My Wife is a Workaholic

Chapter 10 – A Sweet Date 

Yan Lin was shocked for a moment. He was silent for a few seconds before he replied, “No, I’ve been with other people before.”

Zu Jin immediately had a bit of regret for asking this question.

She had asked the question like that, so wasn’t she adding to her own burden like she had enough to eat1?

Yan Lin was in his mid-thirties and had a successful career. If he had not been in love before, then it was definitely not normal!

Now that he confessed it to her honestly, Zu Jin couldn’t help but be curious about it and wanted to keep asking him questions.

But when she opened her mouth, she forcefully held herself back.

It was their first date, and she couldn’t have asked a more stressful question.

If they can improve their relationship, then this date will only be left with beautiful memories!

While she was thinking like this, Yan Lin wasn’t.

Yan Lin saw the way she wanted to say something but hesitated. He seemed to have misunderstood something.

“I have no children and no illegitimate children.”

“…”

Zu Jin couldn’t hold herself back any longer. She suddenly reached out with both hands to hold Yan Lin’s face and rubbed it several times.

This was the only way for her to let go of the embarrassment.

Also, Yan Lin was already this old, but it was the first time someone teased him like this. After all, no matter how easygoing others are, there was still his status to keep in mind, so most people didn’t really have the guts to do what she was doing.

She looked at him staring blankly at her, and his expression was not very bright.

“Hey! Why are you so cute!”

Zu Jin gritted her teeth and growled.

Yan Lin reacted and smiled helplessly. He reached out and patted her on the back. It could be regarded as appeasing her and letting her calm down.

Zu Jin rolled her eyes at herself, and she felt that her image had completely collapsed in front of Yan Lin.

“By the way, Chairman Ji didn’t see anything yesterday. I don’t think that it’s good that you’ve been hiding our relationship from him on purpose.”

Zu Jin understood his concern, but she really didn’t want Yan Lin to know about the annoying things Ji Desheng said to her in the office yesterday.

“He must be guessing about it still, but I’m not sure. Ji Shiyu, the one who was talking to us outside yesterday afternoon, is his daughter. She might tell him later.”

“If he knows, and if you don’t mind, then I’ll disclose our relationship to the public. I don’t want people to spread any confusion about it.”

Zu Jin felt warm because Yan Lin had these kinds of plans.

For women in this kind of world, and regardless of what kind of identity they held, they could not avoid being the topic of gossip for the public.

Also, after they announce their relationship, she would probably be attacked by the media and vilified by the public because Yan Lin’s identity was too strong.

She had personally experienced the capabilities of those malicious rumor-mongering journalists too many times.

“No, I don’t want to make our relationship public,” Zu Jin said.

Yan Lin was a little puzzled. “Hmm?” Why?”

“Because I don’t want to be disturbed by other people and things outside of our relationship. As for Chairman Ji, I will have a serious talk with him about it later. I think… He’ll understand me. If he can’t, then we’ll figure it out when the time comes.”

Yan Lin’s black eyes attentively looked at her. “Then I’m going to be misunderstood by other people all the time for being supported by you… like a little pretty boy?”

Zu Jin blinked. “You wanted to be a full-time cook after marriage anyways, so is it any different?”

Yan Lin raised an eyebrow and looked a little helpless.

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Zu Jin giggled for a moment. “I’m joking. In any case, other people don’t know who you are, so they can say whatever they want to say. I don’t think they will make random guesses about us. I’m already so old, so I should find a boyfriend to date, right?”

With that, Zu Jin stood up and took the initiative to hold his hand and pull him up.

“I’m a little hungry. Let’s go back and see what there is to eat.”

Yan Lin looked down at their tightly held hands, and then obediently followed her footsteps.

They held hands all the way back to the restaurant. Yan Lin opened the refrigerator and found some prepared raw ingredients. There were fresh vegetables and raw meat inside.

He looked back at Zu Jin and said, “I’ll cook. What do you want to eat?”

Zu Jin stood at the counter and looked down at her cell phone. She seemed to be dealing with a message, but she was actually researching recipes.

Her tongue was still her biggest strength. “Huh? Can you cook, or should I?”

The tone sounded so unusual that it made Yan Lin dumbfounded.

“I don’t know how to make specialty dishes. I can make home-cooked dishes. Do you want to be in charge of the cooking? I’ll help you.”

Since she put herself up to it, there was no reason for her to back out of it.

“To back out” was not in Zu Jin’s life dictionary!

She rolled up her sleeves and took a deep breath. “Okay, I’ll cook!”

Yan Lin said oh. He took an apron down and handed it to her.

Then, he thoughtfully took the vegetables and meat out of the refrigerator to clean them.

“We can’t eat much, so it should be enough to stir-fry two dishes, right?”

“Two dishes? Oh…okay.”

She had only looked up the recipe for one dish.

Yan Lin stood at the edge of the sink with his back to her and his head lowered as he washed the vegetables. He had no idea what would happen to the two of them because of Zu Jin’s cooking.

