Yan Yunning let out a coy hum. She took Xuan Yanyu’s hand, and the two of them walked over to the round table blanketed in roses. She handed the women’s red velvet gift box to Xuan Yanyu and picked up the men’s gift box herself.

She opened the box, and a bracelet crafted from rare materials in a top-tier vivid blue custom design came into view. Whether at the links or the diamond edges, there were no excessive or fussy decorations — perfectly suited to pair with a suit.

Yan Yunning slipped the bracelet, engraved with the three characters of her name, onto the hand where a man would wear his wedding band.

She then turned her hand back up and gestured for Xuan Yanyu to put hers on for her.

Xuan Yanyu opened the gift box and clasped the couple’s bracelet — a pure pink diamond piece engraved with his name — around the young woman’s wrist. Unable to help himself, he bowed his head and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand.

Yan Yunning smiled softly and clasped his hand in return. Their fingers interlaced, she raised their joined hands, then picked up her phone, opened the camera, and captured a still of the wedding photos, the marriage certificate, and their entwined hands all together.

She opened her social media, uploaded the photos she had just taken, and typed out a caption: [We’ve registered our marriage! This lemon has turned sweet at last!]

Xuan Yanyu pressed a kiss to the side of Yan Yunning’s face. “Darling, send it to me.”

“Okay.” Yan Yunning forwarded the photos to Xuan Yanyu.

He saved the images, opened his own social media, and posted them with the caption: [What a coincidence — me too!]

In response to her [This lemon has turned sweet at last], Xuan Yanyu added behind [What a coincidence — me too!]: [Just had a taste. It really is very sweet.]

Yan Yunning: “……”

“Wife……”

Yan Yunning suddenly rose to her tiptoes, grabbed the man’s tie, and pulled. Xuan Yanyu was tugged into tilting his head down slightly, and Yan Yunning tilted her chin up — her soft lips landing on his.

The man stilled for a brief moment. Half a second later, his large hand cradled the back of her head, and he compliantly closed his eyes.

Yan Yunning’s hands were not idle either — she undid the buttons of Xuan Yanyu’s dress shirt. The man, noticing, caught her hands and in one smooth motion guided them up to hook around his neck instead.

“Ningning…… we can’t……” Xuan Yanyu held the young woman’s restless hands, suppressing the heat blazing in his chest.

“It’s fine. I looked it up — just be careful.”

The man’s breathing grew heavy. He drew a quiet breath, and a flicker of hesitation crossed his dark eyes.

In that moment of hesitation, the shirt buttons were pulled apart by Yan Yunning.

Before Xuan Yanyu could react, a heartbeat later, the young woman cupped his face and pressed a feather-light kiss to his throat. Feeling utterly bewitched, Xuan Yanyu found himself half-resisting, half-yielding as Yan Yunning pulled him onto the bed.

With a soft click, the bedside lamp was switched off by Yan Yunning. The star-light ceiling lamp instantly came to life, and the rose-scattered bed sheets, now shared by the two of them, sent petals drifting one by one down to the floor.

The brilliant, shifting starlight, the gently falling red rose petals — it was as though the scene had been given special effects, exquisitely beautiful.

They carried on deep into the night. Xuan Yanyu gathered the drowsy young woman in his arms and carried her to the bathroom, asking again, unable to set his worry aside: “Darling, is anything uncomfortable?”

Yan Yunning nestled against his chest, her voice soft and a little husky. “No.”

Xuan Yanyu breathed a sigh of relief, held his beloved girl as they freshened up, and then settled back down in bed.

——

The following morning.

Xuan Yanyu and Yan Yunning finished breakfast without any hurry before making their way over to the villa.

In the main hall, only the elderly matriarch was present. Xuan Yanyu and Yan Yunning greeted her in unison.

“Ningning, hurry along with Xiao Yu to the dining room — your brothers and sister are all there already.” Evidently, the old woman had no idea that Xuan Yanyu and Yan Yunning had not stayed at the villa the previous night.

“Ah…… alright, Grandma, we’ll head over now.” Yan Yunning took Xuan Yanyu’s hand, and the two of them left the main hall.

