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Psst! We're moving!
Most of the creative inspiration for that little mermaid cake came from Yu Jingxin. The family group chat discussed it until 12:30 in the morning.
Ji Qingyuan didn’t say a word the entire time, but he didn’t miss a single message.
Yu Jingxin had never been this invested in him—or in their family.
Of course, half of that had to do with him.
It was only in the past two years, after they moved back to Beijing, that they shared a bed and lived under the same roof.
The first two years of their marriage, they were in different cities, even different countries. The longest stretch they didn’t see or contact each other was seven months.
That period happened to be between Lunar New Year and Mid-Autumn Festival, sparing them from dealing with family elders.
Before they met, he’d had a girlfriend.
And she had someone in her heart, too.
Later, their marriage turned into something half-dead and barely functioning.
Fu Jichen came over, flaunting the ring on his finger.
Ji Qingyuan pulled himself out of his thoughts.
Yu Shaohong and Yu Jingze were still busy—inflating helium balloons themselves.
Colorful balloons of all kinds gently floated around the room.
Fu Jichen said to Ji Qingyuan, “Let Yu Dong know—I’m a grown man, there’s no need to decorate just for my birthday.” Especially not with these bright, flashy balloons.
Ji Qingyuan glanced at him, “Don’t flatter yourself. Those are for my kid.”
Fu Jichen: “…”
He picked up his teacup and drank a few sips, trying to mask his embarrassment.
Ji Qingyuan’s eyes drifted back to his son.
The baby was looking up, eyes wide open, fixated on those colorful, magical balloons.
Yu Jingxin occasionally teased him, covering his eyes with her hand, then quickly uncovering them.
The child laughed with delight.
Ji Qingyuan suddenly asked, “Which do you think is easier: pursuing a woman who already has someone in her heart, or one like Yu Qing, who doesn’t seem to have a heart at all?”
Fu Jichen ran his fingers along the rim of his teacup. Instinctively, his eyes went to Yu Jingxin. The woman with someone in her heart—he assumed—was her.
As for which was easier?
Fu Jichen asked him back, “Did your investment professor ever ask this in class: If you had a bag of seeds, would you sow them on a completely barren field, or on an overgrown, weedy patch of land?”
A weedy patch, if it can grow weeds, it can grow crops.
But too many weeds will steal nutrients, weakening the crops. If you want a good harvest, you have to work hard to clear the weeds. It takes patience.
A barren field might turn out to be fertile soil—leading to a bumper harvest. A limit-up stock.
Or it could be a salt-alkali wasteland where nothing grows. Limit-down.
Total loss.
Fu Jichen said, “Neither is easy.”
Ji Qingyuan clinked his glass against Fu Jichen’s without another word.
At the dining table, Yu Qing was nibbling on fruit before dinner.
She hunched over her plate, picking off blueberries one by one with her mouth.
Yu Jingze sat down beside her. “Can’t you eat with a little more grace?” He handed her a toothpick.
Yu Qing ignored him and kept eating from her plate.
She asked, “How come Fu Jichen and Ji Qingyuan are getting along so well? They’ve been talking all night.”
Yu Jingze replied, “Kindred spirits in misery.”
Yu Qing thought over that sentence. “They already have a kid, and Ji Qingyuan still hasn’t been officially accepted?”
Yu Jingze wasn’t sure about the details. “Maybe.”
Yu Qing whispered, “Did Ji Qingyuan do something to hurt my sister?”
Yu Jingze took a bite of fruit too. “As far as I know, no.”
Yu Qing nodded, still puzzled. “My sister was willing to marry him, willing to have a child, but refuses to accept him as a husband. That must be such a twisted life.”
She couldn’t even imagine it.
Married life, in her mind, had to be mutually enjoyable.
Just a few days ago when she was mad, she didn’t want any intimacy with Fu Jichen either—it affected her quality of life.
Yu Jingze said, “I can’t ask too much, but maybe you’ll get a chance to talk to her. I only know the early part. As for why she suddenly decided to have a child, that’s still a mystery.”
He had asked Yu Jingxin, but she brushed him off.
Yu Qing still remembered their wedding. “Ji Qingyuan’s vows were so moving. My sister cried, and so many people at the wedding were touched.”
She had thought they’d slowly develop feelings for each other after that.
But the last time she went shopping and bumped into Yu Jingxin, her sister said she and Ji Qingyuan hardly talked. Yu Qing had thought that even if they didn’t speak much, at least their hearts were in sync. After all, they had a child.
Who would’ve thought that after four years of marriage, they were worse than strangers.
Yu Jingze said, “The problem started with the wedding vows.”
“Huh?”
Yu Qing didn’t get it.
“Jingxin said that the vows Ji Qingyuan gave at the wedding—he meant them for someone else.”
Yu Jingze rubbed his brow, helpless.
