Finally, gazing at the tightly shut bathroom door, Tan Qingya let out a faint sigh. She had never imagined that at such a crucial moment, Zhou Jianghao—this girl—wouldn’t take the bait. She’d barely finished asking her question when Zhou Jianghao pushed her right out.
She, the head of the Tan Family, had actually been shut out like this.
… How depressing.
The next day, Tan Qingya personally escorted her to the hospital but didn’t leave right away. Instead, she had Chen Chen buy some flowers and a fruit basket before heading alone to the sanatorium.
When she arrived, Zhou Jianghao’s mother, Zhou Qiu, was chatting happily with some fellow patients in the little garden. She looked full of energy, showing no signs at all of her terminal illness.
Tan Qingya watched for a moment, her expression calm and composed, before walking over.
Her presence was too commanding. The moment she approached, she drew everyone’s attention—including Zhou Qiu’s. Seeing the woman looking her way, Zhou Qiu’s heart skipped a beat. She asked cautiously, “Excuse me, who are you here to see?”
“You,” Tan Qingya replied, handing over the flowers. “Hello, I’m Zhou Jianghao’s wife.”
At those words, Zhou Qiu’s eyes widened in shock, and she shot to her feet.
She studied Tan Qingya intently for a moment before a smile bloomed across her face. She hurriedly took the gifts. “Oh, you child! You didn’t have to come all this way and bring things too!”
Even as she said it, her eyes lingered greedily on the beautiful flowers.
“Come, come—let’s go inside and sit.” Forgetting all about her fellow patients, she eagerly led Tan Qingya toward her room, her voice brimming with delight. “Little Hao told me she’d gotten married, but you never came by. I thought she was just pulling my leg again.”
“I’ve been busy lately,” Tan Qingya said mildly.
“I get it, I get it!” Zhou Qiu’s eyes crinkled into happy slits. “You big shots have so much on your plates—you can barely find a spare minute.”
Tan Qingya lowered her gaze and said nothing more.
Zhou Jianghao didn’t look much like Zhou Qiu, but those beautiful eyes of hers were clearly inherited. They were so alike that seeing the flattery and fawning in Zhou Qiu’s eyes now only deepened Tan Qingya’s displeasure.
Zhou Jianghao would never act like that.
Those clear, lovely eyes of hers never held a trace of sycophancy.
“Here we are!” Zhou Qiu pushed open the door to her room, her face radiant and chasing away any hint of illness. “Thanks to your Tan Family, they’ve given me a private room. Otherwise, I’d have nowhere proper to entertain you!”
There was a probing note in her words.
Zhou Jianghao hadn’t breathed a word about this marriage, only saying that she’d gotten hitched as her mother wished and that she should rest easy. Beyond that, she refused to elaborate—which left Zhou Qiu still in the dark about whether her daughter had actually married into the Tan Family.
This woman before her was polite enough, but she hadn’t even given her name.
“It was no trouble,” Tan Qingya said coolly, glancing at her before setting down the fruit basket.
She had no fondness for Zhou Qiu. This was a heartless mother who had abandoned her own daughter in a strange place for over a decade without a second thought. And in the end, she’d used her illness as an excuse—framed as concern for her daughter’s future—to force her into marrying a stranger. Every bit of it disgusted Tan Qingya.
“Hey, what you call ‘no trouble’ saves lives like ours! I’d love for you to lend a hand more often!”
Zhou Qiu laughed as she spoke, but when Tan Qingya didn’t crack a smile, her own grin faltered into something stiff and awkward. She rubbed her nose uncomfortably and changed the subject. “Why didn’t Little Hao come with you?”
This woman seemed impossible to get along with, her aura too refined and imposing. Even Zhou Qiu, who was used to sweet-talking and bootlicking, didn’t know what to say.
She didn’t even dare invite her to sit.
Zhou Qiu knew her place. She understood the gulf between them all too well—and that someone like this would look down on her. Better not to invite the embarrassment; it was wiser to brush it off herself.
