After the driver closed the car door for him and got back into the driver's seat, he belatedly realized what was happening and opened the partition window to gently remind him.
"Xiao Sun, remember to drive further away next time, and don't park on such an obvious side of the road."
"I'm sorry, young madam," the driver hurriedly apologized. "I was afraid that if I stopped too far away, the young madam would get too tired walking, or she might not be able to find the car."
"Thank you, you're so kind."
"Am I causing trouble for the young mistress by being so blatant?" Driver Xiao Sun was extremely nervous. With years of driving experience, his driving posture visibly stiffened. "Won't I be on the front page of the entertainment news tomorrow...?"
Su Yanxi chuckled, adopting the demeanor of a gentle and magnanimous young mistress, and reassured the driver, "No, it's unlikely. In that split second, no one could have seen anything clearly. Even if someone had seen or photographed it, then—"
"Will I get fired?" the driver asked cautiously.
"How could that be? You've worked for our company for so many years, how could we fire you for something like this?" Su Yanxi responded cheerfully and lightly. "If it really gets photographed, then I'll just go ahead and make it public! The filming is almost finished, and I'm just worried about not having the right opportunity."
As filming drew closer to its end, Su Yanxi became increasingly eager to go public with the matter. Previously, he had kept it a secret and kept it hidden because of Zhou Tong's instructions and the need to gain fans early on.
She initially thought it would be a simple matter: keep it vague for now, and reveal it at an appropriate time later when she wanted to. But when things actually came to this, Su Yanxi realized it wasn't that simple.
First, the right timing is hard to find; second, there's a lack of compelling reasons to do so. If he hadn't caused any trouble, it wouldn't be so bad, but he's been plagued by scandals and gossip, issuing numerous statements that unconsciously create the illusion that he wants to be single and enjoy his unique life.
In this situation, if he were to publicly announce his marriage, wouldn't that make his fans, who firmly believe he is single, feel embarrassed?
Su Yanxi couldn't quite put her finger on it; she felt like she was caught in a dilemma—neither way was she pleased.
The filming location wasn't far from the hotel where we finished eating, about a ten-minute drive. However, during rush hour, the road conditions were terrible, and the ten-minute journey turned into almost thirty minutes.
Chapter 143
After finally arriving at the Western restaurant of the InterContinental Hotel, Su Yanxi found her target table with the waiter's guidance. The impatient, smelly dog had already slumped down on the table, radiating dejection.
Su Yanxi sat down gently, thinking to herself, "Don't let him indulge this temper. He really has it under his thumb!"
"Honey?" He poked the fluffy head on the table. "I'm here and sitting down in front of you. If you keep pretending you can't see me or don't know, then I'm really leaving."
Threatened by his beautiful wife, Bie Yunzong slowly raised his head. His expression was full of resentment, but his voice was whimpering and coquettish.
"Honey, why are you only arriving now?"
When Bie Yunzong opened his mouth, it looked like he was about to cry, even more aggrieved than a dog that had been taken to an unfamiliar place and mistakenly thought it was going to be abandoned.
"You've left me sitting here alone for almost an hour!"
"An hour! In a revolving restaurant, an hour is enough to go around half the TV tower!"
"I'm sorry." Su Yanxi reached out and touched the face of the aggrieved dog across the small square table. "I didn't expect the traffic to be so bad. If I had known it would be this congested, I would have walked here."
"No, no, it's quite a long walk, I don't want you to go on such a long journey."
Bie Yunzong couldn't squeeze out any tears at all, but he exaggeratedly sniffed, deliberately acting pitiful and using the opportunity to bargain with his wife.
"If you really care about me, sit down next to me and feed me tonight!"
"Tsk," Su Yanxi clicked her tongue in exasperation. Although her expression was impatient, her actions spoke louder than words. She had already gotten up and moved the chair over. "Such a big person, don't you have hands or feet?"
"I selectively manipulate things in front of my wife." Don't allow such shamelessness.
He felt that Su Yanxi wasn't sitting close enough, so he reached out and pulled Su Yanxi's chair closer, dragging his wife, chair and all, even closer.
