Chapter 14.1

There were still two days left of the Spring Festival break. Wen Yi was too lazy to go anywhere and began enjoying her short vacation. Who knew what surprises awaited her at work after the New Year?

Qin Nanshan did not go out either, but he was much busier than she was. Aside from breakfast, lunch, and dinner, he spent all his time in the secondary bedroom.

That evening, Wen Yi grew curious. As usual, she deliberately made a lot of noise. Qin Nanshan came out. Wen Yi was still a bit worried. “Does the new place have a separate study?”

“Yes.”

“Move the study to the living room.”

Qin Nanshan did not understand. Wen Yi explained, “Have you forgotten how Summer saved you? What if the baby is playing alone outside in the future and something dangerous happens? How would you notice?”

After a brief thought, Qin Nanshan nodded in agreement. “I’ll have someone rearrange it.” He then asked her, “How did you know about that incident?”

“Xi Xi told me.” Wen Yi was still curious. “When you’re doing math, do you really hear nothing at all?”

Qin Nanshan smiled. “I am not calculating problems every moment. Usually, there is also research and administrative work, reading papers, writing papers. Some formulas and papers are quite complex, so it is indeed hard to get distracted. That day was just an accident. Normally, there would not be any issues.”

“That won’t do. I cannot gamble with the baby’s life on ‘normally.'”

“All right. Move it to the living room.”

But over the next two days, Qin Nanshan somewhat regretted this decision.

Wen Yi’s activity range at home was limited to the living room and the master bedroom. The master bedroom was for sleeping; the living room was for eating snacks, watching TV dramas, working, playing with the dog, making phone calls…

That day, when he came out, Qin Nanshan saw the coffee table cluttered with potato chips, the hawthorn snacks from last time, and a half eaten bag of biscuits. Then there was the woman lounging comfortably on the sofa, talking on the phone with someone, and the TV playing some melodramatic romance drama that no one was watching. Qin Nanshan unconsciously clenched his fist, his breathing deepening.

He walked over, put the snacks into a basket, wiped the fine crumbs off the table with a tissue, and turned off the TV.

Wen Yi covered the phone receiver, looking innocent and confused. “What is wrong?”

Qin Nanshan’s lips curved into a faint smile, his voice clear and unruffled. “Nothing. Continue.”

“Oh.” Wen Yi suddenly remembered something. “What for dinner? I do not want to eat at home. Let’s go out for hotpot?”

After living together for a few days, she had finally figured it out—this man truly had no hobbies. His only daily activity was staying in the secondary bedroom working. If not for the need to feed one person and one dog, he could probably stay in there from morning till night.

Too boring! It was still the holidays! She had to get out today!

He naturally agreed. Wen Yi asked the person on the phone, “Hotpot—coming or not?”

She added, “Who else—Qin Nanshan.”

“Tch, if you’re not coming, fine. We’ll go by ourselves.”

After hanging up, she shouted toward the secondary bedroom, “Change clothes—we’re heading out!”

But the person who had been rushing to leave ended up dawdling. Qin Nanshan waited nearly half an hour for her, even managing to read a short paper in the meantime.

He could not remember the last time he had hotpot. It must have been an unavoidable department gathering. He did not particularly like eating out, and when living alone, he rarely had the chance. Now, watching Wen Yi queue up for a manicure spot right at the hotpot restaurant entrance left him astonished. He marveled at how competitive the hotpot industry had become.

Wen Yi wanted spicy, so she ordered a split pot—one spicy, one tomato. Qin Nanshan reminded her, “Just taste a little.”

“I know.” Wen Yi pouted. “After becoming a mom, I have no personal freedom. So pitiful.”

“Personal freedom refers to a citizen’s bodily freedom not being violated—no one is imprisoning you. This is at most dietary control.”

“……” Wen Yi jabbed the air with the chopsticks she had just unwrapped, warning fiercely, “Qin Nanshan, you—shut up!”

Qin Nanshan paid no mind and stood up. “Shall I mix your dipping sauce?”

“No, I’ll do it myself.”

Her taste leaned northern—she liked piling on heaps of sesame paste. Back at her seat, Wen Yi stirred in minced garlic and sesame oil, then sucked on the chopstick tip and sighed, “Delicious!”