“She’s at work,” Tan Qingya replied. After a pause, she met Zhou Qiu’s eyes. “You know that, right?”
“Oh, sure, sure—she works at the hospital!” Zhou Qiu forced a smile. “She used to come see me every day before, but lately it’s been fewer visits. Just a handful of times, and the rest she checks in on WeChat.”
Tan Qingya nodded, her brows furrowing slightly.
Zhou Jianghao had come so many times without ever asking her along. If not for her whim yesterday—after Zhou Jianghao visited the Old Madam—to return the courtesy by seeing her mother-in-law today, who knew when she would have met Zhou Qiu.
“I’ve received your gifts, and I appreciate the thought,” Zhou Qiu said with an awkward chuckle. Sensing that this woman was hard to deal with and probably had little emotional tie to her daughter—just going through the motions—she took the initiative. “You’re busy, so why don’t you head back?”
“Alright. Next time, Little Hao and I will come visit together.” Tan Qingya nodded and turned toward the door, then suddenly looked back. “My name is Tan Qingya.”
Once in the car, Tan Qingya shrugged off her outer coat and tossed it aside, slipping into the beige trench coat that had been waiting on the seat.
Chen Chen watched impassively through the rearview mirror.
Before heading to the sanatorium, her boss had deliberately taken off that beige trench coat and changed into another jacket. Now, the moment she got in, she couldn’t wait to put it back on.
The temperature had warmed up a bit today, though. Honestly, she didn’t need a coat.
Remembering how Tan Qingya had strutted out of the mall yesterday looking so pleased with herself, Chen Chen offered a compliment. “That coat looks great on you, President Tan.”
Tan Qingya’s calm demeanor cracked instantly, a smile lighting her eyes. “Zhou Jianghao has great taste.”
After a beat, she added smugly, “She bought it for me.”
“Miss Zhou really cares about you, President Tan.”
At that, Tan Qingya’s gaze flickered. She smoothed out the wrinkles on the coat, then crossed her arms and leaned back in the seat, striking a pose. “I’m her wife. If she doesn’t care about me, who would she care about?”
She glanced at Chen Chen in surprise. “Don’t tell me your wife doesn’t care about you?”
“…”
Chen Chen opted for silence.
She suddenly realized there was some truth to the saying that pets take after their owners. Right now, President Tan wasn’t much different from Little Beauty wagging its tail wildly.
She wondered what the people at the office would gossip about next.
Unable to resist, she spoke up. “Yesterday, Miss Zhou came to the company. A lot of folks were speculating about who she is. They kept beating around the bush.”
“Next time, just tell them outright. No need to hide it.”
“Got it.”
Tan Qingya looked down at her phone, tapping lightly. She hadn’t planned to keep her marriage to Zhou Jianghao a secret for long anyway. It had been nearly two months since they got their certificate, and things between them had progressed beautifully. Sooner or later, they’d appear together in public—no point in hiding it.
As they neared the company building, Chen Chen suddenly remembered the message from the hospital. “Doctor Li says the surgery can happen next week. Mrs. Zhou’s condition is stable, with a seventy percent success rate. If you approve, we could schedule it for next Tuesday.”
Tan Qingya looked up. “Have you told Zhou Jianghao?”
Chen Chen’s tone grew a touch evasive. “Not yet.”
After all, Tan Qingya had personally hired the lead surgeon and poured in plenty of money. Even the surgery date could be adjusted to suit her preferences.
The hospital wouldn’t notify the family until everything was finalized.
“Alright, I’ll tell her myself.”
Zhou Qiu hadn’t exactly lied to the Tan Family or Zhou Jianghao. She really was sick—cancer, no less. Medical facilities in the small county town were poor, so her odds of successful surgery were low, and she truly seemed to be running out of time.
But Tan Qingya had arranged for her transfer.
Now she was in the best hospital, under the top surgeon, which naturally boosted her success rate dramatically.