The author has something to say:

Married Zu Jin: Honey, I just farted.

Yan Lin: If you smell it, then you don’t have to remind me.

 

The recipe Zu Jin had sneakily looked up was red-braised spareribs.

The cooking process was quite complicated. She relied on her memory of what she had just read and forced herself to follow it step by step.

Fortunately, Yan Lin had helped her prepare the dish and from time to time, he was cleaning the countertop with a rag.

He didn’t pay too much attention to her actions, otherwise she would really be exposed.

Finally, it was ready to be taken out of the pot. Not surprisingly, the red-braised spareribs had become black-braised spareribs.

The spareribs on the plate looked burnt like pieces of black charcoal.

In the face of Yan Lin’s suspicious expression that was between laughter and tears, Zu Jin clicked her tongue and said, “At least it smells good, right?”

Yan Lin had to take a deep breath because of this dish. After that, he nodded. “Mhm.”

“Cough, then you can take it first, and I’ll move on to the next one.”

She actually just wanted to get rid of Yan Lin so that she could take advantage of this chance to quickly learn the next recipe.

But Yan Lin seemed to sense something from her tone of voice and tactfully said, “Why don’t you take a break and let me do it?”

“Then…then that’s fine. I’ll go set the table.”

Zu Jin accepted that her fate was going downhill. If she didn’t, then it would be very uncomfortable to stay in the kitchen the entire time.

Yan Lin’s cooking was so quick. After a while, he had stir fried a plate of shredded potatoes with vinegar sauce and had boiled a small pot of seafood and rice cake soup.

Afterwards, the food was placed on the table. The dinner would have looked perfect if it wasn’t for Zu Jin’s black-braised spareribs.

Zu Jin put her hand on her forehead and really wanted to say that it would be better to take the spare ribs away.

But after they sat down, Yan Lin picked up his chopsticks and put a piece of spare ribs into his mouth.

“…How does it taste?” Zu Jin looked at him with a face full of hope.

However, Yan Lin froze on the spot before he had time to start chewing. A few seconds later, he was chewing a few times with a complex expression. Then, he swallowed it.

Zu Jin watched him and suddenly felt her throat hurting, and then promptly pushed the plate of spare ribs far away.

“Stop eating. I made a mistake today. Maybe I’m not used to using new kitchen utensils!”

Yan Lin took a sip of water and smiled at her. He didn’t say anything else.

It was still early outside after the meal, but the sun was about to set.

Zu Jin became uneasy again. Yan Lin was washing the dishes and chopsticks, and she picked them up and stuffed them into the dishwasher.

After a while, Yan Lin said, “Do you have to go to work tomorrow? If you need to go to work, then we’ll drive back later to avoid driving in the dark.”

Zu Jin’s hand slipped and she almost dropped the bowl.

“I have to go to T City for business. It will be tomorrow for a few days. I have to leave early in the morning.”

Yan Lin turned his head and looked at her. He gave a gentle smile and said, “Then we’ll leave in a bit.”

“…Okay.”

She came empty-handed, and had nothing to bring when she went back.

After getting in the car, Zu Jin couldn’t help say, “I like this place a lot. It’s quiet.”

Yan Lin started backing up. “Then in the future when we’re free, we can come here often…and let me be in charge of the cooking.”

Zu Jin looked at him with dead fish eyes. “Are you laughing at me?”

“No, I just don’t want you to work so hard.”

Zu Jin snorted and smiled.

At this moment, the car had just entered the road and its speed was not very fast.

Zu Jin suddenly shouted, “Stop the car!”

Yan Lin was startled by her and pressed the brakes at once to stop the car.

Zu Jin quickly unfastened her seat belt, then got up and gave him a light kiss on the cheek. Then she sat back and re-fastened her seat belt.

“Keep driving.”

She gave an order like a boss, but her red ears had fully exposed her emotions.

The atmosphere in the car was ambiguous, and Yan Lin did not seem nervous by her sudden kiss.

He looked at Zu Jin quietly for a while, and then he smiled. He reached out and grabbed her hand from her lap and held it tightly.

Yan Lin’s hands were like his personality. He had long and neat fingers that were strong and did not appear too aggressive nor did it make her uncomfortable.

“Do you always take the initiative in everything?” he asked softly.

Zu Jin felt ashamed at the moment, but her strong personality really did not allow her to be too passive in any situation.

She was not willing to be outdone. “Yes, I just like to take the initiative. Why? You don’t like me like this?”

Yan Lin, as if he was very scared, quickly replied, “No, I like it very much. We should not hide our emotions when we’re together. I think this is very good!”

Zu Jin overwhelmingly agreed with what he said.

This was because people at their age were entangled by all kinds of things from society.

As a result, they had to wear masks and thorny armor at all times so that they would not get hurt.

However, it was difficult to take the mask and armor off after wearing them for a long time.

So that’s why you need to meet someone where you can boldly be yourself in front of them and they will warmly accept you for yourself.

What a lucky thing that will be.