First, then, love.

"Get in the car."

The man's voice, sharp and icy, pierced through the rain.

Shu Yao stood there, stunned.

The brown paper bag he was carrying rustled in the cold wind.

The icy rain stung her face.

He Zheng, in the driver's seat, didn't look at her; his dark eyes were fixed on the traffic light ahead, his jaw clenched tightly.

"Didn't you hear me?" He didn't even turn his head, his voice low and menacing, "Do I have to lay out a red carpet for you down there?"

Shu Yao bit her back teeth.

That bastard, what's wrong with him? He was perfectly fine when he left home, but now he's suddenly acting like a living devil.

Braving the wind, she opened the passenger door of the SUV.

He strode up and sat in the spacious leather seat.

With a loud "bang," he slammed the car door shut, his anger barely contained.

The heater in the carriage was on full blast, at 26 degrees Celsius, blowing hot air outwards.

But Shu Yao felt a chill run down her spine.

cold.

It's not that the temperature is cold, it's that the air pressure is too low, so low that it's suffocating.

He Zheng's hoodie was soaked with rainwater and smelled of damp earth.

He didn't say anything, and shifted gears with one hand.

He floored the accelerator.

The black SUV roared into the rain like a crazed beast, with an extremely strong sense of acceleration.

Caught off guard, Shu Yao slammed her back against the seat back. The brown paper bag in her hand wobbled, and a few drops of scalding coffee spilled out through the vents, dripping onto her white down jacket.

It leaves a glaring stain.

"Are you crazy! Why are you driving so fast!" Shu Yao was annoyed, frowning and turning to glare at him.

He Zheng ignored her.

With his eyes fixed on the road, he turned the windshield wipers up to the highest setting and frantically scraped the windshield.

Monotonous, jarring, and unsettling.

The carriage was deathly silent.

There was only a slight humming sound from the heater.

Shu Yao gripped the paper bag tightly in her hand, her fingertips turning white from the force.

She sensed something was wrong.

Although this man is usually rough and has a bad temper, he rarely treats her with such a cold and icy attitude.

Unless they are truly angry.

At the crossroads, the light is red.

The SUV slammed on the brakes and came to a steady stop behind the stop line.

The immense inertia caused Shu Yao's body to lean forward, only to be pulled back sharply by the seatbelt.

My chest felt tight and constricted.

He Zheng rested one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the car window, his fingers unconsciously tapping on the door panel.

Each tap felt like a blow to a nerve.

Who was that man just now?

He spoke.

His voice was faint, seemingly unintentional, and his gaze remained fixed on the traffic light ahead, without even turning his head.

But Shu Yao's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

I missed a beat.

She instinctively held her breath.

So he saw it.

She saw Gu Jinzhi holding an umbrella for her, and she saw them talking under the eaves.

Shu Yao's mind raced.

Gu Jinzhi, my first love, my ex-boyfriend, we broke up peacefully.

These labels have long been forgotten in her mind, completely gone, without a trace left.

She didn't think it was anything to be surprised about; the city was so small, it was perfectly normal to run into a college alumnus.

Moreover, He Zheng, this wild wolf, has an abnormally strong sense of territory and an even more terrifying possessiveness.

If he knew that was her ex-boyfriend...

He's definitely going to rip the roof off this SUV today.

The less trouble, the better.

Shu Yao lowered her eyes and looked at the coffee paper bag in her hand.

"A university alumnus," she said calmly and casually, "I happened to run into him, and since I didn't have an umbrella, he shielded me from it."

That's all there is to it; not a single word more.

He was completely open and honest, as if he were truly an insignificant passerby.

The green light is on.

He Zheng released the brake and stepped on the accelerator.

The car smoothly merged back into the traffic.

He didn't ask any further questions.

"oh."

A single syllable rolled out of his throat.

But only he knew that the hand gripping the steering wheel was almost crushing the leather steering wheel.

What does He Zheng do?

The captain of the city's special police detachment, a veteran criminal investigator, is a living devil who has been through countless trials in the interrogation room.

He has seen more prisoners than Shu Yao has eaten rice.

Those prisoners sitting in the interrogation chair, even the slightest glance or muscle spasm, did not escape his eyes.

Not to mention his wife, who sleeps in the same bed.

Shu Yao paused for a moment, her breathing suddenly slowed, and her fingers unconsciously tightened around the edge of the paper bag.

She didn't dare look at him, her tone evasive.

None of them escaped his eyes.

lie.

Or rather, concealment.

He Zheng's lips curled into a self-deprecating smile.

University alumni? Or just a chance encounter?

Screw your alumni.

What ordinary alumnus would look at someone else's wife with that kind of gaze?

The man in the suit stood under the umbrella, half of his shoulders soaked, tilting the umbrella over Shu Yao's head.

Does he think He Zheng is blind?

What He Zheng found most jarring, what made him feel as if his internal organs were being ripped apart by knives, was the visuals.

Shu Yao was wearing a white down jacket, looking clean and tidy, like a delicate white flower grown in a greenhouse.

The man was dressed in a bespoke suit, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, and holding a black umbrella; he was refined and dignified.

The two stood on the gloomy, rainy street, their presence so harmonious it was almost unbelievable.

And he.

He Zheng glanced down at his clothes.

He wore a black hoodie, his trousers were stained with mud from the shooting range, and the edges of his military boots were covered in grime.

He's a rough man.

He was a rough, unrefined man who lived by the motto "I'd risk my life."

He's a caveman who doesn't even recognize a 2,800 yuan face wash and can cut potato shreds as thick as a finger.

He has never backed down in his life, and he has never blinked in the face of gunfire.

But in front of that gentle and refined man, and in front of his wife who deliberately concealed it.

He felt somewhat lost.

Speechless all the way.

The SUV was driven back to the underground parking garage of Jinxiu Huating.

I smoothly reversed into the parking space and turned off the engine.

He Zheng pulled out the car key, pushed open the door, and got out of the car.

Shu Yao followed behind, carrying the paper bag, her brows furrowed as she watched his broad yet tense back.

What's wrong with this man now?

The two entered the elevator one after the other.

The atmosphere inside the enclosed elevator car plummeted to freezing point.

He Zheng stared at the constantly changing red floor number without saying a word.

Shu Yao stood next to him, the steaming cup of Yirgacheffe in her hand now looking like an eyesore.