Four Years Ago, Her Husband Cheated on Her Body - Chapter 41

Although Zhu Nanyu had thoroughly researched how to build a snow hut in order to play in the snow with his “dainty wife,” he was, after all, only full of theory.

City A was located in the North Temperate Zone and had a semi-humid continental climate. It had only been winter for a few days, and even though it had snowed, the temperature was still not low enough. Even if a snow hut were forced into shape, it would collapse as soon as day broke.

Jia Qiao wore a thick scarf that covered his ears and the lower half of his face, holding a cup of creamy hot milk tea in his hands. He watched Zhu Nanyu huffing and puffing, working away for half a day only to achieve nothing. The rare sight of him being rebuffed made Jia Qiao unable to stop his eyes from crinkling into a smile. In his heart, there was absolutely no sympathy for his “sickly” husband, only mockery for the “Poseur King’s” failure.

Go ahead and keep pretending!

“Ha,” Jia Qiao squatted beside him and poked the shapeless snow. “So there are things even you can’t do.”

“Of course, I’m not a god.” Zhu Nanyu squatted down with him in dejection, leaning against Jia Qiao’s shoulder. His voice grew noticeably lower. “I just didn’t expect that building a snow hut would be so difficult.”

Before this, the things Zhu Nanyu “couldn’t do” were of extremely high difficulty, such as invading the universe, world peace, and… killing a certain Big Boss of an infinite world. Could it be that his abilities had regressed after retirement, to the point where even a snow hut was outside his comfort zone?

Jia Qiao heard the disappointment in his voice. He sounded quite pitiful.

“It’s fine if we don’t build it,” Jia Qiao handed the hot milk tea to his lips. “It’s not like I absolutely have to see it.”

Zhu Nanyu didn’t like sweets. He knew that Jia Qiao always ordered his milk tea with full sugar. Staring down at the straw his wife had used for a moment, Zhu Nanyu opened his mouth and took two large gulps.

“Hey, you’re almost finishing it!” Jia Qiao complained quietly.

They lived in a remote area, making it inconvenient to buy milk tea. This cup was obtained by asking the driver to drive half an hour to the nearest shop and bringing it back in an insulated box; now, half of it had been finished in two gulps. If Zhu Nanyu had said he wanted some earlier, they would have asked the driver to bring three cups.

At the same time, Lu Min, who was playing with Qiao on the other side, sneezed violently. Why did he suddenly feel a surge of resentment? Was it a delusion? Lu Min shook his head and held his own large cup of milk tea, enjoying it contentedly. A cup of hot milk tea in winter was the best!

Zhu Nanyu held his wife, coaxed him with a few words, and started fussing with the snow again. The morning temperature was beginning to rise, and the surface snow showed signs of melting; it was obvious that building a snow hut was no longer possible.

“I already said, it’s fine without the snow hut.” Jia Qiao felt it was inexplicable, unable to understand why Zhu Nanyu was so persistent.

Zhu Nanyu kept his eyes downcast, his expression hidden as his voice merged into the air. “I know.”

—But you were looking forward to it just now.

If he hadn’t brought up the snow hut, Jia Qiao wouldn’t have had expectations, let alone felt disappointed because of them, even if it was just a little bit. To personally stir up Jia Qiao’s expectations and then let his hopes fall… Zhu Nanyu had already experienced that once.

“…” Jia Qiao was clearly not good at deciphering other people’s thoughts, especially someone as difficult to understand and deal with as Zhu Nanyu. At this moment, sensing the other’s sudden silence, Jia Qiao vaguely felt that he must have gotten stuck in some dead end again.

“What are you thinking about?” Jia Qiao followed him, tilting his face up. His eyes were even more beautiful than the early winter snow. “Don’t always make me ask.”

It was the same before—clearly wanting to explain, yet forcing Jia Qiao to speak first. Probably because he had done so many bad things in his life, he ended up meeting such a troublesome person.

Zhu Nanyu looked into his eyes and let out a faint sigh, confessing in a low voice, “I made you look forward to it for nothing. I’m sorry.”

