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For several days after Christmas, Cheng Xiaonan slept at Yu Qian’s place.
He even joked with Yu Qian, saying that since he had a significant stake in the hotel, they might as well connect the two rooms.
In fact, during Cheng Xiaonan’s stay, Yu Qian slept very well, rarely dreamt, and seldom woke up in the middle of the night.
After the lights were off at night, the hotel room was quiet, with only the sound of the wind blowing through the dry plane tree branches outside “Wutongli.”
The extra bed the hotel provided for Cheng Xiaonan was placed by the window in Yu Qian’s bedroom, less than a meter away from Yu Qian’s large double bed.
Whenever the lights were off, Cheng Xiaonan was still awake, lying or side-lying on the bed in a relaxed, languid posture, chatting with Yu Qian.
At these times, his voice had a peculiar depth, characteristic of before falling asleep, tinged with gentle laziness.
For several consecutive days, Yu Qian fell asleep to the sound of Cheng Xiaonan’s voice.
Initially, Cheng Xiaonan didn’t realize anything was amiss. He just jokingly told Yu Qian the next morning, “I find myself very soothing, don’t I? How come you fall asleep every night before I even finish talking?”
He realized something was wrong on New Year’s Day.
New Year’s Eve in the Imperial Capital was always extraordinarily lively. The Christmas decorations in major commercial districts hadn’t been removed yet, and a batch of small red New Year’s lanterns had been added.
The Christmas trees were lit, and the red lanterns were also lit, with giant screens on buildings flashing firework patterns.
They were still the same group from Christmas. A group of them drove two cars to the city for a sumptuous dinner.
During the meal, Sun Yue accidentally saw Yu Qian’s phone screensaver and immediately posted on her WeChat Moments:
“If I die one day, it must be from being choked by dog food.”
Cheng Xiaonan even liked this post.
After a night of clinking glasses, only Yu Qian and Peter were in Cheng Xiaonan’s car on the way back. Sun Yue, Shen Shen, and Ji Ran hitched a ride with them as they were on the way.
11 PM was not really late for young people, but Yu Qian was already starting to show signs of fatigue.
Cheng Xiaonan helped her adjust her seat to a more comfortable position and asked, “Sleepy again?”
Peter had a little too much to drink and spoke carelessly from the back seat, “Yu Qian, Xiaonan said you’ve been feeling sleepy lately? Could it be a lingering effect of that depression tendency you had?”
After Qu Liwen passed away, there was a period when Yu Qian was indeed not doing well.
However, Yu Qian had never mentioned this to Cheng Xiaonan.
Hearing Peter say this, she subconsciously looked up at Cheng Xiaonan.
His face was cut into different color blocks by the neon lights, and his eyelashes cast shadows, obscuring the emotions that should have been in his eyes, making his expression seem unreadable.
But she still saw Cheng Xiaonan’s smile slowly recede, his lips pressed into a straight line.
The car passed the toll booth and got on the highway. Peter, feeling the effects of the alcohol, gradually fell asleep.
Yu Qian reached out and poked Cheng Xiaonan.
He responded absentmindedly with a nasal sound, “Hmm?”
“It was around the time Qu Liwen passed away. For a while, I had trouble sleeping, and the doctor said it was just a tendency towards depression, not depression itself. Peter is exaggerating.”
Cheng Xiaonan held the steering wheel with one hand, squeezed Yu Qian’s hand, and sought her permission, “Old Cheng has a wide network. Let him contact a doctor, just to get a brief check-up?”
If it were Yu Qian herself, she would just brush it off and definitely not go to the hospital.
But Cheng Xiaonan was clearly worried. She thought about it and didn’t refuse, only asking him if it would be too much trouble for his father to find someone and that normal hospital registration would be fine.
“No trouble at all. How could my future daughter-in-law ask him for a favor and he find it troublesome?”
Since they were on the highway, Cheng Xiaonan couldn’t keep holding Yu Qian’s hand. He finally gave her a squeeze, then withdrew his hand to hold the steering wheel. “I’ll go with you.”
After New Year’s Day, the matter of taking Yu Qian for a check-up was put on the agenda.
On the morning of their departure, Cheng Xiaonan was even more nervous than Yu Qian.
