After a Flash Marriage with a Professor - Chapter 31

Chapter 31: Don’t Care

Jiang Lingyu was stunned, holding her breath, too embarrassed to respond to Professor Shen.

Ming Shu heard the faint, familiar voice call her “wife” and immediately opened her eyes. The room was dim, the movie was still playing, and Ming Shu moved to find her phone.

“Wife?”

“Ming Shu?” Shen Junlan switched back to the normal address. The table full of colleagues was staring at her; some had already gotten up, circled around, and were leaning close, almost pressing against her.

“Professor Shen?” Ming Shu mumbled, her voice soft and slightly hoarse. Lingyu was helping her hold the phone to her ear.

“I was watching a movie with Lingyu. I might have been too tired last night and didn’t rest well, so I fell asleep just now. That’s why I answered late,” Ming Shu explained slowly, feeling her brain hadn’t returned to normal speed yet.

Shen Junlan silently gritted her back teeth. She was a little bothered that Ming Shu, her wife, could fall asleep so soundly and trustingly next to someone else. Compounding this was her earlier observation that Jiang Lingyu had some subtle, underlying feelings for Ming Shu, making it even harder to brush off. However, with so many colleagues eavesdropping nearby, and probably Jiang Lingyu right next to Ming Shu, there were many private things she couldn’t say at this moment.

“Professor Shen, did you call me for something?” Ming Shu waited for a moment, and when Professor Shen didn’t speak, she asked curiously.

“Nothing important. I just missed you a little.” Shen Junlan held her phone, her eyelashes lowered. The tenderness in her eyes flowed out, instantly washing away her previous dissatisfaction and jealousy.

Ming Shu let out a timid “Ah,” slightly flustered. “Missed me? But Professor Shen, we only just separated.” Ming Shu couldn’t understand. After all, when she usually went to work, leaving in the morning and returning in the evening, Professor Shen never mentioned missing her, even though that period of separation was longer than today’s.

“Ming Shu, I’m a little sad that you don’t believe me.”

“It’s not that… I don’t believe you. I’m just not used to Professor Shen suddenly saying something like that to me.”

“You’ll get used to it slowly. We have a long time ahead of us.”

Ming Shu still didn’t quite grasp the main point of Professor Shen’s call and responded in a daze.

“Alright, hearing your voice is enough. You didn’t rest well before, so enjoy these two days with Lingyu, relax.”

Shen Junlan hung up the phone. The colleagues who had been holding their breath, listening intently to Professor Shen’s newlywed wife’s voice, could finally breathe deeply again.

“Professor Shen really is married?” one colleague asked in surprise.

“Yes.”

“Why so sudden? You didn’t tell us. Aren’t you having a wedding?”

“Because I wanted to marry her sooner. As for the wedding, the situation is a bit special, and there are still some unresolved issues. I will inform everyone when the wedding is held later.”

Tsk, tsk, tsk. The ‘abstinence-type’ Professor Shen falling in love, a flash marriage what explosive news. Everyone was even more curious about Professor Shen’s new wife.

Furthermore, everyone had keenly observed the call between Professor Shen and her wife, sensing a subtle lack of familiarity mixed with a subtle clinginess. This feeling made them even more eager to investigate.

Professor Lin, who was getting engaged today, raised his glass and smiled. “Everyone wants to meet Professor Shen’s wife. Why don’t you bring your wife to my wedding when I have it?”

Shen Junlan took a slow sip of wine, smiled, and said she could.

On the other side, Ming Shu couldn’t fall back asleep after the call with Professor Shen. She leaned against the headboard, and once she was fully awake, she no longer rested on Lingyu’s shoulder.

“That scared me to death just now,” Jiang Lingyu said, patting her chest, still shaken.

Ming Shu tilted her head to look at her. “I didn’t know Professor Shen would suddenly call me.”

Jiang Lingyu’s heart tightened, and she stopped patting her chest.

Neither of them spoke for a while. Ming Shu was thinking, and Jiang Lingyu was thinking, but their thoughts were different.

Jiang Lingyu slowly turned her head. The movie was still playing on the wall opposite, but she had turned off the sound when Ming Shu answered the phone. She used the dim light to look at Ming Shu’s beautiful profile and gently called her name. “Ming Shu.”

