Meanwhile, Lin Chu was b.u.t.toning herself up, but her hands were trembling so much that she struggled to b.u.t.ton up each individual b.u.t.ton.

If it was earlier in the morning, she would have glared at him, but this time, she had also been in the mood for some love, so it would be a bit too much for her to glare at him now.

Her scrunchie was still with Yan Beicheng, so she had to quickly brush through her messy hair with trembling hands.

While her hands were working around her face, she could feel his heated gaze.

Lin Chu could not take it. His gaze was burning into her and her face blushed redder. She lowered her head and saw the scrunchie tied to his wrist.

The scrunchie was black and it was hung loosely every time she wore it on her wrist. Now it was tightly wound around his wrist. It looked nice against his clean and pale skin. A man's wrist would normally have larger pores than her but there was not much hair on his arms, so it looked clean and nice.

The black scrunchie wrapped elegantly around his wrist. It looked elegant in a very clear-cut black and white, like an exclusive accessory introduced by a well-known brand.

Lin Chu did not dare to look directly at him. Instead, she lowered her head and reached out her hands. "Give me the scrunchie."

Yan Beicheng gave her a look and took the scrunchie off to place it on her snow-white palms. They were accentuated by the circle of darkness, making her hands look as precious as jade.

Yan Beicheng could not help but tickle her palm with his finger.

Lin Chu trembled as she felt herself squirming and glared at him. Her glare looked coy and a little shy, which turned up the heat in Yan Beicheng, who had yet to cool down from his previous escapade.

Lin Chu hung the scrunchie on her arm and held up her long hair together with her hands. One hand held the ponytail and the other tried to brush her hair up. Yan Beicheng watched as her white, slender fingers moved between her dark hair. They appeared and disappeared cheekily within the black strands.

The view of black and white looked so good. He really wanted to pull her hair down for her to brush it all over again.

When she was tying her ponytail, her lowered head showed off the long, slender, white back of her neck. The curve was so beautiful, it was like an oil painting of a portrait of a lady.

Lin Chu thought she heard Yan Beicheng swallow his saliva, but a.s.sumed that she had heard wrong.

Yan Beicheng's hands were already reaching out to caress the back of her neck. His hand touched the cervical spine in the middle and moved up one by one. His slightly coa.r.s.e finger touched her supple skin, creating a light buzz of electricity that caused her to tremble.

She may not have seen it, but Yan Beicheng did. Her skin was covered with delicate little pinkish gooseb.u.mps as if she had just been electrocuted. Next, Lin Chu breathed in a faint pine fragrance that was moving fast toward her like a gush of cool wind. At the same time, she heard the friction between her clothes and the leather seat and felt the back of her neck being lightly brushed by something resembling a feather, causing her to go red from her neck up.

Lin Chu jerked away as if she had just been electrocuted. Her face flushed red like a tomato as she turned to catch him with a greedy smile on his face, like he wanted to eat her up right there and then.

"…" Lin Chu did not even dare to push him. He had already taken off his suit coat and thrown it to the backseat the moment he sat down in the driver's seat.

It was a hot day and they were not in the office, so it did not bother him much. All he had on was his light blue s.h.i.+rt, which was a little messy due to their fooling around earlier. It was not as crisp and neat as when they had left the house.

The s.h.i.+rt was thin, which was why Lin Chu did not dare to push him. If she did, she would feel the burning heat on his skin.

However, Yan Beicheng suddenly moved to the side. His busy week had finally ended and there was nothing much for him to handle today, so he wanted to take a break in advance. He wished he did not have to return to the office today.

His lips went close to her ears and he nuzzled them all the way to the corner of her lips as he said hoa.r.s.ely, "Even I wanted to, I can't drive the car now."

He then grabbed hold of Lin Chu's hands.

Lin Chu, "…"

She glanced at him and took a deep breath. She was trying her best to forget about the electric current running down her neck. She spoke in a slightly trembling voice, "Then we'll change seats. I'll drive."

Yan Beicheng, "…"

Why did he have to teach her to drive his car in the first place?!

The disciple was causing the master to go hungry!

"Are you planning on allowing me to hold this all in on the road? I'll tire myself by holding it in!" Yan Beicheng clenched his teeth as he said and held on tightly to her hands.

Lin Chu's face reddened but did not say anything. Her pretty, soulful eyes turned downwards.

She had heard about this before and started to worry about Yan Beicheng exerting himself too much by holding it in.

As Yan Beicheng watched her hesitate, he quickly pulled down his zipper and pulled her hand toward it to help him with his release.

