CHAPTER 259: CHAPTER 243 WEDDING PHOTOS

Gu Qili didn’t notice that something was off about Mu Shuoqian; instead, she kept urging him to quickly drink his soup.

Under her attentive gaze, Mu Shuoqian took a spoonful of soup to his mouth. The soup was delicious, but he tasted a hint of bitterness in it.

"Eat more pumpkin; it’s good for your stomach." Gu Qili added a few pieces of pumpkin to his bowl.

Following her encouragement, Mu Shuoqian ate up everything. After finishing, he still looked at her with puppy eyes. Gu Qili froze for a moment, but soon she laughed and added more food to his bowl, even stuffing a piece of braised pork directly into his mouth.

His appetite was never big. Every time she ate with him, she felt like a gluttonous pig.

But tonight, he ate a lot, obediently finishing every dish she picked for him, even going for an extra bowl of rice and two more bowls of soup.

While Gu Qili was washing dishes at the sink, she trembled a little when his warm breath brushed against her, complaining, "Stop it; I’m washing dishes."

"Just keep washing."

To keep this clingy pup busy, Gu Qili placed the cleaned dishes on the side counter and pointed to the drying rack with a clean towel, "Then dry the dishes properly."

He looked at her with that gaze.

While Gu Qili was wiping the range hood, she heard the man raising his eyebrows toward her, asking, "Am I handsome?"

She laughed, giving him a thumbs-up, "So handsome that you’re blinding me."

Content, he continued to dry the dishes.

"Mu Shuoqian, give me a hand. I can’t reach that spot." Gu Qili pointed to the innermost side of the range hood.

After hanging the towel, he took the cloth from her hand. The spot she couldn’t reach was easy for him; he just needed to slightly raise his arm, not even having to fully extend it.

Gu Qili smiled as she watched him wipe away the grease on the range hood, satisfyingly hugging his idle arm.

She liked this feeling. What she couldn’t manage, he helped her with; he was there to make up for her shortcomings.

After the two of them had tidied up the kitchen, Gu Qili went to take a shower.

Mu Shuoqian went to the wine cellar to pick out a bottle of red wine and brought it to the bedroom. Gu Qili came out from the bathroom and saw him standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, holding a wine glass in one hand and the other in his pocket, staring thoughtfully at the courtyard outside the window.

She tiptoed over and patted his shoulder, intending to startle him, but to her surprise, Mu Shuoqian didn’t budge at all, as if he hadn’t noticed her presence.

"Mu Shuoqian?" Gu Qili moved in front of him and flicked his glass with her finger. The liquid swayed, and only then did he snap out of his distant thoughts. After seeing her, his eyes froze for a moment, but soon a smile appeared, "Are you done showering?"

"Yeah. What were you thinking about? You seemed so lost in thought."

"Nothing much. I was just wondering when these two grapevines will start to bloom and bear fruit." He shifted his gaze back to the window; the two trees were still small but were already lush and full of life.

"With our diligent care, blooming and fruiting is just a matter of time. The most important thing is to have confidence."

"You’re right, as long as we have confidence, they will surely bear fruit." Mu Shuoqian placed the wine glass on the table, "I’ll go put away the wine."

One of her high school classmates was getting married. She had posted a series of wedding photos arranged in a three-by-three grid on social media, and she made several posts, her phone was flooded with notifications.

When Mu Shuoqian came back, Gu Qili was browsing through those wedding photos. Her classmate wasn’t particularly good-looking, but dressed in makeup and a wedding gown, she seemed like a completely different person, especially the happiness radiating from her smile made her look incredibly beautiful.

"What are you looking at?" Mu Shuoqian leaned over to see.

"A classmate got married. She got married right after graduation, that’s really early. We used to be quite close when we were in school." It was only after she finished speaking that she remembered she had been married herself for two years without even graduating, truly staying on trend.

Mu Shuoqian glanced at the wedding photos, his expression turning somewhat inscrutable.

"Do you want it?"

