I Want a Lifetime with You
Chapter 261

Actually, when Fu Chengyan said that all the food would be finished, he was actually referring to something else. As Shi Nuan was taking the basket of vegetables out, she heard the doorbell ring. Shi Nuan froze. "That's odd. Who's here at this hour?"

Not many people knew she lived there. Other than Fu Chengyan and Zhou Zheng, only Fu Xicheng and those from the Shi family knew she owned this apartment. It was unlikely for Fu Xicheng or the Shi family to show up at this time.

She put down the basket of vegetables and peeked through the peephole. When she saw who was standing outside, she was pretty surprised but quickly opened the door. Su Shaoqing looked rather refined and even had on a pair of glasses. He was carrying a fruit basket in one hand while the other was propped against the door frame. He unleashed that innocent smile of his. "Hello, Mrs. Fu! It's been a while!" Su Shaoqing waved at Shi Nuan and Shi Nuan could feel the corners of her mouth twitching. She gave him a placating smile, opened the door, and said, "Yes, it's been a while, Mr. Su!"

Shi Nuan welcomed Su Shaoqing in and looked around for a pair of slippers for him. But she soon gave up and told him, "Come right in. Don't worry about taking off your shoes."

"Okay!" Su Shaoqing grinned widely and followed Shi Nuan in. He placed the fruit basket on the coffee table and surveyed his surroundings. "Not bad. It's been months since I've been here. Can't believe it all still looks exactly... erm, different!"

Su Shaoqing pushed the rim of his glasses. To Shi Nuan, his actions conjured an image of a wolf in sheep's clothing. Su Shaoqing wasn't wearing much that day. He only had on a white shirt and a black suit with no outer coat. Shi Nuan felt cold just looking at him and quickly poured him a warm glass of water. "Mr. Su, why did you make time for a visit today?"

"What? Didn't Fu Chengyan tell you I was going to be stopping by today?" Su Shaoqing was confused and looked around for Fu Chengyan. He started to wander around and mumbled, "What's this Fu Chengyan trying to pull? He was the one who asked me to come. And also... hey, Fu Chengyan, there you are!"

Su Shaoqing awkwardly held his glass when he saw the man holding a knife in the kitchen. His lips twitched. "Hi, Fu Chengyan. Hehe. You should watch your expression while you're holding a knife. Right now you look quite frightening."

Su Shaoqing leaned against the doorway, looked at Fu Chengyan, and clucked his tongue. "Who would've known. I always thought you were the most aloof out of the four of us. I've always thought that you were the most likely one to become a lifelong bachelor. I never knew I'd live to see this day. You sure have turned over a new leaf!"

Fu Chengyan's fingers tightened around the knife as he raised an eyebrow at Su Shaoqing, who felt his hair stand on end. He quickly raised his hands and said, "I'm joking, I'm joking. Actually, the one who's going to become an old bachelor is Pei Jingxiu!"

Fu Chengyan snorted, "Scram!"

Su Shaoqing sauntered out of the kitchen and saw Shi Nuan sitting on a small stool, prepping the vegetables next to a bin. He went over and stared at her. "Mrs. Fu, Fu Chengyan has no sense of chivalry. He shouldn't have a little lady like you doing all these rough chores."

Rough chores?

Shi Nuan blinked a few times, looked at the vegetables in her hand, then looked at Su Shaoqing again. "What do you mean?"

"You should let the men take care of these things," said Su Shaoqing in a matter-of-fact way. He then yelled in the direction of the kitchen, "Am I not right, Fu Chengyan?"

Shi Nuan couldn't help but chuckle. "I think you're making a lot of sense."

Su Shaoqing nodded, "Right? Look at Fu Chengyan, he's not being considerate of you at all."

"In that case... I'll let you take over, Mr. Su." Shi Nuan shoved the vegetables into Su Shaoqing's hands then pushed the stool over to him. "Mr. Su, thank you for offering your services! I'll go watch TV." "Huh?" Su Shaoqing gaped at Shi Nuan's retreating figure and called out to her, "Erm... Mrs. Fu, I didn't mean me!" He couldn't believe he had brought this upon himself.

Shi Nuan turned around and flashed him a smile. "But... aren't you man? A manly man, in fact?"

"Of course I am!" Su Shaoqing nodded vigorously before realizing he was being conned. "Mrs. Fu, you were such an innocent young lady. Why're you learning these dirty tricks from Fu Chengyan?"

Shi Nuan grinned. "It's only natural for the wife to take after the husband. Since you chose to come over at this hour, I'm sure you planned to dine and drink here. Now that you're in this house, you should respect the house owner's wishes, am I right?"

Su Shaoqing's mouth twitched and felt the urge to give himself a few good slaps for running his mouth. Why didn't I just keep my mouth shut?

Shi Nuan may look innocent and helpless, but truthfully, she was much harder to deal with than those bad-tempered socialites.

Su Shaoqing massaged his temple and saw Fu Chengyan coming out of the kitchen right then. "Fu Chengyan, look at what your wife is doing!"

"What about my wife?" Fu Chengyan raised an eyebrow. "You can just leave if you're not happy being here."

Su Shaoqing was at a loss of words.

I can't mess with them! Fine. I'll just keep my mouth shut.

Su Shaoqing accepted his fate and unceremoniously plopped down on the little stool. He reluctantly prepped the vegetables while shooting accusatory stares at Shi Nuan every so often.

The meal itself was quite harmonious, and Shi Nuan finally understood what Fu Chengyan meant when he said the food would be finished. In fact, the food wasn't just 'finished' - Su Shaoqing gobbled it all down as if he hadn't eaten for days.

