When Shi Xing woke up, she was still nestled in Qi Chenyan’s arms. She stirred groggily, and the arms holding her tightened.
Her eyelids fluttered, and she opened her eyes, meeting a pair of exceptionally deep eyes.
Whether it was an illusion from her drowsiness or not, those eyes seemed to carry an unusual pain.
But the next moment, as she tried to look closer, that expression had already vanished, replaced by tenderness.
He gently stroked her face. “Awake?”
Shi Xing hummed in response. “I need to use the bathroom.”
Qi Chenyan quickly sat up. “Alright, I’ll carry you.”
“I can go on my own.”
Shi Xing felt a bit embarrassed. “I need to change my sanitary pad. It might be inconvenient for you to carry me.”
Qi Chenyan understood and didn’t insist, knowing her stomach no longer hurt.
Shi Xing went to the bathroom and took a while before coming out again. Qi Chenyan was half-leaning against the headboard, his handsome brows shadowed by a deep gloom.
Shi Xing paused, now fully awake. Recalling the look in his eyes when she first opened hers, it probably wasn’t an illusion.
“What’s wrong? Are you unhappy?”
She walked to the bedside, looking down at him with concern. “Is there something wrong with my health?”
Qi Chenyan lifted his gaze slightly, his voice soft. “No.”
He reached out, his slender fingers wrapping around her delicate wrist, gently pulling her to sit beside him. His eyes fixed on hers. “Did Xingxing have another dream just now?”
Shi Xing was momentarily taken aback. “Did I?”
She didn’t remember clearly.
But as he mentioned it, she thought back and realized she might have dreamed.
What did she dream about?
She frowned, trying to recall. “What did I dream?”
Qi Chenyan’s lips tightened.
She was asking him what she dreamed?
He let out a soft huff through his nose, leaning closer until his warm breath brushed against her, his voice unusually low. “Xingxing dreamed of me.”
Shi Xing watched his handsome face draw nearer. The closer he got, the clearer the deep emotions in his eyes became.
She hesitated, then nodded. “Right, I probably dreamed of you.”
Qi Chenyan stared intently at her. “Do you know what you dreamed about me?”
Shi Xing blinked slowly. “What?”
Qi Chenyan’s lips curved into a cold smile. “How would I know? I only know that Xingxing called my name in the dream, and then…”
He paused, enunciating each word clearly. “Said you hated me.”
“?”
Shi Xing’s red lips parted slightly, but no words came out.
Now that he mentioned it, she vaguely recalled some unpleasant memories from the past.
It was long after she lost the baby. Her body had mostly recovered, but her heart felt hollow.
Back then, Qi Chenyan held her and said, “Xingxing, let’s have another child, okay?”
Without hesitation, she slapped him across the face.
She said, “No, I won’t have a child with you.”
She looked at him and said word by word, “Qi Chenyan, I hate you.”
Remembering this, Shi Xing suddenly felt a pang of guilt. She turned her head slightly. “Really?”
She was always like this—when pretending to be innocent or clueless, she would put on an especially naive and innocent expression, her eyes pure and simple. She asked him, “Did I really say that?”
She furrowed her brows. “That can’t be right. I probably didn’t dream of hating you. I must have dreamed we were making love, so I said that.”
Qi Chenyan: “…”
He almost laughed in exasperation.
Making love wasn’t hate?
She had no idea how much it hurt him to hear those words from her.Before, it was fine if she disliked him, but now she’s progressed to hating him!
Why is she still pretending to be obedient?
Qi Chenyan took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to grab her and spank her, and gritted his teeth lightly. “So, how much does Xingxing hate me?”
Shi Xing’s slender, pale fingers secretly reached for his leg, scratching his suit pants with her nails. She said weakly, “It’s just that I dreamed you made me hurt, and I was a little angry, so I said it on purpose. I don’t really hate you. Don’t be so petty.”
“Me, petty?”
Qi Chenyan took another deep breath, grabbed her restless hand, and scoffed lightly. “Qi Xingxing, search your conscience. If I said I hated you in a dream, you’d probably be asking for a divorce by now, wouldn’t you?”
Shi Xing felt guilty again and blinked. “That’s true.”
“I’m sorry.”
Shi Xing blinked, moved closer to him, hooked one arm around his neck, and gently rubbed her cheek against his, coaxing him softly. “Don’t be angry anymore, okay, hubby~”
The word “hubby” made Qi Chenyan’s heart tremble. In that moment, he truly softened.
Qi Chenyan sighed helplessly.