The elderly matriarch watched their retreating figures for quite some time, then smiled warmly. “Go and prepare three red envelopes for Xiao Yu, Xiao Cheng, and Chengcheng.”

Aunt Liu, who looked after Grandma Yan, nodded. “Madam, I’ll see to that shortly.”

“That young man my little granddaughter found herself — he really is a fine-looking one.”

Aunt Liu placed the sliced peach she had just peeled into Grandma Yan’s hands and said with a smile, “Madam, are you very pleased with Mr. Xuan?”

“Very pleased, very pleased. I’m pleased with Xiao Cheng too. As long as the children are willing, I’m pleased.” At that, Grandma Yan grew anxious again. “I wonder when my Jingjing will bring a girlfriend home for me to meet.”

“Madam, don’t rush — these things depend on fate.”

Grandma Yan sighed. “Once Jingjing has a girlfriend, our whole family will be complete.”

“Indeed. Miss Ningning is getting married too, and Young Master Jingrang is going to be a father — when Young Master Jingjing finds a girlfriend, won’t that be everything perfectly in order.”

Hearing that, Grandma Yan grew anxious all over again. “I’ll go and see if there’s anyone suitable for Jingjing.”

“Madam!” Aunt Liu watched helplessly as Grandma Yan walked off into the distance. “It’s all a matter of fate — rushing does no good at all.”

On the other side, Xuan Yanyu and Yan Yunning had barely taken their seats in the dining room when they heard Yan Jingjing’s unhurried teasing: “Oh, so you did remember to come back. I thought we wouldn’t see you two for all three days.”

The reason he said three days was that they were busy with work — each visit, they could stay at most three days before having to leave.

“Ahem.” Yan Yunning said with perfect composure, “We felt it was too late last night and didn’t want to disturb everyone by coming back, so we didn’t stay here.”

“Oh?” Yan Jingjing’s gaze drifted over them casually. He pointed at the mark on Xuan Yanyu’s throat, then pointed at Yan Yunning’s slightly flushed collarbone, and raised a brow. “Did you two go to the mountains to watch the night scenery yesterday? Got bitten by insects??”

“Eat your food and keep your mouth shut.” Yan Jingrang gave Yan Jingjing a kick without the slightest ceremony.

Yan Jingjing: “……”

Yan Yunning brushed her long, wavy hair forward over both shoulders, looking mildly awkward.

Yan Jingjing caught on belatedly and coughed, then muttered in a very small voice, “Take care, take care — think of my nephew or little niece’s safety.”

“……” In an instant, a wave of coughing broke out around the dining table.

“Don’t misunderstand, what I meant was……”

“Yan Jingjing, just drop dead.” Yan Yunning had no interest in listening to him backpedal. She stepped forward, grabbed him by the neck, and squeezed. “Still talking nonsense?”

Yan Jingjing rolled his eyes. “Big Brother, Second Brother — keep your sister in line.”

“I have something to attend to.” Yan Jingrang gracefully dabbed the corner of his mouth with a square handkerchief and strode out of the dining room in long steps.

“I’m going to check on Grandma.” Yan Jing’an followed close behind.

Yan Jingjing: “……??”

“It’s a misunderstanding — you’ve all genuinely misunderstood what I meant!!” Yan Jingjing grabbed Yan Yunning’s wrist and argued in his own defence, “What I meant was, if you’re going somewhere with mosquitoes, spare just a little thought for my nephew or little niece.”

Yan Yunning let out a cold snort. “Yan Jingjing, would you please shut up.”

Yan Jingjing turned his desperate gaze to Xuan Yanyu. “Can’t you keep your wife under control?”

The latter couldn’t even be bothered to lift an eyelid and continued sipping his tea at a leisurely pace.

“Fine, fine, fine.” Yan Jingjing placed both hands on Yan Yunning’s shoulders, intending to push this unreasonable little brat away — but the moment his hands settled on her shoulders, Xuan Yanyu, who had risen and walked over, swatted them away in one clean motion.