Chapter 114: Buying Pillows
Chapter 114: Buying Pillows
Li Xiaomei snuggled in her quilt, staring eagerly at Li Zian, waiting for him to tell her a bedtime story.
Li Zian flipped through the stories Tang Qing had organized for him and decided to tell her the story of the carp leaping over the dragon gate. But before he could speak, his little cotton-padded jacket said one thing to him.
“Dad, I didn’t tell Mom about how Teacher Tang cried on your shoulder,” Li Xiaomei said.
Li Zian froze for a moment, and in his mind, he had a hunch that this little one was about to ask him for candy.
“So, shouldn’t you reward your good daughter?” Li Xiaomei asked instead.
Li Zian pretended not to understand and played along by asking, “Yaoyao, what reward do you want?”
Li Xiaomei blinked her eyes and said, “Chocolate…”
Li Zian frowned.
“Eating sweets at night is bad for teeth; I don’t want chocolate after all,” Li Xiaomei immediately changed her words.
Li Zian smiled and patted Li Xiaomei’s head, praising her, “Yes, Xiaomei is growing up and becoming sensible.”
“But you still have to reward me.”
“Okay, besides candy, what do you want?”
“I want Dad to sleep with me,” Li Xiaomei put on a pitiful expression, “I’m already three years old, and you’ve never slept with me before.”
Li Zian laughed and said, “Then Dad will sleep with you.”
His daughter was already over three years old, and he, as her father, had never slept with her. He actually wanted to cuddle his little cotton-padded jacket too. As soon as Li Xiaomei said that, he took off his shoes and crawled into her bed. However, her bed was a child’s bed, so he couldn’t stretch his legs and had to curl up.
Li Xiaomei snuggled into Li Zian’s arms, her little face beaming with happiness.
Li Zian started telling the story of the carp leaping over the dragon gate. Before he could finish the story, Li Xiaomei fell asleep.
He stayed in the bed for a while, but it was too uncomfortable curled up, so he reluctantly let go of Li Xiaomei, put on his shoes, and left her room. When he reached the staircase, he heard Yu Meilin and Tang Qing talking in the living room.
“You have to be strong. Women need to learn to be strong. Happiness is something you fight for yourself. From now on, this home is your home. You can stay in the guest room and don’t need to go back to the place you rented,” Yu Meilin said.
“Thank you, Sister Meilin, but this isn’t good. I’ll just stay here tonight. If needed, I can stay here later, but staying here all the time isn’t right,” Tang Qing said.
Li Zian also thought it wasn’t good. If Tang Qing stayed here permanently, the guest room would be right next to his room, and the risk of being discovered if he went out at night to check on the renovation next door would be even greater.
He intended to go downstairs, but he also wanted to hear what Yu Meilin would say, so he quietly stood there.
Yu Meilin said, “Alright, you can stay wherever you want; this door is always open for you. By the way, your Brother Zian said he wants to invite you to work part-time at his studio. Are you interested?”
“I am, but my main job is still teaching Xiaomei. Don’t worry, Sister Meilin, I won’t let the part-time job affect Xiaomei’s lessons.”
“You’ve taught Xiaomei very well, and I’ve never doubted that. When you work part-time at the studio, keep an eye on your Brother Zian. He’s too honest; you need to remind him when necessary so he doesn’t get cheated or used by others,” Yu Meilin said.
Li Zian smiled bitterly. To him, it sounded a bit like she wanted Tang Qing to guard against Mu Chuntao.
If you had become a real couple with me earlier, would we be in such an awkward situation now?
But putting himself in her shoes, he could understand why Yu Meilin felt that way—guard against friends like you guard against fire and thieves.
“Okay, I will,” Tang Qing said.
But Li Zian felt she wouldn’t. She was simple but not foolish. He had helped her so much; even if she discovered something between him and Mu Chuntao, she probably wouldn’t outright tell Yu Meilin, right?
Still, he wasn’t sure, so it was better to be cautious.
“By the way, how did your Brother Zian drive that scoundrel away?” Yu Meilin asked.
“Sister Meilin, if you were there, you probably wouldn’t have believed it,” Tang Qing’s voice sounded excited; she was clearly feeling much better now.
“Oh? Tell me about it.”
“I was so angry that I cried. Right then, Brother Zian suddenly jumped up—he jumped so high… this high… Then he twisted his waist, and one leg whipped across Li Qiang’s face. Li Qiang was sent flying and even knocked over the sofa. It was so impressive,” Tang Qing seemed to be acting it out.
Yu Meilin’s voice: “Oh dear, he used force again? That temper of his. When you work with him in the future, you have to calm him down. I don’t mind if he does it for you, but if it’s for someone else, you have to hold him back. He has a wife and child; you have to tell him to think about Xiaomei.”
“Oh, I’ll remember that.”
Li Zian marched in place a few steps before heading down the stairs.
“Zian, is Xiaomei asleep?” Yu Meilin asked.
Li Zian said, “She just fell asleep.”
Tang Qing stood up from the sofa and called out, “Brother Zian.”
Li Zian smiled and said, “Sit down and chat; no need to stand up.”
A faint smile appeared on Tang Qing’s face. She had had a tough night, but now she finally managed a slight smile.
Yu Meilin said, “Xiao Tang, seeing you smile puts me at ease. There’s no obstacle in life that can’t be overcome. Go get some sleep; when you wake up tomorrow, it’ll be another sunny day.”