…

In the end, Lin Chu's palms were all red as she took out some tissues from the storage box. She tried wiping her hands dry, but his smell remained. She felt uncomfortable and took out a wet tissue to try to wipe them again.

Yan Beicheng was feeling much happier now and kissed her on the lips before seating himself properly in the driver's seat.

However, Lin Chu was feeling gloomy. Why did she always give in to him every time they were in this situation?

She got red-faced just thinking about it and covered her face with her hands as she shook her head aggressively. She looked so silly that Yan Beicheng could not help laughing.

It was lucky that despite the fooling around this morning, Lin Chu was not late by the time Yan Beicheng reached her office. Before she got out of the car, she took another lozenge and hurried off as work was about to start.

Xu Jiaojiao watched as Lin Chu got out of the car, but she did not dare approach Lin Chu in front of Yan Beicheng, who was still in the car.

Meanwhile, Yan Beicheng only drove off after Lin Chu had stepped into the building.

Xu Jiaojiao wanted to stop her before Lin Chu could get into the office elevator.

She ran toward her but before she could get close to the entrance of the building, someone suddenly jumped out to stop her.

"Miss Xu, you haven't yet succeeded after so many attempts but I see you haven't given up," Huang Changxian said coldly.

Even though this was not his family matters and he was just here on Yan Beicheng's orders to stop her, Xu Jiaojiao was getting annoyed with him.

"What's wrong with you? I want to see my sister. What right have you to stop me?!" Xu Jiaojiao said angrily.

The people nearby heard her words and looked over.

Huang Changxian frowned slightly before giving a cold laugh, "So, she's suddenly your sister because she's rich and is an orphan. Why don't you go to the richest man here and tell him you're her daughter?"

Those who heard it understood the situation and decided to quickly walk away.

"You… What will it take to make you leave?!" Xu Jiaojiao stamped her feet angrily.

Huang Changxian's mouth twitched condescendingly, "Miss Xu, if you choose to persistently hara.s.s her, the only thing left for me to do is to make a police report. Who knows what you are planning on doing? Just the act of you stalking her would be enough to cause suspicion."

Xu Jiaojiao did not have much experience when it came to the real world. Even if she was quite smart, she was still a student at the end of the day. Thus, she was quickly scared off by Huang Changxian as her face turned pale and she stopped moving forward.

However, she still wanted some dignity and ended up loitering a while before clenching her teeth and finally leaving.

…

When Lin Chu walked into the office, Zheng Yuntong was already there. Lin Chu was felt a little on edge when she saw Zheng Yuntong waving at her happily, "Morning!"

"Morning," Lin Chu replied in a quiet voice.

She hoped that Zheng Yuntong would not notice what had happened to her voice.

The moment she sat down and turned on the computer, Zheng Yuntong narrowed her eyes to ask, "What happened to your voice?"

Lin Chu slowly took out the bottle of fritillary and loquat paste Aunt Zhuang had made for her. She used a spoon to scoop out some of the paste and put it into her cup before replying, "It could be due to the bad sleep I had last night. I might have caught a cold after kicking off the covers."

Zheng Yuntong had an 'I am not stupid' expression on her face. "Stop kidding me. It's July now and the weather is so hot. I turn on the air conditioning without using the covers at night, but here you are catching a cold?"

Lin Chu, "…"

My dear friend, can you not be so smart all the time?!

Zheng Yuntong watched as Lin Chu's hand stopped mixing the fritillary and loquat paste with water. When her hands started moving again, Zheng Yuntong continued, "Besides, don't you have Yan Beicheng to hug you to sleep at night?"

Lin Chu, "…"

Lin Chu was not about to be beaten by this cheeky girl and counter-attacked, "How is it between you and a.s.sistant Shen?"

"…" Zheng Yuntong glared at her. She wished she could wipe the smug look off Lin Chu's face. She looked around nervously. None of their other colleagues were looking over, so she quickly covered Lin Chu's mouth.

Lin Chu was tickled by this and cooperated by shaking her head and making m.u.f.fled noises via her covered mouth.

"You… You've been with Yan Beicheng for too long. That's mean of you!" Zheng Yuntong pinched Lin Chu on the face.

"Hey! Is there really something going on?" Lin Chu pretended she was hurt and covered her mouth. She looked at Zheng Yuntong, trying hard not to laugh.

Zheng Yuntong rolled her eyes at her. "What are you talking about?! We've been having lunch together this whole week. How could you not know?"

"Then, what are you so afraid of?" Lin Chu asked as she smiled broadly.

