Falling After Marriage - Chapter 64

Chapter 64: Taking You to the New House for Meat

Ever since Lin Jin underwent ankle surgery, Cheng Sangluo had become accustomed to carrying this precious woman wherever she went, regardless of the surrounding environment or the onlookers’ gazes.

Just like now, she carried the crazy woman “princess style” through the Senyao Building’s parking garage. Occasionally, company employees passed by, surprised by their boss’s demure dependence and curious about the tall, dark-skinned woman’s identity. The triple-take glances were unnerving.

Lin Jin wrapped her arms around Cheng Sangluo’s neck, not bothered by the strange looks. Her eyes were fixed on the little dog’s handsome profile, unwilling to move even slightly.

Staring so intently, her face couldn’t help but reveal pure joy. Her smile was content, and her tightening arms seemed to signal to others that the little dog belonged only to her.

Cheng Sangluo’s steps were as steady as ever, but she found the dual scrutiny from the outside world and the person in her arms unbearable, forcing her to grit her teeth and pretend to be unfazed.

When they reached the Maybach, she settled Lin Jin into the passenger seat, smoothly helped fasten her seatbelt, and then asked, “Where is the restaurant we’re going to?”

“Let me think.” Lin Jin mumbled, fiddling with her phone while urging, “Get in the car first.”

Cheng Sangluo quickly ran around the front of the car, her hasty steps quietly conveying her reluctance to make the crazy woman wait.

Once seated, she looked at the central control screen with confusion.

Lin Jin had already entered the navigation address and muttered, “Go here. I’m free today, so I’ll take you to check out your future new home.”

“New home?” Cheng Sangluo mused but didn’t ask further, starting the engine immediately.

Before she could step on the gas, the restless woman beside her suddenly unbuckled her seatbelt and used her uninjured foot to half-lunge onto her.

“Hey, hey, hey… what are you doing…” The little dog gasped in surprise, subconsciously reaching out to cradle the crazy woman’s waist to prevent her from bumping herself in the confined space.

Although her tone held a hint of annoyance, the posture of welcoming the embrace was honest, even harboring a subtle, detailed protection.

“What am I doing? Of course, I want to pre-marital trial love~” Lin Jin said something nonsensical, pulling at the little dog’s loose T-shirt collar and planting a kiss on her chin. “What should I do? I’m so dependent on you, or maybe it’s a late-stage symptom of physiological affection.”

The Maybach’s interior swayed with her movements, and a subtle fragrance permeated the air.

Those soft, red lips could always easily melt away all coldness. The person trying desperately to maintain composure painfully suppressed the surging heartbeat in her chest.

After a moment of silence, Cheng Sangluo raised her hand to cup Lin Jin’s back neck. Unsure how to respond to the meaningless kiss, she leaned back against the seat, allowing the uncomfortably positioned crazy woman to settle securely in her arms.

The little dog sighed helplessly: “Can you be serious? You’re the boss of a big corporation. Aren’t you afraid of employees seeing something they shouldn’t?”

“You just said I’m the boss. Since I’m the boss, why should I be afraid of employees?” Lin Jin placed both hands on the little dog’s shoulders, dismissing the concern. “I’d rather people see something erotic. Don’t you think doing it while being scared makes it more stimulating?”

“Your perverse sense of fun is truly indescribable!” Cheng Sangluo frowned and scolded softly, firmly pressing the crazy woman’s shoulders, using inertia to push her back upright into her seat. “Sit properly and stop moving around.”

However, the clingy woman clung to her arm and wouldn’t let go, saying cheekily, “Don’t separate. I want a hug~”

Lin Jin held tightly onto Cheng Sangluo’s neck, forcing her to lean closer, supporting herself against the car window. “I just wonder, twenty-four hours a day, you insist on being close to me when sleeping at night, and you still want to hug in broad daylight. Don’t you get sick of it?”

As soon as these words were spoken, the car’s ambiguous atmosphere instantly plunged into an ice cellar.

Lin Jin’s face fell, and she released her arms, indignantly pushing Cheng Sangluo away, asking in a low voice, “Is it because I’m always throwing myself at you, making you feel like I’m some cheap commodity, that you find me so repulsive?”

Cheng Sangluo vehemently denied it: “No! I didn’t mean that… I…”

She trailed off mid-sentence, likely trying to come up with a reasonable explanation. Realizing she couldn’t articulate a justifiable response immediately, she fell silent.

