68: I guess I really don't know how to come up with titles.

Feeling bored, Yan Zhuohua simply forwarded this record to Yan Qinghe.

"What on earth are you saying to Brother Ru?"

Just before clicking the send button, Yan Zhuohua hesitated for a moment but still added "hubby" at the end of the sentence. He was already in such a miserable state; he'd better not leave any leverage for Yan Qinghe to use against him.

Yan Qinghe replied very quickly; it seemed he wasn't focusing on work either.

"Why are you awake?" Seeing Yan Zhuohua's message, Yan Qinghe replied with a question directly, without even opening the chat record above.

"Why don't you take a guess?"

Before Yan Qinghe could read the words clearly, the text on the screen changed to "The other party has recalled a message."

Immediately after, Yan Zhuohua sent another message: "Why don't you take a guess? Hubby."

Yan Qinghe stared at the chat interface the whole time and couldn't help but laugh. What an obedient wife. He scrolled up to look at the chat record Yan Zhuohua had sent and realized that Yan Ru had gone to Yan Zhuohua to complain.

"Since you, the main culprit, have confessed, what's the problem with me informing the accomplice?"

"Are you sure that was 'informing'?"

"Did I not tell him?"

Yan Zhuohua didn't know whether to laugh or cry looking at the reply on the screen.

"Fine."

Yan Qinghe smiled with satisfaction. Looking at the conversation on the screen, he suddenly remembered the few times he heard "hubby" after waking Yan Zhuohua up this morning. He was still savoring that feeling of total bliss. Thinking of this, Yan Qinghe simply made a phone call.

"Why are you calling? Is something wrong?"

Yan Qinghe: "I can give you one more chance."

Yan Zhuohua fell silent. He understood.

"Why did hubby call? Is something wrong?" When under someone else's roof, one has to bow their head.

Yan Qinghe was elated to hear that.

"When I was chatting with Yan Ru just now, I suddenly remembered you said yesterday that you've 'liked me for a long time.' You still remember that, right?"

"I remember."

"Then tell me in detail, when exactly was this 'long time'?" Yan Qinghe asked expectantly.

Yan Zhuohua indeed realized he had long since fallen for Yan Qinghe's "tactics." He couldn't remember if it was when Yan Qinghe went on a business trip or perhaps even earlier. He hadn't intended to say it yet, but when Yan Qinghe's past was mentioned yesterday, he said it ahead of time for fear that Yan Qinghe would be unhappy.

"Can I tell you after everything is over?" Yan Zhuohua still wanted to wait a bit longer. This time it wasn't because he insisted on "equal effort," but simply because he felt that since he had laid the groundwork and hidden it for so long, he couldn't just tell him so cursorily. That would be too much of an anti-climax.

"Anyway, you already know, so just wait a little longer, okay? Hubby." Fearing Yan Qinghe might misunderstand, he added another sentence.

"Alright then." Yan Qinghe didn't get what he wanted, and his tone sounded a bit disappointed. But he quickly recovered. Now that he knew he had won, it wasn't too late to wait a while to enjoy the fruits of victory.

"Thank you, hubby!"

Yan Qinghe really enjoyed this kind of acting spoiled. "Do you still feel uncomfortable anywhere? If you do, apply some medicine. I put it in the bedside drawer. If you don't want to apply it yourself, I can do it for you when I get back at noon."

Yan Zhuohua was originally embarrassed by the mention of applying medicine, but his attention was quickly drawn to Yan Qinghe's subsequent words.

"Hubby, you're coming back at noon?"

"Yeah, how are you going to eat if I don't go back?" Yan Qinghe swallowed the next sentence—"Can you even get out of bed?"—and said, "I have a one-and-a-half-hour lunch break. It'll be fine if I hurry."

"Then aren't you going to sleep, hubby? You slept late last night and won't sleep at noon; you'll be tired."

"It's fine. We'll just get a good night's sleep tonight."

