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Psst! We're moving!
They walked toward the yurt next door, pushed the door open, and said goodbye to Gu Minghui.
Visiting hours for the day were over. Gu Minghui was led away again, the camera switched, and Gu’s father’s face appeared on the screen.
“Hello, Uncle!” Qiu Ruru said with a smile.
Shen Yihuan also followed suit. “Hello, Uncle.”
“Hey, hello to you too,” Gu’s father, who had obviously aged a lot, said. “Have fun. Enjoy yourselves.”
After the call ended, Shen Yihuan and Qiu Ruru sat on the couch for a long time without talking, full of emotions.
“Have you made up your mind?” Shen Yihuan asked her.
Qiu Ruru stretched lazily and said nonchalantly, “I have.”
Shen Yihuan climbed off the couch, half-kneeling and half-lying down to hug Qiu Ruru. “Thank you.”
They rarely said thank you to each other. Qiu Ruru immediately patted her on the back and laughed at her. “What are you being so polite for? Besides, it wasn’t my idea.”
Shen Yihuan got off of her and lay on the bed. She said, “Hmm?” “Whose idea was it then?”
“Lu Zhou’s.”
Shen Yihuan was stunned and couldn’t believe it. “Lu Zhou?”
“I bet you didn’t see that coming,” Qiu Ruru said excitedly. “I was shocked when I got his call. He said he was planning a wedding for you, which wasn’t too surprising, but when he asked me to find a way for Gu Minghui to video chat with you that day, I was completely floored!”
So Qiu Ruru found Gu’s father and asked him to set up a video call with them when he went to visit Gu Minghui.
“He used to hate Gu Minghui so much, and he really hates you having contact with other men,” Qiu Ruru said with a laugh. “I don’t think he likes it now either, but he can control himself. When he saw me calling you over, he must have known and just didn’t follow.”
Even though he still didn’t like Shen Yihuan having contact with other men, making her happy was probably more important to him.
“This is good. It puts me at ease,” Qiu Ruru said.
“Mm.”
“He used to be good to you, but sometimes he could be a little scary.”
Qiu Ruru recalled the time in the Kumtag Desert. The way Lu Zhou showed such disregard for the lives of those men after they hurt Shen Yihuan still sent a chill down her spine.
“This is better now,” she mused.
________________________________________
After the banquet, everyone went back to their own yurts.
Lu Zhou had booked all the yurts there, so everyone could sleep and not have to rush back to the airport after the festivities. They could leave the next morning.
He and Shen Yihuan, on the other hand, were going to stay for a few more days before heading back.
When Lu Zhou returned, Qiu Ruru had just walked out.
Lu Zhou said softly to her, “Thank you.”
Qiu Ruru waved her hand. “What for? Yingtao’s business is my business.”
She walked a few steps forward, then remembered something and turned back. “Oh, by the way, Lu Zhou.”
Lu Zhou also turned around.
“Gu Minghui told me to thank you for him if I saw you.”
He was referring to Lu Zhou’s submission of a report on Gu Minghui’s cooperation in the investigation, which helped him get a reduced sentence. Without it, he might have received a death sentence or life imprisonment.
Lu Zhou nodded and walked into the yurt.
Qiu Ruru stood there stunned for a moment, then stomped her foot on the grass and muttered, “So cold.” A few seconds later, she couldn’t help but smile.
...
Shen Yihuan was pulled away by Qiu Ruru, which was a good thing because it meant she didn’t have to drink. Lu Zhou, on the other hand, wasn’t so lucky and was forced to drink a lot.
He had a faint smell of alcohol on him, and his eyes were flushed with a rare, hazy, drunken redness.
“How much did you drink?” Shen Yihuan asked, leaning in to smell him.
Lu Zhou’s voice showed no sign of being drunk. “Not much.”
“You smell like you were just pulled out of a wine barrel.”
“Then I’ll go take a shower,” Lu Zhou said, unbuttoning his shirt and heading to the bathroom.
This yurt was a special kind of B&B built for tourism, different from a regular yurt. It had a floor-to-ceiling window where you could see the scenery outside.