Lin Jin folded her arms and looked out the window, waiting in silence.

She was relatively patient, quietly waiting for the little dog to coax her, while secretly observing her expression through the reflection on the glass.

The verbally clumsy and slow person was anxious. At least in Lin Jin’s view, her features were nearly scrunched up, showing she was desperately trying to organize her thoughts.

Lin Jin simply rested her head against the car window, pouting her cheeks and mumbling, “I’m ignoring you for one minute.”

Cheng Sangluo’s initially worried expression eased slightly. She found it somewhat comical, thinking, Is this crazy woman childish? How old is she to play this boring game of ignoring you?

She stared at the time on the central control screen, actually waiting for the long minute to pass.

When the clock ticked over, she silently made a gesture of reconciliation, reaching out to buckle the passenger’s seatbelt. But before she could withdraw her arm, her hand was suddenly grabbed fiercely by the sulking woman, followed by a piercing pain.

Lin Jin vented her frustration by biting Cheng Sangluo’s hand, biting deep tooth marks until she couldn’t suppress the pent-up frustration in her heart any longer.

How could she not be angry? How many people coveted Lin Jin’s beauty, and how many people desperately wanted to be her slave?

What was the result? This stubborn person neither loved her beauty nor admired her power. Instead, she was constantly stubborn at a $360^circ$ angle at the slightest disagreement!

“Hiss—” Cheng Sangluo sucked in a cold breath, enduring the pain while joking, “If you give me tendonitis in my hand, you’ll be the one suffering.”

Hearing the words ‘tendonitis,’ Lin Jin quickly let go, not forgetting to use her shirt sleeve to wipe the saliva from the little dog’s hand.

She treated the little dog’s hand like a treasure, gently rubbing it sometimes, then harder at others, saying insincerely, “Hmph, I’ll let you off the hook for now.”

In that instant, Cheng Sangluo raised her eyebrows in disbelief. A word entirely unfitting for Lin Jin suddenly popped into her head: Cute.

Her heart skipped a beat, and she became flustered and helpless, secretly admonishing herself fiercely: The crazy woman can be hateful, but she cannot be cute. How can such a bizarre description exist!

This feeling was unprecedentedly dangerous.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Lin Jin was still rubbing the tooth marks she left, her eyes curved into sweet crescents. “If you want me to forgive you, say sorry.”

Cheng Sangluo covered the bridge of her nose with her free hand, mumbling, “I’m sorry.”

“Good dog.” Lin Jin patted the little dog’s head. “I forgive you~”

Cheng Sangluo drove the Maybach, following the navigation instructions toward the destination.

She was quite surprised. Lin Jin’s so-called new home was in the mountains, a distance from the city center.

As the heavy traffic of the city avenue gradually thinned into sparse cars, concrete high-rises were replaced by lush forests, and the noise and clamor were left behind in the outside world.

The Maybach slowed down on the winding mountain road.

Cheng Sangluo looked at the layers of green on the mountain, asking suspiciously, “You have a house here in the mountains?”

Lin Jin narrowed her eyes, dozing off slightly. Hearing the little dog’s curious question, she laughed softly: “The house at Linxi Terrace is just a place I occasionally stay. I like quiet places. I used to live in the mountains for a long time.”

“It’s great to be rich. You could live in the sky.” Cheng Sangluo sighed, then followed up on the topic: “Aren’t you afraid living alone in the mountains? What if there’s thunder and lightning? And what about your difficult brother? Aren’t you afraid he’ll send people to sneak attack you in the middle of the night?”

The little dog asked a series of questions, her tone light and playful. But Lin Jin didn’t answer her questions. Instead, she turned her head and quietly looked at the city view below the cliff.

In truth, the rainy seasons over the years weren’t hard to get through. Before the storm came, she would hide in the soundproof secret room, holding Cheng Sangluo’s military uniform to her chest. Then, the person constantly in her thoughts would visit her dreams and drive away all fear.

But Lin Jin couldn’t say such an answer out loud. She could only respond with silence.

Cheng Sangluo was already used to her questions being ignored. She just pouted and changed the subject: “You promised me barbecue. Don’t tell me you brought me to this remote mountain forest just to make me start hunting for it!”

“Don’t worry, I’ve arranged everything. I promise you’ll feast.” Lin Jin’s clear laughter guaranteed it. She then sighed, “You, you’re so easily satisfied. A meal of barbecue is nothing difficult.”

