"To make me happy and to prove his sincerity, at the beginning of this year, he took the initiative to propose adopting a child. It just so happened that our marriage had lasted for five years, so we went through the formalities to adopt Nuonuo."
"I see..." Su Yanxi was a little upset after hearing this. "That's it? He couldn't even produce any evidence. Brother and sister-in-law, you just forgive him like that?"
There was no twist in the story, and Su Yanxi felt aggrieved for her brother and sister-in-law.
“It’s not quite like that…” Cai Yuyan took Su Yanxi’s hand, her face sincere. “Yanxi, you know, your brother and I have been together for seven years—right at the seven-year itch.”
Su Yanxi shuddered, thinking to herself, "Seven-year itch, seven-year itch, it's seven-year itch again!"
This wicked "seven-year itch"!
There are many definitions of the seven-year itch. One definition is that when two people have been in a relationship for a long time, a major conflict will eventually erupt.
"Another theory is that seven years is the cycle in which a person completes a complete metabolism; after seven years, the person you love will no longer be the same person."
Cai Yuyan paused for a moment, then continued.
"I know the latter claim has no scientific basis, but at the time I was thinking: if Bie Congrui is no longer Bie Congrui, would I still love him?"
"I admired your brother for his perfection, responsibility, and integrity. But when I discovered he was contacting young students and organizing social gatherings, that image of him shattered completely in my mind. Even so, do I still like or love this person?"
Su Yanxi remained silent. Judging from the still inseparable relationship between her elder brother and sister-in-law, the answer to this question was quite clear.
"My final answer to myself was: Yes, I still like it, I still love it."
"He couldn't provide any evidence to prove that those social gatherings weren't his personal hobby but rather organized for a friend. However, my seven-year relationship with him is genuine, and I'm willing to accept his explanation and continue to trust him."
Cai Yuyan carefully reviewed the historical records and confirmed that Bie Congrui had not contacted any younger students after confirming their relationship. Therefore, despite the suspicions, Bie Congrui had indeed not cheated on her.
Chapter 58
It's just a misunderstanding.
What truly shook Tsai Yu-yen was the discovery that her dignified and upright husband also had "that side."
"I was definitely disgusted, but I still accepted him. For no other reason than that I still love him."
Tsai Yu-yen's candid sharing of her feelings was simply to express a central idea: the most important thing in being a couple or lovers is liking and trusting each other.
Also, the courage to accept and fall in love with someone new.
“After that conflict, my relationship with Congrui became even better than before; after Nuonuo came into our lives, our relationship reached a new level. I am incredibly grateful that I did not dwell on the past, but chose to continue to believe.”
Su Yanxi hadn't spoken until now, and then she approvingly chimed in, "That's great, sister-in-law, you made the right choice. You have such magnanimity and courage, and my brother has also shown his sincerity—you are all so amazing, I admire you so much."
“You can too.” Cai Yuyan patted Su Yanxi’s hand. “Yanxi, I’m not advising you to forgive and let go unconditionally. I’m asking you to trust Yunzong and trust the seven years of relationship you had together.”
Su Yanxi nodded: "Yes, I... I will."
"Just as you trust Yunzong, Yunzong will definitely trust you too. He won't abandon you easily—he loves you to death! Who doesn't know that other young masters talk about their wives all the time, mentioning them in every little thing?"
"You will find him, and he will come back."
"Okay." Su Yanxi finally smiled again. "I feel much better now. Thank you for your encouragement, brother and sister-in-law!"
"No need to thank me! These are just some experiences and insights from someone who's been there. After Yunzong comes back, muster up the courage to talk to him about your anxieties and doubts. After that, you can decide whether to forgive him or continue to trust him."
"My personal feeling is that the result shouldn't be too bad."
"Hmm." Su Yanxi picked up the lazy cat on her lap, got up and saw Cai Yuyan out of the room. "I hope so."
"Be confident, it definitely won't be bad!" Cai Yuyan patted Nubi's head and winked playfully. "The secret to overcoming the seven-year itch lies in your past relationship with Yunzong."
"Go look into your past. Some clues can only be found by you, the person who shares your bed!"
Before leaving, Cai Yuyan reminded Su Yanxi to wash her face and change into her home clothes. Su Yanxi obediently did so after returning to her room.
Perhaps it was the hot water and towel that wiped away her fatigue, or perhaps it was the soft home furnishings that were too comfortable, or perhaps it was the encouragement from her brother and sister-in-law that suddenly made Su Yanxi feel relaxed.
