At noon that day, the canteen was serving crispy short ribs, and Chi Xin rushed to the canteen early.

“It’s really snowing!” Someone shouted.

Luo Qi subconsciously looked out the window. It was cold; the humidity in the cafeteria was strong, and the glass was covered with a film of vapor, making it difficult to see out the window clearly.

The snow was not heavy; it melted as soon as it hit the ground.

… …

The snow stopped falling by the time she got off work in the evening.

After coming to Ruipu for so long, Luo Qi still insisted on leaving on time at the end of the work day.

No one and nothing could keep her a minute longer.

Today, the two little puppies have been at home for exactly one month, and the lawn in the yard has become a place for them to have fun. 

They ran around and played enough during the day. By the time she and Jiang Shenghe returned home in the evening, the two puppies had no more energy to make trouble, and they would simply lie down next to them.

They were particularly clingy towards Jiang Shenghe, and they would follow him wherever he went.

When he stopped, the two puppies would also stop, raising their necks and staring at him in bemusement.

It has been a month and the puppies haven’t been named yet. Luo had asked Jiang Shenghe what to call them.

Jiang Shenghe told her that names were important and could not be chosen casually.

So Jiang Shenghe returned to his old house today.

… …

Towards the end of the year, Liang Zhen was usually not too busy. She had gone to Suzhou again a few days ago. A section of the villa was beginning to take shape. Jiang Yifang had spent a lot of thought on designing it exactly according to her preferences and had built an open-air piano corner for her, extending to the yard.

She had told Jiang Yifang, “I may not be able to come and stay here for ten and a half months of the year. You can just design it according to the preferences of the two children.”

She said this, but she actually intended this villa to be a betrothal gift.

The temperature has dropped in the past few days. The design for that corner of the villa was finished, and other work would not begin until next spring.

Liang Zhen was now practicing the piano. Jiang Shenghe poured a glass of warm water for her. As before, he sat and simply listened to the piano music without interrupting his mother.

Liang Zhen glanced at the glass of water. She and this son of hers have had an indifferent relationship for many years, but because of Luo Qi, the have become invisibly closer. In the past two months, her son has come back more often compared to before, listening to her play the piano, and eating meals with her when he was not particularly busy.

She and her son didn’t talk about Luo Qi or his father; they mostly talked about the embarrassing things he did with Qin Moling when they were children, and they talked about the two little puppies.

After finishing the song, Liang Zhen stopped to drink water.

In fact, she was not thirsty.

Yet every time her son poured water for her, she would not leave a single drop.

“Mom, please give the two puppy their names.”

“Me?” Liang Zhen said with a smile, “I don’t know how to choose names. Why don’t you just call them ‘bigger dog’ and ‘smaller dog’.”

“…”

This was the first time in his memory that his mother has joked with him.

Liang Zhen asked her son to provide some ideas so she could think in this direction.

“I have no thoughts about it. Luo Qi and I have been thinking about it for a month and couldn’t think of a good name.”

The people in the group chat had given ideas, but the names they proposed were too ordinary.

Liang Zhen said, “When your dad is not busy, I will call him and discuss it with him.”

It’s over.

All the names his father could think of were rustic.

Since the birthday cake umbrella incident, he and his father have not met again.

Uncle Xu has done some ideological work on him, but his father has not yet expressed his opinion on the matter between him and Luo Qi.

“It’s cold, you should go back early.” Liang Zhen thought about naming the puppies. “I’ll think about it later and call you when I’ve picked one.”

… … advance chapters available @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

After leaving his old house, Jiang Shenghe went to the pet store. The snacks he ordered for the two puppies have arrived, and the pet store owner  informed him they were ready for pick up.

It was like raising two children; he did everything himself.

Because of this, the puppies were particularly attached to him.

Luo Qi was waiting for him in the living room. She was sitting on the sofa looking at their shared photo album, with a puppy lying on each side.

Seeing him come back, the puppies rushed off the sofa, surrounded him, and tugged on his trousers.

Luo Qi put down her phone and stood there for a long time, waiting for her turn to be hugged.

After soothing the little puppies, Jiang Shenghe took off his coat and reached out towards her. Just as Luo Qi was stepping closer him, he was also moving to wrap her in his arms. Luo Qi wasn’t standing still at the time and had thrown herself into his arms.

Jiang Shenghe rubbed her chin, “Did you hurt yourself?”

