Chapter 19

It was past midnight when I got back to the old house. The shadows of the trees swayed in front of the door, and all was quiet.

Cheng Yanjin was carrying a large bag of things. He looked up at the moon and realized that today was the fifteenth.

He subconsciously slowed his steps, tiptoed into the house, and then quietly made his way up to the second floor.

Before he left, he wouldn't let Lin Langyi sleep in his own room, nor would he allow her to sleep in another small room connected to the study on the third floor, because that bedroom was the one where Qiao Wan slept with him when he was very young and too scared to sleep alone.

Logically speaking, Lin Langyi should only be allowed to go to the guest rooms on the second floor.

As Cheng Yanjin passed the master bedroom on the second floor, he became even more cautious and moved with utmost care. Cheng Yangkang and Feng Congning had closed the door tightly, but the fact that the guest room was just a wall away made Cheng Yanjin feel a subtle sense of disgust.

He hadn't felt it before, but now just passing by this room made him uncomfortable. He should have let Lin Langyi sleep on the third floor; what bad luck!

He tiptoed and tried the doorknob; the door opened smoothly without him even having to exert any force. Cheng Yanjin paused for a moment, then began to think to himself that Lin Langyi was incredibly inconsiderate, not even locking the door when sleeping in an unfamiliar place.

For a fleeting moment, the image of the water balloon almost touching his head flashed through his mind, and he quickly and slightly shook his head.

Perhaps that's just her easygoing personality.

The room was pitch black, the curtains were drawn tight, and he struggled to reach the edge of the bed before sitting down to touch the nightlight.

Before I could even touch the light, the hallway light suddenly came on, and a hoarse voice came from the doorway: "Aren't you asleep yet?"

In the absolute silence, Cheng Yanjin was startled to hear a low, hoarse voice behind him. He slammed his hand on the wall with a "smack," turning on all the lights in the room.

In the daylight, he and the butler looked at each other, but the bed was empty.

"Uncle Hu, what are you doing...?" Cheng Yanjin was terrified but also had to be careful around the neighbors, so he could only lower his voice.

"I got up in the middle of the night and heard the exhaust pipe of your car, so I came to check it out." Uncle Hu breathed on his glasses, still half-asleep, wiped them with the hem of his shirt, and put them on. He then carefully examined the large bag of things next to Cheng Yanjin's legs. "What did you buy that took you so long?"

Cheng Yanjin coughed, used his leg to block the bag of daily necessities from the bedside, and asked instead of answering, "Where is Lin Langyi?"

Uncle Hu tried to widen his bean-like eyes: "Isn't Miss Lin in your room?"

She was told she couldn't sleep in that room, but she still slept there! What a stubborn person!

Cheng Yanjin took a deep breath, picked up the bag, and strode confidently up to the third floor. When he got to the door, he turned the knob, and this time the door was really locked.

He was somewhat annoyed, yet a strange feeling arose within him, as if the male head of the household had failed to return before his wife's curfew and had been locked out.

He raised his hand but then closed his fingers again, finally softening his movements and pecking three times like a woodpecker:

"Lin Langyi, open the door and let me in."

There wasn't a sound coming from inside.

Cheng Yanjin quietly knocked repeatedly for nearly ten minutes, but the person inside didn't react at all, as if they were fast asleep.

He cursed "Little Pig Lin" hundreds of times in his mind before finally taking out his phone to dial her number.

Power off.

With a "snap," the string in Cheng Yanjin's mind snapped.

He was usurped and locked out of his room, unable to even enter his own room!

How could Lin Langyi be so self-righteous?! Doesn't she know whose room this is?

Cheng Yanjin paced angrily around the door a few times, so angry that he woke up from his drowsiness. He was carrying a large bag of things, looking like a clown, unsure whether to pick it up or put it down. He could only try to turn the doorknob and knock on the door, determined to make her open it today.

He stood there in vain for more than forty minutes, facing the wall as if reflecting on his mistakes, until finally a sound came and ended his one-man show.

Unfortunately, the noise came from the second floor.

Feng Congning, dressed in an expensive silk robe, walked up the stairs, but hesitated to go up to the third floor with her last foot on the stairs. Cheng Yanjin did not allow her to step into Qiao Wan's memories.

"Yan Jin, what are you doing?"

Cheng Yanjin's hands, which had been knocking and prying at the door, froze in mid-air. Turning to face Feng Congning, he was as brave as ever. He resolutely pulled out the newly bought cotton T-shirt from his bag and said it was a piece of cake: "I'll go wash her."

