Page 120 of He Is My Bride

I have created a monster,Anne thought proudly. “Throw in the thin golden bracelet with the dangling diamonds and it’s a finished look once the stylist is done with you. She should arrive in a few hours, so go wash your hair.”

“Yes, big sister!” Li Ying was still throwing poses for the mirror and making exaggerated sultry faces.

“Miss Lü.” Hanjun turned the phone away from his darling idiot husband to address Anne face to face. “I’m sorry for the trouble, I should have told him about the cocktail reception sooner. I will compensate you.”

Anne kept a straight face and politely accepted. “Wu Hanjun,” she said before hanging up, “please keep yourselves out of trouble tonight. I’m praying for your success.”

“Mm, thank you. Good night, Miss Lü, go get some sleep,” Hanjun said.

Anne chuckled tiredly. “Perhaps I’ll try, I can still get a few hours if I fall asleep now. But don’t hesitate to call me if you need anything at all. I have a budding network on the ground, which I can mobilize at a moment’s notice, and I’m always here to advise. Good night.”

Hanjun hung up. He looked at Li Ying, who was singing and dancing for the mirror.

“Li Ying, go wash your hair.”

Li Ying danced himself to the bathroom.

The stylist visited later, and after she had done her thing, Li Ying was sporting that smokey eyed flapper makeup, eyeliner crisply winged and bold red lipstick applied. His hair was softly curled and carefully molded into sculptural waves that were gathered in a vertical roll at the back of his head. After the hairstylist was finished, Li Ying pulled one curl out and let it dangle free at the side of his face. He liked how it looked, and now he could flirtatiously roll his finger around it.

Hanjun wore an all-white suit with a black shirt and tie underneath, a black belt, and white loafers with gold bits. Li Ying noted his pants were cut higher than usual, and he wore no socks to cover his ankles. It seemed Hanjun had permanently adapted the look, remembering it had pleased Li Ying before. Hanjun had also acquired earrings of his own: small and subtle diamonds that clipped on with a magnet.

“Should we get your ears pierced, too?” Li Ying asked and gently stroked Hanjun’s hair while the man was putting them on.

“Not for now.”

“Getting used to the idea first?”

“Mm.” Who knows?

The concierge called. Li Ying answered while Hanjun was still fixing his cuffs and making sure he was tip-top.

“Hello, Wu residence?” Li Ying twirled the phone cord around his finger and smiled at Hanjun, watching him finish preening himself. The concierge let him know their ride had arrived.

“Thank you.” Li Ying hung up. “Alright, wife, come on, don’t always make me wait for you!” Li Ying joked and saw Hanjun’s cheeks blush.

“Coming,” he said, straightened his lapels and added two sprays of his perfume on them.

My whipped Shanghai husband! But am I talking to him like Mrs. Qian talks to Uncle Qian?Maybe he was, but it was different.I don’t mean it like that, I’m just teasing him because I love him and he likes it. Maybe he’s tired of everyone just praising him all the time because he’s the Wu Hanjun, and that’s why he likes to be teased for a change?

Hanjun came to offer his arm, and Li Ying took it, resisting the urge to climb him like a tree because he was so fine. Coming down to the lobby and stepping outside, Li Ying saw a white limousine waiting there. Was that forthem,Li Ying thought.

“Hanjun, you are so stupid!” Li Ying softly whacked his arm and glared. “What’sthatdoing here?!”

“Everything for the wife,” Hanjun said, looking down at Li Ying, pleased with himself.

Li Ying blushed, his mouth opening and closing until he turned away pouting.

“I know I said ‘everything,’ but this is just silly,” Li Ying mumbled.

“I am silly man, remember?”

Li Ying looked back at Hanjun and his deadpan face, and burst into laughter. “Yes, yes you are!”

But Li Ying supposed that to arrive at tonight’s caliber of an event without making a grand entrance and showing off a little would have been a faux pas, even for the relatively low-key Wus.

The driver took Hanjun’s name and opened the door for them. Inside there was a long, couch-like seat going around the cabin, color-changing party lights, and a tiny bar with champagne in an ice bucket, freshly popped. Li Ying slid to the end of the couch and snapped a selfie for Anne against the length of the limo, making a surprised facewith Hanjun far in the background. He wrote a message to go with the picture:

Li Ying turned around and took another picture without Hanjun, making another silly face and sent it to Amy with a different message:Li Ying took yet another, just of the vehicle’s interiors and sent it to Amy as well with the following: