ACBAM 44: Plan

A little after seven in the morning, Su Shijin finished washing up and went downstairs, just as Gu Weiyang came back with breakfast.

Seeing him drenched in sweat, Su Shijin knew he had gone for another morning run. Taking the breakfast from his hands, he casually asked, “Do you go for a run every morning?”

“Mm, if the weather’s nice, I run outside. If not, I run at home,” Gu Weiyang replied. His well-defined muscles were all built up through real, hard work from his part-time jobs in the past, the shapes pleasing and the lines smooth.

Even after returning to the Gu family, Gu Weiyang never slacked off. Whenever he had time, he went for a morning run, and twice a week he hit the gym. His physique was well-maintained—enough that even he felt satisfied when he took off his shirt and looked in the mirror.

After all, he still wanted to use his physique to try and seduce Su Shijin, like casually showing off his abs or something.

Though nothing had even started between them yet, Gu Weiyang’s little schemes were already in full swing.

Su Shijin opened the breakfast container and, surprised by his words, asked, “Run at home? Do you have a gym at your place?”

“Ah, yeah,” Gu Weiyang replied, suddenly remembering he still hadn’t given Su Shijin a proper tour of the house. “After breakfast, if you’re not in a rush to get to work, I’ll show you around so you can get familiar with the place.”

Su Shijin glanced at the time, still early, and nodded. “Alright.”

After they finished breakfast, Gu Weiyang cleaned up the containers and tossed them in the trash, then led Su Shijin from the second basement level all the way up to the attic.

Game room, home theater, wine cellar, and on the east side of the first floor—a fully equipped gym with every kind of workout machine, plus an entire wall of mirrors.

The attic was used for storage, with things they didn’t need for the moment neatly arranged by category on shelves along the walls, everything in perfect order.

Gu Weiyang said, “You can go into any room in the house whenever you want. If you feel like watching a movie, head to the theater room. If you want to work out, go to the gym. No need to ask me for permission.”

Su Shijin followed a step behind him and nodded. “Alright.”

Then Gu Weiyang took him to the back garden.

From the front, the villa looked like it only had a small courtyard, but in reality, the back garden was huge. It clearly had been professionally designed, with a thoughtful and refined layout.

Walking along the cobblestone path led straight to a glass conservatory filled with flowers, complete with temperature control. It’s a perfect spot for relaxing, reading, or enjoying afternoon tea.

Gu Weiyang hadn’t actually come to the glass conservatory much since it was finished, but the way Su Shijin’s eyes lit up instantly told him that he liked it—so building it hadn’t been a waste after all.

“If you like it, you can come sit here anytime you want,” Gu Weiyang said, giving him the password to the glass house. It was as if he had laid the entire home open before him without holding anything back, afraid Su Shijin might feel even the slightest bit out of place living here.

Su Shijin simply nodded again. “Alright.”

By the time they had finished the full tour from front to back, it had taken over half an hour.

Once they were done, it was just about time for Su Shijin to head to work. His car was parked in the garage, so there was no need to trouble Gu Weiyang to drive him. Gu Weiyang could only stand by the floor-to-ceiling window in the first-floor living room, watching as Su Shijin’s car pulled out of the garage, passed through the front gate, and disappeared from sight.

He stared blankly in the direction Su Shijin had gone for a while before the alarm he had set pulled him back to his senses.

Exhaling slowly, he turned off the alarm, went upstairs for a shower, and then stepped out of the walk-in closet dressed in a sharp suit, driving off to work.

—

After arriving at the hospital, Su Shijin clocked in as usual, changed into his uniform, and started work.

He spent the whole morning in the consultation room, checking a few small animals with minor ailments. After lunch, he went into the operating room to neuter a large dog, wishing it farewell from the pleasures of nightlife.

By around four or five in the afternoon, feeling a bit hungry, Su Shijin went to the break room’s snack cabinet to find some biscuits to eat.

The snacks in the cabinet were all provided free by the hospital for the staff. After all, when the vets and assistants got busy, they really might not have time for a proper meal, and could only fill up on some biscuits or bread.

Leaning against the break room’s bar counter, Su Shijin munched on biscuits while brewing himself a cup of instant coffee in a disposable paper cup.

When Ran Tian came in, Su Shijin was taking small sips of his coffee.

Hearing the sound, Su Shijin lifted his eyelids and glanced toward the door, meeting Ran Tian’s gaze.

Ran Tian greeted him cheerfully, “Dr. Su.”

Su Shijin gave a polite nod and shifted slightly to the side, making room at the counter for her to prepare her oat milk tea.

There were only the two of them in the break room, and by rights it should have been either awkward or quiet. Especially since Su Shijin wasn’t the type who was good at making small talk.

Ran Tian didn’t give him the chance for silence. Rarely getting to run into Su Shijin in the break room, she couldn’t hold back her gossipy little soul. Staring at his lowered lashes and expressionless face as he sipped his coffee, she asked curiously, “Dr. Su, how come you’ve been coming to and from work by yourself lately?”

Su Shijin looked at her in mild confusion, not understanding why she was asking that.

Ran Tian quickly patted her own mouth. “No, wait—that’s not what I meant. I was asking, how come your husband hasn’t been driving you to work lately?”

