Daily 4

On the third day after arriving on the Great Cold Star, Nan Ya Yin's fever had almost subsided. He wouldn't get out of bed, and Qiao Yan was also dragged along by him, unable to get out of bed at most, only able to sit up a little.

His sticky, gooey manner was something even he hadn't expected.

"Can we go out and play today?" Nan Yayin leaned on her stomach. "I'm all better now."

“Okay.” Qiao Yan rubbed his head. “If it’s just underground.”

"So it's still possible to go to the ground?" Nan Yayin looked at the howling snow outside the window. "Won't it get swept away?"

Qiao Yan laughed and said, "How could you get swept away? We won't let you just stay outside; you'd freeze to death."

Nan Yayin realized she had made a fool of herself, so she buried her face in Qiao Yan's stomach and rubbed it against him vigorously, making Qiao Yan laugh so hard he couldn't sit up.

“Zhou Yi knew I was here and said she wanted to come see me,” Qiao Yan said. “I didn’t expect her family to stay here for so long.”

"One?"

“Yes.” Qiao Yan nodded. “She is much older than me and already has a lover and children. She used to be very busy in the army, but now that she has retired, she has been traveling around with her family.”

Nan Ya Yin blinked at her and said, "That's so nice."

"I'm not that busy, am I?" Qiao Yan sensed a hint of resentment in his tone. "Zhou Yi used to only go back a few times a year, and she ate and slept at the team's place."

“That’s not how it works.” Nan Yayin narrowed her eyes. “You’re just making excuses and changing the subject.”

Qiao Yan couldn't argue with him, so she grabbed him and kissed him to try and change the subject, which only made Nan Ya Yin angry.

"You brushed me off like that yesterday too." Nan Ya Yin turned her face away, refusing a kiss, and placed her hands on either side of Qiao Yan. "I told you to mark me, why didn't you?"

He even begged her.

"Wasn't it marked?" Qiao Yan reached out and touched the back of his neck, causing him to shudder.

Nan Ya Yin leaned down and whispered in her ear, "I don't want a temporary mark, don't you understand? Do you think an Alpha wouldn't understand these things?"

He spoke these words with difficulty, his face burning as if he had had a fever before. "How could you not understand?"

Qiao Yan hugged him, "What I said yesterday was just a perfunctory response."

She always believed that Nan Yayin was still young and shouldn't be held back by these things. She should wait until she grew up and saw more new things before talking about marking and marriage.

Qiao Yan is a conservative Alpha. If Nan Ya Yin were around the same age as her, she wouldn't have been so arbitrary in marking her, let alone the fact that Nan Ya Yin is much younger than her.

"You value rituals so much, why do you think now is a good time?" Qiao Yan kissed his hair. "Shouldn't it be at a better time, in a better place? You still had a fever yesterday, I really don't know what you were thinking?"

Nan Ya Yin blushed even more upon hearing this. "What? Are you going to set up a memorial day for this kind of thing?"

Deeply marked anniversaries? That sounds so strange. Wouldn't that just mean we'd remember what they did every year at this time?

"You want an anniversary like this?"

Qiao Yan always does this, sounding extremely innocent as she throws the question back at him, then says with a helpless look, "Okay, you can consider it later if you want."

"I didn't say that!" Nan Yayin was extremely ashamed and indignant. She bit Qiao Yan, but not too hard, leaving only a light pink mark.

But he was quick-witted; Qiao Yan's words made him think that if this continued every year around this time...

No, I can't think about these things.

He clung to Qiao Yan again, and by the time Qiao Yan realized it, Nan Ya Yin had already entangled her.

She paused for a moment, then sighed resignedly, "Shuyin is still next door. Don't make a sound when you help her."

Nan Yayin buried her face in the pillow and responded softly.

Fortunately, Shuyin had a regular schedule, and she was just waking up when Qiao Yan got up to wash her hands.

Nan Yayin was still lying in bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

When Qiao Yan came out, he was still in a daze, but he had escaped the clutches of evil. She sat on the sofa inside and started ordering breakfast and checking out the places to go later.

Zhou Yi just happened to send a message saying, "I'll treat you to lunch. Come straight to my house."

Qiao Yan was surprised that she had settled here and replied, "It seems you get along very well with this planet."

Zhou Yi was quite frank, "I wish I could get as far away from those places as possible. If you hadn't messaged me, I wouldn't have bothered to reply at all."

Jiang Qi's matter was resolved thanks to Zhou Yi's former prestige in the military. Ultimately, by uncovering the truth, Jiang Su was also brought down. Now that they know the truth about Qiao Yan's past, everyone there is on edge, afraid of being associated with the two brothers in the slightest.

"Thank you," Qiao Yan replied. "How would you like me to thank you?"

Zhou Yi seemed less busy now, replying to messages much faster than before. "Did you bring your little one? Bring him over to meet me. I heard there's a little sister too. I'm already annoyed by Zhou Yang, so bring him along to give me some peace and quiet."

"Little ones," Qiao Yan thought the word was quite fitting, and said to the person opposite, "I will definitely bring them."

