Chapter 48: A Sweet Burden

He deliberately emphasized the words "house husband," matching them with his handsome, innocent face and a slightly aggrieved expression. He cut the perfect figure of a "little man" who feared being overshadowed by his wife's brilliance and urgently needed comfort.

Yu Ling was amused by his exaggerated "jealousy" and deliberate "show of weakness." The tiny awkwardness from moments before vanished into thin air, replaced instead by a sweet warmth at the bottom of her heart from feeling so cherished. She couldn't help laughing out loud, reaching out to pinch his firm arm. "Cut it out! Chen Mo was just discussing work with me! What on earth are you so jealously worked up about? You're so childish!" While calling him childish, her body relaxed even more as she leaned against him.

"Work won't do either." Zhao Chen lowered his head, his warm breath brushing against the curve of Yu Ling's ear. His voice was low, carrying a touch of childish overprotectiveness and spoiled playfulness. "Lingling is too dazzling when she works. I just want to hide you away, for my eyes only." As he spoke, he naturally opened the front passenger door, cupping his hand over the top of her head to "truffle" her inside. His movements were gentle yet possessed an unquestionable sense of control.

The car smoothly merged into the traffic stream. Soothing music flowed inside the cabin, but the atmosphere was completely different from the ride over.

Yu Ling leaned back into the comfortable seat, watching the shimmering, colorful city nightscape outside the window, the remnants of a smile still lingering at the corners of her mouth. Zhao Chen's childish jealousy and domineering declaration moments before acted like a lump of honey dropped into the lake of her heart, sending ripples of sweetness spreading outward. This feeling of being cherished and fretted over carried a secretive sense of satisfaction, washing away the slight fatigue brought by her career's highlights and... the faint, residual doubts lingering deep in her heart.

She even felt that this "sweet burden" of Zhao Chen's gave her a grounded sense of reality.

In the days that followed, this "sweet burden" began to frequently assert its presence in various unexpected ways.

The WeChat "roll call" check-ins.

Yu Ling was in the pantry with several project team members (including Chen Mo) discussing a technical bottleneck. Her phone screen lit up with a message from Zhao Chen:

"Lingling, would you like winter melon and pork rib soup or corn and yam soup tonight?" Attached was a photo of the supermarket's fresh produce section, with a noisy background.

Yu Ling casually replied, "Either is fine, just make whatever you like."

A few minutes later.

"Lingling?"

"?"

"In the photo I just sent, is that young man in the blue shirt standing behind you the intern from downstairs last time? Is he in the discussion group too?" Zhao Chen's message followed closely behind, complete with a [puppy peeking out.jpg] sticker.

Yu Ling: "..." She instinctively glanced back at Chen Mo, who was diligently taking notes, then lowered her head to look at her phone, torn between laughter and tears. This guy—is his vision made of radar?! He could accurately lock onto his target right through a photograph?!

The "chance encounters" during off-work hours.

Yu Ling had arranged to meet several female colleagues at a newly opened trendy dessert shop near the company. Just as she reached the shop's entrance, she spotted Zhao Chen's "ordinary" car parked steadily by the roadside. The car window rolled down, revealing his gentle smile: "What a coincidence? I was passing by and saw this place was quite popular. Lingling, don't you love sweets? Care to join?"

Amid the knowing teasing of Yu Ling's colleagues, Zhao Chen naturally joined the "girls' afternoon tea" clique, taking charge of ordering everything and paying the bill. During this time, while feeding Yu Ling the tiramisu he deemed the most delicious, he casually chatted with her colleagues, yet skillfully steered the topic around to questions like, "Is Lingling very popular at the company?" and "The new colleagues must all be quite young and promising, right?"

Under the teasing gazes of her colleagues—who murmured things like "Your husband is way too clingy, too considerate, and way too easily jealous"—Yu Ling's cheeks burned, but inside she felt as though she were soaking in a honey pot, bubbling with sweetness.

The "knight in shining armor" for weekend overtime.

During the project sprint phase, Yu Ling needed to go to the company over the weekend to handle urgent matters. Zhao Chen didn't say another word and drove her to the building's entrance.

"Give me a call when you're done, I'll come pick you up." He unbuckled her seatbelt, his gaze tender.

"No need, I can just hail a cab back myself, I never know what time I'll finish anyway." Yu Ling didn't want him making the back-and-forth trips.

