Who gets married and then immediately starts talking about having children?

But that was exactly what Yunque had said, openly and without any self-consciousness.

For a split second, Lu Rangchen had the odd impression that Yunque might have married him just to acquire children. But on reflection, he thought — that kind of thinking was entirely fitting for the girl he liked.

Quietly baiting him, without ever softening.

There’s a saying: food and desire are in human nature.

When it comes to topics like this, men have nothing to hide. Since she wanted to bait him, Lu Rangchen simply let her — and without the slightest blush, he curved his lips and said, “Sure, we can head back right now and give it a try.”

Then he leaned in close to her ear, his warm breath teasing, “And you can feel firsthand just how strong your man is in other departments.”

“……”

What does it mean for a plan to backfire entirely?

Yunque felt flushed to the tips of her ears, and this, she thought, was exactly it.

But she was not the type to soften easily. After a moment she said, “If it doesn’t deliver, I’m asking for a refund.”

That line genuinely made Lu Rangchen crack up.

The man let out an amused, exasperated laugh and said, “You’ve got nerve, Zhu Yunque.”

Yunque’s expression feigned pure innocence and she said nothing, just looked back down to fiddle with her phone again.

Who even knew what she was fussing with.

Lu Rangchen didn’t have the energy to dig into her little schemes, and he certainly wasn’t going to act indecently in broad daylight just to prove some point to her. Instead, he simply leaned over, cupped her chin, and kissed her cheek — possessive and unrestrained.

The little rabbit in Yunque’s chest gave two wild leaps.

Lu Rangchen half-squinted at her, half-teasing, half-warning. “Wait until tonight.”

Yunque: “……”

Her lips twitched. She deliberately turned to look out the car window, telling herself: Fine, I’ll wait. It’s not like you can do me in.

Lu Rangchen watched that stubborn little display of hers and thought — even from the back of her head, he could tell exactly what mischief she was holding back. The thought made him let out a quiet, low laugh, and he reached out a broad hand to affectionately — and firmly — ruffle her hair.

By then it was already three in the afternoon.

The sunlight over the capital was perfect. The sky was a rare, brilliant blue. The clouds were a white so pristine it seemed almost unreal.

It would be a shame to waste such beautiful weather by staying indoors.

So that day, Lu Rangchen simply took Yunque out to stroll around and buy clothes.

Perhaps because their relationship had shifted into something new, Yunque no longer played coy as she once had. Whatever Lu Rangchen chose for her, she accepted.

More than anything, Lu Rangchen had impeccable taste in clothing. From the very moment they had met, Yunque had never seen him wear a single thing that looked bad. Sometimes it was nothing more than a plain white t-shirt and jeans, and yet he wore it with a flavor entirely his own. So when Lu Rangchen selected clothes for her, she tried them all on with little resistance — and kept them.

The sales attendant was practically green with envy, gushing over and over that Lu Rangchen was such a wonderful boyfriend.

Lu Rangchen stood with his hands in his pockets, relaxed, leaning against the fitting room doorframe. He shot Yunque — who had come out in a new outfit — a smile-without-words look, and to his surprise, she picked up on it immediately and said in a quiet voice, “…We’re already married.”

Neither of them had quite expected they’d be married so young.

The attendant let out a startled sound and looked at Lu Rangchen in disbelief.

Lu Rangchen, for his part, remained exactly as he always was — drifting through life with that irreverent, devil-may-care attitude, his impossibly handsome face with one eyebrow arched up, practically wearing the words What? Surprising? across his expression.

A moment ago the attendant had thought he looked like an unreliable, flirtatious scoundrel. Yet somehow, after Yunque said it, she found herself seeing a trace of quiet devotion in his expression after all.

Knowing her audience, the attendant promptly switched her tune and exclaimed, “No wonder! I was wondering why the two of you seemed so perfectly in tune — such a perfect match.”

Lu Rangchen wasn’t someone who often smiled at strangers.