“Hmm?” Jia Qiao tilted his head and asked in confusion, “Why are you apologizing?”

“Because…”

Before he could finish, Jia Qiao asked a soul-searching question: “Will I never be able to see it in my lifetime?”

Zhu Nanyu froze for a few seconds before shaking his head in denial. “No. Areas further north can have snow huts, as well as ice huts and ice sculpture exhibitions.”

“So, I still have a chance to see it.” A cold wind blew past, and Jia Qiao tucked his face into his scarf, revealing a bright red nose, though his eyes were still smiling. “This is what they call ‘delayed gratification,’ right?”

Realizing what Zhu Nanyu was feeling down about, Jia Qiao only found it funny. A man as smart as Zhu Nanyu could not only fail but also have moments of being foolish. The birthday was one instance, and the snow hut was another. It wasn’t as if Jia Qiao’s expectations would vanish just because they weren’t met today.

In the future, when Jia Qiao eventually saw a snow hut, not only would his expectations be met, but he would also remember this first snow, himself and Zhu Nanyu…

Zhu Nanyu was dazzled by that smile. He leaned in uncontrollably, reaching out to hook the edge of the scarf and pull it down a bit. Then he lowered his head and kissed Jia Qiao’s cold lips.

The kiss was very light, like a snowflake brushing past, quickly melting between the lips. Zhu Nanyu pulled away quickly and considerately pulled the scarf back up for Jia Qiao, his expression looking very much like a predator that had just enjoyed its prey.

“So sweet.”

“Shut up.” Jia Qiao’s eyelashes fluttered a few times as he avoided the other’s gaze. “You’re so noisy.”

Zhu Nanyu clearly hadn’t said much, but Jia Qiao just felt he was clamorous and didn’t want to see that face for the time being. He didn’t know what the sound was—thump-thump, thump-thump—it was noisily dying.

Jia Qiao buried his face a few inches deeper into his scarf and secretly licked his own lips. Zhu Nanyu had just drunk his milk tea; it really was very sweet.

How strange. His first kiss had been snatched away by Zhu Nanyu when he was eighteen, about a week after they started dating. At that time, Jia Qiao viewed the relationship as nothing more than a “transaction of sex and power.” After agreeing to be Zhu Nanyu’s boyfriend, he thought he would be taken to a hotel room the next second.

Instead, Zhu Nanyu followed the rules, taking things step by step. He honestly went on dates with Jia Qiao for a week, even asking for permission just to hold hands. It was actually Jia Qiao, who should have been passive, who became impatient and demanded to know when they would move to the next step.

And then he was kissed.

The damn man seemed to have exerted all his effort, wanting to give Jia Qiao an unforgettable first kiss, circling him in his arms to plunder the sweetness and oxygen from his mouth. When the kiss ended, Jia Qiao felt his mouth was a bit sore, probably swollen from the suction. It was just… a little sore. There were no other feelings.

Unlike now, despite being in the wintry snow, Jia Qiao felt his cheeks burning uncontrollably. He puzzled over it for a long while before realizing that the thump-thump noise was actually his own heartbeat.

So, kissing a lover… feels like this?

Having had enough of the first snow, Jia Qiao returned to the room and kept avoiding Zhu Nanyu. Because every time he saw the man’s eyes, Jia Qiao couldn’t help but think of that cool, sweet-tasting kiss.

He hadn’t gone to university for nothing; Jia Qiao knew that this kind of emotion was generally called “throbbing” or “shyness.” But Jia Qiao found it hard to understand why, after being married to Zhu Nanyu for so long and having done everything they should, he was only starting to feel shy now.

What he found even harder to understand was—

“Dainty.”

Pushing open the bedroom door, he saw Zhu Nanyu lying on his bed, wearing only a bathrobe with the collar half-open, revealing a large expanse of chest muscles.

“Are you going to sleep?” Zhu Nanyu propped up his handsome face, looking like a seductive concubine prepared to tempt the emperor into skipping the morning court.

