It Turns Out I Really Love You - Chapter 13

There were still eighty days until the wedding ceremony.

Sang Wuyan saw the countdown on the small blackboard on the wall, and her heart suddenly started pounding, feeling a little nervous.

The wedding date was set somewhat hastily, confirmed for the twenty-first of next month, which was just a few days away. Because the date was so close, they still had to rely on connections to book the hotel. Originally, according to Su Nianqin’s personality, he definitely wouldn’t have a banquet, but under Sang Mama’s strong insistence, the prospective son-in-law conceded.

She took out the “Bride’s Battle Handbook” that Yu Xiaolu had given her yesterday, sat upright on the sofa, and seriously studied it. Su Nianqin, beside her, was listening to the radio.

Sang Wuyan turned to the notes on booking the wedding date and, after glancing at them, couldn’t help but ask, “They say it’s best to choose even numbers for both the Gregorian and Lunar calendars. Why?”

“For good luck,” Su Nianqin said.

“Oh. Then ours are all odd numbers. Is that okay?”

“It’s already set; don’t think about it anymore.”

After a while, Sang Wuyan asked again, “Why is it so important to avoid the menstrual period? Is it also considered unlucky for women to have it?”

She remembered watching ancient costume dramas where many ancient men highly disliked this.

“What feudal superstition,” Sang Wuyan spat scornfully.

“That probably has nothing to do with feudal superstition,” Su Nianqin said.

“Then what is it related to?” Sang Wuyan asked, puzzled.

“The wedding night,” Su Nianqin replied simply and directly.

“…” Her face flushed.

That night, she silently checked the calendar in the bathroom. Her menstrual period was on the 18th, so there was no conflict; they could have their wedding night.

She really hadn’t thought of this when they were setting the date; it was an unexpected hit.

She made a victory sign in the mirror.

In the days that followed, Sang Wuyan underwent body sculpting and beauty treatments, and also booked her hairstyle and wedding dress style in advance.

On the last day, Sang Wuyan still felt the dress was too long and needed alterations. At the bridal shop, Sang Wuyan put on the dress again and posed in front of the mirror, while Xiao Lei, a sales assistant, styled her hair.

“Will you be wearing heavy makeup tomorrow?”

“No, just natural is fine.”

“What about the groom?”

“Just style his hair.”

Sang Wuyan frowned, “Can you make me a little prettier and make him a little uglier?”

“Why?” Xiao Lei, the sales assistant, was a little surprised.

“So people don’t say I’m not good enough for him.”

Xiao Lei chuckled. She had just been transferred from another store and had never met the legendary “Mr. Su.”

At this moment, a man walked upstairs and stood there, chuckling as he watched Sang Wuyan’s back. He was fashionably dressed, and the shirt he wore inside was actually a light pink.

Xiao Lei nudged Sang Wuyan, who sensed it and turned to look.

“Peng Ruixing!”

“Wuyan, long time no see.”

“How did you know I was here?” Sang Wuyan glanced at Peng Ruixing’s half-open shirt, revealing his firm chest.

“I received Su Nianqin’s wedding invitation, so I rushed over here without stopping. I just found out from Secretary Qin that you were here,” Peng Ruixing said, walking over with a smile.

His tanned chest was fully exposed, looking especially tempting against the pink shirt. Sang Wuyan secretly swallowed.

“Wuyan,” Peng Ruixing continued, “you still have a chance to regret it.”

“Regret what?”

“Not marrying him, I can be a backup,” Peng Ruixing wanted to stir up trouble, as Su Nianqin’s frantic look was truly amusing.

“Pfft—” Sang Wuyan chuckled.

After Peng Ruixing left, Sang Wuyan’s pre-wedding jitters suddenly flared up. She frantically called Su Nianqin, then dragged him to several department stores, still unable to stop, and not buying anything.

Su Nianqin asked, “Wuyan, what’s wrong?”

“I’m looking for something.”

“What?”

“A very simple pink men’s shirt.”

“What are you buying it for? A gift?”

“For you to wear.”

“Why do I need to wear pink?” Although he didn’t have much concept of colors, he knew what conveyed a man’s steadiness.

“You have to prove that you look much better in it than Peng Ruixing, otherwise I won’t be content marrying you like this,” she confessed.

That evening, Xiao Qin, holding the schedule, once again confirmed every step for tomorrow with Sang Wuyan. Sang Wuyan noted it down, and then forgot it, feeling utterly unsure.

In the evening, according to the Su family’s custom, Su Nianqin had to return to the old residence for the night, while Sang Wuyan stayed in the villa. Then, Su Nianqin would pick her up early tomorrow morning.

Li Lulu and Xu Qian had both arrived, staying with Sang Wuyan at home. Knowing she was nervous, they stayed with her and talked. She was already flustered, and with Su Nianqin not by her side, she felt even more so. By past midnight, everyone was exhausted.

Sang Mama said, “Alright, alright, go to sleep. You have to get up early tomorrow.”

At Sang Mama’s command, everyone returned to their rooms.

Sang Wuyan lay in bed, constantly hearing her heart pounding, as if it was about to burst out. She had been thick-skinned since childhood. Before the college entrance exam, many parents tried various ways to reduce their children’s stress, so they wouldn’t be unable to sleep before the exam. But she wasn’t nervous at all; she would fall asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow during those exam days.

Sang Papa secretly chuckled, “Our daughter has excellent psychological resilience!”

Sang Mama explained impatiently, “What psychological resilience? She’s just thick-headed.”

Sang Wuyan, who had lived for over twenty years without knowing what insomnia was, suddenly found herself unable to sleep on the night before her wedding. She wide her eyes, but still felt no sleepiness. Then she counted from “Lazy Sheep” to “Gray Wolf” but still couldn’t sleep; she only felt her heart pounding rapidly.

She thought for a moment, What if it rains? Then, What if her strapless wedding dress falls down? Then, What if the car breaks down on the way?… As she thought about it, she found herself chuckling.