He casually wrapped his arm around his wife's slender waist and said in a serious tone, "You'd better act as intimately as possible with me tonight! You don't know, as soon as I arrived, I ordered a couple's set meal and showed off to the waiter that I was going to eat with my wife."
"You, on the other hand, left me hanging for an hour without saying a word. Thank goodness you didn't have any unexpected tasks tonight, and you finally came; if you hadn't come, the waiters would have definitely thought I'd been dumped!"
"puff--"
Su Yanxi was amused and lightly punched Bie Yunzong in the chest with her other hand.
"So that's why you're feeling down?"
"You deserve it, who told you to always be showing off to others!"
"What's wrong with showing off? Showing off isn't a crime!" Bie Yunzong puffed out his chest, eager to show off to the whole world how he was holding his wife. "If they're so capable, they can find a wife to show off too! Anyway, none of them are as pretty as my wife, hehe."
"You're such a jerk." Su Yanxi pinched Bie Yunzong's ear with a mixture of exasperation and affection. "Let them serve the food. I've been working hard all day, and I'm really hungry."
Bie Yunzong obediently waved to the nearest waiter, signaling for the food to be served.
He offered his wife the drink he had only taken a few sips of, which he thought tasted good and had specially saved for her, and eagerly gestured for her to drink it quickly.
Su Yanxi took it and drank a sip, nodding in admiration: "What a refreshing taste! My throat feels cool and moist after drinking it, it's so comfortable."
"I spent the whole day on set trying to persuade Chen Yongyan. I almost ran out of steam talking, but I finally convinced him to apologize."
After offering his wife the drinks, Bie Yunzong brought out some pre-dinner snacks and casually asked, with little interest, "How did you convince him?"
“I changed my approach and shifted the focus of the conflict to myself. I made him apologize on my behalf, rather than apologizing for his own behavior.”
"Huh?" Bie Yunzong asked, puzzled. "Isn't this running away?"
"Yes, Chen Yongyan is running away. But what good is running away? He still has to apologize."
"Wife, why are you so insistent on him apologizing?" Bie Yunzong continued, puzzled. "Do you really think that the two of them, surnamed Chen and surnamed Song, can make it work?"
"Hmm." Su Yanxi nodded, then leaned close to her husband's ear mysteriously, "My intuition tells me: they can get together."
"Chen Yongyan and Song Yanqi gave me a strong sense of déjà vu; they always remind me of you and me back then."
“…Is that so?” Bie Yunzong remained puzzled, touching his temple with his fingers.
Just then, the waiter served the food, forcing Zong hope and the other person to interrupt their conversation.
After the meal was served, Bie Yunzong skillfully placed the steak in front of his wife, and automatically picked up a knife and fork to cut the steak for her.
"Why do I think of you and me from back then? We're not like them... are we?" Bie Yunzong said, placing a small piece of steak he had cut into Su Yanxi's small plate.
Su Yanxi took her husband's service for granted, picked up her knife and fork and began to eat: "What do you think is different?"
“We’re nothing like them.” Bie Yunzong was unusually serious. “I wouldn’t pursue my wife so aggressively, and my wife wouldn’t stubbornly reject me. So, we’re nothing like them.”
Su Yanxi gave a soft hum, unconsciously leaning closer to Bie Yunzong. Sensing the movement of the beauty beside him, Bie Yunzong immediately reached out and pulled her close.
Normally, Bie Yunzong would lean on Su Yanxi like he had no bones, but today it's Su Yanxi's turn to lean on Bie Yunzong like he has no bones.
"You're wrong. The two differences you listed don't really hit the nail on the head."
"The difference between us and 'them' is actually only one point—and it's the most important point."
What is it?
"It's me who likes you." Su Yanxi pinched the dog's cheek. "And you like me too."
His wife's sudden confession struck Bie Yunzong like a blow to the heart. Bie Yunzong paused in his steak-cutting motion, then lowered his head and murmured, nuzzling his wife's shoulder with his forehead.
"Oh, honey, it's time for dinner. It would be so embarrassing to confess your feelings so suddenly."
Chapter 144
"I'm sleeping at the InterContinental tonight! I want to book a room with a double bathtub, and we'll soak together forever!"