"No," Zhao Chen refused flatly, with an unarguable dominance. "Working overtime on the weekend is already exhausting; how could I let you take a taxi alone? I'll just find a cafe nearby and wait for you, I have some of my own things to catch up on anyway." As he spoke, he produced an insulated bag from the back seat like a magic trick. "Inside is your favorite milk tea and freshly baked cranberry scones. Have some to tide you over if you get hungry."

Looking at his serious expression, Yu Ling felt the slight resentment she held toward working overtime instantly smoothed away, leaving only a glowing warmth.

When she wearily walked out of the corporate building at dusk, she immediately saw Zhao Chen's car still parked in its original spot. He was leaning casually against the vehicle, looking down at his phone, the warm yellow streetlights casting a soft golden halo over his tall, straight silhouette. At that moment, all her fatigue seemed to vanish, leaving only the tranquil peace of returning to a nest.

Zhao Chen's "clinginess" and "jealousy" functioned like the most precise seasoning, blending seamlessly into Yu Ling's busy yet fulfilling life. It no longer made her feel suffocated; instead, it transformed into a reassuring habit and a sweet burden. She began to get used to his "roll call checks," enjoy his childish jealousy, and rely on his omnipresent protection.

That cold agreement and the terrifying secrets locked away in the study seemed truly sealed away in a corner of her memory by this surging, genuine affection. She even began proactively sharing snippets of her workday—though she cleverly avoided any "details" involving young male colleagues.

However, this deliberately maintained peace was quietly shattered on an ordinary overtime night by an unexpected "little accident."

To rush through an important presentation report, Yu Ling stayed at the company past eleven at night. The entire floor was practically empty, save for the lights glowing over her workstation area. Finally striking the last period key, she wearily stretched and picked up her phone, intending to message Zhao Chen to come pick her up.

The phone screen lit up, showing an unread MMS message. The sending time was over an hour ago, coming from... a completely unfamiliar local number.

Puzzled, Yu Ling tapped to open it.

There was no text, only a single photograph.

The photo's resolution was somewhat blurry, as if it had been covertly snapped in poor lighting. At the center of the frame was Zhao Chen! He was wearing the same simple white T-shirt from earlier that day, standing at the entrance of what looked like an elegantly styled cafe. There was nothing inherently unusual about this, but what caused Yu Ling's blood to instantly freeze was:

Standing right beside Zhao Chen was a woman!

The woman was tall, slender, and graceful, dressed in sharply tailored off-white trousers, with slightly wavy long hair and a side profile featuring impeccably exquisite lines. Even through the blurry photo, one could sense the aura of elegant intellectualism and unhurried executive poise radiating from her. Her head was tilted slightly, as if she were speaking to Zhao Chen, a shallow, gentle smile curving her lips. And Zhao Chen... he was bowing his head slightly, his profile softened under the cafe's warm yellow lighting as he listened intently. There was none of the habitual polite detachment he showed outsiders, nor the clingy or aggrieved expressions he wore around her, but rather a kind of... stillness Yu Ling had never witnessed before, tinged with a trace of deep respect and... an indescribably complex undertone.

The photo's angle had been captured with extreme cunning, perfectly capturing the invisible, ineffable tacit understanding and intimacy shared between the two! The cafe's warm yellow light acted like a soft-focus filter, rendering the scene like a movie still, heavy with a suffocating sense of... harmony.

Buzz—

Yu Ling's mind went completely blank in an instant! All her fatigue was replaced by overwhelming shock and a sharp, piercing pain! Her heart felt as though it had been fiercely gripped by a cold hand, skipping a beat entirely!

Who was this woman?!

What was her relationship with Zhao Chen?!

Why was Zhao Chen looking at her with an expression Yu Ling had never seen before?!

In the dead of night, had they "happened to run into" each other at a cafe entrance? Or were they... meeting by appointment?!

Countless terrifying conjectures coiled around her heart like cold vipers! Her heart, which had just been immersed in a "sweet burden," was instantly frozen ice-cold by this sudden photograph!

She stared fixedly at the blurry yet blinding photo on her phone screen, her fingertips turning white from the pressure, her body trembling uncontrollably. The fragile fortress of trust and sweetness she had just built trembled precariously in front of this silent image.

She abruptly raised her head to look at the empty, solitary office area where she was the only one working overtime, feeling a wave of immense panic and isolation wash over her like a chilling tide, completely drowning her.