Fighting For My Wife With Myself After Being Reborn - Chapter 23

That night, back at the hotel, Shen Huaixu didn’t just provide Gu Yinghuai with a rose petal foot soak; she followed it up with a “matching couple” rose bath in the tub.

Delicate, vibrant rose petals were scattered everywhere. After a bout of pleasure, Gu Yinghuai leaned against the edge of the tub, her body feeling soft and limp. Soaking in the hot water helped soothe the fatigue following their passion.

The “culprit” sat behind her, her long, nimble fingers moving beneath the water to gently massage Gu Yinghuai’s slender waist, which had been twisting quite vigorously just moments ago.

Her waist was very thin, without a trace of excess fat. When Shen Huaixu placed her hands on it, she could almost wrap them all the way around.

Gu Yinghuai enjoyed Shen Huaixu’s service, occasionally tilting her head back to exchange a kiss with her.

As the water temperature in the bathtub gradually dropped, Shen Huaixu picked Gu Yinghuai up and tossed her onto the hotel bed. Gu Yinghuai reached out to push her away, but she didn’t budge.

“I haven’t even wiped the water off my body yet.”

“It doesn’t matter. Anyway, we put down a layer of disposable bedsheets.”

“Is that the issue?”

Gu Yinghuai was helpless. Shen Huaixu pretended not to understand, shamelessly refusing to get up. Her long limbs locked around the smaller Gu Yinghuai, confining her to the bed.

“No, really, you’ll catch a cold sleeping like this,” Gu Yinghuai tried to continue her resistance.

“I’ll help you warm up, don’t worry,” Shen Huaixu laughed, leaning in to kiss Gu Yinghuai’s lips. Her tongue traced the outline of Gu Yinghuai’s mouth, savoring her taste.

Taking advantage of Gu Yinghuai’s response to the kiss, she pulled her along into the next round of happiness.

The next day, the two of them slept until the sun was high in the sky before leisurely getting up to pack their luggage.

Shen Huaixu was still dressed in her “three-piece set”: a T-shirt, a baseball cap, and a mask. According to her, dressing this way was low-profile and made it harder for people to recognize her.

Gu Yinghuai looked at the person in front of her—who looked tall, upright, and possessed an excellent aura even in the most ordinary clothes—and thought she was simply deluding herself. With that height and temperament, she would be more eye-catching than anyone else even if she wore a burlap sack.

She shook her head and packed her folded dresses into the suitcase.

The trip to the airport went smoothly. Perhaps because a trip that is too smooth is considered imperfect, the heavens decided to grant them an opportunity for a “perfect” travel experience.

Shen Huaixu and Gu Yinghuai sat in the boarding hall waiting for their flight. The airport was a bit crowded, and Gu Yinghuai uncomfortably adjusted her mask to ensure her face wouldn’t be seen by those around them.

“What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?” Shen Huaixu noticed Gu Yinghuai’s unease and thought she might be in pain or discomfort.

Gu Yinghuai said nothing. She simply squeezed Shen Huaixu’s fingers and leaned her face against Shen Huaixu’s shoulder to rest.

Seeing that she didn’t want to talk, Shen Huaixu didn’t force her. She simply wrapped her arm around her shoulder to make her more comfortable.

The two enjoyed a rare moment of tenderness in the noisy hall.

At that moment, someone passed by and stood beside them, asking cautiously, “Is that… Huaixu?”

Shen Huaixu and Gu Yinghuai looked up at the same time. The person asking was a young-looking girl. Judging by her clear eyes and style of dress, she was likely a university student out traveling.

Are college students today really this free? Shen Huaixu grumbled inwardly. Thinking back to when she was in university, she and her Huai had to work part-time for ages just to save enough money for a trip.

When the girl met Shen Huaixu’s silver-gray eyes—the “anti-counterfeit” mark unique to her—she became incredibly excited.

“Can I take a photo with you?” The girl tried her best to keep her voice down, attempting not to cause extra trouble for Shen Huaixu.

