Chapter 24: I dislike drawing a clear-cut dividing line in a relationship
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
If Fu Yu’s girlfriend was anyone else but Guan Ying, jealousy would definitely be seething inside her. However, she couldn’t find it within her to be jealous of Guan Ying as she was a good friend of hers.
In the four years of her university life, Ruan Yang, Jiang Duoyao, Guan Ying and she had experienced lots of laughter and fun, and shared weal and woe together.
Hence, the more Changqing think about it, the more depressed she got. All of a sudden, without a second thought, she stuffed all the red envelopes and jewelry box into Song Chuyi’s hands.
Song Chuyi froze for a moment then he pushed the things back to Changqing. “These were given to you from my family. Take care of them properly.”
“I can’t take these.” Changqing pouted. “Lest someone says that I’m coveting the Song family’s wealth again. Moreover, our marriage is a business alliance between our families. It’d be best if we could draw clear boundaries about these sorts of things.”
Originally, Song Chuyi was intending to reprimand her lightly with a few words, but when he laid his eyes on her, the small amount of anger he had in his heart was swiftly turned into a wisp of fog and dissipated into thin air as if it was shone upon by the sun’s rays. Changqing’s appearance was akin to the sun with her dainty, provocative and incredibly childish looks at the same time. Her small mouth was pursed like a teapot handle, and on her lips was a light lipstick. She was currently staring hard at him with her peach-blossom eyes that were glistening with radiance as well.
“Alright already, put these gifts away. I apologized for my brother’s actions just now; it was wrong of him to do that. Now that we’re officially married, I have to let you know that I dislike drawing clear-cut dividing lines in a relationship and fussing about the details of what’s mine and what’s yours. Unless…” Song Chuyi paused for a short moment and continued his sentence in a faint tone: “Unless you’re thinking of drawing a line between us right from the beginning, so that it’d be easier for you to divorce me in the future as you wait for an opportunity.”
Changqing was at a loss for words momentarily. “Granted that you don’t like me and we have no romantic feelings towards each other, it’d be perfectly normal for us to get a divorce though.”
“Although I don’t know exactly how long our marriage can last, now that we’re married, we should observe the prescriptive rules that a marriage entails.” Song Chuyi opened his mouth and answered Changqing in a deep voice. “The jewelry is your dowry, and the cash in the red envelopes represents our respect for you. When you go back to your dad, he’ll definitely ask about them. If we, the Song family gave nothing to you or if the Song family gave them to you but I took them back after you offered to return them to me, your father would absolutely get upset about it. He’d think the Song family was stingy and mean to you as well. Regardless of the reason we got married, the custom of giving red envelopes to you should still be followed through. Doing this will show that the Song family respects your family and holds your family in high regard as well. A marriage doesn’t involve just the two of us; it’s a matter that involves the entirety of both our families.”
Although Changqing was preoccupied with listening to Song Chuyi, she wasn’t dumb. She could understand the reasoning behind his words.
“Then… I’ll be keeping these things for my dad’s sake. It’s definitely not because I wanted them, okay?” The objects in her hands were slowly tucked away by her side while her pupils bloomed with a radiance that seemed to imply “I’m not money-minded.”
Watching her actions, the corners of Song Chuyi’s lips curved in an unnoticeable way.
After she put the things away, Changqing couldn’t help but ask, “Is your brother having a grave case of the brother complex?”
Confronted with such a question, Song Chuyi raised his eyebrows.
Afraid he didn’t understand her, Changqing explained in more detail. “You know, that kind of person who will forbid you from ever dating others to prevent you from being snatched away from them. That kind of person who constantly thinks that you must be with him forever, only rely on him, and have him solely in your heart…”
The more Song Chuyi listened to her, the more he found her description weird, and suddenly his eyebrows twitched violently. “Yan Changqing, could you get any more repulsive than this?”
“I’m just cracking a joke.” Changqing grinned broadly at Song Chuyi despite feeling guilty. “Fine.” She thought as she admittedly acknowledged internally that she was indeed having immoral thoughts.
It was all Ruan Yang’s fault for always reading Japanese manga in the dormitory. Especially those manga about brocon and siscon.
After his outburst, Song Chuyi pursed his lips and didn’t speak anymore.
The atmosphere rapidly became awkward, and Changqing felt that she was responsible to think about a topic to talk about. Thus, her brain kept working on the task. Right at that moment, while the car was stopped at the junction and with Song Chuyi looking at her, her brain malfunctioned and she blurted out: “How many months has it been since your step-mom got pregnant?”