Seeing this, Yan Zhuohua stopped trying to persuade him. After all, it was this culprit who made him unable to even get out of bed.

At 12:20 PM, Yan Qinghe indeed returned home.

He had ordered a meal in advance, so as soon as he got back, he went straight into the bedroom with lunch.

Yan Zhuohua was sleeping soundly in bed. After hanging up the phone with Yan Qinghe, he had been lying in bed playing with his phone out of boredom, but eventually, he couldn't resist his physical exhaustion and fell asleep.

"Zhuohua? Wake up. Eat lunch before you go back to sleep." Although Yan Qinghe was reluctant, he still woke him up.

"Mmh—" Yan Zhuohua opened his eyes with difficulty. Seeing Yan Qinghe in front of him, he instinctively reached out his hands for a hug. "Hubby, you're back?"

Yan Qinghe almost had his desires ignited by Yan Zhuohua's soft and dazed voice. He cooperatively leaned over to let Yan Zhuohua hug him and coaxed in a low voice, "How did you learn to act so spoiled? One hug, then we eat, okay?"

Yan Zhuohua instinctively nuzzled in his arms before suddenly realizing what he had just done. He froze instantly.

What do I do? What did I just do?

So embarrassing!

What should I do now? Explain that I was just dazed from sleep?

...

Lines of internal monologue flashed rapidly through Yan Zhuohua's mind.

"Are you still not fully awake, Zhuohua?" Yan Qinghe's voice sounded in his ear.

"No, I'm awake. Let's eat." As long as I don't mention it, there's no problem.

Yan Qinghe looked at Yan Zhuohua, who was pretending nothing had happened, with a smile and didn't expose him.

"I ordered some light dishes for you. Eat more. After eating, I'll apply some medicine for you."

"...Oh." Yan Zhuohua's ears turned a bit red. "Remember to bring my laptop over later. I need to prepare my graduation thesis proposal this afternoon."

"Thesis proposal? Is it time to submit it already?" Yan Qinghe was dazed. He hurriedly opened his phone, and sure enough, in the group chat he had set to 'Do Not Disturb,' people had already been urged several times to hurry up and write their thesis proposals.

Damn, he hadn't written a single word yet!

This weekend was destined to be a weekend of studying. One sat on the bed while the other sat in the study, and the two of them spent the entire two days writing their thesis proposals.

Yan Zhuohua had written some bits and pieces before, so his progress was relatively fast; he even started the literature review. As for Yan Qinghe, he truly hadn't written a single word.

With various things preventing them from resting for several weekends in a row, they finally had some peace this week, only for all their time to be consumed by their graduation theses. Life was truly just one thing after another. Yan Qinghe wrote with a heart full of resentment.

Another busy weekend passed. On a bright Monday morning, Yan Zhuohua was finally able to get out of bed and step into the company, although he still felt a bit weak.

Seeing the files piled up on his desk, he suddenly felt they were quite dear to him.

"Deputy Director Yan?" Xu Cimin knocked on the door of Yan Zhuohua's office.

"Come in." Yan Zhuohua looked up. "Assistant Xu? Is something the matter?"

"I'm here to inform you that the company's annual meeting is less than half a month away. We're currently collecting information on employees bringing family members. I need to go through the process with you as well."

Yan Zhuohua was stunned for a moment.

"Oh, I'll be with Chairman Yan," Yan Zhuohua replied.

"Alright, Deputy Director Yan. I'll take my leave then."

Yan Zhuohua sat blankly in his office chair. It turned out it was already the end of the year. A few months ago, he was still busy with training every day, and now he and Yan Qinghe were already like an "old married couple."

Thinking about this, he suddenly laughed. Not long after the annual meeting would be the New Year. For the past five years, he had spent the New Year alone. Now that he was back home, it was finally a reunion, and he was actually looking forward to it. However, a new year should have a new atmosphere. It was better to handle the Zhao family's affairs before the year ended. New Year's Day was one thing, but he definitely didn't want to leave any bad luck for everyone in the first month of next year.