Does this mean she is beginning to like me?

After realizing she had fallen for Zhou Shiyu, Sheng Sui’s life seemed to undergo earth-shaking changes.

In the past twenty-seven years, she had never been attracted to anyone, never even had a romantic encounter, and had once thought herself incapable of love, calmly accepting a life lacking the “non-essential” of romance.

She was the type to be anxious about others’ kindness, and when she realized she couldn’t reciprocate, she would simultaneously cut off others’ giving and approaches.

Coincidentally, this was also why she decided to marry Zhou Shiyu: suitable and complementary, with each getting what they needed.

And now, for the first time in her life, slow as she was, she discovered she could be moved by another person—and this person happened to be her husband. The logic sounded absurd, but Sheng Sui still felt joy.

Perhaps this joy carried the wariness toward love’s uncertainty from her past rigid impressions, but at least most of the time, the sense of security Zhou Shiyu gave her was enough to make Sheng Sui forget minor worries.

Like this Monday morning when she woke up, the first thing she felt was the man’s heavy hand resting on her waist.

Zhou Shiyu’s way of holding her was never just casually draping his hand on her waist. Even in sleep, the man’s strong, powerful arm would press tightly against her spine while encircling her, always giving a sense of treasuring that was reluctant to let go.

To let the man rest well, Sheng Sui had repeatedly reminded him last night not to get up early today, finally having the rare chance to see Zhou Shiyu’s sleeping expression in the morning.

Without his glasses, the man’s already deep features appeared even sharper. Even with closed eyes and silence, he naturally carried an air of authority.

Warm spring dawn light gently poured through the gauze curtains, falling on Zhou Shiyu’s head and shoulders with dancing golden spots. Even his long, steady breathing seemed like deliberate seduction.

The two were extremely close. Looking up, Sheng Sui could clearly see the fine, tiny hairs on the man’s flawless face.

“…What are you looking at?”

A hoarse male voice thick with sleepiness sounded. Zhou Shiyu’s lips moved slightly without opening his eyes, his chest vibrating slightly as he spoke.

Sheng Sui wondered how this person knew even with his eyes closed. As she shifted her gaze away, she felt the arm around her waist tighten.

The man lowered his head and buried it in her neck. The next second, a slight pain came from her earlobe: “Why aren’t you talking?”

“…Zhou Shiyu, don’t bite me,” Sheng Sui raised her hand to gently push the man’s shoulder, saying quietly, “It hurts.”

She used no strength in her hands, only to be held even tighter by the unmoved Zhou Shiyu. Under the covers, he caught Sheng Sui’s hand and guided it behind his shoulder and back.

Under the winding scars, Sheng Sui’s fingertips touched several dense, fresh scratches, obviously from her own doing.

As scenes from last night floated in her mind and her ears burned, she heard the man’s teasing low counter-question:

“You’re allowed to scratch me, but I can’t bite you once?”

“…”

The grainy male voice brought the scene back. Sheng Sui recalled how last night she had wanted to find Ping’An to play with after not seeing him for several days, but after sitting on the carpet for only a short while, she was pulled into someone’s embrace with the excuse that “the floor is cold.”

Then somehow, the punishment topic discussed at the hospital was brought up again.

Zhou Shiyu methodically attended to her snowy peaks, his low voice demanding Sheng Sui choose one of three locations.

Sheng Sui was already defenseless against low voices. After love sprouted in her heart, she became even more obedient when facing Zhou Shiyu.

The hospital was too absurd, the car too cramped. In a daze, she chose the bedroom at home, then was carried and set down by the man. Like that day on the phone, she again learned how to understand herself.

Zhou Shiyu’s patience remained when personally present. He only lightly held Sheng Sui’s right hand with his large palm, gently guiding and seducing her tender, vulnerable lips to produce sweet nectar.

Sheng Sui only cared that the bedroom lights weren’t on, like vampires scurrying everywhere to avoid light.

As for the hunter Zhou Shiyu, he turned her around to face him, thin lips against Sheng Sui’s flushed ear, teeth against her ear bone, gently nibbling.

“Sui bao, don’t cry,” the man gently consoled the softly sobbing person in his arms, “I’ll teach you once more, okay?”

“…”

Due to poor comprehension, Sheng Sui was tutored several times through the night. Only now did she recall being deceived last night. Looking up, she happened to meet the man’s dark eyes and was dazzled by the laughter within.

