Chapter 31 "You didn't think I wanted to hold your hand..."
Yu Xin didn't change his clothes, but wore a black baseball cap and followed her out the door.
Shen Mengqing glanced at him; half of his face was almost buried under the brim of his hat, only his thin lips and sharp jawline were visible.
She laughed and said, "You're quite conscious of your image."
Yu Xin shrugged, his face colder than the autumn wind, utterly ruthless.
Shen Mengqing couldn't help but want to expose his cool act, and said, "It's getting colder outside. I felt a bit cold when I came here. You went out wearing just this one piece of clothing?"
"Hmm." Yu Xin stood up straight, his tall and straight figure, about 1.89 meters, like a poplar tree swaying in the wind.
Shen Mengqing snorted to himself, thinking to himself, "I'll know how cold it is once the wind blows."
The buildings in Yu Xin's upscale neighborhood were spaced further apart, with no obstructions from any direction, resulting in a stronger draft. Shen Mengqing felt cold even with her hands in her pockets, so she unconsciously moved closer to Yu Xin.
As luck would have it, a couple walked by, their hands clasped tightly together, more like magnets.
Shen Mengqing and Yu Xin both saw it. Shen Mengqing wasn't sure if it was just her imagination, but she felt that Yu Xin had also taken a few steps closer to her. The hand with distinct knuckles that was closest to her was hanging down next to her pocket, swinging leisurely and restlessly.
It has a hinting or suggestive meaning.
She saw this, coughed awkwardly, and slowly withdrew her hand.
Suddenly, the backs of their hands collided in mid-air. Before Shen Mengqing could even meet Yu Xin's eyes, he heard him say, "You didn't think I wanted to hold your hand, did you?"
"?"
Shen Mengqing quickly scoffed and said angrily, "Tch, how could that be? My palms were sweaty, so I took them out to dry."
To prove her point, she raised her hand in the air and waved it back and forth.
Yu Xin glanced sideways at her slightly reddened hand and said, "Oh."
His clothes weren't very windproof. He didn't want Shen Mengqing to wait too long when he went out, so he wore them out.
The cold wind was blowing fiercely into his collar, cuffs, and hem, making a whistling sound. His clothes and trousers had no pockets, and his hands were freezing cold from the wind, like two blocks of ice.
Given how sensitive Shen Mengqing is to the cold, if she were to hold my hand, she'd freeze to death.
As soon as they stepped out of the residential compound, the wind shifted to blow from behind them, and Yu Xin quietly fell a few steps behind.
Shen Mengqing turned to look at him in confusion, thinking that he was embarrassed to be seen by people walking towards him wearing home clothes, so he was hiding behind her.
“Your outfit looks perfectly normal, don’t be embarrassed to show it to people,” she said.
Yu Xin: "..."
Too lazy to explain.
Once inside the supermarket, Shen Mengqing led the way, while Yu Xin pushed a shopping cart and followed behind her.
She carefully selected several jars of seasoning, and considering that Yu Xin doesn't cook much herself, she bought the smallest jars.
Afterwards, she went to the frozen food section, picked out a box of wontons, and bought some side dishes.
Yu Xin acted as a shopping cart driver, pushing the cart without saying a word. When they were almost at the checkout counter, he quickly walked in front of Shen Mengqing.
The cashier scanned the product codes one by one, then casually pointed to the items on the shelf next to her and said, "The top two rows are discounted items. Would you like to buy one?"
The discounted items were mostly drinks or bread. Yu Xin turned her head to look at Shen Mengqing, silently seeking her opinion.
Shen Mengqing shook her head and said, "I don't need it, I'll just have wontons."
She looked away from Yu Xin's face and then at the shelf, finally seeing what the neatly arranged little boxes at the bottom were.
Shen Mengqing recalled the incident at Yu Xin's house last time. At that time, Yu Xin said that he didn't have it. Could it be that when Yu Xin looked at her just now, he was asking if she wanted to buy it...?
"Aren't you leaving yet?"
After paying, Yu Xin noticed that Shen Mengqing was staring blankly ahead, so he raised an eyebrow.
Shen Mengqing realized what was happening and immediately pushed him, saying, "Let's go, let's go."
Back at Yu Xin's house, he placed the bulging bag on the stove and took out the items one by one.
