The next morning, when Qi Xi woke up, the other side of the bed was already empty.

Clearly Gu Yan had exerted himself far more the night before, so how did he still have more energy than her? Qi Xi slept until well past sunrise and still felt her lower back aching and weak. She suddenly thought that doubting his stamina in the past had been a serious miscalculation on her part.

Even though she was awake, she felt utterly languid, like a satisfied cat that only wanted to lie still. His bed was wonderfully comfortable, the mulberry silk blanket smooth and soothing even directly against her skin.

But her lazy daydream didn’t last long, because Gu Yan gently pushed the door open and sat down on the edge of the bed. Since her eyes were still closed, feigning sleep, he apparently didn’t immediately realize she was awake. His movements were careful; she only felt the mattress dip slightly beside her. After that, he said nothing, did nothing—the room held only sunlight and silence.

Yet even with her eyes shut, she could feel him watching her.

Maybe it was the intensity of his gaze, or maybe it was the warmth of the sunlight, but her face began to feel flushed, as if overheating.

With her eyes closed, her imagination seemed to run wilder—she began thinking about all sorts of things, the details from the chaos of last night she’d overlooked in the moment, the nearly frantic kisses, and…

The more she thought about it, the more the thin silk blanket felt unbearably hot, like she wanted to throw it off.

But…

Under that blanket, she was wearing nothing at all.

It was probably her steadily reddening cheeks and slightly irregular breathing that finally gave away her pretense of sleep.

Without any warning, he leaned down and kissed her.

What began as an ordinary good-morning kiss somehow, for reasons unclear, began spiraling out of control.

Fearing a repeat of the previous night, Qi Xi abandoned her act, wriggling out from under the blanket and landing a light punch on him. “Get off, get off.”

He gave an exaggerated yelp of pain. “Why are you so fierce? Hitting your husband first thing in the morning?”

She had absolutely no comeback for his teasing—all she could do was clamp a hand over his mouth.

Furious, she said, “Husband, what husband! Gu Yan! You’re being inappropriate!”

He only laughed, catching her hand and kissing it before leaning close to her ear. “We did far more inappropriate things last night.”

“As for ‘husband’—that’s not wrong either. I’m your future husband.”

Just as she raised her hand to hit him again, she noticed that Gu Yan, previously so quick-tongued in defending his claim to the title of husband, had suddenly turned his head away, his voice growing stammering and unsteady. “Qi Xi. If I hadn’t known you for so many years, I’d think you did that on purpose.”?

Before she could react, he glanced back at her, his gaze lingering somewhere on her body for a moment before sliding away again. “But I suppose you weren’t lying—you really do have a great figure…”

Where exactly had he been looking?

She followed the direction of his earlier gaze and immediately felt something was wrong.

The silk blanket was indeed smooth and comfortable—perhaps too smooth. She realized then that during their little scuffle, the wretched thing had already slipped off her shoulder.

So this whole time, she had been…

Looking down at the marks on her chest, she could barely form a rebuttal, retreating in defeat back under the blanket, wrapping herself up tightly several times over, only two wary eyes peeking out to glare at him.

“You—you keep your distance.”

Strange, really—she and Gu Yan had already done everything there was to do the night before, and yet the next morning, both of them were still shy with each other. He still didn’t quite dare look directly at her body, and she couldn’t seem to tease him as naturally as before.

They both fell into a quiet moment, hearts and nerves finally settling from the earlier flare-up.

Qi Xi gradually found her footing again. She glared at him, trying to change the subject as naturally as possible. “I didn’t even hit you that hard. Acting like it hurt so much is a bit much, don’t you think?”

He’d also regained his composure by now, but his eyes held a look of accusation. “You hit right on my wound.”

Wound?

Her confusion must have been obvious, because he pressed his lips together and, as if kindly explaining, said, “From where you scratched last night.”

“…”

Her heart, which had only just begun to calm, started racing again like oil in a hot pan.

She felt she truly needed somewhere to go and cool off, away from him—but unfortunately, here she was, still in his home, still in his bed, everything around her carrying traces of him, his scent lingering everywhere. There was simply no escape.

Fortunately, though Gu Yan was young and vigorous, he still retained some rationality. He got up and left the bed, deliberately avoiding looking at her, walking somewhat awkwardly toward the door. “I need to cool off too.”

Even trying to feign calm, there was a slight wobble in his voice. He cleared his throat, as if finally finding his footing, and turned back to look at her. “Get dressed and come out soon. I made preserved-egg-and-pork congee, you should eat some.”

Qi Xi had no room left in her head for anything else. Blushing furiously, she nodded and mumbled agreement over and over until she heard the door close behind him, at which point she finally let out a breath of relief.

Honestly.

Being in a relationship felt so much like committing a crime—and Gu Yan felt so much like an accomplice.

It seemed like every time she looked at him, her adrenaline spiked, her heart raced without any rhythm, and her mind went blank with heat.

If he needed to cool down, so did she.

