Xia Zhi no longer had the time to worry about the blanket. She quickly picked up the white bathrobe from the floor and put it back on, tying it tightly and gripping the belt with both hands.
She quietly moved farther away from Wen Shihan, standing at a distance from him. Neither of them spoke, and the bedroom fell into an awkward silence.
Still, afraid that Wen Shihan might misunderstand and think she was trying to seduce him, Xia Zhi, her face flushed red, explained, “Boss, I didn’t do it on purpose.” At this point, her expression nearly collapsed, “All my sleepwear is this short.”
Wen Shihan gave a soft acknowledgment. “I know.”
His slightly lowered voice sounded again, like a superior issuing an order to a subordinate, “You sleep on the bed, I’ll take the sofa.”
“Oh.”
“So the child won’t think I’m mistreating you.”
Xia Zhi: …
From the corner of her eye, Xia Zhi saw Wen Shihan place another pillow and bedsheet on the sofa. The sofa was very large, even someone as tall as 188 cm like him would not feel cramped lying on it.
The bedroom lights dimmed. Xia Zhi lay on the soft bed, hugging the blanket, unable to fall asleep.
Late at night was the time when thoughts came most easily.
No matter how she thought about it, Xia Zhi could not understand how she and Wen Shihan had somehow ended up twenty years in the future.
Her fingers clenched and relaxed, then clenched again. Finally, she gathered the courage to speak, “Boss, are you asleep?”
She listened carefully, but for a long time, there was no response from Wen Shihan. A trace of disappointment crossed her face. Just as she was about to pull the blanket over her head, his calm voice sounded in the quiet bedroom, “What is it?”
“I…” Xia Zhi tightened her grip on the blanket and asked softly, “Can we go back?”
“What do you think?” Wen Shihan threw the question back at her.
Xia Zhi: I’m asking because I don’t know.
After a moment of silence, Wen Shihan said, “Do you want to go back?”
His question left Xia Zhi momentarily speechless.
For the first time, she truly questioned her own heart.
Did she want to go back?
To be honest, aside from being married to Wen Shihan, she was very satisfied with her life twenty years later. She had four smart and adorable children, lived in a luxurious mansion, owned countless luxury cars, designer bags, and clothes, and was even a wealthy landlady who owned three hundred buildings. She had money, leisure, and beauty. She did not want to go back.
But…
Xia Zhi slightly raised herself and looked toward Wen Shihan on the sofa. The lights in the bedroom were all off now, and it was pitch dark. She could only make out his faint outline from the dim light filtering through the curtains.
Married to a woman out of nowhere and having four children, he probably wished he could return to twenty years ago immediately. Back then, he had wealth, looks, and status. He was praised as a business legend and admired by high society, and his hair had not yet turned gray.
Clutching the blanket, Xia Zhi asked in a muffled voice, “Boss, do you want to go back?”
Wen Shihan did not answer for a long time.
Xia Zhi could only change the subject. “Then how do we get back?”
Wen Shihan seemed to be seriously considering her question. “We would probably need to go through another elevator accident or a car crash.”
Xia Zhi, “!!”
At the thought of that terrifying elevator accident, like a ten level free fall ride, Xia Zhi trembled with fear. Even recalling those scenes now left her shaken. How could she possibly dare to deliberately risk her life like that again?
She hugged the blanket tightly. “There should be other ways, right?”
“Unknown,” Wen Shihan said leisurely, his voice gradually fading into the quiet night.
Xia Zhi pulled the blanket over her head and lay flat. She was actually quite satisfied with her current life. If she could go back in the future, then she would. If not, she would just stay here and live happily as a wealthy landlady with both sons and daughters.
On this ordinary yet not so ordinary night, Xia Zhi fell into a deep sleep, so deeply that she lost all sense of day and night.
When she finally regained awareness and opened her eyes, the glaring sunlight shone straight into them. She did not even bother to block the light. She sprang up from the bed in a panic and began frantically searching for her phone, muttering, “Oh no, oh no, I’m going to be late for work.”
