NWWNL – Chapter 55

Paris has always been known as a paradise for shopping.

There were three famous avenues, Montaigne, Champs Elysees, and George V, that were home to the world’s top luxury brands.

“Is it closed? What’s going on?”

There were two beautifully dressed girls who were obviously out shopping, they were carrying bags from three or four luxury brands, and they were stopped outside the store Xu Xinyi was in. The two were staring at a small sign that announced the closing of the store.

“What time is it now? Why is it already closed?” One of the girls looked through the glass window and saw the clerks inside working busily and wondered, “Isn’t that the clerk inside? Why are they closed?”

“Forget it. Why don’t we go to the next one?”

“Go to the next one? Do you know how long I’ve been waiting to buy their new bag? I clearly called yesterday to inquire and they told me they would have it in stock today. But how can I buy the bag if their store is closed?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll check.”

The other woman pulled out her phone and made a call.

“What’s going on? You normally don’t close your door at this time. Wait, wait…”

“…closing service?”

The two looked at the store again incredulously.

“Forget it, let’s go to the next one.”

But one of the girls was stubborn, “No! I’m just going to wait here for the store to open. I’d like to see who this amazing VIP guest is!”

The store had almost been completely raided by Xu Xinyi and Yi Yang. Many different styles of clothes and jewelry were all packed according to Xu Xinyi’s size and tastes and guaranteed to be shipped to China.

When it was time to pay, Xu Xinyi took out a card from her bag and handed it over. “Honey, you don’t have to pay, I’ll do it…”

Yi Yang glanced at the card she handed over. “That’s my card.”

“…honey, haven’t you ever heard ‘what’s yours is mine’? Why are you trying to put so much distance between us? In the future, you’ll have to work hard to earn the money to support me because I want to come shopping in Paris every year.”

“I don’t know how much this stuff will cost but it shouldn’t matter. Anyway, it should be easy for you to pay for it.”

As Xu Xinyi spoke she was internally calculating.

–“Will he think I’m a woman who only knows how to spend and can’t be trusted to run a house? If he really thinks so… that would be great!”

–“…but then, in terms of extravagance, who could compare with him?”

“Honey, where should we go next? Would you like to go back to the hotel?”

The store clerk with a huge grin watched as Xu Xinyi closely hugged Yi Yang’s arm and left the shop.

The biggest advantage of being abroad was that there weren’t many other Chinese people in Paris so there was little chance of anyone recognizing her. She did not have to be sneaky when she went out shopping at all. She could just wear a big pair of sunglasses and let her beauty shine.

“Back to the hotel? You went to only one store and now you want to go back? Is that how you usually go shopping?”

“…” Xu Xinyi didn’t know if it was her illusion but when she heard Yi Yang say this sentence she felt like she could sense a little bit of ridicule in his tone.

“Aren’t I just afraid that you’ll feel tired from following me for too long?”

“It’s not easy for us to come to Paris together. So of course, spending time with you just makes me happy.”

Xu Xinyi made a face like she was very moved, “Husband, you are so kind to me. I love you so much!”

Yi Yang responded indifferently as ever with four words, “Yeah, I got it.”

When the two walked away to another luxury store they didn’t notice the two people who were standing on one side waiting to see who the VIP member who could get the clerk to close the store was.

“That… was that Xu Xinyi?”

“It really seemed to be her.”

“Then… who was that man?”

“I took a picture. I’ll ask around.” The other girl had managed to sneakily snap pictures of the two people’s profiles that she now sent to her group.

After five seconds of silence in the small group, the screen began to explode.

-Shit! Isn’t that Yi Yang with Xu Xinyi? Where did you meet them?

The two girls looked at each other and spoke in shocked unison.

“Yi Yang and Xu Xinyi?”

Meanwhile, Xu Xinyi and Yi Yang, who had been photographed in profile, knew nothing about it.

“Husband, do you have VIP membership at this store? Can you close the shop for us again?”

–“I don’t believe that Yi Yang has so many VIP memberships to luxury stores that he doesn’t own, and that he can close all of them down.”

