Su Yicen: “How your work’s been going lately?”
Song Chan: “Then how did you answer?”
Su Yicen: “Answered truthfully.”
…
It was just like filling out a questionnaire survey. The two of them took turns asking and answering, with not a shred of extra emotion in their words.
It was all to better understand each other’s recent situations and prevent Su Dingran from seeing through the truth about their sham marriage on the surface.
The car ride was already more than halfway over. They turned onto a narrow mountain path, and in less than ten kilometers, they would arrive at the Su Family Old Mansion.
After asking everything she needed to know, Song Chan had a general idea. She pondered in her mind how to act more naturally in a bit.
A long silence stretched out. In the car, only soothing music continued to play.
Suddenly, Su Yicen spoke slowly and deliberately.
“Teacher… Song?…”
It sounded like a question, laced with a hint of uncertain probing.
“Why aren’t you asking anymore?”
“Nothing… nothing more to ask…”
An inexplicable nervousness made Song Chan’s words come out a bit stuttered.
Seeing her reaction, Su Yicen chuckled lightly and teased her on purpose. “Teacher Song, what are you nervous about?”
That morning at the company, everyone called her ‘Teacher Song,’ and Su Yicen had followed suit. It felt fine then.
But now, with just the two of them alone in the cramped space of the car, hearing him address her so slowly and deliberately made her feel like a current of electricity shot through her body, numbing her from the top of her head to the soles of her feet. Goosebumps erupted all over.
The driver, however, seemed completely oblivious to Song Chan’s feeling of her heart being scratched by a hundred claws.
He continued. “Don’t like this form of address?”
“Then do you prefer I call you Miss Song?”
“Or… Chanchan…”
He was the real seductive demon!
Song Chan turned her head away. Raising her eyes, she caught Su Yicen’s reflection in the car window. Beneath his gold-rimmed glasses, his dark eyes sparkled as he gazed intently at her.
Her red lips parted and closed as she maintained the proper decorum. “Mr. Su, no need to be so formal. Just call me Song Chan.”
Su Yicen acknowledged it with a sound. It wasn’t until they arrived at the Su Family Old Mansion and the car drove through the courtyard gate that he spoke again.
“Calling you by name still feels too distant.”
“Better to stick with the usual address, don’t you think, Miss Song?”
Song Chan didn’t respond, which counted as agreement.
He parked the car steadily and turned sideways toward her.
“Miss Song.”
“Then I’ll trouble you to act it out with me once.”
A smile hung on her face, flawless without a single crack.
“It’s just cooperation. I’ll take it seriously.”
The click of the seatbelt buckle shattered Song Chan’s feigned composure.
Su Yicen unfastened her seatbelt. The sudden release of restraint felt exactly like last night when he had undone her bra.
Her face instantly burned hot. Song Chan blanked out for a moment before quickly averting her eyes from his gaze.
Seeing that split-second dodge in her eyes, Su Yicen seemed to confirm something. He hooked up the corner of his lips, looking extremely satisfied with Song Chan’s reaction.
This time, she didn’t get annoyed.
Su Yicen had already gotten out of the car. Inside, Song Chan’s heart pounded wildly. She shook her two palms to fan herself, trying to cool her burning cheeks.
But her gaze was drawn to Su Yicen’s figure.
Wait, why was he walking toward her!
Sure enough, in the blink of an eye, Su Yicen arrived at her door and pulled it open without any warning.
A cool April breeze blew in, making Song Chan shiver.
She looked up at Su Yicen. His hand extended toward her, along with an explanation.
“Miss Song, if we’re putting on a show, we do it full set.”
Every time they went out together to visit each other’s elders, Su Yicen always took care of her like this. She had long grown accustomed to it over the past six months.
But after last night, that once clearly defined distance now felt somewhat blurred.
Even his usual actions made her heart flutter chaotically.
Before, she had clearly known it was just acting. But now, it seemed mixed with a bit of reality.
“Let’s go.” Su Yicen called to her.
His eyes lowered to his bent arm. Without a word, Song Chan understood his meaning.
A kind of tacit understanding had developed between them. Whenever they stepped into each other’s family homes, they automatically slipped into the roles of a real couple.
No objections, no impatience. Just like every time they had returned to visit the elders over the past six months, her arm threaded through his bent elbow and hooked on lightly.
The old mansion’s door opened. Just as they entered the foyer, the aroma of food wafted over.
Song Chan sat on the stool while Su Yicen crouched down and slipped on the white fluffy slippers that belonged exclusively to her in this house.
“Chanchan is here.” The old man’s hearty voice rang out.
Su Dingran stood up, set down the newspaper in his hand, and removed the reading glasses that had slid to the tip of his nose.
He beamed with a bright smile and slowly walked over, looking full of joy.
“The food is all ready. There’s Chanchan’s favorite sweet and sour spare ribs and seafood medley soup.”
Song Chan’s voice was soft and sweet as she called out, “Grandpa.”
She walked over and hugged him. “No need to go to so much trouble.”
Su Dingran: “No trouble at all.”
He never put on any airs with this likable granddaughter-in-law of his, but his status alone was enough to make anyone quake.