She fumbled for her phone on the bedside table and looked at it; it was already two o’clock. She didn’t know if Su Nianqin was asleep. She suddenly wanted to call him, but she was afraid that if he really was asleep, she would disturb his good rest, or that he might not have his phone by his hand and would alarm others.

After much deliberation, she typed two characters and sent them: Nianqin.

She had never sent him a text message, knowing it wouldn’t be very useful, but somehow she just did it. After sending the text, a moment later, she thought she heard it raining outside, and then her phone vibrated with a muffled sound.

“Nianqin!” Sang Wuyan excitedly answered the phone.

“Mm,” he responded, his voice tinged with sleepiness.

“How did you know I called you?” (referring to the text)

“I heard a message come through and wondered if you couldn’t sleep and were looking for me,” he said softly.

“You can’t sleep either?” she asked, relieved.

“I was asleep. My phone was under the pillow, and I woke up when I heard it vibrate.”

The two then began to quietly chat, sentence by sentence. Eventually, Su Nianqin could no longer hold on and simply fell asleep like that. Sang Wuyan pressed her ear tightly to the receiver. She could hear his rhythmic breathing, long and steady. He had neither dreamt nor talked in his sleep all night, sleeping very quietly.

Sang Wuyan gradually saw the sky outside the window turn pale. The rain had stopped, and only then did she, groggy and holding the phone, begin to feel sleepy.

She probably only slept for less than an hour before being woken up, and then began the most important day of her life.

By the time everything was over, it was already nine in the evening.

At Su Nianqin’s side, naturally, no one dared to disturb the wedding night. Sang Mama, knowing that the two of them must be exhausted, blocked Xu Qian and Li Lulu’s gang, who still wanted to cause trouble.

When they returned home, they truly let out a huge sigh of relief.

Su Nianqin untied his tie and said, “I’m going to take a shower first.” This was originally a perfectly ordinary sentence. They had been living together for over a year now. But paired with the bright red bedding, the “double happiness” characters pasted everywhere, and the bed strewn with longans, lotus seeds, peanuts, and red dates, it subtly took on an ambiguous meaning.

Sang Wuyan said, blushing, “Oh. I’ll go in a bit.”

Su Nianqin took a little longer to shower this time than usual. When he came out, he was still in his old habit, only wrapped in a thin bath towel. He had stayed in the bathroom for a long time, and his face was flushed from the hot steam, even his lips were deeper in color than usual.

“You’re not going to consummate the marriage now, are you?” Sang Wuyan asked.

“Are you planning to save it for tomorrow?”

“Uh—” She had a point.

At this moment, Su Nianqin had already approached, cupped her chin, and kissed her. She returned his kiss, then naturally sat on the bed, pushing aside the uncomfortable longans and peanuts on the quilt.

His body pressed down. His lips also began to shift from her face to other places. His breathing gradually deepened, and his hand explored beneath her dress.

Sang Wuyan vaguely opened her eyes and saw that Su Nianqin’s ears were red. This was how he was when aroused; his whole body would turn red.

Sang Wuyan’s chest felt a little itchy from his stubble.

“I need to take a shower first,” she said.

Su Nianqin reluctantly released her, very unwilling.

As it turned out, Sang Wuyan had been in the bathroom for less than ten seconds when she came out, looking innocently at Su Nianqin.

“Nianqin…” Her tone was very awkward.

“What’s wrong?”

“My period started.”

A once-in-a-lifetime wedding night, thus ruined by an uninvited guest.

The next day, Li Lulu almost thumped the ground with laughter upon hearing Sang Wuyan’s account.

“Sang Wuyan, you’re hilarious.”

“It’s not my fault,” Sang Wuyan had never felt so wronged.

“I can imagine Young Master Su’s expression at that moment.”

“I didn’t do it on purpose. How was I supposed to know it would suddenly come ten days early? And I’m always pretty regular,” Sang Wuyan covered her face, on the verge of tears.

After the marriage, a strange thing happened at home.

This strangeness, in Sang Wuyan’s eyes, could be explained as: that man became even more neurotic.

After Sang Wuyan graduated, she worked at a community psychological counseling center in A City. Although the work was relatively easy, she often worked overtime or hung out with friends outside. Therefore, she usually didn’t get home earlier than Su Nianqin.

However, in the early days of their marriage, whenever she was home, she would always happily open the door to welcome Young Master Su’s return, giving him a big hug. Even if Su Nianqin was exhausted after a busy day, he would still force a smile and kiss her forehead.

Su Nianqin, however, had a small change. Before, he would always take out his keys and enter the house himself. But after getting married, he no longer had the habit of taking out his keys. Even if he had them with him, he would press the doorbell and wait for his wife to open the door.

Sometimes he would stand for five or six minutes to make sure no one was home before taking out his keys.

Neither the driver, Xiao Qin, nor Sang Wuyan paid much attention to this until one day.

That day was a weekend, but Su Nianqin had to go to the company for some important matters. Sang Wuyan stayed home alone, curled up on the sofa watching TV. When Su Nianqin came home and rang the doorbell, she was watching an exciting part of the drama and couldn’t bear to leave.

He would never forget his keys, but the doorbell kept ringing again and again.

She grumbled unhappily as she went to open the door for him. After unlocking the door, Sang Wuyan was still preoccupied with the TV plot, so she rushed back to continue watching without even greeting him.

After one episode finished, Sang Wuyan burst into laughter. It was then that she remembered there was no movement at the door. Had Su Nianqin not come in yet?

Impossible!

She muttered, she had clearly opened the door. So Sang Wuyan put down the remote control and walked to the door to look: the door was wide open, and Su Nianqin stood motionless at the doorway, his face livid. The driver who had driven him home was anxiously pacing behind him with an umbrella.

At this moment, it was raining heavily. Although the doorway had a wide eaves for shelter, the rain was still blown in by the strong wind, soaking his shoulder.

Sang Wuyan was a little bewildered.

“Why don’t you come in?”

