The moment he opened his mouth, that cute vibe vanished into thin air. Lin Aiyun rolled her eyes and stomped on his foot hard, breaking free from his grip. She sat on the edge of the bed and slipped on her slippers, tying up her long hair as she urged him: “Hurry up and put some clothes on.”
Xiao Cheng half-reclined against the headboard, leaned over, and pulled out a pack of cigarettes from the drawer. He took one out and put it between his lips, ready to strike a match and light up—when he was stopped.
“Hey, what are you doing? Aren’t we trying for a baby? Smoking is bad for the baby!” Lin Aiyun turned around and caught him in the act, immediately speaking up.
Hearing this for the first time, Xiao Cheng froze for a moment, then quickly spat out the cigarette and tossed the pack back into the drawer. “Sorry, I didn’t know. I won’t smoke anymore.”
How would a young man like him know about such things? Even Lin Aiyun herself only found out in her later life through the country’s extensive public health campaigns. So she didn’t blame Xiao Cheng for it now. But hearing him say he’d never smoke again, she couldn’t help teasing: “Quitting smoking isn’t something you can do overnight, you know.”
Xiao Cheng furrowed his brows, his tone serious: “If I’m determined to quit, I definitely can.”
With that, his gaze fell on Lin Aiyun’s graceful figure. She was standing on tiptoe, reaching for clothes on the top shelf of the wardrobe, her arms stretched out to reveal her beautiful shoulder blades. Below that was her slender, supple waist and her full, rounded curves.
The way she swayed when she moved could be the death of him.
For some reason, the hauntingly seductive scene from last night in the car flashed through his mind, and Xiao Cheng’s eyes darkened slightly. But he didn’t forget to ask what was on his mind: “Isn’t the baby already in your belly? Why would my smoking be bad for the baby?”
Hearing this, Lin Aiyun didn’t turn around. She found her bellyband, slipped it on, and deftly tied the straps behind her back with practiced ease. After a moment’s thought, she asked: “You do know roughly how a baby is made, right?”
When she heard Xiao Cheng’s grunt of acknowledgment, she continued: “To put it simply, you provide the seed, and I provide the soil. Only when the two combine does a baby come about.”
“Smoking itself isn’t a good thing. Prolonged smoking has a major impact on the body—it kills the seeds, reduces their quantity and quality, and can even make them malformed. If the seed is poor, then the child will most likely be poor too.”
“But I always have a lot,” Xiao Cheng cut in with a dead-serious face, like he was desperate to prove his point. “You know that best, don’t you, babe?”
Lin Aiyun: “…”
“You’ve only been smoking for how long? In a few years, you’ll understand. And don’t interrupt me!” She almost forgot where she was in her explanation.
Xiao Cheng: “…Go on, babe.”
“Anyway, smoking is extremely bad for a man in that department. And if you smoke in front of me, it harms my body too. Think about it—all those toxic fumes are getting inhaled by me. That’s definitely not good for my health.”
“And if we do conceive a child someday, and the baby is in my belly… without a good environment to grow in, how could the child be healthy? Right?”
“It’s not just smoking—long-term drinking, staying up late… all of those things follow the same logic.”
By the time she finished this long speech, Lin Aiyun had fully dressed. Noticing that Xiao Cheng had remained silent, she turned around to see him with his head lowered, deep in thought. She couldn’t help but laugh: “What’s wrong with you?”
“How do you know all this so clearly?” At that question, Lin Aiyun’s heart gave a jolt. She guiltily averted her gaze. Before she could come up with a plausible excuse, she heard Xiao Cheng sigh: “Babe, no wonder you spent so long in the Liu family—you really know a lot.”
“And it turns out it’s bad for you too… Good thing I rarely smoked in front of you before.”
“From now on, you’ll supervise my quitting, okay? We should go to bed earlier at night too—can’t carry on like before. As for drinking, I’m not addicted, I just have a glass now and then with friends or elders. That should be fine… Actually, forget it—I’ll try to avoid it altogether.”
Seeing that Xiao Cheng had conveniently found an excuse for her, Lin Aiyun breathed a sigh of relief. She pulled out his clothes from the wardrobe, walked over to the bed with them, and smiled: “It’s great that you’re determined. Haha, so from now on, every time you smoke, you get fined.”
“That’s not much of a deterrent—the fine comes out of my own money anyway. How about a different punishment?” Xiao Cheng wrapped an arm around her waist and buried his face in her chest, looking up at her like a big puppy.
“Then how about copying ‘If I smoke again, I’m a turtle bastard’ a hundred times, and no sleeping in the house for a week.”
“The first one’s fine, but let’s skip the second one.”
“No sleeping in the house for a week and a half.”
“How about…”
“No sleeping in the house for two weeks.”
Xiao Cheng fell silent, pitifully pinching her waist in a thoroughly appeasing manner.
“What, you can’t do it? You’re going to sneak smokes behind my back?” Lin Aiyun wasn’t buying his act. She raised an eyebrow and deliberately put on a cold face, which scared Xiao Cheng into immediately pledging his loyalty: “Of course not! How could I touch something that’s harmful to you and the baby? I didn’t know before, but now that I do—if I still touched it, would I even be human?”
“That’s more like it.” Lin Aiyun tossed the clothes at him. “Hurry up and get dressed. Let’s go to the kitchen and eat.”
How could Xiao Cheng possibly refuse?
He stood up and pulled on his underwear. Lin Aiyun glanced over, then quietly looked away.
