When they walked up to the door of her house, Jian Hang rang the doorbell.

Qin Moling was puzzled, “You don’t have a key to your home?”

“I do.” Jian Hang had already opened her bad and was looking for the key. “I just press the doorbell to let them know. If I open the door suddenly, it would startle them.”

She had just taken out the key and before she could align it with the keyhole, the door opened from the inside.

“You got here so fast, we were just talking about you two.” It was Tan Feng who opened the door.

Jian Hang knew that Tan Feng was at her house; Tan Feng also knew that they were coming and was not surprised to see them.

Qin Moling and Tan Feng greeted each other with nods; no need for false politeness, and no need to shake hands.

When Tan Feng opened the door, Qin Moling had the illusion that Tan Feng was the host and he was the guest.

Jian Zhongjun was in the bathroom just now, and Chen Yu was in the kitchen making fruit porridge for her daughter. Tan Feng was the most free so he was the one who opened the door.

Jian Hang opened the shoe cabinet and took out a pair of men’s slippers for Qin Moling. He had mysophobia and this pair of slippers was specially bought for him. She had told her parents not to take these slippers out when guests came to the house.

Seeing their daughter and son-in-law come home, Jian Zhongjun and Chen Yu’s joy were written on their faces, and they asked Qin Moling to come over and sit down.

Jian Hang gave the flowers to his mother.

The flowers in this bouquet did not look like the usual ones. It must have been airlifted from abroad. She couldn’t guess the price, but it was definitely not cheap. Chen Yu was both happy and distressed, “It’s not even a holiday, it’s a waste of money.”

Jian Hang raised her chin towards the living room, “He bought it.”

She put her hands on her mother’s shoulders and pushed her towards the kitchen.

When there are guests at home, the kitchen was a good place for them to whisper to each other.

… …

Their three-bedroom home was not crammed full but it wasn’t that spacious either. She and her parents each have a bedroom and there was a small study. 

There were many books at home, and the study was too small to hold so many books. Her father redesigned the layout of the living room and arranged one wall for books, moving the sofa elsewhere.

The living room, which was originally a good size, became a bit narrower after adding a whole wall of bookshelves. There was no room for two people to walk to walk side by side between the coffee table and the TV cabinet.

Fortunately, the house has good lighting and had wide windows from the north to the south. Her mother loved cleanliness and kept the house neat and tidy. The living room was, thus, a bit narrow but not oppressive.

But for Qin Moling, it may still not be suitable.

Their entire home combined was not as spacious and bright as the living room on the first floor of their wedding villa.

Jian Hang closed the sliding door to the kitchen tightly, “What are Tan Feng’s plans now?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t ask. After they came back, I have been busy in the kitchen,” Chen Yu said, stirring the fruit porridge.

“From what your dad says, he seems to be taking a break for a few months.”

Jian Hang was envious at the mention of a few months of vacation.

Now, she could only take two days off a month at most, and she still took them in half days.

For Wanyue’s project, she didn’t even have time to play games at noon.

She lamented, “I have never experienced what it’s like to have a weekend off.”

Chen Yu felt sorry for her daughter, “How about you wait until the project is over and take annual leave. You didn’t even take annual leave last year.”

“I have a new project coming soon, so I don’t have time to take a break.”

“Now that you’re married, you can no longer immerse yourself only in work. Take some time to go on vacation with Moling.”

“Anyway,” when it came to Qin Moling, Jian Hang really had nothing to talk about, so she changed the subject, “Tan Feng visited dad several times since he returned home, is there still so much to talk about?”

Chen Yu, “No, but you know how they are. The two of them can talk all afternoon and still have more to talk about.”

“Did Tan Feng have a special talent for math when he was in junior high school?”

Her father taught mathematics. Apart from that, she couldn’t think of any other reason why Tan Feng had a good relationship with a math teacher. Students like Tan Feng were rare.

Or at least she didn’t know anyone else who kept visiting their high school teacher.

“He was good at every subject.” The fruit porridge was cooked and Chen Yu turned off the stove, “Teacher and student have deep affection.”

She portioned the fruit porridge in bowls to let it cool, placing a spoon in each bowl.

Jian Hang helped her mother bring out the fruit porridge to the living room. Tan Feng was a guest, so she gave him a bowl first.

Tan Feng often came to Jian Hang’s house and his politeness had long since disappeared. He directly scooped a spoonful and put it in his mouth.

Chen Yu had two bowls, one in each hand. She placed one bowl in front of Qin Moling and then gave the other bowl to Jian Zhongjun.

She said to Qin Moling, “I learned it from the Internet. Let’s have a try and see how it tastes.”

“Okay, thank you, Mom.” Qin Moling looked at Tan Feng’s porridge and then at Jian Hang, who just happened to be bending down to put the box of paper napkins in front of Tan Feng. Qin Moling lowered his eyes. He lowered his head and began eating his fruit congee.

His father-in-law and mother-in-law, including Jian Hang, were more familiar with Tan Feng and were more polite to him.

… …

Jian Hang didn’t know that Qin Moling had so much inner drama, so she and her mother went back to the kitchen.

Chen Yu picked up a glass and drank water. She only liked cooking fruit porridge but didn’t like eating it.

The mother and daughter were leaning against the table, chatting leisurely.

“When do you and Qin Moling plan to have a baby?”

“… Let’s talk about this later.”

“Mom is not urging you to have a baby, I’m just asking you. You don’t have to be afraid.”

Jian Hang was not afraid that her mother would urge her to have a baby: it was useless to be afraid. She and Qin Moling have never even held hands—who knew in what year of the monkey¹ they would have a child.

She didn’t even know if Qin Moling had thoughts about staying married to her for good.

… …

After finishing her bowl of fruit porridge, she went back to the living room.

There was an empty seat next to Tan Feng, so Jian Hang sat down there. There was a magazine on the coffee table. She took it over and flipped through it, idly listening to them chatting.

When she sat down, Qin Moling looked at her several times.

Jian Hang didn’t notice.

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

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T/N: Fruit porridge seems to be soupy rice or glutinous rice mixed with seasonal fruits sweetened to taste. The recipes I saw also used oats.

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Chapter 25.2 — Husband
Chapter 25.3 — Husband

1. idiom, it’s similar to ‘god knows when’ with a bit of exasperation ↩︎