Sweetie, don't look at him, kiss me.

The air in the living room was so quiet that Lin Qingmian could clearly hear her own breathing.

It was as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over her head; her heart, which had been full of gratitude and excitement, instantly turned cold.

She knew the restaurant Su Tingwan had booked; it was called Black Swan.

Back when they were at their poorest, she and Jiang Yao worked part-time at this restaurant.

This is the most popular internet-famous restaurant in Fuzhou in the past two years. It only caters to couples and is always packed.

In particular, the glass-enclosed booths on the rooftop are not available by reservation; couples have to queue for several hours every day to get one.

This agonizing wait is described by businesses as "every minute of waiting in love is happiness."

Lin Qingmian stared at that photo for a long time.

It turns out that what Bai Cheng meant when she said Ji Linzhou was very busy and had to work overtime was that he was accompanying Su Tingwan to queue at a popular restaurant, experiencing the torment and waiting of love.

Opening Ji Linzhou's chat page, she felt she should send him something to justify her busy and expectant night.

But after hovering his finger above the screen for a long time, he finally put the phone down.

Lin Qingmian didn't know what to say.

She was only his wife in the legal sense.

Between them, there was only a cold marriage certificate and two physical encounters.

He also fulfilled his duties as a husband by bringing her back from the Lin family and helping her deal with the negative comments online.

She had no reason, nor any right, to disturb his date with the person he liked.

She took a deep breath and walked to the dining table.

The three dishes and one soup, which had just been reheated, were still neatly arranged on the table, steaming hot.

She swallowed the bitterness that shouldn't have been there in her heart, took out her tablet, found a horror movie, and ate all the food while watching it.

Whether it was because she was in a bad mood or because the horror movie was too awful, she rushed into the bathroom before she had finished eating and vomited violently.

The feeling of having her stomach forcibly emptied was so unpleasant that she was brought to tears.

After a long while, when her body felt less uncomfortable, she forced herself to get out of the bathroom.

Wash your face, rinse your mouth, and change your clothes.

After leaving the bathroom, she dumped all the unfinished food on the table into the trash can and cleaned the dining room and kitchen spotless.

After doing all this, she logged into her game account, which she hadn't used in a long time.

In the past two years, whenever she was in a bad mood or under a lot of pressure, she would log into her game account to vent and relieve stress in the game.

As soon as she logged in, Ji Xingqing pulled her into the game room: "Mianmian!"

Ji Xingqing's excited voice came through the voice channel: "That's rare! You're actually online! Want to join?"

Lin Qingmian turned on her microphone and smiled faintly, "Okay."

In the villa of the second branch of the Ji family, Ji Xingqing rolled her eyes and smiled, "I'll invite another friend, and the three of us can play together!"

As soon as she finished speaking, she took out another phone and sent a message to Ji Xingye: "Log in with my alternate account and play games with Mianmian!"

……

Black Swan's rooftop glass suite is located on the top floor of this 51-story building.

You can enjoy a panoramic view of the romantic nightscape of Fuzhou from the floor-to-ceiling windows.

The private room was dimly lit, with alluring music, creating a romantic and ambiguous atmosphere.

But Ji Linzhou seems to be completely devoid of romance.

He took the wine glass from the waiter, sipped the red wine, and glanced indifferently at the woman sitting opposite him: "You really waited in line here for three hours for this seat?"

Su Tingwan kept stealing glances at his angular face.

Hearing him ask this question, she assumed he was worried about her, and quickly lowered her head shyly: "Yes, but I think it's worth it, because..."

"Three hours of queuing time is enough for you to read the script of a new play."

The man gracefully set down his wine glass, his voice calm: "If you had used the time you would spend doing these pointless things on your career, you would have been a movie queen long ago."

Su Tingwan's smile froze for a moment.

After a long pause, she finally twitched her stiff muscles and smiled, "Thank you for believing in me..."

"I will work hard."

"Thank you for your kind words. I will definitely win the Best Actress award in the future."

She didn't seem to understand what he meant.

Ji Linzhou frowned, somewhat annoyed.

She simply couldn't bring herself to like Su Tingwan, that kind of silly beauty. She also didn't understand why the Ji family thought so highly of her and had been trying to matchmake him and her for years.

The man took another sip of red wine and changed the subject: "You said before that you knew a secret about Lin Qingmian?"

He hadn't originally intended to come to the appointment tonight.

Even though the old lady of the Ji family and his two sisters-in-law took turns sending him messages, he didn't even glance at them. Instead, he tossed the phone to Bai Cheng and told him to handle it.

But Su Tingwan's message to him said that she knew about Lin Qingmian's secret from last night.

He believed he knew Lin Qingmian well enough and didn't take her words seriously.

but……

What if Lin Qingmian is really hiding something from him?

Seeing his interest in gossip about Lin Qingmian, Su Tingwan felt a mix of emotions.

She and Ji Linzhou finally had something in common, and she should actually be happy about that.

But this topic is about another woman...

She paused, looked up at Ji Linzhou, and lowered her voice: "Have you seen the video of Miss Lin being beaten at school today?"

"They're saying she's a mistress!"

Ji Linzhou's fingers, holding the wine glass, paused slightly, a hint of annoyance rising in his eyes: "The secret you know is this?"

He had already seen those rumors about Lin Qingmian and had arranged for people to deal with them.

"Of course not!"

Noticing the impatience in his eyes, Su Tingwan quickly denied it, saying, "These rumors are circulating all over the internet, how can they be considered secrets?"

"Besides, I also found out that the woman who slapped Lin Qingmian wasn't a love rival, she was her mother."

"The secret I'm about to tell you is something else entirely..."

Hearing her say that, Ji Linzhou finally raised his eyes, looking at her properly for the first time tonight, but his voice carried a hint of impatience: "What secret is it?"

"My assistant gave me a video of a very close-up shot of Ms. Lin and her mother..."

Su Tingwan paused for a moment, took out her phone, found a video, and presented it to Ji Linzhou like a treasure, then clicked play.

In the shaky camera footage, Zhang Yuzhu points her finger at Lin Qingmian's nose and berates her: "How could I have raised such a shameless daughter like you?"

"Even if your nouveau riche husband in his fifties can't satisfy you, you shouldn't go around messing around with just anyone!"

……

With each additional word Zhang Yuzhu uttered in the video, Ji Linzhou's gaze deepened.

Especially when she heard her say the phrase "a nouveau riche husband in his fifties," the air inside the glass booth turned freezing cold, so oppressive that Su Tingwan almost suspected the air conditioner was broken.