Sweet Gardenia - Chapter 2

What could be more awkward in this world than running into your not-so-familiar husband after taking off your bra?

Taking off your bra and bumping into him while he’s showering.

Compared to his calm composure, Lu Zhi’s cheeks flushed instantly, as if flames were burning at the tips of her ears. She had never encountered such a situation before and stumbled backward incoherently: “Um, I came back early because of something… I’ll go change first.”

Then she fled swiftly.

The bathroom was hot, filled with steam, and even the air felt thin. Only after taking a few steps back did she finally catch her breath from the stifling atmosphere.

The flameless aromatherapy diffuser on the bedside table, meant to soothe the nerves, emitted a faint, sweet fragrance of gardenias.

This guy, really, if they were closer, she’d really want to ask him, why didn’t you turn on the lights while showering??

Lu Zhi ruffled her hair and glanced down at her chest, imagining what he must have just seen…

She wanted to curl up and disappear.

With a sigh, she sat herself inside the wardrobe. The scent unique to her brought a sense of comfort. On her phone was a message from Li Siyi: [Why did you stop mid-sentence?]

Lu Zhi fell silent for a moment.

[Because I opened the bathroom door and found him showering. Save me.]

[I wasn’t wearing a bra. And I was even swinging it in my hand.]

The other side showed “typing” for five minutes, who knows if Li Siyi had started typing, then spent four and a half minutes laughing.

Finally, the sound of the hairdryer in the bathroom started, and Li Siyi’s reply came through.

[It’s fine. Sooner or later, you’ll have to do that thing anyway. If he doesn’t see it now, he’ll see it later.]

Lu Zhi, completely unconsoled: “…”

She closed the wardrobe door to engage in some meditative self-isolation. The main issue was that her beautifully imagined first encounter had turned into a bathroom run-in. How should she bring up the next matter now?

A moment later, the hairdryer stopped, indicating that he had finished drying his hair and come out. She clearly heard footsteps approaching and stopping by the bed.

Fu Yanshang’s voice was deep: “Did she vanish?”

“I’m here..” She abruptly pulled open the wardrobe door. For some reason, the mere thought of his face made her nervous. Waving her hand as if announcing her presence, she said, “Right here.”

She was sitting on the small stool inside the wardrobe, still in the clothes she’d meant to change out of, which hung softly and limply. One of her legs was propped on the edge of the wardrobe, the fallen hem of her skirt revealing a smooth, delicate calf. Her hair was a messy tangle, like a little madwoman’s, and a hanger was perched on top of her head.

Probably realizing there was something on her head, she looked up and engaged in a back-and-forth tussle with the hanger, pushing it away only for it to bounce back and hit her head again.

Fu Yanshang: “…”

Taking advantage of her struggle with the hanger, the man turned around, put on the wristwatch resting on the bedside table, and asked with his back to her, “Have dinner together tonight?”

She guessed, “At Grandpa’s place?”

“Mm. He’s been clamoring to see you,” he pinched the bridge of his nose, “It’s giving me a headache.”

Understood. Lu Zhi thought to herself, he doesn’t like noise.

She asked, “At home or out? Will there be many people?”

“Not many. At home.”

The man was sparing with his words, so she didn’t press further.

Since it wasn’t a big event, a simple dress would suffice for a meal at home. She scanned the wardrobe and picked out a white one.

The gentle, soft chiffon fabric was perfect for playing the sweet, obedient role in front of the elders.

Although she had nothing in common with being well-behaved except for this face, the act of pretending to be obedient had been cultivated at home since childhood. She was very good at it, at least, she had never slipped up so far.

After changing her clothes, she tidied her hair a bit before grabbing her bag strap and turning to him: “Alright, let’s go.”

Soon, Fu Yanshang’s limited-edition Maybach smoothly drove out of Zhenyue Bay.

It was evening, the sky hovering between light and dark, with tangerine clouds dotting the horizon. Lu Zhi looked up and admired the view for a while. Just as she withdrew her gaze, she caught him flipping through documents out of the corner of her eye.

Over a dozen pages of documents rustled with the wind as they turned in his hands. The man wore earphones, and the person on the other end of the call was as quiet as she was.

He had a face that naturally exuded an aura of being difficult to mess with. Lu Zhi recalled the first time she had seen him at a high jewelry customization banquet.

Because her family didn’t want her to indulge in frivolous pursuits, and she wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about them either, she rarely attended such extravagant events. But that day was an exception. Her mother, Zhuang Yun, had asked her to pick out some jewelry she liked for the wedding.

At that time, her originally intended arranged marriage partner was still Fu Yanshang’s cousin, Fu Wang.

But for some unknown reason that day, Fu Wang was late, and the entire event was repeatedly postponed, as if waiting for someone.

She grew drowsy from waiting and complained to Li Siyi: Who’s so high and mighty that we have to wait this long for them?

