◎Just Spoil Her◎
When Lady Xu said this, Song Chan’s eyes widened so much that they nearly popped out of their sockets.
She turned her head to look at Su Yicen beside her, blinked, and glanced toward Lady Xu on the other side, hinting at him to change the subject.
But Su Yicen seemed not to notice her hint at all. He didn’t take the bait. Instead, the corners of his lips curved into a smile as he peeled a peanut and placed it in her hand.
The peanut in her palm felt especially hot to the touch. Without thinking, Song Chan tossed it into the trash bin.
But no matter how anxious she got, she couldn’t snap at Su Yicen in front of Lady Xu.
Song Chan could only pout, take the initiative to speak up, and shatter Lady Xu’s fantasies.
“Mom, we’re planning to be DINK.”
Her voice was neither light nor heavy, devoid of warmth, yet it made the surrounding air freeze instantly, like the calm before a storm.
Song Chan knew she had touched Lady Xu’s sensitive spot again. After all, she was being nagged about marriage because Lady Xu, who had just turned fifty not long ago, had started envying her colleagues and friends who cradled chubby, babbling grandchildren in their arms.
“You child, how are you so thick-skinned and stubborn!” Xu Wan slapped her thigh, completely losing her elegant lady image. “Your cousin was already chasing around his second kid at your age.”
Knowing Song Chan wouldn’t budge with soft or hard tactics, Xu Wan played the family card, earnestly advising her.
“Look, your dad and I are still young now. If you two have a kid early, we can help take care of it. Otherwise, when we’re older…”
Whenever she bickered with Lady Xu, Song Chan never backed down, especially when she started veering further into absurdity.
Song Chan couldn’t help retorting, “Since Mom and Dad are still young, why not give me a little brother or sister first…”
The fragile mother-daughter bond nearly shattered with that one sentence. Xu Wan’s face visibly flushed red with anger, her furious expression unmasked, and a battle seemed imminent.
Su Yicen tightened his grip on Song Chan’s hand and took the responsibility onto himself, speaking up to bail her out.
“Mom, it’s me who doesn’t want to.”
“Being a mom is too tough. Chanchan is still young; I want her to have a couple more years to play.”
At this, Xu Wan fell silent.
Her son-in-law was considering things for her daughter—what kind of mother would she be to stand in the way?
Unsure how to respond for the moment, Xu Wan could only huff.
“Fine, do whatever you want.”
“Yicen, you just spoil her.”
The commotion in the living room alerted Song Qiwen, who was cooking in the kitchen. He had just steamed the big hairy crabs and hurried out without even untying his apron.
“What happened? I heard you all arguing from the kitchen…”
Seeing the mother and daughter both with cold faces on the sofa, Song Qiwen, with his wealth of experience in such battles, guessed the gist: they must have clashed in words again.
After coming out for a bit, aside from Su Yicen standing to greet him, his own wife and daughter acted like he wasn’t even there.
A fawning smile appeared on Song Qiwen’s plump face as he called out to his wife.
“Wanwan, how do you make braised perch again? You taught me once, but I forgot. Come take a look.”
As he spoke, he casually wiped his water-stained hands on the apron in front of him. Xu Wan had a mild germaphobia and hated such behavior the most.
Song Chan watched her own dad’s clumsy acting and couldn’t help but chuckle.
Was there any dish he couldn’t make? He just didn’t want Lady Xu to lose face in front of the younger generation—he was giving her a way out.
Sure enough, Xu Wan keenly caught the moment Song Qiwen wiped his hands on the apron. She stood up and pointed at him.
“Hey now, Old Song, can’t you go wash your hands!”
“I just washed this apron clean, and now you’ve dirtied it in one go.”
Using this excuse, Song Qiwen coaxed Xu Wan into the kitchen. All that remained in their ears was the bickering of the middle-aged couple, without any real anger.
Song Qiwen: “I didn’t do it on purpose. Come teach me again quick.”
Xu Wan: “Didn’t I just teach you braised perch? You really forgot?”
Song Qiwen: “How could mine compare? My wife’s tastes the best…”
With the arguing gone, the living room quickly quieted down. Song Chan turned on the TV—not that she watched it; she just wanted to add some background noise to the empty, serene space.
