Better Than Summer: A Marriage Before Love Romance - Chapter 9

The living room was filled with moderate noise from the TV flashing multicolored lights. Shen Tingxia leaned against the back of the sofa, holding an open can of Arctic Ocean soda. Suddenly, the doorbell rang again.

Shen Tingxia clicked her tongue in annoyance. “What’s going on today?” she muttered.

Despite her irritation, she walked to the foyer, glanced through the peephole, and relaxed upon seeing who it was. She opened the door and headed straight back towards the living room.

Shen Tingchao entered, automatically changing into slippers in the entryway. He heard his sister ask impatiently, “What are you doing here so late?”
He lifted the jar of chili sauce in his hand. “Mom sent me to bring you this.”

Just discharged from the hospital, and she’s already making this stuff. As much as she loves eating it… Faced with the weight of her mother’s affection, Shen Tingxia shook her head helplessly.

After changing his shoes, Shen Tingchao walked in, placed the chili sauce on the kitchen island, went into the kitchen, grabbed a can of cola from the fridge, then walked over and sat down beside Shen Tingxia in the living room.

Shen Tingxia shot him a disdainful look. Suddenly, an idea struck her, and her expression instantly softened. She asked sweetly, “Do you know where our family’s household register booklet is?”

Shen Tingchao took a sip of cola and asked casually, “What do you need the household register for?”
“If you know, just say you know. If you don’t, say you don’t. Why ask so many questions?” The smile that had just appeared on Shen Tingxia’s face vanished instantly at his question, revealing her true impatience.

Shen Tingchao was long accustomed to his sister’s mood swings. Unfazed, he answered, “It’s in the top drawer of the cabinet in Mom and Dad’s room. It’s always been kept there.”

Shen Tingxia didn’t know where the household register was. She had never known.

Shen Tingchao chatted idly with Shen Tingxia for a few more minutes. Finishing his cola, he stood up to leave but was stopped by her. He turned back, “What?”
Shen Tingxia gestured towards the kitchen with her chin, not bothering with politeness. “Wash the dishes in the kitchen before you go.”

Hearing this, Shen Tingchao looked at her in shock. “Sis, you cooked!?”
His sister avoided the kitchen unless absolutely necessary, let alone cooked. As a child, she’d been scalded in the kitchen because of him; a faint scar still remained on her stomach.

Shen Tingxia shook her head, lying without batting an eyelid. “Ye Xuan was here earlier, but she had something come up and left.”
Ye Xuan was her university classmate. After graduating and working for half a year, she quit to become a freelancer. She ran her own vlog channel, which sometimes featured cooking segments, making her the perfect alibi.

Shen Tingxia’s house didn’t have a dishwasher. The dishes were originally Xi Chengnan’s responsibility. But just as they had concocted a plausible story to cover their tracks, the hospital called. Xi Chengnan had to drop everything and rush there, leaving the dishwashing chore to her.

Shen Tingxia had planned to wash them before bed. Who knew the unlucky Shen Tingchao would show up at such a coincidental time? The dishwashing duty naturally fell to him.

Shen Tingchao didn’t say anything more. He went into the kitchen and dutifully washed the dishes.

The next afternoon, just before getting off work, Shen Tingxia was called into an impromptu meeting, along with Kevin (Fu Chuji) and Leo (Lin Muning).

Before the meeting started, Fu Chuji extended his hand towards Shen Tingxia. “Stella, hand me the market research analysis for EndHor you were supposed to prepare.”

Shen Tingxia froze. She had no recollection of Kevin assigning her that specific analysis. EndHor was on her list, but she had prioritized the analyses for Fleur and TrasTrk – both competing perfume brands with Lunoo. EndHor, Fleur, and TrasTrk were all competitors of Lunoo.

Before she could respond, Leo, sitting beside her, reached over her and handed Fu Chuji a printed copy of his own materials. “Kevin, Stella was on leave that day. You assigned the work to me.”

Fu Chuji glanced at Shen Tingxia but said nothing as he accepted the documents.

Sensing his ambiguous look, Shen Tingxia quickly found the market research analyses for Fleur and TrasTrk in her own pile of documents and handed them to him. Her tone was professional, without a trace of timidity. “Kevin, here are the analysis reports for Fleur and TrasTrk.”

Fu Chuji took them without comment and began reviewing the materials.

The meeting was called suddenly, but their preparations were reasonably thorough.

Soon, colleagues from other departments arrived.

Seeing such a large turnout, Shen Tingxia guessed the meeting wouldn’t be short. She lowered her head and pursed her lips slightly.

Her original plan was to go home tonight to get the household register. Last night, Xi Chengnan said he would take leave today to register their marriage. What nonsense! she thought. I don’t even have the household register yet. How can we get a marriage license?

But he had said his household register was in his own possession, and it only listed him. He had assumed hers was the same.

They had set the registration time for Wednesday morning – tomorrow.

Shen Tingxia hated standing people up and hated being stood up even more. So, she absolutely had to get the household register tonight. If she got caught, she already had an excuse ready.

Fortunately, she didn’t need to take time off work. The Civil Affairs Bureau opened for registrations at 8:30 AM. Getting up a bit earlier wouldn’t interfere with her 10 AM start time.

Lost in thought, Lin Yuanzheng, the General Manager of Luna China, walked into the conference room.

