It was already evening when they arrived back in China.
Mother Jiang and Mother Lu were both at the airport to meet them. As soon as they saw the young couple emerge, they rushed over.
After embracing and examining them closely, both mothers’ gazes settled on Lu Yan’s face as they smiled and said, “Looks like you had a wonderful trip—Yanyan’s gotten plumper.”
Lu Yan, already preoccupied with the pregnancy test, felt these words hit like a thunderbolt. She managed a stiff smile and instinctively gripped Jiang Chengyi’s hand tightly.
Jiang Chengyi scratched her palm, telling her to stay calm.
The Jiang family driver brought a large van, and everyone rode together back to the city.
Between jet lag and the bumpy ride, Lu Yan kept dozing off, leaning against Jiang Chengyi’s shoulder as soon as they got in the car.
Seeing this, Mother Jiang quickly had Aunt Liu, who was in the back seat, pass up a blanket to cover Lu Yan.
Mother Lu noticed this thoughtfulness from her in-law and her smile deepened.
Next week would be New Year’s Eve, and the two mothers spent the journey discussing Spring Festival arrangements. From Mother Jiang’s tone, she hoped both families would celebrate the New Year together, but Mother Lu had her concerns.
Jiang Chengyi looked down at Lu Yan, remembering when he asked about her New Year’s plans during their first semester of senior year. She had said she would help her mother prepare the New Year’s Eve dinner, visit her grandmother with her mother on the second day, and spend the remaining time studying at home.
He had felt uncomfortable hearing this at the time: “Just you and your mom for New Year’s?”
She had shrugged: “What else?”
Thinking of this, he gently kissed Lu Yan’s forehead, then turned to Mother Lu and said, “Mom, why don’t we have New Year’s Eve dinner together this year?”
His tone was so sincere that Mother Lu was taken aback.
“Chengyi’s right,” Mother Jiang added. “Since it’s Chengyi and Yanyan’s first year of marriage, having both families together for a reunion dinner would be auspicious.”
After considering for a moment, Lu Yan’s mother smiled and agreed.
The next day was the weekend.
It was a bright, sunny day.
Lu Yan had gone straight to bed upon returning home and slept for over ten hours. By eleven o’clock she still refused to get up, until Jiang Chengyi, worried she’d sleep herself silly, forcibly dragged her out from under the covers.
After getting up, Lu Yan unpacked their luggage, sorting out gifts for everyone, and planning to distribute them over the next few days.
“Will you be working overtime during the New Year?” she asked, seeing Jiang Chengyi constantly taking calls outside. She waited until he finished a call and came in.
“It depends on the team’s schedule.”
“I have shifted from the second to the seventh day, but I’m off for New Year’s Eve and the first day.” She was satisfied with this arrangement.
Heh, he smirked, this woman was certainly easily content.
He pulled her up: “Don’t keep crouching on the floor. Tell me, when are you going to the hospital for the blood test?”
“Isn’t it the weekend?” She instinctively avoided the topic.
“You can get tested on Monday, right?” He raised his eyebrows.
“I suppose so.” Her answer was vague.
“Just take it easy anyway.” He pinched her noticeably rounder cheeks. “Your work is so intense—you should confirm whether you’re pregnant as soon as possible.”
She pinched him back “fiercely”: “I know.” The world had changed—even Jiang Chengyi had become fussy.
Neither had plans for the afternoon. Lu Yan decided to first clean the house on Nanshan Lane, then go shopping, and have dinner at Jiang Chengyi’s parents’ house in the evening.
After nearly a month away, the house wasn’t visibly dirty, but running a hand over any surface revealed a thin layer of dust.
Lu Yan went to the balcony to get the vacuum cleaner while Jiang Chengyi walked straight to the bedroom.
The room was simply but warmly decorated by Lu Yan, with a narrow 1.5-meter bed in the center, a nightstand on one side, and a desk on the other.
He stood with his hands in his pockets, first walking around the room, then crouched down to open the drawer and take out those treasures she had kept for so many years.
After Lu Yan had been busy in the living room for a while, she heard no sound from Jiang Chengyi and came to check. She found him with a cardboard box from somewhere, unhurriedly packing those items.
It seemed he planned to take these things to their house on Songshan Road.
Sure enough, hearing her enter, he turned and asked, “What else needs to be moved? Let’s pack it all together.”
Since Lu Yan wouldn’t be staying in this house for now, she’d need to take her seasonal clothes.
She said slowly, “There’s too much stuff—we probably can’t move it all today.”
“That’s fine,” he lifted the box. “We can buy everything else again—just these few things need to be taken.”
To become family heirlooms.
The living room floor was only half vacuumed when Lu Yan came out to continue cleaning, but Jiang Chengyi took the vacuum from her: “Go away.”
Banished to the sofa, she picked up the fruit knife from the coffee table and started peeling an apple for him.
Jiang Chengyi was quite capable at housework, finishing the living room and kitchen in less than half an hour.
She cut a small piece of the peeled apple and got up to feed it to him, saying very obsequiously: “Thank you for your hard work, Captain Jiang.”