Su Nianqin’s brows were dark and gloomy. He didn’t answer her, his face looking even worse than the overcast sky outside.

Sang Wuyan thought to herself, Did I make him angry again? So she also started to get angry.

The two stood like that, one outside the door, one inside, at a stalemate for over ten minutes. The old driver finally lost patience first and said, “It’s raining outside; let Mr. Su come in first.”

Sang Wuyan saw Su Nianqin’s clothes getting wetter and wetter, and suddenly felt a pang of sympathy. Just as she was about to compromise, Su Nianqin happened to have an outburst.

“Close the door! Let’s start over!” Su Nianqin said angrily, stepping forward and pulling the door shut.

A loud bang echoed as the door closed.

Sang Wuyan was so startled she almost jumped.

What do you mean, “start over”? she asked herself.

Five seconds later, the doorbell actually rang again.

Sang Wuyan was truly puzzled in her heart, wondering what on earth was wrong with Su Nianqin. To find out, she repeated the trick the next week.

She anticipated the time he would come home and deliberately left the door ajar, unlocked.

Su Nianqin still rang the doorbell.

The third time, she simply left the door wide open and went to do other things, but Su Nianqin still rang the doorbell when he came home.

She finally realized that instead of Su Nianqin asking her to open the door, he was coercing her to welcome him home!

Why? Sang Wuyan complained to Cheng Yin over the phone, “Does he think he’s a Japanese man? Does he expect me to bow and say ‘Welcome home, you’ve worked hard’ at the entryway every day?”

Although he had a strong financial standing in the family, he couldn’t be so unreasonable, could he? She could support herself too.

Cheng Yin burst out laughing on the other end.

“Will you stop laughing? I’m already very troubled.”

“What did he say himself?”

“He didn’t say a word.”

“What about normally?”

“Aside from this, everything else in his life is normal.”

Sometimes, Sang Wuyan would open the door and deliberately leave him outside, whether for twenty minutes or an hour, Su Nianqin would never compromise. It had to be done over again: she would hold his hand, and he would kiss her forehead.

“Just leave him there and see if he’s still so arrogant after standing all night,” Cheng Yin said heartlessly.

“If I ignore him, he’ll probably really stand there until dawn.” Given Su Nianqin’s temper, it was absolutely possible.

“That’s what he gets.”

“I…” Sang Wuyan made a pained face, but her heart ached for him.

The second week, Sang Wuyan had lunch with a colleague from the community center. The colleague suddenly started talking about some recent cases they had taken on.

She studied child development and cognitive psychology, so she mostly dealt with child patients. But her good colleague, Zhao Meng, kept encountering marriage-related cases, which, frankly, were bizarre but interesting.

After lunch, Zhao Meng still ended the conversation with a sigh, “Ah, marriage…”

That day, this frequently heard closing remark suddenly resonated with Sang Wuyan. That afternoon, she slipped into Zhao Meng’s studio and recounted Su Nianqin’s abnormal behavior after their marriage.

“We lived together before we got married, but nothing like this ever happened,” Sang Wuyan added.

Zhao Meng chuckled, “This is a man’s ritual. Before marriage, you were just lovers, but after marriage, he needs a way to express that you are his wife, truly a part of his life.”

“Why did he choose this particular ritual?”

“He doesn’t want you to ignore him.”

“Does my intimately welcoming him home mean I haven’t ignored him?”

“Men like to express themselves in a definite way. For example, he wants you to wear a ring to prove your identity, and he also wants something to express that he ranks first in your heart. This is their ritual.”

“So, can I interpret this as him loving me too much?”

“Of course,” Zhao Meng said, nodding confidently with her arms crossed.

“Unless I divorce him, I’ll have to put up with him forever?”

“In some ways, he’s childish. Once his mind truly matures and he feels secure in the marriage, this will naturally disappear.”

Childish? Sang Wuyan replayed these three words on her way home. Both studied social psychology. Li Lulu always thought Su Nianqin’s domineering nature was a manifestation of masculinity, while Zhao Meng said it was childishness.

Man? Child?

Regardless of whether he was a man or a child, the way to educate a truly real child was very special.

After Xiao Jie was formally adopted by Yu Weilan, he also changed his name to Su Junjie. Everyone still called him Xiao Jie, except for Su Nianqin. He always called him by his full name, “Su Junjie.” Legally, he was Xiao Jie’s elder brother.

From the age of two, after three years of treatment, Xiao Jie was almost indistinguishable from normal children. However, he was still hyperactive, introverted, and had poor balance when walking.

Xiao Jie was especially clingy to Sang Wuyan. In Yu Xiaolu’s words: “Both brothers of our Su family are under Sang Wuyan’s spell.”

Almost all children had a problem: they didn’t like vegetables. So Sang Wuyan and Aunt Zhang would chop up vegetables, mix them into meat to make vegetable meatballs, and then serve them with rice to Xiao Jie.

When Xiao Jie ate, his hand holding the chopsticks always exerted uneven force, and he would accidentally tip over the bowl. She would then calmly feed him bite by bite, saying, “Xiao Jie, open your mouth. Hey, good boy.”

Su Nianqin, on the other hand, was the opposite of the child. He didn’t like meat, especially bony fish, and loved vegetables. He particularly enjoyed things with a slightly bitter taste. In A City, bitter vegetables included bitter bamboo shoots in spring and bitter melon in summer.

Later, for him, Sang Wuyan specifically learned a dish of white oil bitter melon from Aunt Zhang, which he particularly loved. Sang Wuyan had absolutely no interest in such things, but Su Nianqin was the eldest at home, so everything revolved around him.

However, once Xiao Jie arrived, things changed. The whole family had to accommodate Xiao Jie, and Su Nianqin’s preferences were sidelined.

At dinner, he frowned, took two bites, and then wanted to put down his chopsticks.

Sang Wuyan said, “You’re an adult; just make do.” Then, ignoring him, she continued to feed Xiao Jie.

“Xiao Jie, open your mouth.

“Hey, good boy.”

“One more bite.”

