How could Jian Hang let him treat her to dinner? She insisted, “I will be the host.”

Qin Moling didn’t argue with her about who would pay. He would just pay the bill when time came, so he agreed, “Okay.”

Jian Hang had always been pro-active. Qin Moling said he was free tomorrow night, so she immediately called the manager of SZ Restaurant to reserve a table for tomorrow night.

Qin Moling didn’t rush to go upstairs; he sat down next to her.

There was still uneaten fruit in the fruit plate on the coffee table. She was on the phone to make a reservation, so he forked a piece of fruit at random to eat.

Jian Hang knew the manager of SZ Restaurant. Back then, she led the team to complete the merger and reorganization of SZ Restaurant.

Qin Moling didn’t know what the restaurant manager said on the other end of the phone—he only heard Jian Hang say: “It’s just me and my husband. It doesn’t matter if we don’t have a private room.”

SZ was a restaurant at the top of a high rise tower. The overlooking night view of the city was its biggest feature.

Private rooms were limited and needed to be reserved a few days in advance. It was unsurprising that all private rooms for tomorrow have already been booked.

Qin Moling didn’t care whether he sat in the middle of the lobby or in a private room: he heard Jian Hang calling him ‘husband’ again.

After Jian Hang hung up the call, he asked, just for something to say, “Are there many married women around you or among your friends?”

He never just made idle conversation, so he probably had something to ask her.

Jian Hang nodded, “Many are married.” She asked, “Why do you ask?”

Qin Moling put down the fruit fork and continued to ask, “Do their husbands give them pocket money every month or maybe their husbands hand over their salary cards?”

“For some of my subordinates, I heard their husbands turned over their salary cards to them, but for the others, I don’t know.”

Jian Hang really didn’t know. The women she usually interacted with were either in the venture capital circle or corporate executives. They only talked about work when they met; they didn’t have the time or the friendly relations to talk about their private lives.

Qin Moling took out his wallet from his bag. There were more than a dozen cards in it, including five savings cards. He took out four of them.

Jian Hang came back to her senses, “Do you want to give me pocket money?”

She hurriedly said, “No, I have money.”

Qin Moling handed her the cards and said, “I know you have money.” She definitely wouldn’t want him to give her pocket money.

“It’s not pocket money. All the investments in my personal name—the annual dividends go to these cards. The amount is not small. You can invest or manage the money as you see fit. I leave it up to you.”

If he said it was pocket money for her, Jian Hang really wouldn’t take it. There was already a huge difference in status between them, the plastic couple. Once she took pocket money from him, her status in this marriage would be instantly lowered.

But if she would be in charge of the family’s money from now on, then she could fully accept this and would even be quite competent at it.

After all, financial management and investment were her specialty.

If the money in these cards could make him say that the amount was not small, then it should be much larger than she imagined.

Jian Hang thought for a few seconds and took the cards. When she held them in her hand, she suddenly felt that the relationship between her and Qin Moling seemed to be closer and more ambiguous¹, no longer just plastic on the surface.

“I’ll send the password to you shortly. These cards are bound to the same mobile phone number. I don’t usually use that phone. It’s in the study. I’ll give it to you when I go upstairs.”

Jian Hang glanced at his still open wallet and saw an old ID card in the photo folder. Before she could see it clearly, he had already flipped it closed.

Qin Moling noticed her staring at the wallet and thought she was interested in it. “If you like this wallet, I’ll give it to you.” The design of this was also suitable to be used by women.

Like she liked wearing his suit jackets.

“Why would I need your wallet?” Jian Hang said truthfully, “I’m just curious about the photo ID in your wallet.”

Qin Moling only said, “Just a photo from my childhood.”

He had no intention of showing it to her, so he just put his wallet away.

He picked up the fruit plate and looked at her, “Do you still want to eat some?”

The atmosphere between them had become increasingly ambiguous.

Jian Hang forked a piece of fruit and said, “I’m going upstairs.”

… …

In the bedroom, she struggled in front of the wardrobe for a moment before finally taking out her bottom-of-the-trunk² dress, which was from this year’s early spring ready-to-wear series of a high-end luxury brand.

The design of the long skirt was extremely simple, with off-white splicing, which perfectly outlines the waist.

Elegant yet sexy.

She usually bought herself some high-end luxury clothes every year. There were many high-end wine parties at the end of the year, so she couldn’t be too shabby.

But with her current income, she couldn’t just do whatever she wanted. She couldn’t buy all the new styles she liked. She could only pick a couple of favorites to buy.

Unlike Feng Mai who was a frequent visitor to various haute couture shows even when they were still in college. The clothes adorning Feng Mai’s body were rarely the same.

Two years ago, Jian Hang fell in love with a high-end fairy-style dress. It cost more than 800,000 yuan.

If she really wanted to buy it, it’s not that she couldn’t afford it, but she’d have to save elsewhere to make up for it.

Later, she looked at her savings balance on my phone… and suddenly woke up. She ended up just investing the money.

Jian Hang carefully took out the long dress. She only tried it on once after buying it and had never worn it out.

But she invited Qin Moling to a high-end restaurant for dinner tomorrow night; she naturally had to dress well.

From clothes to shoes to handbags, Jian Hang had them all matched and ready in advance.

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

---

If you’re enjoying my translations, do consider buying me ko-fi and get access to advance chapters as reward. Thank you for your support! ☺️

Chapter 28.2 — Missed Date
Chapter 28.3 — Missed Date
Chapter 29.1 — Duty
Chapter 29.2 — Duty
Chapter 29.3 — Duty

1. This is not ‘ambiguous’ as in uncertain. It’s one of those times when C-novels describe a sense of tension between would-be lovers ↩︎
2. ‘bottom of the box dress’ — I can’t find if it’s an actual idiom/phrase or just something Jian Hang made up. But it makes sense if you think of the ‘box’ as her bridal trousseau from olden days. Jian Hang (very tongue-in-cheek, like she calls Qin Moling her ‘plastic husband’) is referring to the dress as something from the bottom of her trousseau, something expensive and grand that should only be taken out for an Important Evening.   ↩︎