On top of the rectangular sponge cake lay a layer of white whipped cream, neatly topped with rows of fresh fruit. Two fresh mint leaves decorated the edge, and chocolate sauce drew a heart-piercing arrow pattern on the empty space of the dessert plate.
The whole fruit cake looked like a work of art, radiating the sweetness of fruit and the fragrance of cream. Under the restaurant’s lighting, it appeared especially tempting.
Si Yunyi lifted his hand to dab at the corner of his mouth. Across from him, Chu Junlie’s eyes darted back and forth over the beautiful cake, his Adam’s apple bobbing as if such a small slice of dessert had effortlessly lured him in.
Si Yunyi lowered his gaze, inwardly sighing that this self-proclaimed “dragon hero” seemed rather easy to fool.
“Mr. Si.” A clear, pleasant voice rose from the other side. Si Yunyi looked up to see Chu Junlie carefully pushing the cake toward him, though the brightness in his eyes was impossible to hide.
“You try first.”
Si Yunyi paused. “I don’t like things that are too sweet.”
Chu Junlie raised his brows, the corners of his eyes dropping slightly. His dark eyes locked tightly onto Si Yunyi, his thin lips pressing together involuntarily.
Si Yunyi had seen this expression many times on the younger generation of the Si family—usually when they wanted extra pocket money, or a gift beyond what their parents would allow.
After a moment of silence, Si Yunyi picked up the small silver dessert fork at his side, chose half a strawberry, and placed it into his mouth.
Chu Junlie watched as the man’s long, fair fingers held the delicate fork, picked up a plump red strawberry smeared with white cream at the base, and brought it lightly to his pale lips.
Si Yunyi swallowed the strawberry, then pushed the cake back toward Chu Junlie.
It was as if Chu Junlie suddenly came to his senses. The tips of his ears turned red as he lowered his head, silently burying himself in eating the cake the other man had just tasted.
Si Yunyi raised his hand to call over a waiter. After paying the bill, he got up and went to the restroom. Hearing the movement, Chu Junlie kept his head down until Si Yunyi left, then finally looked up, face flushed.
The waiter had just finished clearing a nearby table when he heard the young man at the opposite side softly ask,
“Excuse me, are you hiring here?”
The waiter paused before politely replying, “We do hire part-timers, but they have to go through training.”
“How much per hour?” Chu Junlie had only just realized that with money, one could eat food this delicious.
“About twenty-five an hour.” The waiter smiled. “For part-time jobs in Port City, our wages are considered relatively high.”
When Si Yunyi came out of the restroom, he saw Chu Junlie talking to the waiter. As he approached, he caught fragments of their conversation about staff pay and benefits.
Noticing Si Yunyi’s return, Chu Junlie immediately clamped his mouth shut instinctively. The waiter, catching on, quickly added, “Enjoy your meal,” before leaving.
Si Yunyi didn’t ask anything. His expression remained calm as he sat across from Chu Junlie, quietly waiting for him to finish the dessert.
Chu Junlie grew a little uneasy, as if worried Si Yunyi might be upset. He carefully opened his mouth to explain.
“Mr. Si, after I marry into the Si family, I’d like to change jobs. Would you mind?”
Si Yunyi lifted his gaze to him.
In the book, after Chu Junlie married into a Si family branch, he was forced to give up the jobs that branch looked down upon and stay at home as a live-in son-in-law.
Every day he had to help the nanny clean the little villa, assist in the kitchen, and obey the elders’ commands. If they told him to go east, he could never go west.
It was only when that branch family went abroad on vacation that Chu Junlie secretly took on part-time work. That was when he met an old man who collected recyclables—and that man became the greatest stroke of fortune in Chu Junlie’s hardships.
They became friends despite the age gap. Later, when the old man was hospitalized with a serious illness and needed surgery, Chu Junlie swallowed his pride and went back to beg the Si family branch for help, only to be humiliated countless times.
Before the old man passed away, he gave Chu Junlie a medical book passed down in his family. After returning to the Chu family, experts studied the book and found over a hundred precious prescriptions inside, worth more than ten billion in total—and capable of saving countless lives.
“I won’t restrict your freedom,” Si Yunyi said, looking at him as calm as ever.
“You can do whatever you want.”
“Thank you, Mr. Si!” Chu Junlie pressed his lips together, unable to hide his joy no matter how hard he tried.
After leaving the restaurant, Si Yunyi took him to a jewelry store to buy their engagement rings.
At engagement banquets, there was usually an exchange of tokens. For people like Si Yunyi and Chu Junlie, who had only known each other for a few days before getting engaged, the exchange was generally a pair of rings.
Si Yunyi sat in the lounge area of the store, sipping the water the clerk had poured, while watching Chu Junlie stand in front of the display case, carefully studying the rings inside.
“Engagement rings don’t need to be too extravagant.” The sales associate smiled as she took out a pair to show him. “For you and your fiancé, this set would be quite fitting.”
Hearing the word fiancé, Chu Junlie coughed lightly, stood straighter, and took the box from her. Inside were two rings inlaid with small diamonds. He glanced at Si Yunyi behind him, and felt that those tiny stones didn’t match his temperament at all.
Noticing his dissatisfaction, the clerk brought out a pair with larger diamonds. “Of course, these are also very nice.”
Chu Junlie looked at the big diamonds, then glanced at the man sitting to the side. For some reason, he felt that even a single large diamond wasn’t enough for those hands.
