Tokyo: Starting with taking on his wife's debts

"You're not allowed to mention it in front of me again..." Ayako's straightened body relaxed, her gaze swept past Hideaki to the door, she picked up the embroidered handkerchief, and asked softly, "Hideaki-kun, where should I put this needle?"

Xiuming glanced back.

"Honey, I want to go home and visit..."

Riko was standing at the door, and although she maintained a dignified posture, her body was somewhat stiff and her eyes were trembling. In particular, her voice sounded weak and vulnerable.

"Go home? Let's eat first. Mrs. Sugita, where's your kitchen?"

Xiuming was immediately disappointed in him.

Although he thinks this personality is very good, wouldn't he become a punching bag if he were to face Ayako alone?

"Riko-chan, how can you leave without eating?" Ayako's eyes were smiling, and she could hardly suppress her smile. "As the hostess, it would make me feel very rude and sad."

Riko blushed, clutched her sleeves tightly, and lowered her head.

"Are you being polite?" Hideaki stood up abruptly, pointed at Ayako's forehead, and shouted, "How can you talk to my wife like that? Apologize to her."

Ayako's eyebrows twitched, and she pouted. "Riko-chan, I'm sorry, I was rude. Can you forgive me?"

Riko didn't say anything, turned around and went back to the next room, and soon after, the sound of crying could be heard.

Ayako froze, then covered her mouth with a smile in her eyes.

"You sly fox, don't bully her!" Xiuming poked Ayako's forehead with his index finger.

"She seems so easy to bully, what can I do?" Ayako shook the silver hairpin pendant in her hair bun and said with a sidelong glance, "You said you'd eat me alive for the rest of your life, she'll definitely get some benefits too, can't I just vent my emotions?"

Xiuming turned and left the room before she could finish speaking.

"Bastard, scumbag..."

Ayako was taken aback, grabbed a white goose-feather pillow and threw it, but it landed on the ground by the door.

In the next room, when Hideaki walked in, Riko had already collapsed onto the single bed, burying her head in the white pillow and sobbing.

"If you keep crying, I'll get angry." Xiuming pulled her up, pulled out a handful of tissues, wiped her face haphazardly, and then stuffed them into her hand.

"Am I not even allowed to cry?" Riko lowered her head and wiped her eyes with a tissue.

"Didn't we talk about this last night?" Xiuming thought for a moment. If he repeated what he said last night here, the most convincing thing would inevitably involve the "fake identity," and Ayako next door might overhear. At this time, it was better to keep her busy so she wouldn't have time to be jealous or sad. "Go to the kitchen, your husband will teach you how to cook. Once you learn how to cook delicious food, I won't want to leave you. Do you want to learn?"

"I...I'll learn..." Riko wiped away her tears.

“She can’t compare to you. You’re the original wife, we’re legally married, and I can’t divorce you.” Hideaki pulled Riko to the door, then pointed at the grinning Ayako, and continued to Riko, “So someone like her has no future…”

Ayako, who was secretly chuckling, froze instantly. Before Hideaki could finish speaking, she grabbed the wooden clogs and threw them at him, shouting, "Then sign the contract! Once you sign it, I promise I'll never come looking for you again!"

Xiuming caught the wooden clogs and tossed them back, asking, "Where's the kitchen?"

How could I possibly sign her? She's a potential money-maker.

Ayako narrowed her eyes, tugged at her clothes, and grinned. "Downstairs, turn right."

She deduced from Xiuming's deliberate avoidance of the topic that he couldn't bear to part with her.

It's the same European-style kitchen, but three times the size of Xiuming's kitchen, just like a restaurant's kitchen.

A wide variety of fresh vegetables are available, along with beef, salmon, king crab, and prawns kept in aquariums, as well as cherries, melons, and strawberries in the refrigerator...

“Her family is so rich…” Riko was stunned again.

Xiuming stared blankly at these high-end ingredients.

Could Mrs. Sugita be lying all the time? Could she really have inherited a large fortune?

