Would you consider marrying me?

Regarding Sheng Sui’s late return home today, Zhou Shiyu showed no abnormal reaction.

Combined with last night’s secret peeking at his memos, Sheng Sui inevitably felt somewhat guilty and lacking in confidence when facing the man again.

All the way home, she had been praying that Zhou Shiyu wouldn’t become suspicious; but now that he clearly hadn’t asked a single extra question, she couldn’t help but wonder – usually, regardless of when she came home early or late, Zhou Shiyu would always ask a few questions about her day’s work.

Was his not asking because he had already discovered something unusual?

Or was she being too paranoid?

And before going to the jewelry store tomorrow at noon, how was she going to measure Zhou Shiyu’s ring finger size tonight?

“……”

“Is work very tiring?”

The gentle male voice pulled back her chaotic thoughts. Sheng Sui looked up to see Zhou Shiyu serving the freshly cooked dishes on the table: “You’ve been spacing out ever since you got home.”

Tonight’s meat and vegetable combination was cumin pork ribs, oyster sauce squid flowers, and stir-fried lettuce slices, paired with tomato seaweed egg dumpling soup. The colorful dishes arranged neatly around them made one’s appetite increase just by looking.

Usually Sheng Sui would happily start eating right away.

Today, looking at the table full of her favorite dishes, then turning to look at Zhou Shiyu who was peeling sunshine muscat grapes by the counter, she suddenly realized that all the things she had previously thought were perfectly satisfactory actually had reasons behind them.

What she had assumed were chance coincidences were merely enjoying the fruits of someone else’s painstaking efforts.

“Not tiring.”

Sheng Sui shook her head and waited for Zhou Shiyu to sit down to eat. While picking up food, she probed indirectly: “At lunch in the cafeteria, I learned that a teacher at the next table was also from Third Middle School, seems to be from the same year as you.”

After mentioning the female teacher’s name, Sheng Sui asked casually: “She said she was also in the honors class. Do you remember her?”

“I don’t remember.”

Zhou Shiyu answered gently without hesitation. Seeing some rib sauce on the corner of Sheng Sui’s mouth, he picked up a napkin to help her wipe it clean.

“…Oh,” the topic of trying to recall the past was thus interrupted. Sheng Sui didn’t know how to continue and said awkwardly, “But you said before that you have a good memory.”

He remembered clearly even her exam scores and rankings from a certain test, yet forgot the names of high school classmates.

Taking in her deflated expression, Zhou Shiyu curved his lips with a faint smile:

“Good memory should be reserved for people worth treasuring.”

Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, he saw Sheng Sui, who had been looking down dejectedly the second before, suddenly look up; if humans had tails, the one behind her would definitely be standing straight up with a swish.

Sheng Sui gently poked at her rice with chopsticks, pondered for a few seconds, then asked cautiously: “Did you pay attention to me in high school?”

She really wasn’t suited for probing conversations. Before Zhou Shiyu could reply, she was already embarrassed by her own presumptuous question, her warm white cheeks showing suspicious light pink.

“Occasionally.”

Facing the woman’s searching gaze, Zhou Shiyu used his chopsticks to separate the meat from the bone of the rib, then placed the meat in Sheng Sui’s bowl, saying without changing expression:

“Your seat was in the first row of the class. During the ten-minute breaks, you liked to lie on your desk and sleep. At lunch, you always went to the cafeteria alone to eat.”

This afternoon Secretary Chen had informed him that Xiao Ming, the person in charge of Cheng He’s new partner chip company and also Sheng Sui’s high school friend, had suddenly taken leave; unsurprisingly, this should be related to Sheng Sui’s “coincidental” overtime today.

Continued concealment no longer made sense.

And some words, some things, perhaps even Zhou Shiyu no longer wanted to guard alone in solitude.

“Every time during school-wide physical fitness tests, your sit-and-reach was always failing. Your waist was too stiff to bend down. In four physical tests throughout high school, you failed to push the rod to the passing line three times.”

Also, although you could have applied for exemption, before every 800-meter run to prevent low blood sugar, Sheng Sui would secretly hide and eat chocolate, just not wanting classmates to know she was sick; after the test, she would return to the classroom alone, gasping for breath, to get her blood glucose meter and head straight to the restroom.

Other students who finished their tests would either go to the school store in groups to buy drinks and snacks, or go to the playground to play ball.

The day her illness was diagnosed, what seemed like the most ordinary high school life to others became a luxury for Sheng Sui.