Emboldened, her just-awakened brain inevitably had some confused rashness. She imitated Zhou Shiyu’s manner, leaning over to lightly bite the man’s earlobe.

Satisfied with the shallow crescent mark, Sheng Sui learned the man’s roguishness, nonsense flowing from her lips: “Husband and wife don’t hold overnight grudges. You were maliciously retaliating just now.”

Zhou Shiyu raised his eyebrows, getting up and then bending down to lift Sheng Sui: “Revenge for the smallest slight.”

“Wrong,” Sheng Sui limply leaned in the man’s arms, her head pillowed on her husband’s broad shoulder, correcting,

“This is called ‘people must learn to grow.'”

“Then I hope you’ll always be a child,” Zhou Shiyu chuckled upon hearing this, turning his head to kiss Sheng Sui’s cheek, asking gently,

“Do you want to go to the walk-in closet, or should I bring clothes over for you?”

“…”

Unlike before, when Zhou Shiyu habitually asked if she needed a ride this morning, Sheng Sui didn’t refuse with the excuse of it being out of the way.

She thought for a few seconds at the entrance, looking up to ask: “Will it delay your work?”

“No.”

Zhou Shiyu looked down at her bright, crystalline eyes. The wine-red long shirt made her skin appear even more snow-white. He curved his lips: “I’m the boss. I don’t need to meet performance targets.”

“…”

Sheng Sui remembered how last week she had to sprint through the subway station to clock in on time. Her gaze silently moved away from the smiling face of the unscrupulous capitalist, expressionlessly saying “Oh.”

Zhou Shiyu naturally took in all her little expressions, the laughter in his eyes deepening.

“By the way, Director Hou called yesterday asking me to come to the hospital today to discuss the surgical plan.”

Before getting out of the car, Sheng Sui remembered something important: “I might be home late tonight.”

Since being hospitalized yesterday, Sheng Tian had called Sheng Sui several times, always talking about wanting to leave but unable to clearly explain why.

Sheng Sui had inquired—Director Hou’s professional abilities were among the best in Shanghai. He was only willing to make extra time for treatment because of Zhou Shiyu’s connections. For Sheng Tian to suddenly want to be discharged and change doctors could only be described as unreasonable.

No longer patient with Sheng Tian’s complaints, Sheng Sui simply stopped answering calls, only planning to go to the hospital today to check the situation.

“Alright, call me if you need me to pick you up.”

Zhou Shiyu stopped the car one street away from the school, turning to see Sheng Sui looking down to unbuckle her seatbelt, saying unhurriedly:

“Did Mrs. Zhou forget something?”

Sheng Sui was about to press the buckle when she looked up in confusion: “Mm?”

“Sui Sui wouldn’t plan to ride for free, would she?”

Zhou Shiyu’s left hand rested on the steering wheel, looking down at her thin lips meaningfully: “Friendly reminder—this place doesn’t accept cash transactions.”

The man’s purpose was obvious. Sheng Sui gripped the seatbelt with both hands, leaning over under the man’s deep, laughing gaze to press a kiss to his pale thin lips, breaking away immediately:

“Is this enough—”

Before she finished speaking, Zhou Shiyu’s warm, dry large hand was already gently supporting the back of her head, pulling Sheng Sui toward him and deepening the kiss again.

The man skillfully broke through her teeth and stole her breath. When he finally pulled back, he still lingered unsatisfied at the corner of Sheng Sui’s mouth.

“…”

Sheng Sui’s breathing was uneven as she accused him by name: “Zhou Shiyu, you’re raising prices on the spot!”

Zhou Shiyu’s fingertips brushed up her scattered hair, tucking it behind her burning red ears, his smile carrying some refined scoundrel charm:

“This is called ‘making change.'”

“…”

Thanks to someone leaving bite marks at the corner of her mouth, Sheng Sui received countless inquiring gazes throughout the day.

Especially since she had just posted photos on social media over the weekend, everyone’s gossip hearts were aroused. Even colleagues she wasn’t usually close with would actively ask about her newlywed life when they saw her.

Even during the afternoon art class, a student specifically came to ask: “Teacher, why is your mouth injured?”

“…”

The art and crafts teacher was lecturing at the front of the classroom. Under Qi Yue’s teasing gaze beside her, Sheng Sui quickly whispered for the student to return and listen.

For the past two years, the school had been working hard to implement differentiated instruction—similar teaching content developed at different levels according to students’ varying abilities and intelligence levels.

