Lu Yuan assumed Ning Guiqu was just nervous since, from a certain perspective, he and Ning Guiqu weren’t very familiar with each other. Although they had been roommates for four years in college, neither had paid much attention to the other.
The car was quiet all the way. Suddenly, Lu Yuan asked, “Where are the marriage certificates?”
Ning Guiqu answered promptly, “Mine is at my home. I’m not sure about yours, but it’s probably hidden away. He was afraid you’d come back and find yourself married to me, then go astray.” Having lied once before, Ning Guiqu was now able to fabricate stories with confidence.
Lu Yuan fell silent. Did he really like Xu Zhi? How did he even come to like Xu Zhi? Lu Yuan couldn’t imagine himself liking Xu Zhi at all. How could he possibly like Xu Zhi??
So, Lu Yuan remained skeptical of Ning Guiqu’s words.
Upon arriving at the company, Lu Yuan discovered that Song Huai had called him ten minutes ago, but he didn’t notice because his phone was on silent. Song Huai had also sent him a message that read: [Can Xiao Zhi be Ning Guiqu’s best man?]
Lu Yuan told Ning Guiqu to go up first. Ning Guiqu didn’t ask any questions; at the company, Lu Yuan was his superior, so he nodded seriously and left. Lu Yuan then called Song Huai back.
The phone barely rang once before it was answered, with Song Huai urgently asking, “Is it okay? Can Xiao Zhi be Ning Guiqu’s best man?”
Lu Yuan naturally couldn’t agree to such a thing on Ning Guiqu’s behalf, especially since he himself was still confused about the wedding happening in a month.
Lu Yuan glanced at Ning Guiqu, who was waiting for the elevator not far away, and chose to pass the ball to him, “He’s your subordinate. Can’t you ask him directly?”
Song Huai sighed on the other end of the phone, “You think I haven’t asked? I sent him a message with an exclamation mark, and he deleted me. I can guarantee that while Ning Guiqu has been working at my company, I haven’t mistreated him at all.”
Lu Yuan wasn’t aware of Ning Guiqu deleting Song Huai. But Ning Guiqu wouldn’t delete someone without reason.
“You must have mistreated him somehow. Think about it,” Lu Yuan said as he walked towards the elevator after Ning Guiqu had entered.
Song Huai replied, “Alright, can I gossip a bit more? When did you and Ning Guiqu get together? You’ve kept it so secret that neither Xiao Zhi nor I noticed anything between you two.”
Lu Yuan thought to himself that he and Ning Guiqu had a flash marriage and were now in a ‘love after marriage’ situation. They had never actually been together, so it would have been miraculous if Song Huai and Xu Zhi had noticed anything. But since Song Huai had brought up Xu Zhi, Lu Yuan couldn’t help but think of the future tragedy Ning Guiqu had mentioned.
Lu Yuan sighed inwardly, “Not long. Stay away from me for a while.”
Song Huai asked, puzzled, “Why?”
Because he’s the villain boss.
Lu Yuan: “……” The statement was too childish; he couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud, nor did he believe it.
“Never mind. Come over for dinner this weekend. You can talk to Ning Guiqu yourself.”
Song Huai quickly agreed.
When Lu Yuan arrived at his office, his secretary was briefing him on the day’s schedule as usual, mentioning a meeting at 9:30. However, Lu Yuan saw Ning Guiqu, who had appeared from somewhere, next to his meeting room.
Ning Guiqu sat down close to Lu Yuan.
Lu Yuan: “…….”
The others in the meeting room seemed unsurprised by Ning Guiqu’s presence. In front of the company employees, Lu Yuan could only ignore Ning Guiqu’s appearance. Throughout the entire meeting, Ning Guiqu remained very quiet, and Lu Yuan couldn’t guess what Ning Guiqu was responsible for. When the meeting ended, Lu Yuan held Ning Guiqu back as he was about to stand up.
Ning Guiqu sat back down.
The last employee to leave thoughtfully closed the meeting room door, flashing a mysterious smile at Lu Yuan, giving him and his newlywed wife some privacy.
Lu Yuan: “……”
Only then did Lu Yuan ask Ning Guiqu beside him, “What’s your position?”
Ning Guiqu answered honestly, “I’m the Vice President.”
Lu Yuan: “…….” To become Vice President right after joining, no one would believe it wasn’t through connections. No wonder his salary was so high.
Lu Yuan asked again, “What are you responsible for?”
Ning Guiqu replied sincerely, “I’m responsible for things you can’t handle.”
Lu Yuan: “…….”
Things he couldn’t handle. If he couldn’t handle them, was there any need to handle them at all?
The other Lu Yuan was essentially giving money to Ning Guiqu.
Giving money wasn’t a problem since he and Ning Guiqu were already married. But would Ning Guiqu find meaning in such a do-nothing Vice President position?
Lu Yuan pondered for a moment, then tentatively asked, “Do you like this job?”
Ning Guiqu nodded quickly and replied understandingly, “I love it! Do you think my position is too high? The other you said that since we’re married, if my position were too low, people might think we don’t love each other. But I can accept a demotion.”
This was true. Ning Guiqu wouldn’t take advantage of Lu Yuan to this extent. After all, life had become very comfortable since he became Vice President.
Seeing that Ning Guiqu liked the job, Lu Yuan said, “He was quite right.”
Ning Guiqu blinked, and then Lu Yuan patted Ning Guiqu’s shoulder and stood up, saying, “Let’s go.”
Ning Guiqu followed Lu Yuan back to his office.
