Looking at Lu Cheng’s excited expression, Zhou Yu felt a headache coming on.
Back then, because there was still a long time before the National college entrance exam, Zhou Yu had thought that after a few months, Lu Cheng would definitely forget about it. Who would have expected that the child hadn’t forgotten at all? He had actually brought it up again on the very night the exam ended.
Zhou Yu shot Ji Jing a look, signaling him to come up with an excuse. But Ji Jing’s mind was a complete mess at the moment as well. Unable to think of a good reason, he could only stammer, “The room’s too small. There’s nowhere to sleep. Let’s talk about it after we return to the capital.”
“What?” Lu Cheng couldn’t accept that explanation at all. He immediately looked ready to burst into tears. “I don’t care! I don’t care! You adults are lying to children!”
Madam Chu, who had only returned to the neighboring courtyard not long ago, heard Lu Cheng’s crying and fussing and hurried over at once. After asking about the situation with concern, she finally learned why Lu Cheng was crying.
“Then, son, you can sleep in the same room as Yu’er tonight. We shouldn’t deceive children, should we? We have to set a good example,” Madam Chu said with a straight face.
No one noticed the smile she could barely suppress at the corners of her lips.
Over the past few days, Madam Chu had long since realized that her eldest son had feelings for Zhou Yu. He had simply been keeping his distance because of their circumstances.
But in truth, Bin’er had already passed away. More importantly, Zhou Yu and Lu Bin had never registered their marriage. They had not even had the chance to hold a wedding before he left for the army. In Madam Chu’s eyes, the two of them could hardly be considered truly married.
Zhou Yu was such a wonderful young woman. Since her eldest son didn’t know how to take the initiative and pursue her, then she and her grandson would just have to give things a little push from behind.
“Huh?” Zhou Yu hadn’t expected Madam Chu to say that. After all, Madam Chu knew perfectly well that she and Ji Jing were only pretending to be husband and wife. A slight frown appeared on Zhou Yu’s face, but then she seemed to think of something and did not immediately refute Madam Chu’s suggestion.
Ji Jing couldn’t understand what had gotten into his mother today either. But remembering that he had just made Zhou Yu angry, he felt that if he didn’t stop this from happening now, Zhou Yu might become even angrier.
“That’s fine.”
“No!”
Zhou Yu’s and Ji Jing’s voices rang out at the same time.
But to everyone’s surprise, the one who had said “No!” was Ji Jing.
Zhou Yu, Madam Chu, and Lu Cheng all turned their eyes toward Ji Jing the moment they heard what he had said.
Being stared at by the three of them, Ji Jing felt awkward for a moment and didn’t know how to continue.
“Cheng’er, stop crying. Come sleep at Grandma’s place tonight,” Madam Chu said, choosing to completely ignore Ji Jing’s objection. Her eldest son had seemed quite clever back in the capital. How had he become so foolish now? She was beginning to feel reluctant to admit he was her son.
“Okay! Okay!” Seeing his grandmother giving him a meaningful look, Lu Cheng immediately understood.
Besides, his crying and fussing had been an act from the start. Now that Grandma had spoken, he naturally stopped at once. Beaming with delight, he grabbed his grandmother’s hand and happily headed toward the neighboring courtyard with her.
Soon, only Zhou Yu and Ji Jing remained in Zhou Yu’s courtyard.
An awkward silence hung in the air for a moment before Ji Jing finally couldn’t help asking, “So… what do we do now?”
“What else can we do? You sleep in Lu Cheng’s little bed.” Zhou Yu raised an eyebrow, shot him a look, then turned and walked back into the room.
The small bed Zhou Yu had previously had made for Lu Cheng was quite sturdy, but it was still a child’s bed. It was less than 1.8 meters long and only about a meter wide. If an adult slept on it, turning over would probably be difficult.
But there was absolutely no way Zhou Yu was going to invite Ji Jing to share her bed.
Not only was she a germaphobe, but she also disliked being touched by other people. Although her double bed was about 1.5 meters wide and roughly 2 meters long, if two adults slept on it, they would inevitably bump into each other whenever they turned over during the night.
