Volume 1, Chapter 48: Spring on the Boughs, Swaying Fair to See

Seeing Su Mian there as well, Jiang Shuwei paused for a split second, then pressed her lips together tightly and ignored her.

"Brother Jingcheng, is your condition alright? Have the doctor check on you?" Su Mian walked over with a look of distress, offering gentle concern.

"It's fine, just a mild cold," He Jingcheng said indifferently.

The housekeeper nearby hurriedly walked over and said, "Young Master, Madam, dinner is ready. Please invite the guest to the dining room."

The housekeeper had addressed Jiang Shuwei as "Madam," making Su Mian's expression grow even more unpleasant by a fraction.

Jiang Shuwei held little He Tingting by her small hand. "Come on, let's wash our hands and eat."

Only then did Su Mian notice He Tingting standing nearby. She quickly walked over with a beaming smile to greet her. "Tingting, Aunty brought you a gift too, as well as a box of chocolates. Would you like some?"

He Tingting glanced at Jiang Shuwei, then shook her head. "I don't want any. Grandma doesn't let me eat too many snacks, or I'll get maggot-like cavities."

Su Mian's expression froze, a sickening sense of goodwill being trampled underfoot washing over her.

Jiang Shuwei said calmly, "Thank you for Miss Su's kind intentions. Let's take our seats at the table."

Su Mian straightened up and looked back at the others. Everyone had been watching her try to curry favor with He Tingting—and fail.

Her expression turned somewhat awkward, but she still walked gracefully toward the dining table and said politely to the housekeeper, "Such a lavish dinner. Thank you for your hard work."

The housekeepers were all sharp women; the mistress of the house disliked Miss Su and favored Madam, so they naturally knew where they stood.

"Miss Su is a guest coming from afar, this is only what we should do."

A single phrase—"guest coming from afar"—directly exposed Su Mian's status as an outsider. Su Mian's facial expression stiffened once more.

"Alright, don't just stand there. Let's eat," He Jingcheng said indifferently.

Thus, everyone sat around the long table and began to dine, shifting the conversation topic to work.

When Jiang Shuwei brought He Tingting over, she found that Su Mian was already seated next to He Jingcheng, with Xia Chengze on his other side.

Jiang Shuwei immediately took He Tingting to the very end of the table to take care of her meal.

After dinner, Jiang Shuwei brought He Tingting upstairs. She sat at the children's room desk with her laptop to work, while He Tingting lay flat on the floor, holding a pen and drawing quietly. It was peaceful and harmonious.

Laughter drifted up from downstairs, causing He Tingting to immediately cover her little ears. "It's too noisy."

Hearing Su Mian's cheerful laughter as well, Jiang Shuwei said gently, "Tingting, bear with it just a little longer. They'll be leaving soon."

"Okay, Auntie." He Tingting nodded obediently.

Sure enough, around nine o'clock, Su Mian and her group finally left. He Jingcheng came upstairs and pushed open the door to the children's room directly. "Tingting, what are you drawing?"

He Tingting pouted her little lips. "I'm drawing Uncle and Auntie."

Hearing this, Jiang Shuwei turned her head to take a look. The little girl had indeed drawn a pair of a man and a woman.

He Jingcheng looked at it and asked, "Why does Auntie have clothes on, but Uncle doesn't?"

He Tingting blinked her eyes. "Because Uncle has a fever, so you don't need to wear clothes to help dissipate the heat."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Shuwei burst into a chuckle.

He Jingcheng's expression stiffened, and he gave a dry laugh. "How dutiful."

He Tingting asked with concern, "Uncle, did you take your medicine?"

"No," He Jingcheng shook his head. "No medicine, I'll get a shot in a bit."

"Who's going to give you the shot? Will the doctor come over?" He Tingting asked again.

He Jingcheng raised his gaze to Jiang Shuwei, who was sitting on the single-seat sofa nearby, and said, "Jiang Shuwei, why don't you give me the shot later?"

Jiang Shuwei looked up at him. "You actually dare to let me do it?"

Meeting her malicious expression, He Jingcheng's handsome face froze. "What are you planning to do?"

"Nothing, just an intramuscular injection on the backside. I've given them before," Jiang Shuwei said indifferently.

He Jingcheng stood up. "Come over now."

He Tingting immediately scrambled up. "Uncle, can I watch you get your shot?"

"No, children aren't allowed to watch. Keep drawing here," He Jingcheng patted her hair, stopping her from following.

"O…kay." He Tingting looked a little disappointed.