He ate the apple in one bite and glanced back at her. She wore a loose sky-blue sweater with white jeans, her face had a soft glow, and her eyes were crystal clear. Standing there, she looked as beautiful as a magnolia flower.
His heart stirred. He threw the cleaning cloth into the bucket, washed his hands in the bathroom, and pulled her to sit with him: “I’m tired, let’s rest.”
Lu Yan sat on his lap, thinking he was really tired, but before long, his hands started wandering.
“Jiang Chengyi.” She smiled and held his wrists. “Are you really tired or do you have other ideas?”
“Didn’t you say your waist was sore last night?” Jiang Chengyi answered seriously. “Let me massage it for you.”
“If my waist is sore, what are you rubbing?”
“Don’t I have to work up to it?” His voice grew husky as he caught her earlobe between his lips, his palms’ heat penetrating through her clothes to her skin.
Her breath caught, and she quickly pushed him away: “Don’t—we haven’t confirmed if I’m pregnant yet.”
He nuzzled her neck for a while longer before falling back against the sofa dejectedly: “Then can you confirm soon? Besides, since when does pregnancy rule out intimacy?”
“Don’t we need to be careful in the early stages?” She glared at him. “You always take so long.”
And so rough—what if something goes wrong?
“Lu Yan.” He suddenly remembered something, sat up straight, and held her face, asking softly, “Don’t you think we’re much more harmonious than eight years ago?”
Sure enough, this man’s mind was full of only that now…
She blinked, counting on her fingers: “The first time I felt nothing but pain, fortunately, you only lasted five minutes. The second time you lasted longer, but I was still in pain, so that was the most difficult for me. The next few times, you’d barely mastered some technique, so I wasn’t as uncomfortable, but overall, you were just a novice eight years ago.”
Jiang Chengyi feigned surprise: “Lu Yan, have you been reminiscing about this every night these years? How else could you remember so clearly?”
“Are you saying you haven’t thought about it?” Lu Yan laughed. “Who was just comparing now with eight years ago?”
He admitted frankly, scorning her: “Back then you were just curious, but whenever I got serious, you’d complain about the pain and dodge at the slightest touch.”
It took almost an hour of struggle before he could enter the first time.
“Then it was over in less than five minutes,” she brought up the old story again.
“Lu Yan, do you have a death wish?” He looked at her with an ambiguous smile.
She sensed trouble and hurried to jump off his lap, but before she could escape, he pinned her beneath him.
“It’s just ‘five minutes’ anyway—one round on the sofa won’t hurt.” He made to remove her clothes.
She laughed and begged for mercy: “I was wrong, Jiang Chengyi! Captain Jiang! Husband!”
Hearing the last two words, Jiang Chengyi finally let her go, lazily pulling her up.
The next day after Lu Yan finished work, Jiang Chengyi was waiting for her in the parking lot.
He watched her intently as she got in the car and asked, “Did you get tested?”
She could see he was a bit nervous, nodded, and took out the results from her bag to hand to him.
It was the HCG test result, showing early pregnancy.
She had also done a full checkup—all results were normal.
He read through each page carefully, wanting to laugh out loud with joy. He pulled Lu Yan close and kissed her face repeatedly: “Good wife.”
Lu Yan couldn’t help feeling happy too: “You want a child that much?”
Just a few days ago he had firmly said he didn’t want children.
“Have you gone silly, Lu Yan?” Jiang Chengyi didn’t argue. “This is our child—how could I not be happy?”
Because they needed to discuss wedding details, they had to have dinner at the Jiang house every night, and tonight was no exception.
They got out of the car at Jiang’s house.
With the New Year approaching, the Jiang family had many social obligations, and their house was full of guests every night. Since Father Jiang was home tonight, after dinner, when others had gone to the side hall, Jiang Chengyi spoke up: “Dad, Mom, Lu Yan, and I have something to tell you.”
Mother Jiang was about to take Lu Yan to see the custom-made wedding dress, but seeing her son’s serious manner, she asked with slight surprise: “What is it?”
Jiang Chengyi glanced at the smiling Lu Yan, cleared his throat, and said: “Lu Yan is pregnant.”
Mother Jiang was stunned for a moment, then burst into tears of joy: “This is wonderful news!”
Father Jiang looked sternly at Jiang Chengyi, showing a faint smile.
Hmph, after years of defiance, he had finally done something to make his father happy.
Jiang Chengyi accompanied Lu Yan to try on the wedding dress while Mother Jiang remained excited: “For the March wedding, Yanyan’s belly won’t be showing much yet—that’s perfect, we won’t need to change the wedding date.”
She added expectantly: “By this time next year, we’ll have a little one in the family.”
Jiang Chengyi asked Lu Yan: “How long will you need to try on the wedding dresses?”
Though the dresses were delivered to the house, trying them on one by one would still take several hours.
“What is it?” Lu Yan looked at him.
“Let’s stay here tonight,” Jiang Chengyi said. “No point in going back and forth.”
“Excellent idea,” Mother Jiang linked arms with Lu Yan. “You can stay in Jiang Chengyi’s old bedroom—I’ll have Aunt Liu clean it up.”