Gu Yezhou gave a slight nod. With his height, he quickly spotted an empty table from afar.

The two of them squeezed through the crowd and sat down. In no time, the small table was completely covered with the snacks they had bought.

Seeing that Sang Ning was still standing, Gu Yezhou asked in confusion, “Why aren’t you sitting?”

Sang Ning pulled a small bottle of alcohol spray and a pack of wet wipes from her pocket. She thoroughly sprayed and wiped both the chair and the table before finally sitting down.

Gu Yezhou shook his head with a helpless smile.

“I didn’t expect Dr. Sang to be such a germaphobe.”

Of course a forensic doctor would be a germaphobe. Sang Ning shot him a glare and blurted out,

“So what—would Captain Gu prefer I touch a corpse and then use the same hands to feed you dinner?”

“Cough—!”

Gu Yezhou had just taken a sip of water and nearly choked to death on it. He coughed violently, his eyes turning red.

The sight of it filled Sang Ning with a rather satisfying sense of revenge.

But even after he stopped coughing, he still hadn’t turned back to the food.

Sang Ning frowned.

“What’s wrong? Did the water get stuck in your throat or something?”

Worried she might have actually caused him a problem with that one remark, she leaned closer to check on him.

The moment she did—

Her hand was grabbed again.

“What are you doing?” Sang Ning tried to pull away, only to see Gu Yezhou pointing toward a promotional poster hanging ahead.

“Don’t you think the person on that poster looks familiar?”

“What’s there to recognize? It’s just some anime illustration—you see those everywhere.”

Sang Ning had just managed to pull her hand free when someone passing by bumped into her from the side.

She stumbled forward—

And fell straight into Gu Yezhou’s arms.

Their eyes met.

Her cheeks flushed instantly.

“Um… I—I didn’t mean to do that.”

But Gu Yezhou looked unusually serious. He didn’t seem to notice the soft body pressed against him at all. Instead, his gaze was fixed on her face.

Beautiful. Bright. The warm glow of the streetlights made her look almost unreal.

Like a girl who had stepped straight out of a comic panel.

“Comic… girl…”

The thought formed in his mind and slipped out of his mouth without thinking.

Realizing his attention wasn’t on the situation at all, Sang Ning quickly straightened up. She followed his line of sight toward the electronic screen displaying the poster.

“Isn’t that just a new cosmetics line launch?” she said. “I remember Yaoyao mentioning a few days ago that the Lin Group released new products. She was planning to buy them. I think she already owns this entire series.”

“You like it?” Gu Yezhou asked, snapping out of his thoughts.

Sang Ning had just been about to say she didn’t when he suddenly said,

“I’ll get it for you tomorrow.”

“…What?”

Those four words left Sang Ning completely baffled.

“The main character in that comic,” Gu Yezhou said casually as he picked up a skewer and took a bite, “don’t you think she looks exactly like you?”

Sang Ning shook her head.

“Maybe the artist wasn’t drawing me. Don’t flatter me like that.”

This time Gu Yezhou fell silent.

He pulled out his phone, stood up, and took a photo of the poster. After sending it to someone, a young male voice immediately started complaining loudly from the other end of the call.

Sang Ning had no idea who it was, but one thing was certain—

It definitely wasn’t anyone from the Yancheng police station.

After they finished eating, Gu Yezhou drove Sang Ning back.

Well—more accurately, he drove her to the area **across from the police station**.

“Why are we coming to this neighborhood?” Sang Ning asked, puzzled.

“I live here.”

Gu Yezhou drove the car into the residential complex and parked in a nearby space.

Sang Ning stepped out of the car in a daze.

Her brain felt like it had completely stopped working tonight.

“You… didn’t you just arrive in Yancheng today?”

“And you’ve already found a place to live?”

“Did you buy this place? I remember apartments in this complex are ridiculously expensive.”

Gu Yezhou reached out and took her hand again.

But Sang Ning’s head was so scrambled she didn’t even have the energy to argue about the hand-holding anymore.

When they entered the high-rise apartment, Sang Ning walked to the enormous floor-to-ceiling window.

The entire city stretched out beneath them—bright, bustling, alive.

Across the street, the police station blazed with light. From here, she could even see officers still working overtime in their offices.

“The apartment’s rented. The car’s borrowed. Don’t feel pressured,” Gu Yezhou said gently, rubbing the top of her head. Then he added with a soft laugh, “But I should remind Dr. Sang that we’re legally married now. Living together shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

“No problem.”

Sang Ning looked around the massive flat.

The space was empty—only the basic interior finishing was done. No furniture yet. Everything else would have to be added later.

In the span of just a few minutes, she had already begun imagining how she would decorate it.

The moment the thought formed, she shook her head hard.

*This isn’t my house. Why am I thinking about decorating it?*

“Wait… what did you just say?” Sang Ning asked, staring at Gu Yezhou’s back as he walked away, unsure what he was about to do.

The living room was practically empty. The only things there were two large cardboard boxes.

Inside were… a washing machine and a dryer.

Gu Yezhou’s voice came from another room.

“Why did you choose Ping’an Apartment? It’s pretty far from the station.”

Sang Ning answered bluntly, “Because I’m poor.”

Gu Yezhou laughed.

“From now on, you can use mine.”

He walked back holding a wallet. Sang Ning watched as he pulled out his ID card—

Then stuffed the entire wallet into her hands.

“What are you doing?” Sang Ning froze again.

Seriously…

This happiness had arrived way too suddenly.

Her ideal man—

Handsome, willing to hand over his money, tall, and radiating a sense of security.

Wasn’t this straight out of some romance novel’s domineering CEO?

Well… Gu Yezhou wasn’t exactly domineering. And he wasn’t a CEO either.

Just a criminal investigation captain.

But that was already more than enough!

How had *she*, Sang Ning, ever deserved someone like this?

Just as she was about to tear up with emotion, she suddenly heard him say,

“From now on, my salary is yours to spend. Just… don’t spend too wildly. I’m afraid I won’t be able to afford buying a house.”

Buy a house?

She had zero interest in buying a house in this lifetime.

Total scam.

Looking dejected, Sang Ning pushed the wallet back into his hands.

“It’s fine. I have my own salary. Honestly, renting doesn’t sound bad to me.”

Gu Yezhou watched her shuffle over to the window and squat down, resting her chin in her hands.

He remembered what her apartment in Ping’an looked like earlier that day.

Warm.

Filled with little decorations and random trinkets.

The kind of place that felt cozy the moment you walked in.

His fist tightened slightly.

“Do you like this place?” he asked.

Sang Ning nodded.

“Of course. Who wouldn’t like a huge apartment like this? But I can’t afford to buy one. And renting… well, you never know when the landlord might suddenly decide to sell.”

She had heard about a colleague at the station who had gone through exactly that.

They’d only rented for less than half a year before the landlord announced the apartment was being sold.

Forced to move all over again.

If housing prices weren’t so outrageous, why would she have chosen Ping’an Apartment in the first place?

Gu Yezhou quietly stored those words away.

He picked up his phone and sent another message. A reply came back almost instantly.

The corner of his lips curved upward.

Just as he was about to ask which bedroom she preferred, Sang Ning suddenly picked up her phone and answered a call.

“I’m not home. Stop coming to find me. We’re done. Didn’t I make myself clear enough at the hospital?”

Lin Zehui’s voice came through the phone, thick with emotion.

“Ningning… please don’t be angry with me, okay? I’ll take you out for a big dinner. I’ll give you my entire salary. We can go register our marriage tomorrow. Okay?”