After a Flash Marriage with a Professor - Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Compete For Superiority

In just a few seconds, Shen Junlan thought of many things.

The first thing that filled her mind was, of course, her dissatisfaction with someone else getting close to her new wife. Then, she thought of Mingshu, who had very few friends due to various reasons.

Through the car window and from a distance, she saw the faint smile on Mingshu’s face in the sun. She suppressed the urge to get out of the car and declare her sovereignty.

After calming down a little, she looked again. Mingshu was keeping a certain distance from that kind female colleague. It still looked a little jarring, but it wasn’t completely unbearable.

Shen Junlan looked at the foie gras and lamb chops on the side and wondered how she could hand them to Mingshu without getting out of the car.

“Ling Han, can you wait for me here?” Mingshu saw a car by the side of the road that looked very similar to Professor Shen’s.

“Okay,” Ling Han said with a smile, watching Mingshu walk toward an Acura RLX parked on the side of the road.

Mingshu walked to the car window and finally saw the person inside.

“Professor Shen, it really is you!” Mingshu bent down and called out in surprise, tapping on the car window.

Shen Junlan noticed the movement outside the car. When she turned her head, she saw that Mingshu had come to the car at some point. She felt a little guilty, with a sense of unease from being caught “spying.”

She rolled down the car window.

Mingshu didn’t seem to think that way.

“Professor Shen, did you come here just to see me?” Mingshu’s face was filled with a pure, joyful smile. Shen Junlan’s eyes were stung again.

“Professor Shen?”

“Mm.” Shen Junlan came back to her senses and stopped dwelling on things. She handed the vacuum-sealed container of foie gras and lamb chops to Mingshu.

“What’s this?” Mingshu took it and asked like a curious child.

“Foie gras and lamb chops. I just visited a friend and had them at a restaurant. I thought they were pretty good, so I brought some for you. You should eat well.”

“Thank you, Professor Shen!”

Tears welled up in Mingshu’s beautiful, smiling eyes. Shen Junlan’s heart clenched.

“Are you that happy?”

Mingshu nodded. “You’re the first person to ever bring me a meal during mealtime. Thank you, Professor Shen.”

Shen Junlan was very surprised. Mingshu was lacking so much more than she had imagined. Unknowingly, she had taken so many of Mingshu’s “firsts.” She had taken Mingshu for her own before Mingshu even had a chance to have a normal relationship. She…

Shen Junlan didn’t dare to think any further. She smiled at Mingshu and said, “Go have your meal. Your colleague is still waiting for you. You can share the foie gras and lamb chops with her.”

“Mm, bye-bye, Professor Shen~”

The car window closed, and Shen Junlan slowly drove away.

Mingshu returned to Ling Han with the beautiful, colorful patterned bag. “I’m sorry, I made you wait.”

“It’s okay,” Ling Han said with a smile. “Was that your family who came to bring you something?”

Mingshu hesitated for two seconds and then nodded. Professor Shen was indeed her family now.

“Ling Han, how about we go to that restaurant you mentioned next time?”

“Okay.” Ling Han nodded. She probably guessed the reason. It wasn’t appropriate to eat at an outside restaurant when Mingshu’s family had brought her food.

The two of them returned to the company’s cafeteria. After all the running around, the cafeteria was almost empty. They got their food and started eating. Mingshu also opened the insulated container and shared it with Ling Han.

“Please.”

Ling Han tasted a small piece of foie gras and was stunned. The taste was very familiar.

“What’s wrong? Do you not like it?” Mingshu asked nervously.

“No.” Ling Han frowned, her expression very strange. She picked up another small piece of foie gras and tasted it carefully.

“This seems to be from my family’s restaurant,” Ling Han said with a smile.

Mingshu was surprised. “What a coincidence!”

“Mingshu, what do you think of the taste?”

“I think it’s delicious.”

“Really?”

“Mm.”

“Next time, I’ll treat you to my family’s restaurant. The food tastes even better there.”

Mingshu bit into the lamb chop and didn’t say anything.

“What’s wrong? Is it not convenient?”

Mingshu shook her head. “No. I just don’t know if I’ll have time for the ‘next time’ you mentioned. I don’t make promises about things I’m not sure about. Ling Han, thank you for inviting me.”

“Then next time, I’ll just invite you directly. If it’s not convenient, you can just refuse me.”

“Okay.”

After they cleared things up, Mingshu continued to eat with her head down. As she ate the foie gras and lamb chops that Professor Shen had brought, she couldn’t help but think to herself, she had said she was going to be with Lingyu for two days, and Professor Shen had said she didn’t know what she would do alone at home. Could it be that Professor Shen got married to her because she was lonely?

She would definitely spend more time with Professor Shen in the future.

After Shen Junlan left, she suddenly didn’t know where to go next. After thinking for a while, she sent a message asking Mingshu’s brother if there was anything he wanted to eat.

[Brother-in-law, save me! I’m tired of eating hospital food. Anything you bring will be fine.]

Shen Junlan went to buy Wenxuan some pork bone porridge and a chicken soup in an earthenware pot. She also brought him some pickled radish to stimulate his appetite.

When Shen Junlan arrived at the hospital, Yan Hongbo and Qin Shu weren’t there. Wenxuan was leaning on the hospital bed, reading a Japanese book. He only saw her when she walked over.

“Brother-in-law, you’re here!”

“Where are your parents?”

“My dad is at work. He found a job at a construction site where he gets paid daily. My mom went home to get me some books. She won’t be back for a while.”

Shen Junlan helped him set up a small table and opened the containers for him.

“How’s your hand?”

