Tan Qingya rarely received messages from Zhou Jianghao, so this one stood out.
—Can you come home early tonight?
Hm?
She sat up straight at once, staring fixedly at the message for several seconds. Her fingers tapped quickly as she pulled up Zhou Jianghao’s WeChat profile to double-check she had the right person. Only then did Tan Qingya return to their chat window.
What was this about?
Without replying right away, Tan Qingya quickly found Auntie Chen’s contact and sent off a message asking what was going on.
The reply came almost immediately:
—Miss Zhou let me off early today. She said she wants to prepare dinner for you herself.
—Probably planning a surprise for you, miss!
Auntie Chen loved scrolling through short videos and was trendier than most people her age. Sure enough, a string of emojis followed:
[Cat Sneaking a Peek.jpg]
[Oh-ho.jpg]
[Flirty Smile.jpg]
Old and improper.
Tan Qingya’s face remained expressionless as she delivered her four-word verdict. Then she stood decisively and began packing her things.
The employee who had been giving her report looked terrified. “President Tan?”
“Off work,” Tan Qingya said curtly.
??!!
It wasn’t until Tan Qingya pulled up outside the apartment building that she snapped out of it. Only then did she realize how utterly inappropriate her hasty rush home had been.
Fidgety and impulsive, like some clueless kid.
She was five years older than Zhou Jianghao, after all—far richer in both age and experience. Her expression gradually grew heavy. After a moment of silence, she pulled out her phone.
It was 4:54 p.m., just six minutes before quitting time. Tan Qingya frowned as reason reasserted itself. She’d actually left work early today…
What a grave sin…
After some contemplation, she pulled up the company group chat with a blank expression and sent out a generous red envelope.
Within a minute, most of it had been snatched up. The unusually large sum pulled many out of their celebratory frenzy, and they finally noticed who had sent it.
Messages in the group came to a sudden halt, with only a few still lost in their delight, spamming thanks and kowtows without realizing.
Tan Qingya exited WeChat and stayed in her car.
Quitting time was at five, and the drive from the office to the apartment took about fifteen minutes. If she arrived around 5:20 and headed upstairs, it wouldn’t seem suspicious.
No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than her WeChat pinged with a new message.
She glanced down instinctively.
—Is something wrong? Your car seems to have been parked downstairs for a while.
“…”
She’d been found out.
No point sticking around now. Tan Qingya touched up her makeup, then drove upstairs.
She’d returned far too early. Zhou Jianghao hadn’t started cooking the main dishes yet, but she must have put a soup on to simmer—the entire apartment was filled with a delicious aroma.
“Work was light today,” Tan Qingya said calmly, cutting Zhou Jianghao off before she could speak. “That’s why I got back early.”
She was a ruthless capitalist, after all. Punctuality had no place in her routine.
“Mm.”
Reassured by the response, Tan Qingya set her bag down and glanced toward the kitchen. Plenty of ingredients sat there, so she offered, “I’ll handle dinner tonight.”
“I’ll do it,” Zhou Jianghao said immediately, looking up with determination. “Let me.”
Hm…
Zhou Jianghao seemed a little different today. Was she really planning a surprise?
Tan Qingya’s gaze softened, and she relented. “All right. You do it.”
She sat in the living room for a short while but soon grew restless. She couldn’t relax knowing the girl—who had only just recovered from a serious illness—was bustling about in the kitchen alone. In the end, she got up and went in.
“I’ll pick the vegetables.”
“It’s fine. I can manage.”
When Tan Qingya entered again, Zhou Jianghao hurried toward the doorway, positioning herself to block the way with her body.
The movement was too sudden. Tan Qingya didn’t have time to react before they collided. Zhou Jianghao stumbled back a few steps, on the verge of crashing into the nearby counter. Tan Qingya’s reflexes kicked in—she swiftly hooked an arm around the other woman’s waist and pulled her close.
A soft, warm body fell into her embrace.
Tan Qingya steadied herself, her arm still firmly around Zhou Jianghao’s slender waist. She frowned. “How are you still so skinny?”
As she spoke, she gave the slim waist a gentle pinch.
Still holding Zhou Jianghao, she stepped into the kitchen and glanced at the ingredients. It was a colorful pile of vegetables, and Tan Qingya disapproved. “You won’t gain any weight eating this. I’ll have Auntie Chen send over some meat.”
She released her hold and turned to fetch her phone from the other room.
“There is meat.”
Zhou Jianghao grabbed her arm after just a couple of steps. The smaller woman’s hand felt cool to the touch—dainty-looking, but with surprising strength. Unable to help herself, Tan Qingya looked down. Zhou Jianghao’s fingers were slender and elegant. The knuckles had whitened slightly from the effort, and the skin over her hand looked paper-thin.
Too skinny.
Tan Qingya sighed inwardly. As she started to look away, her gaze caught on Zhou Jianghao’s nails, and she paused. She reached out to touch them, rubbing the smoothed edges. “Did you trim your nails?”
She wouldn’t normally notice something so minor, but Zhou Jianghao’s nails had such an appealing shape. A couple of days earlier, while Zhou Jianghao was ill, Tan Qingya had overheard some young nurses chatting about how perfect her hands were for manicures. She’d made a point of checking them out herself.
They really were ideal.
With hands like that, Zhou Jianghao had no business working at a milk tea shop. She should head to a nail salon, flash those fingers, and watch the manicurists beg her to be a hand model.
Her already short nails had been filed into neat, rounded tips. It wasn’t unattractive—just a sudden shift in style, from sharp, cool elegance to something cute and lovable.