Fortunately, once she’d dressed and washed up and emerged from the room, the table was already set with a visually stunning bowl of preserved-egg-and-pork congee. He’d thoughtfully added several small side dishes, and even fried her a golden egg—the whole spread looked utterly appetizing.

Under his watchful gaze, she quietly ate the congee. His cooking didn’t disappoint—warm and fragrant, it filled her with a cozy glow. With the sun shining in, she felt light, as if walking on cotton candy, wrapped in a soft, sweet atmosphere.

Looking at him now, he seemed a lot more agreeable.

Objectively speaking, Qi Xi thought, Gu Yan looked better with his clothes on, because dressed, he seemed gentler and more compliant with her.

Though what he’d made was technically breakfast, by the time she was eating it, it was really lunch. She finished the congee slowly, feeling a bit of energy return, though still quite lazy.

Gu Yan, on the other hand, seemed full of energy—he’d already opened his laptop and started working overtime.

Seeing her stunned expression, he offered a somewhat sheepish explanation. “This client’s a bit urgent. Some materials came in that need to be translated into English right away. I was originally planning to do it last night.”

Qi Xi knew about this job—if she remembered correctly, Gu Xuehan had assigned it to him yesterday at noon, but…

“But weren’t you also determined to do that other thing with me last night?”

So he’d planned to translate too?

He gave a calm “mm.” “My original plan was to finish what we needed to do first, then go do the translation overtime.”

“…”

He looked a little embarrassed as he continued, eyes lowered. “But it ended up taking longer than expected, so I didn’t get around to the translation.”

The nerve!

Qi Xi felt like screaming internally.

Right, you only did it once, and it took the whole night—of course you didn’t have time for overtime translation!

But honestly, what kind of monster needed his schedule planned with such precision?

Especially since he’d barely slept at all, having spent the whole night in physical labor, yet this morning he’d not only gotten up early to cook but wasn’t even planning an afternoon nap, diving straight into intense mental labor overtime instead…

She suddenly recalled a rumor colleagues had teased her with when she first joined the firm—that Gu Xuehan and Gu Yan, as siblings, seemed to have some secret method of replenishment, because no matter how much overtime or energy they expended, they always looked radiant, while everyone else on the team withered and turned sallow…

She knew it was just a joke, but looking at him now, typing away with such vigor, she felt an inexplicable chill. If she kept this up with him, would she end up like a drained medicinal dreg?

Zhao Yiran, despite her young age, had long since embarked on a wellness journey, stocking her home with herbal medicine, iron supplements, and even consulting an old traditional-medicine doctor for a custom herbal paste. Qi Xi used to scoff at this, but now she wondered whether she too needed to start preparing early, lest she fail to keep pace with Gu Yan and Gu Xuehan.

Once he settled into work mode, he became completely absorbed, seemingly forgetting she was even there. She sat beside him, watching his profile as he typed with a slight frown, and felt a growing sense of injustice.

Why should it be like this?

Why was she the only one left sore and aching, lost in scattered thoughts, while he looked so refreshed and focused?

She glanced at his screen and saw the translation was nearly finished.

A small mischievous urge stirred within her. She wanted to cause a little trouble.

She wrapped her arms around him from behind, saying nothing, simply resting her cheek against his, gazing at the screen with an air of innocent helpfulness.

Then, in his ear, she said sweetly, “Husband, is there anything I can help with?”

In her embrace, he froze completely. His ears turned red in an instant, as if catching fire, the flush spreading down his pale neck like ink soaking into tissue paper.

Though she claimed to be helping, this move clearly didn’t help him at all—if anything, it left him completely disarmed. The effect was immediate: he couldn’t type another character, couldn’t process another word.

Flustered and helpless, he could only say quietly, “Qi Xi!”

“Hmm?” she said, playing dumb. “Didn’t you want me to call you husband? Then why are you calling me by my name? Shouldn’t you be saying ‘wife’?”

He clearly hadn’t expected his own words to come back and bite him.

Helpless, seemingly unable to do anything about her, he stopped working, hugged her back, patted her head, and kissed her cheek.

“Behave.”

His face had gone a little red too, looking bashful and unused to this. “Let your husband finish his work first—that’s how I’ll earn money to support you.”

Now it was her turn to blush.

Worried she might act up again, he kissed her cheek once more to placate her. “Just wait for me a little longer. Not right now—if you stay this close to me, I won’t even be able to concentrate.”

He pointed toward the bedroom door. “Go wait for me in there. I promise, it’ll just be a little while.”

Not sure if she’d been under some kind of spell, by the time she came to her senses, she really had obediently returned to his bedroom.

Glancing at the still-unmade bed, she suddenly suspected his “wait a little while” might have a double meaning.

Surely he hadn’t misunderstood what she meant?

Surely he didn’t think she wanted to wait for that?

No way!

She felt she needed to go clarify things. But just as she reached the door, she ran straight into him coming in. He glanced at her, his eyes carrying a bashful, innocent look completely at odds with his actions.

He had already started undoing the buttons of his jacket!

Someone please tell her—since when had his work efficiency become this terrifying?

…

Unfortunately, her clarification never made it out, because before she could speak, his kiss sealed away every word.