Qin Nanshan, with his southern preferences, stared at her bowl overflowing with sesame paste, looking puzzled. She asked, “Want to try?”

“You eat.”

“It is really good. You need to bravely step out of your comfort zone and try new things. That is how you experience the beauty of nature and society.” Wen Yi eyed his right hand. “Why not use your left?”

Qin Nanshan looked up at her. “They are the same.”

“Not the same. We are eating together, right? No one else is here. Besides, one in ten people nowadays is left handed.”

Qin Nanshan thought for a moment and switched to his left. Wen Yi smiled in satisfaction.

The server brought dish after dish. The tomato and spicy pots bubbled away, aromas wafting up with the steam. Wen Yi’s appetite soared.

She dropped in a beef roll and counted down, “15, 14… 3, 2, 1—ding!”

She fished out a piece, swished it in her dipping sauce, then thoughtfully placed it in his bowl, looking expectant. “Try it.”

Unable to refuse such kindness, Qin Nanshan ate the beef roll thickly coated in sesame paste. After swallowing, he said slowly, “You eat. No need to give me any.”

Wen Yi saw no look of amazement on his face and did not push it. Everyone had their own tastes. Anyway, Qin Nanshan and she had few shared interests to begin with.

Still, eating hotpot with him was quite comfortable. In the past, at work dinners involving hotpot, she was always the one serving others—ordering what clients liked, constantly checking if their glasses were full, if they were enjoying the food, and proactively finding topics.

Now she did not have to do any of that. Qin Nanshan handled ordering and serving. As soon as her bowl emptied, another piece of meat appeared. The servers kept an eye on the water, and there was no need to find topics—Qin Nanshan did not like talking much; silence was the norm.

Wen Yi ate until she was seventy or eighty percent full and rubbed her belly. So comfortable—a hotpot meal without any socializing. She sincerely thanked him. “Thank you. You did not eat much, did you?”

Qin Nanshan put the last of the greens into the pot. “I ate. The flavor was decent.”

“Then let’s come again next time.”

As they spoke, the server approached. “Sir, madam, are you two a couple?”

Wen Yi answered, “Yes, why?”

Qin Nanshan glanced up at her briefly, then lowered his eyes and scooped the nearly cooked greens into her bowl.

The server said, “Today is Valentine’s Day. If you participate in our store’s activity, you can get a free rose.”

Valentine’s Day? Wen Yi checked her phone calendar—it was indeed February 14. She curved her lips into a smile. It had been years since she celebrated this holiday. “What activity?”

“Just take a photo here, add our store’s address to your Moments post, and get over 30 likes.”

Just 30 likes? That would take minutes.

But halfway through pulling out her phone, Wen Yi paused, a mischievous idea forming. “Qin Nanshan, you post it. It’s Valentine’s Day—you haven’t even given me flowers.”

“You want flowers?”

“Of course. What girl does not want flowers?”

Qin Nanshan nodded, snapped a photo of the hotpot, added no caption, just the address, and posted it. Wen Yi reached over. “Let me see.”

In just those few seconds, a comment appeared—from one of the groomsmen junior colleagues: [Wow, I see sister’s hand!]

Only then did Wen Yi look at the photo. Her slender, fair hand had indeed made it into the frame.

Wen Yi replied: [Good eye.]

Junior colleague: [??? Sister?]

[That’s right, it’s me.]

Wen Yi replied directly from Qin Nanshan’s account—visible to all their mutual friends. Comments and likes poured in, many from names unfamiliar to Wen Yi. Some directly wished him a happy marriage; even students chimed in: [Wishing Professor Qin and his wife a hundred years of harmony and an early noble child.]

Wen Yi’s smile grew wider as she read, replying “thank you” on his behalf.

There was also one from his sister Qin Xi: [Bro, why didn’t you invite me to hotpot with sister in law!!!]

Wen Yi: [Next time I’ll bring you. Anything you want to eat.]

The tone clearly was not Qin Nanshan’s. Qin Xi: [Sister in law is the best to me, mwah~]

Qin Nanshan saw her replying with such delight. “What are they all saying?”

“Your students are wishing us a hundred years of harmony and an early noble child.” Wen Yi seized the moment. “Being a teacher must be so fulfilling, right?”

Qin Nanshan considered as usual before answering carefully. “Teaching only accounts for about 10% of my workload przeczy. The department assigns me calculus, a public foundational course. It can be quite difficult for some liberal arts leaning students.”

