Tonight, Chu Yanxiu was a little different.
Jiang Yun noticed that Chu Yanxiu wasn’t as fully focused on his work as he usually was tonight.
Almost every half hour, he would glance in the direction where Mu Jiujiu was lying.
So, what earth-shattering, ghost-weeping, god-crying thing had this woman done today?
Because Chu Yanxiu was wearing night-vision goggles, and through the lenses, his narrow phoenix eyes carried a murderous chill, Jiang Yun completely failed to consider that someone might actually be “consumed with longing.”
Until…
Just as Jiang Yun finished his task and was preparing to withdraw.
Chu Yanxiu spoke up: “Do you have any trauma medication on you?”
“You’re injured?” Jiang Yun’s face immediately filled with worry and tension as he hurriedly rummaged through his backpack and pulled out a bottle of trauma medication worth several thousand yuan: “Where are you hurt?”
Chu Yanxiu ignored him, instead squeezing some into his palm before handing the bottle back to Jiang Yun.
Jiang Yun took it, clutched it in his hand, and was about to crouch down in front of him to check where he was injured, when he saw Chu Yanxiu had already stood up.
He took two big strides to Mu Jiujiu’s side, sat down on the coffee table, and lifted the blanket covering Mu Jiujiu’s feet.
Jiang Yun: “Phew…”
Good thing it wasn’t Big Brother who was injured.
He slung his backpack on while circling around to the back of the sofa to get to the bottom of things.
Under the night-vision goggles, Mu Jiujiu’s ankle…
Was just slightly red, and the swelling had mostly subsided.
Chu Yanxiu held the medication in his palm, moving his fingers to spread it open, rubbing it about seven or eight times, seemingly intending to warm it up as well.
Only then did his large hand spread open and press onto Mu Jiujiu’s ankle, rubbing and pressing in circles.
The moment his scorching palm gripped her slender ankle, Chu Yanxiu’s brow furrowed almost imperceptibly: The little thing’s body temperature was indeed very low. Logically speaking, in this kind of weather, she shouldn’t be this frighteningly cold.
Jiang Yun watched the stark contrast between Chu Yanxiu’s bronze, tanned hand and her fair, delicate foot, and nearly thought he’d gone blind.
He raised an eyebrow, let out a soft whistle, and leaned over the back of the sofa with great interest, grinning teasingly: “Brother Xiu, now that you’ve married a wife, you’re getting all fatherly.”
“What, want to consider having a soft little daughter too? I’ll buy her pretty little hair clips.”
Chu Yanxiu paused, his mind oddly following Jiang Yun’s train of thought, actually imagining what a daughter born to him and Mu Jiujiu might look like, wearing pretty little hair clips…
When Chu Yanxiu realized what he was doing, his expression tightened, and his palm unconsciously applied more pressure.
“Mm…”
When Jiang Yun heard Mu Jiujiu’s pained whimper in her sleep, he quickly raised his hands in surrender and backed away.
This woman gets a minor injury and Chu Yanxiu personally applies medication for her. If he accidentally scared her to death, he’d definitely be personally escorted out by Chu Yanxiu himself.
Not long after Jiang Yun left, Mu Jiujiu slowly woke up.
The moment she opened her eyes, she saw a tall figure sitting upright before her.
The moonlight was bright, and Mu Jiujiu’s just-awakened eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness, so she naturally recognized Chu Yanxiu’s face right away: “Hubby~”
Her voice was hoarse and soft, so sweet it could melt a person to the bone.
Chu Yanxiu furrowed his brow slightly, momentarily unable to find a reason for why he was here in the middle of the night, so he only pretended to be aloof: “Mm.”
Only upon reflection did he realize what he had just done?!
Hubby~
Mm.
He was…
Chu Yanxiu clenched his fists in anger and shot up from the coffee table: “Stop grinding your teeth, it sounds terrible!”
“Uh…” Mu Jiujiu opened her mouth in confusion for a few seconds, then immediately sat up from the sofa and hurriedly apologized: “Hubby, I’m sorry.”
“Hubby, did Jiujiu wake you up?”
“Hubby, don’t be angry. Jiujiu won’t grind her teeth anymore.”
So if she hadn’t woken up just now, was her husband about to hit her?
Wuwuwu…
She’d actually been grinding her teeth, and it sounded especially awful…
Her husband must hate her even more now!
Starting from 4 AM, Mu Jiujiu was too scared to go back to sleep.
It was Mu Jiujiu’s eighth day since marrying into the Chu family.
In the morning, she kept checking the time repeatedly, afraid that if she called Yao Zhilan too early, she’d be displeased.
She finally managed to wait until 10 AM, then hurriedly grabbed her phone and went into the dressing room.
After Mu Jiujiu entered the dressing room, Chu Yanxiu slowly sat up from the bed, retrieved his phone and a black earpiece from a hidden compartment in the headboard.