Yu Qing set down her fruit plate. “See, I’ve got it good. I don’t need to worry about who he used to love, or if he only loves me. I don’t have to be suspicious about whether he’s thinking of someone else. With that time, I can make a lot of money, buy perfume, and travel everywhere.”
Yu Jingze said, “That’s because you’ve never loved. Your emotions don’t run as deep. You can’t understand the pain that comes from love—and you can’t feel the happiness it brings, either.”
Yu Qing stared at him. Since when was he a love expert?
Yu Jingze stood up. “Dad sent me a message in the middle of the night once. Probably drunk and meant to send it to you, but picked the wrong contact and sent it to me.”
Yu Qing: “…”
The food was ready, and everyone took their seats.
Yu Jingxin sat beside their father, with several seats between her and Ji Qingyuan.
Ji Qingyuan looked at her, but she didn’t spare him a glance.
Yu Qing walked over to sit beside Fu Jichen but, to spare her brother-in-law’s feelings, moved to the other side of her father, diagonally across from Fu Jichen.
Fu Jichen could see Yu Qing from where he was seated; the seating arrangement wasn’t bad at all.
Yu Jingze lit the candles and gestured to Fu Jichen, “Make a wish.”
Fu Jichen never believed in such things, but today he made one anyway, not just silently, but out loud: “I hope next year, I can celebrate my birthday here again.”
A simple wish, yet not necessarily one that would come true.
Everyone looked at Yu Qing—only she could decide if this wish would be fulfilled.
Yu Qing said softly, “You only think about good things. Let me tell you, if you celebrate your birthday again next year, the QR code on the cake will have to be a real one.”
She turned to look at Grandpa Yu. “Grandpa, next year, just make a QR code that requires a payment of two hundred million. That way, it can cover my living expenses for the whole year.”
Yu Jingze took out the candles and said to Fu Jichen, “Don’t worry about your card’s payment limit. Get a card from our family bank, and they’ll raise your payment limit to two hundred million.”
Everyone laughed.
Fu Jichen was satisfied—the wish was coming true. He started cutting the cake.
The whole meal was cheerful and harmonious.
At ten o’clock, they dispersed.
The baby was sound asleep, held gently in Ji Qingyuan’s arms, covered by a windproof baby blanket. He worried it might affect his son’s breathing, so he pinched a corner of the blanket to leave a small gap.
The car drove right up to the villa’s doorstep.
Yu Jingxin gave up sitting in the front passenger seat and sat in the back with Ji Qingyuan.
She rarely shared such a confined space with him.
Tonight he had come after some social engagement; she thanked him, “Thank you for tonight.”
Ji Qingyuan didn’t respond.
After a moment of silence—
“In a little over a month, it’s my birthday.”
Yu Jingxin: “Hmm. When that time comes, if you’re going home, tell me in advance. I’ll make time and go back with you.”
Ji Qingyuan was indifferent about birthdays. “If I don’t go to my parents’ place this year, we’ll just celebrate simply at home—just the two of us.”
Yu Jingxin looked at him but didn’t know what to say. Her gaze fell to their son.
At the villa, Yu Qing and Fu Jichen were preparing to leave as well.
Yu Qing packed the little mermaid chocolates carefully; they were delicate, and she didn’t dare eat them. She planned to keep them in the fridge as a keepsake.
Fu Jichen knew the mermaid cake and the ring were all ideas from the Yu family, but in the end, Yu Qing was willing to give them to him, and that was enough.
The car started.
Yu Qing stuck her head out the window, waving to Grandpa and Grandma, then made a heart sign to her father.
As the car left the old courtyard, she closed the window.
Fu Jichen asked about Yu Shaohong privately, “Does Chairman Yu not talk much at home?”
“Not much. Today he managed to control himself and played with the balloons quietly. He’s careful not to open his mouth, afraid that if he does, he’d start talking about the rental fees for the business hall.”
“…”
Yu Qing lowered the car window’s sunshade, straddled Fu Jichen’s lap, and pointed to her sore shoulder, “Boss Fu, my fishbone is hurting. Give me a massage.”
Fu Jichen pulled her into his arms, holding her shoulders gently and massaging them. “What’s with those balloons? Why do you have to pull them all down one by one?”
After dinner, Ji Qingyuan’s son was asleep.
She started playing with the balloons.
On tiptoes, stretching as far as she could.
About forty or fifty balloons, she pulled them all down, tied them together with ribbons, hooked them on her wrist, then walked around the living room.
Anyone unaware would think she was selling balloons.
Fu Jichen was puzzled, “What’s so fun about balloons?”
Yu Qing: “I’m not playing with balloons. I’m just killing time. You two were chatting, and I was afraid if I joined, I’d ruin the atmosphere. After all, together you can’t outtalk me.”
“Oh, by the way,” she asked, “Did you praise me in front of my family?”
Fu Jichen: “No chance. They’ve been complaining about you and feeling sorry for me. When they said those things, I actually felt pretty pitiful.”
