Sweet slice-of-life love story: Wife, Let's love again
Chapter 360 - 353: You Are Still by My Side

Chapter 360: Chapter 353: You Are Still by My Side

Xiao Yu’s face was flushed red from the cold. When he arrived at Qin Guanglin’s house and felt the warmth inside, he moved his hands around a couple of times and plopped down on the sofa, sniffling and looking around.

"You move fast, don’t you? You’ve got everything set up and the baby isn’t even born yet?"

Wherever his glance landed, all the table and chair legs were wrapped with foam. When his kid started walking, he had only then thought about doing that. He didn’t expect Qin Guanglin to be so proactive.

"The baby’s coming soon... Plus, pregnant women need to be careful too. I wrapped everything early to avoid her bumping into things."

Qin Guanglin spoke casually while picking up the kettle to fill it with water and placed it on the heating base to start boiling. He then looked up at Xiao Yu, "What happened? Were you really hit?"

"You’re joking, how could I be hit..."

"Then what happened to your leg?"

Qin Guanglin pointed at Xiao Yu’s knee with his finger. He had noticed that Xiao Yu wasn’t walking naturally, and he accidentally touched the sore spot. Xiao Yu instinctively flinched and grimaced, sucking in a cold breath, "Don’t... don’t touch! I accidentally knocked into something."

"You’re sure you weren’t hit? You can call the police for domestic violence."

Though they always joked Xiao Yu might get beaten, if it really happened, it wouldn’t be acceptable. Domestic violence isn’t just men hitting women; women hitting men is the same. Once hands are laid, the nature of things changes.

Qin Guanglin himself had slammed the table and raised his voice, but he would never dare to hit—rather, it wasn’t a question of daring; hitting was simply out of the question. He Fang was the same. At most, she would bite him, then lick or kiss the wound to soothe him afterward.

Violence injures not just the body but also causes greater harm to the spirit. Just thinking about the closest person to you raising fists fills one with dread.

"It was truly an accident," Xiao Yu covered his face and lamented, "I kicked the wheel of my car. I didn’t realize it was that hard and accidentally fell... Damn, don’t do what I did."

"Why would I do that? Who kicks a car wheel?" Qin Guanglin frowned, "You..."

"I’m fine, just need to borrow some clothes and rest here for a while."

Rubbing his leg, Xiao Yu muttered, "I was planning to go online but forgot my ID and couldn’t go anywhere. I came here to borrow some clothes, then we can go out for dinner and have a drink later..."

"My wife is heavily pregnant, so I don’t have time to accompany you," Qin Guanglin flatly refused, "An ID to open a machine for you?"

"...Forget it, it’s not fun alone."

Xiao Yu glanced at his watch, "Let me rest a bit. If she doesn’t apologize, I might need to camp out all night here. I really need to air her out."

"What can’t you two resolve? Playing these games, isn’t it childish?"

Qin Guanglin smirked, standing up and checking the fridge, "You’re thirty already... If you’re not going back, stay here for dinner. When He Fang gets back, let her talk to your wife. What’s there to fight about when everything is going well?"

"You don’t understand. Women need to be set straight. She needs to realize her mistake. Otherwise, there’s no peace..."

Xiao Yu gestured dramatically, getting more worked up as he spoke, and pulled his phone out of his pocket, throwing it on the coffee table, "I’ll see when she admits she’s wrong."

"...You just wait. If she comes here and drags you back by your ear, I’ll just stand aside and enjoy the show."

Qin Guanglin shrugged. Xiao Yu coming to him to drink after a fight wasn’t new, and as long as it wasn’t physical violence, he didn’t mind watching the drama unfold.

These two were a comical couple, always bickering. With a child almost old enough to fetch soy sauce, they were still ridiculously childish.

From another perspective, living with the person you love, with all its bumps and arguments, was also a kind of happiness.

"Looking down on who? Her dragging me?"

Xiao Yu, clearly upset, pounded his chest and assured his friend, "I’m laying it out here. I’ll wait for her to apologize and say ’I’m sorry,’ those three words. Otherwise, I’ll just leave her hanging, see who gets frantic first, and dare her to mess with my fishing rod..."

