SPMW 23 - Countdown to Wedding

Edited! 

As morning arrived, the sunlight playfully shone through the curtains, using its warmth to caress the two sleeping bodies.

Shang Yushang’s biological clock had always been on time; at seven in the morning, the man opened his eyes. After blanking out for a few seconds, he focused his gaze on his lover wrapped up in his embrace.

The warm sunlight reflected off Changning’s face, painting a dash of pink onto his lover’s porcelain skin. Those long eyelashes extended the shadows underneath his eyes, along with those defined eyebrows, sharp nose and soft lips that added to the temptation. Changning was fast asleep and breathing softly while he used Yushang’s arm as a pillow.

Yushang’s gaze deepened as he moved closer to kiss those alluring lips, gently nipping and tracing along the outline.

Changning, who could not stand the disturbance, finally woke up. The first thing that came into sight was a closeup view of that handsome face and that wet and warm sensation that came from his lips. “Mnn…” he groaned as he protested the act of stealing kisses early in the morning.

Knowing that he had successfully woken his lover by kissing, Yushang promptly decided to deepen the kiss as if he was planning to devour the younger man.

After few minutes of making out, Yushang finally benevolently released his lover that was on the verge of fainting. Ending with a big smack of a kiss on those slightly swollen lips, Yushang greeted him joyfully, “Morning babe. You taste so good.”

If anyone from the Shang Est. or the Shang family witnessed how their cold and expressionless Young Master Shang was saying all those honey-coated words, they would surely have thought that they had misheard something or perhaps it was time to get medication for themselves.

Ever since he had opened his heart to accept Shang Yushang, Changning felt that he was indeed too inexperienced to understand a person. The reason was, he realized that his knowledge of Shang Yushang was too limited and that those rumors out there were simply a bunch of lies that had caused him to underestimate the man before him. Changning could not understand how he had been taken advantage of by that poker faced man.

Didn’t they mentioned that Shang Yushang was a person who doesn’t fool around easily? Then why would this person hold his hand on the first meeting, hug him on the second meeting, and even kissed his forehead? And now he even began to give kisses, hugs and get touchy at times. Can anyone confirm if this man was indeed the legendary Young Master Shang? The gap between his character and image was simply too far apart!

Changning punched his fist onto Yushang’s shoulder, “Can’t you stop acting like this early in the morning? You’re treating my warnings as a joke?”

Yushang sulked as he replied, “Changning, this isn’t fair. I’m your man – it’s totally normal to hug and kiss you. You can’t possibly ask me to keep my hands to myself.”

Changning squinted his eyes, “You sure have a lot of reasons.”

Yushang tighten his arms as he pulled them closer to one another, “Changning, I’ve said before that I’m serious about this. So, you can’t take away my rights as your husband. Likewise, I’ll carry out my duties as your partner, so these are my benefits. I must insist.”

Changning pulled his hand out to poke the older man’s forehead with his finger, “Great plans indeed. You’d better exercise some restraint, don’t assume that you have the capital to plot against me just because you’re ten years older than me. I’ll show you what I’m capable of if you piss me off.”

“I wouldn’t dare to, but I’ll still stick to you, kiss and hug you whenever I want. I won’t embarrass you in front of others, but you must rely on me more when there’s only the two of us. Otherwise I’ll think that you don’t like me anymore, and that you don’t wish to get along with me. You promised me that you’ll try to work things out with me, so you can’t break your promise.”

“Hn, you sure seem to have plotted well.”

Yushang chuckled as he replied, “I don’t have a choice, you’re my wife after all, I have to try to take advantage and be mindful of your feelings.”

Changning rolled his eyes weakly – such an unreasonable man, coming up with illogical reasons and yet saying it so righteously. Is he really that cold-blooded dictator from the business world? Did someone swap his soul unknowingly?

Changning, who couldn’t be bothered with that opinionated man, got up from the bed and headed towards the bathroom. After he washed up, the couple went downstairs for breakfast. Throughout the whole process, Yushang had not left his sight.

Breakfast was filled with dishes that Yushang had instructed Aunt Qin to prepare, and there was also delicious food that she had prepared with taking care of Changning’s health in her mind. This made the couple quite stuffed.

After breakfast, Yushang had his arms around Changning as they drank some tea to digest their meal, and prepared their plans for the day.

At nine a.m., the suit designer arrived as scheduled. He first took out some pictures of the sample, then took the measurements and noted down their requests in detail. After he was done, he sent those measurements to the famous suit designer in Italy to prepare and mentioned that the suits would be ready and couriered back in two weeks’ time.

After tormenting themselves for two whole hours to finish that essential task for their wedding, Changning fell back weakly onto the sofa as Yushang rubbed his shoulders, “Very tired?”

