Chapter 47 She needs to try her best to integrate into this family.
At 6:30 a.m., Huo Nanchen's biological clock woke him up on time. The moment his consciousness returned, he felt the weight in his arms.
Lin Xili was still in his arms, sleeping soundly and peacefully.
A good night's sleep gave her fair cheeks a healthy blush, and her long eyelashes fell quietly, casting a small shadow under her eyes.
The usual aloofness and melancholy in her eyes had faded, leaving only an extraordinary tranquility and gentleness.
His arm was still under her neck, and his other hand was loosely wrapped around her waist.
This pose is too intimate.
A tenderness, typical of ordinary couples, quietly flowed between them.
Huo Nanchen's gaze lingered on her peaceful sleeping face for a long time.
His dark eyes churned with complex and unfathomable emotions.
He moved extremely gently as he tried to pull his arm out.
However, even such a subtle movement startled her.
Lin Xili's eyelashes trembled a few times, and she slowly opened her eyes.
In her initial confusion upon waking, the first thing she felt was the warmth that enveloped her.
Then, she looked up and saw Huo Nanchen's sharply defined jawline so close to hers.
She looked down suddenly and saw that she was curled up in his arms.
?
Lin Xili's mind went blank. Her body jerked violently, and she leaned back using both hands and feet.
She moved hastily and almost rolled out of his arms.
Huo Nanchen released his arm and watched her retreat to the other side of the bed.
She wrapped herself up tightly in the blanket, leaving only her eyes showing.
Seeing her like this, Huo Nanchen's lips curled into a very faint smile.
He sat up and said calmly, "It's cold, sleep a little longer."
As he spoke, he threw off the covers and got out of bed.
"I'll be going to the health center quite early today."
His attitude was too natural, but Lin Xili had nowhere to put her full of embarrassment and shyness.
She curled up in the blankets, only half her head showing, and her muffled voice came from under the covers: "...Mmm."
Huo Nanchen didn't say anything more. He picked up the clothes from the bedside table and went straight into the bathroom.
The door was closed, and the sound of water being used for brushing teeth could be heard quickly inside.
Only then did Lin Xili dare to peek out from under the covers. The heat on her cheeks and ears was still burning and lingered for a long time.
She looked around the bedroom; Huo Nanchen's presence was everywhere.
The warmth on my ankles last night, the firm embrace in the latter half of the night...
Scenes flashed through my mind.
Her heartbeat remained erratic, pounding wildly in her chest.
That sense of security, of being completely enveloped and carefully protected, was an experience she had never had in her barren life.
This feeling is so addictive.
She lay back down, pulled the blanket up to cover half her face, and the warmth of their bodies still lingered in the blanket.
The scent of ambergris emanating from him lingered in the air.
When Lin Xili woke up again, the room was empty, and she was all alone.
Grandma Huo went out to listen to a play with her neighbors early in the morning. No one came to visit during the Spring Festival, so the guesthouse was closed for a few days to enjoy the New Year.
Something was still warm in the pot in the kitchen; it was something Huo Nanchen had cooked and left behind before he left.
A bowl of plain congee, a poached egg, and a sticky corn cob.
She quietly finished her breakfast and then cleaned up the dishes.
Just as I was about to go back to my room to tidy up, my phone rang, shattering the tranquility of the room.
On the screen, those two words still flashed: "Mom".
Lin Xili closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and swiped to answer the call.
"Xi Li, did you go back to that small town?"
Without a single word of pleasantries, he immediately launched into a question, his tone revealing undisguised annoyance.
Lin Xili gripped her phone so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
"Yes," she answered with just one word.
"Perfect timing. I'll go back and get a divorce as soon as possible, and cut all ties with that country doctor."
"Stop dragging it out, it's embarrassing!"
Another divorce.
For the past three months, every time Song Yuan called her, she told her to divorce Huo Nanchen.
She developed hyperthyroidism, was jilted by the Xu family, and became a disgrace and an outcast in the family.
Now that she's recovered, they've remembered her usefulness and are eager to sell her again.
"I will not get a divorce."