"What's wrong?" Nan Yayin calmed herself down, got out of bed, wrapped herself in the blanket, and went to touch Qiao Yan again. "Who are you texting?"

“Zhou Yi.” Qiao Yan’s terminal was taken away and he looked at it. “You haven’t met her yet. She was my former boss and psychologist.”

"I've heard you mention her before." Nan Ya Yin handed her half of the blanket, then sat in her lap to read the contents more carefully. "Are we going to their house for dinner today?"

"right."

"Who's the little one?" Nan Yayin asked casually as she looked at the message Zhou Yi sent.

Qiao Yan wasn't sure if he would immediately cover Nan Ya Yin's face with a blanket and say, "Whoever gets angry is a child."

Nan Yayin knew who he was talking about, of course. He had just made up an excuse to tease her, but she shut him down with one sentence. He had recently discovered that Qiao Yan was actually quite shrewd. He had thought she was bad at talking, but she was actually more cunning than a winding mountain road.

He tossed the terminal aside and asked, "Where do you want to go for fun before we go?"

"Where do you want to go?" Qiao Yan hugged him. "There's a simulated snow planet experience area here, which makes up for the fact that we can't go out when it's snowing heavily. There's also a hot spring cabin there. But you're just right, so I don't really want to take you there."

"Then why did you tell me?" Nan Yayin frowned, then quickly realized, "I understand. You were prepared, but my fever delayed you. Are you blaming me?"

He argued illogically and even reached out to pinch Qiao Yan's face, calling her a "bad guy."

He still said he wasn't a child, but Qiao Yan grabbed his hand and pulled him into her arms, saying, "If you stay here a little longer, you can go. There will always be a chance."

Just as Nan Ya Yin was about to bite down on her teeth again, there was a knock on the door. "May I come in?"

Nan Shuyin's soft voice rang out from outside the door. As soon as Nan Yayin heard it, she jumped out of Qiao Yan's arms, pulled away the blanket, and lay on the bed pretending to be dead.

"Okay, come in." Qiao Yan said as she walked over.

Nan Shuyin tiptoed and opened the door a crack. "Sister."

Qiao Yan reached out and picked her up. "What's wrong?"

"Can I sleep with you guys tonight?" she asked, hugging Qiao Yan's neck. "I had a nightmare."

This wasn't the same room as before, and Nan Shuyin felt unsafe. The first night was alright, but afterwards she was constantly afraid, though too shy to speak up. After another night, Nan Shuyin couldn't take it anymore and rushed over for help.

"Of course." Qiao Yan held the little girl in his arms and felt that she seemed to have gained some weight and was no longer just a bunch of bones like before.

She put Nan Shuyin on the bed, then immediately kicked off her shoes and crawled over to her brother, "Brother, do you still have a fever?"

Nan Yayin poked her head out from under the covers and shook her head at her younger sister, "I don't have a fever anymore."

He had just jumped out of Qiao Yan's arms, feeling like he hadn't had enough fun yet, but he couldn't let his sister know that he was someone who always wanted to act cute with Qiao Yan.

He stared longingly at Qiao Yan, only to see her turn away indifferently and head to the inner room to change her clothes.

"Get up." When she came out again, she had changed into a thick coat. "Let's go buy some things. We can't go empty-handed."

Nan Yayin was still huddled under the covers, wrapped up like a cocoon.

Qiao Yan lifted her up, blanket and all, and the person inside suddenly felt dizzy and quickly reached out from the "cocoon" to hug her.

Startled, Nan Ya Yin gritted her teeth and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Change your clothes." Qiao Yan kissed the corner of his eye. "Shuyin is already dressed, isn't she?"

She looked at Nan Shuyin, and the little girl nodded vigorously, "I've even brushed my teeth!"

"Great!" Qiao Yan said with a smile. "Only the two of us adults are still unprepared."

She carried Nan Ya Yin to the inner room, and even though it was only a short distance away, he was still struggling. "What are you doing? Don't do this in front of a child."

"I just picked you up. That's how I pick up Shuyin too." Qiao Yan was puzzled, but he didn't put her down.

“She’s a child, but I’m not anymore.” He swung his leg as if he wanted to jump out, but his arms were still wrapped around her.

Qiao Yan knew he was shy, but she didn't expect him to be so shy that he wouldn't relax even in front of his own sister.

“Don’t always treat her like a child.” Qiao Yan placed him on a chair in the inner room. “She probably already knows what her brother is hiding.”

Nan Ya Yin tilted her head and looked at her, "What?"

He felt he had kept it a good secret, although most of the time he was the one who hurriedly ran away from Qiao Yan.

“For example, his own brother might also want to be a child.” Qiao Yan took out his clothes from his luggage. “Shuyin is a very understanding child. Even if she knew, she wouldn’t say it out loud.”

It means that you've already made many mistakes, so there's no need to hide them.

His image as the older brother has long since crumbled.

Nan Yayin covered her face with the clothes in her hands, "Anyway, it's all your fault."