“Not really, there’s just too many details to take note of; it’s a little overwhelming.”

“We can’t be sloppy for our wedding. Rest a bit if you’re tired.”

“I’ll pass, there isn’t too much time left. Old Madam Shang has been busying herself for us, our tiredness can’t be compared to hers.”

“Alright, then we’ll leave now. I’ll bring you to grab some delicious food then we’ll head to choose the accessories.”

“Accessories? What kind of accessories do two men require?”

“Some things are still necessary.”

And so, after Yushang brought Changning to a restaurant for a meal, they went on to choose their accessories.

The large-scaled malls under Shang Est. had everything that a person needed. Stores that specialized in selling accessories were, of course, included.

After entering the mall, the couple headed straight to the area with accessory stores. Yushang chose some cufflinks for Changning. There were diamonds, jadeites – all those priced above six digits. Changning had his words stuck in his throat as he watched that spendthrift man splurging money without batting an eye.

Next, they chose a pair of Switzerland-imported couple watches. Both models looked identical except that the watch on Changning’s wrist was slightly smaller and perfectly suited to his thinner wrist. Aside from that, they also chose some lockets and bracelets – there were platinum ones and pendants with precious stones, which of course were meant to be suitable for men. In fact, Yushang’s selections were indeed unique. The things that he chose were of course expensive, but the styles and design were suitable for Changning’s status and disposition. Changning did not have any habits of wearing those items around, so he did not plan to let Yushang purchase them. Yet the older man had sufficient reasons to disagree – it was all his grandmother’s instruction. In addition to that, he claimed that those items chosen were suitable to Changning’s skin color and character, and that buying gifts for his wife was something that a husband must commit to. Changning, of course, ended up keeping his silence with frustration written all over his face. The sales lady, who was probably shocked or horrified by Changning’s expression, ended up making a few mistakes.

Yushang also wanted to ask if Changning wanted to buy some ear studs, thinking that he might want to pierce his ears someday. But seeing his lover pursing his lips tightly, he gave up that thought.

After a whole afternoon was gone, they finally left the mall. Seeing Xiao Wu walking behind while carrying the bags of purchases, Changning insincerely laughed.

Xiao Wu did not have much expression, yet he was already in tears in his heart. He could not understand why he had to be at the scene while his young master purchased his wedding items, and even become their free labor in the end. Without any authority to speak, yet he still had to serve his two young masters, who exactly had he offended?

After boarding the car, Changning relaxed into the seat as he suddenly recalled something, “Yushang, I think we’ve forgotten to buy the wedding rings.”

Yushang, who had his arms around his lover, replied, “The wedding rings will arrive in a few days. It’s made-to-order.”

“And when did you order it?”

“After the first time we met.”

Changning was taken aback – he did not expect that Yushang would be bothered with the wedding, nor be that concerned with himself. It would be a lie to say that he was not touched by his actions. Also, how could he be that confident? Changning clearly remembered that he did not have any feelings for Yushang at that point in time, and that he only gave his consent for the wedding with the intention of running away once the contract was fulfilled. Yet this man before him was taking his duties as a husband seriously and preparing everything beforehand. That intention was worth treasuring.

For the next few days, Shang Yushang and He Changning barely had a break as they returned to the old mansion. After they had met some of the friends and relatives of the Shang family, the couple also went on to see the wedding room decorations. Old Madam Shang had asked for the couple’s opinion, and both men replied that they would let her decide for them.

After confirming that they would hold a Chinese-style wedding, the couple went on to visit the wedding site. The hotel was a five-star hotel that was under Shang Est. management, and the banquet dishes arrangement was supervised by Yushang’s cousin.

The photographer was the old madam’s friend, old Hu’s grandson, Hu Fang. That person was a professional photographer who had a lot of experience. Although he was a freelance photographer, his name was very famous in the circle. It was due to the personal contacts between the old madam and his grandfather that he had agreed to accept the deal.

After selecting a few scenes for the wedding photos, the preparations and actual photo taking ended up taking three days to complete. In fact, the results weren’t that bad. Aside from the fact that during the photography session, Hu Fang’s requests were demanding, which posed a big problem to the expressionless Shang Yushang. But whenever Changning turned to look at him, the results that Hu Fang needed would be fulfilled, leaving the photographer in shock as he thought over it puzzlement. In conclusion, the process was considered a successful one.

The wedding preparation proceeded smoothly. The packed schedules made time pass very quickly and it was soon a few days away from the wedding date.

While Yushang and Changning were busy preparing the wedding, the Yin family’s attitude was in a state of being on-hold.

The Yin residence was like the abyss of suffering.

