After a Contract Marriage with a Cold and Older Person - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Agreement

“Early October it is then,” Ji Wenxu really couldn’t think of a better solution.

As Song Tingyun said, their marriage was already set in stone, so the exact timing didn’t make much difference.

“Alright, do you have anything else you want to say?” Song Tingyun adjusted his cuff asked, looking like he was rushing to his next appointment.

Ji Wenxu rested his face in his hand, staring at him. “I’ve thought about it, let’s write an agreement.”

“What agreement?”

“A marriage agreement, to regulate us both.”

“For example?”

Ji Wenxu counted on his fingers, “Just some requirements after we get married, like not bringing other men home, not casually exposing our relationship outside… things like that.”

Song Tingyun nodded: “Let’s do as you say.”

He took out his phone and made a call. Less than a minute later, the coffee shop door was gently pushed open, and a young man in his thirties carrying a briefcase walked in.

Song Tingyun introduced him calmly: “This is my lawyer. Today, we’ll briefly discuss some agreement contents, and the remaining details will be completed and sent to you for review.”

Ji Wenxu narrowed his eyes.

Why would someone bring a lawyer to a coffee date?

The lawyer naturally sat down next to him, took a work notebook from his briefcase, spread it open, and said, “The two of you can start formulating the verbal agreement.”

Ji Wenxu then looked at Song Tingyun.

Song Tingyun nodded slightly at him. “You start.”

Ji Wenxu didn’t refuse, straightened his back, cleared his throat, and said, “First, no interference in each other’s private lives.”

“Mm.”

“During the marriage, we cannot be overly intimate with others. This… is for my family to see,” Ji Wenxu added as an explanation.

“Mm.”

“Don’t bring other men home, especially our relationship. Unless absolutely necessary, don’t let others know about it easily.”

“Okay.” Song Tingyun still only nodded in agreement.

…

After listing more than ten points, Ji Wenxu asked, “Do you have anything you want to add?”

Song Tingyun thought for a moment: “Curfew.”

“Curfew?”

Song Tingyun: “Unless under special circumstances, you must be home after eleven o’clock at night.”

Ji Wenxu immediately shook his head: “No way. Sometimes I’m out late socializing with friends, and sometimes I stay at my cousin’s house after he returned to the country.”

“Fine.” Song Tingyun nodded in agreement, then continued, “Then is it acceptable to notify me when you go out?”

“We’re adults. Why should we report when we go out?” Ji Wenxu asked, confused.

Song Tingyun’s gaze lingered on him with a complex look for a moment before he said, “Alright, then I have no other requirements.”

Ji Wenxu seemed to suddenly remember something and added, “The most important point: since we are marrying by agreement, we cannot have any superfluous feelings for each other. I don’t need to explain what ‘superfluous feelings’ means, do I?”

Song Tingyun seemed almost amused, forcing a smile but not speaking. Finally, he pushed his sliding glasses up, and whispered, “Fine, that’s a point I didn’t think of. Lawyer Xu, please record that clearly.”

The lawyer quickly wrote down this final verbal agreement.

“My lawyer will finalize the agreement and show it to you later,” Song Tingyun said slowly. “I will discuss the wedding date with your family. If you have time, you can also inform them.”

“Okay.” For some reason, Ji Wenxu felt like he had fallen into some kind of trap.

After all, his initial demand was a firm refusal to marry, but now they had even negotiated the wedding date.

After the lawyer packed up his paper and pen, Song Tingyun stood up and said, “I have someone I’m meeting. I won’t stay with you for the rest of the time. The coffee is on me, it tastes pretty good.”

He didn’t give Ji Wenxu another glance, turned, and left the coffee shop.

Ji Wenxu looked out the window and saw Song Tingyun bending over to get into a luxury car at the entrance. In the blink of an eye, the car was gone.

Only then did Ji Wenxu turn his head back, pick up the coffee cup, and drink the remaining coffee in one gulp before getting up to leave.

He didn’t rush home but asked the driver to take him to the hospital.

Ji Shuyi was due to be discharged in two days. Although his marriage to Song Tingyun was by agreement, it was still fulfilling the old man’s wish. Telling him now might make the old man happy ahead of time.

“So, after meeting him, you found that you regret not meeting earlier, you’re deeply compatible, and so you’ve decided to get married in early October?” On the hospital bed, an old man in his seventies with white hair sat cross-legged. Ji Wenxu sat in the visiting chair by the bed.

The speaker was Ji Shuyi.

Although he was old, his posture was good, and his eyes were not cloudy at all, as if they were gleaming.

“Uh, yes.” Ji Wenxu was not good at lying, and he shifted his gaze away subtly as he spoke.

Ji Shuyi leaned forward, staring intently at Ji Wenxu’s guilty eyes. Ji Wenxu’s heart pounded with nervousness.

After a long time, the old man clapped Ji Wenxu on the back and laughed heartily: “I told you, you would only have good things to say after meeting your fiancé.”

“Are you regretting not meeting him earlier?”

Ji Wenxu didn’t dare to say anything, only cooperating by nodding a few times: “Yes, yes, yes, we should have met earlier.”

