Ji Qingzhuo turned around and coincidentally met Shen Rongyu's gaze. She softly said, "You're back."
"I'm a bit late today." Shen Rongyu thought of the person in the meeting room.
"Yes, you were three minutes and thirteen seconds late." Ji Qingzhuo reported the exact time.
"Did you read the new regulations that were just passed internally?" Shen Rongyu walked up to her and sat next to Ji Qingzhuo.
He lowered his head and rested his chin on Ji Qingzhuo's shoulder. He loved being close to her.
Ji Qingzhuo felt her shoulder sink on one side. She nodded, "The regulations are very harsh."
"If they're not harsh enough, there will be room for manipulation." Shen Rongyu lightly twirled a strand of her hair that fell on her chest. "That's how humans are."
"Ah..." Ji Qingzhuo agreed, knowing that Shen Rongyu's decision was correct.
But the sad thing was that it wasn't the humans themselves who had the power to enforce and implement everything, but Shen Rongyu.
Shen Rongyu was different from ordinary humans, even though he had the perfect appearance of a human.
Of course, Ji Qingzhuo couldn't be like him. She wasn't smooth enough and couldn't easily gain the favor and following of many people.
"Are you thinking about your boring research data again?" Shen Rongyu lowered his head and nibbled on her ear. His deep and charming voice sounded, "Qingqing, think about me."
"I am thinking. Isn't it too sad that humans can't do what you can?" Ji Qingzhuo whispered.
"Is that why you don't like interacting with normal humans?" Shen Rongyu asked softly.
Ji Qingzhuo looked towards the distant ocean. She didn't speak, just nodded. Sometimes, it wasn't because she was scared, but simply because she didn't fit in.
"Maybe there will, maybe not as many." Shen Rongyu thought of what he experienced before he was sealed.
"Alright, let's do something else. This topic isn't interesting at all." Shen Rongyu embraced her from behind.
Ji Qingzhuo lowered her head and turned a page of the book that was on her lap. She nodded, and then Shen Rongyu's kiss fell on her.
Another ordinary day passed. They had been living like this before they got married.
After Shen Rongyu was elected as the Speaker, major events occurred within the independent city. Aside from a major reshuffle of the management, he also sanctioned several conglomerates that colluded with former parliamentary officials, including the Ankun Group.
Ankun's hometown was here, although his business spanned the entire star system, Ankun Group's headquarters was in the independent city and couldn't escape no matter what.
After Shen Rongyu took office, he exposed all the illegal transactions and activities involving the Ankun Group, and Ankun was naturally sentenced to death—the decision was unanimously supported by the people in the independent city.
Surprisingly, Ankun didn't escape even though he should have known about it beforehand. When he was brought to the Public Security Department, he seemed liberated instead.
I knew... he would do this. Ankun thought, he knew that Shen Rongyu would find a way to kill him, but he didn't even dare to run away. Staying in the independent city, living one more day was still one more day. He was so cowardly and ugly when facing death.
Shen Rongyu stood in front of the entrance of the Public Security Department, with several assistants and parliament members following him— their faces were all young because the old ones had been kicked out of their decayed positions by Shen Rongyu.
Standing next to him was the newly appointed Public Security Department head, Lin Zhen, who turned his head to glance at Shen Rongyu. He couldn't help but think back to the interrogation room when he was interrogated by Shen Rongyu. He couldn't have imagined that Shen Rongyu, who was once in the position of being interrogated, would be in the position he was in today.
His promotion was too fast, and he was surprisingly terrifying himself. Lin Zhen could keenly sense that in him, there was an inhuman and demonic aura.
Lin Zhen involuntarily thought of what Shen Rongyu and Ji Qingzhuo mentioned during the interrogation, the "incarnation of the sea." Perhaps... Shen Rongyu really wasn't human.
He had a keen sense of smell as a public security officer. Just based on one interrogation, he almost guessed Shen Rongyu's identity.