Shen Mengqing thawed the wontons and put the pot of water on the stove to heat it.
Although Yu Xin is not a cook, the kitchen utensils he has are all exceptionally good, all imported brands, which probably cost him a lot of money.
What a waste!
After placing all the seasonings and ingredients beside her, Yu Xin took a few steps back, leaned against the pool, and crossed his arms to watch her silhouette shrouded in mist.
After a while, the wontons were bobbing up and down in the pot. Seeing that the time was almost up, Shen Mengqing turned off the heat and scooped them out.
The wontons were placed on the table, along with two cold dishes bought from the supermarket. Yu Xin handed the chopsticks to Shen Mengqing, and the two people, whose stomachs were almost empty, finally got to eat.
The scene was quiet, with only the sound of chewing; the two remained silent, tacitly agreeing not to speak.
Towards the end of the meal, Shen Mengqing suddenly felt a sharp pain in her lower back, even more intense than the soreness she had felt when she left the house.
She put down her chopsticks, clutched her lower back, and said, "I'm feeling a little unwell, I'll go lie down on the sofa for a while."
Yu Xin was taken aback and asked her, "Are you alright?"
"It's nothing, it's probably just that the seats on the high-speed train and airplane are uncomfortable."
Shen Mengqing walked to the sofa and lay down on her side.
Yu Xin finished her bowl of wontons, cleaned up the trash on the table and put it in the trash can, washed the spatula and chopsticks, and then walked over to Shen Mengqing.
She was already asleep; the phone had slipped from her hand and was dangling precariously from the edge of the sofa.
Yu Xin bent down and moved her phone a little further inside. For a moment, as his gaze shifted back, he suddenly froze.
On the off-white sofa cushion, a small, conspicuous stain had appeared at some point.
His mind went blank for a moment, and after realizing what it was, Yu Xin couldn't help but feel his face flush, and the tips of his ears turned red in the blink of an eye.
He hesitated for a few seconds, then hurriedly took a dark blanket from the room and covered her with it. He grabbed his phone in a fluster and left without changing his clothes or putting on his hat.
Because of her physical discomfort, Shen Mengqing slept restlessly. When she opened her eyes, the hair on her forehead was damp with a thin layer of sweat, and the feeling of heaviness in her lower abdomen was even stronger. Her back ached so much that she couldn't lie comfortably no matter how she lay down.
When she felt the heat, she knew something was wrong. She got up and looked around, but didn't see Yu Xin. She slowly walked to the bathroom.
Sure enough, my period came.
But she had nothing on hand, so she couldn't just go back like that.
Helplessly, Shen Mengqing picked up her phone, preparing to order sanitary napkins from a food delivery service; this was the only option.
Just then, the sound of a door opening came from outside.
Yu Xin has returned.
She was hesitating about how to bring it up with Yu Xin when there was a knock on the bathroom door.
Yu Xin guessed that she was here and said to her, "I've bought it for you."
Shen Mengqing opened her mouth, then swallowed back the draft she had written. She walked to the door in small steps, and after she opened the door, Yu Xin stretched out an arm and handed in a pack of sanitary napkins.
"Thank you," Shen Mengqing said softly.
She then said, "I can't wear these pants anymore. Do you have any clothes I can borrow? I'll wash them and return them to you when I get back."
Yu Xin replied, "Yes, wait a moment while I get it. You can stay here tonight. I have a dryer here, so you can wash the clothes you're wearing and wear them again tomorrow."
As soon as he finished speaking, he turned and left without waiting for Shen Mengqing to reply.
Shen Mengqing hesitated for a moment, but finally accepted his suggestion. After all, she was still suffering from menstrual cramps, and walking back on this chilly night would be half her life-threatening.
Yu Xin prepared disposable toiletries and a set of loungewear that he hadn't worn yet for her. He knocked on the door, and after Shen Mengqing opened it a crack to take the things, he sat down on the sofa closest to the bathroom, afraid that Shen Mengqing might suddenly need his help.
The sound of water running in the bathroom indicated that he wouldn't be needed for a few minutes. Yu Xin remembered that there was a packet of ginger and brown sugar powder in the large bag of items he had just bought. He immediately stood up and went to the kitchen to boil water, intending to make a cup of tea for Shen Mengqing.