The TV looped familiar ads she knew by heart. Song Chan nestled on the sofa, casually scrolling Weibo.
Ever since the #Chanyi Mianmian# BE hot search had cooled off, she and Su Yicen’s names appeared less and less bound together on Weibo. Only the CP fans unwilling to let go still doled out expired sweets every day.
ZE Fashion’s 20th Anniversary Issue was drawing closer to its release date.
As the person in charge of the 20th Anniversary Issue and the company’s public face for the project, Song Chan inevitably had to maintain her Weibo to build hype for the upcoming publication.
She was mulling over what Weibo post to make when her train of thought was interrupted by the person beside her.
Su Yicen spoke in an even tone, as if chatting idly.
“Your parents are like kids.”
Song Chan was focused on drafting her Weibo post and casually replied.
“They’ve always been like this. Isn’t that how middle-aged couples are? One picks fights, the other plays peacemaker. If both had hot tempers, they’d have divorced long ago.”
The silence stretched on beside her with no reply from Su Yicen. Song Chan instinctively turned to look and met his somewhat dazed eyes.
This was the first time Song Chan had seen Su Yicen like this—it felt a bit unfamiliar.
Noticing her gaze, Su Yicen tugged the corners of his mouth into a faint smile, quickly hiding that dazed emotion.
His tone steady, he said, “That’s nice.”
The man who never showed a flaw finally slipped when it came to parents. Song Chan felt a pang of sympathy too. The everyday family banter she had just described was probably something Su Yicen had rarely experienced.
Song Chan knew that when Su Yicen was very young, Su He had left him with Su Dingran. Su He had chased her dreams with Zheng Ziruo, forgetting they had a child.
Grown up under Su Dingran’s oppressive education, Su Yicen had to mature faster than his peers from a young age, but he lost the innocence children should have. He had never experienced what it was like for a normal kid to grow up with parents by their side.
What everyone else had was what he craved most.
Song Chan took a breath, wondering how to steer away from the topic.
But Su Yicen spoke first, lightly tossing out two words.
“DINK?”
“Huh?” Song Chan was a bit dazed.
Realizing he had brought it up first but dragged it back to Lady Xu’s baby nagging.
Meeting Su Yicen’s questioning dark eyes, she inexplicably shot back.
“Not DINK, then should I say you’re the one who can’t?”
At his words, his pitch-black eyes narrowed slightly, filled with danger. He bit out each word as he asked her.
“You think I can’t?”
Before, she had accidentally reposted a ‘premature ejaculation’ post because of those three little tips, and he had nearly tormented her until she couldn’t get out of bed the next day.
Song Chan had deeply experienced Su Yicen’s grudge-holding skills. She hurriedly denied it.
“Don’t think that way. I didn’t mean that at all…”
Before she finished, she felt her panicked explanation sounded a bit off.
But Su Yicen was pleased. He nodded in satisfaction, the corners of his eyes lifting playfully.
“If you want, I’m willing too.”
Seeing the confusion in Song Chan’s eyes, he added two words: “DINK.”
Song Chan blanked out. For a moment, she didn’t react—had her words just turned into a discussion with him about whether to be DINK or not?
She urged him to face reality. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. Who’s having kids with you?”
Su Yicen answered readily. “Okay, then we won’t.”
Song Chan’s irritation was interrupted by Xu Wan, who came out of the kitchen carrying dishes.
Her expression froze on her face, but she had no choice but to put on the necessary show of marital affection with Su Yicen in front of the elders.
After lunch, Su Yicen was called to Su Corporation by Su Dingran. He could push off other schedules, but some group matters required his personal attention.
Song Chan didn’t rush back to Hermitage Splendor Residence. Since getting her marriage certificate with Su Yicen, her trips home had been few and far between. The villa’s luxurious rooms were comfortable, sure, but they couldn’t compare to her secret little nook at her parents’ house.
Sunlight sprinkled on the leaves, casting shadows that danced in Song Chan’s room.
She lay on the bed, staring at the pure white ceiling where the tree shadows swayed, lulling her to drowsiness.
Suddenly, Song Chan sat up from the bed.
