.

Zhou Shiyu didn’t directly answer her question: “I suddenly think we shouldn’t meet at a private chef restaurant.”

“We should choose a street-side barbecue stall, wearing white tank tops and flip-flops, and I’d ride a bicycle to pick you up.”

Sheng Sui imagined the scene and smiled: “If it were you, you’d probably look good too.”

The man laughed lowly again after hearing this.

At nine in the evening, the bedroom was quiet, making Zhou Shiyu’s voice sound even more mellow and warm. It fell against her ear with tickling waves, bewitching and enchanting.

Sheng Sui’s ear tips grew slightly warm. She rubbed her earlobe and heard the man continue: “Mm, that’s my answer too.”

“If it’s Teacher Sheng, you’d look good in anything.”

“……”

Silence fell after his words. A few seconds later came the woman’s slightly flustered goodnight, followed by her hurriedly hanging up.

The vast, empty living room was cold and silent, decorated in large swaths of frigid gray. The cold white lights overhead were harsh.

The only warmth was the sleeping black and white mixed-fur cat in his arms, contentedly purring.

Leaning back against the sofa with closed eyes, the woman’s face flushed red from shyness appeared in his mind. Zhou Shiyu’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he reached for the glass from the nearby tray, drinking water to suppress his restlessness.

Setting the cat aside, Zhou Shiyu got up and walked to the open kitchen. He opened the refrigerator, pondered for a moment, then selected ingredients to rinse under the water.

Soon, the previously silent room filled with the sounds of chopping vegetables and stir-frying.

The awakened kitten trotted over and leaped onto the marble counter, affectionately rubbing against the man’s arm with his head while mewing sweetly.

Hot oil occasionally splattered. Zhou Shiyu lifted the kitten by the scruff and set him down. Seeing the cat still eager to jump up, he warned in a low voice: “Ping’An.”

It was already late at night when he finished making the several dishes Sheng Sui had chosen.

Untying his apron and setting it aside, Zhou Shiyu lazily leaned against the cabinet, looking at the table full of food. He took out his phone to call Qiu Si, speaking concisely:

“Come over and eat.”

“Big brother, it’s fucking 1:30 AM right now,” Qiu Si’s emotions collapsed: “Just give me a cup of poison and send me to heaven already.”

So he sent a message to Secretary Chen instead, asking him to quickly send over last quarter’s financial reports.

The hardworking employee indeed hadn’t slept yet and organized the materials within five minutes, sending them over in a package.

He even thoughtfully inquired: “Should I tell Dr. Liang about the insomnia issues?”

“No need.”

His gaze lingered on the message box for a few seconds. Then Zhou Shiyu dropped his phone, left the table full of hot food, and walked toward the study at the end of the hallway.

He didn’t need to turn on the light upon entering. He easily found the sleeping pills among the dense rows of medicine bottles in the wall-mounted wooden cabinet, tilting his head back to swallow them with water.

Returning to the bedroom, Ping’An had already claimed his bed as his own, exposing his pink and white belly.

Pale silver moonlight poured down through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Zhou Shiyu lifted the light down comforter and lay down, closing his eyes without any sleepiness, his nervous system abnormally active.

The insomnia was probably caused by seeing her—normal emotional fluctuations.

Her standards for choosing a spouse were already very low; she just needed a normal person with a gentle personality and stable emotions as a future partner.

At 1:30 AM, normal people were all asleep.

So he should learn to do the same.

Their meeting location was at a private manor with excellent privacy, hidden deep in the surrounding mountains and perched on the mountainside, with jade-green trees flourishing luxuriantly.

Taking a taxi up the winding road, Sheng Sui opened the car window and could smell the scent of leaves and grass in the air.

She had refused to let Zhou Shiyu pick her up—partly because she would feel burdened, and partly because she had promised to take Xiao Ming home first.

Before leaving, her best friend was still fretting over how to spend Sheng Sui’s birthday tomorrow and which movie to watch.

Getting out of the car at the manor entrance, Sheng Sui was led by staff along a pebble path to a beautifully decorated forest-style wooden house.

Entering alone through the front door, she took off her coat and walked toward the dining table just as the back wooden door was simultaneously pushed open. Zhou Shiyu strode toward her with his long legs.

The glass ceiling light cast large pools of warm yellow, softening the sharp edges naturally present in the man’s deep features. Zhou Shiyu was wearing a soft, comfortable gray high-neck sweater today. His broad shoulders and narrow waist made him a natural clothes hanger, his straight long legs wrapped in black dress pants. Combined with his glasses hanging on delicate chains, his entire being was both elegantly refined and abstinent.

Only the indoor temperature was somewhat high, causing an unnatural flush to appear on the man’s pale face.

Their eyes met as the man seriously examined Sheng Sui, his gaze openly admiring: “Teacher Sheng looks very beautiful today.”