“You can relax now, right?”

Ji Shuyi crossed his arms and nodded emphatically: “I’m relieved. From now on, you two must support each other and live in harmony, do you understand?”

“Understood, understood,” Ji Wenxu replied perfunctorily.

Ji Shuyi: “Considering that you and Tingyun just met, there’s still more than half a month until early October. After I’m discharged, I’ll discuss it with him. Why don’t you two move in together first and get to know each other?”

“Grandpa, we’re getting married soon! Can’t you let me have a couple of days of freedom?!” Ji Wenxu almost jumped up to object.

Ji Shuyi, however, appeared calm: “Freedom?”

He pointed at Ji Wenxu’s leg in a cast and said, “That’s the consequence of giving you freedom.”

Ji Wenxu: “It was an accident.”

Ji Shuyi: “Everything that happens to you is an accident. I’m just letting you familiarize yourselves beforehand. Are you planning to go racing with your leg like this?”

Ji Wenxu: “Grandpa, didn’t I say I won’t go racing anymore?”

“You said that before, too.” The old man clearly didn’t believe him.

Ji Wenxu crossed his arms and didn’t speak. He really had no counter-argument.

Ji Shuyi continued, “After I’m discharged tomorrow, I will have your father invite Tingyun home as a guest, and we can discuss some wedding details. Of course, if Tingyun agrees, you’ll move in with him first.”

Ji Wenxu drooped his head: “Oh.”

Ji Shuyi took his hand and spoke earnestly: “Xiaoxu, your grandmother’s dying wish was for me to see you married. I just walked through the gates of hell this time, and I dreamed of your grandmother. I was planning to go with her.”

“But she suddenly asked who my grandson was marrying? She asked if you were happy and if you had grown up well. It was only because she asked these things that I remembered what she had entrusted to me on her deathbed, and that’s why I didn’t go with her.”

“I know you can’t accept this arranged marriage, and I know you don’t like Tingyun, but Tingyun is a good child. If you marry him, I think you will be happy.”

“At least once you’re married, I won’t have any more worries.” As the old man spoke, he started to wipe away tears.

Ji Wenxu quickly comforted him: “Grandpa, don’t talk like that. I won’t play those dangerous games anymore, and you will live a long life.”

Ji Wenxu knew he was entirely responsible for his grandpa’s hospitalization this time, so even if he was deeply unhappy with the marriage, he never mentioned refusing it in front of his grandpa.

But…

But Song Tingyun’s words still bothered him.

Ji Wenxu paused before asking, “Then Grandpa, are you very worried about our family’s business in the future…”

Ji Shuyi: “I am worried, but the worry stems from the fear that you’ll be bullied by others after we elders are gone.”

Ji Wenxu responded with an unclear emotion: “Oh.”

Then he muttered softly, “Who would dare to bully me?”

“Alright, since you’re already at the hospital, go check how your leg injury is recovering,” Ji Shuyi pretended not to hear. He raised his hand and rubbed Ji Wenxu’s head.

Ji Wenxu grumbled: “Grandpa, don’t rub my head.”

The rumor he’d heard since childhood—that ‘rubbing your head stops you from growing tall’—had always influenced Ji Wenxu. Since he could remember, he had been very wary of having his head rubbed.

Ji Shuyi laughed heartily: “Yes, rubbing it stops you from growing, but if you grow any taller, we’ll have to reinstall the doors at home.”

Ji Wenxu picked up his crutch and stood up: “You’re exaggerating. I’ll be satisfied as long as I’m taller than my cousin.”

“You’re an adult now, still competing with your cousin,” Ji Shuyi looked left and right, still feeling like Ji Wenxu was just a child.

Ji Wenxu snorted, then said, “Then I’ll go for a check-up on my leg injury first. I’ll come pick you up when you’re discharged tomorrow.”

“Good.” Ji Shuyi didn’t refuse. “Be careful on your way back.”

Ji Wenxu briefly said goodbye and left the ward.

He had a quick check-up on his leg injury. After confirming that there were no major issues, he got into the car and headed home.

Ji Wenxu had been living alone since he became an adult. His place was relatively far from the city center, and also far from his parents’ home.

During his rebellious teenage years, he just wanted to be far away from his family.

On his long list of things to do before graduation.

Car racing was the first item.

And the only one, the last one.

The later items—climbing Mount Everest, diving, bungee jumping, a trip to Iceland… many, many things—he hadn’t had time to complete a single one.

And he was about to get married.

Thinking of this, Ji Wenxu only felt regret. If he had known, he would have listened to his mother and not gone car racing.

No car racing, no car accident. No car accident, how could he be getting married?

The car stopped steadily in front of the villa.

The housekeeper, who had been waiting in the yard for a long time, immediately stepped forward. “Young Master, Madam is here.”

Ji Wenxu: “Mother?”

“Yes, Madam said she only saw you on the day you were discharged, and you haven’t called her or gone home since. She came because she missed you.”

“Okay, I know.” Ji Wenxu leaned on his crutch and slowly walked into the yard.