After she asked, Ran Tian felt like she had twisted the meaning of what she wanted to say yet again.

She lightly tapped her own mouth. “Never mind, just pretend I didn’t ask anything.”

She really should have kept quiet.

Su Shijin, however, didn’t think much of the question and didn’t read anything else into it.

Since Ran Tian had asked, he answered, “Our work hours don’t match, so it’s more convenient for me to drive myself.”

Ran Tian nodded repeatedly with two quick “oh, oh”s. “True, sometimes you have to work overtime, and you do get off pretty late.”

“Mm,” Su Shijin replied, and the break room fell quiet again.

After a while, still unwilling to give up on getting some sweet gossip out of him, Ran Tian asked another question. “Oh right, Dr. Su, how did you and your husband meet?”

“Blind date,” Su Shijin said.

Ran Tian’s eyes instantly widened in surprise, almost in disbelief.

Someone like Dr. Su, and thinking back to what his other half looked like, how could an AO pair like them possibly need a blind date?

Back when so many people had pursued Dr. Su only to be turned down, Ran Tian had always assumed it was because he already had someone he liked. She hadn’t expected it to be a blind date at all, let alone one that actually worked out.

“Have you known your husband for a long time?” Ran Tian guessed that with someone like Dr. Su, he would probably only be with a person after knowing them well for quite a while—long enough to understand their character and temperament.

Su Shijin shook his head, thought for a moment, and said, “About half a month.”

Counting it up, from the blind date with Gu Weiyang until now, it had only been fourteen days.

Even Su Shijin found it unbelievable that it had only been fourteen days. Yet somehow, it felt as if so much had happened in that short time, like he had already known Gu Weiyang for fourteen months.

Ran Tian was even more shocked that she nearly scalded her hand with the milk tea she was making.

Her eyes widened in disbelief. “Dr. Su, you mean you had a flash marriage?”

Su Shijin mentally counted the time between meeting Gu Weiyang and getting their marriage certificate, then nodded. “Yes.”

It couldn’t have been any more of a flash marriage.

After that, Ran Tian couldn’t even remember how she left the break room, only that the image everyone had of Dr. Su in the past had all been their own imagination.

The Dr. Su they thought they knew had never really been the real Dr. Su.

—

Unaware of the little receptionist’s flurry of thoughts, Su Shijin finished the last sip of his coffee and returned to the consultation room to continue working.

That evening, he didn’t work overtime. In fact, he got off relatively early, driving home at six o’clock.

After parking in the garage, Su Shijin didn’t see the car Gu Weiyang usually drove and guessed he hadn’t returned yet.

Sure enough, when he went inside, the house was empty. It had been cleaned until it was spotless—the housekeeper clearly had come during the day and tidied up every corner.

Changing into slippers, Su Shijin went into the study for a look. The bookshelves had been dusted clean, the window was cracked open for ventilation, and there was no trace of any stale smell inside.

The box of books he had brought over was still placed neatly in the corner. The housekeeper hadn’t taken them out to arrange without permission.

Su Shijin took out his phone to check the time and, in passing, sent a message to Gu Weiyang: [Mr. Gu, what time do you get off work tonight?]

Gu Weiyang replied almost instantly, as if he had been on his phone the whole time: [Around seven. You?]

[Su Shijin: Just got home. Are you having dinner at home? I have some time now, so I can make something.]

[Gu Weiyang: Wait for me, we’ll cook together.]

Sitting in his office, Gu Weiyang swiveled his chair. He vaguely remembered that Su Shijin didn’t seem very good at cooking, and the thought of him going into the kitchen alone made Gu Weiyang a bit worried. After all, knives don’t have eyes.

Su Shijin was self-aware enough to reply: [Then I’ll wash and prepare the vegetables.]

As long as it wasn’t like yesterday, when he wasn’t allowed to do anything at all, it was fine.

Gu Weiyang felt reassured: [Alright. Everything’s in the fridge so wash whatever you feel like eating, and I’ll cook when I get back.]

Su Shijin replied: [Okay.]

He then put away his phone and found two aprons hanging on the side of the kitchen fridge.

One was the apron Su Shijin had seen Gu Weiyang wear before, and the other, unsurprisingly, seemed to have been prepared for him. He hadn’t expected Gu Weiyang to be so considerate even in something like this.

Tying on the apron, Su Shijin opened the fridge and picked out some vegetables and meat.

Since it wasn’t good to eat too much at night, he chose a bundle of green beans from among the vegetables and took a piece of pork from the fridge to thaw.

Thank heavens—he might never have seen a pig run, but he could at least recognize pork. He planned to wait for Gu Weiyang to come back and make stir-fried green beans with pork.

One dish might not be enough for two people, especially since Gu Weiyang, as a strong and well-built alpha, had quite an appetite. So Su Shijin also took out a few eggs and a bunch of chives.

Chive scrambled eggs, and stir-fried green beans with pork.

A perfect combination.

With a sense of ceremony, Su Shijin picked a song to play in the background, then adjusted the water temperature at the sink and began carefully washing the vegetables, one piece at a time.

When Gu Weiyang came home from work, what he saw was Su Shijin wearing the same couple’s apron as him, back facing the living room, standing in the kitchen and cutting vegetables with focused care.

At that moment, Gu Weiyang felt as if his heart had been completely filled.