At that time, Zhou Shiyu only watched from afar as she spent her days alone, constantly trying to hide her illness and making every effort to blend in with normal people, often feeling suffocated.

“The PE teacher said your flexibility was too poor,” Zhou Shiyu lowered his eyes to hide his emotions, suddenly thinking of something, he raised his eyebrows and smiled softly:

“Though now it doesn’t show.”

“…Zhou Shiyu!”

Sheng Sui’s face turned red from the suggestive comment, cutting him off in time: “How do you know all these things?!”

“Skip class enough, and you can see quite a bit.”

Zhou Shiyu casually mentioned the fact that no one dared to control him since high school, his tone pausing slightly as he changed the subject:

“After work tomorrow, do you want to come with me to look at a house on the west side of the city? If you like it, we’ll move.”

The topic was unexpectedly diverted. Sheng Sui understood the man didn’t want to continue talking and didn’t want to force him: “Don’t you like it here? Why change houses?”

“This place is too far from your school. Taking the subway in the morning is too hard,” Zhou Shiyu was characteristically concise: “There are quite a few employees living on the west side. You could take the company shuttle directly then.”

Sheng Sui was stunned: “…But I’m not part of your company.”

“True,” Zhou Shiyu saw a strand of hair sticking up on her head and raised his hand to smooth it down for her, saying gently:

“But you are the company’s boss lady.”

After dinner, Zhou Shiyu volunteered to wash dishes. Sheng Sui couldn’t compete with him and could only follow him around, looking for something to do for a long time before finally helping him tie his apron.

With too many issues to process and resolve, she could only focus on one thing at the moment, so her mind was full of how to determine the ring size.

Before leaving, the salesgirl at the jewelry store had thoughtfully taught her a method: cut white paper into nail-width thin strips, wrap them around the finger for one circle, and the resulting length would be the circumference of the ring finger.

The method wasn’t difficult, but the key problem was how Sheng Sui could complete this arduous task while keeping it hidden from Zhou Shiyu.

Should she wait until he fell asleep?

“…Suisui?”

Zhou Shiyu’s somewhat helpless and indulgent low voice came from above: “If you hold me like this, I can’t wash the dishes.”

“…Oh, oh.”

Only then did Sheng Sui realize that because she had been thinking too intently, she was currently hugging Zhou Shiyu tightly like a sloth hugging a tree, chest against back, still gripping the two straps of his black apron.

Her eyelid twitched. Just as she was about to hurriedly jump away, a certain thought suddenly flashed through her mind.

Undoubtedly, all of Sheng Sui’s knowledge in certain aspects had been taught to her bit by bit by Zhou Shiyu’s hands.

Gentle plucking and slow twisting, wiping and picking again*, she had only learned the surface of the profound finger techniques. Her fingertips lightly traced across his shirt sleeve, pulling from the front to the back, feeling through the expensive fabric the man’s gradually tensing arm muscles.

The man’s reaction was undoubtedly great encouragement. Sheng Sui hadn’t expected she could actually provoke Zhou Shiyu, and was about to continue her efforts.

The next second her wrist was caught. Zhou Shiyu turned around and leaned down, the huge height difference and intimidating black shadow pressing down, instantly enveloping Sheng Sui completely.

“Good baby,” Zhou Shiyu’s voice was low and hoarse, his eyes behind the glasses dangerously narrowed slightly, his dark eyes bottomless:

“Can I understand your current behavior as some kind of invitation?”

“…….”

Her evasive gaze fell on the man’s bobbing Adam’s apple. Sheng Sui unconsciously held her breath, her wildly beating heart almost wanting to jump out of her chest.

Having come this far, she couldn’t pretend not to understand anymore. Thinking of the difficult goal still unaccomplished, she gritted her teeth and nodded, looking up to meet his gaze directly.

“…Yes.”

The large bedroom didn’t have time to turn on lights. The only light source was a thin beam of light from the hallway slipping through the door crack into the room, falling diagonally on the two people now sitting embraced, occasionally hearing the faint sounds of Ping’An playing alone in the living room.

Zhou Shiyu kept hesitating about how to hold her steady, while Sheng Sui had no more patience, urging softly: “…It’s okay now.”

[This is just hugging, no other content]

She still had urgent matters. Past experience told her that competing in cunning with Zhou Shiyu would only lead to certain defeat; she had to find ways to fight quickly and decisively.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Kissing is always addictive. Zhou Shiyu’s thin lips kissed Sheng Sui’s sweaty forehead, his voice deep and hoarse:

“…Baby, why are you so good tonight?”

Sheng Sui was so shy her ears almost dripped blood, her long lashes like butterfly wings in a storm; her eyes filled with misty moisture. She sat up straight and looked down, her long hair spreading behind her as she asked softly:

“Do you like it then?”

Without waiting for the man’s answer after speaking, Sheng Sui lowered her head again, carefully kissing the old wounds he bore, taking the initiative.

Her kissing technique hadn’t necessarily improved much, sometimes still carrying some awkwardness and naivety, but her expression was serious as she slowly pressed her thin lips against the protruding, hideous scars again and again. [This is just simply kissing wounds, really no other content]

For the first time, cracks appeared on the usually unruffled man’s face.

The woman before him, looking down at him with lowered brows, was like a siren, while he was a lost soul swallowed by turbulent waves, with nowhere to escape and no strength to resist.

“…Zhou Shiyu,” Sheng Sui pecked at Zhou Shiyu’s lips, her watery eyes shimmering like they were filled with silver moon and starry river. After waiting a long time for a response, she slightly raised her eyes and frowned, asking again:

“Do you like it?”

After several seconds of agonizing silence, Zhou Shiyu’s hoarse response finally rang out in the bedroom: “…I like it.”

The scene before him gave Zhou Shiyu a sudden feeling of falling from a thousand meters high, a nearly near-death stimulating sensation. [This is just kissing, nothing else]

He wasn’t clear what could make Sheng Sui reach this extent, his non-episode brain in chaos.

“………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………”

Facts proved that no matter how dangerous and difficult the journey, no matter how impossible the task seemed, everything ultimately came down to the “remaining” being king.

Sheng Sui almost pinched her arm blue to prevent herself from immediately passing out the moment her head touched the pillow.

Even at her most exhausted, she still firmly gripped Zhou Shiyu’s right hand, reminding herself she still had important business.

The breathing beside her ear was deep, slow, and long, his slender black lashes trembling lightly with his breath, completely different from what she had heard last time at the Jingbei hotel.

This was the first time Sheng Sui had seen Zhou Shiyu sleep so peacefully that even when she turned to find the thin paper strip she had prepared under the pillow, there was no sign of him waking up.

The consequence of being too proactive was that now even holding a piece of paper made her hands shake.

Sheng Sui couldn’t help but laugh and cry. Her right hand was like having Parkinson’s, trembling as she wrapped it around Zhou Shiyu’s right ring finger, inexplicably hit by a moment of reality-struck daze.

—She was going to propose to Zhou Shiyu.

—She was going to look into his eyes and clearly tell him word by word that she liked him, then ask if he was willing to marry her.

Secretary Chen hadn’t expected Sheng Sui to call at such a crucial moment.

At that time, Zhou Shiyu was in the villa on the west side doing final preparations, confirming that the doors and windows in the hall were closed, all exhaust fan outlets sealed, and the positions and settings of the humidifier, fog machine, and lighting were all adjusted to values derived from experiments and calculations.

The screen clearly displayed “Miss Sheng” in three large characters. Secretary Chen at the door gestured to Zhou Shiyu in the center of the hall, left the hall to go to an empty restroom, locked it, then answered the phone.

With Sheng Sui’s personality, it must be something important related to Zhou Shiyu for her to skip the man and contact him directly.

That is to say, she probably didn’t want Zhou Shiyu to know about this matter.

“Miss Sheng.”

“Hello Secretary Chen, I’m very sorry to disturb you now.”

At exactly one o’clock in the afternoon, against a somewhat noisy background, Sheng Sui’s speech sounded much faster than usual.

Like she had a belly full of words that she couldn’t wait to express: “I remember Zhou Shiyu once said that all his properties would be equipped with a key for you.”

“Yes.” This was a dead rule set by Grandfather Zhou more than ten years ago to prevent Zhou Shiyu from suicide.

“Then Secretary Chen should also have keys to the house on the west side, right?”

On the phone, Sheng Sui asked carefully: “Preparing at the current home would definitely be discovered. Would it be convenient for me to visit the west side house this afternoon?”

“Oh, I forgot to tell you,” Sheng Sui remembered halfway through speaking that she hadn’t shared the most important news yet:

“I plan to propose to Zhou Shiyu today.”

“……”

Usually mature and steady Secretary Chen, upon hearing Sheng Sui’s unexpected plan, rarely showed a surprised expression.

“Sorry Miss Sheng, I don’t have keys to the west side house.”