After venting a dozen or so messages, she heard the noise level in the venue rise. Many people even stood up from their seats. Realizing that the person they were waiting for had probably arrived, she propped up her head and looked up. In the dim light, her eyes met his for a second. Guiltily, she flipped her phone over. She had just cursed him out quite a bit.

When she glanced over again, the man had already averted his gaze, a lazy smile playing on his lips. He seemed to be in a hurry, as if he had just finished a meeting. He nodded in greeting to the director seated in the center of the venue, occasionally exchanging a few pleasantries.

It was the debut exhibition of a new high-end collection. The guests were all either wealthy or noble, mixed in with countless young masters with tempers bigger than the sky. Yet, everyone had unanimously agreed to delay the event for him. He unbuttoned his suit jacket and took his seat at the main table.

Floating lights illuminated his fingertips as they lightly tapped the edge of the table, an exceptionally beautiful pair of hands. His features were even more striking: the shadow of his brow bone covering his upturned eyes, a perfectly sculpted high nose bridge, and a jawline that tapered sharply, half-hidden in the light. He carried an air of refined roguishness and a vindictive fierceness.

At that moment, she thought, This person’s aura is terrifying. Thank goodness I’m not marrying him. I’d rather run into a wall and die. Being with him would be like staying close to a tiger. What’s the difference between that and being a rabbit at the tiger’s mouth?

Who would have thought that later, between Fu Wang and him, she would still choose him.

The memory of their first meeting was still vivid in her mind. She rested her forehead in her hand and heard him speak emotionlessly into the phone: “If you write an acquisition contract like this, there’s no need to force yourself to come to work.”

“…”

He’s so harsh.

Listening to him mercilessly and pointedly dissect the problem, Lu Zhi silently shifted closer to the car door on her right.

The call lasted just over three minutes. When Fu Yanshang turned his head, he saw that his newlywed wife had already shifted five times toward the other side in that short span.

Lu Zhi couldn’t help but think back to earlier.  She had already seen him completely exposed like that. Would he hold a grudge? She really didn’t hold out hope for her arranged marriage partner to fall in love with her, but that didn’t mean she wanted to face an extremely discordant relationship at home every day…

“Lu Zhi,” he suddenly spoke up.

She felt the same sense of being caught off guard as when a teacher calls on a daydreaming student in class. Instantly, she straightened up and looked at him: “Huh? What’s wrong?”

“Before..”

She immediately cut in: “I didn’t see anything! You don’t have to worry! I only saw up to your waist, and then you wrapped the towel around yourself, so I didn’t see anything below that, not that I particularly wanted to see, anyway…”

Fu Yanshang fell silent for two seconds. “That’s not what I meant.”

“…”

“Oh,” she said. “What did you mean, then?”

“We haven’t seen much of each other in the past six months, but for the elders’ sake, I hope you can still cooperate,” he said. “It’ll save us a lot of trouble.”

Pretending to be affectionate, huh?

She had prepared for this long ago.

“No problem,” she cleared her throat, thinking of her game exhibition booth. “But if things go smoothly today, I have something to discuss with you too. Consider it an exchange?”

His bent knuckles rested on the acquisition document as he hummed in agreement.

As night fell, fragmented light from the streetlamps flickered into the car, and his shadow fell over her, elusive and hard to grasp.

It was only then that Lu Zhi realized his voice was quite pleasant.

She had never been particularly sensitive to such things before, but after recently hiring voice actors for the five male leads in her game, she had started paying more attention. His tone carried a standard sense of refinement, perhaps due to his study abroad experience in the U.S., lending his speech a leisurely composure. His pace was slow but carried a commanding presence, exuding control, and maybe even a hint of… sexiness?

As Li Siyi would put it, it was probably a voice well-suited for panting.

No, wrong train of thought.  It was all Li Siyi’s fault, always spouting nonsense.

Feeling guilty, Lu Zhi coughed lightly, straightened up, and turned to look out the window again.

About half an hour later, the car entered Lychee Lake, surrounded by mountains on three sides.

The Fu family ancestral home stood here, cradled by the millennia-old rare lake as if embraced by nature, a hidden paradise within the city. Along with their residence at Moonlit Bay, it was considered one of the best locations, blessed with favorable winds and waters, steeped in centuries of history since the Ming and Qing dynasties, and once the site of an ancient capital.

The ancestral home was divided into two sections. Beyond the towering Bodhi tree that seemed to reach for the heavens, one half served as the living quarters for the elderly patriarch, while the other housed various uncles and nephews.

She had visited once before, but the old man hadn’t been home then. She had only seen the rice paper and brushes in the study, along with numerous elegant blue-and-white porcelain pieces in the display cabinets.

She had imagined him to be a patient, scholarly elder, full of wisdom.

But soon, through the still-lowered car window, she heard a booming voice.