When Old Cheng called, Cheng Xiaonan went to the balcony to answer, out of Yu Qian’s earshot.
He frowned, looking out at the bare plane trees and straight street. “Dad, why am I so nervous?”
“It’s just a check-up. Why are you nervous? Spineless. Don’t let my daughter-in-law hear you, or she’ll look down on you.”
Old Cheng paused for a few seconds, then lectured seriously, “A man must be steadfast. Don’t panic over every little thing. Suppose, and I mean suppose, something truly is wrong, you have to be the calming force to reassure Yu Qian. You’re already panicking before even going to the hospital, what’s a girl supposed to do?”
Cheng Xiaonan understood the道理 (dàolǐ - reasoning), but when it concerned Yu Qian’s health, he really couldn’t be flippant. He said in a low voice, “The last time you were so eager to contact a doctor was when my mom was sick...”
“Your mother had a terminal illness, what are you thinking! Quick, spit, spit, spit.”
Cheng Xiaonan suddenly laughed, “Old Cheng, you’re done for. How dare you spit on my mom?”
“I didn’t! Hang up! You little rascal.”
His anxiety and worry were hidden. On the way, Cheng Xiaonan was still like usual, bantering and telling jokes to Yu Qian:
“Back in college, there was a student from the fine arts academy next door. The teacher asked him to draw a landscape, and the guy spent a whole day outside drawing two towers.
It turned out that when he submitted his assignment, those two towers weren’t some ancient ruins, but the buildings of the city’s crematorium.”
As he spoke, he seemed to remember something and asked Yu Qian, “Since we’re already out, how about we go for hot pot tonight?”
“Okay.”
They spent an entire day at the hospital, Yu Qian getting every possible test.
The weather outside was cold. Cheng Xiaonan carried Yu Qian’s bag and sat with her on a long bench in the hospital corridor, waiting for the results.
Feeling his phone vibrate, he pulled out his own phone and glanced at it, the screen was black.
It was Yu Qian’s phone ringing, no name saved.
Cheng Xiaonan wasn’t trying to pry, he just asked casually, “Who is it?”
Yu Qian took her phone and looked at it, “Han Chu.”
Cheng Xiaonan, holding a can of soda, wrinkled his nose and “tsk”ed at the mention of Han Chu’s name, then popped open the soda can with one hand.
Han Chu would contact Yu Qian occasionally. Although the childhood affection between them had long worn thin, she was still polite and had never said anything excessive.
But today Han Chu questioned Cheng Xiaonan. He asked over the phone, “Are you really dating a younger man? Qianqian, Aunt Qu isn’t here, I need to remind you, you...”
Cheng Xiaonan and Yu Qian were close enough that he could naturally hear what Han Chu was saying.
But Han Chu was part of Yu Qian’s social circle, so he had to respect Yu Qian and couldn’t say anything. He just dug his ear, finding the voice on the phone noisy, and incidentally squeezed the soda can in displeasure.
He thought, ‘What the hell are you talking about?’
But Yu Qian didn’t calmly listen this time as she usually did.
She even seemed more impatient than him, frowning, and suddenly interrupted the person on the phone, “Han Chu, whether Qu Liwen is here or not, it’s not your place to give so-called reminders. Our relationship is nowhere near good enough for that.”
Cheng Xiaonan, who was drinking soda beside her, paused the aluminum can at his lips, a smile spreading across his face. He happily gave Yu Qian a thumbs up.
“Qianqian, you...”
Yu Qian grew increasingly impatient, “My matters are none of your business. Don’t call me again.”
She hung up and turned her head. Cheng Xiaonan was happily drinking his soda.
She asked him, “What are you smiling about?”
“Nothing.”
Cheng Xiaonan playfully bumped Yu Qian with his elbow. “He’s giving you friendly advice, worried that I’m younger than you and unreliable.”
Yu Qian uncharacteristically spoke a long passage.
She said in a cold tone that whether a person is mature and reliable has nothing to do with age; some people are still childish at 60, just wearing a wrinkled skin, relying on their age, saying they’ve eaten more salt than any young person has walked roads.
Han Chu had read so many books, didn’t he understand such a simple truth?
After speaking, she raised her hand to Cheng Xiaonan, “Cola.”