That night, Changning and Aunt Qin had disappeared without a trace. When the helpers woke up in the morning, no one had noticed anything unusual, except for Yin Hao who had woke up after getting completely knocked out. After realizing that the person that he had plotted against had disappeared mysteriously, Yin Hao dejectedly sat on the spot as his mind blanked out.

Yin Zhinian, who had arrived home after he had spent the night at a hotel to clear his drunkenness, dragged his exhausted body back to the bedroom. After he had done a simple washup, Yin Zhinian then went downstairs to have breakfast. Usually at this time Aunt Qin was supposed to be in the kitchen, but she was nowhere to be seen.

Elder Yin had brought Congmin to visit their relatives. Hence the breakfast was only settled between himself and Yin Hao.

Yin Hao seemed to be in a daze as he stirred his spoon in the bowl of porridge aimlessly, not even attempting to eat it.

Yin Zhinian watched before finally opening his mouth to ask, “Yin Hao, what’s wrong? Why are you not eating?”

Hearing his father’s words pulled Yin Hao back to reality, “Oh, I don’t have appetite now, I don’t feel like eating.”

“You should eat more, or your body will not be able to take it.” he paused, “Changning’s wedding is not that far away. At this point in time, we should not provoke him unnecessarily. Also, has the funding from Shang Est. been received? If it has, then we should quickly settle the progress on the municipal construction. Don’t be careless, or we’ll never be able to handle the consequences.”

Yin Hao’s expression began to crumble as fear and anxiety started to fill his heart. Many thoughts ran through his mind, yet he had no idea what exactly happened last night. Did Dao managed to succeed? Why did those people disappear without a trace when he woke up in the morning? Even the calls wouldn’t go through, and He Changning disappeared as well, along with Aunt Qin! What exactly is going on? There’s no logical reason why those three people disappeared without any news and no one knew why!!

Should Shang Yushang know about what had happened, no matter what had happened to He Changning, he would be dead meat in every way. The most frustrating part was that Dao also disappeared without any news. No matter how he tried to ask around, there was completely no news at all. That made Yin Hao flustered and disturbed. Under such circumstances, how would he still be able to eat his meal in peace? Much less care about the municipal construction!

After breakfast was over, Yin Zhinian asked the helpers, “Why isn’t Aunt Qin down to make breakfast?”

The helper replied, “We haven’t seen Aunt Qin since morning.”

“Go upstairs and have a look, I hope she hasn’t fallen ill.” After a short pause, “If she’s ill then tell third young master to bring Aunt Qin to the hospital for a check. Also, make some breakfast and send it upstairs.” Knowing that he shouldn’t and couldn’t mistreat Changning, Yin Zhinian had no choice but to instruct carefully.

Yin Hao tightened his fist as his face paled. With a shaky tone, he said, “Dad, He Changning and Aunt Qin, they’re gone.”

Yin Zhinian was stunned for a moment, “What do you mean by gone?”

Yin Hao avoided the heated gaze as he replied, “Just, gone. No idea where they went.”

Yin Zhinian’s expression darkened as he questioned again, “What’s wrong, what happened?”

Compared to Yin Zhinian’s firm composure, Yin Hao was already in a state of panic. He knew that hiding the facts wouldn’t solve the problem, and if he told his father, he might even give him some suggestions to help him out. And so, Yin Hao truthfully explained all his plans that he had prepared for the past few days.

After listening to his son’s explanation, Yin Zhinian digested the story for a minute before he stood up abruptly and slapped Yin Hao’s face, “You fool! Do you know what you’ve done!?”

Yin Hao was dazed from the slap, but he did not retort. He knew that he was in the wrong, creating trouble but not having the ability to resolve the problem. At this point, he could only rely on his father to clear up his mess.

But what else could Yin Zhinian do? The fact that the victims had disappeared without a trace, even the assailant had also gone missing; where else could he find those people? The moment that the Shang family found out that Changning had mysteriously gone missing, not only would Yin Est. face risks of bankruptcy, even the Yin family would become sacrifices to Shang Yushang’s fury.

The father and son sat silently in the living room. Then, they contacted the ladies of the family who were on their way back.

When morning arrived again, the five members of the Yin family sat in the living room as they looked at each other in dismay.

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T/N: Sorry for the delay!!! I wanted to rush this out on Friday, but I didn’t expect myself to be down with a really bad food poisoning that I had to be rushed to the A&E (it was bad. T-T). But I’m all good now! The next update would be delayed and published on 30th April or 1st May! It’ll be a double update (because I want to finish up the wedding arc!!! xD) That’s all for now! Thanks for reading as always!!

P.S: #shamelessadvertising I’m also translating Reborn into a Hamster for 233 days at another site. That novel is also full of fluff and interesting plots! Do search for the novel on NU web and check them out! (I shall not put the link here to prevent conflict of interest between the webs!)