The old man, standing with his hands behind his back, roared with vigor, “If you’re not coming, then don’t fucking come!”

Lu Zhi: “…”

Fu Cheng: “What the hell has he been busy with all day? He hasn’t had a moment’s rest since he was twelve! Who’s forcing him? All he does is bury his nose in books and laptops!”

“I’ve practically worn myself out trying to hurry him along. I finally pressured him into getting married by threatening to die, and what does he do? Three months after getting the marriage certificate, he runs off abroad to oversee the market! Do I need him to do that?!”

Indeed, she had married Fu Yanshang to escape her family, while he had done so to placate his.

The butler, seemingly accustomed to such scenes, patiently soothed, “The young master is just dedicated to the company. No outsider could manage it as well as he does. It’s his responsibility.  Please don’t be angry.”

“Duty? His duty right now is to bond with his wife and build a strong family! Rongsheng is managed by the family trust,  even if he slept in bed all day, it wouldn’t collapse.”

“That may be true, but if I really stayed home and slept all day,” Fu Yanshang rolled down the car window, “you’d be the first to smash me to death in bed.”

…

The old man must have spotted his car earlier. With his hands clasped behind his back, he snorted, “Do you have to be so extreme? Either sleeping in bed or working 24/7 without a moment’s rest?”

“Working 24/7 would kill me,” Fu Yanshang said. “I haven’t reached the point of sacrificing my life for the company yet, so you can rest assured.”

“…”

Only when their conversation ended did Lu Zhi hurriedly open the car door and step out, circling around to stand before Fu Cheng.

Having just witnessed the old man’s outburst, she felt a bit apprehensive. Carefully, she greeted him, “Grandpa.”

The young woman wore a white knee-length dress, her complexion fresh and dewy, her hair tied up neatly with just a few stray strands framing her face. She looked utterly endearing.

Fu Cheng’s expression instantly softened, the corners of his mouth lifting unconsciously. Delighted, he exclaimed, “Oh, Xiao Zhi, you came too? I was so regretful I didn’t get to see you last time. Come, Grandpa specially prepared osmanthus cakes for you. Our Chef Chen is the best pastry chef in all of Suzhou. If there’s anything you don’t like, you must tell Grandpa, alright?”

A masterclass in face-changing, superb emotional control, seamless transitions, and flawless vocal shifts.

One moment, he was an erupting volcano; the next, he had switched to a spring cherry blossom limited edition skin, complete with petals drifting across the screen.

Her astonishment was beyond words. She could only glance at Fu Yanshang, who showed no surprise, giving her a look that said: This is normal.

Lost in Grandpa’s repeated calls of “Xiao Zhi,” she followed him across the stone steps into the courtyard. The scent of flowers filled the air, mingled with the faint aroma of ink drifting from the study. At the courtyard entrance, a bed of roses bloomed before a dark arched gate, resembling a delicate, reticent beauty’s fan.

By the time they entered, everyone was already seated at the dining table, both elders and younger generations. She hadn’t expected such a large gathering and greeted each person in turn.

In a wealthy, established family like this, relationships were always complex. She knew she wouldn’t figure it all out over one meal, so she didn’t bother trying, politely responding only to occasional inquiries. Grandpa never let the atmosphere grow cold, one moment glaring and grumbling at Fu Yanshang, the next warmly serving her dishes with a spring-like demeanor.

Amid the chatter, she tilted her head to observe and could tell that Grandpa truly loved him.

Before this, her impression of him had been like a thin sheet of paper, flat and full of assumptions. But being close to where he grew up, watching him effortlessly render the old man speechless throughout the meal as if it were routine, that thin sheet of paper seemed to gain a little dimension.

So he could be like this too, she thought.

–

By the time the meal ended, it was already eleven o’clock.

If she hadn’t yawned five times in a row, Grandpa would have taken her to see Fu Yanshang’s study.

When they returned to Zhenyue Bay, the night was deep and dark.

Lu Zhi took a shower first, reflecting on her performance at the family dinner. She felt she had done quite well.

Knowing her goldfish-like memory, she couldn’t wait and hurried out wrapped in a towel. Fu Yanshang was half-crouched in front of the bedside table, seemingly searching for something.

She spoke first, “By the way, didn’t I mention something to you earlier…”

The next second, something was pulled out. Fu Yanshang turned around, paused for a moment, and asked, “Did you buy this?”

She focused her gaze and saw clearly that what he held between his fingers was unmistakably a deep blue box of condoms, covered in all sorts of embarrassing 18+ labels.

…Wait, how did he manage to dig this out?!

She waved her hands dismissively, a rush of blood flooding her head as she prepared to explain that it was all a misunderstanding. But in the next moment, the man flipped the box over, glanced at it, and said calmly, “Though your intentions were good.”

“But,” he paused briefly before continuing, “do you realize you bought the small size?”