I See Roses

I See Roses – Chapter 15

“I’ve come to realize now, shopping doesn’t inspire creativity, but the poverty after shopping sure does!” Lin Xijia snuggled on the couch, hugging a cushion, with a bright and cheerful expression on her face, “Last night, I thought about how much money I spent and finally crawled out of bed to finish the last episode!”

She had submitted the script for the episode earlier in the morning and was now enjoying her vacation. The summer in Pingcheng was never easy, and in early August, the streets were scorching even with the wind blowing.

In this kind of weather, only the brave would venture outside for fun. But Lin Xijia didn’t want to stay at home alone, so she ran to Ming Si’s villa.

On the top floor of the villa, Ming Si had a separate studio.

At this moment, Lin Xijia was absent-mindedly chatting while scrolling through Weibo.

Ming Si was wearing a simple white T-shirt, standing in front of a metalworking table, holding a soldering gun, and focused on soldering a ring.

Today, she didn’t curl her hair and instead tied it up neatly, with light makeup on her face, still looking stunning.

“I used to think that studying jewelry meant dealing with various gemstones, but who would have thought there would be soldering involved too,” Lin Xijia watched for a while before feeling disappointed, “It feels a bit disillusioning.”

Looking around, the workbench was filled with files, tweezers, sandpaper, and polishing wheels—no sign of gemstones.

Ming Si turned off the soldering gun and finally had time to reply, “There are gemstones too.”

Lin Xijia didn’t notice, “Where are they?”

Ming Si gestured toward a small wooden table next to her, where a white ceramic vase stood with fresh gardenia flowers blooming freely.

Lin Xijia tilted her head and saw a small basket made of rattan hidden among the branches and leaves, filled with sparkling diamonds and colored gems.

Most of them were scattered around.

Even though Lin Xijia came from a well-off family, her eyes widened at the sight, “You’re just casually throwing around so many diamonds?”

“They’re of average quality, used for practice,” Ming Si undid her hair and tied it up again.

She had a good sense of aesthetics and was skilled in design, but when it came to metalworking, she was relatively weaker. Lately, she had been practicing with a specific focus.

Lin Xijia glanced at the gems again, feeling almost blinded by their radiance.

…Sorry for interrupting.

After soldering the small ring, Ming Si and Lin Xijia prepared to go out to a hot spring hotel for a spa.

As they walked down the stairs, Lin Xijia spotted a brightly colored bird with its wings spread wide, strutting on the floor as if patrolling its territory.

Its posture was quite arrogant.

“Did you buy a parrot?” Lin Xijia asked uncertainly. At the same time, she felt it looked a bit familiar.

“It’s He Sui,” Ming Si replied, looking up at the birdcage, only to find that the cage door was somehow opened.

Lin Xijia almost doubted her own ears, “What?”

Ming Si didn’t have time to answer because at that moment, Si Si popped its head out from the corner of the sofa.

Ming Si’s eyelid twitched. The next second, she saw He Sui, who seemed to have spotted a target, taking off from its spot and flying towards the sofa, swiftly hitting Si Si on the head.

Smack!

The entire process took less than three seconds. Both of them froze on the stairs, and Lin Xijia pointed at He Sui in disbelief, “So it has violent tendencies too?”

Whether He Sui had violent tendencies, Ming Si didn’t know, but she was certainly angered. She quickly walked downstairs, picked up He Sui, and placed it back into the cage, closing and locking the door in one go.

Seems like the pet is a reflection of its owner.

He Sui was indeed a naughty bird.

“Hahaha… I can’t believe you two! You both don’t get along, and now your pets are fighting too?” Cheng Yu laughed heartily, lying back on the sofa.

Ming Si tossed a pillow at him, “How was I supposed to know that He Sui could open the cage by itself?”

As they spoke, He Sui stealthily passed by in front of everyone.

It seemed to know it had made a mistake, as it was now behaving in a low-key manner, its arrogance from before completely gone.

After all, He Sui was just a parrot, and Ming Si couldn’t really be angry with it.

Besides, He Sui often looked at her with its big round eyes, tilting its head, attempting to appear cute, leaving Ming Si helpless.

So, Ming Si redirected her anger toward Liang Xian.

Indeed, he had forgotten to tell her about He Sui’s skill in opening its cage, so he had to take responsibility and apologize.

The dinner was being held at his house, and they had a private chef, whom Ming Si liked very much, to take care of the meals. Additionally, they had hired a top-notch bartender from a local renowned bar.

At this moment, everyone was casually chatting in the living room. Night had fallen outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, and the city lights were coming alive, with scattered dots of stars twinkling low on the horizon, creating a beautiful scene.

“But Liang Xian’s parrot is really clever. It not only opens the cage door, but I also saw it opening a cabinet once,” Ke Lijie gestured, indicating it was about three layers high, “It took hold of the handle with its beak and pulled it open. Did you teach it that, Liang Xian?”

Liang Xian stirred the wine in his glass, lifting his eyelids slightly, “Why would I teach it that?”

Most likely, it learned it on its own.

“It’s hard to say. You take it to watch MMA fights every day, so it probably learned how to hit people, right?” Ming Si sat up and countered, “That’s called instigating crime.”

Being accused with such a big crime, Liang Xian burst into laughter.

Ming Si leaned back, holding a cushion and looked at him with a displeased expression, “What are you laughing at?”

