Abstinence Pei, don't be too sweet when chasing your wife

The Icelandic wind had not yet dissipated from the hair, but the neon lights of Hwaseong had already soaked into Pei Luonan's suit.

At the end of three consecutive days of intense meetings, Special Assistant Kong Haoyu placed the documents on the table. "Mr. Pei, this is the final offer from the Nordic partner."

When Pei Luonan was about to open the file, his cell phone suddenly vibrated, and the word "Mom" on the screen made him frown slightly.

"Stinky boy, bring Fanxing home for dinner tonight!"

Mother Pei's voice echoed with the crisp sound of spatulas colliding. "Luochuan just returned from a business trip, and he was clutching a gift for Fanxing. He said he wanted to thank her for helping him revise his marketing plan."

Pei Luonan raised his eyebrows: "His plan was approved last week, and he only remembered to thank me now?"

"What do you know?" Pei's mother laughed. "He just wanted to take this opportunity to ask about Iceland. He's in charge of the Nordic cultural tourism project and is in need of some fresh ideas."

After hanging up the phone, Pei Luonan looked at the screen and laughed.

Ever since Gu Fanxing came to his house for dinner for the first time, Pei Luochuan had been calling her "Sister Fanxing" affectionately, and even brought up all the problems in the marketing department for her to ask for advice, under the euphemism of "learning from his future sister-in-law."

He dialed Gu Fanxing's number, and immediately the sound of tangled wool came from the receiver.

"I'm knitting a cup cover for Grandma," her laughter mingled with the clinking of wooden needles. "I'm using the aurora-colored yarn I brought back from Iceland. Do the stitches look like the ice patterns on the Blue Ice Lake?"

"My mother asked you to come to my house for dinner tonight. Luo Chuan is also there."

Pei Luonan leaned back in his chair, imagining her curled up on the sofa. "He said he wanted to hear the details of your glacier hike, saying he wanted to use it as a reference for the project."

"Great!" Gu Fanxing's voice brightened. "I just happened to bring a volcanic stone paperweight for Luochuan. It's engraved with Viking runes. The local guide said it can bring inspiration. Last time, he kept saying that the paperweight in the office was too ordinary. This one will definitely suit his taste."

On the way to the Gu family villa, Pei Luonan stopped by a dessert shop.

The cloudberry mousse in the window reminded him of Gu Fanxing licking the milk stains on the corners of her mouth in Iceland. He tapped his fingertips on the steering wheel: "I want a cloudberry mousse and a box of sea salt cookies - the cookies must be freshly baked."

Gu Fanxing was waiting for him at the door of the villa, wearing a light blue sweater brought back from Iceland, and the Rachmaninoff stone around her neck glowed pink and purple in the sunset.

Seeing him get off the car, she raised the wicker basket and said, "I've packed the puffin bookmarks for uncle and the volcanic mud mask for aunt, as well as the paperweight for Luochuan. If he doesn't like them anymore, I can't do anything about it."

"If he dares to complain, I will deduct his performance pay for this month."

As soon as the vermilion lacquer door of the Pei family's old house was pushed open, Pei Luochuan came out from the living room to greet them, holding a velvet box in his hand. "Sister Fanxing! You're finally here. This is the silk scarf I asked someone to bring back from Suzhou and Hangzhou. Thank you for helping me revise the plan last time, otherwise those stubborn old men in the marketing department would definitely give me a hard time again."

"Luochuan." Pei Luonan frowned, but was stopped by Gu Fanxing with a smile. "Eat first, and then we'll look at the plan after dinner."

She handed over the paperweight, the cool touch of the volcanic stone penetrating her fingertips. "Here, you go. The local guide said the Vikings carried similar stones during battles to stabilize the troops."

"Thank you, Sister Fanxing!" Pei Luochuan played with the paperweight and suddenly leaned close to her ear.

"Wasn't my brother really embarrassed in Iceland? At the last family gathering, he insisted he didn't hold your hand, but when I looked at the pictures in his camera, his hands were almost bleeding when you two were running on the black beach."

Gu Fanxing's cheeks flushed instantly. Just as she was about to speak, Pei Luonan dragged her towards the restaurant: "It's time to eat."

As he passed by Pei Luochuan, he whispered a warning, "If you keep using work as a pretext to talk nonsense, your project budget will be cut in half."