"Time for work, time for work," Zheng Yuntong suddenly said and turned to click open her computer files as she pretended to be busy.

Lin Chu successfully diverted Zheng Yuntong's attention and so stopped teasing her. She smiled as she too turned to begin her work.

…

Yan Beicheng was driving toward Yan Hui when the traffic light turned red. He stopped and drummed the fingers on his left hand on the steering wheel in boredom.

His gaze lowered as his long, curly eyelashes covered his eyes. They slowly fell onto the ring he was wearing on his left ring finger. It was the ring Lin Chu had hand-made for him.

He suddenly thought of her snow-white hands from when they were in the garage. He saw her wearing a ring he had gifted her on the middle finger of her left hand. It was a simple ring, but it shone brightly on her snow-white skin.

He watched her blush when she looked at her hand. The thought of it made him feel warm and fuzzy.

He slowly collected his thoughts and gave Zuo Qiu a call, "Check for any shops where I can make my own ring."

Zuo Qiu hung up and immediately checked, not forgetting to praise his president for being such a romantic person.

While he was checking for a shop, he suddenly jumped in his seat. He had thought about something!

Zuo Qiu immediately called Yan Beicheng and gave him a number and address. Yan Beicheng seemed satisfied with this and got him to make an appointment via phone call.

"Remember to get them as soon as possible. It would be best if you could do it today." Yan Beicheng instructed.

When Yan Beicheng reached the office, Zuo Qiu came up to him. "Master Yan, the appointment has been confirmed. It will be at 2 pm this afternoon."

Zuo Qiu expected Yan Beicheng to finish his work in the morning. Since he had no appointments in the afternoon, he had picked this timeslot.

Yan Beicheng nodded in satisfaction.

Lin Chu had thought that he would be busy in the afternoon. In addition to this, they had been so distracted because of the extra strenuous activities from yesterday and this morning that Yan Beicheng had forgotten to inform her.

After he had quickly wolfed down his lunch, he drove to the jewelry shop.

This jewelry shop had ready-made accessories and jewels that were yet to be embedded. These jewels were usually of high value, making them convenient keepsakes of the wealthy. They could buy these jewels and do whatever they wanted with them; it would not even be a problem for them to use these precious stones as chess pieces.

Yan Beicheng walked into the shop and toward the counter with the rings. His eyes swept across the selection and immediately locked onto something.

He had spotted a sapphire ring that would look good on Lin Chu.

Her white skin, healthy and fair, was just like a piece of jade. He wanted to put that sapphire ring on her long, slim fingers as her fair skin would look beautiful against a cla.s.sic blue stone.

However, the sapphire on the ring was a little too small for Yan Beicheng's taste.

He pointed to the ring and asked the salesman, "Do you have a sapphire stone in the shop?"

The salesman was momentarily stunned, but he quickly replied, "Yes, we do. Please follow me."

If it was another shop, one would need to make an appointment before the stone could be s.h.i.+pped from headquarters, but this shop was well-known. Even though the quality of their jewels and golds were identical to any other brand, they were mostly known for their designs. Their widespread popularity allowed them to hike up the price to as much as tenfold their compet.i.tors'.

Because of this, their clients consisted of those who were financially strong and generous with their spending. Their clientele had no interest in ready-made accessories but had a strong interest in purchasing expensive jewels.

This shop initially did not stock many different jewels, but after several inquiries from a few rich clients, they tried to s.h.i.+p over whatever stone was requested from their headquarters.

However, by the time they managed to s.h.i.+p over the stock, these clients would no longer be interested in returning for it and would use the waiting time to search for these jewels on their own.

After learning their lesson, the brand had started to stock up on high-quality jewels in their shops. It did not matter if they were unable to sell them as if a client asked for them, they could immediately bring it out for them. This would make the brand look glamourous and magnanimous.

When Yan Beicheng was brought indoors, a few people from the shop served him some tea and snacks.

As he had just had lunch, he did not have much of an appet.i.te and merely sipped on the tea.

After a while, a salesman came by with a tray and opened it for Yan Beicheng to view.

Two sapphire stones were placed on a piece of black flannel cloth. Both had been cut and, under the light of the jewelry store, shone brightly.

The size of the sapphire stones were near-identical, but one could still tell that they varied slightly in size. The quality of their radiance was slightly different as well.

The salesman used a pair of tweezers to pick up each of the sapphires for Yan Beicheng to inspect under the lights.