“Okay, I’ll head back to my room then. Brother Zian, Sister Meilin, you two chat,” Tang Qing said, heading toward the guest room. She didn’t want to stay and be a third wheel.
“I’ll go back to my room and sleep too, Meilin. You should rest early as well,” Li Zian said, heading toward his own room. Tang Qing didn’t want to be a third wheel, but he didn’t even want the other person there.
“Zian, let’s talk,” Yu Meilin said.
Li Zian’s head started to ache faintly, but he still stopped and turned back.
After all, they were husband and wife, and she had given birth to his little cotton-padded jacket. Even though he didn’t have feelings for her, he still had to maintain politeness and courtesy between them. They weren’t enemies either; living under the same roof, there was no need to hurt anyone. If he refused even a simple request to talk, that would hurt her.
“Alright, what do you want to talk about?” Li Zian sat down across from her.
“I suddenly feel like having a drink. Will you have a drink with me?” Yu Meilin looked at Li Zian with hopeful eyes.
Li Zian nodded, though he was a bit puzzled inside.
For no reason, why does she want to drink with me?
Yu Meilin got up and went to the wine cabinet, bringing back a bottle of whisky and two glasses. She had been sitting across from Li Zian earlier, but after getting the drinks, she sat next to him.
A fragrant scent wafted over; it seemed she had worn perfume. The slightly mysterious perfume scent felt a bit seductive, making one want to explore its mysterious source.
Yu Meilin removed the cap and poured whisky into the two glasses—two large glasses at that.
Li Zian glanced at the alcohol percentage on the bottle and was slightly taken aback.
It was Scotch whisky, 55% alcohol, just like Huaguo’s white liquor. Although he didn’t drink much, he knew this kind of foreign liquor was usually mixed, or at least diluted with a couple of ice cubes. But tonight, Yu Meilin not only didn’t mix it, she even skipped the ice.
What is she trying to do?
Drink the strongest liquor and have the liveliest chat?
Yu Meilin picked up her glass and looked at Li Zian with a smile. “We’ve never had a chance to sit down alone like this, just drinking and chatting. It feels really nice.”
Li Zian smiled and picked up his glass as well. “It really is nice; it feels like a dream.”
But a scene appeared in his mind: a young man, shirtless, digging up sweet potatoes in the field, the sun burning his skin painfully, but he had to keep going because the Old Matriarch wanted sweet potato porridge.
Back then, he truly never imagined that one day he would sit with Yu Meilin in a mansion worth tens of millions, drinking Scotch whisky that cost at least a thousand yuan a bottle.
To him, it truly felt like a dream.
“Thank you for everything you’ve done these past four years. I mean it; I’ve taken it all to heart,” Yu Meilin said, her gaze warm as she looked at Li Zian.
Li Zian gave a light smile. “Let’s not say such polite words between us.”
“Alright, it’s all in the drink,” Yu Meilin raised her glass and clinked it with Li Zian’s, then tilted her head back and downed a third of the large glass in one go.
“Drink slower; you’ll get drunk easily like that,” Li Zian felt a hint of worry inside.
But Yu Meilin smiled dismissively. “So what if I get drunk? This is home; even if I’m drunk, I’m not afraid of others seeing.”
“True,” Li Zian said, taking a big sip from his glass as well.
The strong liquor went down his throat, warming his stomach, and his zhenqi immediately became more active.
“Can you let me see your mobile phone?” Yu Meilin suddenly asked.
Li Zian was slightly taken aback, but he still took his mobile phone out of his pocket, handed it to her, and then asked, “What do you want to see?”
“You gave it to me just because I asked. Aren’t you afraid I’ll discover your secrets?” Yu Meilin said with a smile.
Li Zian smiled awkwardly. “What secrets could I have? If I had secrets, I wouldn’t have given it to you. You definitely couldn’t snatch it from me, right?”
“Then that means you have no secrets.”
“Definitely no secrets,” Li Zian said with a straight face, but when he said it, he couldn’t help feeling uneasy inside.
Although he deleted the chat history every time after talking with Mu Chuntao, so Yu Meilin definitely wouldn’t see it, but what if Mu Chuntao sent him a message right then, saying, “I’ll leave the door open for you tonight; do you want to come eat Taozi?” Then he’d be in trouble.
“I didn’t want to see any secrets. I just don’t have a Jingdong account; I want to use your account to buy something,” Yu Meilin said, waking the screen, which was locked. She added, “Could you unlock it for me?”
Li Zian pressed his right index finger on the fingerprint unlock spot on the back of the mobile phone to unlock the screen.
“What do you want to buy?”
Yu Meilin operated the mobile phone while saying, “I want to buy two pillows. Which ones do you think are good?”
Li Zian froze.
He finally realized what she was hinting at.
There was only one pillow on her bed. That night when they argued, he had said in anger that there was only her pillow on her bed, not his. Now she was using his mobile phone to buy pillows and asking him which ones were good—this put him in a difficult spot.
“Do you think latex pillows are better, or buckwheat pillows?” Yu Meilin glanced at Li Zian out of the corner of her eye.
Li Zian was still lost in thought.
If Yu Meilin continued this kind of plastic marriage life with him, he’d actually be happy, because he had Taozi, and she didn’t pressure him to divorce or anything. He liked the feeling of being with her too. But now Yu Meilin was hinting like this, which meant she wanted to have a normal married life with him. What should he do?