Shen Yihuan set up her tripod, fixed her camera, and looked at the starry sky through the lens.
Blocking everything else out, her vision was filled only with the quiet, vast universe, a world of its own.
Lu Zhou came out of the bathroom after his shower. Shen Yihuan was still sitting in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, fiddling with the camera. He walked over and sat down next to her on the soft rug.
Shen Yihuan leaned into his arms and turned the camera toward him. “Look.”
It was a beautiful starry sky. The air here was pristine, with no pollution. She could see various constellations, forming all sorts of patterns.
Lu Zhou asked, “When did you start liking photography?”
“I don’t know,” Shen Yihuan said, thinking about it. “I liked taking random pictures when I was a kid. It just felt like the world seen through a lens was different from the one we see with our eyes.”
“Look,” she said, adjusting the camera and pressing the shutter button. “It’s actually much prettier than what you can see with the naked eye.”
Shen Yihuan had a completely different aura when she was serious.
Lu Zhou couldn’t help himself. He leaned in and kissed her on the lips.
He took her soft lower lip between his teeth, gently grinding and pulling, their lips rubbing against each other. Their breaths mingled, and his teeth lightly bit and pecked at her lips.
He must have brushed his teeth during his shower because the taste of alcohol was faint, but in the quiet of the night, it became a tempting and intoxicating allure.
Shen Yihuan was left breathless by the kiss, and a few tears of frustration welled up in her eyes. Her eyelashes were wet, and she glared at him accusingly.
Lu Zhou looked at her, felt a fire start in his belly, and leaned in to continue kissing her.
But Shen Yihuan pushed him away.
The young woman wiped her wet lips with the back of her hand and pointed at him. “Lu Zhou, how can you make one kiss so lustful?”
He hugged Shen Yihuan, his voice hoarse. “I don’t just want to kiss you.”
“No,” Shen Yihuan said, refusing him with a look of righteousness.
Lu Zhou looked at her without a word.
“There’s a huge floor-to-ceiling window. What if someone sees?”
“There are curtains.”
“Still not now,” Shen Yihuan said, pointing to the tripod in front of them. “I want to take photos. It’s not often you get such a beautiful starry sky.”
Lu Zhou watched her for a moment and eventually gave in.
After taking photos for a while, Shen Yihuan turned to him and asked, “Are you sleepy? You drank so much. Why don’t you go to bed first?”
“It’s fine. I’ll stay with you,” Lu Zhou said.
Shen Yihuan had been all fired up about taking photos of the starry sky at different times and the sunrise the next morning. But she couldn’t stay awake and didn’t know when she fell asleep.
When she woke up again, it wasn’t even light yet. The lights in the yurt had been turned off at some point, and it was pitch black, with only the pale light of dawn coming through the floor-to-ceiling window.
“Babe,” Lu Zhou called softly.
Shen Yihuan squinted. She was grumpy from being woken up and slapped Lu Zhou’s face, mumbling, “So sleepy. Don’t bother me.”
“Didn’t you say you wanted to watch the sunrise?”
Lu Zhou didn’t get angry at all about being slapped. He took Shen Yihuan’s hand and put it back under the covers. “Still want to watch? If not, go back to sleep.”
Shen Yihuan didn’t respond. She just snuggled back under the covers.
Lu Zhou let her be.
Then, when she woke up, she regretted it immensely. The sun was high in the sky, and there was no trace of the sunrise.
“I knew it. I should have stayed up until sunrise. As soon as I fall asleep, I can’t get up,” Shen Yihuan said with a sad face, sitting on the bed. She had just woken up.
Lu Zhou was packing their luggage. He heard her and smiled. “It’s fine. You can watch tomorrow.”
“How many days are we staying here?” Shen Yihuan asked.
“Up to you.”
“Are you sure you don’t have to work?”
“I’ll be busy as soon as we get back.”
Shen Yihuan threw off the covers and stretched widely. “Then let’s have fun this time.”
________________________________________
At noon, everyone had lunch outside the yurt B&B and then went their separate ways.
The others headed to the airport, while Lu Zhou and Shen Yihuan continued to the end of the grasslands. It was their honeymoon.