After changing his clothes, Su Yanxi felt more exhausted than ever before. He had intended to take a nap in bed, but he ended up sleeping soundly until eight o'clock at night.
A long, calm, and dreamless sleep replenished Su Yanxi's physical and mental strength. His emotions were much more stable than when he first returned home, and he was finally able to calm down and properly review the entire incident.
The maid cooked him a light vegetable and lean meat porridge, which he ate two large bowls of by himself. After finishing, he returned to his room, briefly exchanged information about the current situation with Cai Yuyan, and then went to find the pet groomer and family photo album. He groomed his cat son while looking through the album.
“Come here, baby, let’s look at them together.” Su Yanxi spread the photo album out on the floor, hugged the cat, and sat cross-legged on the plush carpet. “Since the secret to overcoming the seven-year itch lies in the past relationships, let’s look at them one by one and find out where the clues are.”
The album contains seven volumes, one for each year, documenting the entire process of Su Yanxi and Bie Yunzong from their first meeting to falling in love, and finally getting married and becoming a family.
With today's advanced technology, a 1TB digital hard drive can store countless pictures, but Bie Yunzong has a special fondness for physical photographs and loves to capture moments with his Polaroid camera. At the end of the year, he also selects photos to print, striving to fill the empty display space each year.
For Bie Yunzong, these photo albums are more like an "annual summary." The photos that he selects to develop and display in the albums are undoubtedly those he is very satisfied with and cherishes.
In the seven photo albums, Su Yanxi's image appears in 95% of them.
"Your dad is so bored, he takes pictures of me secretly every day." There were many side and back views that Su Yanxi herself had never seen before, and even a selfie of the two of them. "They actually dared to print out these low-resolution selfies taken with a beauty camera."
Su Yanxi pointed at the photo and talked to her cat son.
Only after flipping through the photo album did Su Yanxi realize that Bie Yunzong really liked him and loved him.
If each year's photo album is a carefully selected "annual summary" by Bie Yunzong, then it is obvious that the annual keyword for each year is only one word, three characters: Su Yanxi.
Su Yanxi.
He captured all of Bie Yunzong's brilliant moments.
“No wonder he was so angry, so furious.” Su Yanxi suddenly lost the will to read on, closed the first year’s photo album, and picked up last year’s instead. “We were both quite disappointed in each other. In fact, I think I disappointed him even more…?”
Where did Bie Yunzong go? My brother and sister-in-law just said that my eldest brother couldn't find Bie Yunzong's flight records. His last flight was that night when he took a flight from Beicheng to Guangcheng to find Su Yanxi.
He did not leave by plane, but he was not in Guangcheng either.
“Where else could he go…” Su Yanxi put down the comb, picked up Nubi and rubbed his face against hers, muttering to himself, “Your dad is really good at hiding. When I find him, I’ll see if I don’t skin him alive.”
Of course, this is all predicated on "being able to find it." But the biggest problem now is that "it can't be found."
First, Guangcheng can be ruled out. Two days have passed, and Bie Yunzong's cash would definitely not be enough in Guangcheng, where the cost of living varies greatly. He couldn't possibly be hiding in a crowded urban village, could he? He doesn't know the people there.
Next, Beicheng can also be ruled out. Beicheng is surrounded by spies from other families, with distant relatives on one side and family friends on the other. Not even a rat can hide there, let alone a person of that size.
Chapter 59
The place where he hides must be economically underdeveloped with a low cost of living, where 20,000 to 30,000 yuan in cash can last a long time without needing to use a debit or credit card. Furthermore, there must be someone in the local area who will accept him; otherwise, a spoiled young master unfamiliar with the place and lacking in basic life skills would not be able to stay in a foreign land.
Those who accept him must possess extremely high moral character and be highly trustworthy. Otherwise, they might at least report Bie Yunzong's whereabouts to higher authorities, or worse, murder him for his money, thus eliminating Bie Yunzong, their nemesis, from the very beginning.
"Which places meet all the conditions?" Su Yanxi became more and more confused, even calculating the possibility that her nemesis had been kidnapped and robbed.
He unconsciously flipped through the pages and came across a group photo taken at his wedding with Bie Yunzong.
In the group photo, he and the newlyweds, Bie Yunzong, were all smiles—Bie Yunzong even showed all eight of his teeth, and his eyes were so wide they almost disappeared.
They stood on either side of each other, with their parents sitting opposite them.