Her commute used to take about two hours. She would usually get up around six in the morning, when the sky had just brightened and the sunlight was not yet so harsh. Every morning, she would carry her bag and pick up the lunchbox she had prepared the day before from the fridge, then step out of her tiny twenty square meter room that barely saw any sunlight, rushing toward the subway station to catch the train.
The place she lived in was one of the gathering spots for young people in S City. Countless young people full of passion and dreams had once made housing there extremely scarce. At the same time, the morning rush hour at the subway station had truly shocked Xia Zhi. It was her first time seeing that even taking the subway required lining up. Two lines stretched from inside the station all the way to a point more than three hundred meters outside the entrance. Just getting in required more than twenty minutes of waiting.
Xia Zhi felt around by the bedside for a long time but could not find her phone. When the corner of her eye caught sight of Wen Shihan sleeping on the sofa, all her movements froze instantly.
She almost forgot again. She was no longer a struggling office worker. She was now married, with both sons and daughters, and a wealthy landlady owning three hundred buildings.
“Mom, are you up yet?”
The sound of the children knocking came from outside the door. Then came the rustling of blankets from the sofa. Xia Zhi saw Wen Shihan sit up. Usually sharp and composed in front of others, his eyes now held the haziness of just waking up.
For a brief moment, Xia Zhi felt that the Wen Shihan before her was not an untouchable elite, but just an ordinary man.
The haze in his eyes cleared like clouds dispersing, gradually returning to that noble and distant composure that made her both fearful and respectful.
The knocking outside continued without pause, as if they would not stop until the door was opened.
Xia Zhi adjusted her white bathrobe and made sure her appearance was appropriate before getting off the bed to open the door.
The moment the door opened, Wen Yi rushed straight at Xia Zhi, causing her to stumble backward several steps.
“Mom.”
Xia Zhi wrapped one arm around Wen Yi and braced herself, barely managing to steady her footing.
“Little sis, you almost knocked Mom over.” Wen Lun flicked the back of Wen Yi’s head with his fingers.
“Ow, that hurts.” Wen Yi rubbed the back of her head and complained to Xia Zhi, “Mom, look at second brother, he’s bullying me.”
Wen Lun shrugged, looking completely unapologetic.
Xia Zhi felt a headache coming on at this scene.
She had heard that families with many children tended to have more conflicts and be noisier. Today she was experiencing it firsthand. The key problem was that she had never had children before, so she had no idea how to handle situations like this.
Before Xia Zhi could figure out what to do, the children’s attention shifted to Wen Shihan.
Wen Lun stared at him in surprise and exclaimed, “Dad, why did you sleep on the sofa?”
Wen Shihan did not answer. In Wen Lun’s eyes, he now looked like someone who had been wronged but did not dare to speak up.
Wen Lun nodded as if he understood everything. “Mom made you sleep there, right?”
Xia Zhi, “…”
That’s not true.
She had originally planned to sleep on the sofa herself and give the bed to Wen Shihan. But he had grabbed her blanket and refused to let her go, and during their tug of war she had even accidentally dropped her bathrobe…
Wen Lun raised his eyebrows and said in a knowing tone, “Mom, Dad is already fifty years old. You made him sleep on the sofa, aren’t you worried he’ll hurt his back?”
Xia Zhi, “…”
Wen Shihan, “…”
Xia Zhi blinked, then blinked again. When she caught sight of Wen Shihan’s face, dark as the bottom of a pot, she could not hold it in any longer and burst out laughing.
In her eyes before, Wen Shihan had always been someone who could face anything without changing expression, calm and composed. It felt so novel to see him actually lose his composure, and to have it caused by his own child.
“Xia Zhi.” Wen Shihan’s voice came from behind her, sounding slightly gritted.
Xia Zhi immediately straightened her back, not daring to act out any further.
She had seen what he was like when angry. It was terrifying. His furious voice could be heard across the entire top floor, and even the usually domineering executives would tremble in fear like sieves.
“Mom, Dad, come downstairs for breakfast.” Suddenly, Wen Le’s small head popped in from behind the door.