Today’s art class, for example, was about teaching students to recognize various fruits. Different learning objectives were set according to different students’ learning abilities.

For the first tier—students with the strongest abilities—they needed to independently assemble colorful building blocks into complete fruit shapes. For the second tier—students with moderate abilities—they would independently or semi-independently paste fruit cards onto corresponding specific molds.

For children with weaker abilities—the third tier—numbers were pre-attached to teaching aids, then students would paste small cards.

Students who completed tasks could receive chips as rewards—though called rewards, for some students with communication barriers, it was also part of the teaching.

Holding chips, Sheng Sui directed her gaze toward Zhou Yi sitting properly in the back row.

As she had judged before, Zhou Yi’s biggest problem was communication barriers—he wouldn’t actively communicate with others. The boy didn’t even need the teacher’s instruction. After receiving teaching materials, he completed the assembly by himself, then remained silent with his head down for long periods.

In front of him lay an open booklet that Sheng Sui had specially prepared with various small cards, with the “chips” card placed at the top right.

He only needed to tear off the card and paste it on the velcro in front of him, then walk over and hand it to Sheng Sui to express his desire for “chips”—this would complete one assisted communication exercise.

Unfortunately, the boy remained motionless.

Finally, Sheng Sui actively walked to his desk, crouched down and repeatedly called his name. Only then did the handsome boy show some reaction, slowly looking up and staring directly at Sheng Sui for several seconds before tearing off the chips card and handing it over.

“…Zhou Yi’s progress is quite fast. I remember when I first saw him, he seemed like a completely self-enclosed child.”

During break time, Qi Yue chatted with Sheng Sui at the back of the classroom while taking out a concealer from her bag.

Qi Yue kindly gestured toward her collar: “Cover it up, you can still see some marks.”

Sheng Sui immediately understood, politely declining the concealer and tying her collar strings tighter, saying softly: “…Thank you.”

“Looks like Teacher Sheng’s newlywed life is quite satisfying,” Qi Yue gossiped with a smile, suddenly remembering something and turning to ask,

“But he looks very familiar in the photos. Is he a celebrity?”

Sheng Sui laughed: “How could that be?”

“I figured not, but he’s probably just too handsome, and the way he looks at you is so gentle.”

Qi Yue sighed enviously: “When I married my husband, he called me darling left and right. Now? Ha, he’s not still flirting with female colleagues.”

Sheng Sui remembered Qi Yue’s husband wasn’t a school teacher: “Could there be some misunderstanding?”

“What misunderstanding could there be?”

Qi Yue rolled her eyes: “From when he mysteriously started using two phones, I knew something was up. Using his fingerprint to unlock the new phone at midnight, sure enough, I saw his ambiguous chats with female colleagues.”

Regarding Qi Yue’s repeated theory that “no one can come out of their partner’s phone smiling,” Sheng Sui was both amused and exasperated, forced to listen to how her colleague found various clues through her husband’s shopping apps, food delivery apps, and ant energy.

Marveling at Qi Yue’s Sherlock Holmes-level investigative skills, Sheng Sui suddenly thought that Zhou Shiyu also had two phones, one black and one white.

One for work, one for personal use—though she had almost never seen Zhou Shiyu use the white phone in front of her.

Even when contacting private friends like Liang Xubai, the man used the black phone.

The momentary doubt was quickly dismissed. Sheng Sui busily and fulfillingly finished the afternoon classes, then took a taxi directly to the hospital where Sheng Tian was after school.

Climbing stairs through the long corridor, after pushing open the private room door, she was first startled by the tall caregiver at the entrance.

“Hello, Miss Sheng,” the man who identified himself as a caregiver nodded slightly to Sheng Sui, saying quietly, “Mr. Zhou was worried about Mr. Sheng being alone, so he had me responsible for caring for him. I’ll notify the doctor immediately if needed.”

“…Okay, thank you.”

Sheng Sui was surprised yet somewhat moved.

Last night she had only casually and vaguely mentioned her worry about her father having no one to accompany him. She hadn’t expected Zhou Shiyu to directly send a caregiver to specifically watch over the ward the next day.

Not having to face Sheng Tian all day while also not worrying about the man’s physical condition and adding guilt made Sheng Sui unconsciously sigh with relief.

There was already nothing left to say between her and Sheng Tian.

Seeing her father sleeping, his eyes deeply sunken into their sockets, looking more than ten years older than their last meeting, Sheng Sui felt another wave of mixed emotions.

