Rose Manor: Tycoon's Relentless Chase-Chapter 356 - 334: I’ll Cry for You

Fu Jichen froze, lowered his lashes, looked at the person beneath him, and uttered two words: "No birth."

Shen Jianian didn’t expect him to reject so decisively, blinked blankly, eyes filled with surprise, and when Fu Jichen leaned down to kiss her again, she turned her head away.

Fu Jichen’s lips landed on her neck, paused for a moment, and let out a barely audible sigh.

Shen Jianian wouldn’t continue without getting to the bottom of her doubts: "Can I ask why? You don’t like children?" She couldn’t think of another reason for the moment.

Fu Jichen lifted his head from where it was nestled in her neck, looked at her steadily, and didn’t hide his true thoughts: "Your health is more important; everything else can wait."

Shen Jianian fell silent for a moment, realizing he didn’t dislike children but was considering her health by saying no birth.

"Don’t let it be a burden. Having a child won’t affect the feelings between us." Fu Jichen’s tone was solemn and sure, "Nothing is more important than you."

A child is just an embellishment; without one, he wouldn’t feel regret.

Shen Jianian’s fingers fiddled with the buttons on his shirt, remained silent for several seconds, and spoke with slight hesitation and intermittently: "But, I... I asked a doctor last time, and the doctor said... it won’t affect."

"Hm? What won’t affect?"

Fu Jichen’s arms propped beside her, more focused on what she was saying than being intimate, so he suppressed his restless emotions and patiently asked her.

"Didn’t you understand?" Shen Jianian lowered her lashes, not looking at his face, and softly said: "My health... doesn’t affect having a child."

Fu Jichen’s focus was clearly not on whether to have a child; he pondered for a while and asked her: "When did you ask a doctor? Which doctor said that? Is it reliable?"

He fired three questions at once, leaving Shen Jianian bewildered.

Soon, she recalled that last time she asked a doctor, she deliberately avoided Fu Jichen out of embarrassment, so he was unaware.

The person beneath him sealed her lips and didn’t speak; Fu Jichen lowered his head and repeated the question.

Shen Jianian saw the question was unavoidable, so she confessed: "It’s just... the last time you took me to see Doctor Fang, whom you called Uncle Fang."

Fu Jichen seriously recalled, and if he remembered correctly, they didn’t discuss fertility issues that day: "I don’t remember you asking about this aspect then."

Shen Jianian knew he would ask that, so she remained silent.

"You asked behind my back?" Fu Jichen quickly grasped the situation.

Shen Jianian softly hummed, acknowledging it.

Fu Jichen chuckled softly, brushed his lips against the corner of hers, and lightly asked: "Thinking about having a child?"

"No, I was just asking, preparing mentally in advance."

"Oh."

"What are you ’oh’ing about?"

"Nothing." Fu Jichen replied, not satisfied with merely brushing her lips, pressed deeper into the kiss, and while kissing, he murmured lowly, indistinctly: "We don’t need to rush, you can take your time preparing mentally."

"Aren’t you in a hurry?" Shen Jianian found the gap between kisses and uttered a few vague words, "You’re already old."

Immersed, Fu Jichen suddenly paused, lifted his head, with emotions still swirling in his eyes, slightly bewildered: "What did you say?"

Shen Jianian covered her mouth, as if the words just now weren’t spoken by her.

Fu Jichen removed her hand from her mouth, gazed into her eyes, and asked again: "Shen Jianian, what did you just say about me?"

He even called her by her full name! Feeling that matters were grim, Shen Jianian pursed her lips, blushed, and dared not blink, staring straight at him.

Finally, unable to withstand his gaze, she opened her mouth to defend herself: "I wasn’t the first to say it; you said yourself that you were getting old, losing hearing. I just... followed your words."

"Don’t explain."

Fu Jichen bowed his head and captured her lips, interrupting her stammering words, using action to prove whether he really was getting old.

If her lips and tongue hadn’t been overwhelmed, Shen Jianian truly wanted to shout "injustice," as she was merely joking, and the joke was his own words, so she mimicked, then suffered inhumane treatment.

*

Tossing and turning like a pancake for most of the night, when it was over, Shen Jianian fell into a deep sleep. In her muddled consciousness, she secretly vowed never to mention the word "age" in front of Fu Jichen again.

She underestimated the man’s meticulous nature; he could joke about himself, but no one else could.

The weekend quickly arrived, and Shen Jianian had agreed with Fu Jichen to visit the Fu Family’s old house in the evening to see the elders. Fu Jichen had already called ahead to the old house.

