Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Really?” said Mo Li, raising her head.
Inching forward to pull her into an embrace, Byron reassured her, “You’re my wife now. I won’t give you up easily since I’ve chosen to marry you. I have to be responsible towards you. About that incident, it wasn’t your fault. I know clearly what happened, thus, I don’t blame you for it.”
“Thank you, Hubby,” said Mo Li, wrapping her hands around his waist, tears welling up in her eyes.
“Let’s have a child, shall we?” said Byron.
She was reminded of Ye Xiaotian’s words at the instant that she nodded, and she began feeling a little worried.
“Alright, let’s go home now,” said Byron, putting an arm around her.
“Okay.”
——
Upon hearing that they were going on a honeymoon trip, Mrs. Jin was overjoyed at how much progress they’ve made in their relationship. She strongly supported the idea and especially reminded An Xiaoning not to take any contraceptive measures.
An Xiaoning then informed Jin Qingyan of his mother’s instruction, despite having already agreed with her over the phone.
“Mother said we should make a baby during our honeymoon trip, and she instructed me not to take any contraception. What do you think about that?”
As per his usual reaction, Jin Qingyan answered, “I’m standing firm on my decision of not wanting children at the moment. We’ve yet to enjoy enough of our alone time, what’s the rush?”
Having expected him to react that way, she dropped the subject and did not speak another word about it.
“The luggage is ready, let’s set out.”
An Xiaoning boarded the airplane while Jin Qingyan followed closely behind.
The destination they were headed to was a tropical area in the country, which was more than 6000 miles away. It was warm and sunny there, as opposed to the freezing winter at their side.
They sat opposite each other on the airplane. An Xiaoning removed her shoes and covered herself with a blanket while chatting with him. “I’ve never traveled beyond our city before.”
“You’ve been living inside a cave.”
“Hey, I grew up on the mountains from a young age, and I got married to Shi Shaochuan as soon as I left the mountains. How could I have possibly had the chance to travel the world? Hence, I’m really excited now. Why are you so calm about it?”
“Because I’ve been to other countries so many more times than you have. Traveling within our nation is no big deal.”
“Are you trying to brag?” An Xiaoning remarked in disdain.
“You’re overthinking,” he said, browsing through the newspapers with one leg crossed over another, not looking up at her at all.
“Hubby, tell me a joke, will you?”
“I don’t know how to tell jokes.”
“Then, tell me a story? Any genre will do, be it romance, thriller, supernatural horror, ancient, or anything else,” she continued.
“I don’t know how to tell stories.”
“Didn’t you say that you were well-rounded?” she asked apprehensively.
“I meant I was well rounded in bed. Would you like me to tell you more about that?”
“Are you going to boast about your skills? I don’t want to hear about it,” said An Xiaoning, not finding anything interesting about that topic.
“Look how boring you are. I shall give you some of my time then. Let me tell you a fairytale.”
Does he think I’m a child? she thought to herself.
“Why are you pulling a long face? Do you want to hear it or not? I won’t tell you if you don’t want to. Did you think I was going to tell you about the usual boring, old fairytales? Well, you’ve underestimated me then. My stories have always stood out from the rest,” Jin Qingyan said confidently as he placed the newspapers onto the table and proceeded to pour two glasses of red wine. He handed her one and rested against the table while swirling his glass of red wine in his hand.
“Hmm… just how different are yours? Tell me one.”
After a brief moment of hesitation, he began to speak, “Let me tell you a story about Snow White. Once upon a time, there was an evil queen who asked the magic mirror, ‘Who is the fairest of them all?’ The mirror replied, ‘You. But Snow White is even fairer than you are,’ thus sparking a strong sense of jealousy within the Queen, who then swore to kill Snow White. Only then will she become the fairest woman of them all.”
Upon hearing his words, An Xiaoning completely lost interest in hearing the rest of his story, for she already knew the ending. “Didn’t you say your fairytales were different from the traditional ones?”
“What’s the rush? I’ve yet to finish, calm down.” He then continued, “Hence, the Queen sent an assassin to bring Snow White to the forest and to have her killed. However, she was later saved by a hunter passing by.”
An Xiaoning could not help but ask, “Did Snow White get together with the hunter?”
“Screw you, don’t interrupt me. She obviously didn’t,” Jin Qingyan retorted. “Afterwards, the hunter brought her to a house with seven other dwarves, where she lived the rest of her days. The evil Queen then asked the magic mirror the same question, to which it replied again, ‘Snow White,’ causing the Queen to grow into an uncontrollable rage. ‘Why would it be Snow White if she’s already dead?’ the Queen thought. The magic mirror then revealed that Snow White was still alive and that she was living in the home of seven dwarves. Once again, the Queen sent another assassin to have Snow White killed, but this time, she tagged along in a bid to watch Snow White die before her own eyes.”
At this juncture, An Xiaoning let out a yawn and said, “I’m falling asleep just listening to your boring fairytale. I still can’t tell what’s so different about it.”
“Stop being so impatient, the plot twist is coming.” Jin Qingyan lifted his glass to have a sip of wine and continued with a grin, “To the astonishment of the Queen, Snow White was the only woman in the house, thus making her the center of attention. During the long period of her stay, the seven dwarves had treated her extremely well — they gave her massages, cooked her meals, did the chores, brought her water, and went out to work to generate an income, every single day without fail. Snow White was leading a comfortable life with the seven dwarves, and thus had no intention of returning to the Palace at all.”
An Xiaoning stared at him in disbelief over how absurd he had made the fairytale sound. Did this really come out of Jin Qingyan’s mouth!?!
Unable to contain her amusement, she burst into laughter and asked, “What happened to the Queen afterwards? Did she kill Snow White?”
“Of course not. Snow White had gotten pregnant with the third dwarf’s child. Instead of killing her, the Queen left with her men, for she knew that Snow White could no longer return to the palace. Alright, that’s the end of the story.”
“You left out Prince Charming and the Poison Apple.”
“That’s why I said my fairytales were different from others,” he said indolently.
An Xiaoning was speechless. She turned around to face him and said, “Your story was so boring it actually made me sleepy. Wake me up when we’ve arrived.”
“Don’t go to sleep yet.”
He placed the glass of wine onto the table and sat down beside her. “Go sleep on the bed inside, I have everything here in my private jet.”
“Alright,” An Xiaoning agreed as she got up. Needless to say, she would obviously pick the bed over the couch.
She laid onto the bed, only to realize that he had followed her into the room and locked the door.
“You’re sleepy too?”
“I just woke up a while ago, why would I be sleepy? I just feel a little bored and I thought we should do something interesting to kill some time. This flight is going to take hours,” said Jin Qingyan as he removed his shoes and snuggled up next to her. He placed her head onto his shoulder and pressed his face against hers affectionately, while his hands wandered about her body.
An Xiaoning could not fall asleep since he kept touching her. She tried to reject his advances, but to no avail. Thus, she decided to close her eyes and just play dead.
“Xiaoning?”
“Hmm…”
“If you could decide, what would you like to dream about?”
“Oh, I’d like to dream about becoming the Snow White you had mentioned in your fairytale.”
“…”