The two of them got ready and headed to the kitchen. The open space in front of the door had been completely transformed—now enclosed by a fence made of bamboo, it actually looked quite authentic, giving off a charming pastoral vibe.
Zhang Wenhua was busy planting scallion seedlings inside, occasionally directing Lin Jianzhi to repair the fence. It was a picture of peaceful, idyllic domesticity.
“Dad, Mom.” Lin Aiyun spotted them from afar. She let go of Xiao Cheng’s hand and trotted over, leaning against the waist-high fence to call out to them.
“You’re up? We left breakfast for you in the pot—go eat.” Hearing her voice, Zhang Wenhua turned around and, seeing it was Lin Aiyun, broke into a smile. “What time did you two get back last night? We were sound asleep and didn’t hear a thing.”
“We had some things to take care of last night, so we got back a bit late. But we already ate at Uncle Zhang’s house, don’t worry.” Lin Aiyun changed the subject awkwardly. “You guys worked fast! You got the whole fence up in just one day?”
“Of course! That’s all your father’s doing. He had nothing better to do, so it worked out perfectly.” Zhang Wenhua happily gestured toward Lin Jianzhi with her chin. The latter scratched the back of his neck a little sheepishly—this was nothing special; in the village, every man was expected to have these skills.
“Xiao Cheng.”
“Dad, Mom.” Xiao Cheng walked over to stand beside Lin Aiyun, exchanged greetings with them, and chatted for a bit before heading into the kitchen. Knowing they hadn’t eaten yet, he saw that plenty of breakfast was still warm in the pot—ready to be served straight out.
Xiao Cheng didn’t let Lin Aiyun lift a finger. He couldn’t be bothered to go to the dining room either, so he brought everything directly to the small table by the stove. The two of them sat on little stools and quickly finished their meal.
Knowing they were going to deliver invitations, Zhang Wenhua gave Lin Aiyun a few more pieces of advice on social etiquette before letting them leave.
Their first stop was Xiao Cheng’s maternal grandparents’ house. Like the Xiao family, the Ma family was also an old, established clan that had weathered the war years. They had been based in Shanghai for a long time before relocating to the capital.
Xiao Cheng’s mother was a proper young lady who had studied abroad—progressive-minded, strikingly beautiful, and famously renowned in Shanghai. The number of young gentlemen and heirs pursuing her was so great they could have lined up from the north bank of the river to the south.
Her family had originally arranged a match for her with an outstanding young man who had also returned from overseas. But right at that critical moment, Xiao Cheng’s mother happened to meet his father—and it was love at first sight, then love at second glance.
She was dead set on marrying that rough, uneducated soldier who knew nothing but fighting and could barely read a handful of characters. But parents rarely win against their children in the end, and though they disapproved, they were eventually worn down into agreement.
In truth, the key factor was that aside from his “lack of education,” Xiao Cheng’s father was impressive in every other way—otherwise, he wouldn’t have won the beauty’s heart so quickly.
Later, after Xiao Cheng’s father was injured and stepped down from the front lines, he took up the family business and lived a harmonious, happy life with his wife. But good times don’t last forever—Xiao Cheng’s mother died in childbirth, and his father would have followed her if not for the two little ones still crying for care. So he endured.
Yet pining for his lost love, compounded by old war injuries, eventually claimed his life too.
The Xiao family was left with only Xiao Cheng and Xiao Juan. But with such vast family wealth at stake, the collateral relatives were circling like vultures. If not for the Ma family’s behind-the-scenes protection, they would have been picked clean long ago.
Fortunately, Xiao Cheng was capable in his own right. Despite his youth, he quickly took full control of all the Xiao family’s businesses—both the legitimate ones and those in the shadows. He didn’t let a single one slip through his fingers.
So the Xiao and Ma families remained very close.
In her previous life, Lin Aiyun had heard that one of Xiao Cheng’s aunts and one of his uncles had both participated in the revolution—the aunt as a military doctor, and the uncle as a soldier who now held an important position in the People’s Liberation Army. Both had even met the future top leader in person.
But by that time, they had already passed away, so she never had the chance to meet them. She had no idea whether they were easy to get along with now.
“How do I look?” Lin Aiyun touched the strands of hair at her temples, asking for what felt like the hundredth time.
Zhou Jin was driving today, while Xiao Cheng sat beside her in the back seat. Upon hearing her question, he gave her a thorough, serious once-over and answered sincerely: “You look beautiful. Grandfather and Grandmother will definitely love you.”
Seeing that Xiao Cheng didn’t seem to be just brushing her off, Lin Aiyun let out a small sigh of relief. She turned to look at the driver’s seat. “Zhou Jin, what do you think?”
Zhou Jin instinctively glanced up at the rearview mirror. Not knowing what to say, he could only nod emphatically.
Having received approval from both people present, the heavy stone in Lin Aiyun’s heart finally settled back into place. And so, with butterflies in her stomach, the car came to a stop in front of a large mansion.
No sooner had the car fully stopped than two people standing at the gate came running over. They clearly recognized Xiao Cheng’s car—one opened the door for them while the other helped carry things, all with great enthusiasm.
The estate was much larger than the Xiao family’s. Since the whole family lived here together without moving out, everywhere she looked along the way, she could sense the liveliness of a bustling household.
As they walked forward, a little “short radish” suddenly charged out from around the corner and crashed straight into Lin Aiyun’s legs.
Leave a Reply