Gu Yanjing pulled the blanket over her.
"Hot." Qiao Yuxian said.
"You’ll catch a cold." Gu Yanjing tucked the blanket corner at her waist.
Qiao Yuxian stayed still, resting her head on his hand, lying quietly.
"What happened next?" Gu Yanjing asked.
"Hmm?" Qiao Yuxian asked, "You want to hear it?" Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on NoveI~Fire.net
"Yes." Gu Yanjing responded lightly.
Qiao Yuxian continued, "They were determined to teach me a lesson. When I saw that my crying didn’t get me any attention, I gradually calmed down and honestly explained the process. Then I wrote a statement and an apology in there, and they let me out. When I came out, I saw my grandmother, and the first thing she said to me was, ’If you ever have these murderous thoughts again, she would personally kill me.’ I was so scared I didn’t dare speak to her for days."
"Afterwards..." Qiao Yuxian said, "Grandma found out my aunt scolded me while they were away, especially because she also hit me, and made my uncle’s family move out of the courtyard. Then... two days later, I heard my aunt got dragged into an alley and beaten while shopping, and she stayed in the hospital for more than a week."
Gu Yanjing didn’t know her grandmother well. When he investigated Qiao Yuxian before their marriage, he found very little information about her grandmother—just a typical life with no job or education, like many women of that era, staying home to manage the family and educate children.
But he knew her grandparents were certainly not simple, and they even might have known his grandfather.
"Does your aunt particularly care for you?" Qiao Yuxian suddenly asked.
Gu Yanjing looked at her, paused, then replied, "Yes."
"That’s nice." Qiao Yuxian said, paused, and then added, "In the future, I’ll definitely treat my children well. Be a good mom and love them dearly."
Listening to her words, Gu Yanjing’s face showed little expression, just a slight movement of his eyebrows.
After Qiao Yuxian finished speaking, she sensed the gaze beside her and looked at him, just catching his slight eyebrow raise. She blinked and quickly explained, "I was just expressing my thoughts, not indicating I want to have kids with you."
As she spoke, she slowly pulled the kicked-off blanket back over herself again.
"Then who do you want to have them with?" Gu Yanjing softly countered.
His expression hadn’t changed at all, but Qiao Yuxian felt a cold wind as if it blew across her face. She muttered softly, "Your genes are so good, of course, I’d choose you. But I’m talking about the future, not now. Not now—I haven’t experienced our time together yet. Why bring a little one into the mix?"
Gu Yanjing watched her mumbling with downcast eyes. After a few seconds, he said, "Alright, noted."
"Noted what?" Qiao Yuxian lifted her eyes towards him, instinctively asking.
As their gazes met, her puzzled expression slowly faded, with the blush from her ears gradually spreading across her face.
After a moment of eye contact, Qiao Yuxian suddenly pointed at the ceiling and exclaimed, "Look, a UFO!"
Before she could completely pronounce "UFO," she swiftly buried herself under the blanket.
Totally hidden from head to toe under the blanket.
Gu Yanjing watched her series of movements and the small mound formed under the blanket. He reached out, touched her head through the blanket, and said, "Come out, sleep."
Qiao Yuxian remained still.
Gu Yanjing waited for a moment. Seeing her unmoving, he pulled the blanket down slightly, revealing her head, and casually stroked her face, "Sleep."
Qiao Yuxian lay with her side against the half of the bed she borrowed and said, "Good night."
"Good night." Gu Yanjing turned off the bedside lamp...
The bedside lamp turned off, and the room plunged into darkness once again.
Qiao Yuxian faced Gu Yanjing as she lay on the bed. Initially, she closed her eyes, but couldn’t fall asleep, so she opened her eyes.
Afraid to disturb Gu Yanjing, she stayed perfectly still.
But when someone can’t sleep, the more they want to sleep, the harder it becomes to actually fall asleep, and the more they don’t want to move, the more they want to.
She remained still for a long time, feeling quite tired, then rolled over to face the other side.
After lying on the other side for a while, she lay flat looking at the ceiling. Still unable to sleep, she turned her head to look at Gu Yanjing.
Gu Yanjing lay on the bed, sensing that Qiao Yuxian hadn’t slept at all. With his eyes closed, his fingers were brushing her. Then after she moved again, he called, "Qiao Yuxian."
The moment he called out, Qiao Yuxian rolled over and edged next to him, hugged his arm, slightly embarrassed, "Gu Yanjing, I thought about it and felt this half of the bed is nice. I want to borrow it."
Gu Yanjing was slightly startled, then he withdrew his arm from her grip, slipped it under her neck letting her use it as a pillow, reached around her back, held her, and slowly stroked her arm, "Alright."