With Dong Siyang’s decree in hand, Zhu Yun officially went on leave before the New Year.
And at the same time, Feiyang Company’s first round of financing since its relaunch had begun.
It was an exhausting New Year.
Everyone in the company was working toward the financing. Dong Siyang and Li Xun, at the helm, were run so ragged they barely touched the ground.
While he was buried in work, Zhu Yun reached out to her family. Her mother’s attitude remained cold. Zhu Yun hadn’t yet told her about the pregnancy — she didn’t know whether the news of a new life would come as more of a surprise or more of an outrage to a mother who was still in the grip of her anger.
It was an exhausting New Year.
But Zhu Yun told herself: things would slowly get better.
They moved into the villa in December. Li Xun hired a housekeeper to look after Zhu Yun. On New Year’s Eve, the housekeeper went home for the holiday, leaving just Li Xun, Zhu Yun, and the little person of unknown sex inside her belly, the three of them together.
New Year’s Eve didn’t feel particularly special to them — after all, Li Xun had still been working overtime at the office the day before. They ate dinner together and settled into the sofa to watch television. Li Xun lounged with his feet propped up on the coffee table, chewing gum. Since Zhu Yun became pregnant, he had rarely smoked in front of her.
Unfortunately, his addiction was too deep for gum alone to satisfy. Before long he gave up, spit out the gum, and went outside to smoke. He went in a thin shirt, exhaling plumes of white vapor in the freezing cold. When he came back in, he dropped onto the sofa beside Zhu Yun and brought a wave of cold air with him.
He lazily flipped through the television channels while pulling Zhu Yun’s hand over and placing it on his stomach.
The Spring Festival Gala hadn’t started yet when Hou Ning called. Li Xun chatted with him for about ten minutes, then hung up and called Dong Siyang.
Zhu Yun muted the television and waited for Li Xun to finish his calls.
“What is it?” she asked.
Li Xun: “The investment liaison from Huajiang might be coming over on the seventh day of the New Year.”
Zhu Yun frowned. “The seventh? Why so urgent?”
Li Xun: “Jili extended the invitation.”
Zhu Yun: “If they’re going through Jili, will that affect us?”
Li Xun laughed coldly. “Possibly. Fang Zhijing has been so preoccupied with us — now that he’s sorted out his own affairs, of course he’d take the opportunity to send us a little gift while he’s at it.”
Zhu Yun: “So what do we do?”
Li Xun patted her belly — the way you’d thump a watermelon to check if it’s ripe — and said: “Don’t overthink it. Focus on taking care of him. I’ll handle this.”
Zhu Yun: “He’s not even born yet — what’s to take care of?”
The due date was still roughly three months away, but Zhu Yun’s belly was already quite large. Fu Yizhuo had come by to join in the excitement recently, wanting to bring his family’s private doctor over to check whether the baby was a boy or girl, but Zhu Yun had refused.
“Don’t check. Once you know, the surprise is gone.”
She told Fu Yizhuo afterward: “Your brother says it’s a boy. I’m not checking. I’ll wait and see — I’m determined to have a girl just to prove him wrong.”
Fu Yizhuo looked as though he had no interest in dealing with either of these two insufferable people.
Li Xun set aside the matter of Jili and asked Zhu Yun: “Have you called home?”
Zhu Yun: “I have.”
Li Xun: “Did you tell them about the baby?”
Zhu Yun: “……Not yet.”
Li Xun was quiet for a moment. Zhu Yun reached up to touch his cheek, and he said softly: “Try not to let things stay at odds with your family. And don’t worry about me — I’ve got thick skin. They can’t do anything to me.”
Zhu Yun acted aloof: “Who said I was worried about you?”
Li Xun pulled her closer. “When is that mouth of yours going to say what it means?” He dragged his tongue in a decidedly shameless fashion along the curve of her lips. “What if my son picks up your habit of saying the opposite of what you feel?” She pushed him away. “You’re disgusting. Get back.”
That half-hearted resistance only spurred him on. He pulled her close and buried his face in her neck, kissing and nipping. Zhu Yun pushed at him a few more times, then gave up and let him be.
She heard his muffled voice: “Find a moment to sit down and really talk with your parents. I owe them my thanks — for raising you so well, so soft and so sheltered, without having gone through any real hardship.”
Zhu Yun wrapped her arms around his back, shifting into a better, more comfortable position for him.
Outside the window, wind and snow raged.
Li Xun was right. Compared with so many people, Zhu Yun really had never suffered much — comfortable, provided for, everything following its proper course. Her health was strong too; the discomforts of pregnancy had barely touched her. She never lost her appetite and rarely suffered from dizziness or nausea.
In the thirty mild, unhurried years of her life, he was the sole exception.
The purest, most innocent romance she had ever known, and the most agonizing pain she had ever endured — he was the source of both.
Her emotional life had been so simple. And yet so unshakeable.
Zhu Yun held Li Xun close and kissed the top of his head, her touch light and tender. His kisses, by contrast, were industrious — his breathing grew heavier, his breath quickening.
Zhu Yun lifted her head to think about practical matters.
“…Think about how to deal with the Jili situation. When we meet with the Huajiang people, we’re scheduled after Jili — what do we do if Fang Zhijing interferes?”
If she was being honest, it wasn’t easy to concentrate right now. Mainly because his breath was too heavy, too close — his skin brushing her cheek. He had come in from the cold just moments ago, and yet now he felt like a furnace.
He was absorbed entirely in pressing his lips to her neck, as if nothing in the world mattered more than that.
“You don’t need to worry about it. He can’t stop us.” Li Xun murmured in the midst of all this tenderness. “…The path we chose is the right one. Just like you choosing me — that was also the right thing.” His palm settled gently over her belly. “The right things are protected.” His hand lay steady and still, like a guardian deity. And then — as if by miracle — the little one inside her suddenly stretched out a leg and gave a kick, as if he had understood his father’s words.
Li Xun raised an eyebrow and flashed a smug grin.
“See?”
She was lost in that smile.