It was this group photo that gave Su Yanxi a sudden inspiration! He suddenly remembered a place that wasn't economically developed, but where he had acquaintances who were hosting him, and whose acquaintances had extremely high moral standards and wouldn't easily expose his travel plans!
That place is...it is—!
The next morning at eight o'clock, Su Yanxi embarked on another three-hour flight. This time, he wasn't going to Guangcheng, which he frequently flew to for work, but rather to Nanxiang City, a third-tier city adjacent to Guangcheng and belonging to the same provincial-level administrative region.
He knew this place too well! His father had been the mayor of Nanxiang City, leading his family to live in the Huxin District, the administrative center. Later, his father was framed and imprisoned, so his mother took him to move to Longyin County, which was more remote and less developed.
After arriving at Nanxiang Airport by plane, Su Yanxi had to transfer to a car and travel for about 45 minutes before reaching his destination: No. 42-2, Qingshui Avenue, Yunlong Town, Longyin County, where his father ran a small commodity store.
Su Yanxi looked up at the sign hanging above her head, which read "Xiangyang Store" in large characters.
He straightened his appearance before pushing open the glass door of the shop and going inside. The moment he opened the door, the automatic alarm went off sharply.
Hello, welcome!
The old man who was drinking tea and watching the game at the cashier looked up in response: "Just browsing, what do you want to buy?"
The old man froze the moment he saw Su Yanxi's face, and his voice stopped abruptly.
Su Yanxi quickly made a shushing gesture and asked her father in lip reading: Dad, where is he?
As if sensing something was amiss, Mom pushed open the backyard gate, calmly exchanged a glance with Su Yanxi, and then gestured to Su Yanxi in unison: "They're in the backyard!"
Su Yanxi's heart was pounding, a million times more nervous than when she accepted Bie Yunzong's marriage proposal!
He gently placed his bag on the counter, raised his voice, and tiptoed to open the back door. Upon closer inspection, he saw that the man was indeed sitting in the yard with his back to the back door, holding a piece of dry toast in his hand, slowly tearing it apart to feed the little yellow dog that was wagging its tail and begging for attention.
Su Yanxi wanted to carefully choose his words, but Xiao Huang spotted him first. After barking twice in welcome, Xiao Huang came over wagging its tail, forcing Su Yanxi to reveal himself.
He moved his lips, intending to say something sweet, but what came out was a greeting in the same tone as usual.
"Young Master, do you have so much free time to feed your dog in my house?"
He saw Bie Yunzong stiffen.
He thought this was a sign of his husband's anger erupting, and was about to make amends when Bie Yunzong suddenly turned around, stood up, stretched out his long arm, and pulled him into his arms with perfect precision.
Without giving him time to react or think, Bie Yunzong sealed his lips with hers.
Su Yanxi's mouth, which had been dry and bitter from nervousness and fear, suddenly tasted a soft and sweet flavor.
Author's Note:
I'm here!! I was out today and I'm late, so I'm sending you kisses to apologize!!
29# I'm pathetic, I just love my wife!
When was the last time you kissed?
About two days ago? Actually, it wasn't that long ago. On the day I argued with Bie Yunzong, we had lunch together; in a secluded corner, we shared a deep kiss, using the view through the partition as a barrier.
Su Yanxi and Bie Yunzong had done this kind of lip-to-lip friction hundreds of times, so they were used to it and didn't find it strange at all.
But right now, in the midst of this sudden kiss, Su Yanxi felt a long-lost stirring of her heart.
"Mmm..." He was so excited that his hands and feet went weak from the skillful and agile French kiss of his nemesis.
Her limp hands instinctively reached out and encircled her tall, handsome husband's shoulders, then she leaned into his embrace. He, slightly smaller in stature, seemed to melt into Bie Yunzong's arms.
"Mmm, mmm," Bie Yunzong's tongue teased him, making him dizzy with desire. In the throes of passion, he touched Bie Yunzong's face, cupping it in his hands, "Zong..."
He remembered his first kiss with Bie Yunzong. He was just like that back then. It was their first kiss, and he was the older one who should have known more, but Bie Yunzong's still immature and reckless kissing skills left him dizzy and trembling, just like now.
You're so pathetic. It's been seven years, and you're still like this...
His brain went blank, and just before he was about to suffocate from lack of oxygen, Bie Yunzong finally released his lips.
He stared dazedly at the stinking dog and his damned enemy before him, muttering involuntarily.