Yu Qing laughed and put her arms around his neck. “What’s pitiful about you? You have someone as interesting as me. Pretty, smart, not clingy, capable, funny, and makes money.”
Fu Jichen interrupted: “Caption: ‘Xiaoyu’s mouth, a lying ghost.’”
Yu Qing laughed, covering his mouth to stop him from talking.
Fu Jichen kissed her palm.
Laughing and teasing, the car turned onto the road leading to their apartment.
Both of them suddenly remembered one thing—they needed to go to the pharmacy.
Fu Jichen raised the sunshade and told the driver to stop at the entrance.
After their brief breakup, Yu Qing had thrown away the contraceptive pills when she moved. Now, they had to buy more.
Getting out of the car, Fu Jichen sent the driver away and walked back home with Yu Qing.
At the pharmacy, Yu Qing went straight to the shelf and grabbed her usual pills. Fu Jichen picked up a few boxes of condoms. At checkout, their eyes met.
In front of the cashier, neither said a word.
Since they got back together, she had been taking pills to avoid various troubles and worries. She didn’t plan to marry or have children.
Back home, Yu Qing put the mermaid chocolates in the fridge and went to take a shower.
She was used to living here, so everything was familiar.
Even the smell in the bedroom was calming.
Fu Jichen smoked a cigarette downstairs, then took a shower there as well.
He took the pills and condoms they just bought upstairs.
Yu Qing just came out of the bathroom, barefoot, wearing Fu Jichen’s bathrobe since there were no clothes of hers there. She was wrapped up in it.
Fu Jichen closed the door.
She stood still and tied up her hair.
Fu Jichen placed the pills and condoms on the bedside table. He stared at the pill bottle for a few seconds; the sight annoyed him so much he shoved it into the drawer.
“Boss Fu, your floor is so cold, my feet are numb; I can’t walk.”
Fu Jichen looked back and said, “The floor heating is on.”
Yu Qing waited for him to come over and hug her. “Looks like your feet really have problems—already can’t tell hot from cold.”
Fu Jichen: “It’s not your feet. It’s your heart that’s bad.”
Yu Qing laughed. After tying her hair, she reached out, “Hug me. It’s been a while. I can’t find the way to bed. Afraid I’d get lost.”
Fu Jichen unbuttoned his shirt. “Don’t worry. You won’t get lost. Even with your eyes half-closed, you’d find it. Just keep walking forward. When you bump into something and can’t go further, that’s the bed.”
Yu Qing: “…”
Saying that, Fu Jichen walked over in a few steps, bent down, and lifted her up.
Yu Qing loved his strength and the feeling of security in his princess carry.
Fu Jichen lowered his eyes to look at her. “Don’t wear my bathrobe anymore. It covers up all your beautiful parts.”
Yu Qing rubbed her nose against his chin. “Boss Fu, you’re so shallow. My most beautiful part is my interesting soul, isn’t it?”
“At a time like this, if you still have time to think about how beautiful your soul is, you probably have kidney problems.”
“…”
Fu Jichen put her on the bed.
Yu Qing lifted her leg and placed her foot on his shoulder. “Are my feet cold or hot?”
Fu Jichen took her feet down and put them on the bed. She bent her legs, and he stood by the bed, gently pressing her feet, then lowered his head and kissed her.
Yu Qing shivered.
She forgot whether her feet were hot or cold.
She grabbed his pillow to distract herself from the passion he gave her.
Their lovemaking made them temporarily forget about the beauty of the soul.
After some time, it felt like a gust of wind gently lifted her up to the clouds.
She unconsciously stiffened her feet.
Yu Qing opened her eyes to find Fu Jichen quietly watching her, his arms supporting her on both sides.
She touched his arm; it was firm and well-shaped.
A bead of sweat on Fu Jichen’s forehead fell right into her eyes.
This was the third time that night.
It had been a long time since they were so wild.
Yu Qing turned her face to the side. There was no water on the bedside table.
“Get me a glass of water. I need to take my pills.”
No matter how tired or sleepy she was, she never forgot to take her medicine.
Fu Jichen suggested, “Don’t take them anymore. I used a condom tonight.”
Yu Qing shook her head. “Condoms aren’t completely safe either. There’s still risk.”
“Taking too many pills isn’t good for your body.”
“It’s okay. Besides,” Yu Qing paused and said, “Didn’t you know from the start I never wanted to have kids?”
Fu Jichen was slightly silent. “What if… I mean, what if someday you might fall in love with me and want a child?”
Yu Qing met his eyes. “Having a child isn’t just about giving birth. I won’t marry, so I can’t give him a complete family. I won’t have a child just so I won’t be lonely when I’m old. Besides, I don’t know how to love others, let alone such a tiny child.”
Fu Jichen caressed her cheek. “It’s okay if you don’t know how to love. I’ll love him, and then teach him how to love his mom.”
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