In the afternoon, Shen Jianian left the studio two hours early to go back to Yunding Palace to dress up.

Shen Jianian took out half the clothes from the wardrobe, picking and choosing, unable to find something suitable to meet the elders. She turned around, looking troubled, and asked Fu Jichen: "Which should I wear?"

"That cheongsam you had custom-made before, I haven’t seen you wear it." Fu Jichen, sitting in the room with his legs crossed, occasionally flipping through an original English book on his lap, glanced at his wife, who looked full of indecision. "How about wearing that?"

Following his suggestion, Shen Jianian found the custom-made cheongsam in the dressing room. It was a summer style, with a satin material featuring a subtle pink bamboo pattern. Without even trying it on, she felt it looked charmingly delicate.

She didn’t even know why she had a sudden whim to choose this material for a cheongsam back then.

"Too cute." Shen Jianian was a bit hesitant.

Fu Jichen turned a page in his book, lifted his eyes, and saw her holding the collar of the cheongsam against her body, seemingly dissatisfied. He tilted his head slightly, his fingers resting on his temple as he admired her expression, and after a while, he spoke: "You’re young, what’s wrong with being a bit charming? It suits us as an odd couple."

Shen Jianian rolled her eyes at him. He wouldn’t let her mention age, yet he brought it up.

Fu Jichen’s eyes curved as he smiled gently, closing his book and standing up, pushing her shoulder towards the dressing room: "Stop worrying, just wear it, it looks good."

Shen Jianian reluctantly changed into the cheongsam, sat in front of the dressing table, carefully applying light makeup, and half-braided her long hair, pinning it with a hairpin.

While selecting matching jewelry, Fu Jichen came to her side and took a pair of jade earrings from the jewelry box: "Sit still, I’ll help you put them on."

Shen Jianian obediently adjusted her posture, looking up at the dressing mirror. In the mirror, the man in a white shirt bent slightly, his expression serious, carefully threading an earring through the small hole in her earlobe, and fitting it snugly.

The earrings had a simple design, with a long silver chain, ending with a droplet-shaped green jade.

Gazing at their reflection in the mirror, Shen Jianian was lost in thought, similar images surfacing in her mind. Long ago, when she was brought to live at Yunding Palace by Fu Jichen, she saw a jewelry box in the drawer, and a fleeting image of the man adorning her with earrings crossed her mind. Now, with a similar scene unfolding, her heartbeat quickened as if something was emerging from her heart, yet firmly blocked by a barrier, preventing her from seeing beyond it.

"All done."

Fu Jichen’s voice echoed in her ears, bringing her thoughts back. Her gaze gradually focused, only to realize both earrings were in place, gently swaying with her head movements.

Fu Jichen, noticing her dazed expression, placed a hand on her shoulder, watching her through the mirror: "What are you thinking about?"

Shen Jianian lifted a hand, covering his large hand on her shoulder, and smiled warmly: "Suddenly, I remember you seemed to have put earrings on me before."

Fu Jichen paused, surprise flashing in his eyes, yet the next moment, Shen Jianian sighed: "I try to follow that image further, but I can’t remember what happened before and after, like there’s a wall in front of me I can’t push away. I feel, once I push away that wall, I might remember more."

"Don’t force yourself if you can’t remember," Fu Jichen comforted her, "It’s pretty good now."

Shen Jianian got up from the chair, no longer looking at him through the mirror, but turning to face him: "Sometimes I really want to retrieve past memories, to remember our past."

"If you want to know, I can tell you in detail." Fu Jichen smiled, "Actually, the time when we first met wasn’t exactly pleasant, we often quarreled."

"Really?" Shen Jianian was curious, "Was it you who got angry at me, or me at you?"

"Both."

A sudden thought struck Shen Jianian: "Do you think, one day, if I remember the past, I’d forget the present instead?"

Fu Jichen’s face instantly darkened, pinching her nose: "Then I’d cry for you to see."

Shen Jianian chuckled.

The silk of the cheongsam was too thin, and Fu Jichen, worried she might get cold in the air-conditioned room, fetched a thin shawl from the dressing room, draping it over her shoulders.

The two departed from Yunding Palace, arriving at the Fu Family’s old house around six-thirty in the evening. When they walked hand in hand through the door, everyone inside looked over.

Everyone was reminded of the last time Fu Jichen brought a young lady home. That young lady also wore an elegant and refined cheongsam, with a reserved, gentle demeanor.

Just like the scene before them, although the young lady’s appearance had changed.