"Are you crazy?" Su Yanxi glanced at her disdainfully and scolded, "You really are the type to take advantage of kindness! We were only halfway through getting to the point, and you're already getting too cocky!"
"Ugh~" Bie Yunzong lost his appetite and just wanted to be close to his wife. "Take a bath, take a bath with my wife! If we don't want to take a bath, we can bathe together!"
"Get lost." Su Yanxi snorted. "Why do you always think about staying in hotels and booking suites? It's only a ten-minute walk from here to home. If you really want to book a room, you might as well go home and sleep—you can save a lot of money on room fees!"
This time, it was Bie Yunzong's turn to chuckle.
He suppressed a laugh and teased his wife, "Honey, so many years have passed, and you haven't changed at all."
Although she was used to luxury cars and designer handbags, used to being called "Young Madam," and knew how to project the air and presence expected of a wealthy family, Su Yanxi was still, in essence, Su Yanxi.
She is beautiful, pure, and untainted by any greed or lust, Su Yanxi.
"Seven years have passed, and you still find ways to save me money and reduce the cost of rent?" Bie Yunzong couldn't help but put down his knife and fork, and hugged his wife tightly. "Wife, you're so good. You're just as good as you were seven years ago when I first met you."
"No, no! You're even better than before, much better! It's just..."
Bie Yunzong stopped what he was doing and leaned close to Su Yanxi and whispered meaningfully.
"It would be best if we could eat meat more often!"
The clever and cunning Alaskan Malamute will never miss an opportunity to take advantage of someone else's strength.
Su Yanxi flipped the fork over and tapped the stinky dog's head lightly with the handle, feigning fierceness as she scolded, "Who said I haven't changed at all? I have changed, of course I have!"
"I used to save you money on your hotel bill, now I'm saving money on my own."
"Oh?" Bie Yunzong feigned evasion, pretending to be confused as he asked, "What do you mean?"
"Pretentious!" Su Yanxi knocked again, haughtily snorting, "Your money used to be your money, but now?"
"Your money is my money too."
After dinner, Bie Yunzong wanted to drive Su Yanxi back to the film crew's hotel, but Su Yanxi refused and sent Bie Yunzong home directly from the InterContinental Hotel.
That's right, the ultimate goal of this dinner is to get that annoying, smelly dog home. Filming is nearing its end, and while the workload on set isn't huge, it's definitely very important.
Although Bie Yunzong wouldn't affect Su Yanxi's work, as long as that stinky dog stayed in the hotel, Su Yanxi would have to devote her energy to dealing with him.
With only a few days left before filming wrapped, Su Yanxi decided to send that clingy kid home so she could have a few days to finish the last bit of work in peace.
Back at the hotel where the film crew was staying, Su Yanxi felt a void in his heart. Reason told him he should get back to work, but emotionally he wanted to linger with Bie Yunzong a little longer.
Thinking about not having any filming tomorrow morning, he even felt a little regretful: if he had known he would feel so disappointed after parting ways, he shouldn't have put on airs and sent his clingy dog home.
This shows that being too rational is not necessarily a good thing.
"What are you thinking about so intently?"
As soon as the elevator arrived at the floor and the doors opened, the person outside stared blankly at Su Yanxi and said something. Startled, Su Yanxi, who had been lost in thought, quickly regained her composure and adopted a helpless expression.
"Sister Tong! Why are you deliberately waiting here to scare me?"
"It's my fault? It's all because you were too distracted, like a lost soul."
"What's wrong? Didn't you go out for dinner with your clingy husband? Why do you come back with that expression? Didn't you enjoy dinner?"
Su Yanxi and Zhou Tong walked inside side by side, and Su Yanxi sighed and said, "I'm happy. That's why I have this expression."
"I'm doomed. I used to be so independent and self-reliant, how come I'm becoming more and more dependent on that nemesis?"
Su Yanxi swiped her card to open the door and invited Zhou Tong to come into the room together.
"Isn't that a good thing?" Zhou Tong asked in surprise. "It's been seven years and you're still this clingy. That means your relationship is solid!"