Elena Shen remained puzzled by Annie Gu's mysterious behavior until noon…
And it wasn't over yet.
In the early afternoon, Annie had the bodyguards at the Gu residence deliver a birthday gift she had left at home that morning.
At the time, Elena was in the lab reviewing the progress of the past few days' experiments.
Annie found her and handed over a beautifully wrapped box with a grin.
"Elena, sweetheart, this is your first birthday present. The second one—the special post-marriage version—isn't quite ready yet, but I'm almost done!"
Elena took the gift across the lab bench.
To be honest, Annie had hyped the second gift so much that Elena was beginning to grow curious about what it could be.
But Annie remained tight-lipped, and Elena didn't press further.
Later, after their final class of the afternoon, the two walked out of the university together. Halfway along, Elena received a call from Eric Chen.
His tone was as respectful and courteous as ever.
As though worried she hadn't saved his number, the first thing he said after the call connected was to introduce himself again.
"Good afternoon, Mrs. Jiang. This is Eric Chen."
Eric was Ethan Jiang's most trusted executive assistant. After their call yesterday, Elena had saved his number. Moving forward, whenever Ethan was too busy, she figured she'd be dealing with Eric directly.
Hearing his introduction again, Elena replied, "I've already saved your number, Mr. Chen. Is there something you need at this time?"
Eric responded, "Yes, Mrs. Jiang. Mr. Jiang has returned from his business trip. He asked me to check whether you planned to return to Yushan Residence this evening."
Elena recalled Ethan's parting words before he left—the reminder that she should come back two days later.
She didn't decline. "I'll head back shortly."
Eric's voice relaxed noticeably. "I've already arranged for a car to pick you up at Huaihai University. If you need anything else, feel free to contact me."
Just after hanging up, Elena turned around—only to find Annie's eyes gleaming with excitement, practically glowing.
Ethan's return didn't stir much in Elena emotionally, but her best friend… she looked like an overzealous eunuch from a historical drama, brimming with anticipation.
In truth, this unsettling excitement had started brewing yesterday evening at the café.
"Elena, Ethan's back already?" Annie grabbed her arm, eyes wide with barely contained glee.
Elena glanced at her friend, completely unable to fathom where this level of thrill was coming from.
She looked away and nodded. "Seems like it. Eric called, so the information should be reliable."
Annie didn't linger. She shoved the unopened cup of coffee into Elena's hands and darted off like the wind.
"Elena! Go home and open the first gift—I'm heading back to prep the second one now. I'll send it to you tonight, I swear!"
"… Okay." Elena was speechless.
After leaving campus, Elena stopped by her apartment to pick up a USB drive and a few personal essentials, then took the car Eric had arranged to Yushan Residence.
When she arrived, the butler, Mr. Pang, was overseeing dinner preparations. Upon seeing her, he immediately instructed the staff to bring over fresh juice and a fruit platter.
Elena raised her hand to stop him. "Uncle Pang, no need. I'm not thirsty or hungry. I still have some things to work on—I'll head upstairs first."
Mr. Pang responded at once, "Yes, Madam. I'll have them bring the fruit platter up shortly."
Elena nodded and made her way up the spiral staircase to the third floor.
Upon entering the master bedroom, ready to unpack, she stopped cold at the sight of the room's drastic transformation.
Mr. Pang, who had followed her up to personally deliver the fruit, quickly stepped forward to explain.
"Madam, this was Mr. Jiang's instruction."
"He thought you might not like dark, cold-toned bedding, so he had everything replaced."
" He also mentioned that while it may be too soon for a formal wedding ceremony, getting the marriage certificate is official enough. So he had the master suite redecorated with a post-marriage bedding set. "
"And if I may," Mr. Pang added, pointing down the hall, "there are other bedrooms with warmer decor themes. Would Madam like to take a look first?"
"If you don't care about the red bedding in the master bedroom, we'll replace it with a warmer color palette in a few days."
