Chapter 3 (1/2)

Chapter 3

【7】

When Mrs. Cheng opened up her online shopping cart, she was surprised to find the items inside missing. After standing astounded for a while, she suddenly remembered reading on the microblogs about a husband who’d bought all the things in his wife’s online shopping cart as a wedding anniversary gift. Mrs. Cheng’s face turned red…could it be that Chen Youlin was finally going to get romantic?

But when she turned around to see the snoring man laying spread-eagle on the bed, she realized that idea wasn’t realistic. Mrs. Cheng narrowed her eyes and mused, did this guy think I bought too many things and left them all out?

At this, Mrs. Cheng couldn’t keep still anymore. She climbed onto the bed and pinched Mr. Cheng’s b.u.t.t. “Chen Youlin! Did you do something bad again?”

The sleepy Mr. Chen turned over from the pain, groggily issuing a reply. “I’m a good person.”

Mrs. Cheng kept pinching his b.u.t.t. “Why did the things in my shopping cart disappear! Did you take them out?!”

“Ng…” Mr. Chen impatiently rubbed his pillow as he avoided her hand. “I bought them.”

Cheng Yiran gave a start. “What?”

“I bought them, mhmm…”

Cheng Yiran fell silent as she quietly lay by Mr. Chen’s side, leaning against his back with a mournful tone. “There were lots of things inside that I just wanted a look at. Why did you buy them? It’s a waste of money.” After a while, she rubbed Mr. Chen’s back with an extremely sweet smile. “It’s rare to see such romantic cells in your body. I don’t regret marrying you.”

A few days later, the express mail delivered some items that Mrs. Cheng happily opened up before her expression fell. “What are these?”

Mr. Chen was lying on the sofa watching TV when he swept his eyes over to reply. “The things from your online shopping cart.”

Mrs. Cheng took the items out one by one. A necktie, suit, and leather shoes–these were all men’s items, making Mrs. Cheng rather confused. “But why are they all men’s things? Where are my clothes? My shoes?”

Mr. Chen munched on beef jerky as he mumbled out a reply, “I know you women like to look at things you don’t have, but a lot of things you never end up buying. There were so many things in your shopping cart that I only picked a few useful things and bought those. Ah, it’s still my wife who treats me well. You put in so many things there for my sake, so nice.”

Mrs. Cheng turned expressionlessly to stare at Mr. Chen. “What standards were you using to pick them? How do you know these things would definitely be useful, rather than something I was just looking at?”

“Because my wife loves me!”

“Go die!” Cheng Yiran threw the clothes atop Chen Yulin’s body. “Tonight, you can sleep on your own with Meatball!”

“Aye? Why are you mad, wifey? I’ll scram for you again, all right? I’ll act cute!”

“Ahhh! Why did I marry a wretch like you?!”

【8】

Today Mrs. Cheng got mad at the office and went home in a bad temper. Mr. Chen had yet to return, so she began to clean up the house and make dinner.

“Wife!” Mr. Chen opened the door and started shouting in the entrance hall before he even took off his shoes. “There’s good news!”

Mrs. Cheng tied her ap.r.o.n as she walked out of the kitchen with slice in hand, not caring in the least. “What, you picked up some gold?”

“That’s poor taste,” Mr. Chen was in high spirits as he spread out the poster alb.u.m in his hands. “The photography studio by our neighborhood is having a promotion.”

Mrs. Cheng’s reply was placid. “Oh, they’ll take artistic shots of our dog for free? We can take advantage of it with our Meatball.”

Mr. Chen was rather wounded, and indignantly tossed his briefcase on the sofa, scaring the snoring Meatball into trembling as he stared as his male owner. His owner pursed his lips and huffed, “You only have Meatball in your eyes!”

Mrs. Cheng raised an eyebrow. “Or else what, then? You can try rolling over on the ground and play cute. Oh, I almost forgot, you know how to do that too.” So speaking, she went back to her business in the kitchen.

Mr. Chen’s face turned green with anger as he sat on the couch feeling stifled. Seeing that no one was coming to comfort him, he adjusted his feelings and groveled his way to the kitchens, watching Mrs. Cheng as her back bustled about. “You don’t love me anymore, you won’t even come comfort me,” he faulted her.

Mrs. Cheng didn’t even turn around. “I love you. Bring the bowls and chopsticks over, it’s time to eat.”

Mr. Chen felt even more discomfited by Mrs. Cheng’s att.i.tude, and walked over to stick to her shadow. “You don’t love me anymore! You’re not even taking me seriously!”

“Have you made enough of a fuss? If you’re not getting the utensils, go clean up the table.”

“You’re ignoring me! You treat me so coldly!” Mr. Chen’s lip trembled. “Cheng Yiran, you betrayed me.”

Vexed and annoyed, Mrs. Cheng turned off the fire and spun around with a cold look. “Do you believe me when I say I’ll make Meatball lick all the meat dishes before feeding them to you?”

Chen Youlin squinted at the steaming stir-fried meat with green peppers, sucking in a breath as he stuck out his chest. Then he turned to take out the bowls and chopsticks and walked briskly out of the kitchen. “Wife, the table’s been arranged. Hurry over, I’m starving to death.”

—

After he filled his stomach, Mr. Chen placed the photography studio pamphlet on the table and pointed out a certain activity listed on the paper for Mrs. Cheng to see.

“What? Searching for memories from a previous life?” Mrs. Cheng pouted. “Did we know each other in a previous life? Why don’t I remember anything?”

“That’s why, ah, that’s why. You have to find your memories from a previous life,” Mr. Chen said with interest. “They say that before the artistic shoot, they’ll be a scriptwriter to give us a play for the two of us to act out. Then they’ll record it and take photographs. Doesn’t it sound like lots of fun?”

Mrs. Cheng dropped her head as she picked at her good. “Not going, I don’t have time.”

“I already signed us up!”