After having brunch, Han Yinglei and his wife, who were finally willing to step out of the door, set off from Waikiki. Along the way, there were waves, rocky shores, and sandy beaches everywhere, which carved the island's contours in an ever-changing way. The azure sky and golden shadows reflected the transparent colours of the sea surface, making the underwater reefs appear and disappear, just like looking at a kaleidoscope of ever-changing colours, which was truly amazing.
"Oh my God! I thought I was going to die in bed, but I didn't expect that I would still be able to walk out of the room and admire the beautiful coastal scenery of Oahu!" Looking at the beauty in front of her, Qiu Xiaoya suddenly felt impressed.
She had planned many excursions, but first, Mom changed all her clothes into sheer nightdresses that she couldn't wear out, and then the man next to her decided to be a dutiful son and literally locked her in their room for almost a week——
Except for visiting Pearl Harbour and the Polynesian Cultural Center on the first day, other plans were left aside, and they enjoyed bed sports to the fullest.
"Were they bad? I remember that you enjoyed them too. After all, my skills are first-class." Han Yinglei leaned forward and smiled mischievously.
"Are you asking me to force you to confess how many women have warmed your bed before me to hone your so-called first-class skills?" She cast a sidelong glance at him. Her words sound calm but tinged with a sour taste.
"You're jealous."
"I'm not. I'm just wondering, aren't you a workaholic? Why do you still have so much energy to fool around with women?" She tried to explain, but the more she said it, the more it seemed wrong. Just like how much she tried to hide it, the more conspicuous1 it appeared.
Could he be right about her being jealous? She liked him, but she didn't know that she liked him enough for her to be jealous of his past love affairs!
When Han Yinglei saw the jealousy she unconsciously showed, he opened his arms wide and hugged her whole body to his chest. His eyes that were gazing at her became very soft, and his face couldn't stop smiling, "I was only looking for women when I have physical needs, and those women did not matter at all to me."
"Housekeeper, I really like your jealous expression. It let me know that your love for me is increasing." He whispered in her ear.
Her throbbing heart was still beating wildly, but when she heard his words, she tilted her head slightly and was still used to bicker at him as a response, "Ah Lei, I found that you are getting more and more arrogant."
Ka cha!
There was a devilish smile on Han Yinglei's mouth. When he leaned forward and grabbed her slightly open red lips, a strange sound made him immediately leave her lips. He turned his head toward the sound, and the softness in his eyes immediately turned into a cold stern.
"Who are you?"
Just as the camera owner realised that he was being stared at by the leading male in the photo, a blush surfaced on his face, and he hurriedly apologised, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean any harm. I just saw such a sweet picture of you two that my finger was itching to press the shutter."
A digital camera (left) and a single-lens camera (right)
Image Credit | 祇園俗生 (寫給新手~如何買第一台單眼?, March 13th, 2012)
Image Credit | 祇園俗生 (寫給新手~如何買第一台單眼?, March 13th, 2012)
As the general manager of Hanying Group, he had shown his face a lot, but he still didn't like it when people took pictures of him without his consent. Not to mention the fact that he had Qiu Xiaoya beside him.
"But there are also photos for work inside..." The owner of the camera was dumbfounded for a while. When he saw Han Yinglei's unyielding face, he knew he had picked the wrong person to scratch his itchy hands.
After knowing that the picture of them kissing had just been secretly taken, the blushing Qiu Xiaoya had been staying in Han Yinglei's arms. However, when she heard his request, she had to intervene by speaking up. "Ah Lei, don't do this. It's just a photo anyway..."
"Qiu Xiaoya?"
When Qiu Xiaoya heard her name, she carefully looked at the cameraman before her. A vague figure suddenly appeared in her mind. She exclaimed in surprise, "Eh? You are… Zhao Xiang… Zhao Xiang Ji2?! Wow, it has been a long time."
Zhao Xiang was her junior high school classmate. Since he liked to take pictures very much, in addition, he never went anywhere without his camera; he had given a nickname, zhao xiang ji2.
"It's really you. I thought I had recognised the wrong person." Zhao Xiang grinned broadly.
"Why are you here too? Did you come to have fun?"
"I'm here for my honeymoon. Ah! Zhao Xiang Ji2, let me introduce you. He is my husband, Han Yinglei." The sudden tightening of the hand on her waist made Qiu Xiaoya realise that because of her extreme happiness of meeting an old friend, she seemingly had forgotten to introduce the two men, which she hastily remedied, "Ah Lei, this is my junior high school classmate, Zhao Xiang."
