I Married an Athlete Who is 1.85 Meters Tall, and We Fell in Love After Getting Married - Chapter 3.2

“Marriage of convenience, you see, the most important thing is not to give your true feelings. As long as you don’t give your true feelings, you will never be hurt.”

Sang Xiao understood this. In a person’s life, how many true feelings are there to be misplaced?

She was like a diligent student, asking, “Sister Xu Jia, what about other things?”

Xu Jia raised an eyebrow: “Are you referring to the bedroom aspect?”

Sang Xiao blushed: “Mhm.”

Marriage transforms two strangers into the closest of people, and ‘close’ means the two can engage in any intimate act.

For a person like Sang Xiao, who is half-socially awkward, intimate contact with a stranger is a horror story. Just thinking about it made her feel awkward.

“That aspect depends on what you discussed initially. If you decided to do your own thing, then do your own thing. You can have physical contact when you are ready to have a child. However, since we are both women, having children doesn’t require going to bed; it just needs technology, so you can easily skip the ‘going to bed’ part. A pure-love warrior’s joy.”

Sang Xiao: “…”

“If you initially agreed to be a normal couple, the kind without deep feelings but who support each other, then that includes the regular bedroom life. Help each other out when you have needs, but you must establish rules with each other: no cheating, no actions that disrespect the other. Both parties should also provide physical examination reports, as health is a lifelong matter. Don’t sacrifice your health for the sake of trifling bedroom matters.”

Sang Xiao nodded, finding this very helpful. She raised her hand to ask: “Can you do intimate things like that without feelings?”

Xu Jia alluded meaningfully: “Of course. Good technique can compensate for the lack of feeling. When you do yourself by yourself, you aren’t in love with yourself, are you? Don’t you still enjoy it just the same?”

Sang Xiao: “…”

She didn’t! She didn’t “do herself.”

The expert was indeed very experienced.

Sang Xiao felt greatly enlightened.

Xu Jia must be the second type—mutually supportive with her wife and managing her marriage so well. This was also Sang Xiao’s ideal arranged marriage. With a goal to strive for, Sang Xiao felt the road ahead was bright.

But which type was she and Kuang Qingshang?

It seemed like neither.

She would have to ask Kuang Qingshang directly to be sure.

But they weren’t that close. Forget it.

Let nature take its course.

Anyway, Kuang Qingshang would be leaving again after a while, and she would be living alone again. Adhering to the principle of “if you can’t run away, just lie flat and slack off,” Sang Xiao left the bar with a face as red as a monkey’s bottom.

Xu Jia said to Bian Yan: “Actually, a simple person like Sang Xiao isn’t suitable for this kind of marriage; she’s more suited for a free-will relationship.”

Bian Yan rolled her eyes and criticized: “Why don’t you eat cake? Is there any suitable or unsuitable in this matter? It’s just that the family needs it. It’s all just a boring game for you rich people.”

Xu Jia took it as a compliment: “I like hearing that. Xiao Yan, stay and keep me company tonight.”

Bian Yan pushed her away: “Get lost. I hate the rich. I don’t want to get involved in your bizarre game of mutually cheating.”

Xu Jia burst out laughing: “Hahaha.”

The theories Xu Jia told Sang Xiao were all correct. Most people in arranged marriages chose that way, and either choice was justifiable. But Xu Jia was a synthesis of both, simultaneously doing her own thing and supporting her wife. They had some love, but not much—in short, they mutually cheated.

Sang Xiao went home and went to bed early, but she ended up having a nightmare. In the dream, everything was dark. When she struggled, she realized her hands and feet were bound with rope, and her eyes were covered with a black cloth. The instigator, Kuang Qingshang, was using her considerable size advantage to press down on her, like a stone… The Kuang Qingshang in the dream was indeed a pervert.

Spousal duty.

Fulfilling spousal duty.

The legal spousal duty even included bedroom life. These words cycled like a curse in Sang Xiao’s ears.

When Sang Xiao jolted awake from the nightmare, those words seemed to still resonate in her ears. She sat up and wiped a cold sweat.

She was constantly anxious and worried, but Kuang Qingshang could be so calm. This wasn’t fair. They were both women, both married; why did she have to be on edge while Kuang Qingshang could be completely unfazed?