Zhou Yu was determined to prevent anything like that from happening.
In this world from the novel, the only person whose physical contact she didn’t dislike was probably little Lu Cheng.
As for Ji Jing, Zhou Yu felt that she still couldn’t accept him being too close to her, at least not anytime soon.
Having spent nearly half a year together, Ji Jing had come to understand Zhou Yu’s mild germaphobia and her aversion to physical contact.
So Zhou Yu’s arrangement was exactly what he had expected.
In fact, he felt that the fact she hadn’t made him sleep on the floor was already quite generous.
With Ji Jing present, Zhou Yu couldn’t use her consciousness to enter the system’s virtual space to study. Instead, she sat at the desk with a medical book she had previously bought from a bookstore and began reading.
Ji Jing obediently sat off to the side with a newspaper and quietly read as well, making no attempt to disturb her.
Zhou Yu read until around ten o’clock before going to the bathroom to wash up. By about ten-thirty, she went to bed on schedule.
Her routine was very regular. She normally went to sleep at ten-thirty and got up at six-thirty in the morning.
After lying down, Zhou Yu fell asleep within minutes.
Ji Jing, however, found it somewhat difficult to fall asleep.
Lu Cheng’s bed was simply too small. Not only did Ji Jing’s feet hang off the end when he stretched out his legs, but ever since he could remember, he had always had a bedroom to himself. In truth, this was also the first time he had ever slept in the same room as a woman.
Yet seeing how quickly Zhou Yu had fallen asleep, Ji Jing couldn’t help sighing inwardly. Did he really look that harmless? Zhou Yu wasn’t guarding against him in the slightest?
Ji Jing barely slept the entire night.
Lu Cheng’s bed was so narrow that he didn’t even dare turn over. On one hand, he was afraid of making noise and waking Zhou Yu. On the other hand, he worried that his weight might collapse Lu Cheng’s bed. If that happened, it would be another difficult situation to explain.
As a result, Ji Jing maintained almost the same position the whole night, and his body felt practically stiff by morning.
Zhou Yu, meanwhile, slept soundly as always, without a single dream.
She had no idea what Ji Jing had been thinking about all night. When she woke up and saw him, she was briefly stunned. She had nearly forgotten that the person sleeping in her room last night had been Ji Jing.
“Morning.” Pulling on her outer jacket and seeing that Ji Jing was awake as well, Zhou Yu greeted him.
“Morning.” Ji Jing’s voice was slightly hoarse, whether from just waking up or for some other reason.
After putting on her jacket and straightening her collar and sleeves, Zhou Yu continued, “What would you like for breakfast?”
“Huh? Oh, anything is fine.” Ji Jing was still somewhat dazed. He had slept terribly all night.
Zhou Yu didn’t notice anything unusual about him. At the moment, she was busy thinking about what to make for breakfast.
Ever since Ji Jing and Madam Chu had moved into the neighboring courtyard, they had often come over to eat at Zhou Yu’s place. Zhou Yu had never objected. After all, she had to cook for Lu Cheng every day anyway. Making a little extra for Ji Jing and Madam Chu wasn’t much trouble.
Besides, Ji Jing paid for food expenses every month. And missions like buying vegetables and rice, which weren’t difficult but were time-consuming, had basically all been taken over by him.
Sometimes, Madam Chu and Ji Jing would even wash and prepare the ingredients beforehand. Zhou Yu only needed to do the stir-frying, which made things quite convenient for her.
For breakfast, Zhou Yu cooked a pot of vegetable and lean pork congee, then fried several pancakes. In about half an hour, everything was ready.
When she returned to the room, she found Ji Jing still sitting on Lu Cheng’s little bed in a daze. Only then did she notice that something seemed a little off about him.
“What’s wrong? Didn’t sleep well last night?” Zhou Yu asked casually.
The moment Ji Jing heard her question, he felt a bitterness he couldn’t put into words.
