Chapter 64: The Wedding Night

All the way back, Lu Chengfeng did not say another word.

This made Shu Yan somewhat nervous, as she felt his mood was rather poor.

Upon returning home, they changed into house slippers.

Shu Yan took the initiative to ask, "Didn't you say you had to work overtime? Why are you back? Did the interrogation go smoothly?"

Lu Chengfeng closed the door and took off his coat as he replied.

"Very smoothly. He confessed by the afternoon, and the rest is being handled by the interrogation team. Director Zhao told all of us to go home and rest."

"Both of them confessed?" Shu Yan asked curiously.

Lu Chengfeng nodded. "We found the fingerprints of the deceased, Liu Na, on the bamboo shoots discovered at the vegetable market, along with the fingerprints of the village chief and Zhang Lanying. We showed these test results to the two of them, and they confessed."

"This time, we owe it entirely to your team for figuring out that the wounds on the victim were inflicted by two different people; otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to close the case so quickly."

Shu Yan walked over to the sofa, sat down, and bent over to massage her aching calves. "Climbing that mountain wasn't in vain."

Lu Chengfeng walked over, glanced at Shu Yan, and reached out to pull her up. "Let's take a bath together. You'll feel much better afterwards."

Shu Yan hesitated.

Seeing that she neither spoke nor moved, Lu Chengfeng asked, "What? You don't want to take a bath with me?"

Hearing the spark of irritation in his tone, a wave of grievance surged into Shu Yan's heart, and her eyes reddened before she knew it.

She had rejected Li Junjie long ago, and because of him, she hadn't set foot in the Li family home for the past two years.

She had even reduced the time she spent hanging out with Li Jiaojia, all to avoid Li Junjie.

She had no idea why Li Junjie still persisted in pestering her.

Seeing the redness around Shu Yan's eyes, Lu Chengfeng froze for a second, and a wave of self-reproach quickly followed.

"I'm sorry." He pulled Shu Yan into his arms. "I shouldn't have been jealous."

Shu Yan said with a choked voice, "What kind of jealousy is that anyway? I don't even like him! If I liked him, would there even be any room for you? I've known him for at least ten years; if there were ever anything between us, it would have happened long ago."

"If nothing happened in the past, could it possibly happen after I married you?"

"I trust you; you have a sense of propriety," Lu Chengfeng said. "It was my fault. I won't let myself get blindly jealous again."

"You were just glaring at me and snapping at me," Shu Yan said, the grievance growing stronger the more she thought about it. How could he possibly snap at her!

Lu Chengfeng gently stroked her hair. "I'm sorry, I raised my voice a bit just now. I will definitely pay attention in the future. I won't raise my voice at you, I won't be blindly jealous, and I won't doubt you."

Shu Yan pushed him away. "The most taboo thing in a marriage is mutual distrust, and the most frightening thing is suspicion and paranoia."

Lu Chengfeng replied, "You're right. I was wrong."

Shu Yan added, "It's not that I didn't want to take a bath with you, I was just feeling shy, but then you..."

"I'm sorry, I misunderstood you." The corners of Lu Chengfeng's lips curled upward as he swept her off her feet into his arms.

Shu Yan quickly wrapped her arms around his neck. "What are you doing?"

Lu Chengfeng looked down at her with a meaningful smile. "Wife, let's take a bath together. Consider it my reward for rushing back to spend our wedding night with you—forgive me, alright? Don't ruin our wedding night."

"This is something that only happens once in a lifetime."

Shu Yan didn't want her mood ruined by Li Junjie either. "I won't see him anymore in the future, so you don't need to worry."

Lu Chengfeng smiled. "Alright, wife, thank you."

Shu Yan raised an eyebrow. "What are you thanking me for?"

Lu Chengfeng replied, "Thank you for keeping your distance from him to give me peace of mind."

Shu Yan warned, "You are not allowed to snap at me ever again!"

Lu Chengfeng promised, "I guarantee this is the last time."

Shu Yan asked, "What if you do it again?"

Lu Chengfeng answered, "Then punish me by making me kneel on a washboard."

Shu Yan retorted, "We don't have a washboard at home. People from the south don't use those things."

Lu Chengfeng laughed. "I'll buy one later."