Tan Qingya hadn’t done it out of the goodness of her heart.
She and her wife were newlyweds; she didn’t want any funerals clashing with that. And though Zhou Jianghao seemed indifferent to her mother, the fact that she’d been willing to marry a stranger just to fulfill Zhou Qiu’s dying wish showed the woman still held some weight in her heart.
If she died, Zhou Jianghao might grieve for a while. Tan Qingya didn’t want her wasting energy on someone so unworthy, so she nipped the problem in the bud.
That evening, Tan Qingya brought it up with Zhou Jianghao.
“Does next Tuesday work for you?” she asked patiently. “Or do you have other plans?”
“I’m fine either way.” Zhou Jianghao was about to say thanks when Tan Qingya’s finger pressed against her lips, the cool pad silencing her burning ones.
Tan Qingya feigned sternness. “Say ‘thanks’ again, and I’ll get mad.”
“I won’t,” Zhou Jianghao said at once, her eyes earnest. “Don’t be angry.”
This girl was sometimes like a fragile antique that couldn’t grasp a joke—she always took things so literally.
Tan Qingya held back a laugh, keeping her finger in place. She pressed a little harder, denting the soft red lips until they parted slightly, her fingertip brushing Zhou Jianghao’s teeth as she teased, “What if I’m already mad?”
Half-joking, half-serious, she added, “We’ve been married so long, and you’ve never asked me to visit your mom with you.”
She’d been waiting for Zhou Jianghao to take the initiative, but the girl could be so dense sometimes.
“I didn’t want to hold you up,” Zhou Jianghao explained, surprised that Tan Qingya would be upset about this. “You’ve already helped me so much.”
When she learned Zhou Qiu’s illness could be cured, a huge weight had lifted from her chest.
Tan Qingya pressed closer. “Helping you doesn’t feel like holding me back. We’re wife and wife as one—aren’t your problems my problems?”
She put on a stern face, her intensity making it seem like she really was angry.
Zhou Jianghao couldn’t help but panic.
During this time, it had always been Tan Qingya who tolerated her and was considerate in every way. Seeing that the other was truly angry because of her, aside from feeling at a loss, Zhou Jianghao felt even more fear.
She was afraid that Tan Qingya, once angry, would want to divorce her.
She had been pampered in a honey jar for so long, spoiled by Tan Qingya until she didn’t know north from south. She simply couldn’t imagine what life would be like without Tan Qingya.
Unable to hold back, she leaned forward, stood on tiptoe, and kissed her: “Sis, don’t be mad. I won’t dare do it again.”
“Hmph.”
Tan Qingya let out a hum and immediately turned her head away, barely managing to hide the amusement in her eyes.
She counted down silently in her heart, planning to let Zhou Jianghao panic for just ten more seconds before letting her off the hook.
Three—two—
But she hadn’t expected Zhou Jianghao to say something shocking: “I… I’ll help you bathe. Will you stop being mad then?”
Tan Qingya’s gaze flickered slightly. She turned her head to look at Zhou Jianghao. The girl looked utterly serious, her head tilted up to gaze at her the whole time.
Seeing her look over, she even reached out to grab her arm. Her face was still stern, but her tone was soft and pleading: “Can I?”
It only made Tan Qingya want to tease her more.
Tan Qingya broke character and leaned down to kiss her: “Silly girl.”
Clearly, she wasn’t angry.
She was teasing her again.
Zhou Jianghao frowned: “You’re teasing me again.”
“It’s to teach you a lesson and make you remember,” Tan Qingya said, in a great mood as she pinched her cheeks, scattering the seriousness from her face. “We’re one body as wives—don’t push me away.”
But unexpectedly, Zhou Jianghao seemed truly upset this time, and she stubbornly shot back: “Then you can’t push me away either.”
“Hm?” Tan Qingya was taken aback.
Zhou Jianghao put on a stern little face, her usually cool features filled with determination: “I want to help you bathe.”
ㅤ
