Chapter 1529

When Gong Ruini saw a certain someone rush in all excited and smug, she really was quite stunned.

“What’s gotten into you?” Surely he’s not only starting to feel happy now? Back at the jewelry store, Gong Ruini had looked completely at ease, not the slightest sign of embarrassment.

Actually, Gong Ruini had been scared quite a bit too; fortunately, at the critical moment she remembered everything Hua Miaozhu had taught her, otherwise she really would’ve made a huge fool of herself.

“Guang Ran said from now on he’ll pay the nanny’s salary.” How could Zhao Xuran not be happy? Even though he earns quite a bit, every time the nanny’s expenses come up, he feels like crying.

If he hadn’t mentioned back then that they could just find a nanny directly in the United States, Zhao Xuran would’ve wanted to drag Zhan Jing and the others over and say, please, just hire someone in China and ship her to the States.

Ah, no way, it’s not that Gong Ruini is worried about that little bit of money; it’s just people, you know—once you know someone’s helping pay, how could you not be happy?

As for why Zhao Guangran agreed, that’s not important.

“That’s great, we’ll just send the bills to Guang Ran from now on.” Gong Ruini carefully held the diamond they’d bought today, the smile on her face absolutely radiant.

Originally, Gong Ruini thought she’d be very calm, absolutely, absolutely wouldn’t look like some country bumpkin who’s never seen the world.

But looking at the thing in her hand, Gong Ruini really couldn’t hide the joy in her heart.

Zhao Xuran casually picked up the camera nearby. With his wife looking this beautiful, how could he not take photos to commemorate it?

Zhao Xuran couldn’t help reflecting: he’d always thought his wife didn’t like this kind of thing. The jewelry he’d bought before, she’d never seemed that into it—basically he brought it home and it just sat there.

She really didn’t wear it much. He never expected that it wasn’t that she didn’t like jewelry; she just cared who designed it—and she actually likes sparkly diamonds.

The click of the shutter as Zhao Xuran took pictures snapped Gong Ruini out of her daze.

“What are you taking photos for?”

“Because you’re gorgeous, you’re beautiful.”

“Just now the sunlight came in through the window and fell on your face—you were so, so beautiful.” His wife’s expression, plus the way the sunlight refracted, really did make Zhao Xuran feel for a moment like he couldn’t even open his eyes.

“Really?”

“But you need to be careful.” Gong Ruini wasn’t worried about the photos being seen; there’s nothing about her that can’t face the public.

It’s the jewelry that needed attention. Even though things here in the United States are a bit safer than before, that doesn’t mean there are no desperados.

As long as there’s enough profit, that’s enough to drive people to do things they’d never imagined before.

This jewelry is worth a few million right now, but ten or twenty years from now—how much will it be worth? Gong Ruini didn’t even dare think about it.

“I know.” Seeing how tense his wife was, Zhao Xuran had originally wanted to say, these are just accessories, dead objects, is it really necessary to worry this much?

But looking at how anxious she was, he could only swallow those words back down.

“I asked Guang Ran about it—he said tomorrow he’ll go to the bank and take me to open a safe deposit box. We’ll go together.” Zhao Xuran thought for a moment. “Or we could leave a few pieces outside.”

“You can also wear some jewelry to school.” He hadn’t thought of that before, but now that he knows his wife likes wearing jewelry, of course she should wear whatever she likes.

His wife is this pretty; whatever she wears when she goes out will look good. “I’ll take more photos for you then.”

“When we’re old, we can tell our kids that their grandma and nana were total beauties when they were young.”

Gong Ruini laughed and patted Zhao Xuran’s shoulder. “How old do you think I am? How old do you think Pingping and An An are? They’re still kids, and you’re already thinking about grandkids.”

That’s what she said out loud, but in her heart, what Gong Ruini was thinking was: if someday when they’re old, they’re sitting in a courtyard telling their grandkids all this, that would be really happy. Oh, and of course they’d be living in a Beijing courtyard house.

Even though their ancestral home is in Southern China, compared to an ancestral home they basically never go back to, Beijing really should count as their true roots.

“That just shows I’m someone who wants to grow old with you.” The moment Zhao Xuran imagined the two of them as an elderly couple, white-haired, sitting in a Beijing courtyard house—that scene—”We’ll live in a Beijing courtyard house later and watch the seasons change in the yard.”

“Okay.” Zhao Xuran’s wish was her wish; how could Gong Ruini object?

“Oh right, go change your clothes—put on a qipao.” While the jewelry still wasn’t locked into the safe deposit box, Zhao Xuran wanted to take more photos as keepsakes.

Even though they could take it in and out freely, they wouldn’t be taking everything out, so they had to leave some record.

Ahhh, seriously? Gong Ruini was pretty tempted, even though if she wasn’t careful she might be seen as some show-off nouveau riche flaunting her wealth.

But she didn’t care. These are accessories they earned with their own labor—why shouldn’t they leave some mementos?

Besides, she was in the most beautiful years of her life right now, in full bloom—she absolutely had to leave a record of it.

Gong Ruini had already been tempted in all sorts of ways, plus Zhao Guangran was right there egging her on nonstop.

“Why don’t I just take a few shots?” Gong Ruini wasn’t the shy type; since she already had the thought, she moved straight into action.

She excitedly went off to change, and of course she didn’t forget to put on makeup. She was so excited that a few times she almost turned her makeup into horror-movie style.

Watching Gong Ruini pick clothes and do her makeup just to take photos really made Zhao Xuran’s heart ache.

“We didn’t even get this dressed up for dates before.”

“But just to take pictures with these things, you’re doing all this preparation.” Since he wasn’t thrilled inside, Zhao Xuran quickly started complaining.

“Well yeah, it’s not like you’ve ever seen me at my worst.” Gong Ruini genuinely hadn’t thought about it that way.

Back in China, she really never considered it. Women in China—aside from actresses and a few specific professions—most working women are used to going barefaced.

Of course Gong Ruini wasn’t about to put on makeup and doll herself up super pretty; walking out like that would really draw a lot of attention.

Thanks to the opening-up policy, people weren’t that conservative anymore, but Gong Ruini still didn’t want to stand out too much.

After they came to the United States, before she even had the chance to pick up makeup skills by trailing around after Gong Jiaxin, she got pregnant.

How could a pregnant woman wear makeup? Not to mention her face and body both got so big, makeup couldn’t save her no matter what.

So it just dragged on until now. Honestly, this was the first time in her life she’d ever put on real makeup.

Gong Ruini was really looking forward to shocking Zhao Xuran and getting a big fat compliment.

She didn’t expect that while Zhao Xuran was probably stunned, there were no compliments—just slow, steady complaining.

“In China I was a student—if I wore makeup, people would run off to tell on me.”

“Then we got to the States, and just when I finally learned how, I got pregnant. What do you expect me to do?”

“Um, uh, sorry.” Seeing his wife’s face fall, Zhao Xuran hurried to apologize.

“It’s my fault, my fault.”

“We’ll take pictures in a bit.” Zhao Xuran was seriously regretting it on every level—why hadn’t he used his brain?

Hmph, Gong Ruini refused to dwell on this topic; after all, the way she’d actually learned to do makeup really couldn’t bear too close an examination.