She coaxed Xiao Jie into eating half a bowl of rice, then looked back to pick up more food and saw Su Nianqin sitting there, barely having touched his chopsticks.

“You’re not eating?” Sang Wuyan asked.

He moved his chair away and stood up, “I’m full.”

Sang Wuyan was puzzled. Most of the dishes were cooked by Aunt Zhang before she left; they weren’t made by her. So why did he suddenly lose his appetite?

“I want meatballs too,” Xiao Jie tugged on Sang Wuyan’s sleeve.

For the rest of the meal, Su Nianqin indeed didn’t eat. He sat there alone, with the TV on, constantly changing channels with the remote control. The TV was very loud, almost drowning out Sang Wuyan’s coaxing voice to Xiao Jie.

“You’re really not eating?”

“I’m full from anger.”

“You’re in your thirties; why are you arguing with a child?” Sang Wuyan lowered her head and hugged his head from behind the sofa.

Su Nianqin naturally lifted his face, wanting to kiss her.

Sang Wuyan, however, got up and avoided him, “The child is watching.”

He was immediately annoyed, “Tell Yu Weilan to take her son back. If she doesn’t want to raise him, she sends him here every day.”

Sang Wuyan let out a wry chuckle, “But you’re his older brother.”

That night, after Xiao Jie had his bath and went to sleep, Sang Wuyan finally had time to ask him, “Are you hungry? I’ll cook you some noodles.”

“No noodles.”

“Then what do you want to eat?”

“Meatballs.”

“Meatballs?” Sang Wuyan was suspicious. Didn’t he not eat these?

“Meatballs with rice, and then you say, ‘Nianqin, open your mouth’,” he replied without blushing or a racing heart.

Sang Wuyan paused, then blushed and chuckled. This man could be so awkward even when acting spoiled.

The next day, Sang Wuyan and Yu Xiaolu went grocery shopping, leaving Su Nianqin alone to watch the child.

Su Nianqin sat on the sofa as usual, listening to the news, not bothering with Xiao Jie.

Xiao Jie was hyperactive and certainly wouldn’t obediently sit on the opposite bench. So he moved his small stool and started climbing the stairs to the second floor. After two steps, he slipped and fell to the ground.

Su Nianqin heard the sound, walked over, and tilted his head, “Su Junjie?”

The child whimpered, a sign that he was about to cry. His illness made him naturally disinclined to cry, but later he discovered that he would receive more attention from Sang Wuyan and others if he cried, so he also started using this tactic.

“Are you bleeding?” Su Nianqin asked condescendingly.

“No,” he said, his voice tearful.

“Broken bones?” Su Nianqin asked somewhat indifferently, not at all considering himself an adult and Xiao Jie a five-year-old child.

Xiao Jie didn’t know what the words “broken bones” meant to Su Nianqin.

“Can your hands and feet move?” Su Nianqin explained impatiently.

“Mm-hmm,” he said, tears streaming down his face from feeling wronged.

“Then it’s fine, don’t cry.” Su Nianqin actually didn’t pick him up. He just turned around and went back to his original spot to continue his own business, and commanded, “Get up by yourself, and preferably don’t cry.”

“Why can’t I cry?” Xiao Jie pursed his small lips, trying hard to hold back tears. He knew that Su Nianqin’s words were generally not to be defied.

“You’re a man. Men protect the weak. How can you cry whenever you feel like it?”

“But I’m a child.”

“A child? If you can walk and talk, you can’t be considered a child anymore,” Su Nianqin expressed his own opinion. “Su Junjie, remember you’re a man. The responsibility of a Su family man is to protect all the weak in the family.”

“Then can I protect Older Sister Wuyan?”

“Not her. She’s under my jurisdiction. You need to find someone else,” Su Nianqin said, raising his eyebrows, announcing.

“Oh—” Xiao Jie said, his faint eyebrows furrowed, half-understanding, half-not.

Then Sang Wuyan discovered that every time Su Nianqin was left alone with Xiao Jie, Xiao Jie would undergo a small change. Once, she and Xiaolu were excitedly chattering endlessly about a department store sale. Xiao Jie sat alone, looking at his comic books. After a long while, he looked up, observed the two of them, and then said with a sigh, “Sigh, women—”

Another time, Sang Wuyan, on a whim, wanted to bathe Xiao Jie, but he refused to let Sang Wuyan into the bathroom, hiding behind the door, stubbornly refusing to yield. “You’re a woman, I’m a man. How can you watch me bathe?”

In the distance, Su Nianqin nodded with satisfaction.

Although that was said, he still clung to Sang Wuyan like sticky candy. As long as he saw Sang Wuyan, he would stubbornly refuse to leave and would cry every time he came.

She never really liked children, but for some reason, Xiao Jie was an exception. Although he was five years old, in many ways he was still like a two or three-year-old child; he wasn’t as obedient as before and was becoming more mischievous.

In a corner of the courtyard was a fish pond. The pond was very shallow, only about a foot deep, and it housed dozens of koi and crucian carp. After being raised for a long time, the small fish were not afraid of people at all. Sometimes, when they heard people talking, they would think it was feeding time and gather together.

Su Nianqin liked fish.

He always fed them. Sometimes, he would gently extend his hand into the water, and the small fish, instead of being afraid, would think it was new food and gather around to nip his fingers, tickling him, always making him laugh.

Sang Wuyan knew Su Nianqin cherished those fish.

But then one afternoon, Xiao Jie went to play in the courtyard alone. Wuyan came to look for him and was dumbfounded when she went out. All the fish had been scooped out by Xiao Jie with a strainer and laid out on the ground. She didn’t know how long they had been there, but they were motionless.

“Su Junjie!” Sang Wuyan was annoyed.

“Ah,” he looked up and answered, still continuing to scoop up the fleeing small fish in the water.

She was just angry at the time. She pulled him up and then slapped his butt twice.

The child immediately burst into tears.

Sang Wuyan instantly regretted it and hugged him again, “Don’t cry, don’t cry, Xiao Jie, don’t cry.”