A person can’t even empathize with their self from ten hours ago. Jia Qiao found it even harder to understand why he had invited Zhu Nanyu to sleep in the master bedroom this morning.

As things stood, thinking of the cold, lonely night and the sound of dogs barking from the room next door at six in the morning, Jia Qiao really had no backup plan. He tried to control his expression, walking to the bedside with a cold face and looking down at the “seductive concubine.”

Seeing his wife personally walking toward him, Zhu Nanyu’s smile deepened. He reached behind Jia Qiao to untie the ribbon binding his hair, smoothly wrapping an arm around the slender waist to draw him closer.

Holding the person firmly in his arms, Zhu Nanyu leaned into his ear and asked in a low, airy voice, “Why were you avoiding me today?”

Jia Qiao had a pure nature; he couldn’t bring himself to lie and say he wasn’t avoiding him when he was. Being held half-willingly in the other’s arms, Jia Qiao remained silent for a few seconds before Zhu Nanyu gently pinched his cheek with a fingertip.

“You’re blushing.” Zhu Nanyu’s voice was extremely gentle, his doting almost tangible. “Are you really this shy?”

“…Yes.” Jia Qiao, having been caught, gave a small nod.

Zhu Nanyu held him a bit tighter, unclear if he was teasing or lamenting. “Finally… you’ve seen the light.”

“Seen what light?” Jia Qiao asked blankly.

Zhu Nanyu didn’t answer directly. He lowered his head to press a kiss on the loose long hair near the neck and whispered in Jia Qiao’s ear, “Then, are you still sleeping with me tonight?”

The warm breath brushed against his earlobe, and Jia Qiao nodded again. “It’s too cold.”

He didn’t want to sleep alone. How terrible.

Zhu Nanyu had originally intended to flirt with Jia Qiao, ideally flirting until he became incoherent and too shy to speak a full sentence. But Jia Qiao was too frank. Even though the tips of his ears were red, he still didn’t avoid or conceal it; the “straight ball” came unexpectedly. Facing him, Zhu Nanyu never had a chance of winning, and was instead nearly driven to lose control by the flirting.

“Alright, I’ll go take a shower first.”

“Eh?” Jia Qiao looked him up and down.

This man—how did he dare climb into his bed before showering? Wait, why was he wearing a bathrobe if he hadn’t showered!

“We haven’t been in touch for a while. Have you been doing well lately?”

“…”

“Can you really take good care of yourself? If it’s convenient, I’ll go to your house this afternoon.”

“…”

“You’re actually going out this afternoon? Where? With whom?”

“…”

“No! How can you go to such a dangerous place!”

Inside a certain private hospital, Zhou Chuanbai—the doctor with the top professional skills in the entire hospital, who was a “billboard-level” physician sought after by many patients despite high fees—was pacing while on the phone.

The nurses passing by eavesdropped on the conversation and secretly thought, Dr. Zhou, you have your ‘simp’ moments too, while simultaneously messaging their friends to come watch the drama.

Before Zhou Chuanbai could finish speaking, the other side seemed to have something urgent and hung up.

“Sigh—!” Zhou Chuanbai let out a long sigh and circled the hospital corridor anxiously.

“Dr. Zhou,” the head nurse stopped him and asked with concern, “Are you alright? Is it…”

The head nurse didn’t finish the question, but the younger nurses looked at each other with only one thought in their minds: Heartbreak, definitely heartbreak!

“It’s nothing.” Dr. Zhou rubbed his brow irritably, still worrying about Jia Qiao.

As the saying goes, “it’s not cold when it snows, but it’s cold when the snow melts.” The temperature had dropped sharply in the last few days. Based on Zhou Chuanbai’s years of experience, Jia Qiao would always fall ill either before or after the first snow. If not treated in time, this illness could even drag on through the whole winter. Jia Qiao’s constitution was inherently weak; he couldn’t afford the toll.

