No More Calling Me Uncle Edmond

Edmond didn't say much about Lily's decision, only repeated his usual line, "I respect your decision."

 Seeing how agreeable he was, Lily seized the opportunity to say, "Uncle Edmond, can we keep our marriage a secret for now?"

 Edmond temporarily ignored the latter part of her sentence and first corrected her form of address. "Now that we're married, calling me Uncle Edmond is inappropriate."

 Lily had called him that out of habit. With his reminder, she realized it was indeed inappropriate. Though not her biological uncle, calling him Uncle Edmond after marriage felt taboo.

But what should she call him? Calling him "Darling" as they did when acting was already embarrassing.

She couldn't call him that all the time; it might make him uncomfortable.

 Seeing her dilemma, Edmond suggested, "You can just call me by my name."

 Lily blinked. "Oh, Edmond."

 Edmond's thin lips curved slightly, and he nodded lightly before returning to her earlier question. "You said you want to keep our marriage a secret for now. Do you mean a secret marriage?"

 "No, just temporarily keeping it a secret," Lily carefully chose her words. "After all, Royce and I just broke off our engagement. If we announce our marriage now, people will surely gossip that we were involved long before."

 Edmond asked, "Temporarily, until when?"

 Lily replied, "Until Royce marries Nadia. After they get married, I can marry you. This way, no one will maliciously speculate about us."

 More importantly, after Royce and Nadia's wedding, the Zhou family would definitely have a family dinner. At that time, she could make a dazzling appearance as Edmond's wife, stealing Nadia's thunder and dazzling the Zhou family.

How satisfying would that be?

 Edmond could only wonder what she was thinking as she smiled so broadly that the corners of her mouth almost reached her eyes.

 When they got back to the apartment, it was already lunchtime. Lily took Edmond to a nearby place to eat.

Knowing she hadn't slept well the previous night, Edmond didn't stay long after the meal and let her go home to rest.

 Watching his car leave, Lily took out her marriage certificate and snapped a photo, sending it to Aria. Five minutes later, Aria bombarded her with a series of excited messages.

 "OMG! Amazing!"

 "Hahaha! You got married!"

 "Post it on social media! I want to share it too!"

 Texting wasn't enough for Aria; she called directly. "When are you going to see Royce? I'm so excited, can't wait to see his shocked face! Take me with you, I want a front-row seat!"

 Lily replied, "Hold your excitement. Edmond and I aren't going public yet." She briefly explained, and Aria agreed it was better to wait until Royce's wedding.

 "Okay, I'll hold off for now. Haha, I'm shopping with my future mother-in-law. I'm going to buy you some sexy lingerie for Edmond."

 Lily responded, "I've already got the marriage certificate. Edmond can't run away. You should wear it yourself and captivate Alistair. Get married soon."

 Aria exclaimed, "Ahh! You're hurting me! We're no longer friends!"

 In the afternoon, Edmond was busy with meetings at the company. During a break, he opened the marriage rules Lily had sent him.

Seeing the word "cohabitation," he suddenly thought of something and called Octavian over.

 "I got married to Lily," Edmond announced.

 Octavian was stunned. "What? Married? Already?" He was visibly shocked.

The marriage had been Lily's idea, for sure. He had a lot of questions but didn't dare to ask for details.

 Edmond handed him a note with an address. "This villa was renovated last year and hasn't been lived in. I plan to use it as our marital home. Lily will move in later."

 Octavian understood and asked, "Should we make any changes according to Miss Jane's preferences?"

 "Not yet," Edmond replied. Alistair had once said women liked to be involved in their homes. Once Lily moved in, she could change it however she liked, giving her a sense of participation in their life together.

"Lily is a photographer. She'll need a darkroom. Find a suitable room for that and set up a study for her."

 After instructing a few more things, Edmond reminded Octavian, "Our marriage is to be kept secret for now."

 Octavian nodded. "Understood."

 Meanwhile, Alistair was being pressured by his family to marry Aria quickly. To relieve his stress, he called some friends to the club for a game of cards.

Edmond arrived at the club at ten-thirty after a social engagement. The private room was filled with familiar faces, smoke, and decadent lighting.

Edmond walked in with two bottles of wine.

 Someone noticed the wine and exclaimed, "Wow, Mr. Zhou is generous tonight!"

 Alistair, playing cards nearby, turned at the sound. Recognizing the wine, he stood up in surprise. He knew these bottles were from Edmond's mother's estate abroad, worth the price of a car.