“I just saw the little fish looking up in the water, looking stuffy, like they wanted to come out, so I picked them up to sun them for a while before putting them back,” Xiao Jie explained, snot and tears streaming down his face.

Sang Wuyan stroked his head and picked him up.

The child, buried in her arms, wiped away his tears and said sadly, “Older Sister, I love you so much. How could you bear to hit me just now?”

“…”

After a while, Sang Wuyan said to Xiao Jie, “When Nianqin comes back, you have to apologize to him properly, otherwise, if he gets angry, no one in this house can calm him down, and he might even hit me too.”

As soon as Su Nianqin arrived home, Xiao Jie ran up to him and obediently recounted his mistakes from the afternoon. He looked extremely wronged, but he didn’t dare to cry in front of Su Nianqin, so he held back his tears again and again.

Su Nianqin, after listening, wasn’t actually angry. He just casually said, “If they’re dead, they’re dead. Don’t do such stupid things again.”

Seeing Su Nianqin say that, the child’s previously tense nerves finally relaxed. He hugged Su Nianqin’s leg and started crying again with a whimper.

Su Nianqin frowned, then picked Xiao Jie up. “Didn’t I tell you you’re a man, and you’re not allowed to cry?”

Xiao Jie immediately held back his sobs, then choked out, “Xiao Jie will be good, won’t cry anymore.”

Seeing his aggrieved look, Sang Wuyan found it amusing and peeled a milk candy for him. With the candy in his mouth, snot and drool dripping, he suddenly remembered something. He hugged Su Nianqin’s neck, pouted his lips, and gave him a loud, smacking kiss on the cheek, “Thank you, Older Brother.”

With that kiss, the candy syrup, snot, drool, and tears on his lips all transferred onto Su Nianqin’s cheek.

Su Nianqin’s face instantly went from black to green, then green to white, and finally returned to black. He said sternly, “Little thing!” But there was no hint of anger in his expression.

After Xiao Jie ran off, Su Nianqin took the wet towel Sang Wuyan offered him to wipe his face, and at the same time, asked, “Did you hit him just now?”

“I was angry for a moment and slapped him twice.”

“In the future, when you’re angry, don’t hit children. Just talk sense to them. If you really want to hit them, wait until your anger has passed, so you don’t hit too hard or too lightly,” he said softly.

Sang Wuyan nodded and smiled. She had always thought he didn’t like this child very much, but it turned out he didn’t at all.

When they were sleeping, Sang Wuyan, lying in his arms, asked, “Do you think we should have a daughter or a son?”

“Both are fine.”

“Do you prefer a daughter or a son?”

“A daughter,” he said without hesitation.

“Why?”

“What’s good about sons? They’re like Xiao Jie; when they grow up, they’ll just fight with me for their mom every day.”

“Daughters won’t fight?”

“If it’s a daughter, I’ll give her the best things in the world,” he said, his eyes sparkling, his expression soft and happy.

“You’ll probably spoil her rotten, and no one will want her.”

“That’s good then. She’ll stay with me and not marry anyone. I’ll support her for a lifetime.”

Soon after this, Sang Wuyan felt something unusual with her body. At that time, Su Nianqin was on a business trip in Hong Kong. She went to the妇幼医院 (Maternity and Child Health Hospital) alone for a check-up and felt strange after getting the results.

She had thought about having a child, but she always felt she hadn’t quite grown up herself, so how could she raise a child?

Li Lulu said, “You say you’re not compassionate, but you’re actually quite kind. You say you’re compassionate, but why are you so unloving towards children?”

Whether it was Xiao Jie or others, most of the children she interacted with were already several years old and capable of independent action, unlike the infants in Sang Wuyan’s mind. She had always had little interest in infants, always thinking of them as soft, drooling, snot-nosed creatures.

She didn’t even dare to hold Xu Qian’s child when he was less than six months old.

After she married Su Nianqin, at first she always reminded him about contraception. Later, after several times forgetting this procedure, she still didn’t get pregnant, and gradually grew bolder and more at ease, seeming to overlook contraception. Until this day, when she received the examination results.

At the hospital entrance, she met a pregnant woman head-on. Her belly was frighteningly large, and her feet were terribly swollen. Usually, Sang Wuyan would keep a respectful distance from such sights. She didn’t dare to visit Xu Qian during the later months of her pregnancy. But this time, she actually stared blankly at her as she walked past.

After a jumbled mess of thoughts, she felt lost and eventually called Su Nianqin.

“He’s in a meeting,” Xiao Qin answered the phone.

“Oh. Then I’ll call back in a bit.”

Sang Wuyan had just reached halfway when she received a callback from Su Nianqin. She pulled her car to the side of the road and answered.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

He was currently on a business trip, and she wouldn’t normally call him during non-work hours. So, receiving such a call meant something must be wrong, and he immediately called back.

“Nianqin,” Sang Wuyan called him.

“Mm? What is it?” he responded with a slight lift of his lips.

“The doctor said I’m pregnant,” she said slowly.

The other end of the phone paused, then he asked, “Really?”

“Nine weeks,” she said.

She heard him chuckle, “I’ll be right back.” Joy could not be concealed in his voice.

“Don’t you have something to do tomorrow?”

“I’m going to the airport right away, coming right back. Where are you?”

“I’m driving home.”

“Don’t drive. Pull over there; I’ll send someone to pick you up.”

That evening, Su Nianqin rushed back, dusty and tired. As he entered, he asked, “Where are my wife and child?”

“Your child is still a little bean sprout,” Sang Wuyan said, shaking her head.

“Even if it’s a little bean sprout, it’s an extraordinary little bean sprout,” he squatted down and pressed his ear to her belly. It was clear he couldn’t hear anything, but he insisted on doing it and listened for a long time.

He looked up at her with a smile and said, “We really have a child.”

As he spoke, his eyes sparkled, his dark pupils seeming to glow with a soft light, his eyebrows raised, and his lips curved into their widest smile. His expression was truly endearing.