He had barely closed his eyes all night. Even turning over had been difficult, and now his whole body ached.
It seemed he needed to find a way to get back to sleeping in his own room. If he had to spend another night on Lu Cheng’s tiny bed, he felt like life would no longer be worth living.
“Ah, I’m fine. Maybe I just haven’t fully woken up yet. I’ll be okay in a while,” Ji Jing said.
Though he grumbled inwardly, he didn’t dare tell the truth.
Hearing his explanation, Zhou Yu accepted it without suspicion.
“Oh. Breakfast is ready. Go call Madam Chu and Cheng’er over.”
Ji Jing did not delay any longer. He quickly threw on his outer jacket and headed next door.
Before long, Madam Chu and Lu Cheng returned with him.
After breakfast, Lu Cheng suddenly suggested, “Dad, Mom, how about we go stroll around town today?”
Ji Jing’s first reaction was to refuse.
Who knew what kind of scheme this little rascal was plotting now? Besides, he was exhausted and only wanted to go back to his room and sleep.
“Sure.” Zhou Yu thought for a moment before nodding in agreement. She had been busy preparing for the National college entrance exam and hadn’t properly spent time with Lu Cheng for quite a while. Now that the exam was over, taking him out for a walk wasn’t a bad idea.
“That’s right. You young couple should take the child out and have some fun. Cheng’er has been cooped up at home every day and must be feeling stifled,” Madam Chu added, following up on Zhou Yu’s words.
Hearing both Zhou Yu and his mother’s opinions, Ji Jing swallowed the refusal that had been about to leave his mouth.
Fine.
There was never a time in this family when he got to make the decisions anyway.
Ji Jing let out a silent sigh.
Zhou Yu smiled in response to Madam Chu’s words, then got up to clear away the dishes and chopsticks.
“Yu’er, don’t worry about this. I’ll clean up later. You all should go out and enjoy yourselves. You can even have lunch at a restaurant while you’re out.” Madam Chu took the dishes from Zhou Yu’s hands. Catching the worried look in her son’s eyes, she added, “There’s no need to worry about me. I’m a grown woman. Do you think I can’t handle my own lunch?”
Chu Xueyao didn’t know what had happened to her son over the past two years. He seemed excessively concerned about her health. The way he tiptoed around her made everything feel rather strange.
“Come with us for a walk,” Zhou Yu suggested. She wasn’t entirely comfortable leaving Madam Chu home alone. Although Madam Chu’s health had improved significantly after being treated, the damage done in previous years had ultimately affected her foundation. Combined with her age, it was difficult not to worry.
“I’m not going.” Madam Chu remained firm.
There was no way she was going to be a third wheel. She had finally managed to create an opportunity for her son. If she tagged along, wouldn’t all that effort be wasted?
In the end, neither Zhou Yu nor Ji Jing managed to persuade Madam Chu to come with them.
All Zhou Yu could do was promise that they would leave early and return early.
It had been quite some time since Zhou Yu had gone shopping herself. During the period she had been preparing for the National college entrance exam, she had been trying to save as much time as possible for studying. Whenever she needed something, she usually asked Ji Jing to buy it for her.
This outing, however, was mainly for Lu Cheng’s sake. As for Zhou Yu herself, there wasn’t really anything she wanted to buy.
“Cheng’er, is there anything you’d like to get?” Zhou Yu lowered her head and asked the child beside her.
“Not yet.” Lu Cheng’s eyes curved into crescents.
His left hand held his father’s, and his right hand held his mother’s. As they walked down the street together, countless people would look at them and think they were a happy family.
Lu Cheng loved that feeling.
In fact, that was the main reason he had wanted to come out shopping.
Zhou Yu, of course, had no idea what was going through his mind. She simply assumed that he hadn’t seen anything he wanted to buy yet.
After walking for a while, they passed a fruit stall. Zhou Yu was just about to ask Lu Cheng whether he wanted some fruit when someone called out to her from behind.
“Zhou Yu?”
A young man’s voice rang out behind the three of them.