Chapter 3: Just a housewife, can't compare with you

It's just a duplicate name; she's just an ordinary office worker.

Shen Xun explained blandly.

But it's also a kind of honor for Jiang Lai to share a name with someone in your project.

Indeed, it's quite an honor." Lin Shutong chuckled, "The Jiang Lai in our project is very capable.

She's so capable that it makes her dislike her, relying on being the project's core lead, she neither welcomes her nor allows her to touch the core.

Sure enough, anyone named Jiang Lai makes her feel disgusted.

Jiang Lai stared straight at Lin Shutong: "Miss Lin, what project are you leading?"

Before Lin Shutong could answer, Shen Xun spoke up first to complain.

You don't understand, so don't ask randomly; it's a national-level secret project, cannot be disclosed.

If it's being carried out secretly, how do you all seem to know about it?" Jiang Lai retorted coldly.

Lin Shutong froze, her gaze toward Jiang Lai shifting.

She turned her head to Shen Xun and said, "Mrs. Shen is quite interesting."

Shen Xun frowned, again refuting Jiang Lai's face.

I already said you don't understand; why are you still asking?

Jiang Lai's nose suddenly felt sour.

Shen Xun didn't look at her; his gaze was all on Lin Shutong.

Lin Shutong smirked triumphantly, then the next second forced a smile, changing the topic: "A Xun, I originally thought your marriage was... a joke."

The last four words carried a hint of bitterness.

Shen Xun's expression stiffened again.

The two stared at each other in silence.

The surrounding atmosphere obviously grew gloomy.

Shen Xun said, "It wasn't a joke."

Another silence fell.

Lin Shutong said ambiguously, "I somewhat regret it."

Jiang Lai clearly felt Shen Xun's hand beside her trembling slightly.

Mrs. Shen, don't misunderstand; I mean, A Xun called me, but I couldn't return to attend your wedding, I feel some regret, I thought A Xun was just teasing me on purpose.

While speaking, Lin Shutong kept looking at Shen Xun; she didn't even notice Jiang Lai, who was dressed like a street vendor and hadn't bothered to tidy up.

Jiang Lai suddenly recalled the details of her wedding to Shen Xun that had seemed strange to her, though she could find no reason for them.

Back then their wedding was low-key, attended only by Shen Xun's close brothers and the Shen family.

Even so, Shen Xun still laughed and clinked cups with his brothers, drinking until late at night before stumbling back to his room.

The man was dead drunk; he pushed the door and fell sitting on the floor, one hand holding a wine bottle, the other gripping his phone tightly.

In his slightly red eyes, emotions were indiscernible; only his knuckles could be seen tightening and loosening.

She walked over and clearly saw tears in Shen Xun's eyes.

Shen Xun flung the phone far away, then hugged her tightly, saying, "Happy, I am happy, I got married......"

That was clearly a bitter smile.

Now thinking back, it was Shen Xun who called Lin Shutong on their wedding day, using the marriage to test and provoke her.

She, Jiang Lai, the original significance of her existence as a wife, was merely because of this.

Now it's Jiang Lai's turn to want to laugh.

Her dry throat faintly tasted bitter.

Everyone came to Shen Xi's ward; Shen Xi first poured out her grievances to her parents and older brother, then upon seeing Lin Shutong her face lit up with surprise: "Shutong sister!"

"Little Xi, long time no see." Lin Shutong bent down, reaching out to pinch her cheeks.

Shen Xi beamed with joy; this younger sister-in-law of hers usually acted up and threw tantrums at her older brother, but Jiang Lai had never seen her so gentle and clingy before.

Yet she still hadn't forgotten to order her around.

"Sister-in-law! Peel me an apple."

"I can do that; let me do it."

Lin Shutong laughed as she picked up the apple and fruit knife from the table; the moment her palm gripped the apple, her wrist was seized.

It was Shen Xun who stopped her.

"Shutong, don't indulge her; your hands aren't meant for this."

"Exactly!" Shen Xi chimed in, "Shutong sister, your hands are for experiments and recording data; how could you do such rough work? Let the sister-in-law do it; she does it more often."

Lin Shutong looked at Shen Xun: "This isn't right."

Shen Xun pushed the whole fruit platter in front of Jiang Lai, saying, "It's nothing; Jiang Lai has no academic achievements, but she's quite good at this household chore of cutting fruit, and can even cut it into a flower."

Jiang Lai used to not know how either, but since Shen Xun didn't like fruit and fruit contains essential energy the body must intake, she had only to coax him in various ways.

Shen Xun said, "I really don't want to eat it, unless you can turn it into a flower."

She took it to heart, started looking for tutorials to learn flower carving and plating.

And these things she learned for love, in Shen Xun's eyes, were utterly unpresentable.

Jiang Lai picked up the apple on the table, wiped it, didn't peel it, took a bite; the crisp sweet juice slid down her throat, slightly masking the bitterness in her heart.

My hands are full; better let Miss Lin do it.

Shen Xun glared at Jiang Lai, his brows furrowed tightly.

I don't know what's happened these past two days, but Jiang Lai has suddenly become prickly, starting to disobey.

Jiang Lai crunched the apple, ka-cha ka-cha, and said amid everyone's dissatisfied gazes, "The victim's side is still waiting for compensation; Mom and Dad say your money is all on me, besides the monthly three thousand, I don't recall you giving me any other money—handle it yourself."

The voice was cool and detached.

Shen Xun's brow twitched.

The smile at the corners of Lin Shutong's mouth froze as she said, "Since Xiao Xi is fine, I'll head back first."

"I'll walk you out." Shen Xun spoke up immediately, then seemed to realize that being overly attentive to another woman in front of his wife was inappropriate. He glanced awkwardly at Jiang Lai and quickly handed over his bank card. "You go handle the compensation."

