From humble beginnings to the pinnacle of life

The key point is that this courtyard is not small, with several rooms of different sizes.

Every room was spotless, but something just didn't look right.

I stood in the living room and scanned the surroundings, still puzzled. I turned to Su Qing and asked:

"You didn't spend a lot of time cleaning, did you? Several rooms are spotless; this is so unlike you!"

Su Qing paused slightly, gave me a dry laugh, and looked somewhat embarrassed.

"To tell you the truth, I didn't clean these."

I'm not surprised at all. If she dared to pat her chest and say that she did all the cleaning herself, then I would really be suspicious.

I shook my head helplessly and asked, "Did you hire a cleaning service to clean this place?"

She nodded slightly, pursed her lips as if struggling internally, and then suddenly added:

"I'll tell you another secret, but please don't get angry."

My brows furrowed instantly, and my heart skipped a beat.

Judging from her hesitant manner, it's clear she has something important on her mind.

But when she was about to say it, she shook her head and waved her hand.

"Never mind, I'd better not say anything. It would be terrible if you got really angry after I heard it."

"You've already brought this up, and you already think I'll get angry before you've even said anything? Is it something to do with principles?" I pressed on.

Su Qing hesitated and agonized for a long time before finally mustering up the courage to speak.

"Do you remember how you rented this courtyard in the first place?"

I was stunned for a moment, and my mind quickly searched for previous memories.

Then he said, "It was an elderly couple who said they wanted to move to the city to take care of their grandson and were willing to let me live in their courtyard for free, but there was a hard condition: they had to be a couple to move in."

Halfway through my sentence, a sudden inspiration struck me.

I felt something was off about this from the start. What landlord in the world is so kind as to offer the house for free and then restrict it to couples only?

At that time, I was in a hurry to find a place to stay, and Su Qing was willing to cooperate with me to pretend to be my partner, so I didn't investigate the strangeness of the situation.

Now that she had reminded him, countless clues came together in his mind.

Before she could speak further, I stared at her and retorted, "Could it be that you originally rented this courtyard? And that elderly couple, were they also someone you arranged to put on an act to fool me?"

Su Qing chuckled: "You have quite the imagination. Things aren't as complicated as you think."

"So what exactly are you trying to tell me? Stop keeping me in suspense, you've got me completely confused."

Su Qing sighed softly, her expression becoming extremely serious, and said, word by word:

"Actually, this courtyard house belongs to me; the property certificate is in my name."

I froze on the spot, my eyes wide open, staring at her in disbelief.

While I was still in a daze, Su Qing continued, "That elderly couple from before, I did indeed hire them to act. If I had directly told you that the house belonged to me and invited you to move in, knowing your personality, you definitely wouldn't have come."

It took me a long time to process what I was seeing before I slowly came to my senses.

Then, with a hint of disbelief, she asked, "Really? So you went through all that trouble back then, and you already had your eye on me?"

Su Qing rolled her eyes at me and said, "To be honest, I did have some feelings for you back then, but it wouldn't be fair to say I was head over heels for you."

"Then why go through all this trouble to make me move in, and pretend we're a couple living here together?" I asked, puzzled.

Su Qing shrugged and said in a flat tone:

"Back then, I saw you running around looking for a place, but you couldn't find one that suited your taste. I wanted to come and live here myself, but I was scared because I was the only girl living in such a big courtyard. So I thought of a way to bring you here to keep me company."

The reason is simple, but it is very convincing.

I stood silently in place, pondering her words.

Thinking about it carefully, if I had been told the truth from the beginning, I, with my strong sense of self-respect, would most likely not have accepted it.

After a pause, I looked at her again and asked, "Then why did you buy a house here out of the blue?"

Su Qing slowly shook her head, her tone suddenly becoming a few degrees lower.

"It was left to me by my grandmother."

Upon hearing this, I understood instantly.

Su Qing had the deepest bond with her grandmother since childhood, and it's likely that before the old lady passed away, she transferred the ownership of this old courtyard house to Su Qing's name.

No wonder Su Qing's parents were able to find this secluded little courtyard back then.

This also explains the strange rule that the landlord insisted on couples staying there.

Everything was arranged by Su Qing.

Su Qing pouted slightly, secretly glancing at my expression, and asked cautiously, "You...you're not angry with me, are you?"

Looking at her anxious expression, I felt no anger at all.

I took two steps forward, stretched out my arm, and pulled her tightly into my arms.

The faint, sweet fragrance emanating from her lingered around my nose, filling me with a mix of emotions.

"I'm not angry. To be honest, I should thank you properly."

"If you hadn't used this method to let me move in, I wouldn't have had so many opportunities to spend time with you, and we wouldn't have gotten to where we are today. I also wouldn't have received that mission in the no-man's-land later."

Su Qing stretched out her arms and hugged my waist, burying her head in my chest, her voice muffled.

"I'm so glad you're not angry. I've wanted to tell you this for a long time, but I was always afraid you'd blame me for deceiving you, so I never had the courage to speak up."

"You silly girl." I gently patted her back.

Su Qing immediately became defiant, raising her head to glare at me.

"Don't call me stupid! If I were really stupid, how could I have tricked you into marrying me?"

I couldn't help but chuckle out loud: "So, you tricked me into getting what I wanted?"

"That's one way to understand it." She raised her chin, a hint of smugness on her face.

I took a deep breath, my nostrils filled with her scent, which completely relaxed my tired body.

Su Qing could see that I was exhausted, so she reached out and gently patted my back.

"Alright, you've been up to this for so long, go and get some rest."

"It's okay, I can stay with you," I said softly.

"Don't push yourself; your body hasn't fully recovered yet."

"I'm much better now. I've recovered for two days since entering the city, and my strength has returned to a lot."

Su Qing actually wanted me to stay by her side, so she stopped trying to persuade me to rest.

She released her grip on my arm, turned around, walked to the table, and took out her laptop.

The card reader, mouse, and keyboard were set up one by one.

During those twenty-odd days in the no-man's-land, my action camera captured a massive amount of footage; I have absolutely no idea how much material I've saved.

Su Qing took out the memory card, inserted it into the card reader, and connected it to the computer.

The moment she opened the materials folder, even she couldn't help but gasp.

More than 200 gigabytes of video files densely filled the screen.

Su Qing turned her head, her eyes wide with surprise, and exclaimed, "My God! They actually filmed so much footage!"