“It’s fine.”

Luo Qi hugged him tightly, “Thank you.”

He suddenly showed up at the Ruipu conference room that morning, and she didn’t even manage to say ‘thank you’ in person.

“It’s what I should do.” Jiang Shenghe lowered his head and kissed her soft cheek.

Every day, he would hug her for a long time when he came back home, and he even thought about moving her back to the President’s Office so that he could see her all the time.

“I asked my mom to help us pick names. Mom wants to discuss it with Dad.” Jiang Shenghe now had zero hope for a nice name for the puppies and was now telling Luo Qi this so she could be mentally prepared.

The two puppies went to their bed. Jiang Shenghe took a bath and went to the study to work overtime.

He was reading emails when there came the sound of slippers approaching on the corridor outside the door.

He looked up and saw Luo Qi come in, gently patting her face. She had just applied lotion on her face and it has not yet been absorbed. The heating at home was on, and she felt hot even wearing her coolest, thin-strapped nightgown.

“Are you going to be busy for a while?”

“Come here, there are three more emails.”

Luo Qi leaned against him, “Shall I help you deal with it together?”

“Okay.” Jiang Shenghe moved the swivel chair back and wanted to let her sit in his arms to read the email.

“No, I’ll just stand here and read.”

If she sat on his lap, they would end up not working overtime at all.

Luo Qi was serious as she took on the role of assistant and helped him go through the emails without any distractions.

After replying to the last email, the computer was turned off.

Jiang Shenghe held her waist and finally had her sit down on his lap.

The pajamas he was wearing was new, and she has never seen him wearing it before.

Luo Qi really liked this color. “Is there a women’s version for this? I’ll buy one too.” That way it would be a couple’s outfit.

“Probably not.” Jiang Shenghe told her that this was a custom-made model, and the collar was changed according to his preferences. There should not be the same color and style on the market.

“I’ll give this to you.”

Except for the time when they took wedding photos and she didn’t have any clothes in his hotel room, she has never worn his clothes. That time, she wore his bathrobe and he also wrapped her in his suit jacket. Although this could be considered something a couple would do, she didn’t have the nerve to wear his clothes directly after taking a shower.

“I have more pajamas, so I’ll give you this one.”

Returning to the bedroom, Jiang Shenghe turned off the lights in the room.

Fumbling around, he changed her out of her nightgown, took off his own pajama top and gave them to her.

She wore it on her body, still carrying the heat from his.

They weren’t in bed this time, but in a different place.

The oil painting of the rainy night had been moved by Jiang Shenghe from the study to the bedroom; it now hung by the floor-to-ceiling window. Now, the oil painting was next to her.

The curtains were half open, and the backs of the two figures in the oil painting were faintly visible in the dim light.

He pressed Luo Qi against the wall. The wall was cold, but the half-open curtain cushioned her back.

Jiang Shenghe kissed her, asked her how she was, and slowly entered her.

How she became one with him, her senses were all too clear. Luo Qi hugged his neck and her eyes fell on the oil painting.

Jiang Shenghe kissed her lips, his voice was magnetic and hoarse, “What were you looking at just now?”

“Looking at you.”

Looking at him in the oil painting.

She had been getting used to him inside her, but when he suddenly thrust into her, Luo Qi felt numb from the top of her heart to her end of her limbs.

Just like that night when it rained in Suzhou, she suddenly couldn’t tell the difference between east and west, north and south in his arms.

… …

The next day.

The sky was still gloomy and the temperature dropped to minus six degrees. Luo Qi found her thickest down jacket and put it on, specially wearing a turtleneck sweater.

Breakfast was pumpkin glutinous rice cakes. Jiang Shenghe had a good harvest of pumpkins and directly gave twenty of them to Qin Moling.

Qin Moling posted pictures of pumpkin porridge, fried pumpkin, and stewed pumpkin on WeChat for three days in a row.

He also specifically captioned the last one, “Stop sending them to my house. I really can’t finish it all. You can set up a stall.”

Luo Qi really wanted to leave him a message: Jiang Shenghe picked a dozen more pumpkins this morning and he plans to send them to you.

Seventh Year of My Secret Love for You translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

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A list of all advance chapters is HERE.
Chapter 56.1 — In Public, He Held Her Hand
Chapter 56.2 — In Public, He Held Her Hand
Chapter 56.3 — In Public, He Held Her Hand