"What did you say?"
Song Yuan never expected her obedient daughter to rebel; she had previously thought that since she was in Hong Kong, she didn't have time to go back and get a divorce.
"Lin Xili, are you crazy? Do you even know what you're saying?"
"What's so good about that country doctor? What can he give you?"
What can he give me?
Lin Xili repeated the sentence, a mocking smile curving her lips.
“You feel ashamed that I have hyperthyroidism, and you find me an eyesore when the Xu family breaks off the engagement.”
"It was him who cured my illness, it was him who gave me a home."
"And what about you?"
She paused, then asked, word by word.
"What have my biological parents done besides forcing me to marry a divorced older man?"
There was an instant silence on the other end of the line; the veil of pretense of kinship was completely torn away.
"You, the Lin family raised you to adulthood, and even the research funding for your bachelor's and master's degree was given to you by the Lin family. Could an ordinary family afford that?"
"Besides, which wealthy family's children don't get married through marriage? It's all about matching social status!"
"You've hired a country bumpkin! Where does that leave the Lin family's reputation? How are we supposed to face people in Hong Kong after this?!"
"Marrying someone of equal social standing?"
Lin Xili chuckled coldly.
"If being a good match means being like you and the Xu family—seemingly respectable on the surface but corrupt on the inside—then I'd rather not be with you."
"I'll pay you back the tuition you paid. So, the children of wealthy families want to marry into other families? I'll be the exception."
"You! You..." Song Yuan was so angry that she couldn't speak; all that could be heard through the receiver was heavy breathing.
"You've rebelled! You've really rebelled!"
Lin Xili didn't listen anymore and pressed the hang-up button directly.
The busy tone on the receiver signaled the end of the call. She put down her phone, her fingertips still trembling, her body shaking slightly.
But the pent-up frustration in my chest dissipated.
Those grievances and dissatisfactions that had been pent up for years, those acts of resistance that dared not be expressed.
Today, she laid everything out on the table.
She looked around at the small building, which was simple and even shabby.
But there was Grandma Huo's nagging care and Huo Nanchen's silent protection.
This is her home.
When she was at her most vulnerable, the place that accepted her—offered her peace and healing her.
My phone chimed; it was a WeChat notification.
She opened it and saw a message from Wen Qing.
【Xi Li, I'm back!】
No shifts this year, awesome!
"Out for a stroll? Going to town to buy New Year's goods?"
The town is bustling with activity now!
Looking at Wen Qing's lively writing.
Lin Xili's tense nerves relaxed, and her fingertips tapped on the screen.
A walk is fine.
Buying New Year's goods... never mind.
She instinctively wanted to refuse.
But as soon as the word was typed out, the thought took a turn, and an idea popped into my head.
If... wait for Huo Nanchen to get off work, with him and Grandma Huo.
What would it feel like if three people went shopping for New Year's goods together?
Buying New Year's goods.
The word was gray in her memory, a blank space, and it was also thorny.
In the Lin family, celebrating the Lunar New Year is a grand affair. The parents drive luxury cars and take Lin Junsheng and Lin Xuenuo to the most upscale imported supermarket.
And her? She was either left alone at home, or she followed behind them.
A transparent shadow watched them choose expensive gifts.
Hearing those cheerful laughs and the joyful atmosphere, it had nothing to do with her.
She remembered stopping in an ordinary supermarket.
I've seen other families where the parents hold their child's hand and the couple pushes a shopping cart.
They argued about which candies to buy and discussed which couplets to choose.
Those faces showed genuine happiness, a kind of ordinary, everyday joy that she had never experienced.
And now, it seems she has that opportunity.
The thought of experiencing the beauty of "home" grows wildly once it arises, and it can no longer be suppressed.
She suddenly looked forward to the evening, to the moment when Huo Nanchen would come home from get off work.
She put away her phone, walked to the window, and saw that the streets of the small town were gradually becoming more crowded.
Red lanterns are hanging in every household; this year's Spring Festival will be different, won't it?
She thought she would try her best to integrate into this family and create warm memories that belonged to them.
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