Cheng Xiaonan pulled out a can of oolong tea from his down jacket pocket. “Drink this. I bought it from the heated display, it’s still warm.”
________________________________________
Close to 4 PM, Yu Qian’s test results finally came out.
Fortunately, it was just a false alarm.
The doctor Old Cheng found, wearing a white coat, looked through all the reports and analyzed, “It might be that her nerves have been too tense for so many years, and now that she’s suddenly relaxed, those feelings of fatigue are only surfacing afterwards, causing her to feel sleepy. There’s nothing serious.”
________________________________________
In the middle, Yu Qian went to the restroom. When she returned, she heard Cheng Xiaonan bargaining with the doctor by the door—
“Dr. Lin, is she really okay?”
“I’ve told you many times she’s fine, don’t worry, young man. If you’re really worried, you can go to a traditional Chinese medicine doctor and get some tranquilizing herbal medicine.”
“Traditional Chinese medicine? It’s so bitter. Is there any sweet tranquilizing herbal medicine?”
Dr. Lin said helplessly, “It’s medicine, not a drink.”
Yu Qian stood by the door, a faint smile on her lips.
________________________________________
Entering January, a light snow fell, and the weather turned colder. Cheng Xiaonan still lingered in Yu Qian’s room, sleeping on the temporarily added single bed every night.
After all, they were adults, and there were occasional moments when things almost went too far.
The night before, Cheng Xiaonan and Yu Qian were kissing on the double bed, almost losing control, but he was the one who stopped first.
The room was very warm from the heating, and their pajamas weren’t thick, just ordinary silk ones.
Yu Qian could feel his reaction in a certain area, but this younger man generously returned to his own single bed and said goodnight.
Yu Qian was a little suspicious. Was Cheng Xiaonan really this innocent?
Why hadn’t she noticed it before?
________________________________________
The next afternoon, Yu Qian had no work and was resting in her room when a hotel staff member knocked, saying there was a delivery for her.
Yu Qian wasn’t used to online shopping. She asked for the recipient’s name, and it really was hers.
It wasn’t a large cardboard box, and shaking it didn’t reveal what was inside.
Yu Qian went to the kitchen to find scissors and opened the package. Inside were two individually packaged small boxes, branded with the name of a famous birth control product.
________________________________________
“Mr. Cheng, your delivery has arrived. I’ve placed it in the meeting room for you.”
Cheng Xiaonan nodded his thanks, pushed open the meeting room door, and saw a huge cardboard box on the table. He immediately frowned, pulled out Shen Shen’s WeChat, and sent him a voice message: “I asked you to order it for me, did you buy this much?”
“Not much, is 16 pieces a lot?”
Shen Shen replied quickly, with a mischievous grin, “You’ll know when you try it. 16 pieces, they’ll be used up quickly.”
Cheng Xiaonan hadn’t used condoms before. Staring at the half-meter-tall box in front of him, he wondered:
16 pieces, such a large packaging box?
When he opened it, he realized it was the LEGO he had ordered, not “that.”
Shen Shen had already pushed the door open, a little too eager, “How is it, boss, are you satisfied? I’ve observed carefully, among all the brands we’ve used, this one is the best...”
Cheng Xiaonan made a stopping gesture, “Not that, it’s LEGO.”
“Huh? No way, it shows signed for on my end.”
Shen Shen said, then slapped his head, “No, I didn’t send it to the company, I sent it to the hotel. I’m so reliable with things, how could I possibly send such personal items to the company for you...”
Hearing him say that, Cheng Xiaonan’s eyelids suddenly twitched. He asked exasperatedly, “Which room number did you put down?”
“Of course, it’s 6602. You’re staying in Yu Qian’s room now, right? Who would receive it if it was sent to 6603?”
“...Whose name did you leave?”
“Yu Qian’s, of course.”
Cheng Xiaonan took a deep breath and called Yu Qian, “Sister, did you receive a delivery today? There’s a package of mine that was sent to your room...”
“I received it.”
Yu Qian’s voice sounded very open. “It had my name on it, I opened it. Two boxes, 0.01 ultra-thin lubricated type.”
Cheng Xiaonan’s ears felt a little hot, but he felt that on such a matter, he couldn’t be more awkward than his girlfriend. He forced himself to remain calm and said, “Good that you received it.”
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