It's hard to quit, but it's the perfect marriage!

Breakfast was eaten in the courtyard.

Under the parasol, a carefully prepared breakfast was served.

Zhu Xi deliberately dawdled and didn't come out for a long time.

I didn't expect it to be here in the height of summer.

She was talking animatedly to Zhou Yinghuai, who had a stoic expression on his face.

The expressions on their faces were like two contrasting images: one smiling radiantly in heaven, the other watching the snow fall for millennia on a glacier.

Zhou Yinghuai noticed her skirt immediately and stood up to look at her shadow on the cobblestone pavement.

"Isn't it sunny standing there?"

Zhu Xi took a step forward, her lips red and teeth white, "I was afraid of interrupting your conversation."

Zhou Yinghuai walked a few steps toward her, his smile as usual, light yet not indifferent, "There's nothing you can't hear."

"We're talking about stocks," he said, not hiding anything from her, "stocks that have always had great potential."

Zhu Xi spends most of her time in the hospital, constantly performing surgeries and treating patients.

For her, stock investments and financial management are not as tangible as being a recovered patient or undergoing a long but successful surgery.

"Oh." She wasn't very interested. "I have no potential for managing money."

Zhou Yinghuai shielded her from the sunlight, casting a thin shadow over her face.

Their gazes met, one bright and one dark.

"What you don't have, I do." Zhou Yinghuai stared into her watery eyes, and could still smell the faint jasmine fragrance on her.

Zhu Xi awkwardly looked away, leaving the brief shadow, passing through the holy light, and walking towards the light.

In the height of summer, she lived up to her name, radiant and optimistic. As she approached, she raised her right hand high and said, "Good morning, Dean Zhu."

Zhu Xi returned with a sincere smile, "Good morning, Boss Sheng."

In the sweltering summer heat, she raised an eyebrow and immediately jumped up, stealing Zhou Yinghuai's thunder by pulling out a chair for her. "Please, Dean Zhu."

Zhu Xi lowered her chin slightly and thanked him again.

In the height of summer, he was an instant friend, a fact Zhou Yinghuai had known for over twenty years.

Zhu Xi was also very outgoing; he had only found out a minute ago.

Two iced Americanos clinked together gently. In the sweltering summer heat, she asked, "Dean Zhu, did you sleep well last night?"

Zhu Xi took a sip of the cool, bitter coffee, which made her feel much more awake and cheerful. "Not bad."

I happened to send her a picture as a congratulatory gift.

Zhu Xi opened it, glanced at it only once, and placed it on the table in despair.

The screen was still lit. Zhou Yinghuai adjusted her plate, glanced at it, and praised, "The stock you chose is very good; it has a steady upward trend."

Are you serious?

Zhou Yinghuai boasted shamelessly, "Yes, look at this red trend."

He chuckled, "You're much better than in the height of summer."

Zhu Xi stared at him with a mournful expression. "But this is a weight trend chart for the past month or so!"

Zhou Yinghuai: "..."

Zhu Xi then gave a death stare, "It's only been this long since I met you."

In the midsummer heat, he paused for a second, then slapped his thigh and burst into laughter, unable to stop.

Zhou Yinghuai explained dejectedly, trying to salvage the situation, "It seems you've only gained muscle; your physique looks the same as when you got your marriage certificate."

Zhu Xi gave a standard fake smile, "Mr. Zhou is such a kind person."

She picked up a sandwich with a fierce look, but instead of eating it right away, she stared at the sandwich's layers for a while, her lips curving upwards, and said in an exaggerated tone, "Boss Sheng, this place is nice, the wind is gentle and the clouds are light, and the birds are singing and the flowers are blooming."

"Should I not eat this sandwich just so my weight chart doesn't look as good?"

The hot weather was made much more comfortable by the breeze in the suburbs.

Zhou Yinghuai's words made me feel hot again.

Zhu Xi thought dining outdoors would be enjoyable, but it turned out to be a disaster.

"You need to eat well as well, even if you sleep well." Sheng Xiali suppressed a laugh and took a sip of coffee. "Dean Zhu can't let Ah Huai's hard work go to waste."

Zhu Xi gritted her teeth, "Is that so?"

"Yeah, Ah Huai mentioned you were coming camping, and I even said I'd take you guys to the reservoir."

In the sweltering summer, she spoke halfway through her sentence, her peach-blossom eyes crinkling into crescents, "Let's wait for Lingyi to come back next time; she loves organizing these things. By the way, Lingyi doesn't like playing the stock market."

Zhou Yinghuai, who was called out again, awkwardly took a sip of his iced Americano, which tasted sour, astringent, and bitter.

Whether or not to camp, Zhu Xi didn't care.

Because her original intention in bringing her here was not actually to camp.

Rather, it's about determining whether she has a strong destiny.

She looked at Zhou Yinghuai again, but before she could speak, the sandwich in her hand was replaced.

