Marry by Relying on Favor: Chapter 149 - You’re Too Cute
The villa was brightly lit. Shen Fu finished his business social at around eleven and drove to Qu Bixin’s place. Even though she had rejected his earlier call, he remained composed, carrying a box of cream cake as he keyed in the door code and walked inside.
In the living room—
Qu Bixin had already showered. She was half-reclining on the sofa in a backless slip nightgown, scrolling through her phone. The hem was short, her slender legs stretched out openly, her skin under the lights white as jade. Hearing his footsteps, she didn’t even look up. The black hair she had finally grown a little longer had been cut back to the ear-length bob from before, framing her delicate, three-dimensional features like a sweet, innocent doll.
Only when he got closer did Shen Fu realize she was online shopping. Spending money improved one’s mood—no wonder her eyes were curved in a smile.
“The pink dress suits you better,” the man’s low, calm voice sounded beside her just as she tapped on the black one.
Qu Bixin bit her finger, still lowering her head in thought.
Then Shen Fu sat beside her. His long hand rested on her fair thigh, restrained, lightly patting without much emotion as he said slowly, “I bought you cake. Cream flavor.”
From the corner of her eye, Qu Bixin glanced at her own leg. Her face showed nothing.
Shen Fu continued to touch her, moving slightly upward. “Why didn’t you answer my call tonight?”
She usually only picked up his calls when she was in a good mood.
Asking that was almost self-humiliation.
But tonight Qu Bixin didn’t oppose him. Instead, she leaned closer, lifted her slender arms and wrapped them around his neck. “A-Fu, I hate being deceived the most. So I don’t want to marry Kang Yaoduo anymore.”
Shen Fu’s gaze deepened, though he appeared calm. “You mind that he flirted with another woman tonight?”
Bringing it up again was like stabbing Kang Yaoduo in the back once more.
Sure enough, Qu Bixin’s small face flushed with anger. “He’s infertile and still a playboy. He can go to hell!”
A faint smile flickered in Shen Fu’s eyes as he coaxed her a few words.
Soon after, Qu Bixin softened in his arms, her pale fingers hooking his tie. “You’re better. You cook for me every day, do housework, and even in bed you’re first-rate.”
Shen Fu was modest. “I still have room to improve.”
“But…” Her tone changed. She pretended to be pitiful. “Your family background isn’t clean. Your brother’s on death row. And now you’re bankrupt. What capital do you have to marry me?”
After saying that, her beautiful eyes stared straight at his expression, unwilling to miss a second.
After a long while, Shen Fu’s expression remained unchanged. His voice sounded: “Xinxin, if you’re willing to be with me, whatever other brides have, I’ll give you.”
“I just like money.”
Her fingers tightened, pulling his tie toward her. “More money than the Qu family’s assets—do you have that?”
Do you?
After those three words left her lips, Shen Fu slowly held her fingers. “Are you looking down on me for being poor?”
It was a skillful answer, almost avoiding her real question.
Hard to communicate with.
Qu Bixin lost interest in testing him. Her little face turned cold. “Yes, I do look down on you for being dirt poor. I’m a rich, fair, and beautiful girl with top family background and education. Every elder praises me for being obedient and sensible. And in the end, I got ruined by a poor man who clawed his way up from the bottom of society. It’s infuriating!”
She said it all in one breath. No one knew which word crossed Shen Fu’s bottom line.
Without warning, he lifted her whole body and strode upstairs, openly entering the master bedroom.
Qu Bixin struggled twice before going still—small and pale, no match for him at all.
As her consciousness began to sink, her ear suddenly grew warm. The man’s hoarse voice, mixed with hot breath, sounded: “Open your eyes and see how this poor man from the bottom of society treats you.”
Every word unbearably arrogant.
Qu Bixin scratched his back with her nails. Amid the pleasure, she suddenly remembered, “Did you wear—”
Shen Fu lowered his head and sealed her unfinished words with his thin lips.
Just like last time, after it ended, he handled the cleanup.
While she wasn’t fully conscious, he had already showered, tidied the master bedroom, and thoughtfully brought her a glass of warm water.
Half-squinting, Qu Bixin quietly watched him move about.
She had deliberately humiliated him with words, yet she had to admit that because Shen Fu’s childhood experiences were different from his peers, he seemed capable of everything—inside and outside the house. Like a nanny-brand boyfriend, taking care of someone to the extreme.
Even if Shen Tingji had no romantic entanglement with him, after getting used to his devotion, she probably wouldn’t let him go easily, right?
Lost in thought, Qu Bixin watched as Shen Fu came out of the bathroom and went downstairs with a bag of trash.
She lived alone in the villa, and there wasn’t much trash. Yet recently he had been especially diligent, taking it out late at night. Suspicion rose in her heart. Clutching the blanket to her chest, she slowly sat up.
While he was gone, she went to the bathroom. Even though he had just used it, it was spotless from inside to out. Even the water on the floor had been wiped dry.