Amidst Feng Congning's surprised expression, Cheng Yanjin calmly and skillfully strode towards the washroom at the end of the corridor, personally washing Lin Langyi's clothes like a mature gentleman.

Feng Congning's voice came up from behind: "You...have a washing machine?"

"Don't you always hand-wash or dry-clean your pajamas?"

"Because I'm made of silk."

“Heh,” Cheng Yanjin sneered, raising his voice, “Make do today, but next time I’ll buy Lin Langyi real silk too. Whatever you have, she has to have too.”

Feng Congning's expression shifted unpredictably, then softened her tone: "Well, you have a bathroom in your own bedroom too."

Of course, Cheng Yanjin couldn't talk about the embarrassing incident of being locked out of the house, so he denied it with his domineering face: "It would wake her up."

Feng Congning fell silent. The sound of running water came from the bathroom. She paused for a moment before turning back to her bedroom on the second floor.

In the bedroom, Cheng Yangkang's snoring was deafening. Although Feng Congning had mentioned several times that she was suffering from morning sickness in early pregnancy, her husband would fall asleep the moment his head hit the pillow, leaving her tossing and turning alone.

Even Cheng Yanjin knows how to cherish his wife.

She touched her belly, her expression turning cold. She thought to herself that Cheng Yangkang wasn't unloving of his wife, but he probably showed all his affection to Qiao Wan.

But so what? You have everything as long as you're alive; once you're dead, it's all over.

*

On the other hand, Cheng Yanjin has never washed a single piece of clothing in his entire life.

With a ferocious expression, he clumsily rubbed a wad of fabric repeatedly, splashing water and foam all over the countertop. Because he had poured in too much laundry detergent, he had to wash it several times before he could get any more foam out.

The clothes were all wrinkled from his washing, and Cheng Yanjin's nostrils were filled with the scent of laundry fragrance, which made him dizzy.

He threw the clothes into the dryer, which started running loudly in the middle of the night.

It was almost two o'clock when he finished all this. He returned to the door with his clothes still wet. The anger he felt from being locked out had been worn away by the long process of washing his clothes. Cheng Yanjin really wanted to lie down and go to bed at this moment.

It's already this late; if he's made to stand at the door as punishment any longer, it'll be dawn soon. He's never been punished for this long by his teacher when he skipped class to play basketball back in school.

His eyelids were drooping, and he was filled with anxiety, thinking that if his family woke up at dawn and found that Lin Langyi had locked him out, how could he ever hold his head up again? Where would he put his face and dignity?

"Lin Langyi, I was really wrong, please let me in." He finally gave in, leaning his head against the door and apologizing in a way that probably no one inside could hear him.

"I'm sorry for what I said. I'll never talk to you like that again. See, I'm back now, right? I'll speak nicely to you from now on and listen to you properly, okay?"

"Lin Langyi, my clothes are still wet," he began frantically making excuses, spouting nonsense in the pleasant May weather, "I washed your clothes, and the water was a little cold against my chest after it got wet—"

He sniffed hard, ignoring his body, which had been resistant to colds since childhood due to hard work, as he grumbled, "I think I'm going to catch a cold. It's so cold in the middle of the night, and it's already past midnight. We're going up the mountain tomorrow, and it's going to be so cold up there. I'm really going to catch a cold."

"Lin Langyi, let me transfer you some money, okay?" He used both methods, changing his approach to plead for mercy, "I'll transfer you whatever I have now, but I'll transfer it again after my card is unblocked, really."

He quickly turned his brush and wrote a few lines, each one a plea for leniency, but there was still no response from inside the room.

With no other option, he could only sit down with his back against the door panel, next to the bag of daily necessities, which drooped like a large mushroom and a small mushroom on the carpet.

He can't go up to the second floor; if his family members see him when they get up early, he's doomed.

After much thought, Cheng Yanjin could only hug his knees and make do at the doorway for a while. He would pretend to get up early at five o'clock to get his clothes from the dryer, and then pretend that he had a good night's sleep before waking up.

He kept nodding and dozing off at the door until 3:30 a.m., but his back ached and he couldn't sleep soundly.

The physical discomfort, coupled with the night spent facing the wall, left him feeling both aggrieved and resentful. In his drowsy state, he heard a faint sound of someone getting up in the room.

He immediately woke up with a start, and with no hope in sight, he knocked on the door once, but the latch turned and the door suddenly opened.

Cheng Yanjin's hand was still frozen in mid-air when he saw Lin Langyi, with her hair disheveled, standing barefoot in front of him, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"Why are you back?" Her voice was soft, still sleepy, with a slightly hoarse, teasing tone.

Cheng Yanjin's pent-up complaints vanished with those words.

