We will still have children in the future, right?

It was only after meeting the children that Sheng Sui learned that Li Dong and Qi Xiajing’s family actually had a pair of twins.

The older brother, Li Qinghe, followed his mother’s surname. His facial features looked as if he had been carved from the same mold as Qi Xiajing. The younger sister, Qi Chuji, followed her father’s surname. When she smiled with her curved eyebrows, she was simply a miniaturized version of Li Dong.

“…There are guests at home today.”

Before seeing the person, they heard her voice first. While Sheng Sui was chatting with the couple Qi Xiajing and Li Dong in the living room, she heard a crisp young girl’s voice.

Sheng Sui turned around at the sound and saw a girl as exquisite as a porcelain doll entering the living room from the backyard. She casually took off her small white shoes and ran over with light steps, smiling as she threw herself into her mother’s arms.

The girl had a slender and upright figure. At twelve or thirteen years old, she already had quite an elegant bearing.

Facing the unfamiliar guests at home, Qi Chuji showed no timidity and greeted them generously: “Hello, big brother and sister.”

When her gaze swept over Sheng Sui, the girl let out a soft “wow” and praised with curved eyebrows: “Sister, you’re so beautiful.”

Infected by the girl’s bright and generous manner, Sheng Sui smiled and thanked her: “You’re also very beautiful. The milk green dress you’re wearing suits you perfectly.”

The young girl had been worried about having no one to admire her newly changed long dress. Upon hearing this, she smiled with her beautiful round eyes squinting, hugging Li Dong’s neck coquettishly and expressing her fondness directly:

“Mom, I like this sister. Can we invite her to our house more often?”

“You have to ask first if Sister Sheng Sui is willing.”

Li Dong was amused by her daughter who had been spoiled since childhood. She turned to look at her son Li Qinghe, who had silently placed his sister’s discarded white shoes neatly aside and was walking over with pink slippers without saying a word, helping with introductions:

“This is the older brother, Li Qinghe.”

Sheng Sui looked at Li Qinghe, who was mature beyond his years and whose height was not inferior to hers, and her tone became more cautious:

“Hello.”

“Hello.”

The steady and taciturn boy only nodded politely with a slight bow, then returned his gaze to his sister who was affectionately nuzzling against Li Dong. His voice carried the unique clarity of a young man:

“Chuji, don’t walk around the house barefoot. You’ll get sick.”

As he spoke, he crouched down in front of Qi Chuji, placing the comfortable pink slippers in his hands beside the girl’s feet. His tone softened as if coaxing: “Lift your foot.”

“The weather is too hot. Wearing shoes is uncomfortable.”

Chuji pouted and muttered softly, but in the end, she obediently extended her foot for her brother to help put on the shoes. When she lifted her leg, a section of her slender, pale calf beneath the long dress was visible, like a snow-white lotus root.

“…”

The brother was steady while the sister was lively – the siblings had completely opposite personalities. Because they had both grown up in a happy and loving family, their interactions had an even more vivid warmth.

Sheng Sui quietly watched the simple everyday conversation of this family of four before her. Somehow, she suddenly felt very envious.

Perhaps because she had never experienced a harmonious family of origin, or perhaps because she truly loved children very much, even while being very satisfied with her and Zhou Shiyu’s world for two, Sheng Sui couldn’t help but start fantasizing: if their home had another little friend, a new member, would this family be more complete?

Once certain thoughts sprouted, they grew like seaweed from the ocean floor. Even Li Dong could see her overflowing doting affection. When her sister smiled sweetly and acted coquettish once, earning Sheng Sui’s immediate agreement to everything, Li Dong laughingly told Sheng Sui not to spoil her too much.

All these subtle changes were keenly observed by Zhou Shiyu.

Before leaving, Qi Xiajing handed Sheng Sui a small black USB drive in the entrance hall.

“I know something about what happened between you and Zhou Shiyu. This contains relevant footage from the documentary that the hospital was filming during the time you were both hospitalized. Considering various factors at the time, the final cut didn’t include any segments about you two, but according to regulations, I still have a copy of the raw footage.”

The expressionless man’s tone remained lazy and indifferent. He glanced up at Zhou Shiyu, who was silently giving permission, and handed over the item with his distinctly jointed fingers: “This is a compilation of the discarded footage of you and Zhou Shiyu that was edited out. I have no use for it, so you can handle it yourselves.”

“…Alright.”

Sheng Sui’s greatest regret was having no memory of their first meeting that she had missed thirteen years ago. She immediately understood that Qi Xiajing wanted to make up for her regret from back then. She respectfully bowed and received it, saying gratefully: “Thank you. I will treasure it well.”

After Qi Xiajing gave a light “mm” in response, there was no further reaction. However, Zhou Shiyu beside him lowered his eyes to glance at the black USB drive, then looked up and said thoughtfully after a moment:

“I seem to have asked more than once, and you said there was no raw footage from that time.”

“You call that asking? You were clearly attempting bribery.”

Qi Xiajing habitually had his arm around Li Dong. Upon hearing this, he smiled coldly: “Protecting patient privacy is a doctor’s basic professional ethics. I hope you understand.”