"Very decisive decision," Lin Zhen spoke first, "Lord Speaker."
"Is that so? I've been wanting to deal with him for a long time," Shen Rongyu smiled. Lin Zhen's position was promoted by him, and it had to be said that his judgment of people was quite accurate.
"Lord Speaker, if you want to kill him, you can do it anytime. He still has the bullet he swallowed on the whaling ship, and it hasn't been extracted yet," Lin Zhen pondered for a moment and said, "Is that why he didn't dare to run away?"
"It seems that it was right to appoint you as the head of the Public Security Department," Shen Rongyu replied.
"Lord Speaker, you are very dangerous," Lin Zhen pointed out Shen Rongyu's terrifying aspect, "Everything you're doing now... I cannot deny that it is good. I don't know your reasons for doing this, but what if one day you lose interest?"
"Of course I won't." Shen Rongyu rarely made firm promises. He was fickle, so he hardly gave anyone a definite answer.
"I have... a legally binding agreement with her." Shen Rongyu started again, and the naive Lin Zhen hadn't anticipated that he was about to show affection.
"Huh?" Lin Zhen was a bit confused. He couldn't guess what Shen Rongyu meant by the "legally binding agreement."
"The previous legally binding agreement on paper is about to expire..." Shen Rongyu felt a bit melancholy because he knew that after Ankun Group's assets were liquidated, a payment for the illegal intrusion into Night Ripple Sea would be transferred to Ji Qingzhuo's account. She would soon have the money to pay off that damn loan.
Lin Zhen: "?" This honest head of the Public Security Department couldn't figure out what the "agreement" that Shen Rongyu mentioned was about. He started to consider whether Ji Qingzhuo had made some kind of contract with this demon.
"But it doesn't matter." Shen Rongyu showed a sincere... not fake smile. "I found another commitment, written on paper, officially recognized by the independent city and most of the regions. It is a legally binding agreement."
"What is it?" Lin Zhen asked. He would regret asking this question in three seconds.
"Of course, it's a marriage certificate." Shen Rongyu took out the engagement ring he had bought at least three months in advance from his pocket. "Yes, I plan to propose."
Lin Zhen: "..." I feel like I'm a dog, walking on the road and being kicked by someone.
After a while, he said to Shen Rongyu, "She is indeed a very special person."
"Of course." Shen Rongyu put the engagement ring back in his pocket – he was ready to take it out at any time. "She better not think of leaving me."
A few days later, Ji Qingzhuo received the compensation from Ankun Group after its assets were liquidated. Ankun Group had illegally intruded into Night Ripple Sea before, and Shen Rongyu's people found two whales with the numbers S-009 and S-772 in Night Ripple Sea. On the bodies of these two unfortunate whales, the staff found palm-sized scars, evidence that they were injured by Ankun Group's whaling ship.
In short, after some exaggeration, Ankun Group compensated a large sum of money – mainly for the mental damages to Miss Ji Qingzhuo and Mr. Shen Rongyu. Ji Qingzhuo checked her account and found that she not only had enough money to pay off the remaining loan for Night Ripple Sea but also had extra. She could use the remaining money to prepare for an independent research institute.
She didn't hesitate and directly paid off the loan. With the loan repayment completed, she could freely exercise the ownership of Night Ripple Sea.
Ji Qingzhuo prepared a transfer agreement and brought it back home. This transfer agreement for the ownership of Night Ripple Sea required not only her signature but also Shen Rongyu's confirmation.
She wasn't sure if Shen Rongyu would agree – he was shameless and always satisfied his strange demands with the reason that "she is his master."
"No..." Ji Qingzhuo clumsily explained, "I just feel that our current relationship is not fair. After signing the agreement, I am still your girlfriend, and we are still in a normal relationship."
"You can break up with me anytime," Shen Rongyu kissed her lips, "Ji Ji, if it wasn't for me stopping you before, you would have said it many times."