Seeing that Jia Qiao hadn’t contacted him for a long time, Zhou Chuanbai thought he had scared him by being too harsh last time. Worried that the illness might worsen because of it, and feeling he truly couldn’t face the late Zhu Nanyu in heaven, he took the initiative to contact Jia Qiao to ask about his health.

To his surprise, the voice on the phone sounded very normal—excessively normal. Zhou Chuanbai checked the recent weather forecast and believed this was a sign of a “terminal lucidity,” insisting on going to Jia Qiao’s house for treatment; even if there was no illness, he wanted to take preventative measures.

The result? Jia Qiao refused and said he was going to school in the afternoon.

School? Did he mean that high-risk place for the flu, where a large number of “virus hosts” gathered, transmission was fast, and one person’s infection meant the whole class went down? Jia Qiao was so fragile; how could he go to such a dangerous place!

Of course, Zhou Chuanbai didn’t allow it, but Jia Qiao hung up with a single “class is starting.”

Zhou Chuanbai gripped his phone angrily and whispered, “No, I must see him!”

“Dr. Zhou, you…” You don’t look like you’re ‘nothing’ at all. If the other person isn’t interested, there’s no need to be persistent, right? A simp ends up with nothing in the end!

Meanwhile, Jia Qiao, who was already sitting in the classroom, didn’t know he had gained a “wild simp.”

Receiving Dr. Zhou’s call made him realize that in previous years, he would have been bedridden and unconscious by this time. This year, not only did he not have a cold, but when he crawled out of Zhu Nanyu’s arms this morning and looked in the mirror, his complexion was exceptionally rosy, appearing unusually healthy.

“Jia Qiao, you’re here so early~!”

After attending several classes together, the students had adapted to this beautiful auditing student and would even tacitly leave the seat Jia Qiao usually occupied vacant. Once they got a bit more familiar, they found that Jia Qiao wasn’t as hard to approach as he looked; he was even a “straight shooter” who answered every question.

“Yeah, there was no traffic today.” Jia Qiao placed several large bags on the table next to him. “I brought some milk tea from outside the campus for you all.”

“Brother Jia!!!”

“You are my god! It’s winter and I really didn’t want to leave campus~”

“Thanks for the food, big boss! I’ll definitely send my resume to Qianhe after graduation! Please be sure to hire me!”

“Hey, hey, hey! Eating and taking and then wanting Brother Jia to assign you a job? That’s a bit shameless!”

The students laughed and chatted as they finished the milk tea. The class monitor walked to Jia Qiao’s desk and handed over a few thin sheets of paper.

“Jia Qiao, our class is signing up for an exam. Do you want to participate?”

“Do I have to take exams too?” Jia Qiao was a bit nervous. When the Qianhe executives stuffed him into A University, they clearly said that auditing students didn’t need to take exams and had no risk of failing. If he still had to take exams, what was the difference between him and a regular university student?

The monitor saw a hint of “weariness with life” on his face and quickly said, “It’s not a school-organized exam; it’s a professional skill certification exam, the kind that gives you a certificate!”

“Oh, that kind.” Jia Qiao had audited a few interviews and knew that when interviewing for certain positions, one needed to obtain corresponding level certificates.

“Right, right! In short, getting certificates is still quite important. This is the primary level exam, with a passing rate of around 50%. The professor said the current knowledge should be enough to pass. Do you want to join?” After the monitor finished speaking, he propped up his chin and muttered, “But the minimum threshold for Qianhe management recruitment is a senior certification, right? That one is quite hard to pass, with an annual passing rate of less than 2%.”

Jia Qiao: ??? [Suddenly feeling guilty.jpg]

“I’ll sign up.”

With the monitor’s guidance, Jia Qiao completed the registration step-by-step, and immediately after, he received a message.

Zoa: Classmate, do you need pre-exam tutoring?

“…” Jia Qiao looked up at the monitor’s figure as he quickly slipped away and couldn’t help but grit his teeth.

Calculated again!

Zoa: One hour of tutoring in exchange for one kiss. Think about it~