After briefly discussing the treatment plan with Director Hou, Sheng Sui decided professional matters should be handled by professionals and had no objections.

Despite yesterday’s unpleasantness, Director Hou still chatted with her cheerfully. Sheng Sui felt embarrassed and only wanted to leave. After confirming Sheng Tian’s current stable condition, she didn’t even visit the ward and took a taxi home.

When the taxi entered the residential complex, it was exactly six o’clock, with sunset afterglow burning half the sky golden-red.

She could faintly smell enticing food aromas from outside the door. Sheng Sui pushed open the entrance door and could see Zhou Shiyu’s busy figure in the kitchen from afar.

Dinner was the unchanging two meat, two vegetable, one soup. After a satisfying meal, her body also felt tired. After washing dishes, Sheng Sui walked to the living room, lazily leaning on the sofa not wanting to move.

Zhou Shiyu sat across from her handling work, occasionally picking up the black phone on the table to answer calls, his steady, calm low voice maintaining authority.

Like most evenings, the two busied themselves with work or leisure activities in the same space.

After organizing tomorrow’s teaching materials, Sheng Sui picked up Ping’An who was rubbing against her feet and took several photos of the cat’s face with her phone.

Then she skillfully made them into emojis, feeling that enjoying them alone wasn’t enough, and forwarded them to Zhou Shiyu nearby.

When the notification sounded, Sheng Sui looked up to see Zhou Shiyu, who was still in a video conference, take out his white phone from his pocket and open the images.

After a while, the man curved his lips and met Sheng Sui’s eyes: “Saved them.”

“Zhou Shiyu! I’m here talking my throat hoarse, and you’re actually showing off your love with your wife!”

Qiu Si’s loud voice immediately came from the computer: “I order you to immediately think of a solution to heal my wounded heart!”

With the laptop on his legs, Zhou Shiyu first unhurriedly typed on the screen, casually placing the white phone on the sofa beside him.

“Simplify complexity, only look at the three main influencing factors, readjust the algorithm,” the man’s well-defined hands tapped the keyboard methodically,

“If you had one-tenth the meticulousness and insight of your eavesdropping skills, you wouldn’t be making such a fuss over an outdated algorithm.”

“…”

Sheng Sui’s heart skipped a beat after hearing this, and sure enough, the next second, single dog Qiu Si’s even more furious roar came through.

Zhou Shiyu only slightly raised his eyebrows upon hearing this, stood up with his laptop, and looked at Sheng Sui: “It’s too noisy here. I’ll go to the study first.”

Sheng Sui felt something was off and carefully asked in a whisper: “Are you on mute now?”

“Why would I be on mute?” Zhou Shiyu smiled slightly, counter-asking:

“I’m just talking to my wife.”

“…”

Thus, amid the other three people’s contempt and condemnation, Zhou Shiyu walked toward the bedroom with long strides, his cloud-light and wind-calm back looking like he truly hadn’t intended to anger everyone.

—If Sheng Sui hadn’t seen the suspicious upward curve at the corner of the man’s mouth when he turned around.

Somehow, seeing someone who was usually mature beyond his years show childishness appropriate for his age, she felt inexplicably comforted.

Watching the man’s back disappear, Sheng Sui was just withdrawing her gaze when she saw the restless Ping’An lying on his side by the opposite sofa.

When the solid cat sprawled showing his belly, his pair of white chubby paws paddled around, making Zhou Shiyu’s white phone, casually placed on the sofa edge, precariously positioned.

Seeing the kitten about to push the phone off, Sheng Sui immediately got up to stop him: “Ping’An!”

Quick-eyed and quick-handed, she saved the phone from disaster. Sheng Sui breathed a sigh of relief, bending down to place the phone in the safe center position of the coffee table.

From the corner of her eye, however, she discovered that Zhou Shiyu’s phone screen wasn’t locked.

Probably because too little time had passed for auto-lock, the cold white screen clearly showed the memo app where her just-sent emojis had been copied and pasted.

At that moment, Sheng Sui had to admit that her surging curiosity overcame her behavioral principles of respecting others’ privacy.

She couldn’t help looking down at the bold black title above the several emojis.

Just a brief sentence, but Sheng Sui read it over and over several times. Her ears suddenly echoed with that day on the mountain when she was alone with Liang Xubai, the man’s final question about Zhou Shiyu’s uncharacteristically hasty marriage reasons.

The line read:

【Day 35 of marriage: She is beginning to share daily interesting things with me. Does this mean she is beginning to like me?】