Cecilia Gu froze for a moment, curling up under the covers. She answered gloomily, "No, I think I'll just rest early tonight. Go and come back soon."
Charles Yin heard Cecilia's reply, and a hint of disappointment flashed in his eyes. But he quickly responded, "Alright, get some sleep early."
With that, Charles Yin turned and left the room.
After Charles Yin left, Cecilia Gu found herself unable to fall asleep. She couldn't help but climb out of bed, run to the window, and look outside—just in time to see Alex driving Charles Yin away.
"Dressed up so extravagantly at this hour..." Cecilia Gu couldn't help but mutter to herself, "Saying he'd take me with him was just being polite, right? Cecilia, what are you even thinking? You and Charles Yin are just contract spouses. Whoever he meets, whenever he goes out, has nothing to do with you!"
The more Cecilia thought about it, the more stifled she felt.
She went back to bed, tossing and turning for a long time before she finally fell asleep.
Even though she went to bed upset, in the middle of the night, her favorite hot water bottle returned.
Ah, Mrs. Zhang, you're so thoughtful!
Did you know I'd be feeling cold tonight, so you brought me the hot water bottle again?
Early in the morning, as soon as Cecilia Gu came downstairs, she overheard Alex telling Mrs. Zhang, "Mrs. Zhang, this is the Heart of the Ocean. The CEO asked me to deliver it. He called me out of the blue last night and told me to pick him up. Apparently, there was a very important auction, and this Heart of the Ocean is worth thirty million dollars!"
Mrs. Zhang smiled and replied, "So it was for the young madam."
Cecilia pressed herself against the wall. She hadn't meant to eavesdrop on their conversation.
So last night, he went to the auction to buy the Heart of the Ocean, not to meet someone else...
A sweet feeling unexpectedly bubbled up in Cecilia's heart.
In the blink of an eye, the weekend arrived.
Today was the day to welcome Chairman Han and Mrs. Han from Korea.
Early in the morning, the house was in chaos.
Actually, Cecilia was the only one panicking; everyone else was calmly going about their business.
"Young madam, don't worry. Take your time eating, there's still plenty of time." Mrs. Zhang brought over a freshly heated glass of milk and quickly removed the elegant silverware in front of Cecilia.
"Young madam, please don't move around. Your nail polish won't stay on!" The manicurist, kneeling beside her, kept trying to stop Cecilia.
"Ugh, this is so troublesome. Can't I just skip the manicure?" Cecilia couldn't help but complain. If Charles Yin had told her earlier that today was the day to welcome them, she wouldn't have thought it was tomorrow.
"No way, young madam, your nails have to match today's jewelry." The manicurist quickly replied, "I've never even seen such beautiful jewelry before! You're so lucky, young madam!"
Cecilia felt exasperated.
If she'd known in advance that the Heart of the Ocean jewelry set Charles bought for her required matching nails, she wouldn't have chosen it no matter what!
And why aren't they welcoming Chairman Han and Mrs. Han in Newport City?
Why do they have to go to Summerville instead?
Newport City has an airport too, doesn't it?
If it weren't for having to travel from Newport City to Summerville, she wouldn't be so nervous and flustered!
It takes nearly three hours to drive from Newport City to Summerville!
Right before her eyes stood an eighty-eight-story landmark, towering into the clouds. Huge golden letters gleamed in the sunlight: Yin Enterprises.
Cecilia couldn't help but crane her neck to look up. Her neck grew sore from staring, and she still couldn't make out the top floor.
The Yin Family's butler had been waiting downstairs for a long time. When he saw Charles Yin and Cecilia Gu arrive, he immediately greeted them, "Young master, young madam!"
Charles Yin nodded and walked ahead.
Cecilia was completely stunned. She stood there in a daze for a long time, unable to recover.
With one command from Charles, everyone moved at once.
Cecilia was ushered into a Hummer limousine. Before she could even react, everyone swarmed around her again to continue their work.
Ahhh! Cecilia wanted to scream. Was all this fuss really necessary just to welcome some guests?
Just look at her now—wearing the Heart of the Ocean jewelry worth thirty million dollars, a styling package worth a million, and even her seemingly ordinary shoes were custom-made maternity shoes worth tens of thousands.
Cecilia felt like she wasn't herself anymore.