She really had him wrapped around her finger.
She knew exactly how to handle him completely.
Seeing the softness in his eyes, Shi Xing knew this trick was working. She continued, kissing the corner of his lips after rubbing her cheek against his. “Hubby, I really was dreaming, and I don’t know why I keep having these strange dreams.”
She didn’t even know when she started talking in her sleep, and every time, he heard it.
Qi Chenyan closed his eyes briefly. “So, in your heart, how bad am I?”
Would he force her to get an abortion? Would he make her hurt so much during… that she’d say she hated him?
Honestly, even he hated the version of himself in her dreams.
Shi Xing thought for a moment and tentatively said, “Of course, I don’t think you’re bad. So, do you think it’s possible that my dreams aren’t just dreams but actually memories from our past life?”
Qi Chenyan’s gaze shifted. He held her shoulders and made her lean back slightly, staring intently at her. “Past life?”
Shi Xing didn’t dare meet his eyes, lowering her lashes slightly. “Yeah, because those dreams are too strange and feel so real. I really think they seem like things that actually happened. Maybe they’re from a past life?”
Qi Chenyan watched her lowered, fluttering lashes, his voice unconsciously growing a bit strained. “So, what else have you dreamed about me?”
He believed her.
Shi Xing steadied her breathing, lifted her lashes slightly, and looked at him with eyes like pools of autumn water, shimmering. “I also dreamed that I wanted to leave you, but you wouldn’t let me and locked me up.”
Qi Chenyan’s Adam’s apple bobbed unconsciously as he swallowed a bitter feeling. After Shi Xing finished speaking, she tilted her head. “A Yan, tell me, if I really wanted to leave you, would you lock me up like in my dream?”
If it weren’t for that time he locked her up, she wouldn’t have been tricked and burned while trying to escape.
Qi Chenyan gritted his teeth lightly, trying to keep his voice steady.
“How could I bear to lock Xingxing up?”
He laughed self-deprecatingly and said, “If Xingxing wants to leave, I probably wouldn’t be able to stop her.”
But then he thought about it—he probably really could do something like that.
After all, he never thought he’d force himself on her, but she threw herself into his arms and then said she wanted to leave.
How could he bear it?
Shi Xing was surprised by his answer. “You’d just let me leave that easily?”
Qi Chenyan turned his head slightly. “What else?”Shi Xing: “…”
She pouted, “You don’t love me at all!”
Qi Chenyan was both amused and exasperated by her. “The me in your dreams loves you, but didn’t you say you hated him?”
“I…”
Shi Xing was momentarily speechless. Qi Chenyan continued, “Then if I were like him, locking you up just to keep you, would you hate me?”
Shi Xing bit her lip. Qi Chenyan leaned in close again, so close that they could see each other’s long eyelashes clearly.
He said, “Besides, why does Xingxing still need to ask me this? After all, I’ve already answered you. Have you forgotten what I said? If Xingxing wants to leave, I’ll tie her up and…”
Before he could finish, Shi Xing clutched her stomach, her brows furrowed tightly. “It hurts so much~”
Qi Chenyan leaned back against the headboard again and chuckled lightly. “Then just endure it.”
Didn’t he know whether she was in pain or not?
Shi Xing blinked, her eyes instantly moistening. She didn’t speak, just bent over while holding her stomach, her shoulders trembling slightly.
Qi Chenyan was taken aback and sat up straight, leaning closer to her. “Does it really hurt?”
Why couldn’t he feel it?
Was it not working anymore?
Shi Xing still didn’t speak, only trembling more and more violently.
Qi Chenyan panicked and quickly reached out to hold her. “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid. I’ll have someone come give you a painkiller shot…”
Just as he touched her, she looked up—there wasn’t a single tear in her eyes, only laughter.
She threw herself into his arms, hugging him tightly, soft and warm against him. “A Yan is so easy to fool.”
Qi Chenyan was truly both amused and exasperated by her.
He took a deep breath and ruffled her hair. “Qi Xingxing, you really know how to torment me.”
“I really do want to torment you.”
Shi Xing blinked her long lashes, her gaze as gentle as water. “A Yan, will you let me torment you?”
Qi Chenyan chuckled lowly. “In your current state, how do you plan to torment me?”
“Don’t you understand?”
Shi Xing tilted her head close to his ear and lightly licked his slightly cool earlobe with the tip of her tongue. “When it comes to doing something like this, there’s more than one way.”
Her soft voice teased him. “A Yan, take me home, and I’ll teach you, okay~”