Shen Huaixu sighed inwardly but agreed to the girl’s request for a photo.

To accommodate the girl’s height, Shen Huaixu took the photo using the girl’s phone.

Shen Huaixu extended her long arm like a selfie stick. The girl beside her looked tiny by comparison; the low-angle shot made her face look small and quite cute.

“Thank you so much! It looks great! I never realized I looked okay from this angle, hahaha!” The girl was very satisfied with the photo. She tucked her phone away and smiled. “I won’t bother you two anymore. Bye-bye~”

“Goodbye,” Shen Huaixu waved her off.

Having sent off one fan, Shen Huaixu thought the matter was over. However, before she could even sit back down next to Gu Yinghuai, several more fans spotted her.

“Oh my god, it’s Shen Huaixu!”

“Where? Where? Holy crap, I see her! She’s so tall, thin, and pale in person!”

“Ahhh! It’s Huaixu! I love you so much! Look at me, ahhh!”

“Wait, don’t push! Be careful not to crowd our Huaixu!”

The scene descended into chaos.

God, Jiang Rui is going to kill me, Shen Huaixu thought, clutching her forehead in pain. How on earth was she still recognized when she was wrapped up like this?

Seeing the situation spiral out of control, Shen Huaixu had to speak up to maintain order. She first took off her hat and turned to place it on Gu Yinghuai’s head, shielding her face.

“Thank you for your support. I’m very happy to meet you all,” Shen Huaixu said, soothing the fans’ emotions. “But please, everyone, stay calm. Don’t push, and let’s not cause trouble for the airport staff and other travelers, okay?”

After shouting several times, the excited fans finally calmed down. Shen Huaixu suppressed her impatience and cooperated with their requests for photos and signatures.

Throughout the entire process, Gu Yinghuai didn’t make a sound, sitting quietly in her chair. She was worried that if she appeared, it would make the already excited fans even more agitated—well, the negative kind of “agitated.”

It wasn’t until Shen Huaixu had finished dealing with the enthusiastic fans and walked back, looking visibly exhausted, that Gu Yinghuai stood by her side. Shen Huaixu told her it was time to check in for boarding.

Likely wanting to spend a little more time with Shen Huaixu, some fans hadn’t dispersed yet. They held up their phones to take photos or videos of her.

“Excuse us, we need to go to the gate. Please let us through,” Gu Yinghuai lowered her head, held close in Shen Huaixu’s embrace, their fingers tightly intertwined.

The fans saw their intimate movements. Someone gathered their courage and asked Shen Huaixu, “Is she your girlfriend, Huaixu?”

For a moment, everyone went silent, waiting for Shen Huaixu’s answer.

Shen Huaixu followed the voice to the person who asked—a girl with a round face and round eyes, who somehow looked a bit like the naive, cute Gu Yinghuai from their university days.

Thus, she “graciously” ignored the hint of hostility in the other person’s tone and answered the question.

“Yes. If you happened to take photos of her just now, could I ask you not to post them online?” Shen Huaixu placed her index finger in front of her mouth in a “shhh” gesture.

The fans were so captivated by their idol’s rare moment of acting cute and wheedling that they couldn’t possibly feel “jealous” or refuse. They all nodded in agreement.

“Okay, okay! We won’t post them!”

“Thank you. We’re leaving now. Be safe on your way home.”

“Mm-hmm, goodbye!”

Check-in, boarding. After escaping the fan ambush, Shen Huaixu let out a massive sigh of relief.

“Quite the celebrity, aren’t you?” Gu Yinghuai teased in a low voice.

Shen Huaixu made a pained face, begging for mercy. “Spare me. I feel like a monkey in a zoo being stared at by everyone.”

“Oh, come on. Those monkeys are far more sincere than you were.” Just because her face was covered by the hat didn’t mean she hadn’t seen Shen Huaixu forcing a fake smile and interacting with fans like a robot on an assembly line.