Tan Qingya rubbed them again with her fingertip, savoring the subtle texture. Her eyes crinkled in a smile. “Very cute.”
She caught sight of two ears turning bright red and felt a rush of satisfaction. Resisting the urge to pinch them, she scanned the kitchen instead. “Where’s the meat?”
With that, Tan Qingya let go.
Zhou Jianghao, who had been tense all over, exhaled quietly in relief and hurried to fetch the meat.
There was meat prepared, but not much of it.
She had specifically asked Auntie Chen and learned that Tan Qingya preferred vegetables over meat. But whenever vegetables were on the menu, Tan Qingya seemed even more determined to fatten her up.
With that thought, Zhou Jianghao glanced down at her own hand. Tan Qingya kept insisting she was too skinny… Did she dislike thin people? Was that why she hadn’t touched her lately?
Would her efforts to please tonight make Tan Qingya happy?
Could she… satisfy her?
A wave of inexplicable worry crashed over her. She felt like a poor student facing a big exam—nervous, anxious, desperate to cram at the last minute.
That afternoon, she had looked up some “study materials.”
Remembering the blush-inducing content made her thoughts drift.
Something rubbed against her pant leg. Zhou Jianghao jolted back to reality and stepped aside, holding her breath as the large dog sidled up silently.
“Don’t be scared,” Tan Qingya said without looking up from picking vegetables. She glanced over from the corner of her eye. “Little Beauty looks fierce, but it’s actually a total coward.”
She paused, then added jokingly, “Just like you.”
“…”
Her courage wasn’t small at all. Zhou Jianghao felt the need to set the record straight and murmured, “My courage is actually pretty decent.”
She was only afraid of dogs.
“Really?” Tan Qingya turned to look at her, amusement sparkling in her beautiful eyes. “Then you’re amazing.”
“…”
She was being treated like a child again.
Zhou Jianghao pursed her lips. Thinking her timid and childish must be why Tan Qingya—who should have been full of desire after marriage—had been abstaining.
In the end, the problem lay with her.
She couldn’t help reminding Tan Qingya, “I’m already twenty-two.”
Old enough to get married. Old enough to fulfill a partner’s duties. Tan Qingya’s reaction, however, was completely out of left field.
“Twenty-two? That’s so young.”
Tan Qingya sighed despite herself, studying Zhou Jianghao’s lovely, youthful face. A belated wave of guilt washed over her.
When she was twenty-two, Zhou Jianghao had been in high school. When she was in high school, Zhou Jianghao had still been in elementary school. And now, here she was—a mature woman of twenty-seven—reaching out with sinful hands toward a delicate flower of a girl in her prime.
The guilt spread.
She gave Zhou Jianghao a kindly look. “Be good and go play in the living room with Little Beauty.”
Otherwise, she’d feel like she was exploiting the poor girl with housework.
She might be a ruthless capitalist, but she couldn’t be that ruthless to her own wife, could she? As she mulled this over, Zhou Jianghao’s voice suddenly piped up:
“I’m not small at all.”
Her tone was utterly serious.
After whining for a while with no attention from either of her humans, Little Beauty let out a couple of barks to voice its displeasure.
“…”
A lot of kids refused to admit they were kids.
Tan Qingya fell silent, weighing her words. But Zhou Jianghao had already bowed her head again, her voice returning to its usual quiet calm. “I can prepare dinner on my own.”
Hm?
She really wanted to handle dinner solo?
“All right.” This time, Tan Qingya agreed crisply. She washed her hands, then bent down to pat Little Beauty’s head. “Come on, let’s go. Big sis will play with you.”
The girl was showing some spirit for once. Tan Qingya would indulge her.
She settled on the sofa and picked up Little Beauty’s chew toy to play with it.
Watching Little Beauty tilt its head from side to side, a glint of amusement leaked into Tan Qingya’s eyes. “Silly Dog.”
Little Beauty let out a few dissatisfied barks.
It looked downright bold.
Tan Qingya recalled the early days after she’d taken in Little Beauty. Back then, this silly dog had been genuinely timid. At first, it would put on a fierce front, barking menacingly in a show of bravado, yet its entire body trembled uncontrollably, giving away its fear completely.
Once it grew a little more familiar with her, it stopped bothering with the pretense in her presence and turned into a full-fledged mama’s pet.
Even now, it still only had that fierce exterior to show for itself. Its courage remained pathetically small. It dared to throw its weight around only at home with her—lashing out boldly in its own nest—but the moment it stepped outside, it turned all timid and obsequious.
At least it had that intimidating appearance; neither people nor dogs dared provoke it lightly. Zhou Jianghao, however, was a different story.
Zhou Jianghao had the face of a cool beauty. She occasionally came across as a bit aggressive, but with no status or backing, and her taciturn nature to boot, she was nothing but a target for bullies once she stepped out the door.
If Tan Qingya didn’t spoil some backbone into Zhou Jianghao, who knew what kind of state she’d be bullied into.
After all, there was no one pleasant in her circle.
Woof!
Little Beauty barked with full vigor, snapping Tan Qingya back to the present. Only then did she notice that the silly dog had somehow gotten hold of a bag from somewhere. It huffed and puffed as it dragged the thing right up to her feet, then wagged its tail at her with smug pride.
“Where’d you get this?”
She frowned and bent down to pick up the bag, which was all pink and cutesy. The style didn’t look like anything Zhou Jianghao would own, but it didn’t seem like hers either. When had she ever bought something like this?
With that thought, she reached out to untie the bag.
