Happy Ending
It was late at night, and only a warm yellow bedside lamp was on in the bedroom, its light softly spreading on the messy bed.
"Lingyi," Zhou Jianxing suddenly curled up his body, and some nasal humming escaped from his throat, "It's enough... Stop for a moment... My legs, my legs seem to be cramping again..."
The voice also trembled non-stop, sounding delicate and weak.
Wen Lingyi stopped immediately.
Zhou Jianxing's slender calves were unnaturally tense and trembling slightly.
Wen Lingyi leaned over and placed a few gentle kisses on the taut skin, then placed her palms on it and rubbed it lightly to help the spasmodic muscles relax slowly.
Zhou Jianxing's body is always like this, easily nervous and extremely sensitive.
After a long while, the severe pain gradually subsided.
Zhou Jianxing seemed to have exhausted all his strength. He collapsed on the pillow, gasping for breath. One arm rested on his forehead, and he covered his eyes with his palm.
Wen Lingyi also shook her sore right wrist and gazed lovingly at Zhou Jianxing's face, which was lightly covered with sweat.
She lay down again, turned sideways, and gently rested her head on Zhou Jianxing's chest.
Through a thin layer of skin, one can clearly feel the beating of the heart underneath, which gradually becomes steady and regular from the rapid and frantic beating just now.
Wen Lingyi's fingertips unconsciously and gently scratched Zhou Jianxing's flat belly.
She thought back to the past, when there was always a sense of emptiness in her heart, as if a corner was missing, and there was a chill in the air.
I don’t know when it started, but that void was filled up bit by bit and silently by Zhou Jianxing.
It is so full, so solid, so full that now, with just the slightest movement, what overflows is a reassuring sense of security and solidity.
"Baby." She raised her head, her voice still slightly hoarse from the excitement, and called out the name that belonged only to Zhou Jianxing.
Her baby, the most precious baby in the world, the one and only star.
"Hmm?" Zhou Jianxing's fingers gently ran through Wen Lingyi's sweaty hair, and his fingertips gently massaged her scalp.
"I want..." Wen Lingyi paused, choosing her words and gathering her courage, "I want to give birth to a child for you."
After returning from the full moon banquet of Ajie and Xiaomin's child today, this thought kept lingering in her mind.
Looking back, she always felt that in this relationship, Zhou Jianxing gave and sacrificed too much for her, while she did too little for Zhou Jianxing.
Could she also take out her own heart and offer it to Zhou Jianxing? She also wanted to love Zhou Jianxing without hesitation.
She also wanted a deeper connection, a more concrete future that belonged to just the two of them.
Hearing this, Zhou Jianxing sat up suddenly, his waist and abdominal muscles tensed instantly, and his movements were so fast that he even lightly rubbed Wen Lingyi's cheek.
"No need," Zhou Jianxing refused almost subconsciously, "Giving birth is painful, it's too hard. Lingyi, we don't need it."
As she spoke, she fastened the buttons of her pajamas that were loose on her chest.
"Besides, raising a child requires both parties to truly like the child." She leaned over and kissed Wen Lingyi on the forehead. "Lingyi, do you really like children?"
If it were the previous Wen Lingyi, the answer to this question would most likely be no.
She will feel that children are troublesome and burdensome, and will disrupt her refined and orderly life.
But maybe it was because she had been with Zhou Jianxing for so long, and was subtly influenced by her soft and warm heart, she felt that she had become different from before.
It's like the hardest part of my heart is slowly softening, becoming more sensitive to softness and warmth.
The body also seems to become more flexible and more receptive to another possibility.
She has officially turned thirty this year.
This is an age when both the body and mind are fully mature, all aspects of the condition tend to be stable, and it can even be said to be the peak period of life.
Wen Lingyi began to feel an inner, burgeoning desire to give birth to a new life.
A life with the blood of both of them flowing through it.
"Yeah." Wen Lingyi also sat up and stared into Zhou Jianxing's eyes in the dim light. "I want you and I to have a child that belongs to both of us."
"Then...then I'll do it in my next life." Zhou Jianxing moved closer, caught Wen Lingyi's lips, and said in a vague voice, "I'm in good health, I can handle it."
I can't bear to see you suffer that much.
"No." The refusal was crushed between their lips, and Wen Lingyi's voice was out of tune, "I do. Zhou Jianxing, I do."
She stepped back a little, cupped Zhou Jianxing's face, and made her look into her eyes. She spoke softly, "This way... you'll never be able to bear to leave me. There will always be the deepest bond between us."
Zhou Jianxing wanted to say something else, and opened and closed his lips, but Wen Lingyi blocked his words with another kiss.
The hot palm was placed on Wen Lingyi's waist again, and the thin calluses on her fingertips from years of holding tools made her skin hot.
The temperature continues to spread, penetrating into the texture, pointing to the most primitive source of life.
"Wife..." Zhou Jianxing buried his face in her neck, his voice muffled, like a clingy kitten acting coquettishly.