Lu Yuan: ?
Lu Yuan’s forehead was covered in black lines. “Don’t tell me we share an office.”
Ning Guiqu shook his head and pointed to a door in the corner of the office, “My office is there.”
Lu Yuan’s eye twitched.
Wasn’t that his lounge?
Lu Yuan took a long stride and opened the lounge door, shocked by the scene before him.
His once minimalist lounge, which had only contained a bed, a desk, and a wardrobe, had been completely transformed!
There was now a massage chair, and on the desk sat a computer, a water cup, and some unfinished potato chips. Next to the desk was a snack rack, each layer filled with various snacks.
Lu Yuan even walked in and opened the newly added refrigerator, which was stocked with a variety of chilled drinks.
Lu Yuan: “……”
Ning Guiqu walked in from behind, sat down in the sofa chair, turned on the computer, and tilted his head towards Lu Yuan, saying, “I’m going to work now.”
Lu Yuan: “…….”
Although shocked by the scene before him, Lu Yuan reminded himself that this was his wife. As long as there was no cheating or misbehavior, everything could be discussed.
However—
“Ning Guiqu, you do know this is my lounge, right?”
Ning Guiqu replied seriously, “I know. There’s even a bed. I’m aware that I don’t deserve my position and am not worthy of having my own office.”
Lu Yuan: “……”
He felt a rare moment of sympathy for Ning Guiqu. But he quickly came to his senses. With all the snacks, drinks, and a massage chair in the lounge, not to mention Ning Guiqu now browsing videos on a streaming site, what was there to feel sorry about?
Lu Yuan left.
As soon as Lu Yuan walked out, Ning Guiqu started thinking about Song Huai. But he was married now. Married men shouldn’t think about anyone other than their spouse!
Ning Guiqu pushed open his office door, poked his head out, and asked Lu Yuan, who had just sat down in his office chair, “We won’t get divorced, right?”
Lu Yuan immediately noticed Ning Guiqu’s nervousness.
“Are you afraid of us getting divorced?”
Ning Guiqu nodded gravely, “We were roommates once. I don’t want you to become enemies with your friend.”
Lu Yuan: “…….”
Lu Yuan sighed, “I understand. We won’t get divorced.”
Ning Guiqu closed the rest area door.
Lu Yuan still felt it was impossible for him to like Xu Zhi.
As Lu Yuan was organizing the documents on his desk, a file marked [TOP SECRET] caught his attention. He pulled it out from the pile of documents and opened it directly.
Inside were several pages of text.
The first page read: [Our world is a danmei novel…..]
Lu Yuan was surprised, suspecting it was written by the Lu Yuan from the other world.
Lu Yuan read through all the pages.
After finishing, Lu Yuan felt calm, without a trace of shock. In these pages, the other Lu Yuan explained that their world was a fictional one in a novel.
Song Huai and Xu Zhi were the main couple, while he was just a background character. Ning Guiqu was actually a minor villain. He liked Song Huai and constantly plotted against Xu Zhi, ultimately stabbing Song Huai out of unrequited love.
So, that made sense. How could he possibly like Xu Zhi? Was Ning Guiqu afraid of divorcing him because he might start plotting again?
Lu Yuan automatically ignored the sweet daily life of the other world’s Lu Yuan and Ning Guiqu. It had nothing to do with him anyway. What caught his attention was that the other world’s Ning Guiqu had never truly liked anyone else, having liked the other world’s Lu Yuan since high school.
This fact made Lu Yuan feel slightly annoyed. His Ning Guiqu, his wife in name, actually liked another man, to the point of stabbing him for love.
As Lu Yuan was pondering this, Song Huai sent him another message.
Lu Yuan opened it.
[Ning Guiqu added me back. Did you tell him to? Although I still don’t understand how I offended him, I plan to make it up to my former employee by treating him to a meal. What do you think?]
Lu Yuan’s face darkened. Ning Guiqu belonged to Song Huai?
Lu Yuan’s fingers jabbed at the screen, typing out a reply: [Reject his friend request.]
Song Huai: [I’ve already accepted it.]
Lu Yuan sent three more words: [Delete him then.]
Song Huai: [Wait, something’s odd. I asked him about letting Xiao Zhi be the best man, and Ning Guiqu replied “In your dreams,” but immediately retracted it and deleted me again. What’s wrong with him?]
Lu Yuan gripped his phone tightly, his whole body emanating a chilly aura. What was wrong with Ning Guiqu?
Of course, Ning Guiqu was jealous.
In fact, Lu Yuan now fully understood Ning Guiqu’s series of actions. Because they were married, Ning Guiqu thought he shouldn’t contact Song Huai and deleted him. But because he really liked Song Huai, he couldn’t resist adding him back just now.
After adding him back, Song Huai mentioned another man in his message, causing the jealous Ning Guiqu to delete Song Huai again.
Lu Yuan stared intently at the lounge door. So, his “love after marriage” spouse had someone else in his heart. Rather than harboring feelings for another man, wouldn’t it be better to be like the other Ning Guiqu and just give in to his baser instincts?
Author’s note:
There’s one more chapter. After finishing the “Marriage First, Love Later” story, I might write some whimsical short stories about a landowner × slave and a rabbit × penguin at some point in the future.
Raine: As of editing this chapter, there are no other extras after “Marriage First, Love Later”. I might check the novel page from time to time to check, because the JJWXC novel app doesn’t push notifs on my phone. I have also followed the author on Weibo so I can translate the future extras.
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