Unaccustomed to compliments, Sheng Sui avoided his gaze and sat down across from Zhou Shiyu, noticing a menu beside her hand.

Next to the six dishes, the carbohydrate content of each was clearly marked.

“The rice here comes in 100-gram portions. You can order according to your needs,” Zhou Shiyu picked up the teapot from the round plate, poured clear tea and turned it to place in front of Sheng Sui. “The serving time is approximately fifteen minutes.”

The carbohydrate markings on the menu and rice portions were to help her calculate insulin dosage conveniently. The specifically reserved fifteen minutes was exactly the onset time for insulin.

Too many coincidences—Sheng Sui had never seen any restaurant mark carbohydrate content. The only answer could be that everything was arranged in advance by Zhou Shiyu.

The man’s thoughtful and considerate care, which flowed like gentle rain, was amazing and hard not to be moved by.

Sheng Sui went to the indoor restroom to inject herself. When she came out, she found Zhou Shiyu was gone, probably out handling work.

Five minutes later, waitstaff entered with wooden trays, successively placing stir-fried beef, pan-fried tofu, dry pot spicy shrimp, snow peas with lotus root slices, and the golden shrimp soup crucian carp that Zhou Shiyu had specifically ordered on the table. Fragrant aromas filled the air.

Sheng Sui had always been perfunctory about eating, but seeing the feast of colors, aromas, and flavors before her, she couldn’t help swallowing.

Soon, Zhou Shiyu re-entered through the back door. Seeing Sheng Sui’s bright, sparkling eyes, he curved his lips: “I wonder if it suits your taste.”

Although the man’s tone was light and casual, when he sat down, Sheng Sui still noticed a small patch of scarlet on the back of his right hand—clearly a fresh burn.

She frowned and asked: “What happened to your hand?”

“It’s nothing,” Zhou Shiyu nonchalantly put his hand down. “I accidentally got burned just now.”

At this moment, another young waiter entered carrying steaming winter melon and pork rib soup. Upon seeing Zhou Shiyu, he immediately became flustered, his shoulders trembling slightly as he hunched his neck.

When serving the soup, even Sheng Sui sensed something was wrong. She watched Zhou Shiyu calmly take the porcelain bowl from the waiter’s hands with a slight smile: “Thank you.”

The waiter shuddered again, unable to control himself from glancing at the man’s hand, his mind filled with images of Zhou Shiyu carefully preparing the stewed soup in the back kitchen only for him to accidentally spill it on the man’s hand.

He couldn’t help wanting to apologize aloud, but before he could speak, he met Zhou Shiyu’s deep, dark, cold eyes behind his glasses. Though the man’s smile remained gentle, it made him feel terrified.

“……”

Watching the waiter flee as if escaping, Sheng Sui was still concerned about Zhou Shiyu’s injury. She found burn ointment in her bag and placed it on the glass rotating table, turning it toward the man.

Worried about students accidentally ingesting it, she stored the ointment in a small bottle with a specially designed cap that even stumped Zhou Shiyu.

“Let me do it.”

Seeing the man’s slightly furrowed brow, Sheng Sui unsuspectingly stood up and went over, easily twisting off the cap. She dipped her index finger in a small amount of white ointment and carefully, cautiously applied it to the reddened area on Zhou Shiyu’s hand.

Perhaps due to the injury, when her fingertip touched his skin, Sheng Sui only felt the man’s body temperature was much higher than she had imagined.

She bent down, focused on applying the medicine, unaware that several strands of long hair had fallen across Zhou Shiyu’s face.

With her movements, the silky hair occasionally swept across the man’s cheek, carrying a light, fresh fragrance and bringing waves of silent irritation.

Zhou Shiyu’s left hand clenched beneath the table as he said hoarsely: “Teacher Sheng carries burn ointment when going out.”

“I’m worried about students getting injured, so I keep various ointments just in case.” Talking about her students, Sheng Sui unconsciously smiled: “As a precaution.”

Seeing her gentle smile, Zhou Shiyu’s eyes held a softness he himself hadn’t noticed: “Being able to work in a profession you love—that’s wonderful.”

Sheng Sui’s hand movements paused as she looked down and said softly: “You’re the first person to use ‘wonderful’ to describe my work.”

“Actually, my university major wasn’t related to this. It was by chance that I decided to enter special education. Everyone said this job was hard work with little money and no future, but I really love it.”

She had never voluntarily discussed her profession with anyone, not even blind date partners. Zhou Shiyu was the first.

The man’s rich experience, good upbringing, and absolute capital gave him a tolerance and composure that far exceeded others’, making even Sheng Sui want to confess and confide in him.

After applying the medicine, Sheng Sui looked up to meet Zhou Shiyu’s gaze, seeing the undisguised warm smile in his eyes. This undoubtedly added several touches of ambiguous meaning to their private environment.

