If you don’t like it, I’ll be gentler next time.

That night, Zhou Shiyu had a long, difficult-to-wake-from dream.

To call it a dream wasn’t quite accurate – it was more like when someone is dying, their entire past life flashes before their eyes like scenes rapidly replaying in their mind.

Unlike most newborns who arrive with blessings, Zhou Shiyu was an abandoned baby who came into this world amid curses and abuse.

To this day, whether the woman who gave birth to him but wasn’t allowed to see him had once interfered in someone else’s marriage remains an unsolved mystery;

He only knew that the so-called “socialite” who would lock him in the basement was his father’s legitimate wife.

The law of the jungle was the first lesson the world taught Zhou Shiyu: men hit women, men hit children, and beaten women could also hit children.

And children could only learn to smile – because tears would give the bullies more pleasure.

Books said smiles represented joy, but Zhou Shiyu knew this was a lie.

Whether in sadness, pain, or desperate moments when one’s heart was set on death, as long as the brain issued commands to control muscles, smiling was the simplest physiological response, eventually becoming habit and instinct.

The process of resistance was always difficult. To escape the sea of violent suffering, the legitimate wife was even willing to kneel on the ground and beg Zhou Shiyu to testify for her in court.

Zhou Shiyu just smiled and asked the woman one question: “What will happen to me after you leave?”

The last time before being locked in the basement again, all he heard was the woman’s hysterical filthy words. When he woke up again, the scene jumped to him in a hospital room after surgery, hearing a lawyer announce that he would henceforth be raised entirely by Grandfather Zhou – that man’s father.

In winter, his limbs were ice-cold. Even with the hospital room temperature at its highest, every breath he drew into his lungs was cold, carrying a faint metallic, bloody taste.

The girl burst through the door at this moment, bringing warmth with her, as if even the slanted light points from outside the window danced around her.

She was just passing by, never remembered his name, and even in the peace amulets she brought from the temple for everyone, only his had no name written on it.

Zhou Shiyu didn’t understand what liking meant then, only marveled that the girl would come back to find him. Beside his pillow were the fruit candies she’d given him, and he watched her walk toward his bedside.

The girl’s hand was thin as a stick but warm, grasping his cold palm and stuffing a dark green fabric peace amulet into it.

This was the first time Zhou Shiyu learned that human skin could feel so warm and soft.

He was entranced by the girl’s crisp “gege” (big brother), forgetting to tell her his name, only staring unblinkingly at the girl’s face that was nearly transparent under the light, even able to see the fine down on her face.

“Gege, I hope you get better soon.”

The girl’s eyes curved like crescents, sparkling with water. When she smiled, the shallow dimples beside her lips were captivating, her melodious voice full of hope:

“Winter will pass soon. After you’re discharged, be sure to look at the spring scenery outside the window more often.”

“……”

That year’s conversation scene left a deep impression on Zhou Shiyu. The first meeting was too stunning, so that all subsequent reunion details sometimes became blurry, leaving only fragmented pieces.

Zhou Shiyu saw seventeen-year-old him misdiagnosed with depression, eighteen-year-old him choosing Magic City University against everyone’s opposition, nineteen-year-old him in the sweltering summer heat, eagerly trying to catch up with Sheng Sui on the old street, only to flee in embarrassment when she turned around, his ears filled with passersby’s curses.

Life abroad after dropping out consisted only of hospital treatments. Whether from medication or electroshock therapy, memories were like puzzle pieces with chunks missing, forever incomplete.

Using the identity “Z” to barely maintain contact with her, then returning to the country to find her was already two years later.

He walked into the cat café full of anticipation, only to be choked by overwhelming cat fur and unable to breathe, his allergic reaction severe.

Three months later, his bipolar disorder relapsed. Zhou Shiyu finally accepted reality and co-founded “Cheng He” with college classmates – taking half of each of their names.

When he impulsively invested in the pharmaceutical industry, he hadn’t thought about profit, just naively felt that even if he had no chance to see her again, it would be good if he could do something for her.

Then years passed in the blink of an eye, his condition recurring repeatedly. After thinking he was stable for two or three years, it relapsed again. Medications were changed dozens of times, with endless side effects.

The life ordinary people could easily grasp remained out of reach. When disappointment and defeat became the norm, one morning in early spring’s lingering cold, Zhou Shiyu received a phone call.

After many years, the once naive and innocent girl had become a people’s teacher educating children. The gentle tone in the receiver was familiar yet strange, repeatedly threading through past, present, and future:

“Hello parent, I’m the child’s homeroom teacher. Is it convenient for you to come to school for a face-to-face discussion?”

