Chapter 181 - 179: No One Knows Merch Better Than Me

Chapter 181: Chapter 179: No One Knows Merch Better Than Me

Soft panting echoed in the dim corner of the stairwell. A few minutes passed before the two intertwined figures finally pulled apart.

Jiang Xia licked his lips, still craving more. He never imagined the sweetness of the pudding and the taste of his wife could fuse together so well.

’No wonder she asked if I wanted some pudding earlier. She should’ve just said so! If this was how she meant it, I wouldn’t have had to think at all. I would’ve just nodded and said yes.’

’Thinking back, this was the first time his wife had ever thrown herself at him so eagerly since he’d been reborn.’

’This was definitely a milestone. So, how far off could their next time in bed be?’

Lin Yanwan, her face flushed, pulled his wandering hand away. ’That guy! He was actually trying to slip it under my clothes! I’m not that easy!’

’This is a stairwell! If someone came by, they’d see everything.’

"Is this a special reward for me because I solved your family’s troubles?" Jiang Xia asked in a low voice. The light was too dim for him to see her face, which he was sure had turned bright red.

"...Not entirely," she said softly.

In truth, it had merely given her an excuse to take the initiative. After all, girls are naturally much shyer than boys. Even if she desperately wanted to pin him to the bed and do all sorts of naughty things to him, she could never bring herself to say it out loud.

’Perhaps after they were married, once she went from a young maiden to a wife, she could afford to be less concerned with her image.’

"Don’t think like that," Jiang Xia said, giving her small hand a squeeze. "You’re my wife, and they’re my parents. It was only right for me to do that, so don’t treat this as some kind of payment or reward."

’Because that would change the nature of it, turning it into a transaction.’

"Of course not!" Lin Yanwan wrinkled her nose. "What if I just wanted to kiss you?!"

"Me too..."

With that said, Jiang Xia tilted up her chin and leaned down to capture his wife’s soft lips. She could only let out a series of soft whimpers as his kisses slid from the corner of her mouth, down her delicate neck, planting little strawberries.

She tilted her head back slightly, leaning into the curve of Jiang Xia’s strong arm, trying her best not to make a sound.

"There... don’t..."

The voice-activated light in the stairwell suddenly flickered on, followed by the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs.

The two of them immediately scrambled apart in a panic. Lin Yanwan quickly straightened her clothes, which he’d pulled into disarray, and shot him a fierce glare.

’He knew this was a stairwell, yet he still dared to mess around?! If they’d run into someone they knew, it would’ve been total social suicide for her.’

Jiang Xia looked aggrieved. ’When you’re in the heat of the moment, who cares about the setting? Seizing the opportunity for pleasure is what’s most important.’

Ignoring the person heading downstairs, the two continued up the stairs hand-in-hand. The moment they got home, Lin Yanwan dashed straight to her room. She sat down at her vanity and, just as she’d feared, saw several faint strawberry marks on her neck.

’That damn mutt. All he thinks about is his own pleasure, with no consideration for me at all!’

She tried letting down her hair, which was tied up, but found it couldn’t hide them at all. People would spot the marks on her neck in a second. If her dad saw them, he’d surely lecture her for ages.

She let out a soft sigh, took out some concealer, and dabbed it over the marks a few times. It barely managed to cover them. If he had been any rougher, even concealer wouldn’t have helped.

Walking out of her room, she saw Jiang Xia sitting shamelessly on the sofa, playing with Yuyuan with a cat teaser wand.

"If you ever plant random strawberries on me again, I’ll stick a piece of pigskin on my neck for you to kiss!" she said fiercely.

"Uh... so does that mean I can plant strawberries in places people can’t see?" he gulped, his gaze sweeping over his wife’s slender figure. ’Planting them *there*... I can totally do that!’ he thought.

"Pah!" Lin Yanwan spat. ’How can he be like this? Give him an inch and he’ll take a mile.’

’It’s not like he planted any fewer after we got married in our past life.’

Jiang Xia looked sheepish and decided it was best not to press the issue.

’Judging from past experience, after they got married, she would be the one to get all clingy, sidling up to him and cooing in a sweet voice, "Honey, come cuddle me~"’

’However tough she talked now, that’s how sweet she’d be later.’

’It’s not like he hadn’t seen it before.’

"Where’s Xiao Man? Taking a nap?" he asked as he picked up Yuyuan. The little fella was energetic, playfully nipping at his fingers.

"Mhm."

"Right, let’s buy some gifts later and pay a visit to Godmother’s place. I can’t be the one to go today, but she helped us out a lot."

Jiang Xia thought for a moment and said with a smile, "And we can check on that guy Old Wang. All he does is stay up all night. He messaged me at three in the morning last night. I’m worried he’s going to suddenly die from overwork one day, so I immediately chewed him out."

"...You two are idiots! You both have a death wish, don’t you!"

Lin Yanwan couldn’t help but facepalm. He was talking as if he didn’t stay up late too.

"I do want to live. I couldn’t bear to make you a widow," Jiang Xia said with a grin.

"..."

Her eye twitched. She decisively changed the subject. "Are you planning on bringing Godmother into the company?"

"I’ve already tried to recruit her several times."

He smiled. "With Godmother’s skills, she’s more than qualified to be our company’s art director. She could easily manage two production teams at once down the line. Instead of just languishing at that outsourcing company, she could come here and really shine. Of course I’m going to do everything I can to recruit a talent like her."

"So what did Godmother say?"

"She’ll resign and come help me after she finishes the project she’s on," he said with a chuckle.

Lin Yanwan nodded. She agreed that Jiang Xia was shouldering too heavy a burden. Due to her lack of relevant professional skills, she couldn’t help much. The most she could do was... reward him with her body.

Li Weiya, on the other hand, was an artistic powerhouse. Having her at the company would be like having a guardian deity, a stabilizing presence that could bring a lot of positive momentum.

"Are you trying to pull everyone connected to you onto your ship to help you make money?"

"If they’re going to make money for someone, why not for us?" Jiang Xia shrugged.

To be honest, it wasn’t like he gave a chance to just anyone. His father-in-law happened to run a toy factory, and Li Weiya was an industry professional. They were some of the people closest to him, so naturally, he wanted them to be the ones to profit.

’As for anyone else who wanted to get on his ship, if they weren’t capable enough, it wouldn’t matter who they were—not even if the king himself came asking!’

"I’ll sketch out a few product design drafts for the *Cat and Mouse* merchandise over the next couple of days. You can give them to Dad. That’ll save him the trouble of finding a designer, which would not only cost money but also be slower than me."

In this world, he was the father of *Cat and Mouse*. No one understood better than him how to make money from merchandise.

"By the way, what exactly is Mom’s job at the factory?" Jiang Xia suddenly asked.

"Product design," Lin Yanwan said, looking at him like he was an idiot.

Jiang Xia: "???"

’Well, isn’t that a coincidence.’