Shen Tingxia composed her expression, shelved her personal concerns, and adopted her professional demeanor, shifting into work mode.

As she had predicted, the meeting didn’t end until 8 PM, lasting a full three hours.

Shen Tingxia and Leo followed Fu Chuji out of the conference room, listening as he assigned them tasks. Reaching his office door, he turned to them.

“I have something on tonight, and it’s late,” he said. “Let’s do tomorrow. Tomorrow we’ll have dinner together. The work ahead will be quite demanding. Headquarters has high hopes for this new product line.”
He then remembered to ask for their input. “You both are free tomorrow evening, right?”

Shen Tingxia and Leo answered simultaneously, “Yes, we are.”

Fu Chuji thought for another moment; nothing else needed adding. He nodded. “Alright, head off now.”

He entered his office. They didn’t follow. Leo turned to leave, but Shen Tingxia called out to him, “Lin Muning.” (Leo’s Chinese name).

Lin Muning turned his head back. “What is it, Tingxia Jie?” (Jie meaning elder sister).

Hearing the address, Shen Tingxia paused briefly. Lin Muning had transferred from another department; they didn’t interact much. She corrected him first. “Call me Stella.”
She was more used to the younger women on her team calling her ‘Tingxia Jie’.

Lin Muning smiled. “You’re older than me, you’ve been at Luna longer, you’re my senior. You deserve to be called ‘Jie’.”
“…”

Shen Tingxia couldn’t be bothered to argue. Getting straight to the point with a serious expression, she asked, “About the EndHor market research analysis, why didn’t you tell me?”

Lin Muning explained with a smile. “That day your mother was having surgery. You were on leave, so I didn’t disturb you.”

Don’t hit a smiling face. Shen Tingxia suppressed her rising irritation and stated objectively, “Last Friday, this Monday, even today – you had plenty of opportunities to tell me. But you didn’t.”

Lin Muning patiently explained. “The EndHor analysis report didn’t have much reference value. But Tingxia Jie, the two brands you gave Kevin are highly relevant. I saw you were working on them, so I didn’t mention it. I didn’t think you needed to spend much time on EndHor.”

This was true. Shen Tingxia had seen and heard everything in the meeting. Kevin hadn’t said anything either.

Shen Tingxia was silent for two seconds. Then she said, “Since we’re jointly following this project, I hope we can keep information synchronized and reduce gaps. Let’s not have this situation happen again.”

Lin Muning’s face broke into another smile. “Then, Tingxia Jie, could you honor me by letting me treat you to dinner tonight? As an apology?”

Shen Tingxia glanced at her watch: 8:15 PM. “No time. Need to go home to see my mom.”
With that, she picked up her laptop and notebook and strode towards her workstation.

Leaving Lin Muning behind, shaking his head with a wry smile.

Early the next morning, in the lobby of the Civil Affairs Bureau, Xi Chengnan and Shen Tingxia sat side by side, waiting for their number to be called.

Xi Chengnan stretched his long legs slightly, holding his phone displaying some academic literature. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the maroon household register booklet being flipped through in Shen Tingxia’s hands.

He locked his phone screen, put it away, and turned to her with interest. “How did you get your household register?”

The booklet was open to her own page. Shen Tingxia looked up at his question, a sly smile spreading across her face. “Stole it. Touched, Dr. Xi?”

Xi Chengnan looked half-convinced, half-doubtful, unable to suppress a chuckle. “As long as you don’t regret it.”

Shen Tingxia pouted inwardly: What’s there to regret? It’s not a one-way street. Even Alipay lets you unbind phone numbers. Worst case, we can just get divorced.

Their number was called quickly. From start to finish, the whole process took little more than ten minutes.

Holding the little red booklets (marriage certificates) in her hand, Shen Tingxia looked at the red background photo of her and him. It felt unreal. She had just effortlessly bound herself in matrimony to a man.

Even getting this certificate hadn’t cost any money – probably the cheapest official document one could get.

Reaching the car, Shen Tingxia handed her copy to Xi Chengnan too. “Put it with yours. I won’t take it to the office.”
Xi Chengnan took it without asking why, but asked, “Have dinner together after work tonight? To celebrate?”

“Celebrate? Another day,” Shen Tingxia said with a hint of regret. “Tonight, the boss is treating us, rallying the troops to work harder.” She checked the time, almost 9:30 AM. “It’s time, I need to get to work.”
Finally, she smoothly tacked on two deliberate words: “Husband~”

After saying it, Shen Tingxia flashed him a squinty-eyed smile. Without waiting for his reaction, she turned and walked away.

Watching her retreating back, thinking of that clear, precise “husband” devoid of any personal feeling, Xi Chengnan chuckled to himself. Only after seeing her drive off did he get into his own car and head home.

Having just finished covering Su Yi’s night shift, he needed a few hours of rest.

Xi Chengnan stepped out of the elevator holding the two red booklets and almost collided with Xi Sibei, who had just exited his apartment.

Xi Sibei spotted the red documents in his hand instantly. She hurried over to him. “Brother, what’s that in your hand?”

As she spoke, she lowered her head. When she saw the three bold characters “结 婚 证” (Marriage Certificate) on the cover, Xi Sibei felt as if the sky had fallen.