Do You Want to Be a Widow?

Xi Jin held the "baby" in one hand, staring at it for a long time with his cool, clear eyes.

The nurse demonstrated the steps for everyone again.

Expressionless, Xi Jin followed the steps and dressed it without a hitch.

The nurse even singled him out for praise, saying he had done it quickly and well.

Xi Jin seemed to have gotten hooked on "playing." He picked up the "baby" and cradled it in his arms, as though he really were holding a child.

"Nan Xingyu, if you were pregnant, would you keep it?"

"Of course I'd abort it."

Nan Xingyu answered without hesitation, but her hand unconsciously settled over her lower belly.

As if afraid he or she might hear.

The blood test results finally came back.

Not pregnant.

Nan Xingyu breathed a sigh of relief, but an inexplicable emptiness filled her eyes.

Xi Jin said nothing. He pressed his palm against her lower belly and lowered his eyes, his thoughts unreadable.

In the bathroom.

Remembering the incident, Nan Xingyu asked Xi Jin curiously:

"If I'd gotten pregnant that time, would you have wanted it?"

"..."

Xi Jin paused as he dried her hair and glanced at her in the mirror.

"I only want you."

"..."

Nan Xingyu thought he was brushing her off. "How could someone as cold as you like children? Good thing I wasn't pregnant."

Xi Jin put down the towel, turned her around in his arms, and lifted her onto the bathroom counter.

"Nan Xingyu, whether there's a child or not."

He looked straight into her eyes. "I only want you."

Lately, Nan Xingyu had gone back to being the "obedient pet" she used to be.

She no longer crossed swords with Xi Jin.

Xi Jin had also loosened his hold on her a little.

Perhaps it was because his work had been getting busier. He often worked overtime until one or two in the morning, even on weekends.

Even when he was dog-tired, he still had the energy to wake her up. Only after they were both thoroughly spent would he hold her and sleep soundly.

It was the weekend again.

Several heavy snowfalls had blanketed Jingzhou, leaving heaven and earth a vast expanse of white.

Nan Xingyu returned to the apartment she rented with her mother.

The moment she walked in, she smelled corn and pork rib soup. The table was laden with all her favorite dishes.

"The end of the year is almost here. I'll retire after the New Year."

Liu Meili put a rib in her bowl.

"After that, I'll really worry about you being alone in Jingzhou. I wanted you to apply to Peking University so we could be in the same city. Now I'm going back to our hometown, and we'll be more than two thousand kilometers apart, one in the south and one in the north. It's too far."

Nan Xingyu took a sip of the soup. "Mom, I'm already twenty-one. I'm not a child."

Liu Meili asked, "After you graduate, are you planning to come home or stay in Jingzhou?"

Nan Xingyu said, "I'm planning to take the postgraduate entrance exam."

Liu Meili said, "Won't that mean staying in Jingzhou for another three or four years?"

Nan Xingyu said nothing.

She had already made up her mind.

Once her mother retired, she would switch universities for postgraduate study.

Leave Jingzhou.

Leave Xi Jin.

"Mom, don't worry."

She comforted her. "I'll find a job in a city close to home."

That night.

Nan Xingyu had just come out of the shower.

Liu Meili was holding her phone. "Xingyu, your phone just rang. It was an unfamiliar number."

Drying her hair, Nan Xingyu immediately guessed who it was and took the phone.

"Probably a spam call."

Liu Meili thought nothing of it and told her to get some rest early, not to stay up playing on her phone.

Nan Xingyu went back to her room and locked the door. Only then did she flop onto the bed and open her phone.

Fifteen minutes earlier, Xi Jin had sent a message:

[Get ready. I'm coming to pick you up.]

She frowned slightly.

Hadn't they agreed he would "give her Saturday off"?

[I'm already getting ready for bed.]

[Come downstairs.]

[No.]

There was no reply.

Nan Xingyu thought he had given up and left.

She picked up her hair dryer and started drying her hair. When it was nearly dry, she faintly heard a knock at the door.

She switched off the hair dryer.

"Xingyu, come out quickly."

Liu Meili's urgent voice came from outside the door.

Nan Xingyu put down the hair dryer, unlocked the door, and opened it. Someone stood a short distance behind Liu Meili.

Who else could it be but that dog Xi Jin?

He'd gone mad!!!

He'd actually come straight to her door!!!

"..."

It took all her strength to keep her expression from cracking.

He raised an eyebrow at her, an amused smile curling his lips.

Liu Meili said, "Honestly, why do you always lock your door in your own home? Young Master Xi needs you for something urgent."

Nan Xingyu put on a surprised expression, as though she barely knew him, and said respectfully:

"Young Master Xi, what urgent business do you have with me?"

She shot him a covert glare.

Warning him not to try anything.

Hands in his pockets, Xi Jin took a few steps toward her, with Liu Meili between them.

They maintained a suitably proper distance.

"Auntie Liu, I'm terribly sorry to disturb you so late."

"Nan Xingyu's roommate, Lin Piaopiao, got drunk outside a bar. I happened to be passing by and saw her. I was worried it wasn't safe for a girl to be out there alone."

"But she is a girl, after all. It wouldn't be appropriate for me to look after her."

