Chapter 195: Partner
Her heart pounded like a startled deer, nearly jumping out of her throat.
Breathing rapidly with a flushed face, Su Ning, who could no longer bear it, was the first to look away. Unbeknownst to her, her clenched fist was full of sticky sweat in the palm.
“Su Ning.”
“Wh-what’s wrong?”
She glared at him. If there’s something, just say it. Why stare like that? He called her name but said nothing more.
It made her inexplicably nervous beyond measure. Su Ning turned her body sideways as if to conceal it, picked up the tea mug on the table, and gulped down a big mouthful without caring if it burned her mouth.
“You are the rhyme in my poem, the blank space in my painting, the indispensable part of my life…”
“Pfft~”
The tea she hadn’t swallowed in time sprayed out, scattering a long string of water droplets on the ground.
“Cough cough cough~”
Immediately after was her earth-shattering, heaven-weeping cough.
Not knowing how much courage he had mustered, he began reciting the prepared speech for a successful confession just as Fu Jiaming had instructed.
But he hadn’t even finished the opening words declaring his feelings, and she gave such an excited reaction. It instantly stumped even self-proclaimed clever Yan Bei.
This…
Should he press on and finish speaking, or wait for her to recover?
“Ning Ning, are you okay?”
After thinking it over, his hand moved faster than his brain. Yan Bei gently patted the back of her hand. Seeing tears come out from choking, how could he continue?
“No, cough cough, I’m fine.”
Finally suppressing the itch in her throat and stopping the cough, Su Ning blinked away the mist in front of her eyes.
At this moment, his earlier words automatically replayed in her mind. “Yan Bei, what did you just say?”
The fingertips patting her back suddenly withdrew as if burned by the temperature on her back, following her words.
Heat rapidly rose from his fingertips to his ear roots, uncontrollably starting to burn. Even his neck was completely red.
His mind buzzed, unable to recall the prepared speech for confession. Opening his mouth, only the simplest and most direct words remained.
“Ning Ning, I like you.”
“Life is short; without you, there’s no joy.”
“Ning Ning, with the goal of sharing all the romantic trivialities of the rest of our lives, will you be my partner?”
Boom~
Now her mind was blown into a daze. The flush instantly took over her fair face.
She bit her lip; the bright red lip color was like peach blossoms blooming in March, delicate and alluring.
Not receiving her reply for a long time, Yan Bei went from nervous to anxious to panicked. Though only a few minutes, it felt as long as a lifetime.
The deep eyes gradually regained their coolness: Sure enough, he was too hasty.
“Ning Ning, I…”
“Yan Bei, I…”
Pursing his thin lips, Yan Bei looked straight at her. “You speak first.”
She nodded lightly. Su Ning took another sip of water to quell the inexplicable dryness in her mouth, pondered her words carefully several times, then continued, “If it’s like you said, I might be a bit timid.”
“Hm?”
What does that mean?
He had thought it would be a rejection, but instead came this puzzling sentence.
“What I mean is, without marriage as the goal, can we just date as partners first?”
Just date as partners, no marriage.
Or just date as partners first, not sure if it will lead to marriage?
These scummy words, once said, not only made Yan Bei freeze in a daze, but even Su Ning herself embarrassingly lowered her voice a few notches.
“I, I don’t know if I have the confidence to manage a marriage well. If you mind, then forget it…”
“Good!”
“Huh?”
“I said good.”
Immense surprise enveloped Yan Bei entirely. He only knew Ning Ning agreed to be his partner; not agreeing quickly would make him a pure fool even for a second longer.
As for dating as partners without marriage as the goal being hooligan?
Heh, a thousand gold can’t buy his willingness!
Others might wish to be treated like hooligans, but do they have the opportunity?
Yan Bei extended his slightly trembling hand and slowly grasped hers.
The two clasped hands, one large and one small, both slender with distinct joints, fitting perfectly.
“Manually stamped, no takebacks.”
“Good.”
Seeing Yan Bei say such childish words for the first time, the little dimple at Su Ning’s mouth became even more obvious. She responded by tightly gripping that big hand.
A sweet taste surged to her heart: She just got a partner like that?
The two looked at each other, grinning foolishly, so happy it felt suffocating and dizzying.
After a long while regaining reason, Su Ning’s eyes held a bit of shyness, but she still let him hold her hand without pulling away.
“Yan Bei, since we’re partners now and our relationship is different, there are some things I need to tell you in advance.”
“Good, you say, I’m listening.”