"Hmm?" Wen Lingyi closed her eyes, but the corners of her lips curled up, "Scream again."
She felt her body turning into waves in a regular and harmonious rhythm, and even her voice rose and fell with the waves.
"Wife..." Zhou Jianxing murmured obediently in her ear, his breath hot.
Zhou Jianxing's temperature was so hot that Wen Lingyi shivered. Her soul seemed to have left her body, rising and floating continuously, and was wrapped in clouds carrying heavy rain.
"You are my wife too." Before her consciousness was completely caught in the vortex and disconnected, she gave a last clear and gentle response.
·
A few days later, on an afternoon when the sun was still mild, Wen Lingyi was sitting alone on the balcony swing, looking at the river view in the distance. The flowers and plants planted by Zhou Jianxing were swaying gently at her feet.
She held the phone, her fingertips hovering over the familiar name on the screen for a long time, and finally pressed the dial button.
The phone rang for a long time before it was answered.
"Dad," Wen Lingyi swallowed, "How is your health lately?"
There was silence at first, and an invisible sense of estrangement seemed to spread through the electrical signals.
Just when Wen Lingyi was about to give up, Wen Shuli's slightly tired and old voice finally came from the other side.
"Not bad." After so much time had passed, Wen Shuli's anger had been tempered by time, and his tone was no longer aggressive. "How about you? How have you been doing recently?"
His daughter, who had been spoiled since childhood, had never suffered any hardship and was held in his hands and could do whatever he wanted.
It was somewhat beyond his expectation that she could actually stay outside for so long without turning back to beg for mercy after being cruelly pushed away by him.
"Well," Wen Lingyi couldn't help but feel a lump in her throat when she heard her father's voice. "I'm doing well, Dad. Really. I'm... happy with her. You don't have to worry about me."
Since her mother died of illness, she and Wen Shuli have been dependent on each other in a sense.
Like many fathers in traditional East Asian families, Wen Shuli is strict, harsh, not good at expressing his emotions, and even very pedantic, conservative, and likes to preach, with a dad-like vibe.
But Wen Shuli will try his best to bring everything he thinks is the best in the world to her.
That's why when Wen Shuli said, "I'll just treat you as dead," she felt such deep sadness and despair.
After the greetings, Wen Lingyi took a deep breath and said, "Dad, I want to have a baby."
She tried to use plain language to explain that there is now a new assisted reproductive technology that can allow two women to give birth to a true offspring with the genes of both women through a special chromosome combination.
But the technology is very complex and expensive.
"So," Wen Lingyi's voice lowered, "I would like to ask you... to help me and give me some money."
Given her and Zhou Jianxing's current income level, it would take them an unknown amount of time to save enough money for the surgery and subsequent expenses.
"Oh?" Wen Shuli habitually dragged out his words, his tone tinged with sarcasm. "So, you haven't contacted me for so long, and now you're calling me, you're asking me for money?"
"..." Wen Lingyi on the other end of the phone was silent, and even had the urge to hang up immediately for a moment.
"Ahem," Wen Shuli feigned a cough twice on the other end of the line, then spoke in a slower tone, "Then...how much do you want?"
Wen Lingyi quoted the amount that she could not pay for the time being, and explained again as concisely as possible why so much money was needed, and what technical aspects and medical expenses were involved.
"Okay." Wen Shuli agreed readily without any hesitation.
This news was a huge and unexpected surprise for Wen Shuli, who was over fifty years old and had longed to have grandchildren.
He was going to be... a grandfather? Or a grandfather? The name seemed to be getting a little complicated.
When Wen Shuli thought about having relatives of the next generation, his hands couldn't help but tremble.
But then he put forward a condition: "I can give you the money, but there is one condition."
Wen Lingyi froze on the swing, her toes no longer touching the ground.
"When the child is born, he will have our Wen family's surname." Wen Shuli's voice revealed an irrepressible anticipation and excitement.
After waiting for so many years, he is finally going to hold his granddaughter?!
Wen Shuli couldn't suppress the corners of his mouth, which was almost stretched to his ears.
"Okay." Wen Lingyi breathed a sigh of relief and agreed very readily.
She hesitated for a moment, but still softly asked the question that was lingering in her heart: "Then... Dad, have you... forgiven me?"
"Okay," Wen Shuli's tone sounded a little unnatural, "If you have time on the weekend... bring your... girlfriend home and have dinner together."
There is no deep hatred between father and daughter.
This is what reconciliation and forgiveness mean.
·
One morning a year later, the atmosphere in the corridor outside the delivery room of a high-end hospital abroad was tense.
Wen Shuli was wearing a neat suit and sitting upright. He seemed calm, but his eyes would glance at the slowly ticking wall clock from time to time.
Zhou Jianjun and Zhou Shufen stood side by side, looking at the door of the delivery room, their fingers unconsciously clenched and unclenched, repeatedly.
