Chapter 053　 I came to show you my legs.

  *

  Before going to sleep that night, Su Xian was still revising her design proposal. A WeChat message popped up: "Team Leader, flirt me a little."

  Su Xian chuckled and replied: "Show me your legs."

  "Want to see anything else?"

  "Nope. Seeing too much makes me 'fever'."

  "Tch."

  "Li Chengshi, cherish these last moments of 'flirting'. In the future, when we’re completely 'frank' with each other every day, it won't have this same flavor."

  "You sound quite experienced," he replied, his text dripping with mock disdain.

  "Admire me. Where are the legs?"

  He sent a photo of Gintoki Sakata (from Gintama) exposing his legs.

  "You little liar."

  "I’m going to sleep. Sleep early too, wifey."

  Noticing he had changed the way he addressed her, Su Xian smiled. "Call me Team Leader." That felt more right.

  "Yes, Team Leader."

  **

  She slept until past 8:00 AM, then got up to organize her things. Looking at the current situation, she expected to be developing her career abroad for a long time. There were things at home she no longer needed to keep; she’d throw out what she could to make it easier for Lao Zhang and Wang Jing to clean later.

  She was in the study, struggling to tie up bundles of old books and newspapers, when the doorbell rang.

  "Who is it?" Su Xian shouted.

  No answer.

  "If this is a prank, you’re dead." She reluctantly put down her work, went to the door, and looked through the peephole. It was Li Chengshi. She quickly opened the door, surprised. "Honey, why are you here?"

  "I came to show you my legs."

  *

  Two hours later, Su Xian climbed out of bed and kissed Li Chengshi’s forehead. "I’ll go sear a steak for you to replenish your strength."

  Li Chengshi pulled her back. "Rest for a bit. I’ll do it later. Just stay here with me for a while longer. I love this feeling."

  "What feeling?" Su Xian touched his nose. "The feeling of being drained?"

  "Who are you looking down on?" He flipped over to pin her down, but she tapped his shoulder lightly, and he flopped back down.

  Then, her kisses pressed down on him like a tidal wave.

  *

  "Fine, go sear the steak," he finally surrendered.

  "Wait here like a good boy then, baby."

  Watching her get dressed, he burst out laughing. "You’re wearing your 'granny pants' again."

  "They're comfortable."

  "Did Zhao Nanfeng buy those too?"

  "No, I snatched these from Wang Jing. The clothes, bags, and jewelry Zhao Nanfeng gave me have already been sold on second-hand platforms."

  "You don't have to do that, wifey." He beckoned her to sit, then moved to lean against her legs. "Actually, you could have kept them. I wouldn't be jealous over those things."

  "It’s just that I want new ones."

  "Then I’ll save up and buy them for you."

  Su Xian leaned down and gave him a big kiss. "Can we buy one item a year?"

  "Deal." He smiled dotingly, then suddenly remembered something important. "You didn't sell those three sketchbooks Zhao Nanfeng drew for you, did you?"

  "I didn't. I wanted to keep those." She watched his expression closely after saying it.

  He quickly smiled. "Of course you can keep them, don't be nervous. But you have to let me see them." This was another major reason for his visit today.

  "They're in the study. I'll go get them."

  "No need." He dressed and got out of bed. "I want to tour your study."

  *

  The study was halfway organized. Books and magazines intended for disposal were piled haphazardly on the floor, and the desk was covered in design drafts. On the bookshelf, the "Li Chengshi doll" was placed in the most prominent position.

  "You didn't throw this away!" He was pleasantly surprised. "From when we broke up in February until we left in August—for half a year, you didn't throw it out?"

  "Actually," Su Xian recalled slowly, "ever since last November when I started staying at the construction site and we’d exchange a few words on WeChat every morning and night, I already liked you. So, breakup or no breakup, that little spark for you in my heart... it might have been wavering, but it never went out."

  Li Chengshi turned and pulled her into a tight hug. "Idiot! (バカ)" He was talking about himself.

  *

  The three sketchbooks captured Su Xian at ages 25, 26, and 27. They were full of trivial daily moments: reading, drinking tea, dancing, lifting weights, drawing designs, tying her hair, wearing face masks, making funny faces—countless moments. There were indeed some nude drawings, but they were handled very artistically, devoid of any lewdness. One showed her standing by a window in a loose white shirt; the sunlight filtered through the fabric, making her silhouette faintly visible. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  It was clear that Zhao Nanfeng had truly loved her.

  Su Xian felt a bit shy as she closed the album. "You really don't mind me keeping these?"

  "Of course not. Bring them to Japan. Put them in the bedroom; I'll look at them every day."

  "Isn't looking at the real me enough?"

  "I'll look at them for comparison. By the way, can you draw? Draw one of me."

  "I'm no good at drawing people."

  "How bad can it be?"

  Su Xian rummaged through her old manuscripts and pulled out a few figure drawings.

  "Is this... General Manager Liang?" he asked, frowning. "And is this one Sister Xu?"

  "You can actually tell? Young people really do have good eyesight."

  Li Chengshi sighed. "Forget it. I don't want you to draw me anymore."

  "No way, I want to draw you now! I’m going to draw you nude." She grinned mischievously and started tugging at his clothes.

  "Stop it." He fled the study. "I think I’ll go sear the steak now!"

  *

  After eating, he helped her organize everything to be thrown out and called the scrap collector to take it away. Finding that her robot vacuum was broken, he helped her sweep and mop the floor.

  "Stop working, baby. Don't get so tired that you... stop working effectively."

  He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "How do you manage to turn every single sentence into a dirty talk?"

  "It’s my talent. When I retire, I’m going to write erotic novels."

  "When you have time, write a short one for me first. Let's see how your prose is."

  "No problem."

  Su Xian pulled Li Chengshi down to sit on the sofa and brought him a glass of warm milk. After he finished it, he looked at the clock. "I have to leave soon. Something urgent came up at the factory this morning so Mom had to go back, and she told me to come play with you. But I want to be back before she finishes work."

  "Okay."

  "General Manager Liang arranged a gathering tonight. Don't drink too much; you don't want a headache on the plane tomorrow."

  "Mhm."

  She lay down with her head on his lap, just like that night in Hokkaido.

  Li Chengshi, of course, remembered that night too. He opened his phone and scrolled through old photos to show her.

  "So you didn't delete these old photos either!"

  "Of course not. But do you remember what our first photo together was?"

  "It must have been on Youlu Island." That day they had taken all sorts of group photos, team photos, competition photos, dinner photos, and so on.

  "I knew you wouldn't remember." He scrolled back and found a photo from when he first joined the team. There had been a conceptual error on a blueprint he drew. Su Xian had called a team meeting, hand-drawn the error on the whiteboard to explain it, and then made him go up to correct it. Xu Shuyi had taken that photo as a meeting record.

  In the photo, Su Xian had one hand on her hip and the other pointing at the whiteboard, instructing Li Chengshi. She looked a bit fierce, and Li Chengshi clearly looked a little scared.

  "Xu Shuyi really can't capture a good moment! She ruined my image. Delete it, quick. But why did you keep this? Don't tell me you’ve had a crush on me since back then?"

  "No. I kept it to complain about you to my mom, telling her you were a devil boss. But she said, 'She's teaching you for free, don't be picky; what you learn is yours.' From then on, every time you were mean to me, I comforted myself with those words."

  "Wow. So to get you, I spent my knowledge, my body, and my money. That's a huge investment."

  "Is it the money you regret the most?"

  "Hehe."

  "I’ll definitely be good to you, to make you feel that 1 million was worth it."

  "Then let's have sex every day."

  "Shut up!"

  **