Better Than Summer: A Marriage Before Love Romance - Chapter 16

Leaving the mall, Xi Chengnan drove to a specialty liquor and tobacco store. He took Shen Tingxia to buy Moutai liquor and Zhonghua cigarettes, then went to a tea shop to purchase white tea.

After what had just happened, he didn’t let Shen Tingxia pay. He proactively pulled out his phone for the shopkeeper to scan the payment code. Shen Tingxia didn’t show the slightest intention of fighting him for the bill; she was probably genuinely feeling the pinch.

On the way back, Shen Tingxia sat in the passenger seat and asked him, “How much did all that stuff cost?”

Xi Chengnan said casually, “Less than 7,000.”

“7,000!” Shen Tingxia was dumbfounded. “Getting married is this expensive? Just buying things for one visit to meet the parents costs this much! And this is just going to my place. Over ten thousand yuan – what else could we have done with that money? Think how many condoms that could buy!” Shen Tingxia shuddered and let out a hiss. “I’m not getting married anymore.”

After saying this, Shen Tingxia lowered her head to fiddle with her phone and transferred the money to Xi Chengnan.

She genuinely had no concept of these things. Everything she knew about the trivialities of marriage came from the internet. Among her close friends and colleagues, only Fang Jing was married, but Fang Jing’s husband was wealthy – completely different from their salaried class.

Her last sentence earned her a scoff of ridicule from Xi Chengnan: “How many times were you planning on getting married?”

Shen Tingxia pursed her lips and reminded him, “Accept the transfer later.”

When they reached the underground garage, they didn’t take the purchases down. They were quite heavy, so they just left them in the trunk.

As Xi Chengnan used his fingerprint to unlock the door, Shen Tingxia suddenly thought of something. “Help me register my fingerprint,” she said. “I still haven’t memorized your door code.”

“001129,” Xi Chengnan rattled off immediately. “Xi Sibe’s birthday.” (Xi Sibe is his sister)

Shen Tingxia had a sudden realization. “Oh, it’s your sister’s birthday!”

The door opened. After changing their shoes in the entryway, they didn’t go further inside. Xi Chengnan fiddled with the digital lock, quickly bringing up the fingerprint registration function, and told Shen Tingxia to place her thumb on the sensor.

Within a couple of minutes, the fingerprint was registered. Xi Chengnan asked, “Do you want to change the code?”

“No need, I remember it now. 001129.”

They didn’t linger in the entryway. After closing the door, Xi Chengnan took off his coat and headed towards the kitchen. He washed his hands and opened the refrigerator door. “Have you eaten?”

Shen Tingxia had, of course, eaten. In fact, what she’d eaten wasn’t food, but gold.

But looking at this considerate man, Shen Tingxia easily stirred up some mischief. She always wanted to tease out his other side.

She tiptoed lightly into the kitchen to Xi Chengnan’s side. Placing her hands on the refrigerator, she leaned her body against it, tilting her head back to look up at him with big, blinking eyes. Instead of answering, she countered flirtatiously, “Dr. Xi, haven’t you eaten?”

Xi Chengnan saw right through Shen Tingxia’s intention, but he remained unmoved. The refrigerator’s cool air was still wafting out.
He said with a normal expression, “I haven’t.”

Shen Tingxia laughed softly, deliberately slowing her speech. “Then, Dr. Xi,” she whispered, “would you like an… appetizer first?”

If it were later, after his shower, he might have just picked her up and carried her straight to the bedroom. He knew exactly what to do then.

But right now, he’d just come back from the hospital, hadn’t showered, and was covered in germs. There was no way he’d do anything involving skin-to-skin contact.

Xi Chengnan took an egg and two green vegetables from the refrigerator, then deliberately closed the door while looking Shen Tingxia straight in the eyes. He said with sincere politeness, “I’ll have to politely decline for now.”

Shen Tingxia’s smile instantly vanished. She dropped her arms and stood up straight, clearly enunciating his name: “Xi! Chengnan!”

He had actually rejected her! This was a first!