“Hmm?” As if in a dream, Ming Shu was startled awake.

“Professor Shen seems to really like you.”

“Really like… me?” Ming Shu repeated uncertainly, then shook her head and gave a self-deprecating smile. “What could Professor Shen like about me?”

“There are many things to like about you, Ming Shu,” Jiang Lingyu sat up straight and said seriously. “We only met in college, so I don’t know about before, but in college, so many people liked you.”

“They liked my face, liked my figure, simply wanted to do things to me. They could ignore my feelings, only caring about the outcome. Is that really liking?”

Jiang Lingyu suddenly couldn’t speak. After a long pause, she continued, “There were a lot of unwanted admirers, that’s true, but there were also some who genuinely liked you. You just didn’t see them, Ming Shu. You’ve always kept yourself closed off, so many people didn’t have a chance to get close to you.”

“…Maybe,” Ming Shu said uncertainly.

“Professor Shen is different from those superficial people, right?” Jiang Lingyu asked tentatively.

Ming Shu couldn’t answer that question because she hadn’t figured it out herself. She was certain that Professor Shen currently liked her physical body, perhaps even being somewhat obsessed, but Professor Shen wasn’t completely indifferent to her feelings. She cared about her feelings but was also somewhat domineering at times. In short, she couldn’t be easily defined.

“Lingyu, can we not talk about this anymore?” Ming Shu felt a headache coming on.

“Okay, let’s continue watching the movie.”

Jiang Lingyu turned the sound back on, pulled the progress bar forward, and asked Ming Shu where she had stopped before falling asleep.

Ming Shu said, “Don’t worry about me, Lingyu.”

“No way.” Jiang Lingyu leaned her head against Ming Shu’s shoulder and smiled. “I want to sleep for a bit too. Let’s see if the point you’ve reached matches where I stop when I wake up.”

“You’re tired too?”

“Mhm.” Jiang Lingyu rested her head on Ming Shu’s not-so-broad shoulder and closed her eyes contentedly. In truth, she wasn’t tired. She just didn’t want to fall out of sync with Ming Shu, to fall behind her or be left behind by her. If they couldn’t be together, she at least wanted to be able to journey alongside Ming Shu as they did before.

Jiang Lingyu didn’t intend to sleep, but she eventually drifted off. Ming Shu watched one movie alone. When the movie had a sequel, Ming Shu put it on. Halfway through the second movie, Jiang Lingyu woke up.

“Are you hungry? Do you want to get up and eat something?” Ming Shu turned her head to ask her.

“I ordered takeout. It’ll be here soon.” Ming Shu raised her phone.

Jiang Lingyu stretched and said, “Sounds good.”

She turned off the movie and the lights, and the two returned to the living room, settling on the sofa.

“The takeout is here. I’ll go get it at the door.” Ming Shu ran out in her slippers. These were new slippers Lingyu had gotten for her, with two fluffy rabbit ears on the top—very cute.

Lingyu lay on the sofa, watching Ming Shu run in and out, watching the little rabbit ears bounce, seemingly making Ming Shu hop along too.

“Guess what I bought,” Ming Shu asked with a smile.

The packaging box already gave away the secret, so Jiang Lingyu cooperatively guessed wrong twice. The final answer was revealed by Ming Shu: it was from a home-style takeout restaurant they often ordered from. They got it almost every weekend.

“What do you want for dinner? I’ll treat you,” Ming Shu asked Lingyu while taking the stir-fries out of the box.

Lingyu said, “I haven’t thought about it yet. We’ll decide after we watch the sunset at the beach this evening.”

“Don’t be shy with me. I have money on me this time. I can treat you to a big meal too.”

Ming Shu blinked, like a teen idol winking, but more natural. Jiang Lingyu knew Ming Shu absolutely didn’t mean to flirt with her, but she still felt a jolt, her heart melting.

After only a couple of bites, Ming Shu’s phone vibrated again, making the glass coffee table hum.

“It’s not Professor Shen again, is it?” Jiang Lingyu asked, feigning casualness.

“I don’t know.” Ming Shu picked up her phone, turned it over, and smiled. “It actually is Professor Shen.”

Ming Shu didn’t move away from Lingyu and answered the phone right where she was sitting.