"Oh my God! You got married. I was thinking of telling you to wait until I reach the first ten million in my life. Then I would go to your house to propose…."
"What did you say, kid?" Han Yinglei took a step forward, separating Zhao Xiang's view of Qiu Xiaoya, as the cold light in his eyes became sharper.
"Ah, I..." In Zhao Xiang's moment of extreme joy, he had let out in front of her husband that he would propose marriage. He did not know how to explain, and the only thing he could do was display a bitter face.
"Ah Lei, Zhao Xiang Ji2 is just joking. Don't be so serious." Qiu Xiaoya patted Han Yinglei's hand, trying to eliminate his anger.
"Even if he is serious, he can only return in disappointment because you already have me." Han Yinglei lifted his chin lightly, still staring at him with his hostile eyes.
"Can you be a bit more restrained when there are outsiders around?" Qiu Xiaoya grumbled, but she felt sweet at his obvious possessiveness.
Haha...he just said that she was jealous. But when Zhao Xiang Ji2 appeared, it turned out that he was jealous too!
"That's how I am." He became less angry when she classified Zhao Xiang as an outsider, but his hostility did not subside.
"Mr Han, I don't have any bit of improper thought towards Xiaoya. What I just said was merely a joke. You're a big man. So don't be angry." Even if Zhao Xiang had liked Qiu Xiaoya before, the feeling faded after so many years. What was left was only the feeling of friendship between classmates.
"You have good sense."
"Well, it is good that we can clear up the misunderstanding. Zhao Xiang Ji2, what are you doing now?" Qiu Xiaoya asked curiously when she remembered he said that his work photos were also in the film.
"I'm working for a travel magazine. Besides taking pictures of the landscape for my work, I also take pictures of things that interest me. I'm currently preparing them for my solo exhibition." When it came to taking pictures, Zhao Xiang's whole spirit came to the fore, which even managed to make him ignore Han Yinglei's scary face as well.
"Xiaoya, for the sake of us being old classmates, will you and your husband do me a favour by letting me shoot pictures of you guys?"
"Can't." Without waiting for Qiu Xiaoya to speak, Han Yinglei had already pulled down his face and refused.
Initially, Qiu Xiaoya hesitated to agree to her old classmate's request, but when she heard Han Yinglei immediately refused, she felt slightly sorry for him. Thus, she shook Han Yinglei's hand a little bit coquettishly. "Ah Lei, Zhao Xiang Ji2 is my friend! And his camera skills are excellent. Can you not refuse him right away?"
"Mr Han, you and Xiaoya are just like a brilliant young scholar and a beautiful woman3. If there are photos of your sweet interaction, I believe they will add much radiance to my solo exhibition." Zhao Xiang also took the opportunity to offer a lot of praise, but since he did not often praise people, he could only praise with these few words.
It was hard to find a couple who felt strongly emotionally towards each other, and the object was still one of his old classmates. He would regret it if he didn't quickly find a way to convince them.
"You don't have to suck up to me. We're here on our honeymoon today, not to be your models." If he wanted to spend their time by having them being photographed by his rival in love, he might as well drag Qiu Xiaoya back to their hotel room and continue being a 'straightforward man'.
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.
"Mr Han, if you two will just agree to let me follow you from behind, I promise never to disturb you two, husband and wife, while you two are having fun." This was because the photos he wanted to take were natural and intimate, just like before, not for them to pose for him deliberately.
When Qiu Xiaoya saw that Zhao Xiang was sincere, she decided to help him convince the man beside her, "Since Zhao Xiang Ji2 said he wouldn't bother us, so, let's just promise to do him this little favour, okay?"
Han Yinglei glanced at Zhao Xiang's pleasing smile, then looked back at the pleading woman in his arms. He suddenly lowered his head and proposed, "If he follows us for one day, you have to stay with me in bed for two days; if he follows us for two days, you have to stay with me for four days...if you can't fully fulfil it in the hotel, how about we continue to finish it once we get home?"
Since he didn't want to disappoint his housekeeper, he should get his maximum benefit, one action, two gains4.
"Ah Lei, how can you loot a burning house5?!" Qiu Xiaoya protested.
"Because I'm a businessman, and I don't do business to gain a loss. Housekeeper, what's your answer?" He smiled wickedly with a confident look on his face.
"Okay!"
"In exchange for me to be a future father." Han Yinglei bowed and gave Qiu Xiaoya a burning, deep kiss regardless of Zhao Xiang's presence. While Qiu Xiaoya was still feeling dizzy, he threw a proud look at the shocked Zhao Xiang after he had done showing off. Then, he hugged Qiu Xiaoya and walked away, ignoring Zhao Xiang, who had a helpless wry smile on his face.
