Chen Die waved her hand in front of Wen Liang’s face. Only then did he come back to his senses, his gaze settling heavily on her before slowly moving down to her still-flat belly.

Twins.

It was hard to imagine.

Wen Liang grasped her hand, pulled her close, and bent down to embrace her.

His chin rested on her shoulder, and for a long time, he didn’t speak.

Chen Shao couldn’t stand these two, rolled his eyes, and asked the doctor, “Is everything else healthy?”

The doctor answered with a smile, “Everything is fine. Mrs. Wen and the babies are all very healthy.”

Ye Chuqing finally finished her examination and came out. When she heard that Chen Die was carrying twins, she was equally shocked. Twins were very rare among their acquaintances.

“I heard that the ability to have twins is somewhat related to genetics. Usually, only those with twins in their family tree are more likely to have them,” Ye Chuqing said, sharing some dubious theory she’d heard somewhere.

Chen Die stood beside Wen Liang, thinking about their family situation: “I don’t think anyone in our families has had twins before.”

Ye Chuqing gave her a thumbs up: “That’s amazing, sister.”

Beside them, Chen Shao snorted disdainfully.

“…”

Leaving the hospital, Chen Die had nothing to do and didn’t feel tired, so she went to the company with Wen Liang.

The news of Chen Die’s pregnancy was kept very secret. In the company, only Zhu Qicong, who had arranged the prenatal check-up, knew about it. Everyone else was completely unaware.

She wasn’t showing yet, so when people saw her at the company, they didn’t think anything of it.

Chen Die followed Wen Liang into the CEO’s office. As soon as the door closed, he put his arm around her back, took a few steps backward, and pressed her against the wall.

He lowered his head, kissed her lips, his hand slowly moving down her wrist and fingers, intertwining them, while his other hand squeezed her waist.

After kissing for a while, Chen Die couldn’t take it anymore and laughed, turning to avoid his hand: “Don’t squeeze, it tickles.”

Most of the time, Wen Liang wouldn’t express his emotions. Even sensitive emotions rarely showed externally—he couldn’t say them out loud, so he could only express them through the simplest, most direct actions.

They were extremely close, their breaths hot and intermingling. Chen Die could feel a pair of hands on her stomach, caressing back and forth.

After a long while, Wen Liang finally pulled back slightly, his nose touching hers.

Chen Die grabbed the hem of his shirt, raised her eyes, and said softly, “If I have two girls, won’t you be annoyed to death by them crying all day?”

He smiled and touched her lips again: “It’s fine. Let them be noisy. After all, you used to cry here too. I’ve dealt with noise before.”

“…”

Chen Die pinched his waist hard.

The news that Chen Die was carrying twins quickly reached Old Mr. Chen and Chen Jianping and Wang Mian in Wuxi, and they immediately began treating Chen Die like a national treasure.

But Chen Die still wasn’t showing much and hadn’t gained weight. Wearing loose clothing, no one could tell she was pregnant.

She had been worried that the babies weren’t growing properly and might not be healthy, but every prenatal check-up showed they were doing very well.

The two babies in her belly were also very well-behaved, neither fussy nor troublesome. Chen Die didn’t suffer from the nausea and vomiting that Ye Chuqing had experienced in early pregnancy. She ate and drank well, sometimes almost forgetting she was pregnant.

It was fortunate that the babies were so well-behaved, allowing Chen Die to continue performing with the theater group.

After another two and a half months, their play finished its first round of performances and had successfully established its reputation.

And Chen Die was just at the point where she needed to reduce her workload to nurture the pregnancy.

Her belly only started showing after finishing the theater work. While performing, loose clothing completely concealed it, but once she stopped, her belly quickly became round.

With twins, her belly was even larger than usual.

Chen Die spent a lot of time every day applying stretch mark cream. Fortunately, although her belly grew quickly, she didn’t have many noticeable stretch marks, probably due to her skin type.

After finishing work and resting at home for a few days, one afternoon Chen Shao suddenly called. His tone was uncharacteristically flustered as he told Chen Die that Ye Chuqing was already in the delivery room.

Chen Die had just planned to take a nap and sat up from the bed with a start: “What’s going on? Isn’t the due date still some time away?”

Chen Shao: “She’s in premature labor. Her stomach suddenly started hurting today.”

Chen Die put on her clothes, exchanged a few more words, and hung up.

Wen Liang, fearing she would be bored at home but knowing her status didn’t allow for casual outings, had simply assigned a driver to stay at the house. She occasionally wanted to go out for a drive.

The driver immediately took Chen Die to the hospital. In the car, she remembered to call Wen Liang as well.

Wen Liang was in a meeting when he received the call. He raised his hand to pause the meeting, listened to Chen Die, and then frowned: “Don’t panic. Tell the driver not to use the hospital’s main entrance—there are too many people there. I’ll be right over.”

In the past, everyone in the company had seen Wen Liang as cold-blooded and unfeeling, lacking humanity, and even having a poor relationship with old Director Wen. All the changes probably began when Chen Die appeared in everyone’s view.

Now, seeing his reaction, they all understood who was on the other end of the call.

The meeting obviously couldn’t continue.

Wen Liang handed over the remaining content to Zhu Qicong to preside over and immediately set off for the hospital.

When Chen Die arrived, there were already many people outside the delivery room—Ye Chuqing and Chen Shao’s parents on both sides, as well as Old Mr. Chen.

“Little Die, why did you come too?” Old Mr. Chen frowned slightly. “Where’s Wen Liang?”

“He’s on his way. I came directly from home. How is she doing?”

