When Qin Moling left his office, there was only ten minutes left before the set time to enter the exhibition hall. From Lemeng to the exhibition hall, plus the traffic jam on the road, it took almost an hour to arrive.

He thought Jian Hang had gone in early.

When he arrived at the ticket check-in area, Qin Moling had only just taken out his mobile phone to call when he saw Jian Hang walking towards him.

The style of her coat today was different from the ones she had worn the last few times they’ve met. She used to dress in a smart and professional style, but this white coat made her temperament much softer.

As she approached, Qin Moling couldn’t bear it. She was wearing high heels and had stood outside waiting for him for so long. There was reproach in his words, “Didn’t I ask you to go in first?”

“There’s no hurry.”

Jian Hang said on WeChat that she would wait for him, and she kept her promise.

The two of them went through the admission with its security check and headed to the hall.

At first, Qin Moling and Jian Hang looked at the exhibit together, and Jian Hang would look back to him from time to time. Even if she looked for him accidentally, Qin Moling still noticed it, and then he followed her, wandering over to each painting Jian Hang was in front of. How long she stayed was how long he stopped to experience it.

They stood one or two feet apart, neither close nor far apart.

Jian Hang calmed down to experience the exhibit. Standing in front of a painting, she felt like she herself was in the painting, and it was easy to get lost in it.

Qin Moling had experienced this art exhibition before, so he was not as attentive now that he came to experience it again. He felt that someone’s eyes were staring at him, and when he turned his head—he met his mother’s eyes.

Shen Jingyun had come to see the exhibition alone. She already went that morning but did not have time to experience several exhibition halls, so she came again in the afternoon. She had no intention of going up to say ‘hello’ to her son and daughter-in-law. She pointed to herself and then to the exhibition hall next to her.

Qin Moling understood that his mother was going to the hall next door.

He nodded in response.

Shen Jingyun put her hands in the pockets of her coat and walked away gracefully, looking at Jian Hang with her back to her. Until Shen Jingyun walked away, Jian Hang never knew that her mother-in-law had been here.

Shen Jingyun didn’t expect that her son would really come.

Seeing him and Jian Hang appear in the exhibition hall, everything seemed to make sense again.

It could be seen that Jian Hang was more focused and was carefully feeling the artistic conception in the painting, but her son seemed to be a little distracted. In the few minutes since she noticed him, he looked at Jian Hang more than once.

… … translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

It wasn’t until closing time that Qin Moling and Jian Hang followed the flow of people towards the exit.

Qin Moling did not meet his mother in any of the exhibition halls. Maybe his mother deliberately avoided them.

“What do you want to have for dinner?” he asked Jian Hang.

“I’m not hungry.” Jian Hang ate a lot at her grandma’s house at noon, including jianbing crepes, liangpi noodles, and a plate of fruit. After looking around the art exhibition, she still didn’t feel hungry.

But she didn’t want to disappoint him, “I’ll go with you to eat; I’ll just order a drink.”

Qin Moling called the driver to pick them up, put away his phone, and looked at her, “Where else do you want to go after dinner?”

He also explained why he invited her, “I was an hour late for the art exhibition.”

This was to make it up to her. It was just that Jian Hang couldn’t think of where to go for a while. Only then did she realize how monotonous her life was after returning to China. She never went out for entertainment except for socializing in the evenings for work.

The driver drove the car over.

Qin Moling said, “Don’t be in a hurry, think about it slowly.”

He opened the car door for her and walked around to the other side to get in the car.

The driver didn’t know where to go next and waited for instructions.

Qin Moling sat up and said, “Let’s go to the usual cafe.”

Jian Hang propped her chin and looked outside the car, wondering where to go to play in the evening. It wasn’t interesting to watch a movie with him, so the movie theater was the first place she excluded.

She suddenly turned around and asked, “How about going to a bar?”

Qin Moling rarely went to bars because he found it too noisy, but he agreed to make it up to her. He nodded, “Okay.”

The driver stopped at the door of a cafe that Qin Moling frequented. As soon as Jian Hang touched the door handle, Qin Moling stopped her, “You don’t have to get out.”

Jian Hang turned to look at him with confusion on her face.

Qin Moling confirmed with her again, “You don’t want to have dinner?”

“I’m really not hungry.”

“Then you just wait for me in the car.”

Qin Moling didn’t like to be watched while eating, nor did he like to waste other people’s time by accompanying him to eat. He didn’t like to talk while eating, and the other person was bored just sitting there.

He opened the door and got out, leaving Jian Hang in the car.

Qin Moling ordered a simple meal and two cups of coffee, “The other cup is to be packed.”

The clerk asked, “Should I pack it for you when you leave?”

“I want it now.”

“Okay, please wait a moment.”

Qin Moling walked a few steps and then remembered, “No need to put it in a bag.”

“Okay.”

Qin Moling found a seat by the window and sat down, and the store manager brought him a glass of warm water. Qin Moling knew the owner of this cafe, and the manager knew who he was. Every time he came here, the manager would personally entertain him.

The simple meal was not ready yet, but the coffee was prepared and delivered by the waiter to his table.

Qin Moling went out with the cup of coffee.

Everyone was curious—whether it was the cafe manager or the clerk, they all looked out the glass windows.

There were several dedicated parking spaces at the entrance of the cafe. Qin Moling’s car was parked by the entrance. They saw him walking to the rear door of the car and handing the cup of coffee to someone inside.

The store manager was very curious as to who was in the car that could make Qin Moling deliver the coffee in person.

… …

“Be careful not to spill it,” Qin Moling gave the coffee to Jian Hang.

“Thank you.” He brought her coffee, and Jian Hang was also surprised.

The most shocked person was the driver. He couldn’t believe what he saw. No one has ever eaten or drank in this car before because the boss has mysophobia.

Qin Moling turned around and walked back into the cafe. Jian Hang took a sip of the coffee. It was the same coffee he bought for her when he went to her office last time. It was the coffee she liked to drink.

Marriage First, Love Later translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

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Chapter 11.2 — Another Exception
Chapter 12.1 — Sick
Chapter 12.2 — Sick