For him, spending 100 million wasn't a big deal.
But when it came to Jiang Lai, spending 100 million in a single afternoon made him wonder what on earth she had been up to.
Driven by this curiosity, he wrapped up his gathering early,
intending to go back and find out what was going on.
And while he was on his way back, Jiang Lai, safely inside Wangyue Villa, was locking her door to up to no good.
Out of all the money she had spent that afternoon, a fraction of a percent had gone toward purchasing the tools she would need for her operation tonight.
Last night, Jin Shengshi had made a sudden exit. The jerk claimed it was because there were no supplies in the bedroom, leaving him ready to fire but forced to walk away.
Well, this time she had bought boxes and boxes of them.
She refused to believe he could pull out halfway through again.
If he tried a repeat performance of last night's pre-battle desertion,
she was really going to lose her temper.
She had taken the initiative to propose to him in the first place not only to use his influence to avenge Yunjia, but also because his only remaining function was to provide a sperm donor for her child.
If he wasn't even willing to do that, then their transaction would be a completely losing deal for her.
Of course, just because she bought them didn't mean she was going to be nice about it.
When she mentioned wanting a descendant last night, he had refused without a second thought. Since she couldn't win by playing it straight, she would just have to outsmart him—after all, she genuinely wanted a child.
Tearing open the outermost packaging, Jiang Lai sat on the edge of the bed, holding a sterilized fine needle and systematically beginning to puncture them.
One hole.
Two holes.
Three holes.
Four holes.
Five holes.
Six holes.
...
As she poked away, she inexplicably saw a baby waving at her. The little baby was sculpted from jade with big eyes, long eyelashes, a turned-up nose, and cherry lips, unbearably cute.
The thought of such loveliness made her hands move even faster.
Yet no matter how fast she went, forging a whole drawer full of new condoms was no small feat, and she had only completed three-quarters of the batch by the time Jin Shengshi appeared in the downstairs living room.
Downstairs, Jin Shengshi lingered a moment over the large truck parked outside the entrance, casually asking Lu Ba and Lu Ji, who were busy hauling things back and forth:
"Did she buy all this?"
Lu Ba, with his steady demeanor, simply answered, "Yes."
Lu Ji was more lively. After running back and forth dozens of times, his eyebrows were practically knitted together into a knot. Miserably, he said, "Brother Sheng, on the way back, Young Madam said she's going to keep shopping tomorrow."
"Keep going?"
Lu Ji nodded. "Yes, Young Madam said she's going to buy back everything she lays eyes on and likes."
Hearing this, the corners of Jin Shengshi's lips only twitched slightly.
Was this some kind of strategy to go up against Xie Siwan?
He didn't probe further. Sweeping his gaze around the interior and failing to catch sight of that familiar figure, he asked another question: "Where is she?"
Xia Rindong replied, "Young Madam went upstairs as soon as she got back."
Having no interest in watching people move cargo, he headed straight upstairs.
Normally, the bedroom door was never left ajar except when sleeping, but tonight was an exception.
It wasn't just ajar; it was locked tight.
Out of politeness, he knocked a few times.
Hearing the sound, the person inside shouted at the top of her lungs, "Who is it?"
Jin Shengshi's voice was calm. "Me."
Perhaps separated by a thick, soundproof door, she didn't hear his reply. Instead, acting as if she were hard of hearing, she yelled out again at the top of her lungs: "Who's there—"
Knowing that speaking again might still not get through to her, he simply gripped the doorknob, intending to push his way in.
However, as he pressed down on the knob, it wouldn't budge. A sudden realization hit him:
It wasn't even dinnertime yet, and she had locked herself inside the bedroom?
If she had just closed the door, he could have understood.
But locking it meant she was up to something sneaky.
Without overthinking it, he knocked again.
After knocking several times in succession, the person inside began to lose her temper. "Who is it? I've been asking for ages, and you won't even tell me who—"
Jiang Lai was halfway through her sentence as she opened the door.
Then, right in the middle of her words, she pulled the door wide open. Following that, the man's dark, deep pupils locked onto her without blinking. As his gaze drifted slowly into the room, Jiang Lai's heart skipped a beat, and she inexplicably felt a wave of scrutiny.
Having just plotted against someone, her nerves hadn't settled yet, making her forced smile rather stiff.
"Why... why are you back so early?"
Jin Shengshi didn't miss her awkwardness. He found a spot to lean against the doorframe, folded his arms, and instead of answering, drawled lazily, "What were you doing locking yourself in there?"
That single word—"locked"—left Jiang Lai hanging over a cliff.
She was terrified that what she had done would be discovered.
Their gazes met in midair. Staring into his obsidian-like eyes, Jiang Lai dug her fingernails deep into her palms, her panic gradually steadying into a calm facade.
Preventing herself from giving anything away, she flashed a sweet smile, tiptoed close to the man's ear, and whispered with deliberate coyness, "It's a secret."
Hearing those words, Jin Shengshi raised an eyebrow slightly, a lazy, faint smile spreading across his thin lips.
"Let's go down and eat."
During dinner, because Jiang Lai had strict standards for her figure, she stopped eating after reaching just thirty percent fullness.
Jin Shengshi noticed, but didn't press the matter.
After finishing, the two of them went upstairs.
While Jin Shengshi went to the study to handle some work, Jiang Lai set about redecorating his cold, sterile-looking bedroom.
Red bedsheets, a red duvet cover, red pillowcases, heart-shaped balloons, red roses, perfume, a small orange nightlight...
Naturally, on top of the red duvet cover, she deliberately used red dates, peanuts, longan, and lotus seeds to spell out "blessed with early children."
Even though she and Jin Shengshi had no romantic feelings, she would probably only get married once in her life. Since she didn't have parents to arrange these things for her, she didn't want any regrets, so she had to take matters into her own hands.
With this ritual complete, she could finally say she had experienced a wedding night. She had already decided that when she eventually met up with Yunjia in the underworld, she would tell her all about this as a funny story.
By the time everything was finished, it was already around nine in the evening.
After taking a shower, the time ticked on to ten.
Not wanting the quality of her night to suffer, she went to the study herself to invite him over. Dragging him close to the doorway, she instructed, "Close your eyes first."
Jin Shengshi couldn't guess what kind of trick she was playing, and his lips curved slightly. "Close my eyes? What on earth are you up to?"
This time, Jiang Lai used the word "surprise" in her reply.
At first, she had called it a "secret," and now she called it a "surprise." To be honest, Jin Shengshi's curiosity really had been hooked.
Seeing her teary eyes blink lightly, he pressed his tongue against the inside of his cheek, deciding to play along for once.
However, he had demands of his own.
"I'll give you one minute, at most."
The corners of Jiang Lai's mouth curled into a bright, brilliant smile. "That's more than enough."