The bedside was empty When Qiu Xiaoya woke up in the morning. She knew that Han Yinglei had gone to work. She turned to the clock and found it was already eleven in the morning. She woke up so late!
She got out of bed, freshened up, and returned to her room to stare. Now that she was alone, she realised she hadn't made any plans for today after having fun outside with Han Yinglei for the past few days! That's when she started thinking about her schedule for the day. She just hadn't thought about what she would do yet when the doorbell suddenly rang.
"Cousin, please come in. Shouldn't you be working in Taipei? When did you come to Kaohsiung?" said Qiu Xiaoya after seeing an unexpected guest when she opened the door. She invited the person into the living room to sit down. She went to the kitchen to pour a glass of water for her cousin. Then she sat beside her on the sofa.
"I came to see you." Huang Shuyuan smiled.
After Qiu Xiaoya and Han Yinglei's wedding notarisation, to hold and stage a grand wedding for the two of them, she and Han Yinglei's parents would discuss it not only by contacting each other through telephone, but they would also run between Kaohsiung and Taipei; she came to Kaohsiung yesterday and decided to stop by to talk to her cousin. Of course, she mainly wanted to see how her wedding life had been going.
"I heard that you guys went on dates a few days ago and almost visited all the famous scenic spots in Kaohsiung. General Manager Han seemed good to you, so I feel relieved." Huang Shuyuan regarded her cousin, who was fifteen years younger than her, just like her daughter. When she knew that Qiu Xiaoya finally had a good home to continue having a very happy life, her worried heart eventually felt at ease.
"Cousin, can I ask you a question?" Qiu Xiaoya couldn't help asking as she looked at her cousin, whose eyes were sweeping over her and then smiled at her with a reassuring look. Qiu Xiaoya couldn't help but flush as she remembered that she and Han Yinglei were fooling around with each other on the bed that day before she could grab her cousin before she got up.
"Ask away!"
"I thought you'd never met Ah Lei before, so how could you feel at ease when I married him?" She had this question ever since her cousin showed up as a witness during her and Han Yinglei's wedding notarisation. She forgot to ask her cousin about it two weeks ago, but now that her cousin had come to her door, she took this opportunity to spill her guts.
"Because of you and because I know that he likes you." Huang Shuyuan seemed to have guessed that Qiu Xiaoya would ask her this question, and she answered it without much thinking.
The first time Huang Shuyuan got a call from Han Yinglei, he told her he would go to the courthouse with Xiaoya for wedding notarisation the next day. Then and there, she thought it was a trick call. She didn't promise to give Xiaoya to him until she fully listened to his explanation, confirmed his mind towards Xiaoya and heard the guarantees from Han Yinglei's parents.
"He told you that?" Qiu Xiaoya knew he liked her, but she didn't expect he would admit it in front of her family. A hint of sweetness wrapped around her heart, and a smile unconsciously rippled across her face.
"Yes." Huang Shuyuan nodded. Not only did Han Yinglei admit that he liked her, but he also made it clear that Xiaoya had been set up and given her innocence to him, which was another big reason why Huang Shuyuan finally nodded her head.
He also said that Xiaoya recognised him soberly after being fed lust drugs, and she didn't refuse his marriage proposal afterwards. As Huang Shuyuan thought of Xiaoya's concept of sex and marriage, she believed that Xiaoya also had affection towards him.
"Xiaoya, do you like General Manager Han?"
When Qiu Xiaoya looked at her cousin's loving eyes, she finally nodded and admitted, "...yes."
Looking at her cousin with the shyness of a little girl, Huang Shuyuan was even more certain that she had made the right decision in giving her to him. She patted her hand and encouraged her to speak her heart out, "Have you told him about this?"
"No." She shook her head, then looked at her cousin's encouraging gaze before she continued, "I didn't want to tell him at first because, at that time, I felt my whole self was totally in a mess. It seemed like everything changed when I woke up that day. Later, after I had time to face up to my inner voice, I didn’t know how to say it out loud… besides, before I could say that I liked him, Ah Lei, who was such an arrogant person, acted like I would definitely fall in love with him. If I confessed to him one day, he would act even more arrogant around me!" Qiu Xiaoya looked like she was complaining, but little did she imagine that a trace of happiness could be seen from the corners of her eyes and on her brows when she uttered all these words.
"Silly little sister." Qiu Xiaoya was so clearly in the mood for love that anyone with a clear eye could see that she was a happy little woman falling in love, and thus, it didn't seem to matter so much whether she said it out loud or not.
Presumably, Han Yinglei was also very clear about this point. That was why he made Qiu Xiaoya notarise their marriage first. Then, he thoughtfully took her to enjoy the sweetness of dating while preparing a grand wedding for her in private. He had set the time for the lavish wedding to be three months later——a week after Qiu Xiaoya's housekeeper's contract ended, which was also the eve of her birthday!
Qiu Xiaoya thought that her cousin didn't believe what she just said, so she stressed it out one more time, "Cousin, I'm telling the truth, Ah Lei is truly a very arrogant man."
"No matter what kind of man he is, as long as he treats you well, I'll consider him a good man." Huang Shuyuan prioritised everything for Xiaoya, but when she thought that Han Yinglei had given his body and mind to her younger cousin, at the same time, he couldn't get a word of affection from her, so she decided to help him out.
"Xiaoya, since you have recognised your feelings for him, you should tell him one day because men also like to listen to sweet words and honey phrases1…."
Men also liked to listen to sweet words and honey phrases1...
Qiu Xiaoya's ears still rang with the words her cousin said to her a few days ago. She thought people always loved to listen to good advice, whether men or women; all were the same. So should she just find a chance to show him her feelings?
"Housekeeper, what are you thinking?" Han Yinglei had been paying attention to her for a long time. He didn't know what was currently bothering her. Even when the car reached its destination and stopped, she wasn't even aware of it.
Today was Han Zaiyuan🔈's 60th birthday, so they waited for lunchtime and drove out to help pick out his birthday present.
A noob translator, きつね, translated this noob translation. Please read this chapter at xin-shou.site. If you read this in another location other than the site stated, it has been taken without the translator's permission. Please don't support this kind of act.
After hearing his inquiry, Qiu Xiaoya looked at him and said, "I'm thinking about something. I'll tell you when I've made my decision."
Since she said she would tell him, he didn't insist on knowing the reason for her absent-mindedness along the way and said without consulting others, "Really? So let's get out of the car then!"
"Oh...okay." After he reminded her, she realised they had arrived at the parking lot attached to the department store. They took the elevator from the fourth basement floor directly to the sixth floor of the Gentlemen's Pavilion, which at a glance was divided into sections for suits, shirts, and leather shoes… making it difficult for them to decide where to start.
"Ah Lei, does President Han like…."
"Housekeeper, don't forget that we are already married, and my dad is your father-in-law, so you should just call him dad directly." He interrupted her without waiting for her to finish her sentence.
"I'm sorry, I forgot for a moment." Realising the mistake in the way she addressed her father-in-law, her first thought was to apologise and correct herself by following good advice as naturally as a river followed its course3.
"Ah Lei, you are your father's son. Shouldn't you know what your father likes?" Since it was his parent's 60th birthday, of course, they had to choose gifts based on his father's preferences.
"A grandson," he said with a glance down at her belly.
"What?" She stared at him suspiciously while wondering if she had heard him wrong.
"You heard me right. My parents would indulge women in approaching me just to get married quickly and have a grandson for them to play with. You are my wife, and what they want the most right now is for your belly to give them a grandson quickly."
"For my stomach, failing to live up to everyone's expectations is not something that only I can decide. Don't act like it's not your business if you marry your wife." When she saw him looking like it was not his business, she glared at him and muttered, "Besides, today is Dad's birthday. In what way do you want me to give birth to a grandson for him?" His answer was equivalent to not answering at all.
"That's not necessarily true. We have been working hard almost every night for the past few weeks. Maybe you already have a little life in your belly." He rubbed his chin and suggested, "Let's go to the obstetrics and gynaecology department to check. Give the report as a gift to Dad."
"Ah Lei, you aren't serious, are you?"
He nodded. "I'm serious. I have faith in myself."
"What if it turns out I'm not pregnant? So if we give this test report as a gift, won't we be making a fool of ourselves?" She couldn't even laugh or cry4 when she heard how arrogant he was concerning this matter, while she thought to herself, what kind of rotten proposal was he thinking!
"No way. Tell me, Ah Lei, what else does Dad like besides a grandson?"
"He has everything except for a grandson, so you can choose whatever you want to choose." When Mom and Dad celebrated their birthdays, they didn't care about the gifts. They cared more about the younger ones' regards.
"..." As she thought of their current family circumstances, she had to agree with what he said. Finally, she could only accept her fate and look around to see if anything special could be used as a gift.
They went from department store to department store. They spent three to four hours on the road trying to pick out gifts before finally deciding on a bottle of wine from one of the three great wines from the small wine region of Bordeaux: one of the three great wines of the Pauillac——Chateau Mouton Rothschild as a gift.
Château Mouton-Rothschild 1973
The highest bidding price for this wine was $10,000 (NTD 285,020).
Image Credit | Christie's via Very Important Lot
The highest bidding price for this wine was $10,000 (NTD 285,020).
Image Credit | Christie's via Very Important Lot
After choosing the gift, they drove to the Han Family Residence.
As soon as they walked through the door, they found the obnoxious father and daughter inside the house!
Footnotes Full List
- Chinese idiom: fine-sounding words/cajolery
- Just in case everyone forgot, he's Han Yinglei's father / Qiu Xiaoya's father-in-law
- Chinese idiom: take good advice
- Chinese idiom: dumbfounded
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My Housekeeper