Lu Xinyi felt a hand touched her back as she inhaled her tea, her coughing covered by a white napkin. Her husband looked more composed for her sake.

“Dad.” Shen Yi warned.

“I was just asking!” Shen Huang defended himself while Lu Xinyi ceased her coughing fit, her throat clearing off the liquid. “Your Aunt An will be arriving next week with his grandchildren. I’m just curious when will you and Xin’er planning to give me some.”

“Let them do as they wish. I’m sure it’s part of their plan.” Madam Shen chastised her son, her brown eyes turning to look at Lu Xinyi. “Are you alright, dear?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” Lu Xinyi took a deep breath, “just… sort of caught me by surprise”

“I’m sorry, Xin’er.” Shen Huang mumbled, “I shouldn’t have asked that but at least we know Yi isn’t gay.”

“How sure are you that he isn’t gay?” Shen Xue came back with a plate of chocolate tart and went back to his seat.

“Xue!” Shen Huang exclaimed. These two sons of his, when they were going to plan to stop bickering and insulting each other?

“Even if I was gay, I’m sure Xinyi can covert me and make me straighter than your pole.” Shen Yi said nonchalantly. “Or did you forget what you’ve heard on your first night in my place?”

Lu Xinyi’s face flushed deep and pinched her husband’s side, throwing glares on his direction.

“Shen Yi!”

“What? It’s time for me to evict him to our home. Didn’t he say he will only stay for a week?” Shen Yi countered. “Xue, I want you out of my place before this weekend,” he told his brother.

Shen Xue gasped. He thought with his Big Sis being injured, he could convince his brother to stay a little longer.

“So selfish! You don’t want to share Big Sis’s dishes for me.”

“There’s nothing to contest about it. She’s my wife so the priority should be mine.” Shen Yi replied, “As you know, Xinyi decided to take an entrance exam at Silver Leaf so you will have to wait a little longer until she decided she’s ready.”

Madam Shen smiled at Lu Xinyi while the younger woman blushed furiously, their conversation moving thankfully away from the topic of marriage and children. Their lunch ended with Xinyi promising to cook something for Madam Shen while Shen Huang teased his youngest son being bribed with food.

—

“It seems like you’re having fun. Don’t you wanna go home?”

Lu Xinyi turned to look at her husband lying on the bed, with his coat and shoes removed. Her bare feet padded back on the carpeted floor and made sure not to put pressure on her injured foot.

“I’m just glad that they accepted me without a problem. I was worried that they will kick me out as soon as they found out I came from the Sun family,” she confessed. She had changed her dress on a nightshirt and crawled beside Shen Yi.

Wrapping an arm around her, Shen Yi took in her scent.

“Are you tired?”

“Relax and satisfied.” Shen Yi corrected her. She wasn’t the only one who was worried about his family. He’d also taken care of Sun Ruying making sure she couldn’t hurt his wife again by filing a restraining order against her.

“I heard what happened to Aunt Ruying’s Crystal Sun. Did you do it? What did you do?”

Shen Yi lowered his eyes, he could not tell her exactly what he had done, but he could not and would not lie to his wife.

“I did what was necessary, Xinyi. She can never hurt you again.”

It wasn’t like he killed someone but taking away everything from Sun Ruying was a heartless move from him. She had threatened and hurt his woman, did she really think he will let it pass?

By all rights, Lu Xinyi should be afraid of him, of what he could do and yet her twisted logic that refused to fault him for getting revenge using her name and hurting her own kin.

Lu Xinyi buried her head against him and choked back her tears. She knew she shouldn’t blame herself from what happened to her aunt but she couldn’t help butto feel bad that Shen Yi did something bad for her sake.

“I’ll be careful next time. You really don’t have to do this.”

With a deep sigh, Shen Yi enfolded her deeply in his arms.

“No, Xinyi. The fault was their own. If they didn’t hurt you, I wouldn’t do anything to them. Whatever happened to them, it was my own responsibility to protect you.”

“But—”

“No buts, Xinyi.” Shen Yi whispered softly, chuckling and leaning down to whisper in her ear, “For you, beloved… I will destroy empires and will take the risk just to keep you mine.”

Lu Xinyi wiped her teary face and grinned at her husband. It was then she realized that he was afraid to lose her.

“I’m yours. Besides, who else would be foolish enough to put up with a woman like me?” she joked.

“Xinyi, my dear Xinyi. There are many fools in the world and many of them are men and I would have you regardless of what the others think of you.” he ran his fingers on her side.

“My husband has a weird sense of romance. So twisted.”

“Oh? Does my Xinyi prefer more the traditional approach?” His hand glided down from her small back groped her butt and pushed her body against his.

“Pervert!”

“Why, of course only for you, my dear wife. If you aren’t injured, I could have taken you right here, right now.”

At that, Lu Xinyi laughed out loud and shoved him away from her. “You aren’t getting any until my foot heals.” To stress her point, she lifted up her injured foot for him to see.