Su Nianqin’s emotion touched her, and Sang Wuyan felt all her previous hesitation and unease fade away.

He truly liked children.

And it was from that day on that Su Nianqin no longer emphasized the closing and opening door procedure.

Sang Wuyan reported this situation to Zhao Meng.

Zhao Meng said, “He’s starting to feel secure in your marriage.”

Sang Wuyan asked, “Why did it disappear so suddenly?”

Zhao Meng said, “Perhaps it’s because of the child.”

Sang Wuyan murmured, “Child?”

Zhao Meng nodded, “As soon as the child appeared, he felt he was not only a husband but also a father. This dual sense of responsibility solidified your marriage, strengthening his sense of security and identity, so he no longer needed external things to validate himself.”

It turned out that a child was so important to him. Sang Wuyan also started to be cautious.

During that time, Su Nianqin’s expression could only be described as like bathing in the spring breeze. Throughout the company, everyone knew the boss was going to be a father, and he was in a very good mood.

“How does it feel to be pregnant?” Cheng Yin asked.

“Like going from a commoner wife to Her Majesty the Empress,” Sang Wuyan said smugly.

“That exaggerated?”

“Of course,” Sang Wuyan had that look of a minor character achieving success again.

That kind of treatment was even more imperial than an empress. Before, she always had to gauge Su Nianqin’s mood. Now, she was like a serf who had risen to become a master. Su Nianqin almost canceled all social engagements, dedicating all his spare time to Sang Wuyan.

If she told him to go east, he wouldn’t go west.

If she said she wanted warm water, Su Nianqin would certainly bring her water that was not scalding hot nor burning cold, just a little warmer than body temperature.

If she said she wanted to hear the story of the Princess and the Pea, he wouldn’t dare tell the story of the Fisherman and the Goldfish.

“You really torment people,” Cheng Yin shook her head.

“Who told his child to torment me?”

When the child was eight months old, they went for a routine check-up. After Su Nianqin put her in the car, he thought for a moment, then went back to find the doctor, and returned in silence.

“Nianqin, what’s wrong?”

“What if the child is born blind like me?”

“What did the doctor say?” Sang Wuyan’s hand trembled.

“The doctor said it’s uncertain whether it’s hereditary. Everything looks normal, but I was also normal when I was born, and it took them several days to realize I couldn’t see.”

He buried his face in Sang Wuyan’s palm. She leaned down and rubbed his hair with her face.

“Your father and mother are both fine, so it’s clearly not hereditary. So our baby will be fine too.”

“What if?”

“There won’t be any ‘what ifs’.”

“But what if there is a ‘what if’?” he asked again.

“Then it’s still fine. The baby will have such a good father, will be loved for a lifetime, won’t suffer any grievances, so what regrets could there be?”

In September, a news story broke in the entertainment section of a widely circulated newspaper, “Capital Morning News,” revealing that Yi Jin, the lyricist who had suddenly disappeared from the entertainment industry, was actually the sole heir of the Su family, with a recent photo of Su Nianqin accompanying the article.

The report stated that a former employee of the A City radio station could come forward to testify.

Sang Wuyan learned this news after seeing the newspaper at home.

She was stunned for a moment before remembering to call Su Nianqin.

His phone was busy, and the office phone was constantly engaged. She could imagine how many calls were trying to get through.

He hated appearing in front of people, so he always kept a low profile, yet there were always so many people who wouldn’t let him go. She redialed his phone while reading the past that Su Nianqin had deliberately forgotten.

Sent to C City Welfare Institute at three months old; brought back by the Su family at seven, during which he ran away from the welfare institute three times; his mother died in a plane crash at twelve; after becoming an adult, he worked as a braille translator and taught at a school for the disabled; three years ago, he took over the family business…

Bit by bit, everything was ruthlessly revealed, some things even Sang Wuyan was learning for the first time. As she read, her eyes started to water. No matter how many times she redialed, the phone on the other end was always busy.

The photo in the newspaper, she didn’t know when it was taken, probably at some banquet. Su Nianqin was dressed formally. He was captured by the photographer at the moment he turned his head, his expression the usual indifference he showed towards outsiders, his eyes empty.

At this moment, she heard her phone ring in the bedroom. She put down the landline and ran to get her cell phone.

As soon as she connected, Su Nianqin impatiently asked, “Wuyan, why is the landline always busy?”

Hearing his voice, Sang Wuyan’s tears fell. “Nianqin—”

It turned out that both of them were constantly dialing each other’s numbers at the same time.

“Wuyan?” Su Nianqin anxiously called her.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he replied.

“I’m fine too. The baby is very good. Just now, it even tumbled in my tummy,” she said.

“Are you alone?”

“And Aunt Zhang; she just came back from grocery shopping.”

“Don’t open the door at home. Pull the curtains shut and unplug the phone line. I’ll come back to pick you up tonight,” he now had someone he needed to protect, so he naturally became much stronger.

“Nianqin, are you really okay?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll make this pass quickly,” his voice held a convincing firmness.

“I’m afraid you’ll be sad,” Sang Wuyan said.

“With you, I’m not sad anymore.”

“You shouldn’t have been sad about the past in the first place. The more unbearable it is to recall, the more it means you deserve happiness in the future.”

“Wuyan…” He paused. “I’m sorry.”

There were many things he had wanted to tell her a long time ago, but he had kept delaying, and now she had learned them in such a way.

“The first time you apologized to me.”

Su Nianqin chuckled bitterly, a little embarrassed.

“Nianqin, I will give you happiness, compensating for all the happiness you missed out on in the past.”

Hearing noise outside, Sang Wuyan, holding the phone, got up and looked. She discovered that, without her noticing, quite a few reporters had gathered outside the fence, each peering in. Her heart immediately tensed, and she quickly pulled all the curtains shut, following Su Nianqin’s instructions from earlier.

“Okay.”

Her body felt very heavy, and she was a little out of breath with every movement. After finishing, she didn’t forget to report to her husband.