“Hello, Mr. Yi, would you like us to close the shop?”

Xu Xinyi: “…”

Yi Yang looked at Xu Xinyi. “What do you think?”

“…sure. “

Xu Xinyi, who once again enjoyed the one-on-one service of a closed shop, decided she had to frighten Yi Yang with the side of her she only showed when shopping. She would just instantly buy any of the season’s new styles that the clerks put in front of her.

“This one is good, these two are also good, this one, this one, hmm, this one, um…” Xu Xinyi looked at it for a while, as if thinking about it was troublesome. “Just give me this new style in my size, and I’ll take my time to look at it more closely when I go back.”

The shop clerk was smiling from ear to ear. “Alright.”

“Husband, I’ve picked some things out. But it’s really too troublesome to pick them out one by one so I’ll just buy all the new styles from this season, okay?”

“As long as you’re happy.” Yi Yang offered his card to pay the bill.

“Thank you, husband. I really am very happy today.”

In the blink of an eye, she burned away a large sum of Yi Yang’s money.

Though, of course, Xu Xinyi didn’t bother to see how much it was.

But after coming out of the store, she realized that she had swept the shelves in two different luxury stores. Xu Xinyi felt like, considering all that she had bought today, she might really need to use another one of Yi Yang’s apartments just as a warehouse.

At the western end of the Champs Elysees was the Place Charles de Gaulle and in the center of the famous crossroad was the Arc de Triomphe, one of the famous scenic spots in Paris.

In the square, there were many people bustling about. Some were playing the violin, some were putting on some kind of performance art show, and some were blowing bubbles all over the sky.

Xu Xinyi and Yi Yang were just like two ordinary tourists as they walked into the square.

“Look, they’re feeding the pigeons.” Xu Xinyi’s eyes lit up and she pointed at one corner of the square before dragging Yi Yang over.

There were many other tourists there holding the food they bought from the side to feed the pigeons. They would slowly walk into the flock of pigeons and the pigeons would fly up to their shoulders and hands.

“I want to feed the pigeons, too.” Xu Xinyi held out her hand.

Yi Yang had no choice but to take out his wallet and give her a banknote.

Xu Xinyi smiled and took it, then bought some food for the pigeons and squatted on the ground to feed them.

Several little pigeons scrambled up to Xu Xinyi’s hands, bobbing their heads and eating the food in her hands bit by bit.

Yi Yang, who had virtually no experience with small animals, just stood on one side and watched Xu Xinyi feed the pigeons.

Xu Xinyi finished feeding them the food in her hands, then she smiled and looked up at Yi Yang. “Don’t you want to feed the pigeons?”

“Not interested.”

Xu Xinyi pursed her lips unhappily.

She got up and forced a handful of pigeon food into Yi Yang’s hand. “Try it! These pigeons are very cute!”

As soon as she finished speaking, a little pigeon fluttered its wings and flew up onto Yi Yang’s elbow and looked up at Yi Yang.

One person. One pigeon. Four eyes faced each other down.

“Shh! Don’t startle it.”

The pigeon who had jumped on Yi Yang’s arm, staggered down his elbow to his hand and then began bobbing its head to eat the food.

Xu Xinyi took a few steps back and took out her phone to take a picture of Yi Yang.

Yi Yang stood in the center of the frame with a pigeon in his hand while in the background some naughty children were chasing pigeons, causing a large flock of the white birds to all flutter their wings and fly at once.

Perhaps noticing the disturbance, Yi Yang looked up.

The camera in Xu Xinyi’s hand flashed and froze the moment. Yi Yang was looking up against the golden light of the setting sun as a group of white pigeons all fluttered their wings around him.

Compared to his usual unsmiling appearance, there was a faint trace of an emotion like wonder in his eyes, as if this flock of white pigeons moved him the way people would be moved by fireworks on New Year’s.

She smiled and showed it to Yi Yang with a proud look on her face. “What do you think?”

Yi Yang glanced at the picture and said, “It’s okay.”