Ji Qingzhuo: "...So you did it on purpose before."
"That... that was... back then." Ji Qingzhuo stammered, feeling a bit guilty.
"What if one day, Ji Ji, you change your heart?" Shen Rongyu asked her.
"I think that possibility is very small." Ji Qingzhuo has always been a faithful person. Once she gets used to something, she rarely changes.
"After knowing me for three days, you changed the taste of your mouthwash, even the taste of the drink you buy from that old man." Shen Rongyu pressed his forehead against Ji Qingzhuo's and said in a low voice.
He knew everything, even the small actions Ji Qingzhuo did were noticed by him.
"That was... because of you." Ji Qingzhuo blushed.
"Please forgive me for using such a despicable way to keep you by my side." Shen Rongyu kissed her cheek and said.
Ji Qingzhuo helplessly said, "Xiao Yu, please don't imagine yourself as some domineering CEO from a novel, always thinking that you have bound me to you."
"Did I deceive you?" Shen Rongyu raised Ji Qingzhuo's chin and asked her seriously.
"No, you didn't deceive me." Ji Qingzhuo blinked at him.
She softly said to him, "I really like you, maybe... even the scary part of you, of course, including your perfectly proportioned appearance, your tail, and the dangerous demon inside this appearance."
"Do you know that you are confessing to a demon?" Shen Rongyu looked into her eyes.
"I know." Ji Qingzhuo calmly said.
"Do you know what the demon wants to do now?" Shen Rongyu took something out of his pocket.
"What..." Ji Qingzhuo's sentence paused, even though she wouldn't have any psychological fluctuations due to those ordinary tricks, but when she saw what it was, her breath hitched.
It was an engagement ring.
"I found a more perfect agreement." Shen Rongyu said to her, "Nothing is more perfect than our marriage certificate as a commitment."
"Is that it?" Ji Qingzhuo was surprised. She didn't expect that Shen Rongyu also believed in human marriage certificates.
"Yes, that's it." Shen Rongyu put the engagement ring on her hand.
"Does Xiao Yu assume that I have agreed?" Ji Qingzhuo asked.
"Does Ji Ji not agree?" Shen Rongyu looked at her intently.
"Agreed." Ji Qingzhuo responded, "You should have said it earlier."
"Just... I'm a bit nervous." Shen Rongyu kissed Ji Qingzhuo's forehead, "Sorry, I am also afraid of your rejection sometimes."
"I won't reject you." Ji Qingzhuo thought, she agreed to whatever he requested before, and there's nothing she could object to regarding marriage.
That night, still feeling a bit dizzy from the proposal, she forgot to make Shen Rongyu sign the agreement to transfer ownership, but she signed the marriage application herself.
The news of the newly elected speaker of the independent city successfully proposing spread quickly throughout the city. Some residents living by the coast even claimed that there were unusually high waves on the night of the proposal, celebrating Shen Rongyu's success.
Of course, Ji Qingzhuo, who heard these rumors shortly after, felt quite embarrassed.
On the day they attended the wedding, there was a notebook on the empty coffee table in the living room, which was the little booklet Ji Qingzhuo used to record Shen Rongyu's words and deeds, translated into English.
Outside the glass wall, the waves were surging, and the sea breeze flipped open a few pages of the notebook.
The last few pages of the notebook recorded Ji Qingzhuo's subsequent notes - this notebook had been flipped through countless times by the bored Shen Rongyu.
"He is indeed a demon, inadvertently fused with the Night Ripple Sea, disguising himself as an embodiment of the ocean to deceive me."
"His disguise is perfect, sometimes I can't even tell, he began to try to become human."
"He hopes that I will fall into the trap of his disguise. If I step into this trap, what will I face, I do not know."
"It's undeniable, I fell into the trap, I fell in love with him."
"But, I think his disguise can no longer be removed."
"My dear Xiao Yu, my final research subject, research complete."