Jiang Shuwei put down her laptop and followed He Jingcheng into his bedroom, where the prescription and medicine left by the doctor were placed.

"Pull your pants down," Jiang Shuwei demanded indifferently while checking the prescription slip.

He Jingcheng's expression sank, displeased. "Pull them all the way down?"

"Don't be so perverted," Jiang Shuwei looked up at him. "I don't want my eyes to get sore."

He Jingcheng had originally intended to tease her, but he hadn't expected her to be so deadpan and completely devoid of romance.

Left with no choice, he had to lie face down on the bed, saying indifferently, "You're the doctor, help me pull them down. I can't gauge the right amount."

Jiang Shuwei frowned. Today's He Jingcheng seemed somewhat different from usual.

"He Jingcheng, when are we getting a divorce?" Jiang Shuwei asked him casually while mixing the medicine.

Struck as if by a nail, He Jingcheng turned his head and glared at her with a chilling expression. "In such a rush for a divorce? Did Qin Weizhou urge you?"

Jiang Shuwei replied coldly, "After the divorce, whoever I date is my own business, so you needn't trouble yourself with it."

"Not divorcing," He Jingcheng suddenly uttered words that made Jiang Shuwei's hair stand on end.

"Why? You don't like me at all. Wouldn't a divorce benefit you even more?" Jiang Shuwei asked angrily.

He Jingcheng answered with a blank expression, "Divorce is a shameful matter. I value my reputation a great deal and don't want people calling me a twice-married man."

Jiang Shuwei was so angry at his reasoning that she almost laughed, grinding her teeth. "Knowing that being a second-hand man is shameful, why didn't you think twice when you married me back then?"

"Did you give me time to think?" He Jingcheng sneered coldly. "Why was your diary left in the living room? My grandfather, my dad, and my mom all saw it. In your diary, you wrote that I am your light, your future, and that without me, life would be worse than death—"

Jiang Shuwei's pretty face flushed crimson with embarrassment. Clutching the syringe, she felt as though the person about to be stabbed in the next second wasn't He Jingcheng, but herself. She wanted to stab herself to death.

"You had death constantly on your lips. Weren't you threatening me into having no choice but to marry you?" He Jingcheng let out a cold laugh.

"I'm sorry." Jiang Shuwei didn't evade the matter as she had previously. Although she also felt humiliated and embarrassed, she dared to face her past youthful ignorance. "It was my fault. I shouldn't have left my notebook in the living room and caused this tragedy. Grandfather, Dad, and Mom have been good to me, and I will always remember it, but I don't want to waste your precious time. Therefore, we must divorce."

"Enough." He Jingcheng's face was ashen, his gaze fixed on Jiang Shuwei like a provoked beast. "Can a single word of yours—divorce—wipe away all the harm I suffered? Jiang Shuwei, instead of thinking about how to make amends, you only want to shake off this burden as quickly as possible. You really are something."

Jiang Shuwei stared at him blankly, unable to comprehend what his words meant.

He Jingcheng propped himself up on the bed, his long legs crossed, looking at her with a lazy expression. "Since we are already bound together, why don't we consider fulfilling the elders' wishes and having a child sooner rather than later?"

Jiang Shuwei felt her vision go dark for a moment, nearly stumbling backward to the floor. She took two steps back and pressed herself against the wall. "He Jingcheng, stop joking."

Seeing that she was actually frightened enough to turn pale, He Jingcheng's expression suddenly darkened. He stood up from the bed and walked toward her. "Who's joking with you? Wasn't it you who wrote in your diary that you wanted to give birth to a child who looks exactly like me? That you wanted to accompany them as they grow up, imagining that when they grow up, they would be even more handsome and striking than me—"

Jiang Shuwei suffered social death on the spot. She possessed a photographic memory, but she hadn't expected He Jingcheng to have the same ability, reciting a passage from her diary word for word.

"I wrote that blindly out of... ignorance. You surely didn't take it seriously, did you?" Jiang Shuwei's pretty face bloomed with a vibrant peach-blossom pink. Biting her lip, she felt deeply ashamed and mortified. "Who hasn't had their period of youthful ignorance? Why do you keep hounding that diary of mine? I refuse to believe that during your youth, you never had a secret crush or fantasized about future things."

He Jingcheng had already reached her, watching her pressed against the wall with flickering eyes. Only up close did he realize that when she blushed, she looked just like peach blossoms on a branch swaying in the spring breeze.

Unable to resist, He Jingcheng reached out and pinched her small, fair chin, preventing her from looking away.