In truth, Sang Xiao knew better than anyone that in the face of absolute disparity in strength, even the difference between male and female could be overlooked, let alone the disparity between them—a difference between a tall person and a small person, a thirty-centimeter distance, and a huge disparity in the strength of their two families.

Sang Xiao couldn’t sleep, so she got up and logged onto her podcast channel.

There was no video, only sound. It was what she used for chatting when she felt troubled. Sang Xiao hadn’t deliberately operated it, but because her voice was sweet and she occasionally sang in the live broadcast room, she already had tens of thousands of followers. For a while, her listeners even used her live stream as a sleep aid.

Is the streamer broadcasting so late?

I can’t believe I’m seeing a broadcast at midnight.

Woman! After all this time of being a no-show, you finally condescend to broadcast.

Sang Xiao replied to each one.

“I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t fall back asleep.”

“It’s been a while since I chatted with everyone.”

Did something happen?

Are the children at the kindergarten misbehaving?

The listeners all knew she was a kindergarten teacher. Sang Xiao took a sip of water and prepared to share her situation. Anyway, they were scattered all over and didn’t know each other.

“I recently got married, but I’m not used to it yet.”

??? My wife got married?

Wife got married, but the groom isn’t me.

And the bride isn’t me.

Not me either.

Not me +1.

Not me + ID number.

Sang Xiao: “…”

What was going on with these dramatic listeners?

“I don’t know how to explain it. It’s just that I married her, but I don’t know how to interact with her yet. I’ve been avoiding her, but I know I can’t hide forever.”

Is your wife your sworn enemy? I remember you even in ashes, haha.

+10086, LOL

Sang Xiao: “…”

Was that the point? No, it wasn’t.

You two didn’t marry for love?

Finally, a listener who grasped the point.

And it was one of Sang Xiao’s familiar listeners, the one with the difficult characters.

‘Difficult Character’ was the nickname the others gave this netizen because their ID was a long string of rare Chinese characters:

Just seeing it made people’s heads spin, making them wonder: Were there really so many characters they didn’t know? Were these actually characters? But it also made people remember the ID instantly.

Difficult Character was a regular in the live stream. Sang Xiao said, “No, our parents introduced us, and we got married directly. She’s also quite busy with work, so we hadn’t seen each other much before, but we’ll be seeing each other for a while now.”

An arranged marriage? Just treat it as a ‘widowed’ marriage. Go about your business.

If you want to manage it, manage it; if not, you don’t have to. Just symbolically attend family gatherings like you would a job. You can start to interact slowly when you plan to have children.

Yeah, yeah, what the person above said is right. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself.

The streamer really doesn’t need to overthink it. If you still feel uncomfortable, you can live separately for now. Marriage doesn’t necessarily mean living together, especially an arranged one.

Since you’re both women, procreation can happen directly at the hospital, haha, skipping the bedroom contact altogether.

Find your partner when you have a need, and toss them aside when you don’t. Treat them as a free piece of censored.

Sang Xiao thought to herself that she also wished she didn’t overthink it, but she couldn’t help it! She couldn’t help it!

When Kuang Qingshang was away competing and training, she was quite calm, but as soon as Kuang Qingshang returned, she felt like a student whose winter vacation was over but hadn’t finished their homework: anxious, tense, and uneasy.

This was only Kuang Qingshang’s first time returning. There would be many more returns in the rest of their lives.

At this moment, Difficult Character spoke again.

[You can talk to her openly and honestly. Since you aren’t familiar with each other yet, just treat it like you’re getting to know a friend. There’s no need to rush into the most intimate relationship right from the start. Perhaps she’s going through the same thing as you. You are uncomfortable, and she is uncomfortable, too. Judging by the tone you use when you mention her, your wife shouldn’t be a bad person. She is probably quite easy to talk to.]

Difficult Character was the most reliable.

Sang Xiao said, “Mhm, I will find a chance to talk to her, but Difficult Character, you guessed wrong this time. She doesn’t seem easy to talk to, and I don’t have a very good impression of her.”

Sang Xiao added, “She’s probably a bad guy.”

She hadn’t been so certain before, but after having that dream, Sang Xiao became emotionally overwhelmed and was now convinced that Kuang Qingshang was a bad person and possibly a pervert.

After Sang Xiao finished speaking, she stared at the computer screen, waiting for Difficult Character to give her more advice, but Difficult Character didn’t say anything more.