"Mr. Su, slow down. No one is going to take the food away from you." In the end, Shi Nuan and Fu Chengyan had satisfied their stomachs and placed their chopsticks down. They were seated opposite each other, but both turned to watch Su Shaoqing, who continued to inhale the food.

Yet, Su Shaoqing was still from a prestigious family, so even though he was 'inhaling' the food, he did so in a dignified and graceful manner.

When Shi Nuan saw that Su Shaoqing was nearly done, she quickly poured him a glass of water. "Mr. Su, how many days have you gone hungry?"

"Three!" Su Shaoqing raised three fingers. "I haven't had a proper meal in three days!"

Su Shaoqing had been having back-to-back surgeries. He had one that morning as well, but when he finished, he was so tired that he lost all appetite. After he got off work, he went straight home to sleep and only woke up in time for dinner.

"Mrs. Su, you don't know how hard it is for us angels in white coats." Su Shaoqing even pretended to weep to garner pity.

Shi Nuan could feel her mouth twitching. She quickly handed him a piece of tissue and said with a straight face, "Mr. Su, your performance is a quite over the top. You need to rein it in a little."

Su Shaoqing's sobs stopped immediately and all the emotions he had been building up dissipated immediately. He glared at Shi Nuan, "Do you have no sympathy at all? Don't girls usually feel sorry for guys like me and try to comfort them?"

"You? You want me to comfort you?" Shi Nuan pointed at Su Shaoqing, then pointed to herself before turning to look at Fu Chengyan in puzzlement.

Fu Chengyan's eyes narrowed and his gaze honed in on Su Shaoqing. Su Shaoqing immediately tensed up and faked a couple of coughs. "No, no. Your comfort is reserved for Fu Chengyan and Fu Chengyan alone. Hehe!" Su Shaoqing's lips twisted into something that was between a smile and a grimace. "Also, do the two of you have to behave this way? I'm here to help you after all!"

"Help us?" It was now Shi Nuan's turn to be surprised and shifted her perplexed gaze to Su Shaoqing. "What do you mean? Aren't you just here to have dinner?"

"Mrs. Fu, that's heartless of you!" Su Shaoqing clenched his teeth. "If I just wanted a meal, I could've just eaten in town instead of coming all the way here. Do you know how far it is from my place to yours?" Su Shaoqing made himself look pitiful again. "If it weren't for Fu Chengyan's bribes and threats, do you think I want to be here and spending my night being a third wheel?" Shi Nuan was rendered speechless.

"Don't listen to his nonsense!" Fu Chengyan shook his head. "May, can you clear the table? I have some things I need to discuss with Shaoqing."

"Alright," Shi Nuan nodded. "Then you guys can head to the living room. This place is too small and there isn't a study either." Shi Nuan felt a little apologetic.

Su Shaoqing jumped in, "I was only joking, Mrs. Su, please don't take it to heart. Let's go, Fu Chengyan." Su Shaoqing was feeling much better after having all that good food. He followed Fu Chengyan into the living room.

"I'm guessing you asked me over for more than just a simple meal." Su Shaoqing took out a cigarette and twirled it around in his fingers but didn't light it. "When I came up earlier, I saw someone surveilling you. What's going on?"

Fu Chengyan frowned. "It's someone from the Song family."

"The Song family? What? Your uncle is serious about this?" Su Shaoqing looked at Fu Chengyan in disbelief. Even though he had heard about the matter, he never guessed that it would progress to this stage. "But, Song Jingyu isn't even his biological daughter, why's he being so nice to her? Especially since..."

Su Shaoqing shrugged and cut himself off. "What are you planning to do now? From the looks of it, there's quite a lot going on lately. Moving Shi Nuan back to her old apartment is a good decision, but seeing that there's still someone surveilling you, it's obvious that your uncle won't be easy to deal with."

Fu Chengyan nodded in agreement. Originally, they had managed to keep his relationship with Shi Nuan a secret from Song Jingyu, and Song Jingyu had even dismissed the person she had hired to stalk Shi Nuan. However, the person suddenly made a reappearance, which made Fu Chengyan think that the Song family was behind it. His uncle, Song Huaiyan, wasn't as naïve as a three-year-old, and it would be difficult to fool him.

Su Shaoqing fell silent. "So, you asked me here today to continue to mislead them by faking a relationship with Mrs. Fu? C'mon Fu Chengyan, that's not cool!"

Fu Chengyan grinned, "How is it not cool?"

"I mean, you keep using me as your shield. Why don't you try using Li Heng instead?"

"He's Pei Huan's husband!" Fu Chengyan frowned but Su Shaoqing only snorted and corrected him. "It's 'ex-husband"!" Pei Huan and Li Heng had already gotten divorced three years ago. Fu Chengyan pursed his lips. The atmosphere was a little fraught.

"Alright, since I'm here and you've fed me well, I might as well play along. What do you want me to do? You should know that we can't trick them forever. Your uncle is smart, he'll replace out soon enough."

"It doesn't need to be forever. Just three months at the most." Within these three months, he was determined to take care of the problem that was Song Jingyu as well as send Song Zhenyan back to the capital. Otherwise, Fu Chengyan would definitely not feel safe bringing Shi Nuan home.

"Alright, three months it is. But you should know, if my parents replace out, they're going to force me into matchmaking sessions and blind dates again, so you better move fast." Su Shaoqing spun the cigarette around his fingers then chucked it into the bin.

He walked over to the window and looked down. "You're uncle sure is something, having someone sit on you all night. But I'm curious - with so many watchful eyes, how did you make it up here unseen?"