Xi Yan looked down at his proper posture, a fleeting smile in her eyes.
"Don't be so nervous."
"I wasn't nervous," Bai Le insisted.
The whirring noise of the hairdryer drowned out his voice. Xi Yan watched him quietly, her fingers running through the cool, smooth strands of hair.
Bai Le gradually relaxed from her initial tension. The warm breeze on her scalp made her feel lazy, and her eyelids began to droop.
Xi Yan him slowly close his eyes, Xi Yan also turned down the speed setting on the hairdryer, reducing the decibel level of the noise.
Just as I was about to turn off the hairdryer, feeling that my hair was almost done drying, I saw Bai Le, who was lying on my lap, suddenly open his eyes as if startled.
"What's wrong?" Xi Yan asked in a deep voice.
Bai Le pointed incredulously to his stomach, "He... he just kicked me."
Xi Yan was taken aback upon hearing this.
"Yes." Bai Le looked a little flustered. This was the first time he had truly felt fetal movement. The doctor said that fetal movement usually occurs between eighteen and twenty weeks. His baby was unusually quiet. Although he didn't say anything, he was actually a little worried.
"Just now, I felt it, he kicked me, I really did!"
Xi Yan leaned down slightly and pressed her body against his lower abdomen. Even through the fabric, she could clearly feel the warmth of his skin and the slight movement. Although it was very subtle, she could still feel it.
"Did you hear that?" Bai Le asked urgently, wanting someone to validate him and confirm that what he had just heard wasn't a hallucination.
"I heard you." Xi Yan looked at him, her tone certain, as if reassuring him.
Bai Le tugged at his sleeve, looking pitiful, and said, "Do you think he might be a little... irritable?"
Compared to the examples he had heard of, the fetal movements in his belly started late and were not very strong, which made him have some uneasy thoughts.
Xi Yan said, "Don't overthink it. We've been checking him, and he is indeed a healthy child."
Bai Le was slightly relieved. "Yes, it might just be that his personality is too quiet."
After he finished speaking, he couldn't help but glance at Xi Yan again, silently thinking to himself, "Quiet as you may be, I just hope your personality isn't like Xi Yan's."
Because of the fever, Bai Le was no longer sleepy. He lay in bed very excited. Xi Yan watched him toss and turn and felt a headache coming on. He frowned slightly and then reached out and forcefully pressed him down.
"Don't move."
After calming down, Bai Le also realized that this was somewhat inappropriate; it could easily crush the baby. He touched his round belly and sighed, "What if our child is an ugly monster?"
Xi Yan glanced at him, and for some reason, Bai Le picked up on the message he was trying to convey: How can you talk about your son like that?
Bai Le felt that his worries were not unfounded. "Isn't it said that positives make negatives? Look at us, we're both pretty good-looking. What if we give birth to an unattractive child?"
Xi Yan felt a slight ache in his temples. He pulled Bai Le's blanket up to cover him under his armpits and patted him gently, saying, "Go to sleep."
The more Bai Le thought about it, the more likely it seemed. He was prone to overthinking before giving birth, and once he had this idea, he couldn't stop himself from having it.
So he turned over to face Xi Yan, resting his hands on his cheeks.
Why aren't you nervous at all?
Xi Yan kept her eyes closed and patted his shoulder, as if she were coaxing a child.
"I'm going to get angry if you don't go to sleep soon."
Bai Le pouted in dissatisfaction, but dared not speak out. He could only grumble inwardly. He was so nervous, but Xi Yan always looked calm and composed, which made him feel somewhat resentful.
He gritted his teeth inwardly, then looked up at Xi Yan's quiet profile, wishing he could bite his chin, but it was just a thought.
Lost in thought, I drifted off to sleep without realizing it. By eleven o'clock, the bedroom was completely quiet, not even a sound could be heard. Only the huge aquarium on the wall emitted a faint, ethereal blue glow, inside which several goldfish swam back and forth, their tails swaying gently.
Around midnight, Bai Le vaguely heard some noises. He initially thought he was dreaming, but as he gradually became more aware, he told himself that it wasn't a hallucination.
He opened his eyes groggily, his vision blurry, but then it gradually cleared.
Under the warm orange light, Xi Yan was turned to the side, turning the pages of a book, and the rustling sound of pages rubbing together could be heard.
Bai Le cautiously peeked over, curious about what he was doing sneakily in the middle of the night, wishing he could stretch his neck to see what was going on.
When Bai Le finally saw the large characters on the book cover, a moment of stunned silence crossed his face.
The words "The Scientific Child-Rearing Encyclopedia" were prominently displayed above.
Xi Yan immediately noticed the commotion and turned to look.
Their eyes met in mid-air, and an awkward silence filled the air.
Bai Le: "..."
Xi Yan: "..."
Author's Note: I apologize for the numerous typos in the previous chapter. It was because I was typing it using voice input, and I discovered that if your Mandarin pronunciation isn't perfect, there will be many typos, and it took about the same amount of time as typing it by hand. Most importantly, it was extremely embarrassing! I will never use voice input again. I regret it.
P. S.: This chapter is a bit short because my supervisor has been calling non-stop. I've been incredibly busy with my thesis these past few days, but don't worry, I'll definitely update daily! I can't let down all my little angels who've been supporting me! Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants between 2020-03-03 21:58:02 and 2020-03-04 21:39:45!
Thank you to the little angels who threw landmines: Fish Who Doesn't Eat Cats, Dog's White Cat Master, Da La Beng Ba, Gu Zixiu, and Wan Wan Wan? 1;
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: My Aye QvQ, T 10 bottles; A Lemon 6 bottles; Rehe 5 bottles; Not Enough 2 bottles; Xiao Yang is Asleep, Gu Jiuqing, and Qingling 1 bottle;