Han Yinglei was still a little upset about their decision to let Zhao Xiang become their bum beetle6. However, after only one afternoon, he couldn't help laughing, "Housekeeper, don't you think your movements are very stiff?"
Perhaps it was because they knew a pair of eyes behind them that always paid attention to their every move. Han Yinglei didn’t feel much. After all, he was a man who didn’t care about the eyes of others, but Qiu Xiaoya couldn’t do it. Knowing that someone was watching them, her limbs suddenly became very stiff, and she felt uncomfortable doing anything.
"Am I?" Qiu Xiaoya pulled on her dress and looked around to examine her overall appearance as if she wanted to make herself look perfect.
At this time, the three of them are boarding a luxurious love boat while enjoying the beauty of Hawaii. The boat increasingly sailed westward. Accompanied by romantic folk music playing on the boat, as people watched the sunset and sang with dancing performances, they unconsciously relaxed and indulged in them.
It was just that in such a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere, a certain person was still maintaining her best posture, just like a lady of the upper class, who did not allow her behaviour to violate even the slightest grace and politeness, which made those who looked at her felt a bit weary.
"Yes." He pulled down her hands. He didn't know what to say to her. "Just look at you. You care too much about other people's eyes, but you want to be a good person, and you agree to your junior high school classmate's request, which makes you feel both restrained and awkward this whole afternoon. At the same time, you're not enjoying yourself to your heart's content.”
The passengers on the ship either ate and drank or sang and danced to their heart's content, as if they wanted to liberate their body and mind that were usually bound, which was unlike her, who did the opposite, by binding herself with a bunch of rules and regulations.
"I'm not like that!" She hung her head and retorted in a low voice, except her voice was a little weaker.
She just wanted to present her best side in their photos, so she paid more attention to the small details, like walking, sitting and interacting with others. It was not as serious as he said!
"You yourself know it."
"Alright. I do admit that I care too much when Zhao Xiang Ji2 said that he wanted to take pictures of us, but it is also because I want to show the perfect side of me for him to take pictures!" She muttered while secretly looking up at him like she hadn't done anything wrong from beginning to end.
She just didn't have the same thick skin as he did, and she couldn't care about people's eyes as if they were air, especially when she knew someone was watching them.
Qiu Xiaoya admitted that she had brought this embarrassing situation upon herself, and since she couldn't regret it, she certainly had to ask herself to be perfect.
He reached out his hands and raised her little face while saying with a disgruntled tone, "He can take pictures of us if he wants to, but why do you have to pose perfectly for him to take pictures? Housekeeper, this is our honeymoon, and the only person you should care about is me."
When she saw him put on a look of displeasure, the corners of her mouth blossomed into a smile as she put her body into his arms while soothing him, "Ah Lei, you're angry, aren't you? I know it's our honeymoon, and I didn't mean to cooperate with him. It's just that you know my personality. I want to do my best in everything I do, and of course, I do the same thing while taking pictures… so don't be angry."
Qiu Xiaoya really liked his jealousy and dissatisfaction expressions. They let her know that her weight in his heart was so heavy and deep.
Seeing that the focus of the passengers on the ship was on the song and dance show, he took her to the corner to discuss passion and talked of love7. "If you want me not to be angry, say I love you."
When he thought their honeymoon vacation would end soon, and the wedding preparations were almost done, he hadn't heard any words of love towards him coming from her.
It was one thing to know that she liked him, but it was another thing to hear her say it herself.
"You've only said I like you once, so why should I have to say I love you?" She pouted while her face blushed as she thought of the emotions surging inside her.
"I love you." He said with great affection.
"Ah Lei, I love you too." She forgot that Zhao Xiang was behind them, waiting to take their pictures and the crowds in front of them. She offered him her most delicate red lips along with her sweet whisper.
Footnotes Full List
- Chinese idiom: a cover-up only makes matters worse
- lit. camera.
- Chinese idiom: a perfect match
- Chinese idiom: achieve two things at one stroke
- Chinese idiom: gain profit from sb's misfortune
- sb who tags along
- Chinese idiom: to express love with terms of endearment
Regarding Zhao Xiang's Nickname
Zhao Xiang and zhao xiang ji might look the same to us, but they actually have different characters. For Zhao Xiang real name, their characters are 赵项 (zhào xiàng), while for zhao xiang ji, its characters are 照相机 (zhàoxiàngjī), which means camera. The creativity of kids back then...was priceless!
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My Housekeeper