“She was just taken in a while ago. The doctors we arranged in advance are all inside.”

Soon, Wen Liang arrived as well. He helped Chen Die sit down nearby, worried that emotional fluctuations might affect her health, and held her hand the entire time.

Chen Die didn’t know how much time had passed before the doctor finally came out of the delivery room, announcing that the delivery was successful, mother and child were safe, and they had a big, healthy boy.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

After giving birth, Ye Chuqing was taken back to her room, looking as if she had been pulled out of a sweat bath. However, she was still very conscious and, after looking at the baby, still had the energy to joke, “Why is he so ugly?”

Chen Die only stayed for a while, not wanting to disturb her rest, and then left with Wen Liang.

For Chen Die, this was a relief—Ye Chuqing had delivered successfully. But for Wen Liang, it marked the beginning of an anxious period.

Previously, he had been somewhat proud that Chen Die was carrying twins. Though eighty percent of it was due to that idiot Chen Shao triggering some inexplicable male pride, it was also because these two children would become a solid bond and legacy between him and Chen Die.

But seeing Ye Chuqing’s condition when she came out of the delivery room, he found it hard to imagine Chen Die going through that.

How could he bear to see Chen Die suffer like that?

His Lingling, who trembled from the pain of just getting stitches, who complained about bitter medicine, who even found plasters smelly, who was so delicate—how could she endure such pain?

He didn’t know with what kind of resolve Chen Die had said to him, “Let’s have a child.”

With these thoughts, Wen Liang was completely accommodating to Chen Die in the following days.

In the past, Chen Die’s pregnancy hadn’t stopped him from being physical, but now he was so obedient, excessively proper, and could even be called rigid.

He didn’t argue with Chen Die at all.

Chen Die’s late pregnancy was passing too comfortably, and somewhat boringly.

Days without verbal sparring…

Days passed, summer turned to autumn, and the weather cooled day by day.

One afternoon, Wen Liang returned home and immediately saw Chen Die leaning on the sofa, already asleep.

The sunset was a deep, warm orange, spilling in like ink from the floor-to-ceiling window beside her, spreading over Chen Die. She still held a book in her hand, her wrist hanging over the edge of the sofa.

It wasn’t as cool inside as it was outside. Chen Die was wearing only a thin dress, her belly protruding, looking peaceful and gentle.

Wen Liang stood at the door, watching quietly for a while.

In this world, there was no other sight that could move him more deeply.

He stepped forward, bent down, and half-knelt on the sofa. He raised his hand to gently caress Chen Die’s jaw. Moving closer, he could smell the faint milk scent on her, layered over the fragrance of shower gel—a scent that only appeared in late pregnancy.

Wen Liang buried his face and inhaled for a while, like an addict, and then, with extreme tenderness and restraint, kissed her chin, then moved upward to her jaw.

He deliberately kept his breathing very light, kissing her while seemingly afraid of waking her.

Chen Die was sleeping deeply, and only when the book in her hand fell to the floor with a “plop” did she hear the sound, her hand trembling, and she immediately woke up.

She opened her eyes wide, seeing Wen Liang just inches away, still kissing her with his eyes closed. He noticed that Chen Die was awake and simply pressed the back of her head to deepen the kiss.

Chen Die blinked, slowly becoming more alert.

“Wen Liang,” she said with a muffled voice, “what are you doing?”

Wen Liang finally released her a bit, his gaze deep as it fell on her face. After a moment, he kissed her again, his breathing growing heavier. After a long while, he said hoarsely, “Can we do it?”

“…”

That was a bit too direct.

But since Ye Chuqing had given birth, Wen Liang had been particularly cautious with her. Counting the days, it had been quite a long time.

Chen Die blushed, stammering, not knowing how to answer in a way that would seem proper, considerate, and reserved.

Finally, she had to murmur, “Then… then be careful.”

After saying this, she felt extremely embarrassed, as if she were spreading harmful thoughts to the two babies in her belly. She quickly pushed Wen Liang away and was about to stand up, saying, “Forget it, forget it, pretend I didn’t say anything, no…”

Before she could finish, Wen Liang caught her wrist.

Chen Die was standing, and Wen Liang was kneeling on one knee on the sofa, looking up at her, his eyes dark.

They stared at each other for a moment, and he smiled: “I’ll be careful.”

“…”

Wen Liang was true to his word, very careful, slow, and exasperating, making Chen Die want to die.

Compared to Ye Chuqing, Chen Die’s pregnancy was particularly smooth. She had no morning sickness and no strange issues. Besides getting tired easily from walking due to her large belly in the late stages, she had no other problems.

Even the delivery was extremely smooth.

Chen Die didn’t want scars on her belly afterward, which might affect certain filming requirements. After the doctor confirmed she could have a natural birth, she chose to do so.

The doctor said it was the first time they had seen twins delivered so quickly.

When the doctor announced the successful delivery, Chen Die was still in a daze. The intense pain seemed to have disappeared as well. Was it already over?

Chen Die had no strength to see what the children looked like. The little ones were taken by nurses to be bathed, and soon Chen Die was settled back in the hospital room.

Later, Chen Die thought she would probably never forget this scene.

The hospital room was very quiet. Everyone else had gone to see the babies. Wen Liang stood alone, rigidly straight at the doorway. His eyes were a bit red as he quietly looked at Chen Die.

Walking to the bedside, before he could speak, he suddenly pressed his hands tightly over his eyes, crouched down, and buried his face firmly in Chen Die’s palm.

That winter, Wen Liang was 30 years old, Chen Die was 24 years old, and they had a boy and a girl.