At the dinner table, Pei Luochuan was indeed restless. He was picking at the matsutake mushrooms in his bowl and suddenly pointed at Gu Fanxing's necklace: "Is this a gift from my brother? The stone is quite special. Does it have any special meaning?"

"Luo Chuan!"

"Brother, don't be so mean," Pei Luochuan raised his eyebrows. "I'm just curious, does Iceland have some kind of magic? Look at you, you used to talk to Sister Fanxing half a meter apart, but now you're sitting almost right next to each other."

"Pei Luochuan!" Pei Luonan's voice deepened, but was interrupted by Gu Fanxing with a smile.

"Actually, it's because the stone changes color depending on your mood," she said, stroking the pendant with a glint in her eyes. "The local guide said it can understand people's voices."

"So what are you feeling now?" Mother Pei asked with a smile, her eyes flickering between the two of them.

Gu Fanxing's heartbeat quickened suddenly. Just as she was about to speak, she heard Pei Luochuan say slowly, "Brother, isn't my cultural tourism project lacking in highlights? Tell me about ice cave camping. It sounds new to me."

These words reminded Pei Luonan of the night when they were camping in the ice cave. Gu Fanxing leaned on his shoulder to look at the stars, her breath gently brushing against his neck.

He almost said the words he had hidden for a long time, but was interrupted by the sudden appearance of an Arctic fox - now that he thought about it, the fox might have done it on purpose.

"Actually, there's nothing special about it," Pei Luonan said vaguely.

"Brother, you're lying!" Pei Luochuan immediately exposed his lies. "I saw a photo of an ice wall in your camera. The ice pattern on it is clearly in the shape of a heart. You must have found that place specifically!"

Amidst the laughter at the table, Gu Fanxing drank his soup silently, but the kiss kept emerging in his mind.

Under the moonlight of the Blue Ice Lake, Pei Luonan pressed her against the ice wall, his breath carrying the sweet scent of cloudberry wine. When their lips and teeth intertwined, his hands tightly grasped her sweater, so tightly that it hurt her, but he suddenly softened when she trembled slightly. The moment his tongue brushed across the corner of her lips, even the glacier seemed to melt.

"Oh, Sister Fanxing," Pei Luochuan suddenly remembered something, "You said the aurora in Iceland can dance? I want to add an aurora simulation device to my project. What do you think of a romantic design?"

Gu Fanxing put down the spoon and said seriously: "It doesn't have to be too complicated." She glanced at Pei Luonan, "Sometimes the simplest companionship is very romantic, such as not having to talk, just waiting for the aurora to appear together."

Pei Luonan's heart skipped a beat. He recalled that night at the Aurora Observatory, when Gu Fanxing leaned in his arms, her eyelashes stained with tiny ice crystals, and whispered, "This is good."

It turns out that at some moments, they felt the same way.

"That's a great idea!" Pei Luochuan immediately took out his phone and took notes. "Sister Fanxing, you're truly my muse. You're much better than my brother. He only knows how to say 'no' or 'change it again'."

"Even eating can't stop you from talking." Pei Luonan stuffed a piece of cod into his bowl.

After dinner, Pei Luochuan took Gu Fanxing to look at some information: "Sister Fanxing, look at the design of this Aurora Cabin. Shouldn't we add a skylight? I always feel that it lacks the feeling of looking up at the stars."

Gu Fanxing flipped through the documents and pointed at a certain drawing: "In fact, we can add a retractable roof, so that we can see the aurora and close it when it rains."

On the way to send Gu Fanxing home, the sycamore leaves outside the car window rustled.

As they got off the bus, the streetlights cast a shimmering light in Gu Fanxing's eyes. He reached out, his hand tangled with her wind-blown hair, his fingertips resting behind her ear. "Actually... my mom isn't just urging us to eat..."

Gu Fanxing's heartbeat suddenly quickened and she looked up at him.

The scent of gardenias mingled with the scent of cloudberries in her hair. Pei Luonan leaned in closer, and the Rachmaninoff stone on Gu Fanxing's neck suddenly lit up, its pink-purple light reflecting on their touching eyelashes, as if adding a gentle footnote to this fate that had been destined since their first encounter.

Pei Luonan's Adam's apple rolled, and finally he just rubbed her hair: "Go up, I'll pick you up for work tomorrow."

Watching her run into the villa, Pei Luonan's phone suddenly lit up: "I hope the next time I bring Fanxing home, it will be the time when we can give her a red envelope. Come on, son! I'm still waiting to hold my grandson."