“Ask Aunt Zhang to lock all the doors and windows,” he instructed again.

“She’s cooking in the kitchen; I won’t disturb her. I can handle this small task myself; consider it exercise.”

“Be careful. Or maybe put down the phone first.”

“It’s fine; I’m strong,” she chuckled, then went to check all the windows and door locks one by one.

Su Nianqin, on the phone, heard her panting as she climbed the stairs, and then she let out a cry.

“What’s wrong? Wuyan?” He abruptly stood up from his chair and asked in alarm.

“Nothing; I just wanted to scare you,” she giggled.

Su Nianqin on the other end was about to say something else, but he was interrupted and had to hang up the phone.

Sang Wuyan hung up the phone, slowly sat on the stairs, and rubbed her waist. She had accidentally scraped her waist on the handrail just now, and it hurt a little, but she didn’t dare to tell him.

After being bombarded by various media reporters, he was already exhausted. If it were before, he could have remained aloof and ignored them, but at this moment, he also represented the entire Su Group. As the helmsman, he could not do anything that would damage the group’s image in the slightest.

Su Nianqin’s face was pale, even his voice was hoarse. He leaned back against the car seat, rubbing his forehead with both hands, “I want to go home.”

“There are many reporters and fans gathered over there,” Xiao Qin worried that Su Nianqin wouldn’t be able to get away once he appeared, and she was genuinely afraid he couldn’t hold on.

“Wuyan is at home; she can’t be without me.”

Su Nianqin closed his eyes, utterly exhausted. Sometimes, this sentence could almost be reversed: he couldn’t be without her.

Xiao Qin arranged things. Another car took several people to pick up Sang Wuyan. Then the car made several detours at the highway exit to avoid being followed.

The two cars agreed to meet in a secluded alley.

Sang Wuyan opened the car door and saw Su Nianqin inside, his eyes closed, feigning sleep.

“Nianqin.”

Upon hearing her voice, he concealed his exhaustion from earlier, and a smile slowly bloomed on his lips. He opened his arms, “Wuyan, let me hug you.”

“Did you eat?” Sang Wuyan sat in his arms.

Su Nianqin smiled and shook his head.

Sang Wuyan had an “I knew it” expression. Then she took out a thermos from her bag. When she opened it, it was a steaming bowl of century egg and lean pork porridge.

“It’s a little burnt, but it’s not so bad you can’t drink it, right?” Sang Wuyan explained.

For the first time, Su Nianqin drank it without even frowning.

“Delicious?”

Su Nianqin didn’t speak, but immediately kissed her.

The kiss was deep yet exceptionally gentle. The taste of rice porridge lingered in Su Nianqin’s mouth. There was still a strong burnt taste, and it was too salty, Sang Wuyan concluded in her heart.

In the midst of the passionate kiss, Su Nianqin caught Sang Wuyan’s hand. He felt the emptiness on her ring finger, so he slowly released her lips and asked, “Where’s the ring?”

“I took it off when I washed my face before leaving and forgot to put it back on,” she quickly explained. In reality, she had looked for the ring for a while but couldn’t find it, but she didn’t dare to say anything.

“Once you wear it, you shouldn’t take it off often. Your memory isn’t good. If you lose it, I can buy you another one at most, but you yourself would feel it’s unlucky.” Before, Su Nianqin would always fly into a rage when he saw her not wearing the ring, but this time, he wasn’t angry at all and even reasoned with her amicably.

Even the tyrant had a day where he reasoned, which made Sang Wuyan a little at a loss, completely like a kitten that had just made a mistake, with no rebuttal whatsoever.

“Where are we going?”

“We can go to the hotel.”

Sang Wuyan suggested, “Why don’t we go back to the elevator apartment you used to live in? I don’t like hotels.”

Su Nianqin nodded; whatever she said was fine.

“Xiao Qin said you’re very tired. Close your eyes and rest for a while.”

“Can’t sleep.” As soon as he closed his eyes, all the messy things from the day flooded his mind.

“How about I sing you a lullaby?” Sang Wuyan blinked mischievously.

“I’m afraid I’ll have nightmares for three days.”

“Hmph, Su Nianqin, you have such a foul mouth,” she bared her teeth and bit his chin.

Su Nianqin chuckled deeply, stroking her forehead fringe.

“So Nianqin’s mother died in a plane crash.”

“Mm-hmm. Her body was never found. The grave is empty,” Su Nianqin said blandly.

“Were you sad?”

“Ever since I had Sang Wuyan, I haven’t been sad anymore.”

“I want to hear you tell me about the past in your own words when you have time.”

“Okay,” Su Nianqin promised.

Sang Wuyan touched her belly and frowned. She didn’t know if it was because she had bumped it on the stairs just now, or if it was the crowd that jostled her when she left home, but her stomach felt a little uncomfortable.

They arrived at the underground parking lot of the urban apartment. Xiao Qin went out first to check. She knew there were indeed few people in this area, and no reporters.

Su Nianqin got out of the car first, then walked around to take Sang Wuyan’s hand, “Be careful.”

“This word, you say it to me at least twenty times a day,” Sang Wuyan said helplessly.

At this moment, Sang Wuyan suddenly saw a few people get out of two vans, holding cameras, and rushing towards them. She reacted faster than Su Nianqin and quickly stepped forward to shield him behind her.

“Mr. Su, I’m Zhang Wei, a reporter from the Morning Post, and I’d like to interview you,” one of them said.

“Zhang Wei?” Su Nianqin said. “Are you the one who wrote that report?”

The man named Zhang Wei said smugly, “That’s right.”

“There will be a press conference tomorrow. If you have any questions, you can ask them there.”

“But there are some questions I’d like to understand privately, provided Mr. Su doesn’t mind them being made public,” Zhang Wei chuckled.

“Suit yourself,” Su Nianqin smiled faintly, leading Sang Wuyan to the elevator.

Zhang Wei tried to follow, but was stopped by the driver behind them.