But hearing those words, he let his gaze lift in a sudden flash — and the smile that broke across his eyes was like ice melting in warmth. It reached all the way to the depths of his expression, not exaggerated, but restrained and deeply magnetic. He looked directly at Yunque like that, the way one looks at something that belongs entirely to oneself.

Their gazes met, and Yunque’s heart grew warm.

She wasn’t sure why, but she suddenly felt very, very happy.

This kind of happiness — no one else in the world could give it to her. Only Lu Rangchen could.

A clear, sweet smile rose in her eyes without her even noticing.

She turned in front of the mirror and said to Lu Rangchen, soft and obedient, “This one looks nice.”

Lu Rangchen heard her and raised an eyebrow. He gathered up his warm gaze and turned to tilt his chin at the attendant. “Add this one too.”

“Right away!!!”

And so it went — one set after another. That day, Yunque picked out and bought eight outfits.

She wasn’t sure exactly how much it came to, but she knew it was not cheap. This mall didn’t cater to people watching their wallets — not by a long shot.

Yet even so, Lu Rangchen’s brow didn’t furrow once as he swiped his card.

Afterward, the two of them had dinner on the upper floor.

It was around this time that Yunque discovered Lu Rangchen had already posted something to his WeChat Moments.

While she had been trying on clothes and he had nothing to do, Lu Rangchen had been lounging on the sofa and had casually posted the photos.

No caption text. No photos showing their faces.

Just two marriage certificates overlapping in a single image, with a single emoji — a heart — as the caption. And yet it instantly set his Moments ablaze.

Perhaps because it seemed too surreal, people didn’t just like it — they commented, said all manner of things, and when Lu Rangchen didn’t reply, they started sending him direct messages.

His phone lay on the table buzzing nonstop. Lu Rangchen couldn’t be bothered with it — he was ordering food from the server in French — while Yunque stared at his phone with a blank expression.

She waited a couple of seconds. The phone showed no sign of quieting down.

Yunque asked him, “Do you have something urgent? Should you handle that — a lot of people are trying to reach you?”

Lu Rangchen paused, giving her a look somewhere between a smile and not quite. “Then you check it for me?”

Yunque: “…That’s your phone.”

Lu Rangchen raised the corner of his mouth. “But what’s mine isn’t also yours?”

“……”

That actually, somehow, made sense.

Yunque wasn’t naive — she understood perfectly what Lu Rangchen meant.

It was his way of telling her, through actions, that he was completely hers. In his arms, she could have unlimited security.

Something settled warmly inside her.

Yunque quietly composed herself, acknowledged her new identity, and simply reached out a pale, slender hand to take Lu Rangchen’s phone without any further hesitation.

It was worth noting that even back in university when they were together, she had barely touched Lu Rangchen’s phone.

Not because he wouldn’t let her.

It was because she felt the two of them hadn’t yet reached that level of intimacy — where she could fully manage him, fully hold him.

But now it was different.

She was his wife. His spouse. The person who, apart from his parents, was closest and most important to him in his entire life.

Every time that settled fact crossed her mind, her heart would quicken with an almost unreal feeling — as if this couldn’t possibly be true.

And yet Lu Rangchen, while appearing to converse with the server, was actually keeping her in the corner of his eye the entire time. Just as she was about to unlock the phone, he opened his mouth abruptly. “141006.”

Her fingertip paused.

Yunque processed what this was and looked up at him.

Lu Rangchen looked back at her too, his drawling, unhurried tone saying, “Forgotten how to type?”

“……”

Yunque ignored that, looked back at the screen, and entered the passcode.

It unlocked immediately. And then she saw that this man’s phone was piled high with WeChat notifications.

They all asked Lu Rangchen the same thing, in their various ways: What’s going on? Are you really married?

Yunque’s heart gave a thud, and she tapped into his Moments to see the post he’d put up earlier. She wasn’t sure what emotion surged up inside her in that moment, but something did.

She looked up at him and asked, “You just… made it public like that?”