He remembered a skateboarding buddy of his who called his girlfriend one afternoon to wake her up. At that time, the buddy was completely bewildered by the girl's sweet, half-asleep voice on the other end of the phone...

At that time, Cheng Yanjin scoffed at this and ridiculed his friend for being so easily swayed.

But now… Cheng Yanjin lowered his head and smelled a faint fragrance that didn’t belong to the strong scent on his clothes. He thought this smelled a million times better than the laundry detergent.

His mind was a little muddled, and his first question was, "Why are you sleeping fully clothed?"

"I don't have any clothes." Lin Langyi yawned very lightly, her eyes barely open.

I bought you pajamas.

"Hmm?" It was that husky voice again, so gentle it made your heart itch.

Cheng Yanjin suddenly felt that the garment was no longer presentable, and he stammered, "But it's drying... oh, it might be ready."

"Fine, I'll just sleep here. It'll only be an hour or two." She took two steps inside and pushed the door to close it.

Cheng Yanjin quickly blocked the door: "What are you doing? Are you trying to kick me out? This is my room."

Lin Langyi half-closed her eyes: "If you sleep here, how am I supposed to sleep?"

"Didn't you plan to stay overnight from the beginning?"

She opened her eyes slightly, her thick, long eyelashes resembling resting butterfly wings, and slowly said, "What I mean is, I don't wear underwear to bed."

Cheng Yanjin's face suddenly turned bright red. His shoulders tensed up, his body stiffened, and he didn't know where to look.

Lin Langyi's next sentence was almost entirely breathy: "I sleep naked at home, you—"

"I...I...I'll find you some clothes, wait a minute." He was so nervous he almost bit his tongue. He pushed her away and rushed into the room, taking three steps at a time to find her clothes in the dressing room.

The room lights were turned on, and he glanced at her, taking in her entire body in just one glance. Then, as if stung, he averted his eyes in a panic.

She probably wasn't wearing any; her clothes weren't wrinkled at all. Maybe she just put them on temporarily to open the door, and even put them on backwards.

"How dare you?" he scolded her as he ransacked the wardrobe. Before he could finish searching, he hurriedly dumped all the newly bought toiletries from the bag onto the floor and grabbed a pair of disposable underwear, shoving them at her.

Lin Langyi leaned against the headboard, hugging a pillow, too lazy to move, and answered with her eyes closed, "Auntie said the sheets are all new."

She even complained to him in return: "And you're not coming back... so why did you come back?"

"Why can't I come back? I'll come back, you...you're not angry anymore, are you?"

After waiting for a while without receiving a reply, Cheng Yanjin didn't dare to ask any more questions. He rummaged through the closet with his tail between his legs and finally found a loose-fitting sweater that had been dry-cleaned and tidied when it was delivered from the department store. The fabric felt smooth and comfortable in his hand, and more importantly, he had never worn it before.

He immediately threw it to her as if she were his lifeline: "Change it quickly."

After saying that, he didn't dare to linger. He quickly hid in the dressing room, closed the door, and left the outside space to her.

The night was so quiet. No one else had ever lived in his room before, so much so that he only realized today how thin the wall between the walk-in closet and the bedroom was, so thin that the rustling sound of the clothes rubbing together was so clear.

"I'm all better," Lin Langyi's clear voice rang out from outside.

Cheng Yanjin immediately opened the door. He was burning up, and his face was also burning. He thought that the enclosed space was probably making it hard for him to breathe, which was why he was so agitated.

Just open the door and let it air out.

He took a step outside, and with just one glance, he immediately felt his blood boil.

The loose, soft fabric felt so good against the skin that even though she was thin and didn't fit properly, she had a unique, alluring quality under the oversized clothes.

He knew she had a good figure, but the way her clothes draped over her body, revealing her shapely curves, made him have to admit that she was indeed excessively beautiful.

He now regrets ignoring the fact that he had left his shirt wet while washing clothes, and now that it's plastered to his body in patches, he has nowhere to hide.

He turned to the side to avoid facing her directly, reaching out to turn off the light. His mind was a complete mess, but he spoke faster and faster: "I've turned off the light. Time to sleep."

"I've already made my bed on the floor."

"Get under the covers right now, what are you doing sitting on the edge of the bed?"

"I'm going to take a shower first; I smell like soap."

He rambled on for a long time, but didn't hear Lin Langyi respond at all. Finally, he couldn't help but shift his gaze a little and saw her bending down and fiddling with the various daily necessities lying on the ground. The exposed section of her snow-white neck shone with a jade-like luster under the light.

Then she straightened up and asked softly, "Didn't you buy any condoms?"