“Also,” his tone paused slightly. Qi Xiajing went over the words he was about to say in his mouth, and finally just raised his eyebrows unhurriedly with a cool tone:

“Don’t think I didn’t hear what you said in the living room earlier, you little punk.”

“…”

When the situation became extremely awkward, Zhou Shiyu’s calm and steady voice was heard: “Are you referring to the matter of being dumped by Dr. Li for ten years?”

Zhou Shiyu, who hadn’t received the USB drive, just smiled slightly and continued with a light and breezy tone: “Just stating facts.”

“Who told you that was a fact?” Qi Xiajing sneered repeatedly, his deep features carrying natural intimidation. “It was nine years, ten months, and seven days.”

“I see,” Zhou Shiyu nodded with a smile of approval and praised: “It didn’t even reach ten years. As expected of Deputy Director Qi, truly excellent.”

“Of course it can’t compare to President Zhou’s thirteen years,” Qi Xiajing leaned lazily against the low cabinet behind him in the entrance hall, his words casually cutting deep:

“During which you successfully made Teacher Sheng not even know who you were, cutting off all possibility of being dumped from the very source. Truly masterful.”

“…”

In the deadly silence of their back-and-forth confrontation, a sister’s eager questioning voice came from behind: “Brother, brother, is Daddy going to fight with the handsome big brother?”

“…Handsome big brother?”

“Oh my, Li Qinghe, you’re so petty. He’s Sister Sheng Sui’s husband. Tell me, why would Daddy and Sister Sheng Sui’s husband start quarreling?”

“Don’t know,” Li Qinghe’s calm and cold teenage voice rang out, each word crystal clear:

“Probably the inexplicable competitive spirit between men acting up.”

“…”

In the end, it was Li Dong who smiled and saw Sheng Sui and Zhou Shiyu to the door.

“Drive carefully,” the beautiful and gentle woman smiled faintly. “Sorry for not entertaining you better. You’re welcome to visit again when you have time.”

Even after sitting in the passenger seat and fastening her seatbelt, carefully storing away the USB drive, Sheng Sui still found it unbelievable.

She looked up at Zhou Shiyu, who was holding the steering wheel with one hand while reversing, her watery eyes bright: “This is the first time I’ve seen someone who could match you evenly in an argument. It’s really amazing.”

Zhou Shiyu lightly tapped the steering wheel with his slender index finger, his left hand forming a fist to prop against his temple, his tone bland:

“Just respecting my elders.”

“I can’t really tell,” Sheng Sui saw him pretending to be calm, and the smile at the corner of her lips deepened. She curved her eyebrows and deliberately sang a different tune:

“Besides, what if Dr. Qi was being caring toward the younger generation?”

“…”

Upon hearing this, Zhou Shiyu leisurely straightened his body, turned to meet Sheng Sui’s smiling eyes, and dangerously narrowed his eyes slightly: “Mrs. Zhou seems to be rather obviously siding with outsiders.”

“How could that be? I definitely side with Mr. Zhou.”

The smile at the corner of Sheng Sui’s lips lingered, and recalling the conversation between the two children at the entrance before they left, she laughed softly: “The twins in Dr. Li’s family obviously have a very good relationship. So this is what children who grow up in complete and healthy families are like.”

Her tone carried undisguised envy, but Zhou Shiyu didn’t respond further to this. After acknowledging with a single syllable, he casually asked what to have for dinner, naturally changing the subject.

Not long after dinner, just as Sheng Sui was about to return to the bedroom to watch the USB video content while Zhou Shiyu was busy with business in his study, she received a phone call from Xiao Ming.

“—Baby, go check Weibo quickly! Your husband is trending!”

Sheng Sui was puzzled: “What trending topic?”

“That interview a hundred-thousand-follower blogger said they would release a few days ago. Your husband is about to become a model of male virtue.”

Sheng Sui, who knew nothing about internet slang, opened Weibo trends with only a vague understanding and immediately saw #Zhou Shiyu Supporting His Ideal Lover#.

This phrase was picked from the interview. After editing, the time was only about ten minutes, so Sheng Sui watched the entire video at double speed.

Zhou Shiyu under the camera, or rather Zhou Shiyu when facing anyone other than her, was like a smiling observer floating outside the world, with a faint smile that was polite and refined yet also distant and indifferent.

The first half of the interview mostly covered the man’s entrepreneurial experiences from previous years. It wasn’t until near the end that the topic shifted, deliberately bringing up the series of heated discussions caused by Ye Xi in recent days.

When asked about his strong support for the hospital’s project activities, Zhou Shiyu’s response was because of his wife—that is, Sheng Sui.

One of the parties involved was having a video conference in the study, while the other party, Sheng Sui, was curled up in the long chair in the bedroom, propping her phone on the warm Ping’An in her arms.

“…May I boldly ask, is the person who said these words to you Mr. Zhou’s wife?”

“Yes, my wife is a remarkable person, far more excellent and brave than my words could describe.”

“…Would Mr. Zhou be willing to share with us how you two usually get along?”