Elena followed him to check the other rooms' recent renovations before returning to the master bedroom. The red bedding practically screamed for attention, instantly pulling her focus.
The fact that she had officially transitioned from single to married hadn't quite hit her yet.
But the bold, festive red of that marriage-themed bedspread brought it crashing down on her—loud, real, undeniable.
The sight made her freeze for a moment, disoriented.
She stood in the middle of the room, staring at the transformed bed, dazed for nearly two full minutes before finally unpacking her personal items.
Once everything was sorted, she sat on the couch and peeled a lychee. Just as she popped the flesh into her mouth, her phone rang—it was Ethan.
Seeing his name on the screen, Elena quickly swallowed and answered the call.
"Ethan?"
His deep, velvety voice came through the receiver, almost tickling her ears. "You're back at Yushan Residence?"
Elena tightened her grip on the phone. Her mind involuntarily conjured the fevered memories from the night they registered their marriage. She held her breath and gave her head a quick shake, trying to chase them away.
"Yes, I'm back."
At his end, background voices filtered through the line—she even thought she heard Eric briefly.
But soon, all the noise vanished, leaving only Ethan's voice.
"Elena, there's a meeting I need to attend—it won't take long, an hour at most. Go ahead and have dinner first. I'll be home soon."
"Alright," she replied.
After they hung up, Mr. Pang knocked on the door.
When Elena opened it, he asked respectfully, "Dinner is ready, Madam. Mr. Jiang won't be dining at home tonight. When would you like to come down?"
Elena glanced at the time. "Now it is fine."
She mentally drafted her lab report during dinner, and once finished, she returned to the third floor, opened her laptop, and typed up the report.
Then she skimmed through lab group messages to review the current experimental progress.
When she finished catching up and returned to the main chat screen, she noticed a message from Annie at the top of her list.
It reminded her of the sleek, rectangular gift box. She fetched it from her purse in the walk-in closet and opened it.
Inside was a delicate rose gold bracelet encrusted with tiny diamonds.
The chain was thin, but the diamonds made the whole piece shimmer brilliantly.
Elena examined it for a moment, then slipped it onto her wrist and walked back to the couch, intending to take a picture of Annie.
Before she could exit the chat, a new message notification popped up with a loud ding—a long, suspicious-looking hyperlink from Annie.
Elena frowned at the URL, fingers poised to ask what it was about.
Before she could type, another message arrived.
Annie: "The second gift is ready!"
Annie: "Elena, quick—go receive your gift!!"
"…?"
Then came a barrage of notifications, one after another.
Before she could react, eight or nine similar URLs flooded in, pushing her unsent message to the side.
Staring at a screen full of hyperlinks, Elena's face was filled with question marks.
She quickly typed a response:
Elena: "What the hell are these links?"
Elena: "Where's the gift?"
The reply came instantly.
Annie: "The links ARE the gift!"
Annie: "I've sacrificed twenty hours, day and night, and these ten links are the best I could find—handpicked with my very own panda eyes!"
Annie: "You had better look through them carefully. Don't let my dark circles go to waste!"
Annie: "Oh, by the way—has Ethan gotten home yet?"
"?"
Elena responded:
Elena: "Not yet."
Annie: "Phew! That's good!"
Annie: "Hurry and click on, now! You'll be thanking me later!"
Focused on her chat with Annie, Elena didn't notice that Ethan's car had already pulled into the garage at Yushan Residence.
Pressed by Annie's enthusiasm, Elena hesitated for a moment before randomly tapping one of the suspicious links.
The page is loaded into a video player. No description. Just a play button.
Elena paused briefly, then tapped the center icon.
The second she did, a rush of breathy, explicit sounds burst through the speakers, far before any visuals appeared.
She froze.
Before she could react, the bedroom door creaked open behind her.
And Ethan's deep, steady voice rang out from the doorway—
"Elena."