By now, dinner had been ordered. Lu Rangchen was unhurriedly sipping his lemon water, and he gave her that calm, sideways look. “What else?”

He let out a quiet laugh. “What, do you want to suffocate me?”

Hearing that, the sweetness in Yunque’s heart rose even higher.

But a vague anxiety still lingered.

Lu Rangchen naturally knew what she was anxious about. He’d already thought it through.

He took the phone she held out, set it down on the table without a care, and his first act was to reach across the table and hold her hand in his, squeezing it gently twice.

He smiled. “Yunque, don’t be so timid, alright?”

Yunque looked down, quietly pressing her lips together.

Lu Rangchen spoke again. “Don’t worry. I’ll go see him first thing tomorrow morning and explain things clearly.”

The him he referred to was the patriarch of the Cheng family, Cheng Fusen.

He hadn’t blocked anyone from that Moments post — the Cheng family could see it too.

Yunque had already spotted a message from one of Lu Rangchen’s aunts, clearly shocked, asking what was happening — asking if he was deliberately trying to antagonize the family patriarch.

As for how Lu Rangchen had responded, she didn’t know.

All she knew was that she spent the entire evening distracted and unsettled — even during the movie she had wanted to see, which they went and watched together.

Lu Rangchen could see that no amount of coaxing was working.

So after the movie ended, he simply took her hand and walked her home. The whole way he held her hand, and that warm, devoted tenderness between them showed no sign of cooling just because they’d gotten the marriage certificate and now had a sense of security — if anything, it was denser and stronger than before.

Although Lu Rangchen hadn’t had any alcohol, Yunque, in an unusual break from habit, had drunk a little — enough that her head was slightly swimmy, and she wanted to shower when they got back.

Lu Rangchen blocked the bathroom doorway and stopped her, holding both her arms and wrapping them behind her waist, his tone fond as he said, “You’re not entirely sober with that alcohol. Can you shower on your own?”

Yunque tilted her head back and looked at him, then honestly shook her head. “No. I’m a little dizzy.”

Lu Rangchen curved his lips in a smile.

Clearly not a particularly innocent smile. She softened anyway and murmured, “…But I’ll feel uncomfortable if I don’t wash up.”

She’d been up since early morning for a flight, and had been busy all day. Without a shower, she’d feel as though she were covered in sweat — she wouldn’t be able to sleep.

As it happened, Lu Rangchen needed to shower too. So he simply took the opportunity, raised an eyebrow, and said, “Then how about I help you?”

Those words were like a secret signal code that only the two of them understood.

Yunque looked at him. Her gaze flickered, and her cheeks suddenly flushed hot.

Everyone knew what was about to happen.

Even so — she nodded. After all, this was their wedding night.

On second thought, she bit her lip softly, a hint of embarrassed shyness in her expression. “But… we don’t have anything at home.”

The words landed.

The look in Lu Rangchen’s eyes that was already drowning her in warmth grew even darker and deeper.

His throat worked. With a not-quite-laughing expression, he said, “Who says there isn’t?”

“……”

Yunque stared at him, stunned.

Before she could say another word, Lu Rangchen hooked an arm under her and lifted her straight up over his shoulder.

The sudden move startled a small cry out of Yunque. And then Lu Rangchen carried her right into the bathroom, accompanied by a low, amused laugh. “I prepared it on the way here. It’s in the luggage. Didn’t you see it?”

Steam and warm water vapor filled the not-so-large bathroom.

In no time, the muffled sound of a woman’s voice being swallowed by a kiss drifted through the air.

A slipper fell to the floor with a soft thud.

Lu Rangchen had lifted Yunque up onto the vanity counter, then bent forward.

It was something she had never experienced before — startled, flushed, and so flustered that her toes curled.

And then came Lu Rangchen’s voice, dyed with barely-restrained desire, deep and low and magnetizing, each hushed syllable a teasing, hypnotic murmur.

“Weren’t you the one taunting me this afternoon, hm?”

“How is it you’re now clenching your teeth and refusing to make a sound?”