So when Qu Bixin, legs weak, held the wall and went in to check, she found no trace of anything.
She sat on the toilet. The trash can beside her was empty.
Footsteps sounded downstairs—Shen Fu had returned.
He entered the master bedroom and seemed to suddenly notice she wasn’t on the bed. He immediately headed toward the bathroom. His voice sounded through the door: “Xinxin? Are you showering?”
For some reason, he sounded slightly anxious.
Qu Bixin heard a hint of something different in his usually flat tone.
She suddenly remembered that before, she would lie limply on the bed and wait for him to carry her into the bathroom or bring out a towel.
At that moment, she didn’t know what came over her.
While answering him, she slowly untied the towel wrapped around her.
……
For a full half hour, Shen Fu waited outside.
He listened to the sound of water in the bathroom. Neither spoke again.
When Qu Bixin reappeared in a bathrobe, even her ear-length black hair freshly washed and still damp against her pale face, she blinked and looked at him leaning against the wall smoking. In her soft, doll-like voice, she said, “A-Fu, at least open the window when you smoke.”
On the surface, she seemed normal, calm.
Shen Fu immediately crushed the cigarette butt with his fingers, not caring if it burned him.
His gaze swept over her from head to toe before returning to normal. He lifted a long finger and gently touched her pale cheek.
Qu Bixin didn’t dodge. She smiled, a faint dimple appearing.
That night, Shen Fu stayed over in the villa, as if tacitly acknowledging the development of their relationship. For a while afterward, he came straight there after work every day. Occasionally, they drove to the supermarket together to buy fresh ingredients and daily necessities.
Whenever Qu Bixin tried to pay, Shen Fu would take the initiative.
She had secretly glanced at the balance on his card: 5,030 yuan exactly.
Tsk. Acting pretty convincingly.
On a weekend evening, the temperature dropped and heavy rain began to pour.
After parking in the garage, Shen Fu took Qu Bixin’s hand back to the living room and turned on the heating.
She was wrapped in his suit jacket, soaked by the rain, looking pitiful.
Shen Fu fetched a white towel from the bathroom to dry her. “I told you not to get out of the car…”
There was a large wet patch on her skirt; her high heels were ruined. She had slipped getting out to hold an umbrella for him. Her knee still ached faintly. With a crumpled expression, she said, “How was I supposed to know the weather would suddenly change? I saw you carrying things and wanted to hold the umbrella for you.”
The slight grievance in her doll-like voice made Shen Fu pause. He lowered his head and kissed her without warning.
Her fingers tightened on his suit as she stiffly sat on the sofa kissing him.
There was no desire in it—just lips touching.
Shen Fu’s palm half-wrapped around her waist without any aggression. His voice was affectionate. “Xinxin, I love you.”
Her back stiffened further. The sudden confession made her uncomfortable. She used to confess to Shen Fu often, never hiding her love. Now that it was reversed, she realized how awkward it felt.
Shen Fu slowly met her beautiful eyes.
That “I love you” seemed to have slipped out from genuine emotion.
Qu Bixin didn’t respond. After a while, she tugged at her tingling red lips and said, “You loving me—that’s been a fact for a long time, hasn’t it?”
“Yes.”
He repeated her words, voice so gentle she couldn’t adapt. “It’s long been a fact.”
Her eyes curved as she smiled, reaching out her pale fingers to pinch his face. “You’re too cute.”
No one had ever called him cute before. The word felt novel to Shen Fu.
Since childhood, people had called him a poor kid without parents. Later, he became the death row inmate’s brother, a filthy, poor man at heart, and the vicious dog raised by the Wen family.
Something shifted in his eyes as he tentatively pulled her into his arms.
From beginning to end, Qu Bixin didn’t struggle. His palm pressed against the back of her neck so her face rested against his chest, listening to the steady yet gradually accelerating heartbeat.
Shen Fu grew even gentler, murmuring softly, “Xinxin…”
That night he was especially considerate. Because she had fallen earlier, he didn’t do anything.
He personally helped her bathe, carried her into the warm bed, and played around with her under the covers for a long while. Close to dawn, he pulled her into his arms again, lightly patting her to sleep.
Her fingers habitually clutched his bathrobe. She thought no wonder Wen Shuchen’s son relied so much on Shen Fu and even called him “little dad.” This man treated her like a child too, expertly soothing her.
And that experience had clearly been cultivated by Shen Tingji, that little mute.
The thought made her uncomfortable. She lay awake for a long time.
In a soft, sweet voice she called his name. “A-Fu… A-Fu.”
“Mm?”
“You’ve been living in my villa for almost a month now, right?”
Shen Fu calculated silently. “Why?”
She tilted her head and smiled but said nothing.
Lying back in his arms, just as sleep finally approached, she vaguely heard Shen Fu’s phone ring over and over. That persistent insistence made her jolt awake, thinking of someone.
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