When Lu Fan heard Jiang Yixia’s question, he smiled. "My wife is as clever as ever."

Jiang Yixia frowned and said coldly, "I am not your wife. You’d better not go around assigning me titles."

"A couple of days ago, I took Lulu out to eat and happened to learn she was preparing for the Garden Cup Design Competition. I also heard a senior was saying her professional skills weren’t good enough. It just so happens I know a professor with considerable achievements in landscape design, so I thought I’d ask him to make a trip to Jinling University to help teach Lulu," Lu Fan explained.

Hearing his words, Jiang Yixia’s cold expression seemed to soften a bit.

"I’ve known you for nineteen years, and you’ve finally done one decent thing," Jiang Yixia said, holding out her hand. "Give me the thermos."

"Hey, hey, Yixia, you make it sound like all I did for nineteen years was cause trouble. Back when we were together, didn’t you use to say I was considerate and gentle?" Lu Fan said shamelessly.

Jiang Yixia was speechless. "That’s because I was blind back then and didn’t see your true colors. If I had known you were such a womanizer, a complete scumbag, I would never have said a single word to you, let alone let you get your way!"

"Yixia, that’s not right," Lu Fan laughed. "Weren’t you just drawn to my good looks back then? You thought I was pretty handsome—at least better-looking than the other try-hard guys at the factory—and that’s why you agreed to go out with me."

"Shameless."

Jiang Yixia snatched the thermos from Lu Fan’s hand. "Alright, the soup is finished. You can go now."

"Kicking me out so soon? I just got back from Jinling," Lu Fan said, pretending to be wronged.

Jiang Yixia remained calm. "Even if you just got back from Antarctica, you’ve finished the soup, so you have to go."

Seeing Jiang Yixia’s resolute attitude, Lu Fan deliberately clutched his lower back as he turned. "Ouch, I think I hurt my back."

As soon as he said that, Sister Li, the owner of the dry cleaning shop, happened to be passing by.

She hurried over and asked nervously, "Brother Lu, did you twist your back?"

"Yeah," Lu Fan said, winking at her.

Being a shrewd woman, Sister Li naturally caught on.

She quickly called over to Jiang Yixia, "Sister Xia, why don’t you come take a look? I remember you used to be very good at tui na massage."

Jiang Yixia replied speechlessly, "Sister Li, don’t be fooled by him. The only thing you can trust from that scumbag is the period at the end of his sentences."

"No, it looks like he really did twist it," Sister Li said, feigning urgency.

Seeing this, Lu Fan simply pinched his own thigh hard, making his expression twist in pain.

’Wifey, I’m really pulling out all the stops here. My thigh actually hurts from that pinch. If you don’t come over now, I’ll have suffered for nothing.’

Fortunately, Jiang Yixia noticed that Lu Fan’s face did look like it was in some pain, so she walked over.

"Are you dead yet?" Although Jiang Yixia’s words were as vicious as ever, her actions showed she was still concerned about Lu Fan.

Of course, if Jiang Yixia found out he was tricking her, he’d be a dead man!!

Lu Fan pretended to straighten his back, letting out a long breath. "It hurts a little. Yixia, do you have any medicinal wine?"

"Troublesome."

Although that’s what she said, Jiang Yixia still turned and went into the room to get the medicinal wine.

During this time, Sister Li looked at Lu Fan excitedly. "Brother Lu, that was a brilliant move."

"I couldn’t have done it without your assist, Sister Li," Lu Fan laughed.

The two had only been chatting for a moment when Jiang Yixia came out of the room.

Lu Fan immediately put on a pained expression again.

Watching from across the way, Chen He couldn’t help but remark, "Jiali, do you think our boss could win an Oscar if he tried to make it in Hollywood?"

Jiali replied calmly, "Or you could just ask the boss later if he’s interested in making it in Hollywood."

"No, no, no! The last time I offended the boss, he punished me by making me skip three meals. I was starving," Chen He said pitifully.

"Don’t be ridiculous. You didn’t eat rice for those three meals, but you ate noodles," Jiali retorted.

Chen He laughed sheepishly. "Hey, I knew the boss wouldn’t have the heart to really punish me, so I just had to make a show of it."

Jiang Yixia brought the medicinal wine to Lu Fan. "When you’re done, leave it on the table."

After speaking, she prepared to turn and leave.

Lu Fan quickly said, "Hey, hey, Yixia, you have to help me apply it. I can’t reach."

"If you can apply it, apply it. If you can’t, then forget it." Jiang Yixia sat down and went back to tending to her flowers.

Sister Li was also suddenly in an awkward position. There were only three of them there. If Jiang Yixia wasn’t going to help her husband put on the medicinal wine, surely she, an outsider, couldn’t step in, could she?

So she took the initiative and said, "Brother Lu, maybe you should just go home and apply it."

"I guess that’s my only option." Lu Fan then picked up Jiang Yixia’s medicinal wine, gave it a little shake, and said, "Yixia, I’ll return this bottle of medicinal wine to you another day."

"It’s yours. I don’t want anything you’ve touched," Jiang Yixia replied.

"Nope, I insist on returning it. A drop of kindness should be repaid with a gushing spring. I’ll even have to buy you a new bottle."

Jiang Yixia couldn’t be bothered to argue with Lu Fan, so she just let him be.

Just before Lu Fan left, she spoke up again. "Tell your people to stop coming to my shop to buy flowers. If I catch them again, don’t blame me for driving away customers."

"You even figured that out?" Lu Fan laughed. "Yixia, you’re just too amazing."

"I know you want to make it up to me and the two children, and you have the means to do so. But I just can’t get over this hurdle in my heart. The more you try to compensate, the more I remember what happened back then."

"That day, I was in the kitchen cooking. After I brought all the dishes out, you were gone. I finally managed to find you, only to see you with your arms around another woman."

"So whenever you get close to me, these memories just keep replaying in my mind."

"You being good to the children, good to Lulu, good to Sifan—I have no objection to any of it."

"Because they’ve been through too much over the years, and as their mother, there are things I just can’t make up for."

"I can’t take your place as their father. I’m a woman, not a man. There are some things that only a father can do."

"Tonight, when I heard Lulu say that a master of design had taken her on as a student, I knew it was your doing."

"If you think about it, how could a first-year university student with no connections possibly catch the eye of a design master from a research institute?"

"She’s at Jinling University, not Tsinghua University."

At this, Jiang Yixia looked up.

Lu Fan could clearly see the moisture welling in her eyes. She spoke in a calm voice, "I thank you for what you’ve done for the children. Of course, maybe ’thank’ isn’t the right word. You’re their father; this is what you should be doing."

"So, for every reason, both emotional and logical, I still can’t forgive you right now. You can see the children, be good to them, make it up to them. I’ve already told them to accept your kindness. But from me, you will never get forgiveness."

Lu Fan listened to her words, fell silent for two seconds, then nodded. "Okay, Yixia. I know what to do."

With that, he turned to leave.

But a second later, Lu Fan looked back at Jiang Yixia and said with a shameless grin, "But I’m not giving up, you know~ I’ll be back for more soup tomorrow."

This time, Lu Fan really left.

Although Jiang Yixia’s expression remained calm, she ended up biting her lip and muttering to herself, "That bastard... so shameless, every single time..."