Dugu Yan: I Feel Like an Incompetent Wife

"Call..."

Jiang Lan was curled up in a ball wrapped in a blanket, not wearing the Penguin Suit, but only a loose cotton shirt, her breathing long and even.

Doro nestled in his arms, occasionally kicking his short legs in his sleep, mumbling "doro" twice.

Just as the human and the soul were fast asleep, the door was gently pushed open a crack from the outside.

Three heads peeked in through the crack in the door, lined up from tallest to shortest, their eyes gleaming in the moonlight.

"Keep your voice down, he's asleep." Xiao Wu lowered her voice, pushed the door open halfway, and tiptoed inside.

"If he wakes up, we'll say we've entered the wrong room." Ning Rongrong lifted her skirt and followed behind.

"I was here first." Zhu Zhuqing was the last to enter, and she closed the door behind her.

The three girls walked to the bedside and looked at each other.

The bed wasn't small, but Jiang Lan and Doro had already taken up the center spot.

Without saying a word, Xiao Wu took off her shoes and crawled inside, lying against the wall to Jiang Lan's left, pulling half of the blanket over herself.

Not to be outdone, Ning Rongrong climbed onto the bed from the other side and pulled Jiang Lan closer to her.

Zhu Zhuqing hesitated for a second, then Xiao Wu grabbed her wrist and made her fall to the foot of the bed, where she could only lie on her side with her legs draped over the edge.

Jiang Lan seemed to sense something, turned over, and turned her chubby little face toward Xiao Wu, smacking her lips twice as if she were drinking milk in her dream.

Doro was pushed into Ning Rongrong's arms and rolled over, where she caught him. Ning Rongrong buried her face in the soft white fur and sighed contentedly.

With Jiang Lan as the center, the three girls hurriedly found their own spots and soon drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, just as dawn broke, Dugu Yan arrived at Honey Snow Ice City.

She pushed open the backyard gate, intending to go to the kitchen as usual to cook Jiang Lan a bowl of fish porridge, but stopped in front of Jiang Lan's room. The door was ajar, and she could hear a few long, steady breaths coming from inside, indicating that Jiang Lan was fast asleep.

Dugu Yan frowned, gently pushed open the door, and after just one glance, she froze on the spot as if she had been frozen in place.

A bunch of people were lying haphazardly on the bed.

Xiao Wu lay on her side at the innermost position, the blanket only covering her waist, with one leg pressed against the blanket.

Ning Rongrong hugged Doro, a smile on her face, as if she were having a sweet dream.

Zhu Zhuqing leaned against the foot of the bed, curled up on her side, with one hand resting on Jiang Lan's outstretched short leg.

Jiang Lan was surrounded in the center, her shirt disheveled, her hair sticking up like a bird's nest, and drool hanging from the corner of her mouth.

With one arm draped over Ning Rongrong's waist and the other resting beside Zhu Zhuqing, his sleeping posture was as unrestrained as that of a local tyrant with three palaces and six courtyards.

Doro was sandwiched between Ning Rongrong and Jiang Lan, his two short legs spread apart, belly up, and he was smacking his lips.

Dugu Yan stood at the door, her expression shifting from surprise to bewilderment, finally settling on an extremely complex and incomprehensible bitterness.

She didn't know why, but she had this absurd fantasy that a wife would open the bedroom door and catch her husband in bed with three little devils.

"Jiang Lan." Dugu Yan took a deep breath, her voice neither loud nor soft, yet carrying a chill that instantly cooled the warmth of the room.

Jiang Lan suddenly opened his eyes and met a pair of dark green eyes. The look in those eyes made him sit up in bed with a start.

"Yan... Sister Yan." Jiang Lan was completely dumbfounded when she saw the three women on the bed.

When did they arrive?

"You sure know how to enjoy yourself." Dugu Yan leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, a half-smile playing on her lips. "One person and one soul weren't enough to sleep with, so you managed to trick three girls into bed?"

"I didn't! They came on their own!" Jiang Lan quickly waved her hand, about to explain, Xiao Wu behind her was also woken up by the noise.

Xiao Wu rubbed her eyes sleepily and sat up. Seeing Dugu Yan at the door, she tilted her head and greeted her with a smile, "Good morning, Sister Yanyan."

Because of Jiang Lan, Xiao Wu and the others had a very good relationship with Dugu Yan; they were practically best friends.

"Good morning," Dugu Yan replied with a gentle smile, a smile so tender it sent chills down Jiang Lan's spine. "Did you sleep well?"

"It's great, Jiang Lan is so warm, like a little furnace," Xiao Wu said with a smile, completely unaware of the undercurrent in Dugu Yan's tone.

Ning Rongrong woke up too. She let go of Doro, stretched, and said softly, "Sister Yanyan, what brings you here?"

"I came to make breakfast for some little rascal, but I didn't expect to find the four of you sharing a bed." Dugu Yan looked at Ning Rongrong, her smile undiminished. "Rongrong, you are the young lady of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect School. Aren't you afraid your father will have something to say if word gets out that you're sleeping in the same bed with a six-year-old?"

Zhu Zhuqing looked at Dugu Yan with embarrassment, feeling as if she had been caught in the act.

Zhu Zhuqing didn't speak, but silently sat up, tucked her stray hair behind her ears, and her ears turned so red they looked like they were about to bleed.

She lowered her head, not daring to look into Dugu Yan's eyes, and pulled her long legs back from the edge of the bed, sitting upright as if she were being called on by the teacher in a school.

"Zhuqing, why are you copying their nonsense?" Dugu Yan deliberately softened her voice, but the end of her sentence rose slightly.

Zhu Zhuqing was silent for a moment before whispering, "Last night... I just felt cold."

Dugu Yan almost choked on her own breath. Cold?

Three girls are huddled together in the same bed as a six-year-old child—is it because they're cold?

Could this excuse be any worse?

Taking advantage of Dugu Yan's attention being focused on Zhu Zhuqing, Jiang Lan was about to sneak off the bed from the foot of the bed, but before she even reached the bedside, Dugu Yan grabbed her by the back of her collar.

"Where do you think you're going?" Dugu Yan lifted him into the air.

"I... I'm going to wash my face." Jiang Lan's two short legs flared in the air a couple of times, and a sweet smile spread across her face.

"Wash your face?" Dugu Yan pulled him in front of her, her dark green eyes narrowing slightly. "Then explain why, when I pushed the door open, you had Rongrong on your left, Zhuqing on your right, and Xiao Wu's leg draped over your arm. You were sleeping soundly."

"They came up here on their own! I was sleeping like a log and didn't know anything!" Jiang Lan struggled to protest her innocence, then turned to the three girls on the bed, "Tell me! Did you come up here on your own last night?"

"I went to the wrong room," Xiao Wu said seriously.

"I went the wrong way too." Ning Rongrong nodded in agreement.

Zhu Zhuqing didn't say anything, but lowered her head even further.

Dugu Yan sneered, "Three people went to the wrong room at the same time, and all of them went to the wrong room. It's like something out of a story."

Jiang Lan was about to cry. What kind of world is this? He was the one who was attacked at night, but it's like he committed some terrible crime.

"Sister Yanyan, it really wasn't my fault..." Jiang Lan called out softly, trying to get away with it by acting cute.