Sitting in the spot beside her, Yan Bei turned into a clingier puppy than Little Round Circle, his eyes full of thick affection almost pulling threads.
“Cough, you, can you tone it down a bit.”
If he made his partner annoyed and refused to hold hands later, he’d be the one at a loss!
In one second, his eyes became serious. Yan Bei straightened his back and raised his gaze to ask: This should be fine, right?
Why did it feel like men who started dating all became a bit childish? Fu Jiaming was one, and now even the usually cool Yan Bei was.
Su Ning shook her head helplessly with a wry smile, gathered up these messy thoughts, and told him about her family in Beijing City.
“My maternal grandfather and maternal grandmother, as well as Mom, have all passed away. I took Mom’s surname Su.”
As she spoke, his other thoughts gradually faded. Yan Bei subconsciously tightened his grip on her hand, unknowingly emanating intense cold air.
He also understood why she said she had no confidence in managing a marriage, why she resisted or even felt timid.
It was all because of her ‘good father’.
Over twenty years of meticulous disguise and plotting, the mother-in-law only discovered on her deathbed that the man beside her pillow was a werewolf.
Not only did it cost her own life, but it nearly took the lives of two children.
If ghosts and gods truly existed, he hoped the mother-in-law would give him a harsh one. For a person like Xu Zixin, spending the rest of his life struggling in a abyss of fear unable to extricate himself would be better than simply taking his life.
“Ning Ning, next time you go back to Beijing City, let me accompany you. Otherwise, I’m not rest assured.”
“Mm.”
Although she was cautious and always brought Zhang Ze, Yan Bei still couldn’t feel at ease.
“Don’t look at me with that expression.”
It was full of overwhelming heartache.
Making her barely calmed face heat up again, Su Ning slightly shifted her gaze. “I have Grandpa Fu and them, godfather and godmother, Xi You and Jiaming, and now Little Round Circle and you…”
She just didn’t have a father, so what?
Those pains and discomforts were completely gone with the revelation of Mom’s true cause of death this time; only hate remained.
“Ning Ning.”
Thousands of words converged into a low murmur. Yan Bei secretly swore: Love what she loves, worry for what she worries.
He would use actions, use the rest of his life to prove he absolutely wasn’t a second Xu Zixin.
……
Having delivered the firewood back early, Fu Jiaming returned outside the gate but didn’t go in, instead pacing for a long time.
Until his legs went numb from squatting, he scratched his head and muttered to himself, “It’s been so long, time alone should be enough, right?”
Limping and enduring the soreness, Fu Jiaming pushed open the courtyard gate and walked into the front yard.
After searching around, he found the two sitting side by side silently in the main hall.
He was speechless toward his brother at heart: What a waste of feeding mosquitoes for over half an hour!
It seemed he still had to step in; otherwise, with Yan Qi’s ghost-terrifying personality, when could he win the beauty?!
“Hahaha, I’m back! What are you two… doing? I’ll knock!”
He rubbed his eyes hard, still not wrong—ten fingers interlocked!
Fu Jiaming stared dumbfounded, pointing at them in shock. “What’s your situation? You two got together?”
What did he miss?
Why did he foolishly wait outside the gate?
If he’d come in early and eavesdrop at the window, wouldn’t he have witnessed the whole thing?
Beating his chest in anguish, Fu Jiaming wished he could go back half an hour and give himself a slap.
Missing such a prime chance to tease this guy; there’d be even fewer later!
“No, I don’t agree!”
“Hm?”
What nonsense, just because you don’t agree?
Yan Bei coldly turned his gaze to him: Say that again.
“Without my witness, how can it count? No, redo it. Yan Qi… I’ll knock, are you serious? I’ll fight you!”
Silently putting down the hands prepared to stop them, Su Ning looked at Fu Jiaming who was unilaterally tormented as usual, rubbing her forehead with a headache: So, this kind of man who gets happy for his brother and offers himself to liven things up is absolutely one of a kind!
“Pfft~”
Xi You really dug up a treasure.
“I’ll go make dinner. You two, remember to call people when you’re done fighting. Let Grandpa Yan, Grandma Yan, Uncle Fu, Aunt Ma and them come over to eat.”
“Su Ning, don’t go yet. Aren’t you going to control your guy?!”
Hearing the ‘your guy’ from his mouth, Su Ning deepened the smile in her eyes, waved the hand behind her back at him. “For Xi You’s sake, Yan Bei, don’t hit his face.”