Su Qing also came. She seemed more anxious than anyone else. She paced back and forth in the corridor, biting her nails unconsciously.
Chu Wei, Ajie and Xiao Min stood by a window a little further away and chatted in low voices. The topic jumped from the choice of milk powder and diaper brands to which kindergarten in City C they should choose for their child in the future.
Zhou Jianxing stood quietly at the door of the delivery room like a sculpture.
From the moment Wen Lingyi was pushed in, she never moved, her eyes fixed on the closed door.
She wanted to accompany her during the birthing process, but Wen Lingyi refused to agree no matter what.
After an unknown amount of time, a loud and powerful baby cry was finally heard in the delivery room.
Then, the door to the delivery room was pushed open, and a nurse came out holding a tiny, delicate baby wrapped in pink swaddling clothes. She said with a smile on her face, "Congratulations, both mother and daughter are safe. It's a very healthy girl."
She handed the child directly to Zhou Jianxing, who was closest to the door.
In an instant, everyone gathered around, eager to see the newborn life.
"Give it to me." Wen Shuli saw the eagerness and anxiety in Zhou Jianxing's eyes. He stood up and stretched out his hands towards Zhou Jianxing. "You go in and see Lingyi first. Leave the child to me."
"Thank you, Dad." Zhou Jianxing looked at Wen Shuli with a red face, and carefully handed the soft and delicate baby in his arms to Wen Shuli.
Wen Shuli's body shook slightly because of this natural address.
Even though they had been together for a year, he was still not used to Zhou Jianxing calling him that.
But the next second, the soft and real weight in his palm instantly relaxed all his discomfort.
Wen Shuli lowered his head, looking at the wrinkled yet incredibly cute little face in his arms, deep wrinkles forming at the corners of his eyes: "My dear granddaughter..."
"She's so beautiful," Su Qing leaned in to watch, her eyes suddenly reddened, her voice choked with sobs, "Look at her eyes, the shape of her eyebrows, how much she resembles Ling Yi."
"Yeah," Chu Wei nodded in agreement, examining it carefully. "Look at this little nose and the outline of the mouth. They look more like stars."
·
In the delivery room, Wen Lingyi lay exhausted on the delivery bed.
She looked like she had just gone through a long and exhausting journey. Her whole body was soaked in sweat, her face was pale, and her long black hair was wet and stuck to her cheeks and neck.
Seeing Zhou Jianxing come in, she moved slightly, slowly stretched out a hand in Zhou Jianxing's direction, and said in a weak voice: "Zhou Jianxing, it's great to see you again."
Zhou Jianxing walked a few steps to the bedside, squatted down, carefully held the hand that Wen Lingyi extended with both hands, brought it to his lips, and pressed an extremely gentle kiss on the back of the hand.
"You've worked hard." Zhou Jianxing's voice was a little hoarse. She picked up the soft tissue next to her and wiped the sweat off Wen Lingyi's face bit by bit, carefully pushing the black hair wet with sweat behind her ears.
"Are you tired? Stop talking for now. Close your eyes and rest for a while. I'm here with you."
Wen Lingyi shook her head, and took Zhou Jianxing's hand with her backhand, interlocking their fingers tightly: "Do you know... what I was thinking when I was in the most pain just now?"
Some feelings that you want to express must be said at this moment.
If you express it afterwards, it will no longer reflect your mood at that time.
"What are you thinking about?" Zhou Jianxing looked up at her lover, her eyes uncontrollably reddening and tears welling up. She couldn't help but wonder how much pain Wen Lingyi was in during the delivery process.
I heard it hurts a lot.
"I was thinking, if I can make it out of the delivery room alive," Wen Lingyi said softly, "then I must do more good deeds in the future."
"This way, I can meet you again in the next life."
During the delivery process, she kept having wild thoughts about extreme risks. She wondered what if she died on the delivery bed?
What if I never see Zhou Jianxing again?
She still had so many things she wanted to say to Zhou Jianxing, and so many things she wanted to do with Zhou Jianxing.
If you can’t finish saying or doing it in this life, you’ll have to wait for the next life.
Zhou Jianxing couldn't help but shed tears.
All the images along the way, every moment we spent together, all the anxiety, courage, perseverance and deep love...
Like a pot of boiling porridge, it rolled in her heart, and finally slowly boiled into an almost painful sweetness that filled her entire chest, and boiled into all her longings for a long-lasting and ordinary life with Wen Lingyi in the future.
"Lingyi," Zhou Jianxing buried his face in Wen Lingyi's palm, his voice choked with sobs, "This sentence... should be said by me."
"I must have done a lot of good things in my previous life."
"I can only meet you in this life."
Zhou Jianxing was extremely grateful that he was brave enough to take that step.
She was also extremely grateful, grateful that Wen Lingyi also had enough courage to catch her and choose to go on with her.
"Zhou Jianxing, let's be together for the rest of our lives."
"good."
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