Twenty minutes later, Shen Mengqing came out after changing his clothes.
They were quite far apart in height, so she rolled up the sleeves of her shirt and the hems of her pants several times to make sure it didn't affect her ability to pick things up or walk.
The washing machine was running at high speed, and Shen Mengqing felt refreshed. Apart from the lingering stomach pain, she felt a little better.
She walked into the living room, and upon seeing the coffee table piled high with things, her almond-shaped eyes widened. She sat down next to Yu Xin and asked, "Did you buy all of this?!"
Yu Xin nodded and handed over a hand warmer, saying, "It's already warmed up."
"..."
Shen Mengqing stuck the scalding hot heat pack to her clothes, then leaned closer to the coffee table and saw that Yu Xin had bought at least nine or ten different kinds of sanitary napkins alone, including day and night types, and various lengths. There were also four or five brands of painkillers, including capsules and powders, not to mention brown sugar water and heat packs.
"I didn't know which painkiller was the most effective, so I searched online and these were the ones that were mentioned most often," Yu Xin explained.
Shen Mengqing put down the medicine in her hand and said with a hint of a laugh, "Yu Xin, I have menstrual cramps, not that I'm about to die."
Yu Xin lowered his head slightly, his eyelashes obscuring his eyes and concealing his emotions, his face stern.
"Are you feeling better?" he asked.
Shen Mengqing sighed and said, "Not so fast."
Yu Xin frowned solemnly and asked, "Didn't the internet say that taking painkillers would make you feel better?"
This was the first time Shen Mengqing had seen him so worried, and for a moment she forgot her pain and started having bad thoughts.
She said, "This hand warmer seems a bit useless. How did you keep it warm?"
"It's useless now?"
Yu Xin reached out and placed his hand on the heat pack on Shen Mengqing's abdomen, the burning heat penetrating through.
"That's much better," Shen Mengqing said with a smile.
"..."
Yu Xin saw through her trick and coldly retorted, "Don't you have hands?"
Even so, he still didn't pull his hand back. Shen Mengqing's eyes crinkled into a smile as she stretched out her hand, intending to support herself on the sofa, but unexpectedly bumped into Yu Xin's other hand, which was so cold that she reflexively pulled her hand back.
The two spoke almost simultaneously:
Why is your hand so cold?
"Did you get cold?"
Shen Mengqing was amused by his words and said, "I'm not that fragile. It's just touching your hand, how could I get cold?"
She grabbed the bag of hand warmers that Yu Xin had opened, tore one open, and stuffed it into Yu Xin's other hand.
"It's even colder at night. Did you forget to wear a coat again when you went out? I think you've forgotten how bad your last cold was. You want to go get an IV drip again."
Shen Mengqing kept talking about him, and Yu Xin felt his cold hands being warmed by a campfire.
The atmosphere was silent for a while. Under the effect of the painkillers, the pain gradually subsided. Shen Mengqing stretched her body, which had been sitting for a long time, and finally felt less uncomfortable.
"Does it not hurt anymore?" Yu Xin asked her.
Shen Mengqing: "Yes, much better."
She grasped Yu Xin's wrist, moved his hand away, and peeled off the already cooled heat pack. In the end, the only source of warmth was Yu Xin's hand.
She stood up slackly and said, "I'm sleepy. Which room should I sleep in?"
"My room is over there."
As soon as he said that, Yu Xin was stunned for a moment.
He quickly added, "The beds in the other guest rooms aren't very comfortable, and the sheets haven't been changed yet. You can sleep in my room, and I'll sleep in a guest room."
Seeing his firm attitude, Shen Mengqing stopped refusing and agreed.
She took a few steps toward the master bedroom, then suddenly turned around and said, "I've taken the day off tomorrow and don't have to go to work. If I oversleep, don't worry about me; I'll come back as soon as I get up."
Yu Xin said, "Okay."
After a few seconds, he added, "If you're not feeling well, you don't need to rush back."
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Author's Note: A stubborn man [sunglasses]
The darlings were featured on a photo chart, so I changed the cover to a brighter color to make it more eye-catching. I'll change it back later, just in case you guys aren't used to it, hahaha.
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