"I remembered you lived nearby, Auntie Liu, so I came up to see if Nan Xingyu was here and could help look after her roommate."

"..."

Nan Xingyu had to hand it to him.

Lies rolled right off his tongue.

Liu Meili had long ago heard Nan Xingyu mention that Lin Piaopiao was a carefree sort.

It was worrying for a girl to be drunk outside so late at night.

She pulled Nan Xingyu over and said urgently:

"Hurry and put on something warm, then go with Young Master Xi. Girls away from home need to look after one another. Go see how she's doing."

"..."

Nan Xingyu knew perfectly well he was lying, but she couldn't tell her mother, "It's a lie."

She didn't even have room to refuse.

She could only hold back the fire in her heart.

She went back to her room and pulled on a down jacket at random, cursing him ten million times in her head.

Two minutes later.

She came out of her room, and Liu Meili handed her a thermos.

"This is snow fungus and lotus seed soup I just made. It's still hot. Give Piaopiao some later."

Nan Xingyu noticed the smug look in Xi Jin's eyes after getting his way.

Gritting her teeth, she took the thermos.

She followed him out of the apartment building.

Once they were in the car, Xi Jin took the thermos from her. "Is it good?"

"It's poisonous."

Nan Xingyu spoke irritably.

Xi Jin's lips curled faintly. "Do you want to be a widow?"

He unscrewed the lid, took a sip, then put it in the center console and started the car.

"I'm going on a business trip tomorrow."

"..."

Nan Xingyu's heart instantly brightened, though her expression remained calm. "When are you coming back?"

She wanted to know how many days she could have "off."

"What's wrong?"

Xi Jin gave her a sidelong glance. "Can't bear to be apart from me?"

"..."

Like hell she couldn't.

Nan Xingyu cleared her throat and looked out the window. "Mm. How many days?"

The next second, Xi Jin grabbed her hand.

"I'll be back Friday."

"..."

Ah, shibal.

He wasn't even giving her a weekend.

"Don't worry."

Xi Jin ruffled her hair. "I still have to hurry back to spend Christmas with baby."

Nan Xingyu thought, Who's spending it with whom?

For other people, Christmas was a wild celebration with a crowd.

Her Christmas was a wild celebration in bed with him.

The next day.

Xi Jin had an early flight.

Nan Xingyu was nestled under the covers like a soft little kitten.

Without Xi Jin, her "human heater," she couldn't help burrowing deeper under the covers, even with the heat on.

Xi Jin sat on the edge of the bed, uncovered her, brushed the wisps of hair from her forehead, and pressed a kiss there.

Nan Xingyu kept her eyes closed and smacked her pink lips twice.

Xi Jin cupped her rosy face and said softly:

"Remember to miss me."

Nan Xingyu had gone along with him three times the night before.

Now she was dead tired.

She ignored him.

That evening.

Nan Xingyu saw the messages in the group chat and went to the designated meeting place to have skewers with her roommates.

Jiang Yuexi wore a haute couture outfit, but she put on no airs at all, huddling with them inside the tent at a roadside food stall.

Lin Piaopiao had suffered another heartbreak.

Clutching a beer bottle, she drank herself into a stupor.

She kept cursing the "scumbag."

Nan Xingyu couldn't help thinking.

Xi Jin's lie from yesterday had accidentally come true.

The group prepared to leave.

Lin Piaopiao could no longer stand steadily, so Nan Xingyu and Li Ziyan supported her, one on either side.

Jiang Yuexi took a call. "My uncle happens to be nearby. He said he'd drive us back to school."

Before long.

A black SUV pulled up by the roadside.

Song Shuchen opened the door and got out. Seeing them supporting a thoroughly drunk Lin Piaopiao, he came over to help and picked her up with ease.

Nan Xingyu hurried over to open the rear door.

Lin Piaopiao was still cursing men under her breath.

Nan Xingyu got in after her. As she reached to close the door, she looked up and met Song Shuchen's gaze.

She lowered her head in embarrassment and said softly, "Thank you."

Song Shuchen replied modestly, "It's nothing."

They had barely been on the road.

Li Ziyan cried out from the back seat, "She's going to throw up!"

No sooner had she spoken.

Lin Piaopiao couldn't hold it back and threw up.

Nan Xingyu instinctively reached out to steady her. Vomit splashed onto her sleeve, and a sour, foul smell instantly filled the air.

Jiang Yuexi hurriedly passed some tissues to the back seat.

Nan Xingyu first helped wipe Lin Piaopiao clean.

Song Shuchen glanced in the rearview mirror. "She looks very drunk. We'd better take her to the hospital."

Jiang Yuexi nodded. "Sorry for the trouble, uncle."

They took Lin Piaopiao to the hospital.

Nan Xingyu glanced at her soiled sleeve. She couldn't wipe it clean, and it smelled a little bad, so she finally took the garment off, turned it inside out, and folded it up.

Jiang Yuexi noticed. "Xingyu, I'll go see if there's a blanket in my uncle's car."

Song Shuchen interjected, "The blanket was taken out to be washed."

"Huh?"

Jiang Yuexi said.

Song Shuchen glanced at the well-behaved girl, took off his coat, and held it out to her.

"Put it on. Be careful not to catch a chill."