Carrying Shu Yan into the bathroom, Lu Chengfeng set her down on the vanity counter and turned to clean the bathtub and run the water.

Looking at Lu Chengfeng's back, Shu Yan felt a sense of wonder.

Barely a month ago, the two of them were complete strangers living worlds apart.

"Husband," Shu Yan called out softly.

Lu Chengfeng got up, walked over to her, and wrapped his arms around her soft waist. "Yes, wife? Go ahead, I'm listening."

Shu Yan gazed at Lu Chengfeng unblinkingly.

"It's nothing. I just find it so magical. A little over a month ago, you were still up north, and the two of us had no idea the other existed."

Lu Chengfeng lowered his head and pressed a light kiss to her lips.

"I am so grateful to the heavens for letting me meet you, and I consider myself so fortunate to have chosen to come to Licheng. This is the best decision I've ever made in my life."

Deeply moved, Shu Yan lifted her chin and pecked his Adam's apple.

Lu Chengfeng let out a muffled groan, his entire body tensing up as a deep voice sounded right by her ear: "We can take a bath a little later..."

...

When the two of them finally emerged from the bathroom, two hours had passed.

Shu Yan was now upgraded to being sore all over.

She somewhat regretted playing with fire just now. She had merely pecked his Adam's apple, not realizing it would instantly ignite him.

Now she knew better—that spot could not be pecked casually.

However, tiredness had its perks too; the moment her head touched the pillow, she fell fast asleep.

And she slept straight through until dawn.

When Shu Yan was woken up by her alarm the next morning, Lu Chengfeng had already gone to the kitchen to cook breakfast.

Shu Yan washed up before going out to look for him, only to find three dishes and a soup laid out on the table.

Puzzled, she asked, "What time did you get up to make this? Why did you cook so much food early in the morning?"

Lu Chengfeng replied, "You're pregnant now and need proper nutrition. I've packed a portion into an insulated lunch box for you to take to the bureau and heat up in the microwave for lunch. If I have time in the future, I'll try my best to bring you lunch."

Shu Yan said, "You were busy working outside all day yesterday, you should have slept in a bit longer. You didn't need to go out of your way to cook for me."

Lu Chengfeng walked over, wrapped his arms around her, and rubbed her abdomen. "I cooked it for him to eat; you're just sharing the benefits."

Shu Yan knew Lu Chengfeng said that to keep her from feeling guilty.

"Oh, by the way, I booked an appointment for tomorrow morning at eight at the municipal hospital's obstetrics and gynecology department to get a checkup."

Without missing a beat, Lu Chengfeng agreed, "Alright, you should go get checked. If there are no emergencies tomorrow morning, I'll go with you."

Shu Yan pulled out a chair and sat down. "If there's an emergency, I won't be able to go either."

Lu Chengfeng dished up a bowl of rice and a bowl of soup for her. "Once Section Chief Liang comes back, you'll be able to take it a bit easier."

Shu Yan took a sip of the soup; it was very refreshing.

"Actually, it's not too bad. Unlike back in my dad's day, there aren't as many unnatural death cases anymore, and the division of labor in our system is becoming more and more clearly defined."

"With plenty of manpower, everyone has their own responsibilities, and coupled with the fact that forensic technology is much more advanced than it used to be, the mere popularization of surveillance cameras alone can solve a lot of problems."

"If my dad had surveillance cameras back then, he wouldn't have vanished without a trace."

Lu Chengfeng fell silent for a moment before asking, "What happened to your father back then? Can you tell me about it?"

Shu Yan paused, lifted her eyelids to look at Lu Chengfeng, and after a brief thought, said:

"Never mind. Director Zhao practically turned all of Licheng upside down back then without finding a single clue. So many years have passed; it's even more impossible to find any traces now."

Lu Chengfeng countered, "Not necessarily. I'm not boasting, but during my tenure in Hongcheng, I cracked over twenty cold cases. Most of them had no leads at all, but when we reinvestigated, we discovered new clues."

Shu Yan stared at Lu Chengfeng in astonishment. "You cracked over twenty cold cases?"

That was truly extraordinary.

"Don't you believe in your husband's abilities?" Lu Chengfeng said proudly. "You can ask Director Zhao; he knows my record in Hongcheng."

Shu Yan bit her lip in thought for a moment, then stood up and said, "Come with me."