“But fortunately, the students are not disruptive. There are many eager learners too. Seeing them master it and improve their grades does give a sense of achievement.”

Wen Yi sighed. “Professor Qin’s classes are probably too hard for the average person to understand.”

Qin Nanshan chuckled softly. “You can come listen next time.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

Wen Yi thought to herself that she could arrange it. She lowered her head to check her phone again. The likes had increased by another dozen or so. She scrolled through and immediately locked onto one name: Cheng Zhirou.

Zhirou.

Wen Yi’s eyes widened instantly. Her gossip loving fingers itched to tap on the name.

In the end, after hesitating for half a minute, she handed the phone back to him and raised an eyebrow. “Your ex girlfriend liked your post.”

They had not reached the stage of deep love yet, so Wen Yi had never really minded this person. She was more curious—curious about what kind of personality and appearance the girl Qin Nanshan liked had, curious about the regrets Zhong Lan mentioned, and why they broke up.

But she did not want to pry into others’ secrets. It was just an ex girlfriend. She had ex boyfriends too. If Qin Nanshan ever checked her phone one day, she would definitely argue with him for several rounds.

Wen Yi could understand those insecure girls, but she was no longer a girl. She knew her own boundaries. While upholding principles, she hoped to maintain a safe distance between them.

Wen Yi bit her chopsticks in thought. As for Qin Nanshan… though he had a face that attracted romantic interest, he exuded an aura that screamed he would never cheat. There was nothing to suspect.

Of course, it was also possible he simply had no feelings, so he did not care.

Wen Yi lamented—youth was like a little bird that flew away never to return. She had lost her girlish heart.

Qin Nanshan glanced at his phone, then looked up at the woman across from him, lost in thought. He found Cheng Zhirou’s WeChat, opened it, deleted the contact, and said calmly, “Deleted.”

Wen Yi could not believe it. “Why delete her?”

“We had not been in touch anyway. I kept her in case it made you unhappy.”

Wen Yi clicked her tongue inwardly twice. She appreciated Qin Nanshan’s decisive attitude. In her life, she hated people who stayed ambiguously connected with exes the most. If it was true love worth dying for, do not break up. If you do, wish each other well and do not cause trouble. Move on to the next, happier chapter.

Wen Yi pursed her lips. “Let me state this first—my ex boyfriend is a colleague. We still have some work communication, so I cannot delete his contact. But we are absolutely clean. If I ever cheat on you, I… if we divorce, the child goes to you.”

Qin Nanshan paused slightly, finding it both amusing and exasperating.

Afraid he would not believe her, Wen Yi added an explanation. “See, a woman giving up custody is proof of how serious this promise is.”

Qin Nanshan lowered his gaze, a low laugh escaping his throat. Through the misty steam from the hotpot, Wen Yi saw the subtle curve of his suppressed smile—serene and shallow. She sighed softly. So handsome.

No wonder back in high school, so many girls liked him despite knowing there was no chance. She would have to ask Zhao Ling in detail another day—how popular Qin Nanshan was in university.

But speak of the devil. As she was admiring the rose the server brought over, she glanced up and saw Wei Yuan approaching, hand in hand with a young girl.

Wen Yi simply did not want to greet him and used the flower to shield her face. But Wei Yuan recognized her and stopped right by their table. “Wen Yi?”

Wei Yuan turned to look at the man across from her, pausing slightly before gathering a smile. “And this is?”

Wen Yi was forced to introduce. “Mr. Wei, this is my husband.”

The word “husband” made both men look at her.

It was Wen Yi’s first time saying it aloud, so she felt a bit shy. She pressed her lips together and unconsciously avoided the gaze from across the table.

Qin Nanshan stood up to shake hands with Wei Yuan. “Hello, Mr. Wei.”

“Hello.”

The young girl beside Wei Yuan also wanted recognition and cooed sweetly, “Darling, who is it?”

Wei Yuan affectionately patted her head. “A colleague.” He did not introduce further and said to Wen Yi, “Wen Yi, see you at the company in a couple of days.”

Wen Yi sensed a hint of danger in Wei Yuan’s smile. Her intuition told her something was off, but she could not pinpoint what for the moment.

After they left, the couple had eaten about enough and asked for the bill.