"Huh?" Gu Qili had just finished posting a comment and was scrolling through the next Moment when she saw Mickey flaunting her newly acquired Taekwondo black belt fifth dan. She immediately liked the post, so when Mu Shuoqian suddenly spoke these three words, she was momentarily dazed, and it took her a while to come back to her senses,

Her eyes were as bright as stars, causing him to helplessly sink into them. Gu Qili was stunned again for a long time, with a wild joy and excitement stirring madly inside her, she blinked twice, feeling as if she was dreaming.

Their marriage was only a contract at first, and she felt incredibly fortunate to have come this far. Although every girl dreams of a fairy-tale wedding, Gu Qili didn’t dare to ask for too much, fearing her insatiability could make this hard-won happiness fragile.

Mu Shuoqian saw all the emotions in her eyes and said slowly and earnestly, "I’m sorry I can’t offer you a grand wedding for now, but if you want wedding photos, we’ll take them, as many as you wish. As for the location, where do you want to go? The beach? Lavender fields? Or the Pyramid..."

He listed many places in succession, each one a location Gu Qili yearned for.

She asked, "Can we go to all of them?"

"So greedy?"

"How could I not be? I’m only taking wedding photos once in my life. Of course, the more, the better."

Gu Qili was still imagining herself in a wedding dress,

She immediately understood his intention and looked deep into his bottomless eyes, "Check right away if the French Restaurant has any business trips that need undertaking."

Xiao Ran hadn’t gone to sleep yet. He was sitting in front of the computer organizing materials for tomorrow’s meeting and immediately started searching upon receiving the big BOSS’s command.

Two minutes later, Xiao Ran called.

"Young Master Qian, Vice Manager Liu needs an assistant in City A. The French Restaurant there is gearing up for business and will likely be busy. He needs someone familiar with the business to assist."

Mu Shuoqian was silent for a moment, as if making a firm decision: "Arrange for the madam to go."

"Yes, I understand, I’ll arrange it right away."

After hanging up, Xiao Ran was left with a big question mark. Normally, Young Master Qian couldn’t wait to stick with his wife 24 hours a day. Why suddenly send her to city A on a business trip? This would mean at least a month apart; could he endure the heartache of missing her?

He suspected there must be some problem, but he was only responsible for obeying orders and doing his job. Whatever Young Master Qian was planning was none of his business.

Before Xiao Ran could find an answer to his question, Mu Shuoqian called again. He immediately adjusted his attitude and asked seriously, "Young Master Qian, is there anything else you need to instruct?"

"Understood, Young Master Qian."

After the call, Xiao Ran had one more question mark in his mind.

The villa in Tan Creek had been purchased by Young Master Qian a long time ago. No one lived there, and it was not rented out; it just sat idle. Occasionally, someone would come to clean it. He had not been with Young Master Qian for long but not shortly either, a whole five years. Yet he had never seen him... does Young Master Qian have someone else outside?

The thought sharply struck Xiao Ran, but he quickly shook his head and continued with his work. Young Master Qian’s personal matters had nothing to do with him, and preparing for tomorrow’s meeting was his real duty.

~

As soon as Gu Qili started work, she was called into the office by Qi Meihui. After the incident with Luan Yi, Qi Meihui looked at her with even more displeasure, but since it was all business, she couldn’t do anything to Gu Qili.

"Vice Manager Liu is short of an assistant, you’ve been transferred there to assist with work, for a period of one month." She actually couldn’t wait for Gu Qili to be far away from her, out of sight, out of mind.

The transfer order came a bit suddenly, so Gu Qili couldn’t help asking: "Is this Manager Qi’s idea?"

Qi Meihui crossed her arms and looked at her coldly: "If it were really up to me, I would transfer you so far away you’d never come back, wishing you’d die there."

"Well, then, you’ll be disappointed. Even if you wanted to do that, Mu Shuoqian wouldn’t agree. So, you can just sit here and daydream all you want." Gu Qili disregarded Qi Meihui’s face, which had turned as black as the bottom of a pot, and walked out of the office.

She had no objections to the transfer, but if it wasn’t issued by Qi Meihui, then it must have come from senior leadership. Most orders from higher-up usually require Mu Shuoqian’s approval. No one would dare to casually move her, so there was only one possibility: this was Mu Shuoqian’s idea, it was he who wanted to send her to City A.