The smile that had been on Shen Tingxia’s lips now curved on Xi Chengnan’s face. Hearing her slightly angry call, he responded with a humored “Hmm?”

“Fine! If you don’t want to, we won’t!” Shen Tingxia flung the words at him, pouted, and stormed out of the kitchen.

Xi Chengnan chuckled quietly to himself. He took out some dried noodles and started cooking for himself. He really was hungry after a ten-plus hour surgery. If she hadn’t dragged him to the supermarket, he would have eaten long ago.

Shen Tingxia sat sulking on the sofa, hugging a cushion to her chest. She pulled out her phone but before she could open WeChat, she sneezed twice.

She’d taken medicine in the morning and felt fine during the day. Why did she feel a bit congested again tonight? Shen Tingxia grabbed a tissue from the table behind her, lifted her hand, and rubbed her nose.

While waiting for the water to boil, Xi Chengnan searched the cupboard for cold medicine. He dissolved some granules in hot water, blew on it to cool it slightly, and carried the cup over to her. “Running a fever?”

Shen Tingxia shook her head. Looking at the dark brown liquid, she grimaced and asked, “999 Cold Remedy?”

“Yeah.”
“Don’t you have any other cold medicine? This stuff tastes awful.” For Shen Tingxia, its flavor could pierce right through her skull.
“Good medicine tastes bitter.”

Shen Tingxia braced herself mentally and reached out to take the cup from his long fingers. It was hot; she couldn’t drink it yet. She cradled it in her hands to warm them.

Xi Chengnan went back to the kitchen to cook his noodles.

The warm room was filled with the sounds of kitchen utensils clinking. It was quite harmonious, until her phone rang abruptly.

Shen Tingxia glanced at the screen. It was Kevin.
She looked at the name on the screen with distaste. “Calling so late? And on a weekend? Can’t whatever it is wait until Monday? Calling now… is he insane?”

After venting, Shen Tingxia still swiped to answer the call, her tone polite. “Hello, Kevin.”
“…Yes, Leo and I are working on it together… Yes, we dropped the EndHor part. He’s responsible for Fleur, I’m handling TraskTrk… But that way, each of us only gets a partial view… Uh-huh… Yes… Okay, got it.”

Listening to Shen Tingxia finish the conversation with a nasal tone, Xi Chengnan smiled faintly. She seemed quite resentful towards her boss, yet could only respond with “uh-huh” and “okay.” But for office workers like her with weekends off, being disturbed on a Saturday was definitely annoying. Unlike them [doctors] – a single call, and you had to go, regardless of what you were doing or whether you wanted to.

After hanging up, Shen Tingxia tossed her phone casually onto the sofa and rolled her eyes. Today was unlucky. First the jerk at the mall, now forced overtime. She looked down at the full cup of cold medicine and, in a fit of pique, picked it up and downed it in one go. The moment it went down, her body shuddered violently; it felt like her meridians had been forcibly cleared. As she swallowed the last mouthful, her face contorted in disgust.

Although unwilling, this work didn’t just involve her. She could drag her feet as long as she didn’t delay things, but Lin Muning shouldn’t have to wait for her. Shen Tingxia placed the empty glass tumbler back on the table, grabbed her phone again, and started syncing work updates with Lin Muning.

About three minutes later, Shen Tingxia caught a faint, pleasant smell of food. Her fingers paused over the keyboard. She glanced sideways at him. Xi Chengnan had already brought the bowl to the dining table.

Without a word, she stood up, cradled her phone, and walked towards the spare bedroom.

In the days right after her period ended, hormonal effects made her desire stronger. But Xi Chengnan had actually chosen eating over her! A missed opportunity wouldn’t come again.

Shen Tingxia secretly swore to herself: she wouldn’t sleep with Xi Chengnan for the next couple of days.

After syncing with Lin Muning in her room, she worked for a while too. Once immersed, she lost track of time.

By the time she finished work, it was already eleven. Shen Tingxia decided not to go home. They had discussed it last night – staying at his place. A few days early or late didn’t make a difference.