Lu Zhou asked the yurt owner where they could rent a car, then rented one and drove Shen Yihuan around.
They drove, stopping and starting along the way.
In the evening, they went to a decent hotel for dinner and to solve the problem of where to stay for the night.
The hotel’s dinner was a buffet with strong Inner Mongolian characteristics—lots of meat and wine. The two of them decided to check out the restaurant first. If the food looked good, they would drop off their luggage in the room and come back to eat.
“I think I should have been born in a place like Inner Mongolia or Xinjiang. All this meat and food just looks so delicious,” Shen Yihuan said.
Lu Zhou said, “If you’re hungry, you can eat first. I’ll drop off the luggage and come down?”
Shen Yihuan shook her head. “Let’s go together.”
They turned to leave, and a man’s voice rose from behind them.
“Well, Shen Yihuan! What a coincidence. I can’t believe I ran into you here.” Xu He walked toward them wearing sunglasses. He hooked a finger at his sunglasses, lifted them, and looked at them.
Lu Zhou frowned and pulled Shen Yihuan behind him.
“What are you protecting her for? I’m not going to eat you,” Xu He laughed playfully. “I heard you two got married. I didn’t get you a wedding gift, but after all, we have a history.”
“Xu He,” Shen Yihuan warned.
A flash of violence crossed Lu Zhou’s eyebrows. He didn’t say anything and just punched him.
After hearing what Xu He had done to Shen Yihuan after Shen Fu went bankrupt, Lu Zhou had wanted to hit him. Now, he finally had a chance.
The scene quickly descended into chaos.
Xu He was knocked to the ground by the punch, clutching his nose in pain and unable to speak.
Someone quickly pulled the two of them apart. Lu Zhou shook off the person’s hand and looked down at Xu He, his features sharp and cold.
His voice was full of barely contained anger. “Try mentioning your ‘history’ with her again. Just try.”
Shen Yihuan was afraid that the brainless Xu He would say something else to provoke Lu Zhou. If that happened, the situation would be hard to control, so she quickly pulled Lu Zhou away.
They took the elevator to the hotel room they had booked.
Shen Yihuan patted Lu Zhou’s back reassuringly. She stood on her tiptoes and rubbed the top of his head, coaxing him like a child. “Don’t be angry, don’t be angry. See? I’m okay.”
“Mm,” Lu Zhou responded. He walked into the room with his suitcase and bag.
He looked pretty calm... right?
Shen Yihuan was in awe of Lu Zhou. She felt like her hot-tempered baby had grown up.
She was very pleased.
But in the next second, she was pulled in, his arms wrapped around her waist, and he pressed her into the soft bed. A storm of kisses followed.
First on her lips, then on her neck.
Shen Yihuan held his head, rubbing the back of his neck over and over.
Just kiss, just kiss, as long as he’s not angry.
That was Shen Yihuan’s initial thought, but then she realized something was wrong.
Lu Zhou lightly bit a soft part of her neck, grinding and sucking, making a series of small sounds that made her heart race.
“Lu Zhou... it’s going to leave a mark.”
The man on top of her ignored her, his breathing heavy.
Shen Yihuan pushed him a few times, but it was no use, so she gave in.
Lu Zhou rarely left hickeys on her. It only happened a few times when things got too intense. Other than that, he never did.
It wasn’t that he disliked them. He just didn’t want others to see and have any sort of suggestive thoughts about Shen Yihuan.
But today was different. This was a declaration of ownership.
Lu Zhou finally stopped, panting. He had already become aroused. He breathed on the side of Shen Yihuan’s neck for a bit, then kissed her lips and sat up.
Shen Yihuan looked at her neck in the mirror.
There were several red marks.
Extremely suggestive.
“Happy now?” Shen Yihuan asked Lu Zhou with a raised eyebrow.
Lu Zhou licked his wet lips, a dark light in his eyes.
He pulled Shen Yihuan up from the bed. “Do you want to go to a different place to eat?”
Shen Yihuan tilted her head back and smiled. “Brother Zhou, you’ve already left your mark. Why would we go anywhere else?”
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