What a “bad” woman. Thinking this, Gu Yinghuai’s lips couldn’t help but curl upward. Her Xu’s adorable smile was something only she got to see. Gu Yinghuai thought to herself smugly.

Shen Huaixu shrugged, not refuting her, and followed her onto the plane.

Photos of the airport encounter were quickly posted to Weibo. The fans were “thoughtful” (or perhaps had their own motives) and cropped out Gu Yinghuai’s figure, leaving only Shen Huaixu.

Many people in the comments asked which airport it was, complaining about how they never had such luck.

The original poster laughed it off, bragging quite a bit before finally revealing the location.

Others asked if Shen Huaixu was traveling alone and why her manager and assistant weren’t with her.

The poster replied with a cryptic emoji, letting the netizens guess for themselves.

Some people also took this opportunity to post photos they had sneakily taken when they ran into the pair in Dali. In these photos, Gu Yinghuai’s face wasn’t visible—only her graceful silhouette or an obscured side profile.

Because of Gu Yinghuai’s presence, the comments on this post were noticeably less harmonious than the others.

Netizen A: Her back profile doesn’t look like much. I don’t know what SHX sees in her.

Netizen B: That height is such a tragedy. Standing next to our Xuxu, she’s practically a midget.

Netizen C: Gosh, such a beautiful silhouette and side profile and people are still complaining? If she actually found an ugly one, you guys wouldn’t be happy either.

Netizen D: They’re a talented and good-looking couple. Who are you monsters to object?

Netizen E: Stop overthinking. Your Xuxu is clearly head over heels. Fans, stop struggling. If you make the “sister-in-law” cry, Xuxu will be the one who has to coax her back XD.

The chaos on Weibo didn’t affect Shen Huaixu and Gu Yinghuai.

After returning from Dali, they went back to their routine work. Having taken a week off, a lot of things had piled up. They spent nearly a week working frantically just to get everything back on track.

Upon returning to the office, Gu Yinghuai was besieged by Chen Miao and Jian Yulan. One evening after work, the two of them dragged a “death-energy” radiating Gu Yinghuai into a quiet bar, intending to have a “proper chat.”

As for Shen Huaixu, the exposure of her relationship didn’t decrease her workload; on the contrary, several companies reached out with collaboration invitations.

For example, the romance reality show she had previously signed a two-episode contract with. The producer wanted to invite Shen Huaixu as a guest for another episode to capitalize on her current traffic.

Shen Huaixu refused immediately without a second thought.

However, Jiang Rui didn’t plan to let this “fat duck” fly away. She bypassed Shen Huaixu and agreed on her behalf.

When Shen Huaixu found out, her brow furrowed so deeply it could have crushed a mosquito. She said, “I don’t like filming those kinds of shows.”

Jiang Rui didn’t bother arguing. She silently forwarded the news of the commotion Shen Huaixu had caused at the airport a few days prior.

Shen Huaixu: “…” Fine, the “settling of accounts” has arrived.

Shen Huaixu: “This is the last time.”

Jiang Rui looked up at her. “You wouldn’t even get the chance for a next time if you wanted one.”

Shen Huaixu mumbled under her breath, “That would be wonderful.”

Jiang Rui raised an eyebrow. “Hmm?”

Shen Huaixu looked away. “Nothing. If there’s nothing else, I’m heading back.”

Jiang Rui waved her off dismissively. “Go on, go on. I’ll call you if anything comes up.”

Shen Huaixu took her car keys and left the company, briefly contemplating the possibility of turning off her phone forever.

Returning home, Shen Huaixu showered and changed into comfortable loungewear before opening her computer. She planned to export all the photos she had taken in Dali and save them in an album.

Hundreds of photos transferred to the computer one by one. Shen Huaixu got a bit bored waiting, so she pulled out her phone to go through the local album and see if there were any to delete.

She realized there was a problem as soon as she opened it.

There was a photo in the album she had never seen before.

A photo she had “personally” taken, but of which she had absolutely no memory.