I doubt she'd tell the truth if I asked her face-to-face.

After all, she had already given up. Although they had caught her red-handed, they couldn't really push her to the brink. She might actually dare to write in her diary and identify the murderer.

"Never mind her for now, just pick the most expensive ones to eat. They're not ours anyway, so don't worry about wasting them." Xiuming took a plate of strawberries from the refrigerator, rinsed them under the tap, and handed Riko the biggest one. "Let me see your hand..."

Although Riko's finger joint injury hasn't fully healed, she can now enjoy a seafood feast without any problems.

Xiuming was completely relieved.

"Isn't this... a bit inappropriate?" Riko held a strawberry and took a small bite. "Wouldn't that be too rude?"

"She's already seducing your husband, and you're still thinking about her?" Xiuming almost blurted out what was on his mind.

However, if the topic came up again, she would start crying and being annoying, so she immediately stopped talking and changed her tune: "She is impersonating you and stealing your husband's technology patent. This is a very shameful act. Now that we have her red tape, we have to make her pay dearly."

"Should we report her?" Riko wanted to say this, but she couldn't bring herself to say it. Besides the possibility of driving Ayako to her death, Hideaki's attitude also showed that he had fallen for that big-breasted woman... I hate her so much...

Afterwards, while Hideaki was busy cooking a big meal, Riko kept her head down, eating the strawberry fruit platter. After finishing the strawberries, she ate cherries and melon...

Eat less!

Halfway through his meal, Xiuming noticed that Riko was still eating, so he quickly took the fruit plate from her hands. "We'll be eating dinner later. If you like it, take some home with you."

Xiuming prepared a seafood feast: sashimi, sushi, prawns, crab, seaweed and egg drop soup, and finally a bowl of vegetable udon noodles.

"Honey?" Riko pointed at the udon noodles. "We can't eat anymore, can we?"

"This is for Mrs. Sugita," Hideaki said, smirking as he looked upstairs. "Patients can't eat beef, mutton, onions, ginger, garlic, or seafood. This is all she can eat."

You're so good to her..." Riko paused, nodded silently, grabbed a piece of sashimi sushi, stuffed it into her mouth, and chewed it fiercely, her voice tinged with grievance.

"How does it taste?" Xiuming asked.

"Delicious..." It was indeed very tasty, but Riko was even more upset. Learning to cook such a delicious dish seemed incredibly difficult...

Because there are so many elaborate dishes, we have to eat them at the tables in the first-floor restaurant.

Hideaki had originally sent the udon noodles to Ayako's room so she could eat them herself.

But Ayako refused to eat, insisting on going downstairs to eat with them.

However, Ayako's ankle injury prevented her from going down the stairs alone, so Hideaki had to carry her down.

Xiuming said, "The restaurant is serving a seafood feast. You can't eat it, but you'll regret it if you just watch us eat."

"Hmph~" Ayako tilted her head to look at Riko, hugged Hideaki's neck tightly, and said loudly, "Won't Riko-chan be angry if you carry me down the stairs like this?"

Riko, sitting at the dining table, kept her head down and remained motionless, as if she hadn't heard anything.

Xiuming completely ignored her green rhetoric and placed her on a chair at the dining table.

"Riko-chan, try some crab meat, open your mouth~"

Xiuming dipped the tender white crab meat in sauce and held it to Riko's lips.

Riko fluttered her eyelashes, glanced at Ayako who was staring intently at her, then quickly looked away. She obediently opened her mouth, slowly chewing the crab meat, then picked up a large shrimp, peeled it, and offered the meat to Hideaki's lips. Her face slightly flushed, she whispered, "Honey~ you eat..."

Hideaki opened his mouth wide and even swallowed a bit of her finger. "Riko-chan is amazing!"

Ayako's jaw seemed to dislocate, and the chopsticks in her hand fell to the table with a "thud." She blinked, put her hand on the chopsticks, glanced under the table, stared at Hideaki, and said in a trembling voice, "I dropped my chopsticks, pick them up for me."