After a pause, she asked curiously, “Does the easily satisfied little dog have any dreams?”

“Dreams?” Cheng Sangluo tapped her fingers on the steering wheel, seemingly pondering the question. She suddenly thought of the small square of sky she saw in prison, pouting helplessly: “I used to think that after I retired, I would go back to school and retake the university entrance exam. I really wanted to walk around the university I admired. The sycamore tree path in the summer must be incredibly beautiful. At night, I would take a walk on the track. But that’s impossible to achieve now.”

Lin Jin hadn’t expected the conversation to drift to the topic of jail time. Her expression became wistful following Cheng Sangluo’s response. “Besides studying, do you have any other dreams?”

“Yes, when I was little, my dream was to open a small store in the village. That way, I’d have endless snacks to eat. If I got hungry, I’d cook instant noodles, and I could add two extra hot dogs for myself. In the summer, I’d have endless popsicles and ice cream.” Cheng Sangluo recalled her childhood dream, her eyes shining with innocent light, full of anticipation and fantasy.

She spoke so easily and freely, yet unconsciously reflecting the hardship of her childhood.

Little Cheng Sangluo never had pocket money. Everything was hand-me-downs from her brother. Her baggy T-shirts could only be worn as dresses.

In winter, she wore her brother’s cotton jacket with holes. Even though Zhouhai’s winter wasn’t too cold, when the cold wave came, the wind would blow into the large and small holes, causing cotton batting to fly everywhere.

Those scattered holes later became the thousands of holes in Cheng Sangluo’s heart.

The only constant throughout the seasons was her shoes. The mismatched shoes were worn as slippers by stepping on the heel, and they accompanied her for several years.

Lin Jin listened to Cheng Sangluo recalling her childhood. The bitterness brewed by the silence stained not just her tongue and throat, but also her restless spirit.

Even though the little dog was trying hard to cheer her up right now, she couldn’t pull herself away from that kind of pain.

Even though she had never personally experienced hunger and cold, those hardships seemed to be re-enacted in her world. Perhaps it was because of her deep affection, or because of her deep empathy, that she felt this way.

Lin Jin also knew that the little dog had suffered too much, which was why her dreams were so simple. So, she choked back the words in her tight throat, swallowing the notion of such easy satisfaction.

Cheng Sangluo felt the atmosphere was awkward and laughed loudly: “I’ll tell you something. I was scrawny as a child, like an underdeveloped daylily. Then, around fourteen or fifteen, I suddenly shot up in height, like a genetic mutation.”

Lin Jin pursed her lips and didn’t follow up on her comment. She was likely still processing that unimaginable past. Perhaps it was precisely because their childhoods were both tragic that such sadness could be easily empathized with and contagious.

“Don’t look like that. You’re not the one who suffered this hardship.” Cheng Sangluo stepped on the brake, reaching out her finger to touch Lin Jin’s lip corner: “Smile.”

“I can’t smile.” Lin Jin pouted, batting the little dog’s hand away, and continued to ask, “Have you ever thought about what kind of life you want to live after the revenge is over?”

This question truly stumped Cheng Sangluo, making her smile stiffen slightly.

Whether in prison or after her release, she had thought about many things.

Such as how to completely uproot Xu Songheng and Lin Sheng, how to seek Ji Nanxing’s help, and how to borrow Lin Jin’s influence while maintaining her dignity.

She was even mentally prepared to lose her life in this struggle, but she had never once considered the future after the storm.

How would that future be lived? It seemed that goodness was outside her imagination, leaving her mind blank.

Lin Jin saw the little dog’s hesitant expression and smiled: “It looks like you haven’t thought about it.”

Cheng Sangluo nodded blankly. “No.”

Go do what you want to do, travel where you want to go, live the life you’ve always dreamed of. I hope I can be by your side then.

Perhaps this was also the life Lin Jin longed for, but she held the words in her throat.

If it remains unspoken, it might be a wish that comes true. Speaking it might break the magic.

Cheng Sangluo could imagine that Lin Jin’s mountain villa would be large, but she hadn’t expected it to be absurdly large, making it impossible to estimate the size of the combined pool and courtyard.

The three-story house was hidden deep in the woods, radiating a mysterious, veiled feeling. The high walls added a reassuring sense of security.

Parking the Maybach in front of the reinforced, blast-proof gate, she quietly asked Lin Jin, “How do we get in?”