"My hands are full." Jiang Lai held an apple in one hand and her bag in the other, taking two steps back, her expression utterly aloof.

Shen Xun increasingly felt that Jiang Lai was beyond his control, a faint anger stirring in his heart.

But now was not the time to lose his temper—after all, Shutong was still here; she was timid and would be frightened.

"Fine, I'll go."

"Ah Xun, let me go with you."

"Mm."

The two left.

Jiang Lai also left, enduring the impatient gazes of the Shen family.

The autumn wind blew chill.

As if heaven were deliberately working against her, it let Jiang Lai run into the two clinging to each other at the entrance of their own residential complex.

Lin Shutong turned sideways, tilting her head up to look at the tall, handsome man before her. "Ah Xun, you don't need to walk me upstairs today. Hurry back. Your wife seems unhappy tonight; go back and coax her."

"It's the same complex. I'll be back very quick." Shen Xun frowned. "It's too late. I won't feel at ease if I don't see you to your door."

"Ah Xun, you're married. This isn't appropriate for us." Lin Shutong deliberately took a step back.

Back for half a month, with Shen Xun picking her up and dropping her off by car, and only now did it occur to her that it wasn't appropriate. Jiang Lai felt nauseated listening.

Lin Shutong said again, "Your wife is a very good person. At the very least, she takes good care of you. Unlike me—I've always been the one you looked after."

"There's no comparison. She's just a housewife. She can't compare to you." Shen Xun thought of Jiang Lai's abnormal behavior these past two days, and his tone grew irritated. "Don't bring her up. I'll walk you back."

"There's really no need. It wouldn't be good if your wife found out." Lin Shutong gently refused once more. "But I'm curious about something. You've been married for four years. Don't you have children?"

Someone had asked Jiang Lai this question before too.

She also wanted to have a child with Shen Xun.

Dean Mom said that once she was married, had a husband, and then had a child, she would have a real home that belonged only to her.

But every time they were intimate, Shen Xun would slam on the brakes, repeatedly refusing on the grounds that he had work the next day and didn't like children.

She was also focused on her projects, taking care of her husband's daily needs, looking after her parents-in-law's food, clothing, shelter, and transportation, and dealing with the troubles her sister-in-law caused every other day—these took up nearly all her time aside from sleeping, leaving Jiang Lai without any strong physical desire either.

Sometimes she also wanted to be intimate with her husband like the couples described in books, merging into each other's bodies, but she never went against her husband's wishes.

Having grown up as an orphan, she felt that as long as the person she loved stayed by her side and kept her from being lonely, whether they were deeply intimate or merged into each other's bodies wasn't that important.

If Shen Xun said no, then no.

Looking at it now, what Shen Xun didn't want wasn't a child—it was her.

"No children," Shen Xun said.

Lin Shutong was mildly surprised. "Why?"

Shen Xun frowned. "No reason."

"Ah, I see." Lin Shutong's tone sounded a little disappointed. She gave a bitter smile and said, "I thought you had taken that joke from back then seriously."

"Hmm?" Shen Xun raised his eyes.

"You said you didn't like children—unless they were born from you and me." Lin Shutong looked at him with smiling eyes.

Shen Xun fell silent.

"Oh my, how could I say such a thing. You're already married. Hurry back, or Jiang Lai will overthink it. She's not like me—she still has a career. She only has you. Women are very sensitive and easily misunderstand."

This time Shen Xun did not insist on walking her back.

Lin Shutong, who had deliberately slowed her pace, saw that Shen Xun truly had not followed, and the smile on her face vanished instantly.

Ah Xun still cared about Jiang Lai, his wife who had stood by him through hardship.

……

Shen Xun returned to the hospital room, but Jiang Lai was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is your sister-in-law?" he asked his sister, who was lying in the hospital bed being fed by their parents, leisurely and contentedly.

"The moment you all left, she left too. She probably felt ashamed of herself after meeting the outstanding, beautiful, refined, and gracious Sister Shutong, and slunk off to hide." Shen Xi's eyes suddenly lit up. "Brother, now that Sister Shutong is back, why don't you divorce Jiang Lai? Just now I heard what Sister Shutong meant—she has you in her heart, and she won't mind that you'd be on your second marriage."

"Sister Shutong was raised with every indulgence. She definitely won't be like Jiang Lai, holding your money yet living like a poor person, pinching pennies on everything and always going for the cheap option. Brother, you promised to pay for me to study abroad."

"Xiao Xi, she is your sister-in-law after all. She saves money for the sake of this family. Don't speak of her like that."

Shen Xun wearily pinched the bridge of his nose, opened his mouth, then closed it again.

He didn't know how to bring it up—eighty percent of the money he earned had gone toward Shutong's research funding.

Shutong had already returned to the country and held a national-level major project, with a bright future ahead. She probably wouldn't lack research funding anymore, so the money he earned from now on could be spent on himself and his family.

Better not to tell.

Lest Mom and Dad form a bad opinion of Shutong.

Shutong was also thin-skinned and never clashed with anyone, especially elders.

"Mom, Dad, you should go back and rest too. I'll find a caretaker for Xiao Xi."

"No need. We feel at ease only if we stay. You hurry back," Mother Shen urged. "You should keep in touch with Shutong more and show her more care. It will only bring you good, no harm."

"I know."

Shen Xun returned home.

Jiang Lai happened to come out right after her shower, not yet having put on an outer layer—only a thin slip dress. Her wet hair dripped water downward, soaking several spots on the nightgown, clinging to her body and accentuating her curves.

Shen Xun stared, momentarily entranced.

"Jiang Lai…"