“Professor Shen?”

“It’s me, Ming Shu.”

Professor Shen’s slightly tipsy voice came through the phone. Ming Shu asked, “Professor Shen, are you drunk? Do you need me to contact Old Liu to pick you up?”

“No need.” Shen Junlan leaned against the corner of the hotel corridor, one hand rubbing her slightly aching forehead.

“Then what do you need me for, Professor Shen?” It can’t be that she misses her again, can it?

“Do I have to have something important to call you, Ming Shu?”

Ming Shu was stunned. That sentence sounded like Professor Shen was using her intoxication to whine to her.

“Don’t you miss me at all?”

Ming Shu was utterly confused by the question.

“Ming Shu.”

“Professor Shen, I’m listening. Please speak.”

“Wife.”

“…” Ming Shu was sure Professor Shen was drunk.

“I’ll ask Old Liu to pick you up, Professor Shen.”

“No need. I’m not drunk. I actually do have something to call you about.”

“What is it?”

“It’s about Jia Jia. A friend of mine said they saw Jia Jia at the place where we had our blind date. She’s going on blind dates and specifically looking for a university professor. The criteria are set according to me. She might not have completely moved on from her feelings for me. I might need to go see her, Ming Shu. Do you mind?”

Ming Shu understood. However, she didn’t understand why Professor Shen was telling her this. After all, her marriage with Professor Shen had no foundation in love, and she was in a subordinate position. Professor Shen didn’t need to report anything to her.

“I don’t mind,” Ming Shu said. “Professor Shen, go ahead. Jia Jia is young and headstrong; she’s prone to trouble. You should advise her a bit.”

“Okay.”

She hung up the phone. The half-drunk Shen Junlan was now mostly sober. Ming Shu cared even less about her than she had imagined.

The colleagues noticed that Professor Shen’s mood was off after returning from her call. At 2 PM, the banquet ended. Shen Junlan called for a designated driver. She personally went to catch the girl. Yu Le had been keeping an eye on Jia Jia, saying the girl was currently having dinner with a male professor at her shop, clearly trying to bait her.

When Shen Junlan arrived, before she could say a word, the young girl immediately ran up to her. Shen Junlan silently brought her back and handed her over to Aunt Zhang for discipline, not saying a single word to Jia Jia herself. Jia Jia cried in frustration.

Shen Junlan wasn’t in the mood to deal with it. Her mind was consumed by Ming Shu’s indifference.

After dinner, Shen Junlan wanted to go see Ming Shu. She had another drink, and the alcohol amplified her longing and desire. She wanted to see Ming Shu even more.

So, Old Liu was called in for overtime.

To see Ming Shu, Shen Junlan even found the slippers Ming Shu had worn from Jiang Lingyu’s house before. She packaged them in a bag, intending to deliver them herself.

Driver Old Liu couldn’t understand why Professor Shen would personally deliver a pair of slippers late at night. After much thought, he could only conclude that Professor Shen missed his wife and was using the slippers as an excuse to see her.

In the evening, Ming Shu and Lingyu went to the beach to watch the sunset and collect seashells. They went to the holiday beach with the most shells and brought many back. They carefully washed and disinfected them. They also bought tools to drill holes and make crafts together.

At 11:30 PM, the cake Ming Shu had ordered arrived. She went out to get the cake and saw a very familiar car parked by the roadside. Some of the streetlights were broken, and the light was dim. The car was parked in the shadows, but Ming Shu still recognized it as Professor Shen’s.

She walked closer. Old Liu opened the car door and stepped out, greeting her with a smile, “Ma’am.”

Ming Shu nodded in response. After hesitating for a few seconds, she pulled open the back car door and got in.

“Professor Shen, why did you come?” The car interior was very dim. Ming Shu felt a shiver of anxiety. Before she could sit firmly, she was fiercely yanked. A warm hand grasped the back of her neck. Ming Shu felt as though her fate’s throat had been seized.

Her lips parted slightly. A gasp was caught before it could escape, forcefully invaded. Professor Shen seemed angry, her breath carrying a hint of fury as she stirred inside Ming Shu’s mouth.

Ming Shu, scared, tried to push back, but she was held even more securely. Even her tongue was captured, heavily kissed, and then gently bitten.

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