Hearing the sound, Lin Wanwan walked out into the hallway and looked at the photos of herself that had been candidly taken and hung on the wall. Just looking at them, she could feel the brightness spilling out of the images. So she was actually such a lively woman?

Right now, it was hard for Lin Wanwan to put her mood into words.

Then she looked at that portrait of herself reading. She remembered this was from when she’d been confined at Lu Shouyue’s place, and, bored, had taken a book from the study and gotten completely absorbed in it.

Back then, Lu Shouyue had indeed been painting, but she hadn’t gone to see what he was painting; she’d never expected it was her.

During those closed-off days, the two of them often stayed quietly in the living room, each doing their own thing without disturbing the other, so she hadn’t discovered this secret before.

Looking at the painting in front of her, the corners of Lin Wanwan’s lips couldn’t help but curve up.

"Brother-in-law is really thoughtful," Su Yanwei couldn’t help sighing. "He took all of these, right?"

"Probably." Lin Wanwan murmured the words.

The lens in front of her eyes felt like a lover’s gaze, full of the everyday warmth of life and an affection that couldn’t be hidden. This wasn’t something a photographer paid to do a job could achieve.

In a photographer’s lens, the person is a subject, not a feeling—only technique, no life. Unless they’re shooting actors, who can cooperate to perform a sense of atmosphere.

But the woman in a man’s lens is his beloved—she’s all emotion and very little technique. Every candid moment he captures becomes an extension of sweet memories.

Compared to this level of care Lu Shouyue had for his fiancée, Su Yanwei privately admitted he himself couldn’t reach it.

To be honest, it wasn’t like Su Yanwei was head over heels for his girlfriend; especially recently, with the wedding approaching and the two of them standing on different sides on many issues, they’d been arguing nonstop, which was only further hurting their relationship.

He was the type who did the appropriate thing at the appropriate age. Seeing that Chen Yan looked like a good candidate for a wife, he’d chosen to be with her.

Even if it wasn’t Chen Yan, it wouldn’t stop him, at this age, from finding someone suitable to date and marry. He didn’t have some obsession that it had to be Chen Yan and no one else.

The two of them had started dating after a blind date; there hadn’t even been an ambiguous phase. Their feelings grew over time.

"Wanwan, Brother-in-law is really great. I believe if you marry him, you’ll be happy." Su Yanwei spoke from the heart.

He was a man himself; he understood what a man’s deep affection looked like.

Lin Wanwan didn’t respond. She stared at the photo wall in front of her, thought for a moment, raised her phone to take a picture, and then sent it to Lu Shouyue.

The other party was clearly not asleep; he replied right away: "Wanwan, how is it? The you in your husband’s lens isn’t bad, right?"

So he even knew the topic of "you in your boyfriend’s lens." Lin Wanwan had to admit Teacher Lu really surfed the internet fast!

She quickly typed back: "Not bad, the candids are beautiful. You do understand aesthetics; promising youngster."

Lu Shouyue: "⁽⁽٩(´͈ᗨ`͈)۶⁾⁾ I’ll keep taking photos for you in the future. So, are you satisfied with our marital home? Most of the furniture hasn’t been bought yet—I was waiting for you, the lady of the house, to pick it out yourself."

Lin Wanwan replied: "You sure think far ahead."

The engagement ceremony hadn’t even been held yet, and Lu Shouyue had already quietly gotten the marital home almost fully renovated, even deliberately leaving the furniture unchosen for Lin Wanwan to pick. It was both impatient and incredibly thoughtful.

As for the fact that the marital home had been secretly prepared at Lu Shouyue’s place, after only looking at the first floor and the basement, Lin Wanwan already expressed she was very satisfied.

As for whether her name was on the property certificate, she didn’t care that much—after all, she wasn’t exactly short of money herself.

Also, she didn’t have any insistence on personally doing up the marital home. It wasn’t like she was a professional. Of course matters of overall renovation should be handed over to professional designers and renovation companies.

Let the professionals handle professional work—this was how she’d done it every time she renovated houses in both the modern era and in ancient times.

Once the overall layout had been completed by professional craftsmen, all she needed to do was bring in some pieces of furniture she loved.

Another message came from Lu Shouyue: "Wanwan, have you gone up to the third floor yet? Go see if it’s to your taste."

"Oh, okay, I’ll go take a look."

As for Lin Wanwan’s fear of marriage, Lu Shouyue had by no means forgotten it. On the contrary, he’d always cared a lot and had been quietly exploring the reasons behind it.

Among them, he believed that fear of losing her freedom was one of the factors. So when renovating this villa, he’d specially copied the double-master-bedroom design from the Hai City place onto the third floor, to allow both husband and wife to have their own separate spaces.

Lin Wanwan put away her phone and said to Su Yanwei, "Come on, let’s go upstairs and have a look."

"Okay."

The second floor had a large suite connected to a study, walk-in closet, and bathroom, all in warm tones. It felt like if you added a baby crib, it would be a perfect children’s room.

In addition, there was a very large library, with books neatly arranged and categorized.

The third floor basically replicated the second-floor layout of Lu Shouyue’s Hai City place: a double-master-bedroom suite, separate bathrooms, two walk-in closets, two studies, and large terraces at both the south and north ends.

As Lin Wanwan looked around, she pondered what furniture needed to be added.

Desks and chairs, as well as beds and other movable furniture, plus some soft furnishings, all would need to be arranged.

Lin Wanwan took out her phone and continued messaging Lu Shouyue: "I’m not planning to buy these pieces from the mall. Wait for me to get some good wood."

"Okay, it’s all up to you." On the other side of the ocean, looking at the text Lin Wanwan sent, Lu Shouyue was grinning like a two-hundred-jin fool.

In her warehouse in the Great Tang, Lin Wanwan had an entire storehouse of fine timber: golden-thread nanmu, Agarwood, Yellow Flower Pear Wood, wenge—everything you could think of.

Anything you could find on the market in Mao County, she’d collected. As long as a merchant ship docked at the Mao County wharf, she’d snap up the good stuff first, saving those merchants the trouble of hauling it all the way to Chang’an to sell.

So she was, in a very real sense, a little rich lady, owning so much rare timber that, if she had to explain it in the modern world, she’d end up in jail for life.

In the small villa she was currently living in, she hadn’t changed much on the first floor, especially her grandparents’ room.

But the second floor and the three-story attic were completely transformed. Many pieces had been made by Great Tang craftsmen, then disassembled and brought back to the modern era for reassembly, all from rare timbers.

You could say that the total value of the furniture she’d arranged far exceeded that of the house itself, which had a market price of over 5.5 million.

If she were to marry Lu Shouyue, there was no way Lin Wanwan would allow her quality of life to drop. There was no need to scrimp on good timber that should be used.

Anyway, she didn’t need to explain the source of it to Lu Shouyue; he already knew.

In the modern furniture market, no matter how expensive something is, it’s almost impossible to have such a large amount of the rare woods she possessed, as well as genuine craftsmanship.

In an industrialized society, purely hand-made master woodworkers are rare. Probably only luxury brands operated by big capital and top-end bespoke studios could afford to keep purely handcrafting artisans.

But when it comes to Chinese-style furniture, only great Huaxia masters truly understand it. These days, if you want to find such people, you’d likely have to look among the inheritors of intangible cultural heritage.

Whereas in the Great Tang, such craftsmen were plentiful. Why should Lin Wanwan go far afield when the near option was so good?

After making a full circuit through the marital home, Lin Wanwan didn’t even realize that she’d already been subtly led, step by step, into accepting the changes that were about to come.

Marriage and the future no longer seemed so terrifying in her heart.