"Charles, do I really have to do all this?" Cecilia looked at him helplessly. "I'm not used to it at all."
Charles sat across from her, head down, flipping through his tablet. "If you dress too casually, do you think that's respectful to Chairman Han and Mrs. Han?"
"But... I'm really not used to it..." Cecilia looked at Charles with pleading eyes.
Charles looked up and saw Cecilia's watery gaze—she looked just like a little mole.
Charles's long eyes lifted slightly, a faint smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.
The women styling Cecilia were stunned by Charles's smile, all stopping what they were doing at the same time.
Charles was already handsome when serious, but his smile made him even more striking.
That faint smile of his was enough to make their hearts race.
When Charles noticed the women's greedy stares, his eyes instantly darkened and his expression turned cold. "Get out, all of you!"
The women shivered as if they'd gone from spring to winter in an instant, bowing their heads in fear.
The car screeched to a halt and the door swung open. The women scrambled out, practically tumbling over each other.
Cecilia saw that Charles had allowed her to dress more casually and breathed a sigh of relief. She was about to take off the Heart of the Ocean jewelry set, but hesitated—she couldn't bear to part with it, it was just too beautiful. Fine, she decided to keep the necklace and earrings!
Charles set down his tablet and watched as Cecilia happily removed the Heart of the Ocean bracelet—something most women could only dream of owning. Then he saw her let her hair down and braid it into a scorpion tail with her fingers.
It might have lost a bit of its formal elegance, but she looked even more charming this way.
Cecilia found a pair of Vacheron Constantin watches in the jewelry box—a matching set for couples.
She thought the watch matched her outfit perfectly, but she just couldn't fasten the clasp by herself.
As Cecilia struggled with the watch, she heard Charles's voice above her head: "Give me your wrist."
Cecilia froze. When she looked up, Charles's strikingly handsome face was suddenly right in front of her.
What... What was he going to do? Why did he appear so suddenly...
Before Cecilia could react, Charles had already taken her wrist and fastened the watch for her.
Oh, so he was just helping her put on the watch.
The next second, Charles unclasped his own watch, tossed it aside without a glance, and held out his wrist to Cecilia.
Cecilia stared at Charles in confusion. What was he doing?
Charles glanced at the other men's watch, then raised his eyebrows at Cecilia.
He wanted them to wear matching watches... Of course, today they were supposed to act like a loving couple, so wearing couple's watches made sense!
Cecilia finally understood and quickly picked up the other watch, awkwardly fastening it onto Charles's wrist.
Charles's wrist was much thicker than Cecilia's, and as she fumbled, her fingers unconsciously brushed against his skin.
Charles's long eyes narrowed slightly, his gaze falling on Cecilia's delicate fingers.
She was so clumsy, yet he wasn't even a little annoyed... If anyone else around him were this clumsy, they'd have been fired a dozen times over.
Charles let Cecilia clumsily fasten the watch on his wrist, then placed her wrist next to his.
Hmm, it actually looked pretty good.
Cecilia felt a little awkward. Charles was really getting into character today, but she just couldn't find that loving feeling to play her part.
Suddenly, Charles pulled out his phone and snapped a photo of their matching couple's watches.
"From now on, we're playing the role of a loving married couple. Remember, don't mess it up!" Charles saw Cecilia's confusion and quickly reminded her, "This is a multi-billion-dollar contract. If you screw it up, you know what happens!"
Hearing Charles's words, Cecilia felt a small pang of disappointment.
Why was she disappointed?
What was she even thinking?
She was supposed to be acting, after all!
Charles married her partly for the child, and partly for the contract!
Cecilia forced a smile, even though it felt a little unnatural.
That's right, he's only been nice to her these days for the sake of the child, just to make sure she'd cooperate and play her part well.
Don't worry, Charles. I won't mess up your contract.
Charles didn't even think twice—he posted the photo of their couple's watches straight to his Weibo.
In an instant, Charles's Weibo was in complete chaos!
Oh my god, the heir of Yin Enterprises was showing off his love for the first time ever on Weibo!
Fans and media alike were going wild, all trying to guess who was wearing the matching watch with Charles Yin!
Even Charles probably hadn't expected that a casual post would rack up over a hundred million views in just one hour!
They finally arrived at their destination in Summerville.
When Cecilia got out of the car, she was nearly knocked speechless by the sight.