Secretary Chen thought of Zhou Shiyu’s careful preparations these past two days and tactfully expressed his inability to help: “But I think, as long as it’s your proposal, Mr. Zhou will be very happy regardless.”

“…I see,” just from her voice, you could tell Sheng Sui was disappointed: “It’s alright, sorry to bother you Secretary Chen. Please get busy.”

“Alright,” Secretary Chen’s tone paused slightly as he smiled: “Congratulations in advance on your marriage.”

“Thank you.”

Secretary Chen hung up and left the restroom. When he returned to the hall, he saw Zhou Shiyu pressing the button in his hand, testing the effect one last time.

He stepped forward and bowed slightly, proactively reporting: “Just now my family called, saying my daughter was crying at kindergarten, insisting on going home.”

Zhou Shiyu looked ahead and pondered for a moment, not doubting: “You go back first. I’ll give you the afternoon off.”

Seeing Secretary Chen bow his head in silence, Zhou Shiyu turned to look at him and said indifferently: “There’s not much point in you staying; besides, four or five-year-old children need parental company.”

Secretary Chen quietly looked at Zhou Shiyu, who was considerably younger than himself.

He had originally been someone Grandfather Zhou placed beside Zhou Shiyu. Until nine years ago, when the grandmother who had single-handedly raised him was critically ill, they searched for famous doctors throughout the country, all with minimal effect.

At that time Zhou Shiyu was hospitalized abroad. Upon hearing the news, he didn’t hesitate to use all his connections, spending tens of millions to send a medical team back to the country, successfully rescuing the dying old woman from death’s door.

From then on, Secretary Chen devoted himself wholeheartedly to Zhou Shiyu’s service, consciously cutting off all private contact with Grandfather Zhou.

“…Thank you.”

Secretary Chen bowed sincerely. Before leaving, he couldn’t help saying: “Your preparations today, Miss Sheng will definitely like them.”

Speaking of Sheng Sui, Zhou Shiyu was no longer his usual indifference. Looking at the scene before him, he curved his lips and smiled:

“Then I’ll borrow your good words.”

After Secretary Chen left, Zhou Shiyu tried again and again alone in the hall, checking his phone from time to time, first to monitor values like humidity and temperature in the room.

Second, to wait for Sheng Sui’s call notification of arrival.

Last night she had emphasized several times that he didn’t need to pick her up. Zhou Shiyu couldn’t persuade her otherwise, so he sent the address and spoke with the villa area security in advance to let her through automatically when they saw her.

Spring days grew longer. When it was nearly five o’clock, it was still bright outside. Zhou Shiyu finally received Sheng Sui’s call, his phone vibrating in his palm.

“Zhou Shiyu, the driver says we’re almost at the villa entrance.”

Sheng Sui’s voice was obviously more cheerful and bright than usual. Zhou Shiyu was infected by her mood and curved his lips: “Good, I’ll come get you now.”

When the woman left home this morning she was bare-faced, but now she was wearing light makeup, her hair specially pinned up, revealing a section of her slender, white swan neck.

She didn’t look like she was casually coming to see a house, but more like she had carefully dressed up in advance for some important upcoming ceremony.

Zhou Shiyu was certain the contents of the hall were well hidden. Quite surprised, he stood at the villa entrance, his dark eyes behind the glasses looking up and down at his beautiful and moving wife.

“…There was a leadership inspection this afternoon, so I put on makeup.”

Sheng Sui’s eyes wandered when she lied, her right hand unconsciously covering her bag tightly, stiffly changing the subject: “Shall we go look at the house now?”

Zhou Shiyu’s gaze swept over her unnaturally moving right hand, reaching out to hold Sheng Sui’s left hand: “Alright, I’ll show you around.”

The villa was actually much larger than Sheng Sui had imagined.

Three full floors each with 300 square meters of space. Just looking at the lengthy corridors felt endless; the decoration was even more classically luxurious Baroque palace style, giving one a constant sense of being suitable for distant admiration but not close habitation.

Added to the big matter weighing on her mind, although she followed Zhou Shiyu touring the villa, her heart was full of thoughts about the matching rings she had specially taken leave to buy at noon, and how exactly she should handle them.

The five-figure price of the couple’s rings might be value Zhou Shiyu could create in the blink of an eye, but it was the most expensive single item Sheng Sui had purchased in her twenty-seven years.

Because of her eagerness to take action, all the proper ceremonial preparations were set aside. Even her afternoon sudden inspiration to make some preparations at the west side villa had fallen through for various reasons.