It was the dead of winter outside, and heavy snow was still falling; there was nowhere to go, so Xiao Yu hid at Qin Guanglin’s house, randomly flipping through a novel and occasionally glancing at Qin Guanglin, who was studying a cookbook, humming through his nose.

A grown man studying cookbooks every day, how embarrassing.

"What’s wrong with your nose? Always humming, huh?" Qin Guanglin finally couldn’t help but ask in confusion.

"Ah, if I had known you’d end up living like a woman, I would have married you back then."

"Get lost."

"Don’t be like that, look..."

"Wait till I find your wife’s WeChat, and I’ll tell her you’re here."

"Stop, I’ll shut up."

Xiao Yu closed his mouth sullenly; honestly, he had tried Qin Guanglin’s cooking a few months ago, and it was indeed a tad bit better than Zhou Nan’s...

Well, just a tad.

In the blink of an eye, it was past four o’clock, the phone on the table showed no sign of activity. Qin Guanglin had anticipated this outcome. He went to the balcony to check outside—the snow didn’t seem to be letting up at all, and the roads were already covered in white with only a trail of black footprints visible.

The sky was overcast, and the nights in winter always came early. With this weather, it had already started getting dark by five o’clock. He shrank his neck back inside the living room, closed the balcony door, and said, "Stay here for dinner. I’ll go start cooking the rice, then I need to pick up my wife from work. Afterwards, I’ll have her talk to Zhou Nan for you, so you won’t be scared to go back..."

"Who’s scared to go back? I’m waiting for her apology!" Xiao Yu was infuriated, repeating that he wasn’t too scared to go back.

"Okay, okay, you wait for her apology..."

Before he could finish, the phone on the coffee table began to vibrate, and both men turned their heads to look at the screen, which prominently displayed the words "Mother Tigress."

"Your contact name... You deserve to be beaten up."

Qin Guanglin was at a loss for words, "Immature, can’t you be mature like me?"

"What’s your contact name?"

"Why do you care what my contact is named? Aren’t you going to answer?"

"Let her hang for ten seconds, let her realize her mistake... Don’t talk now."

Xiao Yu leaned back triumphantly, flicked his fingers across the screen, glanced at Qin Guanglin, then pressed the loudspeaker button and said gruffly: "Realized your mistake?"

"I have, just come back. Running out in such cold weather without a jacket..."

"Apologize."

Zhou Nan paused on the other end, "... Sorry, my mistake."

Xiao Yu gave Qin Guanglin a cocky eyebrow raise: See? Women need to be properly dealt with to recognize their faults.

Qin Guanglin shrugged: Now I know you’re formidable, you really have a knack for handling women.

Being beaten or whatever... It seems I was really mistaken; Xiao Yu is not just bragging, he knows how to deal with women quite well.

Giving Xiao Yu a thumbs up, Qin Guanglin was about to head to the kitchen, uninterested in meddling in their marital affairs.

"Did you go to my mom’s place again? Can you not run to my house and tattle to my mom every time we fight? Then my mom keeps scolding me, and I didn’t even really do anything to you..."

Zhou Nan’s anxious voice on the phone made Qin Guanglin stop in his tracks and turn around, as Xiao Yu fumbled clumsily covering his phone.

"Is that your apology? Say it again!"

"...No more, should I come pick you up, or will you—"

Xiao Yu finally muted the speaker and sneaked a glance at Qin Guanglin before yelling into the phone, "I’ll come back on my own!"

"..."

"..."

After hanging up, the living room fell into a mysterious silence.

"Ahem... well... that was quite something," Qin Guanglin suppressed a laugh, nodding in approval, "Really impressive... You’ve really got a knack for this, I need to learn from you."

"..."

Xiao Yu opened his mouth then shut it again.

His reputation was utterly ruined.

...

Dinner was still just the two of them. Braving the snow to pick up He Fang, Qin Guanglin lamented that the show "Wife" had ended too soon, leaving him only able to share it with He Fang.

"It’s pretty normal; can’t beat them with force or words, only option left is to get external help."

