Chapter 74: Having a Gentle, Wealthy, Devoted, and Considerate Husband Is Not a Bad Thing

When An Ling went to the cafe, the shop was busy.

She ordered a drink and sat by the window, planning to wait for Jiang Mai to finish her work.

She picked a restaurant online and sent the address and time to Wen Yuche.

An Ling: [I think this restaurant looks pretty good. Does 7 PM work for you?]

Wen Yuche: [That works. Thank you for the trouble, Miss An.]

An Ling: [No problem.]

Just as she finished replying, Jiang Mai's voice sounded beside her ear.

"Who are you chatting with? Shen Linyan?"

An Ling put her phone away. "No, someone else."

Jiang Mai didn't mind. She sat opposite her, pounding her waist and shoulders. "I'm exhausted. It's so crowded today, and two staff members happened to ask for leave."

An Ling had ordered a cold peach oolong tea. She pushed the cup toward her. "Drink some water and rest a bit."

Jiang Mai didn't stand on ceremony. She picked up the cup, took a few sips, and asked casually.

"Right, did you reject Shen Linyan? I've been so busy these past few days that I forgot to ask."

"..."

An Ling silently looked away, scratched her cheek, and whispered, "Well... the situation has changed."

Seeing her expression, Jiang Mai instantly understood.

She definitely failed to reject him. That's not how someone looks when they successfully reject someone.

"Spit it out. What's the situation now?"

An Ling pursed her lips and spoke slowly, "Shen Linyan asked me... if he gets back all the shares of the Shen family, could he remarry me..."

She paused, her gaze falling on the phone on the table.

"And... he also said he wants to court me."

"Cough, cough, cough!!"

Caught off guard, Jiang Mai choked. She looked astonished. "He said he wants to court you? Does he like you?"

That was way too fast.

An Ling hesitated, nodding and then shaking her head.

Seeing Jiang Mai's shock, she chuckled. "It's not that he likes me. He's learning to like me."

Jiang Mai looked confused. "What does that mean?"

An Ling propped up her chin, thinking about how to describe it. "You can understand it as... the effort Shen Linyan is making to remarry me?"

To remarry her, he is trying hard to like her.

To remarry her, he is trying hard to express his affection when they chat.

It was Jiang Mai's first time encountering such a thing, her face full of novelty. "Did you agree?"

An Ling blinked, then lowered her eyes and smiled, her fingertips tracing the edge of her phone.

"Yes. Didn't you say it? If I can't bear to let go, then I should just play along."

"That's true..." Jiang Mai hesitated.

But playing like this could easily lead to trouble.

An Ling could tell what Jiang Mai was thinking.

She sighed. "Didn't you just ask who I was chatting with? I was chatting with my blind date. My mom made me pretend to go on a blind date so my brother would go on one too, because my brother said he wouldn't go unless I went."

Jiang Mai had also heard about An Zhou being pressured to go on blind dates.

She couldn't hold back a laugh. "Wait, you have to pretend? Your brother really never forgets to drag his sister down with him in whatever he does."

An Ling was speechless. "Yeah, even you think it's ridiculous, right? I'm so annoyed with him. Now I have to go out to eat with someone this week."

"Did you tell Shen Linyan?"

Hearing this, An Ling's movements paused slightly.

She lowered her eyes and smiled as she spoke softly, "I did. I even asked him if he minded. He said... he didn't mind."

After a moment of silence in the air, she looked up at Jiang Mai.

"So, Jiang Mai, if you like someone, would you not mind them going on a blind date?"

When she heard those words that night, she completely woke up to the reality.

It was also at that moment that she suddenly realized the effort Shen Linyan was making.

He was learning what behaviors meant he liked her.

Calling her his wife, kissing her, saying he wanted to court her, asking if he could call her, and even frequently inviting her to dinner.

In Shen Linyan's eyes, he believed these were the ways to express liking someone.

So he did them.

But he didn't know that the feelings produced in the heart when truly liking someone couldn't be faked. So with just a slight test, the man immediately exposed himself.

Hearing this, Jiang Mai didn't say much and just nodded gently.

"That's true. Then, when he gets all those shares and the bankruptcy crisis is gone, will you agree to remarry him?"

An Ling was about to answer when she saw the phone on the table light up.

It was a message from Shen Linyan.

She reached out, turned off the screen, and stayed silent for a moment before saying softly:

"If, when that day comes, he still only has this kind of feeling for me, and I happen to not have fallen for anyone else, I might agree to remarry him."

Seeing Shen Linyan like this, she still felt soft-hearted.

Just as Jiang Mai said, she approached Shen Linyan first, became his reliance, and accepted the uniqueness he gave only to her.

So during this period, if she didn't fall for anyone else and the plot ran its course, she might really agree to remarry Shen Linyan in the end.

An Ling wasn't sure if this counted as salvation, but it didn't matter.

She was simply very satisfied with everything Shen Linyan gave her, so she also wanted to give him what he wanted.

Thinking about it carefully, having a gentle, wealthy, devoted, and considerate husband wasn't a bad thing.

During her time with Shen Linyan, she wouldn't feel wronged. Shen Linyan would notice all her emotions, just like the reporting incident that night.

It was better than some men who loved you at first but changed their minds later.

Shen Linyan's reputation as the gentle second male lead made her feel especially at ease.

Jiang Mai looked at her in silence and suddenly blurted out faintly:

"An Ling, I told you not to set up a flag back then... See, you've fallen for him after all."

"..."

An Ling felt a bit guilty and argued weakly, "...I just think it's pretty good that Shen Linyan treats me like this. Besides, he said he'd give me shares if we remarried..."

Who could refuse sudden shares in the Shen Corporation?

Jiang Mai thought to herself that this development was really quite exciting.

She thought for a moment and teased jokingly, "An Ling, I'm starting to suspect that Shen Linyan saw how soft-hearted you are and said all those things on purpose to make you stay."

He really pinched An Ling's soft spot accurately.

"Don't talk nonsense."

An Ling leaned back in her chair helplessly. "You know I hide every day when I'm with Shen Linyan now. My brother really hates Shen Linyan and tells me every day that Shen Linyan is very scheming."

Jiang Mai chuckled.

"By the way, who is the person you're going on a blind date with tomorrow?"

"Wen Yuche, the youngest son of my mom's mahjong friend."

"Oh ho, what does he look like?"

An Ling's expression was complicated. "Are you sure you want to ask me, someone who's face-blind?"

She remembered he seemed pretty handsome.

Jiang Mai winked playfully. "Can I go? Just to take a peek from a distance."

"Sure, but I'm just going through the motions. You won't see much even if you go."

An Ling didn't have any expectations for tomorrow's blind date. It even felt like she was just going to a dinner gathering with a colleague.

Seeing that the shop was getting crowded again, Jiang Mai stood up. "I need to get busy. Are you heading back soon too?"

An Ling nodded, picked up her bag, and stood up as well. "Just about. I originally planned to treat you to a meal, but seeing how busy you are, let's do it next time."

"Then next time I'll have to see where the expensive restaurants are." Jiang Mai smiled and waved at her. "Drive carefully in the rain."

"Got it, got it."

An Ling waved goodbye as well, pulling out her phone to check her messages as she walked.

The moment she read the text from the man, her hand froze mid-push against the door.