Yanzhou, second floor of the riverside residence.

  Tang Yufei did not return to the guest room that night as she intended to stay in the same room as Lu Zhixin, continuing the private girls’ talk. When she finished bathing and entered with a towel wrapped around her, Lu Zhixin was already wearing pyjamas as she sat on her bed.

  “Do you want to sleep on the inside or the outside?” Lu Zhixin asked Tang Yufei.

  Tang Yufei smiled suggestively, “Did you sleep on the inside or outside that day?”


  Lu Zhixin hesitated for a moment before replying, “.……The inside.”


  Tang Yufei ran over to the bed, lay down by its edge and smelled it, feigning an intoxicated look, “Well, you continue sleeping on the inside then. Think of me as him and properly relive those times. I’ll make use of this chance to get a feel of my boss……maybe his scent’s still here.”


  A distressed, helpless Lu Zhixin said, “.……No more about this, okay.”


  Tang Yufei opened the wardrobe and flipped through it as she said, “Fine, I’ll stop. Anyway, your man’s a dog, not a cat. If you give him a bit of a treat, you definitely won’t lose out. Think on this yourself.”


  “Not gonna,” Lu Zhixin whispered softly, “You’ve been talking about this the whole night. If I think any more about this, I won’t be able to sleep.”


  Despite having said that she would not think about this, Lu Zhixin was actually unable to keep her mind off it at all that night. She leant against the wall and stuffed a pillow behind her waist before cushioning her hands behind her neck and stretching out her legs, sighing very slowly.

  Seeing this, Tang Yufei switched to a serious tone for the first time that night, “Zhixin, let me say something serious. I quite envy you. Look at those I met-what kind of men are they?! You need to treasure how fortunate you are. Get what I mean? I’ve actually been hesitating for a long time tonight. I really think that you had better distinguish your Dad’s side and his side more clearly……”


  “Don’t think about using his future development to help drag your Dad back. Your Dad’s already mad; it won’t be of any use however much you try to replenish him. It’s Xu Tingsheng who’s the vessel of your lifetime. If you drag him into it, either he’ll be done for together with your family or he’ll completely abandon you. I know this doesn’t sound nice, but I’ll say it just this once. Think about it.”


  It was some time later that Lu Zhixin replied, “I will.”


  She did not say this in a very heavy tone, but it was actually just so incomparably heavy indeed.

  Not wanting the atmosphere to be spoilt just like that, Tang Yufei quickly changed her manner and expression, smilingly taking out some of Lu Zhixin’s underwear from the wardrobe as she asked, “Wow, I really didn’t think that you were as daring as this, Zhixin. Dressed so plain and rigid on the outside, but inside……”


  “Huh?” Turning and seeing the bunch of cloth that Tang Yufei had grabbed, a blushing Lu Zhixin said, “Hey, put those down now.”


  Tang Yufei replied, “Not gonna, unless you tell me……are these new, bought after you met him, or did you already have them before?”


  Lu Zhixin glared exasperatedly at her and hesitated for a moment before swiftly and indistinctly saying, “They were bought after.”


  “Meaning that you were already mentally prepared long ago?”


  “No……it’s just a, coincidence.”


  Tang Yufei continued grabbing onto her as she asked, “Which one was it that day?”


  “Why do you ask?”


  “Lend it to me to wear.”


  With Tang Yufei’s words becoming more and more nonsensical, Lu Zhixin’s embarrassment turned into anger as she went over, grabbed them and stuffed them all back into her wardrobe, closing the door, “You’re not allowed to go through my stuff anymore. There’s a box of new ones there. If you don’t like it, just don’t wear it.”


  Tang Yufei finally stopped, ceasing in her actions as she put on her pyjamas and squeezed onto the bed. Then, she mischievously inched over and hugged Lu Zhixin who was already facing the wall from behind, “Was he like this that day?……”


  Lu Zhixin replied, “No. Stop talking about that already.”


  Tang Yufei said, “Alright. I’ll teach you something else then.”


  Lu Zhixin asked, “What, there’s still more?”


  Tang Yufei said, “Time for an intermediate lesson on postures.”


  Lu Zhixin pinched her, refusing, “I’m not learning that.”


  “Really?”


  “Really. Let’s sleep.”


  “Well, fine. I’ll teach you a method that won’t be awkward then. When you’re free and have nothing to do, you should learn yoga. Doesn’t the training institute have lessons on that? If you’ve got some free time, you should learn it. It’ll be beneficial to you……”


  “Yoga? Why?”


  “You’ll understand in the future,” Tang Yufei laughed lasciviously.

  Lu Zhixin exclaimed ‘oh’ and no longer spoke.

  After a while, Tang Yufei asked her, “What is it? What’s on your mind?”


  “I’m feeling a little worried. I’m worried that if he isn’t careful, he might have to take responsibility for someone one day,” Lu Zhixin said softly, “Then, I’m also afraid that he might meet someone he doesn’t need to take responsibility for, who isn’t troublesome and is beautiful……in that case, he might not be able to hold himself back.”
……

  Milan.

  Beside Xu Tingsheng was currently lying a woman who had just said that he needn’t take responsibility, that she wouldn’t cause any trouble for him. She was insanely beautiful too……

  She had also trained in yoga for the past ten years……

  Li Wan’er said that she had never lain in a man’s embrace like this before. Xu Tingsheng could not and was also unwilling to ask how her former marriage had been like.