Zhou Yinghuai remained considerate and attentive, trying his best to cover up his earlier clumsiness, "Eat this, this fried egg is a bit more tender."

Zhu Xi accepted the compliment without comment, took a bite, and praised, "Which of you made this? It tastes good. It's just a pity that this is my first time eating it, so I can't compare it with the trend chart."

Zhou Yinghuai's face flushed slightly. He touched the tip of his nose and looked into the misty distance.

He chuckled in the sweltering summer heat, but that didn't stop him from claiming the credit first. "Of course it's me..."

Meeting Zhu Xi's clearly disbelieving gaze, he slapped his hand heavily and said, "It's my dear childhood friend, Ah Huai, who's really good at stock trading and managing money!"

Zhou Yinghuai had no choice but to look away, and smiled at Zhu Xi, "Don't listen to his nagging, eat quickly."

In the height of summer, I marvel at the ambiguous, pinkish-red bubbles before me.

"Our Ah Huai has been capable since he was a child, and he's handsome and has a great physique."

Zhu Xi felt like she was being sold melons by a peddler in the sweltering summer heat.

"Dean Zhu, it's no exaggeration to say that someone like our Ah Huai—refined, abstinent, considerate, with eight-pack abs and handsome features—" Sheng Xia paused for half a second, a playful smile on her face, her voice lowered, "is more than capable!"

Sure enough, Guagua kicked him on Monday, yelling, "Get out if you're not going to eat!"

She appears delicate and fragile in the sweltering summer, but vows, "I'll show no mercy to my brothers!"

Zhu Xi listened casually, her attention completely focused on the food.

She never expected that knowing Zhou Yinghuai for just over a month would shake her weight, which had remained stable for many years.

Ironically, congratulations not only kill but also destroy one's spirit.

Coincidentally, Zhou Yinghuai was very good at stock trading.

Zhou Yinghuai was afraid that the jokes in the middle of summer would go too far and upset her even more. Seeing her cheeks puffed out, he remembered what she had said when they first met at the hospital.

The doctor's jokes were a bit too much.

Her current calm and composed demeanor perfectly illustrates this statement.

He placed the sliced ​​peaches and strawberries in a white porcelain bowl and asked, "Would you like some yogurt mixed in?"

Zhu Xi looked at the cut fruit, puzzled.

Zhou Yinghuai forked a piece of strawberry tip for her to try.

Zhu Xi's retreat was clearly a trap.

In the height of summer, I felt like a golden crow hanging in the sky, a giant light bulb whose kilowatt-hours could not be measured.

I find Zhou Yinghuai's husbandly demeanor even more offensive.

He secretly took a photo and posted it in his childhood friends' group chat.

[Heavens above, Ah Huai seems possessed by a lovesick fool.]

My great-aunt practiced spiritual cultivation in Northeast China, and I've decided to ask her to come out of seclusion and help Ah Huai find his soul.

[I got yelled at by him all morning just because the strawberries weren't sweet, and he even bought me fresh yogurt all the way from the city.]

The strawberries weren't sweet, but the budding feelings were genuine.

Zhou Yinghuai tried his best to maintain the balance in their relationship, so as not to make Zhu Xi uncomfortable, and even more so to prevent Zhu Xi from noticing any imbalance.

Similarly, Zhu Xi was also involved.

In the sweltering summer, I was bombarded with displays of affection in real life and scolded in a group chat for being blind to love.

Now he obediently started drinking coffee again.

"Sister Xi," Zhou Yinghuai said softly, "there's a lucky draw at the wedding at noon. The grand prize is a car. Would you like to participate?"

Zhu Xi shook her head and stirred the yogurt bowl that Zhou Yinghuai had prepared for her a couple of times. "I've always had bad luck."

She gave an awkward laugh. "I've never had any luck growing up. I've never even won a pack of tissues."

When she was in school, she went out with Zhu He and Su Daiqing to play and buy scratch-off lottery tickets, but she never won a single penny.

In the height of summer, he clearly didn't believe it; Zhu Xi's face gave him the feeling of a lucky cat.

Especially those bright, dark eyes.

"Really?"

Zhu Xi replied earnestly, "Really."

"When we were in school, my brother, Su Daiqing, and I would go out to play. Su Daiqing liked to buy scratch-off lottery tickets. He would buy me a gift that matched the winning numbers."

Those days were indeed happy.

Because the surprise is doubled.

"I've never won, but Su Daiqing always does." Zhu Xi's smile never faded as she recalled that time. "Really, he's very lucky."

Zhou Yinghuai, who was standing to the side, suddenly spoke up, "That's not called good luck."

Zhu Xi looked up at him. "Then what is good luck?"

In the sweltering summer, the perfect opportunity to help out is, "Of course, it's meeting our Ah Huai!"

Zhu Xi smiled, tilting her head, and said, "That's true!"