“Why are you speaking in such a small voice?” Lin Jin smiled at the little dog’s cautiousness, explaining, “The gate only opens with a palm print verification. I’ll have Sheng He record yours later so you can come and go easily.”

As they spoke, the villa gate slowly opened. Sheng He, who had been waiting in the courtyard, came into their view, revealing a corner of the villa’s front yard.

Cheng Sangluo quickly got out of the car, went around to the passenger side, picked up Lin Jin, and started walking into the yard.

“Boss, dinner is set up in the backyard. The chef and house staff are ready. We can start anytime,” Sheng He said, presenting a wheelchair and motioning that Cheng Sangluo could push Lin Jin. “Please lend a hand, Ms. Cheng.”

“Don’t worry, I got this.” Cheng Sangluo agreed, then pushed Lin Jin toward the back of the villa.

Walking through the tree-lined driveway, Cheng Sangluo constantly looked around, feeling uneasy. She wondered, Will I get lost walking in a place like this in the middle of the night?

Although she had witnessed the extravagance of the wealthy countless times due to accidental circumstances, this was her first time in a huge villa perched on a mountainside, making her feel restless. “How much money did it cost to build such a huge villa?”

“This entire mountain is mine. It indeed cost a lot when I bought it,” Lin Jin said lightly, likely not wanting the little dog to feel too much psychological pressure. She quickly added, “But peace of mind is better than anything. The security here is stricter than you imagine, so you don’t have to worry about Lin Sheng’s people coming to cause trouble in the middle of the night.”

“Is that so?” Cheng Sangluo was alert. The house was too big, making her worry about Lin Jin’s safety, so while admiring the scenery, she carefully assessed the security level. “But I don’t see anything different about the security here.”

“Since you’re so worried about my safety, then think more about how you can protect me, like being my personal guard $24/7$ or something~” Lin Jin seized the opportunity to tease the little dog about protecting her.

Cheng Sangluo scoffed: “Ugh, you said the security here is very strict. Do you really need my amateur martial arts skills?”

“You shouldn’t belittle yourself. You are a former special forces soldier, after all. Of course, I’ll cling to you and won’t let go.” Lin Jin praised her verbally, but in reality, she was just being dependent on the little dog.

The two chatted and laughed their way to the villa’s backyard.

The backyard featured an open view of the mountain landscape and a corresponding swimming pool. In addition, there was a temporarily set-up white awning.

The long table under the awning was filled with various ingredients and fruits, and three or four house staff were busy arranging the dishes.

Cheng Sangluo’s eyes widened when she saw that the barbecue chef was not one person but a team.

Her impression of barbecue was the all-you-can-eat buffet that cost a few dozen or a hundred yuan. At most, a splurge would be at a five-star hotel. Yet, the generous Lin Jin had organized a private outdoor BBQ.

The little dog rested her hands on the wheelchair, leaned over to Lin Jin’s ear, and mumbled, “Isn’t this too extravagant and wasteful? I just wanted a simple barbecue. There’s no need to hire so many people!”

Lin Jin knew she was used to being frugal, so she gave an excuse: “This way, I satisfy your desire for delicious food and my need for service. Isn’t that good? Besides, my legs are inconvenient. Going out to eat is quite a hassle. It’s much more reasonable to eat at home, right?”

“That sounds reasonable.” Cheng Sangluo nodded, cheering inwardly: Yay! Meat, I want meat, sizzling, oily meat!

Once they were seated.

Cheng Sangluo held her knife and fork, turning her head to watch the chef busy at the American-style grill, drooling.

Lin Jin held a bunch of grapes, eating them while enjoying the sight of the little dog’s craving. “Your eyes are practically falling into the grill. Are you that hungry?”

“You wouldn’t understand!” The little dog wrinkled her nose and turned to the crazy woman who was teasing her. “I’ve been eating steamed buns or rice balls every morning and night. How long has it been since I’ve had meat? You, who are used to all sorts of delicacies, wouldn’t understand!!!”

“You can eat whatever you want from now on.” Lin Jin’s smile was tinged with melancholy. She popped a grape into Cheng Sangluo’s mouth. “I won’t let you starve again. At least you can eat whatever you want. But if you’re not obedient, I will starve you and won’t even give you a steamed bun.”

“You really treat me like a dog!” Cheng Sangluo chewed the grape vigorously. It tasted sweet. “And you won’t even give me a steamed bun? Be careful you don’t starve the dog to death, or no one will guard your home.”

Wait, no, why did I refer to myself as a dog again?!

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