She suddenly remembered the note Su Yicen had mentioned on the road.
Song Chan opened the drawer that once held the iron box. Now it was empty except for a few honor certificates from her school days.
She asked Lady Xu and learned that her pile of “random junk” had all been cleared out to the basement.
The basement in Song Chan’s house had been sealed for years—essentially a storage room for odds and ends that no one entered usually.
As soon as she opened the door, a cloud of dust made her sneeze repeatedly.
The basement was covered in thick dust, clearly untouched for ages. Only a pink storage box on the shelf looked brand new, probably recently added junk.
Song Chan walked over and, sure enough, found the little iron box stuffed with her past memories inside.
It was a cookie tin, not too big but heavy. Perhaps due to its age, the opening had a faint layer of rust.
Song Chan took the iron box back to her room and struggled for a while before prying it open.
Love notes and scraps of paper filled the entire box almost completely. The childish handwriting was immature, but even more juvenile were the pure crushes of the little boys scrawled on them.
Song Chan felt embarrassed just flipping through a few.
A tingling awkwardness crawled over her whole body. To spare herself, she decided to just open the notes one by one, searching for the one from Su Yicen.
Most of the notes had yellowed with time.
Only one piece of kraft paper, yellowish by nature, stood out glaringly inside.
Song Chan picked it up. The handwriting on it was equally childish but neat and upright, each stroke made with care.
The content on the kraft paper matched what Su Yicen had told her: under a thick layer of correction tape, only his name and contact info remained.
【Su Yicen QQ: 3132131726】
In the bottom right corner, a few small, neat words, probably added later.
【Remember to add me】
Song Chan’s fingers lightly traced the words on the kraft paper. Su Yicen said it was what he gave her the last time they met.
But in Song Chan’s memory, she had no impression of this note at all.
She vaguely remembered that day she had broken up with her first love. She hadn’t really liked him that much, but at that age, she felt like a breakup called for a big cry and a drunken binge.
So she got drunk on the roadside. One bottle of beer down, and Song Chan was truly wasted, sobbing uncontrollably on the street.
Song Chan remembered that Su Yicen had passed by and picked her up that day.
She was 17, he was 18.
When she saw him again, he had shed his little fatty appearance. His changes were huge, inheriting the stunning looks from Su He and Zheng Ziruo. The transformed Su Yicen was completely unrecognizable to her.
But Su Yicen recognized her at a glance and took her home.
Song Chan heard that when Su Yicen got back that day, Su Dingran scolded him all night and punished him. She had wanted to thank him back then but got sidetracked by other things for a few days.
But in those few days, Su He and Zheng Ziruo had a plane crash accident. Su Yicen was sent abroad to study, and they lost contact completely.
Song Chan lightly pinched the note in her hand, staring at the contact info, unable to resist searching for it.
She hadn’t used QQ in ages. Since starting work and switching to WeChat, she had even uninstalled QQ.
She redownloaded the app and logged into her account, typing the string of numbers into the search bar.
A black avatar with the nickname ‘c’ appeared before her eyes.
As expected, no wonder she had no impression—she had never added this account.
Doubting she’d get a response, she still sent a friend request delayed by a decade.
【‘Invincible Beautiful Girl’ requests to add ‘c’ as a friend】
What Song Chan didn’t expect was that within a minute—before she could even exit QQ—a new chat window popped up.
c: 【I have approved your friend request. We can start chatting now.】
Song Chan had never imagined it would actually be accepted. She stared at the notification that popped up, momentarily at a loss for what to do.
Suddenly, she remembered that day when Su Yicen had her message Feng Zheng. She had indeed glimpsed QQ on his phone, though she had never seen him use it.
A new message appeared on the chat interface—an inquiry from the other side.
c: 【Chanchan】
Song Chan froze for a second, then her fingers tapped out a reply on the screen.
Invincible Beautiful Girl: 【Mm】
Invincible Beautiful Girl: 【How did you know it was me?】
The person on the other end seemed to be busy, or perhaps stunned by this friend request that had arrived a decade late. His reply came a bit slowly.
c: 【Because only you know about this account.】
c: 【So, did you find that note?】