Mr. Si deserved to wear a bracelet of brilliant diamonds, with tassels of sparkling gems draped elegantly across the back of his hand—that alone could match their beauty.
After introducing more than ten designs, Chu Junlie still couldn’t decide. Checking the time, Si Yunyi finally rose and came to stand beside him.
Ignoring the flashy rings in front of them, he pointed to a pair of simple platinum bands.
“Excellent choice, sir.” The clerk, already weary from Chu Junlie’s indecisiveness, immediately brightened and presented the rings to them.
“These are platinum, highly resistant to corrosion and oxidation. They may look simple, but there’s a special detail inside.”
She had Chu Junlie try one on, then pressed the ring lightly before removing it. At the spot where the band had been, two faint letters appeared.
“You can provide your initials, and our engraver will inscribe them inside the rings. When you wear the rings, the imprint will be invisible, but once you take them off, you’ll see each other’s initials marked there.” She smiled. “What do you think?”
Chu Junlie froze, staring at the faint mark on his finger. The thought of always carrying Mr. Si’s initials on his hand—and Mr. Si’s hand carrying his own—made his chest burn with excitement.
Si Yunyi glanced at the fading imprint on his finger, then lifted his eyes to look at him.
“Mr. Si, I… I think this one is good.” Chu Junlie stammered, trying to hide his little thoughts.
Si Yunyi’s hand moved with increasing ease as he swiped his card.
Since engraving would take three days, he filled in Chu Junlie’s address as usual.
In just one day, everything was settled. Si Yunyi sent him back to the old neighborhood. That night, after finishing his work and lying down in bed, Si Yunyi heard his phone chime.
It was a friend request on WeChat.
A light-green cartoon puppy sticking out its tongue had sent the request, note attached: Mr. Si, I’m Chu Junlie [smile].
Si Yunyi stared at the puppy icon for a long time, realizing this “dragon hero’s” taste was truly impossible to fathom.
No sooner had he clicked Accept than Alipay notified him of another friend request—Chu Junlie had added every account linked to his phone number.
Looking at that silly puppy face everywhere, Si Yunyi raised a hand to cover his eyes.
“Xiao Chu, all unloaded?” Old Chang called from the chess table outside the small grocery, watching the young man wipe sweat from his neck with a towel.
“All unloaded.” Chu Junlie swiped the towel, then glanced at the clock hanging inside the store. He quickly grabbed his phone and, right in front of Old Chang, opened Alipay, tapped into the “Chicken Farm” mini-game, and fed another person’s chicken.
Old Chang and his chess buddies craned their necks, baffled.
“This is Mr. Si’s chicken,” Chu Junlie explained proudly, flipping his phone so they could see. His eyes sparkled. “And this is the new phone Mr. Si bought me.”
“Yes, yes, we know!” Old Chang sounded impatient. “You’ve bragged about it three or four days already!”
“And one more thing.” Chu Junlie mysteriously pulled out a velvet box. The old men leaned in as he opened it, revealing two brand-new rings.
“Yo! Platinum, huh!” One of the sharp-eyed old men spotted it right away.
Chu Junlie couldn’t hide the smile on his face. He took out one of the rings, slipped it onto his finger, pressed it down firmly, then carefully removed it and showed Old Chang the imprint left on his skin.
“Look, Grandpa Chang—SYY, it’s Mr. Si’s initials, printed right on my hand!”
Grandpa Chang looked at the mark on the young man’s finger, half amused, half speechless. “Show-off. Just keep showing off!”
Grinning ear to ear, Chu Junlie carefully put the two rings back into the velvet box, snapped several photos, tucked the box safely away, and then opened the pinned chat on WeChat to draft a message.
[Mr. Si, our engagement rings arrived. They’re really beautiful.]
The old men peeked at his phone screen in secret. One of them, puzzled, pointed at Chu Junlie’s profile picture.
“Why’s your avatar… a green dog?”
“Grandpa, you don’t get it. That’s a ‘Cabbage Dog,’” Chu Junlie replied with a perfectly serious face while looking for the right picture to send Si Yunyi.
“‘Cabbage’ means pure and clean—so this is a pure, spotless dog.”
“Oh.” The old man stared at the picture for a while, then forced a comment. “It’s… kinda cute.”
Finally finding a decent photo, Chu Junlie inspected it carefully, made sure there was no problem, and hit Send. After that, he sat there eagerly waiting for a reply.
Seeing the way he looked, Grandpa Chang pulled him into the little supermarket, took a red envelope from the register, and stuffed it into his hand.
“Grandpa Chang, what’s this for?” Chu Junlie blinked at the envelope.
“What else? It’s my gift money.” Grandpa Chang patted his hand firmly. “Keep it safe—you’ll have plenty of expenses after marriage!”
Chu Junlie stared blankly at him, and suddenly realized—he didn’t even have a single invitation card to invite Grandpa Chang to his own engagement banquet.
The engagement banquet was arranged by the Yan family. Why hadn’t they even asked him if there was anyone he wanted to invite?
Author’s Note:
(“Weixin” and “Zhifubao” were intentionally misspelled to avoid unnecessary issues.)
[mfn]hi! how’s everyone doing? sorry for late updates, i’ve been busy with school stuffs hope y’all understand 🙂
If you enjoy my translations, you can show your support by leaving a comment or donating to my Ko-fi. It will be much appreciated. Thank you! [/mfn]
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