Riko, however, grabbed a new pair of chopsticks first, silently placed them beside her, then sat back down and began eating seafood.

Hideaki was very pleased with this, because Riko was slowly changing.

Ayako's attitude seems to only grow stronger with each setback; I truly admire her courage.

I didn't want to show off my relationship in front of her, but she insisted on making me feel like I was being fed dog food (a Chinese slang term for witnessing public displays of affection).

Only Hideaki enjoyed the meal; Riko, who had originally eaten a lot of strawberries, couldn't eat any more after a little.

Although Ayako finished all the udon noodles, her complexion was not good.

"Teach me embroidery!" Ayako glanced at the seemingly easy-going Riko. "Riko-chan, would you like to learn too?"

Riko turned away, not wanting to talk to her.

She simply couldn't understand why this woman was so shameless, flirting with Xiuming right in front of her, and even deliberately pulling down her shirt to reveal an unsightly cleavage, as if no one else did...

She couldn't bring herself to say harsh words to people she disliked, so she could only choose to ignore them.

Moreover, in reality, her own situation was also very difficult. Xiuming was a substitute husband who didn't even tell her his real name.

Chapter 28 No "Malicious Crying"

We didn't finish the seafood feast.

"We won't cook lunch, let's just eat this," Hideaki patted his stomach, picked a fish bone from his teeth, and said, "Riko-chan, put these vegetables in the refrigerator!"

As the weather got hotter, the food would spoil easily if left outside. Just as Xiuming picked up a fish bone to pick his teeth, Riko had already started preparing, bringing plates of fish into the kitchen.

Ayako pushed the toothpick box next to Hideaki. "Riko-chan, don't you care about your husband? Look, he's even using fish bones to pick his teeth."

Riko's hand holding the plate trembled slightly. She glanced at Hideaki but didn't say anything.

"What's it to you what happens between my husband and me? Shut up! I like picking my teeth with fish bones."

As Xiuming was speaking, a fishbone in his hand snapped off between his teeth with a "crack," so he had to pick it out with a toothpick.

Ayako burst out laughing, her chest rippling with laughter.

Riko pouted and silently walked into the kitchen.

The weaker Riko is, the more she will embolden Ayako's arrogance.

Hideaki immediately turned around and called out, "Riko-chan, if you're angry, just slap her in the mouth. Don't hold back. She has an injured ankle and can't catch up with you."

"Knowing she can't do it, you still say it on purpose," Ayako chuckled, leaning forward slightly, opening her shirt a crack, tilting her chin up to reveal her fair neck and delicate collarbone. She glanced at him sideways and laughed, "Want to hit me for her? Anywhere is fine~"

She had just witnessed a dog-food scene and felt particularly upset. Taking advantage of her ankle injury, Xiuming couldn't do anything to her, so she deliberately acted so presumptuously, just to spite Riko.

"You write things like this in your diary?"

Riko's grievances hadn't subsided. Although she wouldn't rush up to stop him, he figured she'd burst into tears as soon as he touched her. Crying all the time was annoying, so Hideaki decided to ignore it for now. He didn't bother chatting with Ayako about anything new, and casually picked up a strawberry, tossing it into the swaying front of her shirt. Surprisingly, it got stuck perfectly.

Hideaki was quite surprised.

Ayako lowered her head and held it up, then blinked quickly twice, leaned forward, and said, "You are not allowed to waste food. I order you to eat it."

Just as she finished speaking, Riko, who happened to be walking over, grabbed the strawberries with a flushed face, threw them into the trash can under the table, and then picked up a plate of shrimp and headed to the kitchen.

"My...my husband said that if it's not ours, we don't need to cherish it..." Riko stammered as she hid in the kitchen and didn't come out again.

My husband was completely stunned... That shameless woman, I hate her so much... Next time I'll do the same to the strawberries... I was too impulsive just now, doing something so rude, will I make my husband angry? I'm so worried...

In the restaurant, Ayako didn't know how to respond for a moment, and her face turned red.

She actually tried to stop me?