Chapter 9 – Addressing A Misunderstanding

Su Yuan agreed to go work at Ning Jun’s company and moved there right away.

It was not that much of a hassle, after all, they were merely a street away.

When he arrived at the front desk to register, one of the staff immediately materialized. The staff member was exceptionally respectful and courteous as he was led to the Department of Software Development.

“Mr Su, CEO Ning has made all the necessary arrangements for you; all you need to do is go to the Human Resource Department A1608 on the 16th floor and sign two contracts, then you’re all set.”

Su Yuan smiled as he nodded, “Thank you for all your help.”

The admin assistant did not dare to take credit for all that and soon walked away.

Su Yuan tidied up his office supplies, and after a moment’s thought, moved to the staircase outside to call Zheng Lingyang.

When Zheng Lingyang heard that Su Yuan had gotten back together with Ning Jun, he seemed to sigh a little, almost as if he had expected this outcome, before replying, “I knew it.”

Su Yuan gingerly explained, “I didn’t have any other choice. Once I meet him, I am no longer my own person.”

Zheng Lingyang asked, “Then, can you be sure that his feelings for you are sincere?”

Su Yuan seemed to grow silent at this before he murmured, “I don’t know… Lingyang, I daren’t ask him. I also can’t make myself wholly believe in it. If it was the old me, I might have dared to ask… But right now, who am I to question him?”

Zheng Lingyang seemed a tad vexed by this as he asked, “Then how do you plan on living with him later on?”

Su Yuan laughed carelessly, “I’ll just let things remain the way they are now and decide along the way. Perhaps I’ll find the silver lining to this…”

T/N: The saying here was originally liǔ àn huā míng yòu yì cūn which literally was meant to describe how beautiful the village ahead was.

Su Yuan was just saying this off the cuff, he did not expect that his “village” would appear so quickly.

When it came to the time for him to leave work, he received messages from both Ning Jun and Su Jin.

The message Ning Jun sent him was like this: After work, wait for me downstairs, let’s go home together.

Su Yuan paused as his eyes seemed to focus on the word ‘home’, and he shook himself to clear his mind before looking at Su Jin’s message.

Su Jin’s message was: Su Yuan, I’m right outside your company. My mother asked me to bring you some food to eat.

Su Yuan had not informed Su Jin of the change in his workplace, so he guessed that Su Jin was probably waiting for him at the building opposite to where he was right now.

Su Yuan glanced at the clock. There were barely a few minutes to the time work ended, which was just enough time for him to speak briefly with Su Jin. Thus, he grabbed his jacket and raced downstairs.

Su Jin really was standing at the foyer downstairs in the building across the street, an umbrella in her hand and a bag in the other. Coincidentally, she just so happened to be facing his way.

In no time, she caught sight of Su Yuan, and with her high heels, plodded across the main road, shoving the bag toward Su Yuan, “Nah, this is for you.”

Su Yuan took it from her and led Su Jin toward a shady place.

Su Jin lifted her head to look up at the skyscraper and exclaimed, “Su Yuan, when did you start working here?”

Su Yuan had yet to reply, when someone behind him laughingly replied, “Since he started dating me.”

Su Yuan seemed startled by the reply. An arm suddenly appeared on his shoulder, and someone was soon standing beside him.

Ning Jun affectionately leaned on Su Yuan, as he gave Su Jin a forced smile while saying, “Nice to meet you, I’m Su Yuan’s boyfriend.”

T/N: Squeaaaaaaaalll finally

Ning Jun had never imagined that even after all these years, Su Yuan had remained in contact with this woman. When he was going down the stairs just now, he had caught sight of Su Yuan speaking to this woman, and upon a closer look, he instantly recognized her as the girl who had hugged and taken selfies with Su Yuan at the racecourse that year.

Ning Jun was incensed.

That year, at the racecourse, he had not dared to claim ownership over Su Yuan…

But now, as they stood in the shadow of his company building, finally, he could tell all these people, that Su Yuan was officially his.