“Mr. Zhou, let’s try this.”

“Mr. Zhou, let’s get married.”

“Zhou Shiyu, you are the first source of confidence and security I have truly owned in my twenty-seven years of life.”

“Zhou Shiyu, can you depend on me a little in the future?”

“Zhou Shiyu, I like you – so, would you consider marrying me?”

“…..Zhou Shiyu–?”

Countless voices and images intertwined, finally all converging into a soft call falling beside his ear, repeatedly urging Zhou Shiyu to wake from his dream.

His long lashes trembled as he opened his eyes. Zhou Shiyu looked up to meet Sheng Sui’s concerned gaze, with the familiar bedroom background behind her.

Seeing him not speak, the woman in his arms leaned close to gently pat his back, her embrace as warm as always: “You kept trembling. Did you have a nightmare?”

Her palm soothingly rubbed his spine. Zhou Shiyu could feel the ring on her ring finger brush against his skin, briefly touching the hideous, winding scars before separating, silently calming his abnormally beating heart.

People are always particularly vulnerable just after waking. Zhou Shiyu buried his head in Sheng Sui’s neck, humming lowly in agreement, no longer hiding as he had in the past: “I dreamed about childhood things.”

After these words came several seconds of silence.

Zhou Shiyu came to his senses, knowing he shouldn’t burden her with these things. Just as he was about to curve his lips in a smile and brush it off, the quiet Sheng Sui in his arms suddenly raised both hands to his shoulders.

“I’m not very good at comforting people,” Sheng Sui kissed the corner of his mouth, pecking gently like a small animal seeking favor, her clear watery eyes gazing steadily at him:

“But would this make you feel a little better?”

Her black hair spread across the pillow, making the woman’s skin appear even more fair. Several strands fell on Zhou Shiyu’s neck – a fatal, unconscious temptation.

“…Yes,” Zhou Shiyu couldn’t resist the temptation, supporting the back of Sheng Sui’s head and once again sealing her soft lips, his slightly hoarse, clear voice tinged with desire:

“Please, Mrs. Zhou, take more pity on me in the future.”

“……”

Since the last trip to Jingbei, Sheng Sui no longer allowed Zhou Shiyu to wake before dawn, insisting they both get up at six together, and didn’t want him to go through elaborate breakfast preparations every meal.

“Just eating something simple is fine,” while brushing her teeth, Sheng Sui stood at the vanity, stating her case: “I’ve gained so much weight recently, my clothes are about to not fit.”

Zhou Shiyu knew exactly which clothes wouldn’t fit. He raised his hand to tuck her loose hair behind her ear, saying gently:

“Suisui, that’s growing, not getting fat.”

Taking a hair tie from the vanity, the man skillfully tied a low ponytail, saying unhurriedly:

“If you don’t like it, I’ll be gentler next time.”

Sheng Sui hadn’t expected her words to be twisted this way. Looking up at the man who was clearly smiling in the mirror, she unceremoniously stepped on Zhou Shiyu’s feet with her soft slippers.

With her mouth full of foam, she couldn’t stop herself from complaining: “Before we got married, how did I not discover you were so improper?”

“Mm, when first meeting someone you have to put on an act,” Zhou Shiyu smoothly pulled her tighter into his embrace, lowering his head to kiss the top of Sheng Sui’s hair: “Otherwise it would be hard to trick someone into your hands.”

“……”

Fortunately, Ping’An came to join the commotion just in time. Not wanting the innocent kitten to witness a “domestic violence scene,” Sheng Sui was held in Zhou Shiyu’s arms and rubbed for half a day without being able to resist.

While the man prepared breakfast in the kitchen and Sheng Sui was giving herself an injection, she suddenly remembered seeing Zhou Shiyu take health supplements on the morning in Jingbei, but hadn’t seen him take any since returning home.

There wasn’t even a single medicine bottle visible at home.

So when she went out to feed Ping’An, passing through the dining room, she casually asked: “Did you take your medicine this morning?”

“…I forgot,” came Zhou Shiyu’s response from behind after a few seconds: “I’ll go take it later.”

“Last time you said you were taking vitamin B, vitamin C, calcium-magnesium tablets, folic acid, and fish oil?”

After bending down to pour breakfast for Ping’An, Sheng Sui walked back to the dining room and sat down, taking out her phone to check emails while saying casually: “During my last physical exam, the doctor also told me to supplement various vitamins, but I always forget after taking them for two days.”