Su Dingran was the dragon-headed tycoon who drove the entire Hangbei region’s economic development. The Su Corporation Group, which he had founded single-handedly, primarily dealt in real estate and industry, while also venturing into finance, food, textiles, and other sectors. It was one of the top companies in the country.
Though he was already 77 years old, he led the Su Corporation to achieve results far surpassing the industry average every year. He was known as the undying legend of the business world.
Su Dingran was renowned for his iron-fisted tactics in business, but in person, he was extremely amiable and tactful—except toward one person: his grandson Su Yicen.
Su Yicen called out, “Grandpa,” and bowed slightly to him respectfully.
Su Dingran looked up and gave him a deep glance. His warm smile turned cold. Without any reply, he turned and headed toward the dining room.
Only after a moment did he toss out, “Come eat.”
Song Chan glanced at the old man’s back, then at the man beside her. These grandfather and grandson still didn’t get along.
She tugged lightly at Su Yicen’s sleeve and said softly, “Let’s go.”
Song Chan had a general understanding of the Su Family’s affairs.
Su Dingran wasn’t actually Su Yicen’s grandfather. More accurately, he was his maternal grandfather.
Su Yicen’s mother, Su He, was Su Dingran’s only daughter. She had passed away from illness when Su Yicen was little. Su Dingran had built his career while raising his daughter single-handedly. But when she grew up, she fell in love with an 18th-tier little actor named Zheng Ziruo, who had nothing going for him except his looks.
Su Dingran opposed it, but it was no use. His daughter was already pregnant by then. He didn’t believe Zheng Ziruo truly loved her, so he laid out a bunch of harsh conditions: become a live-in son-in-law, have the child take Su He’s surname, have the child call him grandpa, and ensure the child had no claim to any Su Family property.
Su Dingran thought this would scare him off, but Zheng Ziruo only replied with one sentence.
‘I want nothing. I just want to be with Su He.’
Zheng Ziruo agreed to all the conditions, so Su Dingran naturally couldn’t block it anymore.
Afterward, Su Yicen was born. Su He followed Zheng Ziruo to other places to seek their fortune, leaving the child with Su Dingran.
Though he truly disliked Zheng Ziruo from the bottom of his heart and was utterly disappointed in his daughter, Su Dingran still pinned great hopes on this child.
Later, Su He and Zheng Ziruo died in a plane crash.
Su Dingran had lost his parents as a youth, his wife to illness in early adulthood, and now his daughter in his later years.
He had endured too many hardships and seen through all the vicissitudes of life.
Su Dingran could only place all his hopes on Su Yicen, raising him as the heir.
Grown under harsh, suppressive education from a young age, Su Yicen had matured far beyond his peers.
Especially in front of Su Dingran, he was as cold and mechanical as a machine.
At the dinner table,
Su Dingran picked up a piece of sweet and sour spare rib and placed it in Song Chan’s bowl.
“Chanchan, eat more. Grandpa sees you’ve gotten thinner again.”
Song Chan smiled, stood up to receive it, then picked up a piece from the plate and put it in Su Yicen’s bowl.
“Okay, then I’ll eat more.”
Su Dingran smiled as he chatted idly with her.
“Chanchan, how’s work lately? Busy?”
“Pretty good. Our line of work is busy by nature; we’re used to it long ago.”
He nodded at that, then lifted a finger to point at Su Yicen. His eyes flicked toward him imperceptibly before immediately turning back to the table.
“And this kid? He hasn’t been treating you badly, has he? If he ever makes you unhappy, tell Grandpa. Grandpa will sort him out for you.”
“No, no.” Song Chan hurriedly waved her hands and turned her head, only to bump into his gaze.
Su Yicen watched her, as if waiting for her answer.
Song Chan’s heart raced wildly. She paused for a beat before smiling mildly.
“Yicen treats me very well.”
….
Su Yicen didn’t say a single word until dinner was over.
He and Su Dingran always interacted like this—no real conversation. As long as they were in the same space and confirmed everything was fine, that was interaction enough.
“Then goodbye, Grandpa. We’ll come see you again in a couple of days.”
Song Chan stood at the door waving. Her other hand was linked with Su Yicen’s arm as he gave a slight nod to the old man inside.
The door slowly closed. Song Chan let out a breath, her taut nerves finally relaxing. She even felt her performance today had been practically perfect.
Arm in arm with the man beside her, she walked toward the Aston Martin parked by the courtyard gate.
Before they even reached it, Su Yicen felt his arm go slack.
Song Chan let go of him and reestablished that damned distance.
Watching her walk a few steps further ahead and change faces so quickly, Su Yicen let out a light huff.
“Really heartless.”
His voice wasn’t loud, but Song Chan still heard it. “What did you say?”
He pinned her against the car door, leaving her nowhere to escape.
Su Yicen enunciated each word playfully.
“Said you change faces too fast. The moment you step out the door, you flip and don’t recognize people anymore.”
Song Chan met his eyes. His pitch-black pupils reflected her image. The corners of his slightly narrowed eyes curved upward, seductively scrutinizing her.
That line of his just now—“step out the door, flip and don’t recognize people”—was remarkably similar to this morning’s “sleep and then flip without recognizing people.”
Song Chan raised a hand to push away the body blocking her and smacked her lips with earnest advice.
“Su Yicen, can you stop being so subtly flirtatious.”