“—She’s responsible for the ideals, and I’m responsible for being the lover who supports those ideals.”

Accustomed to Zhou Shiyu saying sweet words without blushing or his heart racing, Sheng Sui didn’t pay close attention to the dense barrage of comments on the screen. Her attention was all on the man’s gaze that kept looking at his ring.

The matching ring she had given him.

Obviously, the interview reporter also noticed Zhou Shiyu’s frequent glances at his ring, and half-jokingly said at the end: “What you’re wearing on your ring finger is a wedding ring, right?”

“Mm, it’s from my wife.”

This time, Zhou Shiyu finally looked up at the camera with a smile in his eyes, making Sheng Sui’s heart skip half a beat and momentarily thinking they were making eye contact.

While she was lost in thought, she heard the man in the video continue with a light smile: “I like it very much.”

“—In just a ten-minute interview, Zhou Shiyu practically had ‘he’s super in love’ written all over his face. Isn’t showing off their love at the company enough? He had to show off once more in an interview broadcast to people all over the world?”

On the phone, Xiao Ming’s tone was full of disgust, making Sheng Sui imagine her friend rolling her eyes even through the screen.

Inexplicably, she remembered the argument between the two men in the afternoon and responded with a decent imitation: “How is that showing off? He’s just stating facts.”

“…Sheng Sui! You’ve only been married for how long! How did you get corrupted like this! Zhou old dog, give me back my good baby!!!”

“What are you laughing about?”

A low male voice came through the playful banter. Upon hearing Zhou Shiyu’s authoritative voice, Xiao Ming hung up the phone decisively and efficiently.

“Talking on the phone with Xiao Ming.”

Sheng Sui looked up, waiting for the man to come over and sit beside her, naturally pulling her into his arms and resting his head on her shoulder, while showing him the video and saying:

“She said I’m completely corrupted by you.”

“Understandable.”

Zhou Shiyu just glanced casually at the screen, then picked up Sheng Sui’s left wrist with the tattoo to examine it carefully: “Two people sleeping in the same bed can’t remain different.”

Sheng Sui thought that made sense and reached for the laptop beside her with the USB plugged in, asking the person behind her softly: “I want to watch the raw footage Dr. Qi gave us now. Do you want to watch together?”

“Alright.”

It was both funny and ironic that while other married couples learned about each other’s childhood through photos or videos left by parents, she and Zhou Shiyu not only lacked these from their childhoods, but their only video record depended on a hospital documentary filmed more than a decade ago.

As Qi Xiajing had said, the videos on the USB were all discarded footage after editing, with very fragmented sequencing and content.

Moreover, since she and Zhou Shiyu weren’t the main subjects of filming, their limited appearances were mostly just in the corners.

Held in Zhou Shiyu’s arms, Sheng Sui went through several videos that were mainly from Li Dong and Qi Xiajing’s perspectives. In all the footage, Zhou Shiyu appeared alarmingly thin and sick.

The sixteen-year-old boy lay and sat on the hospital bed, always looking thoughtfully out the window. His figure was as thin as paper, appearing completely empty in the oversized blue and white striped hospital gown.

After watching several videos, Sheng Sui felt heartbroken. Noticing that Zhou Shiyu behind her hadn’t spoken for a long time, she paused the video and softened her voice: “If you mind, I can watch these by myself later.”

“It’s fine, you can watch.”

No longer trying to hide the embarrassment of the past as before, Zhou Shiyu just lowered his head to play with her left hand, saying casually: “It’s perfect for you to see Zhou Shiyu from thirteen years ago, so you won’t dream about dating him anymore.”

After hearing this, Sheng Sui didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, not expecting this person to still be so petty about being jealous of himself.

She put down the laptop and turned around, leaning back against Zhou Shiyu’s chest and looking up at him, half-jokingly saying: “This gentleman has such strong jealousy. If we have a child in the future who’s a boy and looks very much like you, you won’t compete with him too, will you?”

The topic of children was the first and only time the two had formally brought it up since their marriage.

Actually, Sheng Sui hadn’t thought much about it. It was just that after seeing Li Dong and Qi Xiajing’s family of four today, she inevitably felt longing. Now, happening to watch Zhou Shiyu from his teenage years, she casually mentioned it given the occasion.

Furthermore, when she learned that Type 1 diabetes patients could completely raise the next generation as long as they controlled their blood sugar well, she had already tacitly assumed that she would sooner or later become a mother.

However, she didn’t expect that after her words, she would meet with unexpectedly long silence, and the atmosphere between her and Zhou Shiyu visibly grew cold.

Rarely seen, the man who usually went along with her wishes in everything remained silent for a long time, just lightly furrowing his brows, not knowing what he was thinking about.

Her intuition grew stronger in the prolonged silence. Sheng Sui gripped Zhou Shiyu’s warm, dry left hand in return, her fingertips landing right on the dozens of scars on the inside of the man’s left wrist.

Zhou Shiyu no longer wore a watch at home now.

“Zhou Shiyu,” Sheng Sui called her husband’s name softly, feeling somewhat nervous for some reason:

“We will still have children in the future, right?”