He put the earpiece in his ear and lightly tapped the bottom of it three times.
From the dressing room, Mu Jiujiu’s voice came through clearly.
Mu Jiujiu crouched on the carpet, her back against the ottoman in the center of the dressing room. The listening device was hidden in the gold velvet fabric beneath the ottoman.
As soon as the call connected, Mu Jiujiu spoke cautiously: “Mother, may I speak with Grandma? Jiujiu really misses Grandma.”
From Yao Zhilan’s end came the sound of mahjong tiles: “Oh dear, my daughter, Mother is busy right now. Let’s talk this afternoon, okay? Be good~”
Because she was in front of other wealthy ladies, Yao Zhilan’s tone was practically gentle compared to yesterday.
Mu Jiujiu always had a habit of biting her lip when she felt lost and helpless, desperately seeking a way to break through the shackles of her predicament. “But Mother, I haven’t been able to talk to Grandma on the phone for over a week now. She must miss me so much.”
As she spoke those last words, a faint sob escaped from deep in her throat.
However, Yao Zhilan still didn’t give her a definitive answer. “Grandma is doing just fine, hmm, she’s receiving very good treatment. Don’t worry, dear. I’ll see about calling you this afternoon, alright?”
Mu Jiujiu bit her lip hard. “Mother, Jiujiu would like to know the phone number of the attending physician. Is that possible?”
Yao Zhilan’s tone turned impatient. “Doctors don’t have time to answer phone calls. Besides, if we go bothering the doctor and she gets upset, what would we do then? Don’t you agree?”
This was the gentlest Yao Zhilan had been with her since she had negotiated with Mu Jiujiu to marry into the Chu family, so much so that Mu Jiujiu was easily placated by Yao Zhilan’s pretense.
“Alright, Jiujiu understands. Thank you, Mother. Jiujiu will call you again this afternoon.”
Mu Jiujiu hung up the phone, feeling dejected.
She wasn’t a fool. She had heard the crisp, distinctive sound of mahjong tiles clacking together.
But she still chose to believe Yao Zhilan, because at this moment she had no other recourse. She could only place her hopes on Yao Zhilan and her father taking good care of Grandma’s treatment.
Just like yesterday, after hanging up the phone, Mu Jiujiu sat quietly on the floor for a few minutes.
Having learned from yesterday’s lesson, this time, after standing up from the floor, she first stretched her arms and legs before stepping out of the dressing room.
When Mu Jiujiu emerged from the dressing room, Chu Yanxiu had already taken off his earphones and was scrolling through the contract documents Jiang Yun had sent him on his phone.
“Husband, you’re awake.”
Completely different from the dejected feeling she had in the dressing room just moments ago, the moment Mu Jiujiu saw Chu Yanxiu, it was as if she had been instantly revived, rushing over with a beaming smile.
“Husband, are you hungry?”
Chu Yanxiu didn’t look up. “Not hungry.”
“Husband, but you pulled out the nutrient drip. If you don’t eat something…”
Chu Yanxiu slowly raised his head. He had been awake in front of Mu Jiujiu for three days now, and every night Jiang Yun would come over. Although Mu Jiujiu was a bit slow on the uptake and hadn’t noticed yet, keeping it from her forever wasn’t realistic at this rate.
“Lunchtime, then.”
Mu Jiujiu’s foot injury wasn’t serious, so she should still be able to eat upstairs for another couple of days.
They’d figure out the rest in a few days.
Upon hearing this, Mu Jiujiu immediately said happily, “And dinner together too, okay, husband?”
Chu Yanxiu pondered for a moment. As long as Chu Xiaoyuan didn’t come back, Mu Jiujiu would be the only one in the Chu household who needed to eat dinner anyway, so it wasn’t entirely out of the question to keep her company.
But worried that Mu Jiujiu might order extra dishes for his sake and raise suspicion, he nodded and instructed, “I can’t eat much. I’ve been lying down for too long—eating too much will upset my stomach.”
“Mm, Jiujiu understands.”
At four o’clock in the afternoon, when Mu Jiujiu called Yao Zhilan, Yao Zhilan gave her another round of perfunctory responses before quickly hanging up.
This time, Chu Yanxiu was asleep.
Mu Jiujiu crouched in the dressing room for a full half hour. When she stood up, half her body had gone numb, and the bitterness in her heart lingered, refusing to dissipate. The moment she rose, teardrops fell with a patter.
She had brought her grandmother from a small town to this unfamiliar big city.
She had agreed to marry a man she had never met, one who lay in a deep slumber.
She tiptoed around her husband’s family, cautious and timid, not even daring to breathe too loudly.
Yet she had never felt so wronged, so helpless, so bitter, so sorrowful as she did now.
She only wanted to make a phone call to her grandmother, to hear her voice, to know that she was receiving proper treatment, to know that she was safe and sound. Why was it so difficult?