His cheeks were plump, his eyes as big as grapes, blinking brightly, very adorable.
A bright smile spread across Xia Zhi’s face. “Okay, I’ll change and come down.”
Suddenly, Wen Lun’s startled voice rang out. “Mom, Dad, where’s your wedding photo?”
Xia Zhi, “…”
Wen Shihan, “…”
Wen Le and Wen Yi also looked up toward the space above the head of the bed, and indeed, the wedding photo was nowhere to be seen.
Under the children’s eager gazes, Xia Zhi repeated what she had said to Wen Yu the night before.
Wen Lun immediately volunteered, “Mom, I’ll find some nails and hang it back up for you.”
Xia Zhi said, “No need.”
Wen Shihan said, “No need.”
They spoke at the same time.
The three children all looked at the two of them.
Wen Lun was not as easy to brush off as Wen Yu. “Of course we need to. How can Mom and Dad’s wedding photo not be hung back up after it fell?”
Wen Lun brought over some tools and rehung the wedding photo that Xia Zhi and Wen Shihan had struggled so much to take down. He even hammered in extra nails, afraid they might take it down again.
He even came up with a justification,
“Love as strong as nails.”
Xia Zhi, “…”
Wen Shihan, “…”
And just like that, the wedding photo that had only been taken down for one night was hung up again.
Wen Lun clapped his hands and said to them, “Mom, Dad, hurry up and get ready and come downstairs for breakfast.”
With that, he casually led Wen Yi and Wen Le downstairs first.
It was the weekend, so the children did not have school, and everything felt less rushed.
After washing up, Xia Zhi and Wen Shihan went down to the living room on the first floor. The robot Xiao Pang slowly rolled over, its round green eyes blinking. In a cute mechanical voice, it said, “Mistress, you look beautiful today. You are the most beautiful woman in the world.”
Xia Zhi thought, this robot must have a mouth made of candy.
“Xiao Pang, what about me?” Wen Le ran over and hugged it.
“Young Master Le is the cutest child in the world.”
As soon as Xiao Pang said that, Wen Le burst into cheerful laughter.
It could even amuse children like this. It seemed Xiao Pang was not just a cooking robot, it might also double as a nanny, an all purpose household robot.
After breakfast, Wen Yu handed two phones to Wen Shihan and Xia Zhi. “Mom, Dad, these are your phones. They were damaged in the car accident, I took them to the shop to be repaired.”
No wonder she could not find her phone when she woke up, it had been broken in the accident.
Xia Zhi sighed inwardly again.
She must have saved the universe to have a child like Wen Yu, obedient and reliable. To be honest, among the four children, the one most similar in temperament to Wen Shihan was Wen Yu. He was only seventeen, yet thoughtful and meticulous in everything he did. Given time, he would surely become an outstanding person.
“Thank you.” Xia Zhi took the phone.
She noticed that when Wen Shihan took his phone from Wen Yu, his large hand casually patted Wen Yu’s head.
A bright smile immediately appeared on Wen Yu’s handsome face.
Her boss had completely stepped into the role of a father now. He seemed to genuinely like these four children who resembled him. The way he looked at them was full of gentle paternal warmth, completely lacking the ruthlessness and arrogance he showed in the business world.
She had once heard employees in the company discussing Wen Shihan. They said that if he ever had children, he would definitely adopt a strict, military style parenting approach, being very harsh, always sternly lecturing them. If the children failed to meet his standards of excellence, he might even punish them severely.
Back then, she had silently lit candles of sympathy for his future children.
Who would have thought, seeing was believing. Wen Shihan was not cold toward his own children at all, he was even especially gentle. It truly opened her eyes.
While watching the interaction between Wen Shihan and Wen Yu in amazement, Xia Zhi turned on her phone.
Almost the moment it powered on, a continuous stream of payment notifications rang out,
“Rent received, 5000 yuan.”
“Rent received, 2180 yuan.”
“Rent received, 1800 yuan.”
“Rent received, 1500 yuan.”
…