He Fang had long since heard Zhou Nan’s complaints, sitting in the living room correcting student’s homework while chatting with Qin Guanglin in the kitchen as he cooked.

"Wait a bit, I’ll help you grade, you watch some TV or something," Qin Guanglin suggested from the kitchen.

"Not much left, I did part of it at school, only a little bit remains."

"Oh... There are only about ten days left before your maternity leave. Give them less homework, reduce the students’ burden, and make it easier on yourself."

"You’re there anyway, I’ll just leave it to you when I’m tired."

While marking with a red pen, He Fang brought the work to a close. As she stretched on the balcony to view the snowy scenery outside, the dark night had just settled. The landscape was a blanket of white, and even the bare branches of the large locust tree were sprinkled with snowflakes.

Xiaoshan’s figure was absent from the balcony opposite; she usually appeared in the noon or afternoon, and in these few months, they had become familiar, sharing interesting stories across their balconies.

"Why are you on the balcony in the cold? Aren’t you afraid of freezing my daughter?" Qin Guanglin brought out dishes and quickly pulled He Fang into the living room, rubbing her cheeks tenderly.

"Because of the estrogens, pregnant women tend to become more melancholic and sensitive."

"..."

"You mentioned being afraid of our daughter freezing, which made me also want to bite you. Am I not important?" He Fang asked earnestly, wrinkling her nose.

"Of course, you’re important."

"I know I’m important, but it annoys me when you don’t say it. It’s not about whether I know or not, it’s these hormones affecting my mood, making me unreasonable—

I know it’s wrong and don’t want to be controlled by hormones, but I can’t help feeling upset, so could you please say it again?"

"...also afraid of freezing my wife."

"Yes, now I feel much better," He Fang smiled and pinched him playfully, "Kiss me once more, and I’ll be happy."

"It’s not that... It feels so strange, the doctor said you’d have mood swings, but..."

Qin Guanglin deadpanned, "You’re so lucidly analyzing your own issues, are you sure that’s okay?"

They say women at this time are unreasonable, prone to sulking, even at risk of postpartum depression...

Shouldn’t she get upset and then be comforted?

"If there’s a problem, it should be solved. What does getting angry solve?"

Successfully receiving a kiss, He Fang’s previous unhappiness evaporated, waving her hand, "Hurry up with the cooking, how many dishes left?"

"Two."

Qin Guanglin hesitated, "That sensitive thing... it’s okay? Do I need to do anything else?"

"Tell me you love me."

"..."

Watching Qin Guanglin return to the busy kitchen, He Fang took a deep breath and sat on the sofa, cradling her belly.

Pregnancy emotions are more a physiological reaction than a psychological issue, uncontrollable by anyone—like suddenly craving a certain food and feeling deeply aggrieved if it’s unobtainable, enough to cry; or obsessing over a word or phrase, endlessly churning it over in her mind, getting angrier the more she thought about it...

The only solution was to express everything openly, clearly telling Qin Guanglin what upset her and asking him to change it.

In the kitchen, the sizzling sounds mixed with the clatter of the spatula, while the aroma of the food kept wafting out. He Fang sat for a while, twisting a pen Qin Guanglin had given her around her fingers. She spread open a notebook wanting to write something, but hesitated.

"Husband, call out to me."

"He Fang, Teacher He."

"That’s not it."

"Wife."

"Yes."

Snow drifted heavily outside, the sky completely darkened, lights shone in many homes, some preparing dinner or already seated at the dining table watching TV with bowls in hand, a world of frost outside, but warmth like spring inside the house.

He Fang glanced at the kitchen door, her face showing a trace of tenderness.

She lowered her head, the pen started moving, delicate words materializing on the notebook’s page:

Waterfalls reverse flow, dandelion seeds drift back from afar gathering into the shape of an umbrella.

The sun rises from the west, setting in the east. Bullets retract into their chambers, athletes return to the starting line.

Kitchen aromas waft, and you are still by my side.

...

...

PS: The ending is from the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s "Independent Era" magazine company’s Love Letter Collection Contest first prize-winning entry "You are still by my side."