“Here, I’ll send it to your phone. I’ll send it to Grandpa and Mom later.”

With that, she put away her phone and squatted down to continue to feed the panicked pigeons.

“Eat more~”

Yi Yang looked at the photo Xu Xinyi sent to his phone and fell silent for a long time.

“Hello, sir.” A foreigner who came to chat up. He showed Yi Yang the camera in his hands to demonstrate his intentions. “I was taking pictures here just now, and I happened to take a picture of your wife taking a picture of you. I think it’s very beautiful. Would you like a copy, sir?”

Yi Yang looked at the scene on the camera the man handed over.

Xu Xinyi was smiling up to her eyes while she held up her phone to take a picture of him. The picture was smeared with the golden afterglow of the setting sun behind them, and the white birds were surrounding the two of them while fluttering their wings.

A gentle light seemed to overflow from the whole picture.

Yi Yang dazedly looked down at the picture.

After a long time, he said, “Yes.”

The foreigner sent the picture to him readily.

Yi Yang, who received the picture, hesitated for a moment but then sent it to Xu Xinyi.

Xu Xinyi looked up at him. “What are you doing? Help me feed the pigeons.”

Yi Yang put away his phone and squatted down to feed the pigeons with Xu Xinyi.

“You like these pigeons very much?”

“Of course I like them. They’re so cute.”

“Do you want me to raise some in the lake behind the villa for you?”

“No.” Xu Xinyi narrowed her eyes, “I’m the type who likes the new and hates the old, the type who thinks that the things that she can’t get are always the best. If I keep pigeons by my side every day, I probably won’t think they’re cute anymore after a few days.”

Yi Yang frowned slightly while he watched the arc at the corner of her lips gradually expand, but he didn’t say anything.

“Oh right!” Xu Xinyi suddenly remembered something and looked at him seriously. “I haven’t picked out any gifts for mom and grandpa yet.” She thought for a moment, “but our mom is so young and beautiful, and her figure is about the same as mine, so the clothes and bags I just bought should be suitable for her.”

Yi Yang looked uncomfortable. “Regarding going shopping today. You don’t have to mention me.”

“Don’t mention you? Why?”

Yi Yang got up and said, “There are many reasons. Just don’t mention it.”

–“Something’s wrong with Yi Yang, but what… wait, is he worried about how grandpa and mom are always talking about him?”

–“I see, that must be it!”

Xu Xinyi, suddenly lost her mood to feed the pigeons and stood up. She quickly affixed an expression on her face as if what she was saying was entirely for Yi Yang’s own good. “You bought me so many things today, why can’t we say it? Since you are so kind to me, I have to tell grandpa and mom. “

“No.”

“No? But grandpa always says that you are not good to me. If I return home and show him all the clothes you bought for me he will be very pleased.”

“Xu Xinyi, are you doing this on purpose?”

Xu Xinyi looked dazed. “Doing what on purpose? I’m really looking out for you here. I don’t want mom and grandpa to always say you’re bad to me behind your back. How could you misunderstand me?”

This remark seemed really innocent, but it also seemed to be blaming Yi Yang when you thought about it.

Yi Yang silently stared at her.

After about five seconds…

“You’re right. Grandpa and mom always say I’m not nice to you. Now if you show them these clothes, bags, and jewelry that I bought for you they should be very pleased,” Yi Yang raised his eyebrows. “But at any rate, you bought most of these things. I was just responsible for paying.”

Xu Xinyi’s scheming smile gradually disappeared.

“This… it’s true that I picked them but…”

“It’s fine. When you get home, you can show them off in front of the elders one by one and tell them which ones I chose for you and which ones you chose yourself. I’m sure they will be very pleased.”

Xu Xinyi: “…”

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Tl note: this isn’t a translation thing but more of an English thing but it’s really annoying trying to distinguish a ‘profile picture’ (ie: a picture taken of the side of a person’s face) from a ‘profile picture’ (ie: the super commonly used thing on every website ever). So if you noticed some sentences in this chapter were weirdly clunky because of that… well I thought they were weird and clunky too lol