She thought for a moment, then looked up at him: “Should we take them together from now on? That way it’s harder to forget.”

“Good,” Zhou Shiyu turned around, bringing the freshly made thin egg pancakes to the table. Lowering his eyes to see her still holding her phone with a frown, he glanced at the screen and said indifferently: “Let’s eat first.”

The unread count in her inbox was still 0, meaning Z still hadn’t replied.

Sheng Sui put down her phone with a light sigh. Even though she had expected this, facing it still inevitably brought a wave of disappointment. She could only comfort herself.

After so many years without contact, forgetting each other was indeed most normal.

Who would be foolish enough to keep watching an inbox just waiting for her to send a message?

Apart from the two parties involved, the person most concerned about Sheng Sui’s proposal was none other than Ms. Xiao Ming.

Afraid the phone wouldn’t be clear enough, Xiao Ming even left work an hour early, squeezing onto the subway just to find Sheng Sui as soon as possible.

“I don’t care, tonight must be girls’ night. Come shopping and eating with me.”

After school, in the empty teachers’ office, Xiao Ming repeatedly urged Sheng Sui to pack up: “Think about it yourself – how often have we hung out since you got married?”

Sheng Sui remembered Xiao Ming mentioning that their contract signing with Cheng He was today, confirming: “Did the contract signing go smoothly?”

“Of course, otherwise could I escape early?” Having completed her important task, Xiao Ming proudly raised her eyebrows, showing off: “Amazing, right? Industry bigshots are no match for your sister either.”

“I knew you could definitely do it.”

“Absolutely.”

Walking together down the school’s empty corridor, when Xiao Ming tried to take Sheng Sui’s hand, she looked down and noticed the diamond ring on her ring finger, making a surprised sound: “How are you wearing this ring too?”

She had only accompanied Sheng Sui to jewelry stores once. Yesterday she was busy with crucial finishing work, and only learned this morning about the proposal being completed. She had no idea which ring Sheng Sui had bought.

Even after they got in a taxi heading to the commercial district, Xiao Ming was still in the back seat grabbing Sheng Sui’s hand, repeatedly examining it.

The woman looked left and right, her brow furrowed tight enough to pinch a fly to death, muttering to herself: “Impossible to see wrong, it’s this exact model.”

Sheng Sui was confused: “What’s wrong?”

“This is really strange. Zhou Shiyu seemed to be wearing this exact ring when he signed the contract today.”

Xiao Ming looked incredulous, speaking without thinking: “I thought he was being cheap then – so rich, yet wearing such a low-class ring.”

“……”

Sheng Sui was indignant, retorting: “This pair costs nearly fifty thousand. How is that low-class?”

“For us working class it’s definitely luxury goods, but Zhou Shiyu is a capitalist who makes dozens of diamond rings’ worth every minute. Giving his wife something so cheap.”

“Also, today when I passed the break room, I heard Cheng He’s general manager Qiu Si gossiping,” Xiao Ming mysteriously leaned over, quietly sharing with Sheng Sui: “I heard Zhou Shiyu was showing off his new diamond ring to everyone today.”

After speaking, the woman straightened up, imitating Qiu Si’s disgusted expression and tone, repeating the original words: “‘You didn’t see Zhou Shiyu’s smug look, it was disgusting even to dogs. What’s so great about getting married!'”

“……”

Imagining the scene, Sheng Sui suppressed her laughter while looking out the window, quietly taking out her phone to message Zhou Shiyu.

[ss: Were you showing off your love at the company today? Seems the reviews aren’t great.]

Before he replied, Sheng Sui put down her phone and tried to enlighten the clueless Xiao Ming:

“Is there a possibility that the ring was given by Zhou Shiyu’s wife?”

“What? The woman giving the ring?” Xiao Ming rolled her eyes after hearing this: “Student Sheng Sui, do you think everyone is like you?”

With the contract already signed, Sheng Sui thought she could openly admit: “What if I’m the one who gave Zhou Shiyu the ring?”

“……”

“Baby, are you crazy?” Xiao Ming laughed mockingly, lovingly patting Sheng Sui’s head: “Your husband is so virtuous, why would you want to become Zhou Shiyu’s delusional fan?”

After speaking, the woman made a throat-slitting gesture: “From what I understand, this guy is a famous living king of hell – hiding knives behind smiles, killing without spilling blood.”