Cheng Yu had a peculiar sense of humor. After finally stopping his laughter, he patted his thighs and shook his head, “Hey, you two know what impression you give me?”

“What impression?” Ming Si instinctively knew he wasn’t going to say anything good.

“It’s like… your pets are two kids fighting at school, and you guys are like their parents, arguing with each other.”

Ke Lijie added fuel to the fire, “Yeah, if you guys have kids in the future, they might end up fighting each other too.”

His words sounded very ambiguous.

Ming Si almost choked on her drink and, when she came to her senses, she subconsciously looked at Liang Xian. He was about to take a sip of his drink, but the glass paused at his lips.

Then, he slightly lowered his gaze and looked in her direction.

Ming Si took a sip of her drink to ease her nerves.

It had been over three months since they got married, yet they still felt it was a bit unreal. Perhaps neither of them took it too seriously, and they hadn’t really thought about what would happen in the future.

Ke Lijie’s words unexpectedly gave Ming Si a wake-up call—her life with Liang Xian, unless something unexpected happened, would always be bound together.

They… probably would have their own children, right?

But the idea of having a child with him was too horrifying, so Ming Si forced herself to cut off that thought before it even started. She continued drinking to ease her nerves.

Liang Xian put down his glass, his eyes slightly narrowed, lost in thought. Ming Si, too, was immersed in her own imagination and didn’t snap out of it immediately.

Perhaps because both of them were in a daze, it gave Cheng Yu the opportunity to perform some mischievous acts.

Suddenly, he stood up and without any explanation, he grabbed both of their hands, pressing them together tightly, “Daddy He Sui, Mommy Si Si, it’s normal for kids to have little fights when they’re together all the time. But we adults shouldn’t be petty. Come on, hold hands like good friends and don’t be angry!”

For a moment, neither Ming Si nor Liang Xian reacted. It wasn’t until they felt the warmth of the unfamiliar touch that they both lowered their heads and looked at their hands, which were now intertwined.

“…”

In the next second, Cheng Yu got exactly what he asked for—a good beating.

It was mainly Liang Xian who did the beating, while Ming Si was on the side, cheering on and hitting Cheng Yu several times with a pillow.

“I was just joking, was it necessary to do this? Besides, you two argue a lot normally. How come you’re so in sync when it comes to hitting people?” Cheng Yu screamed while holding his head, “It’s two against one, that’s not fair!”

Ming Si sneered, “I think it’s fair.”

Cheng Yu tried to get up to argue, but Liang Xian held him back. He seemed like someone who frequented the gym, wearing a white T-shirt, with firm and smooth arm muscles. He effortlessly held Cheng Yu down.

Under his restraint, Cheng Yu struggled like a little chick.

Ming Si took the opportunity to hit him a few more times.

Ke Lijie had long collapsed onto the sofa, holding his stomach while laughing, even Yu Chuan coughed from laughter. After calming down, he shook his head with a smile, “I see none of you have grown up.”

“He was the one who provoked us first!” Ming Si hit him again.

The room suddenly fell quiet for a moment.

Cheng Yu endured the pain from the hits, but he seemed to find Ming Si’s words a bit odd. However, he couldn’t figure out exactly what was strange with his small head, so he could only maintain a thoughtful expression.

Even Liang Xian let go of his hold and looked at her.

“What’s wrong? Did I say something wrong?” Ming Si actually understood where this strange atmosphere came from, but she refused to admit it and pretended to be calm, tossing the pillow away.

“Us, us?” Cheng Yu had already freed himself from Liang Xian’s control, but he completely forgot to get up and kept repeating like a parrot, “How come I feel like your relationship has improved recently? The secret phone call the other day could be ignored, but just now, you were so in sync. You teamed up against me… a mixed doubles of husband and wife.”

Ming Si: “…”

She wanted to hit him again.

Liang Xian glanced at him and sneered, “I can give you a one-on-one match if you want.”

Cheng Yu: “No, no.”

He quickly got up and moved three yards away from him.

After Liang Xian’s threat, Cheng Yu dared not babble anymore. Besides, he didn’t really think that Ming Si and Liang Xian had something going on; it was purely teasing.

They then continued talking about going to play real-life CS.

“My friend, he’s from the army. The club is located in the mountains, and it’s really fun and realistic,” Cheng Yu was an expert when it came to eating, drinking, and playing, “Yu Chuan, especially you, always stuck in the lab, you need to come and exercise with us. Otherwise, you’ll get osteoporosis.”

“Forget it, Yu Chuan often works out with Brother Xian,” Ke Lijie said, “You should worry about yourself; don’t get eliminated right at the beginning.”

“I’m not afraid. Brother Xian will take care of me. Just like when we play games, he always takes care of me,” Cheng Yu said confidently, then turned to Liang Xian, “Right, Dad?”

Liang Xian clearly had no intention of accepting this son and replied quite ruthlessly, “I don’t like sons. If you undergo gender reassignment, I’ll consider it.”

Cheng Yu was stunned, “C-c-castration with a knife?”

Ke Lijie: “Hahaha!”

Ming Si also laughed. Cheng Yu was truly an entertaining guy. After laughing, she flipped her loose hair and bent down to get some wine.

Her gaze inadvertently swept over a certain place and was shocked, causing her hand to tremble, and she almost fell off the sofa.

About seven or eight meters away, He Sui was walking toward them swaying as it dragged a red color book with its beak—

That was her and Liang Xian’s… marriage certificate!