So when exactly should she take out this hot potato in her bag?

“…Suisui.”

Lost in myriad thoughts, Zhou Shiyu, who had been walking half a step ahead, suddenly slowed down, his left hand on the handle of the tightly closed door ahead, turning back to look at her:

“This is the last room.”

Most of the rooms she’d seen had the same style. Sheng Sui thought the last one would be the same and absent-mindedly agreed: “Mm-hmm, okay—”

Before she finished speaking, she saw the door handle turn with a faint sound as the man pressed down; then the hall before her eyes was dimly lit with yellow light, three floor-to-ceiling windows covered by thick wine-red curtains, completely blocking out light.

Different from any room they had toured before, when Sheng Sui was led in by the man, she clearly felt that the hall before her was much dimmer, more humid, and colder than outside.

Momentarily forgetting the primary task in her bag, her attention finally focused as she looked up questioningly at Zhou Shiyu beside her.

The man’s left palm held a small remote that had appeared from nowhere. His slender index finger pressed the topmost button on the control panel, and she saw fine liquid spray from the top edges of the hall’s four walls.

Immediately after, a square black machine installed at head height on the opposite wall began gushing out misty fog in large volumes.

Under the warm yellow light of the chandelier, when the fog and water vapor collided with each other, they attached and clustered together, finally presenting a scene of large cloud masses suspended in the air, lingering for a long time.

—This was what clouds looked like.

The cloud masses before her eyes kept swirling and gathering, now within reach suspended in the air, each with different shapes, presenting irreplicable, fairyland-like beauty under different angles of light.

Sheng Sui was so shocked she forgot to breathe, staring dumbfounded at the large patches of clouds she had only seen in dreams before, unable to believe it.

She could actually see the clouds she had been obsessed with as a child in this way.

“That day when leaving the hospital, you said because you liked clouds, you always wanted to eat the cotton candy sold from the cart across the street.”

“So I thought about whether to buy you lots and lots of cotton candy as compensation for your childhood.”

Zhou Shiyu’s low, magnetic voice sounded beside her ear. Sheng Sui looked up, falling into his gentle, water-like dark eyes, seeing the man smile: “But there was always a voice in my heart saying ‘no good.'”

“Sheng Sui, from the day I met you, I knew you actually lived quite hard.”

“So in many things, I hope you can be more willful, more selfish, not settle for less in life.”

Sighing deeply, Zhou Shiyu lowered his eyes, looking at Sheng Sui whose eye rims were already red, smiling as he raised his hand to ruffle her soft hair, his voice still gentle:

“I know I can give you very little, so before I always chose to be a coward, not daring to approach rashly, worried that this feeling—”

Before he could finish, Zhou Shiyu saw Sheng Sui, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly seem to make up her mind, abruptly standing on tiptoe with both hands on his shoulders, hurriedly using a kiss to interrupt his unfinished second half.

“…Let me go first this time,” she called his name with a somewhat pitiful crying tone, the ending wet: “Let me say those four words first, okay?”

Zhou Shiyu never liked hearing her cry at times other than in bed, embracing her and gently patting Sheng Sui’s slender back, tenderly comforting: “Okay.”

Even now, Sheng Sui had not yet recovered from the shock of the scene before her, from Zhou Shiyu’s sudden self-revelation.

But more obviously, she had more important things that must be completed immediately.

Behind her were the large patches of dreamy clouds she had looked up at countless times. Sheng Sui withdrew from the man’s embrace, still clumsily and awkwardly taking out the matching rings she had bought from her bag.

“…Zhou Shiyu, I like you.”

Under Zhou Shiyu’s unwavering gaze, Sheng Sui opened the ring box with trembling hands, tears blurring her vision, so she could only repeatedly take deep breaths to suppress the tremor in her voice:

“No longer like what you said before about ‘living together because we’re suitable,’ but purely based on the shallow reason of ‘I like you.'”

“Would you consider marrying me?”

Author’s Note:

Sorry for being late! But today’s word count is still a bit more than usual, consider it a small atonement QAQ

Still daily asking for comments and nutrient solution mwah mwah mwah

1: Quote from “Pipa Song” by Bai Juyi (my usage is completely wrong, readers preparing for middle school entrance exams, high school entrance exams and other exams, please don’t learn from me…)*

2: The cloud-making method comes from Dutch artist Berndnaut Smilde’s work “Nimbus.” You can search for related images, it’s really beautiful, I recommend everyone to look

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