Sheng Sui’s phone vibrated in her palm. She looked down at Zhou Shiyu’s message.

[Z: The fault isn’t mine. The ring Mrs. Zhou gave is too dazzling – the difficulty of not being noticed is quite considerable.]

[Z: What time will you probably finish? I’ll come pick you up.]

Remembering Xiao Ming’s curiosity about her husband, Sheng Sui looked up to ask the woman’s opinion: “He’s free tonight. Do you want to meet him?”

“Isn’t that obvious? Call him over for dinner,” hearing the mysterious husband was coming, Xiao Ming immediately rolled up her sleeves energetically:

“Let sister see who exactly stole away our Suisui.”

Sheng Sui thought she had seriously informed about the man’s identity, but Xiao Ming just didn’t believe it. Smiling as she looked down, she sent Zhou Shiyu the specific location of their hotpot dinner.

[ss: Are you busy with work tonight? Want to come have dinner together?]

As soon as the message was sent, he called directly. The receiver carried the man’s gentle, magnetic voice:

“If you’re just planning to eat dinner, you could also come home – eating out makes it hard to control carbohydrate intake.”

For Sheng Sui, home cooking was naturally best. She put down her phone and asked Xiao Ming, whose eyes were bright with interest: “Do you want to come eat at my house?”

“Can I, can I?” Xiao Ming asked while nodding frantically. As someone who had tasted Sheng Sui’s husband’s cooking, her flattery came effortlessly: “First time meeting, it shouldn’t be so much trouble.”

“It’s all because Sheng Sui keeps sending me her husband’s loving lunch boxes, constantly praising how excellent and considerate her husband is,” amid Sheng Sui’s shocked expression, Xiao Ming, focused only on the meal, urged her to put it on speaker:

“If I don’t believe it, she immediately wants to fight me, insisting her husband is the world’s number one.”

Seeing her best friend fight so hard for one dinner, Sheng Sui couldn’t help but laugh and didn’t have the heart to interrupt, then heard a low chuckle from the phone.

“Really? Suisui never told me these things,” Zhou Shiyu asked mildly, his tone carrying the meaningful depth of an old fox:

“I wonder about Miss Xiao’s dietary restrictions? Can you eat seafood like lobster and salmon, as well as things like French foie gras?”

“I can eat, I can eat, I can eat anything.”

How could Xiao Ming not hear the subtext in the man’s words?

She was naturally outgoing, and being instantly bought by one meal, she directly called him brother: “Brother, let me tell you, our Suisui never looked at any man properly before. Since getting married, she talks about you all day long.”

“Also, when she went to find you on Qingming Festival, she had planned it days in advance. Before leaving, she even called me ten times about what clothes to wear – I was busy dealing with my living king of hell client at the time, and she nearly annoyed me to death.”

“Oh right, right, right, and the day before yesterday she called me in a panic, just to pick out a proposal ring. She dragged me back and forth through the entire commercial street three or four times. I specially skipped work to escape, planning to treat her to dinner – but then her husband called and she just abandoned me.”

“……”

At first, Sheng Sui was ashamed and frequently tried to stop Xiao Ming from these revelations, but then discovered that every sentence Xiao Ming spoke was self-exposing in a way that hurt the enemy zero while damaging herself a thousand. In the end, she looked at her good sister working hard to please the chef with almost pitying eyes.

She patted Xiao Ming’s shoulder and sighed: “Waiting to tell you the truth after the contract was signed was the most correct thing I’ve done recently.”

“What are you talking about mysteriously?”

Xiao Ming spared a glance at Sheng Sui while busy, chatted casually with the man on the other end for a bit, then asked offhandedly:

“By the way, I still don’t know your name. What should I call you?”

The receiver fell silent for a moment.

Sheng Sui immediately cooperatively turned the phone volume to maximum.

“My humble name is Zhou Shiyu.”

Sure enough, the next second, Zhou Shiyu’s gentle and polite low voice sounded, saying unhurriedly: “If Miss Xiao still has an impression, we just met this morning.”

“……”

As the joyful smile disappeared from Xiao Ming’s face, the man delivered one final polite but devastating blow:

“Also, although I personally don’t like the title ‘living king of hell.'”

“But as Miss Xiao’s instant ‘good brother,’ if you’re not afraid, you can continue calling me that in the future.”

Author’s Note:

Today features an inhuman couple haha

Xiao Ming: What grudge, what resentment is this

Daily request for comments and nutrient solution thank you very much!!

Thank you very much for everyone’s support, I will continue working hard!