“Mr. Su!” Zhang Wei shouted, “I wonder if tomorrow’s headline will be ‘Young Stepmother and Blind Stepson Have an Affair,’ and if others will guess whose scandal it is?”

Sang Wuyan was startled, then immediately seethed with anger.

“There are many truths in this society worth your interviews, reports, and revelations. There are many orphaned and disabled children waiting for you to report on them and help. There are also many wrongful convictions waiting for you to uncover and analyze. Why do you insist on hounding him?” Sang Wuyan said furiously.

“Because Mr. Su has money, status, and reputation, and readers love to see it. As soon as he’s in the paper, sales increase. Only with profit can we afford to report on the social truths that you, Mrs. Su, speak of. It’s a simple logic; this is killing two birds with one stone,” Zhang Wei said sarcastically.

“You!” Sang Wuyan’s face turned green with anger.

Su Nianqin squeezed Sang Wuyan’s hand and gently comforted her, “Wuyan, don’t be angry.”

Then he turned his head again and slowly said to Zhang Wei, “My wife hasn’t had much interaction with society, so what she says is a bit idealistic. But you shouldn’t provoke her. She’s nine months pregnant and needs help to walk, so she certainly shouldn’t get upset.”

Zhang Wei didn’t speak. “The news you wrote yesterday being published was my oversight. But I can guarantee that this oversight will never happen a second time,” a palpable power surged beneath his calm tone.

“Mr. Su, are you threatening me?”

“Not a threat, merely advice,” he smiled and nodded as if to say goodbye, then supported Sang Wuyan and turned to enter the elevator.

As the elevator doors closed, she couldn’t help but lean against him. When those people appeared just now, she instinctively wanted to protect him, but she didn’t know when, he had already become her pillar of strength.

“I will protect this family; don’t worry,” he touched her cheek.

“I’m just afraid you’ll be sad,” she said.

“Your man isn’t as fragile as you think,” he chuckled.

Waking up in the middle of the night, she felt a little uncomfortable in her stomach. She couldn’t sleep soundly and was afraid of disturbing Su Nianqin next to her, so she quietly got up, intending to sit in the living room for a while.

Unexpectedly, as soon as she reached the doorway, her legs suddenly went weak, and she stumbled, sitting hard on the floor.

She couldn’t help but cry out.

Su Nianqin, from his sleep, suddenly sat upright, “Wuyan?”

“Nianqin,” she groaned, calling him.

“Did you fall?” He walked anxiously towards the direction of her voice.

“It hurts.”

Su Nianqin knelt and held her, feeling the constant warm liquid flowing from between her legs, panicking as if going mad.

He didn’t dare to move her, only fumbled around for the phone, and finally managed to call an ambulance.

“Wuyan, Wuyan, wait, they’ll be here soon, they’ll be here soon.” His face and lips were as white as paper, and even his teeth chattered uncontrollably.

“Nianqin…” she called him, pained.

“Don’t speak, save your strength. They’ll be here soon, they’ll be here right away, and it won’t hurt anymore. If it hurts, bite me,” he comforted her incoherently.

“You said you’d teach our baby to play the piano.”

“No problem.”

“You have to be patient, and you can’t be fierce with the baby.”

“I absolutely won’t get angry with him; I promise,” he nodded very seriously.

Sang Wuyan looked at his expression and couldn’t help but cry, “I’m sorry, Nianqin, I’m sorry, it’s all my fault. What if the baby is gone?”

“If it’s gone, it’s gone. We don’t want him anymore.”

“You love him so much; how can you just say you don’t want him anymore? Then if I die, will you also not want me anymore?”

“You wouldn’t dare!” he snapped, “Don’t talk about dying.”

“What if I really die?”

“If you dare to leave me and go alone, I’ll immediately find someone else and forget you in two or three days.”

“Liar,” Sang Wuyan chuckled weakly. “You wouldn’t bear to forget me.”

He heard this and fiercely kissed her face.

Sang Wuyan’s last memory was being placed on a stretcher. Su Nianqin held her hand tightly. The nurse said, “Sir, please let go; we need to take the patient to the operating room.”

Xiao Qin said, “Mr. Su, let go.”

An older nurse said, “Do you, the family member, still want the doctor to treat her? She’s in premature labor. If you delay, we won’t be responsible.”

Another voice shouted, “Quickly pull him away!”

Then, she heard nothing else.

In a haze, someone called out, “Wuyan, Wuyan…”

She opened her eyes and saw a blinding white light. Standing in front of her was Cheng Yin. She had two small pigtails and was wearing a dark blue denim dress, the same outfit they wore the last time they were trapped in the elevator.

“Wuyan,” Cheng Yin said, “I have to go.”

“Why?”

“You have a husband, and now a child; you don’t need me anymore.”

“Then…” Sang Wuyan asked, “Will you still come back to see me?”

Cheng Yin smiled, “No, I won’t.”

Sang Wuyan lowered her head, “I’ll miss you.”

“If you miss me, will you come with me?” Cheng Yin asked playfully.

Sang Wuyan thought for a moment, then shook her head, “I’ll miss them too.”

“Then that’s right; you have your own life now. And I will have a new beginning. So we have to say goodbye.”

Cheng Yin came closer and gently hugged her, “Goodbye, Wuyan.”

Watching Cheng Yin gradually turn transparent, then finally disappear in front of her, Sang Wuyan couldn’t help but reach out to grab her, wanting to hold onto this phantom.

Unexpectedly, as her hand reached out into the air, it was caught by another’s hand. Then someone called her name, Wuyan—it was Su Nianqin’s voice.

She opened her eyes and saw Su Nianqin sitting by the bed, his eyes a little swollen, and his chin stubble-grown.

“How’s our baby?” she asked.

“Very good,” he chuckled.

(Note: The lyrics for “Libyan Shell,” “Dawn’s Pale Blue,” and “Swallows on the Beam,” which appear in the text, were specifically written for this novel by writer Lan Ziqinghui. Special thanks are extended herewith.)