Ning Jun disdainfully stared at Su Jin, inside, he was hoping that she could take the hint and back off.

Su Jin seemed to be thinking about something as she looked at him before hesitantly asking, “You’re… Ning Jun?”

Ning Jun was a bit taken aback by her question, things were not turning out as he expected.

Had the Xiao San (homewrecker/third party in a relationship) already done some recon and managed to find out the Queen’s name?

T/N: Here the raw used zhènggōng, which refers to the Queen, symbolizing Ning Jun’s status as Su Yuan’s legal and only consort (haha because even if the King had other women, they weren’t really wives unless it was the Queen so… )

Then, he noticed that Su Jin had a shy playful smile on her face, soon, her voice sweetly said, “In that case, does that mean I need to call you Sister-in-law?”

Su Yuan lightly smacked Su Jin’s hand, warning her, “Be serious, don’t talk nonsense.”

Su Jin playfully stuck out her tongue at him in reply.

Ning Jun was quite confused by now and turned to Su Yuan for answers.

“Aren’t you an only child?”

Su Yuan laughed as he explained, “This is my cousin-sister from my maternal uncle’s side. We grew up together.” He paused for a minute to collect his thoughts before he continued to say, “You might not remember this, but you two have actually seen each other before. It’s just that, I had not introduced you guys to each other back then. This was during high school, the time we visited that racecourse.”

Inside, Ning Jun was saying, How could I have forgotten? It was her very existence that was a constant source of torment to me, I had always treated her like my rival in love.

As the moment passed, Ning Jun felt extremely suspicious of all he knew about Su Yuan.

Once he and Su Yuan had sent off his cousin-sister, they absent-mindedly finished dinner and were soon lounging on the couch at home.

Finally, he could open his mouth and ask Su Yuan something.

“How many relationships have you been in? In any form I mean.”

Su Yuan’s reply was without hesitation, “Only one, when I was with you.”

Su Yuan seemed a bit curious as to why he had suddenly asked this and tried to question this, “Why are you asking this right now?”

Ning Jun had this rare look of puzzlement as he explained, “When we were in high school, someone told me that you had many boyfriends and girlfriends… And that you would dump them once you got bored…So I always thought that the reason why you chased after me was just because of a temporary kind of interest.”

Su Yuan held a hand to his forehead, sighing as he said, “Why would you think that way?”

“And, when we were in university, you never acknowledged our relationship.” Ning Jun continued.

“Well, that’s because I knew that you were quite reluctant to be with me back then.”

“How could I have been reluctant?” Ning Jun burst out.

Su Yuan seemed dumbfounded by this reply.

He turned to look at Ning Jun, his next words slow and careful, “What do you mean?”

Ning Jun seemed to lose his ability to speak, stuttering out, “I-I…”

Su Yuan moved over and sat down on Ning Jun’s lap, holding his face in his hands as an extremely daring yet narcissistic idea flashed through his mind, “Back then, you liked me, didn’t you?”

This time, not only did Ning Jun’s ears redden, even his neck turned red! He murmured a reply, “Honestly… I think before you even liked me, I already liked you.”

Su Yuan was speechless.

“You b*stard!”

Su Yuan slapped Ning Jun’s shoulder as he rose to move away.

Ning Jun instantly reacted, hastily catching hold of Su Yuan’s hand as he hugged him to stop him from moving, “Yuanyuan, I didn’t try to hide it from you on purpose… I thought that you just wanted to fool around with me…I never thought… It was all a huge misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!”

Su Yuan’s eyes were red as he demanded, “Then tell me you love me.”

Ning Jun turned Su Yuan around so they were facing each other, he stared into the other’s eyes as he earnestly said, “I love you.”

“I always have, from the very start until now.”

Silence settled around them.

Su Yuan wrapped his arms back around Ning Jun. He felt like a certain restless part of his heart had finally calmed down. His voice was soft but steady as he replied,

“I love you too, I always have.”