“It’s healing well, but it will definitely be a little worse than before it healed.”

“That’s unavoidable.” Shen Junlan unwrapped the chopsticks and spoon and handed them to him one by one.

“Brother-in-law, don’t you have to work? How do you have time to come see me?” Wenxuan ate a piece of the crispy pickled radish and felt that he had finally come back to life.

“It’s summer vacation now.”

“That’s great. I want to be a university professor, too!”

“If you go study abroad, learn the language first. It won’t be hard to become a Japanese professor if you get into a university there and finish your master’s and Ph.D.”

“Brother-in-law, do you really believe in me? I didn’t even get into a university on my college entrance exam this year.”

“The determination it takes to chop off a finger is much greater than the determination it takes to pass an exam.”

Yan Wenxuan scratched his head sheepishly. “I was forced to do it. I had no other choice. My sister has always been good to me since I was a child. It’s rare that I can do something for her.”

“Oh, by the way, brother-in-law, how’s my sister? She said in her messages that she’s doing well. She’s not lying to me, is she?”

“No.”

“Of course. With you around, brother-in-law, nothing bad will happen to my sister.”

“You have so much faith in me?”

“You have so much faith in me, too, brother-in-law.”

Shen Junlan smiled. “Actually, as the one who benefits the most in your family, I’m very surprised that you’re on your sister’s side.”

“Brother-in-law, my sister probably hasn’t told you yet, but she was the one who raised me when I was a child. When I was little, my parents had to work, so my sister took care of me. She was still a child herself, but she taught me how to talk, walk, and count. She helped me make milk powder and played with me until my mom quit her job and stopped letting my sister take care of me. But I still love my sister. My mom didn’t let my sister get close to me. She only let my sister come over when she had no patience to help me with my homework. In the past, my sister had less allowance than me, but she would save it to buy snacks and share with me. One time, I was playing around and provoked the neighbor’s vicious dog. My sister was bitten while protecting me. When she got home, my mom hit her and scolded her.”

“I can’t explain everything at once, but my sister is really good. I also feel like I owe her so much. I would even die for her.” Yan Wenxuan said with a clenched fist.

Shen Junlan said, “I know. Mingshu is really good.”

She reached out and touched the boy’s fingers. “They’re still in the recovery period. Be careful.”

Only then did Yan Wenxuan open his fingers and smile slyly. It seemed that he always lost his composure in front of his brother-in-law.

Shen Junlan sat by the hospital bed and watched the boy finish his meal. She also answered a few of his questions about language learning.

After she had cleaned up the trash from the meal, Shen Junlan was about to leave when Wenxuan suddenly called out to her.

She turned around and asked with a smile, “Is there anything else?”

Wenxuan said, “Brother-in-law, my sister’s world is relatively simple. She doesn’t have a lot of experience with many things. Please take good care of her and be patient with her. I’m counting on you.”

Shen Junlan nodded with a smile.

As she walked out of Wenxuan’s hospital room, Shen Junlan felt that the fact that Mingshu was her wife was a little more real. The link between them had deepened a little.

It was still early. Shen Junlan didn’t plan on going home so early. She wanted to wait for Mingshu to get off work and pick her up so they could go back together.

There were many places she could go, but when she thought about where to settle down, she couldn’t help but think of Mingshu.

She found a coffee experience store and paid to learn latte art.

After spending the entire afternoon practicing diligently, Shen Junlan learned how to do latte art.

“Congratulations on learning such a complex latte art,” the teacher said, looking at Shen Junlan’s finished product with amazement. She asked if she could take a picture to display as an excellent student’s work. Shen Junlan said yes.

She was delayed a little too long and didn’t make it to pick up Mingshu.

When Mingshu got home, she found out that Professor Shen hadn’t returned home yet. Auntie Zhang was cooking in the kitchen. After Mingshu put down her bag, she went into the kitchen to help, but Auntie Zhang asked her to leave.

Mingshu had no choice but to be by herself. She sat on the sofa in the living room, feeling bored. She couldn’t help but wonder if Professor Shen usually waited for her to get off work to have dinner together.

Mingshu stood up and decided to take a walk in the yard. The villa’s yard was very big. The paths crisscrossed and were paved with beige pebbles. It was very elegant. Walking on them felt like a gentle massage, comfortable and interesting.

She could also hear the sound of the sea here. The wind carried the waves. Mingshu smelled a faint salty air, but she didn’t want to go to the nearby sea by herself.

She was just treasure hunting in the yard. She followed two beige butterflies that were flying closely together. They led her to a plant.

It was a bird of paradise. It had green leaves and fiery red flowers. It held its head high, truly living up to its name, “the crane’s gaze.”

“Lost in thought? Mingshu, do you like the bird of paradise?”

“You’re back! Professor Shen,” Mingshu said, turning around in surprise and looking up at Shen Junlan.

“Mm. Were you waiting for me?”

Mingshu lowered her head. Shen Junlan smiled and didn’t force her to admit it. She just handed the beautiful coffee that she had spent the entire afternoon making to Mingshu.

“Is this coffee?”

“A cappuccino.”

“It has latte art! It’s so beautiful. Is that a rose?” Mingshu asked in surprise.

Shen Junlan turned her head and coughed awkwardly. “I wonder if it’s better than the one your kind colleague made.”

Mingshu was stunned for a moment. Why would Professor Shen compare herself to Ling Han?

Could it be that Professor Shen was really jealous of Ling Han?

Oh my!

Mingshu saw that Professor Shen wasn’t looking at her at the moment. She gathered her courage, stood on her tiptoes, and quickly kissed Professor Shen on the cheek.

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