"These two sapphires are lively and bright. There's a slight difference in their weight, and the color of the bigger one is not as pretty as the smaller stone, which is why the smaller one is slightly more expensive," the salesman explained.

Some clients preferred the bigger stone while others would opt for the more colorful one, but in the end, it would just depend on the client's preference.

The smaller one was actually not as small as one would think. If Yan Beicheng picked the smaller one, the brighter color of it would suit Lin Chu's skin tone better.

Yan Beicheng swiped his card to make the purchase and immediately headed over to the shop where Zuo Qiu had helped him make an appointment.

Embedding the sapphire would be the last step, but it would first be handed over to the old masters in the shop to finish it.

As for the other steps, Yan Beicheng had personally handled them.

The saleswoman asked if he wanted to carve something on it and Yan Beicheng immediately thought of something. His good-looking thin lips curved into a warm curve as he nodded and said, "I need to carve something on it."

Yan Beicheng smiled warmly, "I want to carve…'Unfailingly Beicheng'."

The saleswoman looked surprised and immediately smiled. "That's such a coincidence. There was a lady here who came to get a hand-made a ring as well. She carved the same words in it. Is she your loved one?"

Yan Beicheng loved that reference of Lin Chu.

The saleswoman was quite smart, she could not tell if Lin Chu was his girlfriend or wife, and it would not be wrong to refer to her as a loved one.

The smile on Yan Beicheng's face widened as he nodded. "I'm about to propose to her."

The saleswoman smiled sincerely as her eyes brightened. "Congratulations. We did not expect both of you to come separately to our shop to make your rings."

"I know. I didn't know this was the same place she came to make my ring as well," Yan Beicheng was in a good mood and was quite willing to chat with this young saleswoman.

The saleswoman spotted the ring on the middle finger of his left hand and smiled as she asked, "The ring on your finger was the one she made in our shop the last time, isn't it?"

Yan Beicheng felt that this saleswoman had a bright future and that it was especially joyful chatting with her. He unconsciously straightened up in his seat and lifted his chin slightly before he proudly replied a resounding 'yes'. He was smiling so much that the crow's feet around his eyes could not even be covered up.

Saleswoman, "…"

The saleswoman prepared the carving tools for Yan Beicheng and did not disturb him anymore.

When Yan Beicheng was done, he smoothened the ring and handed it over to the old master to work on the embedding.

When the saleswoman saw the master's end result, her jaw fell open.

"This is so beautiful! Your future wife is so lucky!" The shopwoman could not help gus.h.i.+ng.

Yan Beicheng did not say anything but he was obviously over the moon as he tidied up his s.h.i.+rt collar.

He had taken off his coat and left it in the car for convenience when making the ring and his tie was also loosened, causing it to fall about ruggedly. There was an uninhibited look about him.

The saleswoman blinked and said, "Mister, once you've gotten her hand in marriage, could you take the time to drop by with your fiancée? I'd like to take a picture of both your rings and blow up the image to it in our shop. It will be a big draw for customers!"

Yan Beicheng was in a good mood, and since the saleswoman was so great at complimenting him, he nodded in agreement.

Now that he had this ring, Yan Beicheng would not just propose too her so ordinarily. Besides, he was confident that Lin Chu would say yes.

Because of this, he did not want to take the matter lightly. He wanted to give her something to remember forever.

That afternoon, Yan Beicheng picked up Lin Chu from Lin Yi's entrance. When Lin Chu got into the car, Yan Beicheng's expression gave nothing away. He had placed the ring box in his pockets where it felt burning hot as it was squashed tightly with only a thin layer of cloth between the box and his thigh. His left hand could not help touching the box every now and then. He felt nervous and excited, but his lips could not help curving upwards as he contemplated how best to propose to her.

Lin Chu did not feel that anything was different with him. She did see him smiling to himself but she thought it was because he had finished with his busy week and was in a good mood.

The ring was in his left pocket, on the driver's side, which hid it from Lin Chu's view. This was why she did not suspect a thing.

"Is your voice still hoa.r.s.e?" Yan Beicheng turned to ask her.

Lin Chu shook her head, "I had the fritillary and loquat paste that Aunt Zhuang prepared for me this morning. My voice got better in the afternoon."

Yan Beicheng smiled and reached out to hold her left hand. From the corner of his eye, he looked at the ring she was wearing on her middle finger. The evening sun shone through the car windows, brightening her fair hands and painting them a golden color. Even her silver-white ring shone with golden-orange hue.

His slender fingers moved gently and pinched the ring on her fingers. Then, he gently caressed it with her other fingers.