  Still, this little thing was actually a form of stability that every woman yearned for. For most, this was not hard to come by. The only thing was whether it lasted for a moment or an entire lifetime.

  In Xu Tingsheng’s previous life, whenever he had met with a setback and was in a dismal mood, Xiang Ning who hadn’t had societal experience yet wouldn’t actually do much, not even knowing how she might be able to comfort him with words anyhow……

  She would let him rest his head on her thigh for a while, perhaps even take a nap.

  Her slender fingers would brush through his hair, gently stroking it. That had been Xu Tingsheng’s ‘sanctuary’.

  Even men needed sanctuaries, let alone women.

  Currently, it was still the idea of a child that occupied Xu Tingsheng’s mind.

  If he was truly able to get together with Xiang Ning in this life, getting married and having a child, going by her will, it would be a total of forty-six years counting both this lifetime and his previous that Xu Tingsheng would not have a child of his own.

  It would still be fine if no one brought this up and he did not think about it. Still, as Li Wan’er mentioned it now, laid out such an offer before him……he would surely be moved somewhat.

  Beside him, Li Wan’er ceased in all her movements completely as she simply leaned against his chest just like that. Her head was lowered slightly as she would glance up at him every once in a while in an incomparably alluring manner.

  She spoke gently and weakly, delicately and carefully. Xu Tingsheng felt like Li Wan’er might have taken a ‘seductress’ course recently.

  “Afterwards, I often thought about that day, when you pressed me against the wall. I was thinking: should I push you away or not……then I let go, thinking that I would let you be bad.”


  “We women will always meet a man in our lives whom we would bear to let bully us, right?”


  As she continued speaking, she carried off Xu Tingsheng’s entire train of thought with her.

  “I’m thinking about how my stomach will slowly grow bigger, with all my hopes deposited within. I will talk to him everyday. I will wear warm clothes and proudly show my big stomach, bringing him to the workshop, to the school……through the streets of Milan.”


  “I will be very careful, but I will still want to take him to look at scenery. The white church, the colourful Pinacoteca di Brera……”


  ‘I will prepare nutritious meals for myself everyday, happily eating myself fatter and fatter. I definitely won’t be afraid of getting fat then.”


  “Then I will give birth to him. I think that things may be a bit difficult at that time, but that’s fine. I’ll prepare myself well for it. I will be strong, because he’d have come, and so I’d definitely be very happy in the future.”


  “He will slowly learn how to walk, and soon I’ll be able to hold his hand and walk together with him.”


  “When he starts learning to speak, I will teach him Italian first. That way, he’ll be able to find a whole bunch of playmates. Italian friends, Chinese friends, even dark-skinned friends are fine.”


  “I’ll teach him Chinese too. That way, he will be able to loudly talk covertly with me. Also, when you come, he can call you Dad, and talk with you.”


  “Will you like him?”


  “He will slowly grow older and start attending school. I’ll send him to and from school every day. I’ll definitely dress him up very prettily, and there will be many who like him.”


  “Oh, I still haven’t decided if he should be a boy or a girl.”


  “Will he be like you, or will he be like me?”


  “Whatever the case, he’ll definitely be very beautiful.”


  Xu Tingsheng’s mind was full of the scenes narrated by Li Wan’er. He seemed able to see that mother and son, or perhaps mother and daughter as they held hands……they’d both be a sight to behold, whatever the case.

  In Milan.

  And in Xu Tingsheng’s heart.

  In order to draw his thoughts back, Xu Tingsheng switched his train of thought, “But there may be a day when he asks you where his Dad is……why he isn’t with you. He will lose many things. That isn’t fair.”


  Li Wan’er said calmly, “Trust me. I will take good care of him.”


  Then, she smiled, continuing, “I think he’ll first ask me where he comes from, how he came to be. Every child will ask about that. I will tell him that he’s here because Daddy bullied Mummy.”


  “Then, when he asks me where Daddy is, I’ll tell him that Daddy bullied Mummy and was afterwards chased away by Mummy. I’ll definitely never let him blame you, hate you, ever.”


  Embracing Xu Tingsheng, Li Wan’er flipped over such he was now pressing down on top of her.

  “So that Mummy will not lie to her child, bully me, Xu Tingsheng. Tomorrow……I’ll chase you away.”


  Xu Tingsheng looked into that pair of warm, gentle eyes.

  Those eyes slowly closed.

  It was not intentional, for Xu Tingsheng really noticed a problem now. He shook Li Wan’er, asking her earnestly after she had opened her eyes, “Well, when you chase me away tomorrow……how do you know that one time will……definitely be enough for a child?”


  While Li Wan’er had been married before, she had never wanted a child before.

  Therefore, she too was stumped by this problem which came up all of a sudden.

  A serious look appeared on her face.

  “Then……how many times? Will you be tired?”


  “It may still not happen for sure.”


  “Then, how about I go to Paris with you tomorrow, and then on to the next place too, every day, all the way?”


  “.……”


  “That’s not good? How about, once, then I wait and see if……if there isn’t, you come to Milan again, and I’ll wait again……and if there still isn’t, you come to Milan one more time……”


  Xu Tingsheng laughed, “Then, would I have become a VIP of the airline?”


  “Huh? Is this, very difficult?”


  “I’ve also never gotten anyone pregnant before. I wouldn’t know about that!”


  “I don’t know about this too. This was something cousin didn’t teach me about.”