After removing her makeup, showering, and blow-drying her hair, Shen Tingxia wanted some water. She walked out of her room to get some and found Xi Chengnan still sitting at the table, though he had changed into casual loungewear and now had a laptop open in front of him.

Xi Chengnan silently glanced up at Shen Tingxia.

Shen Tingxia walked over, circling behind him. She caught a glimpse of his screen showing an open Word document. She reached past him for the clear glass tumbler she had used for the medicine. It hadn’t been washed, yet the glass was clean. No need to guess who had done it.

As she passed behind him again, now without her contact lenses, Shen Tingxia leaned down to look at his screen. He was writing a paper.

Since starting work, she rarely used Word; it was mostly PowerPoint and Excel.
“Deep Learning-Based Automatic Segmentation of Brain Glioma MRI Images and Molecular Subtype Prediction,” Shen Tingxia read the title aloud, stumbling slightly. She then tilted her head to look into Xi Chengnan’s bright eyes and gushed, “Dr. Xi is so amazing!”

Though she recognized every Chinese character and letter, strung together, she had no idea what they meant. This was truly what they called mountains separating different fields.
Moreover, as she spoke, she didn’t realize her warm breath was brushing against his neck and shoulder, making him itch. His body itched, his throat itched, his heart itched.

Xi Chengnan raised his hand to touch the side of his neck where her breath had touched. Suddenly recalling her intentions before dinner, he felt a tightening in his lower abdomen.
Their eyes were only about ten centimeters apart. Shen Tingxia might not have realized it, but this distance was dangerous. They stared at each other, neither looking away for a second.

Abruptly, Xi Chengnan swallowed. The corner of his right lip lifted slightly. He reached out, grabbed the water glass from the table, turned his head, and took a sip.

Shen Tingxia watched the Adam’s apple so close to her bob. Only then did she remember she had come out for water. She withdrew her gaze, straightened up, and turned to leave, glass in hand.

But as soon as she lifted her foot, Xi Chengnan seized her wrist. He used force, not giving her a chance to pull away, and smoothly turned her back towards him.

The next moment, Shen Tingxia heard the scrape of the chair against the floor. She saw him stand up, a roguish smile on his face. His tone was casual and lazy as he asked her, “Not sleeping so late? What are you doing out here?”

Shen Tingxia lifted her other arm, waving the empty glass. “Thirsty,” she answered obediently. “Came out for water.”

Xi Chengnan’s gaze stayed fixed on her eyes, unwavering. He raised the glass to his own lips, tilted his head back for a sip, then leaned down decisively. Gently gripping Shen Tingxia’s chin, his cool lips met her soft ones.

Shen Tingxia instinctively closed her eyes and parted her lips, letting Xi Chengnan pass the water to her.
She didn’t notice when he put the glass down. By the time she realized, Xi Chengnan’s large palm was already resting on the small of her back.

His hands were truly skilled; Shen Tingxia had experienced it many times, though she felt it had little to do with his surgical precision.

Within moments, Shen Tingxia’s body went soft.

But a thread of resolve was still taut in her mind. She had just sworn she wouldn’t sleep with him for a couple of days.

Yet before she could push him away, she was already in the air.

Xi Chengnan picked Shen Tingxia up, his palms supporting her bottom.
Despite all these movements, their kiss never broke.

Shen Tingxia wrapped her arms around his head, her fingers threading through his thick hair, as Xi Chengnan carried her towards the master bedroom.

Kissing passionately all the way, Shen Tingxia’s body had long melted into a puddle. The thread of resolve in her mind had been snapped by him long ago.

Shen Tingxia cursed herself inwardly for her lack of resolve. The self-inflicted slap in the face had come so quickly.

By the time she was lying back on the bed, the room’s main light was still glaringly bright.

However, during the progression of that act, Shen Tingxia insisted the main light had to be turned off. Only a dim, warm bedside lamp could remain.

Clearly, Xi Chengnan knew Shen Tingxia’s habit well. He deftly switched off the main light and turned on the bedside lamp he had specifically bought for her.
Immediately after, his hand reached for the nightstand drawer.