The intimate distance was too close, making her heartbeat skip erratically. She put away the ointment and returned to her seat, trying to change the subject.

“I heard Cheng He Investment covers many industries,” Xiao Ming had been researching Cheng He recently, and Sheng Sui had absorbed some knowledge through exposure: “Do you need to understand all of them?”

“Judging the rise and fall of industries is more important. Other aspects are left to professional teams for analysis,” Zhou Shiyu patiently explained. “I majored in financial management, but initially invested in projects related to diabetes in the pharmaceutical industry, which didn’t affect anything.”

Why would he choose diabetes? Did this industry have such large profit margins that it could become Zhou Shiyu’s primary choice?

As a patient herself, Sheng Sui was naturally curious, though she only wondered silently and continued eating quietly with her head down.

The glass round table stopped rotating. Zhou Shiyu deliberately positioned the golden shrimp soup crucian carp in front of her. The thick broth and tender, white fish meat made her appetite surge just from looking at it.

But crucian carp had many bones, especially small ones scattered throughout.

While hesitating, Zhou Shiyu across from her said lightly: “All the large and small bones have been removed. You can try it.”

Sheng Sui still hesitated: “But crucian carp has so many bones—can they really be picked out completely?”

“Crucian carp has many bones, but as long as you press the knife against the spine and cut along the back to the tail, the fish bones can be separated from the meat. The remaining small bones are only distributed in three parts: belly bones, back bones, and tail bones.”

The man’s slender fingers pressed against the glass tabletop, preventing the fish soup from rotating away as he continued in a low voice: “As long as you understand the position and shape of the fish bones and use different techniques like diagonal cutting and curved cutting to pull out the bones separately, you can remove them all cleanly.”

The description was so detailed and vivid that Sheng Sui even had the momentary illusion that this crucian carp had been personally prepared and cooked by Zhou Shiyu.

She skeptically picked up a piece of crucian carp and immediately marveled at the fresh broth and smooth, tender meat texture, eating quite a bit more.

There really were no bones.

Sheng Sui couldn’t help but sigh: “…I haven’t eaten fish this freely for many years.”

“What’s hard to swallow isn’t the fish meat itself, but the fishbones that get stuck in your throat. As long as you have enough care and patience, deboning isn’t difficult.”

Zhou Shiyu saw her sparkling eyes and expression full of delight, his own smile deepening. He felt it was time to return to the main topic:

“Marriage is the same—what sticks in your throat isn’t marriage itself, but the wrong person.”

How to tactfully yet directly inform her of his willingness to marry while not letting Sheng Sui detect his unspeakable secret?

Suppressing his surging emotions, Zhou Shiyu placed his hands crossed in front of him: “Past experiences may have made Teacher Sheng hesitant about blind dates, but I want to say that not everyone is a ‘fishbone’ like Zhou Qi.”

His gaze swept over the dishes on the table that were mostly finished, and the man smiled: “If I may say so myself, my cooking isn’t bad—I’m quite good at picking out bones.”

Sheng Sui understood his meaning.

Zhou Shiyu shouldn’t become a victim of her blanket rejection of all blind date partners due to someone else’s mistakes.

“I never thought you would be like Zhou Qi.”

Her hands clenched into fists under the table. She wasn’t good at self-analysis. Looking up at the gentle-eyed man across from her: “The initial refusal wasn’t because Mr. Zhou had any shortcomings.”

The other party had already lowered his stance as much as possible. Sheng Sui tried not to say words like “unworthy,” knowing this would ignore his efforts: “Mr. Zhou, your conditions are too superior. The women around you should all be excellent.”

Her voice paused slightly as she finally confessed: “I still don’t understand your reason for choosing me.”

After speaking, both fell into simultaneous silence. In the spacious wooden house, only the bubbling sounds of the clay pot stew remained.

The frozen atmosphere was oppressively uncomfortable, making each second feel infinitely stretched.

Sheng Sui anxiously lowered her eyes and pressed her lips together, her mind uncontrollably replaying her recent slip of tongue.

Why the sudden silence?

Had her tone been inappropriate? Or should she not have compared him to Zhou Qi—

“I have three reasons for choosing Teacher Sheng.”

When Zhou Shiyu spoke again, his voice was hoarser than usual. The man’s gentle smile became serious as he patiently waited for Sheng Sui to look up at him before parting his thin lips:

“First, the elders at home hope I can marry soon, but I don’t want to choose someone from my social circle—entangled interests bring conflicts, and I need a stable, long-lasting marriage.”

“Second, my younger brother has autism. I hope my future wife can accept his existence and treat him kindly—through our several interactions, I believe Teacher Sheng truly loves her work in special education.”

“Third, and most importantly.”

He paused deliberately, as if carefully considering his words. After a few seconds, his gaze returned to Sheng Sui’s eyes, even deliberately slowing his speech:

“You are the only person I’ve ever thought about marrying.”