Can't Keep Mourning

The candle flames flickered gently before the mourning hall.

Xi Jin looked away from the knife and raised his eyes to the woman.

"Thanks, Mom."

He took the plate and looked at the chunks of apple on it.

He remembered how he and Xi Song had always scrambled for the biggest piece whenever they ate fruit as children.

Xi Song had always let him have it.

Hua Jinfang would say from the side, "Xiao Jin, don't bully your brother. Your brother isn't well, so you need to learn to take care of him."

He hadn't really wanted to fight for it.

But their mother had given it to them, and whatever it was, he'd wanted a little more.

He had a "fond memory" of time spent with his mother.

Whenever she read Xi Song a bedtime story, he would climb onto his brother's bed and squeeze in between them.

As though staking a claim to something.

Hua Jinfang always read Xi Song books about space science.

She knew he liked them.

But Mom had never once finished reading The Little Prince, the book he liked.

Xi Song said, "Mom, when I become an astronaut, I'll take you on a trip to outer space."

Reaching across Xi Jin, Hua Jinfang stroked Xi Song's head and smiled gently.

"All right. I'll wait for my baby to take me on a trip to outer space."

Xi Jin lay between the two of them.

His round eyes looked from one to the other.

Then Xi Song said, "Mom, it's time to read The Little Prince. Little Brother likes that one."

But Hua Jinfang closed the book. "It's almost ten. Time to sleep."

She leaned across Xi Jin to kiss Xi Song's forehead. When her gaze shifted to Xi Jin's face, she paused for a moment, then gave him a goodnight kiss too.

Xi Jin smiled contentedly and asked, "Mom, can you read The Little Prince tomorrow night?"

Hua Jinfang got out of bed and tucked them in, her tone cool.

"We'll talk about it tomorrow night."

Her "we'll talk about it" became a wait with no end in sight.

Xi Jin picked up a piece of apple and put it in his mouth. It was so sweet it turned astringent.

He looked up at Hua Jinfang.

She was still standing where she had been, the knife in her hand.

The chill in her eyes

had never changed.

Nan Xingyu saw the message Xi Jin had sent her.

He had bought her a ticket on the earliest flight to Jingzhou.

Now that she was leaving home, she probably wouldn't be back for a long time.

She had only recently told her parents about transferring schools to study abroad.

Liu Meili had given her a thorough scolding.

She'd said Nan Xingyu was grown up now and had a mind of her own, not even telling her family about something as important as going abroad to study.

Nan Zhiping, on the other hand, had given her a bank card and told her not to make herself suffer while she was abroad.

At the airport,

Nan Xingyu hugged her parents goodbye.

Although she was already twenty-one, this time she felt as if she had truly grown up and was leaving home to fly far away.

She pulled her suitcase into the security screening area and waved to her parents one last time.

Then she walked away without looking back.

Once she was on the plane, she cried her eyes out.

The flight attendant wondered what was wrong with her.

By the time she got off the plane, her eyes were swollen like walnuts.

"My grandpa died."

Xi Jin pressed his fingertip against her forehead, forcing her to look up, and gazed at her reddened eyes.

"What are you bawling your eyes out for?"

Nan Xingyu swatted his hand away and muttered, "You're so annoying."

Xi Jin knew her mother would no longer be in Jingzhou, and that from now on she would be here all alone, which was why she felt miserable.

He took her suitcase from her, pulled her hand over, and kissed it.

"Don't be sad, baby. You still have your big brother to love you."

"..."

Nan Xingyu raised her slightly reddened eyes.

If he hadn't withdrawn her transfer application, she wouldn't have gone as far away as another country to hide from him.

She hoped that during the years she was away, he would gradually forget everything.

And let her go.

Then she could return to a normal life too.

After they got in the car,

Nan Xingyu fastened her seat belt. "After you drop me off at Guanlan, are you going back to the ancestral hall?"

Xi Jin started the car. "You're coming with me."

"Huh?"

Nan Xingyu immediately turned to him. "What would I go there for?"

Xi Jin glanced at her. "You're my girlfriend. You'll keep vigil with me."

"No."

Nan Xingyu grabbed his arm and hurriedly said, "I'm not going. Take me back to Guanlan."

Seeing how anxious she was, Xi Jin curled his lips in a smile. "I know you're scared, you coward. I'm teasing you."

He didn't want to see the people in his family scrutinizing Nan Xingyu either.

His marriage was a matter between him and Nan Xingyu.

It had nothing to do with the Xi Family.

Flustered and angry, Nan Xingyu shoved him. "Bastard."

Xi Jin reached over and pinched her cheek. "Try saying that again."

His tone was threatening.

But his eyes were full of indulgent affection.

Nan Xingyu pulled his hand away. "You've rubbed off all my primer."

A laugh rumbled in Xi Jin's chest. "You'll have to wash it all off in a bit anyway. I'm going to kiss you."

"..."

Nan Xingyu looked at him. "You're still in mourning."

Xi Jin said shamelessly, "My lower half can't keep mourning."

Nan Xingyu glared at him. "What an unfilial descendant."

"My dad says I'm a beast."

Xi Jin said it casually, as if he were saying, "The weather's nice today." "So why should I bother mourning?"

"..."

Nan Xingyu really didn't know whether to pity him or his grandfather.

When they arrived at Guanlan Shengshi,

Xi Jin truly had no taboos. He pulled her straight into the bathroom.

"It's been a few days since we did it."

Xi Jin watched her moan softly in the mirror and wrapped his arms around her slender waist, a tremor in his laughter.

"Looks like baby missed it too."

Nan Xingyu gripped the edge of the sink, frowning as she bit the corner of her lip.

No matter how much she denied it,

her body was always honest enough to slap her in the face.

After who knew how long,

Nan Xingyu's consciousness drifted.

Her whole body was limp.

Xi Jin leaned close, his burning chest pressed against her back, and kissed her neck, still wanting more.

The two had just taken a bath, but they rinsed off again.

Xi Jin often made Nan Xingyu something delicious after he'd had his fill.

Sometimes Nan Xingyu really hated her two disappointing mouths.

He had both of them eating out of his hand.

Nan Xingyu had just blow-dried her hair, which fell loosely over her shoulders.

Xi Jin watched her fiddle with her hair as she ate. Annoyed by the sight, he took a hair tie and loosely tied it up for her.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

Xi Jin instinctively looked toward the front door.

By the time he looked down again, Nan Xingyu had already run off with her plate.

She had hidden herself away again.

Xi Jin felt a slight tightness in his chest.

He didn't want Nan Xingyu to hide anymore.

But right now really wasn't a good time to make her public.

The door camera showed his second uncle, Xi Zhan, and Xi Zhan's adopted son, Xi Hao.

Xi Jin braced one hand against the wall and frowned at the father and son, who had come with ill intentions.

Their coming to his door at a time like this could only mean trouble.

He planned to ignore them.

The phone in his pocket rang again.

On camera, Xi Hao pressed his ear to the door and told Xi Zhan that someone was inside.

Xi Zhan hung up and knocked instead.

"Xi Jin, I know you're in there. Open the door! I'd like to see who this wild woman you're meeting in secret is!!"

"You're about to enter a marriage alliance with the Jiang Family, and you still dare to sneak around behind their backs!!"

"Your grandfather hasn't even been dead seven days, and you've already run out to fool around. Are you even human?!"

"..."

Xi Zhan stood outside the door, cursing.

"Don't think I can't do anything to you just because you're hiding in there. If you don't come out, I'll call the reporters."

"Let everyone see just how messy the distinguished Young Master Xi's private life is!!"