The Byoukidere Is Her Sweetie
Chapter 294: 294: Once pregnant, give birth – Lu Sheng takes the initiative (second update)

Chapter 294: 294: Once pregnant, give birth – Lu Sheng takes the initiative (second update)

It was Lu Sheng who had come to find him, drenched, likely caught in the rain, her hair still not dry.

Zhou Qingrang stood there surprised for a moment, leaning on his crutch as he approached, “How long have you been waiting here?”

She was still squatting, looking up at him with misty eyes, “A very, very long time.”

So pitiful.

Like a little animal that had been abandoned and soaked in the rain.

Zhou Qingrang didn’t say anything else, his eyes softened in silence for a while before he finally said, “I’ll take you to the hotel.”

No, she didn’t want to go to the hotel.

She didn’t get up, and with slumped head, she said feebly, “My legs are numb, I can’t get up.”

Zhou Xufang was a straightforward iron lady, incapable of understanding the sly strategies of affection. Hearing Lu Sheng say her legs were numb, she was about to help, only to be stopped by Jiang Zhi as she stepped forward.

Jiang Zhi shook her head.

Zhou Xufang: “?”

Isn’t it leg numbness? She could carry Lu Sheng on her back.

Before Zhou Xufang could carry her, Zhou Qingrang approached, extending his hand to Lu Sheng.

She suddenly stood up and embraced him.

Zhou Xufang: “…” Wasn’t it leg numbness that kept you from getting up?

“Lu Sheng.” Zhou Qingrang’s hand remained stiff, suspended in the air for a long time before finally taking hold of her hand, and after another long while, he let go.

He let her embrace him.

Next to his ear, the girl’s nasal voice was thick, she had been crying, “Don’t hold it in, if I keep hugging you like this, no one will see you cry.”

These words made Zhou Qingrang’s eyes redden.

How could this girl understand him so well? When he was cold, she was there to embrace him.

There was no rain, just overcast skies.

Zhou Xufang stood behind, looking up at the sky, down at the ground, occasionally pretending to glance unintentionally at the man and woman embracing under the pine tree.

Jiang Zhi took her hand, “Let’s go inside.”

She nodded, sneaking another glance before following Jiang Zhi into the house.

In the old alleyway, the children played, a group of them skipping rope, singing in their childlike voices, “A little rubber ball, bananas and pears, twenty-one marigolds bloom, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty-one…”

In the house next door to the courtyard, an old song played: “The wind blows, the tree shadows sway, sway over to Grandma’s Bridge…” A middle-aged woman poked her head out from the house with a smile, calling, “Girlie, time to eat.”

Gentle words with a bit of an accent.

Children almost as tall as an adult dashed home, “Coming!”

Behind them, their friends continued to sing: “Sixty-five, sixty-six, sixty-seven, sixty-eight, sixty-nine, seventy-one, seventy-five, seventy-six, seventy-seven, seventy-eight, seventy-nine, eighty-one.”

In the evening, the streetlights in the alley were lit, and the steps of those returning home were brisk.

Everywhere there was the warmth of human life.

Zhou Xufang watched outside the house, listening to the old song next door, a faint smile on her lips, “Jiang Zhi, I really like this place.”

He liked it too.

Because the little girl from his home liked it.

“How about we settle down here in the future?”

Zhou Xufang snuggled into his embrace, hugging him, “Okay.”

The night fell quickly, and in just a moment, the sky had dimmed.

Zhou Qingrang was still standing stiffly, “Lu Sheng.”

She wanted to hold him longer, not letting go.

Zhou Qingrang pulled her back slightly, his eyes slightly red, he looked away, “I’ll take you to the hotel.”

She didn’t want to go to the hotel; she wanted to stay with him and quickly found an excuse, “I got rained on, I’m very cold.”

He remained silent.

She continued to make excuses, “I haven’t had dinner yet.” She blinked her eyes pitifully and helplessly, “I’m very, very hungry.”

Zhou Qingrang touched the clothes on her back with the back of his hand, still damp, “What about your luggage?”

She touched her nose and lowered her head towards his toes, “I was in such a hurry, I didn’t bring any luggage.”

So hasty and reckless, unlike her usual self.

“Did you tell your family?”

She shook her head.

There was no time; she was in a meeting when she saw the Luo Family’s scandal, made a call to clarify the situation, and then rushed over. Transportation to Xufang Town wasn’t great, after several changes, she had finally made it to his place. Being cold was true, not having eaten was also true.

Zhou Qingrang didn’t mention taking her to the hotel again, “First, let your family know you’re safe.”

Lu Sheng: “Oh.” After reassuring them, would he send her away?

She held her phone, but didn’t press any buttons for a long while.

“I don’t have clothes here that you can wear, go ask Xu Fang.”

After he spoke, he went inside first.

Lu Sheng paused, then smiled, “Okay.”

She followed with a spring in her step, entering the courtyard. Before she could even ask Zhou Xufang to borrow clothes, her mom called her. She walked to the side and answered quietly, “Mom.”

“Your secretary told me you left halfway through your meeting.” Yao Bixi was very worried, “Where are you right now?”

She couldn’t say she was at Zhou Xufang’s place, so Lu Sheng simply said, “I’m outside.”

“Outside where?”

“Xufang Town.”

Yao Bixi asked, “What are you doing there?”

Lu Sheng lied, “On a business trip.”

A business trip?

Could a mother not know the many tricks her daughter, whom she carried for ten months, has up her sleeve?

Yao Bixi did not expose her but simply said, “Be safe out there.” After saying that, she hung up the phone and shouted to the living room, “Lu Jingsong, your daughter lied to me.”

The very survival-oriented Army Commander replied, “She didn’t learn that from me.”

Yao Bixi: “…”

It rained at night, outside, the rain hit the blue tiles, ticking away.

Zhou Xufang turned over, turning her back on Jiang Zhi.

Jiang Zhi immediately hugged her back, “Xu Fang.”

“Hmm.”

None of them had fallen asleep.

The town was damp and cold, the quilt at night was heavy, Jiang Zhi tucked in the drafty spot behind her tightly, “Why haven’t you slept?”

Zhou Xufang’s voice was a bit soft, “Can’t sleep.”

The rain wasn’t loud, but her mind was a mess, as if she wasn’t thinking about anything and yet thinking about everything.

Jiang Zhi then tried to lull her to sleep, “Shall I sing you a song?”

Zhou Xufang found a comfortable position and settled down, “Okay.”

Jiang Zhi cleared her throat, “Lullaby, and good night, with pink roses bedight, with lilies o’erspread, is my baby’s sweet head…”

It was a foreign lullaby.

Or perhaps because Zhou Xufang could no longer make out the original tune—the way Jiang Zhi sang was like a roller coaster ride, highs and lows, sudden ascents and descents, twists and turns…

After listening to half the song, Zhou Xufang said, “Jiang Zhi.”

Jiang Zhi responded with a hum.

She hesitated for a while, “Maybe you shouldn’t sing?” His singing was making her more awake.

Jiang Zhi: “…”

Thinking his singing was terrible, right?

“Alright, I won’t sing, I’ll do something else.” He covered himself with the quilt, tunneling over to her side.

Before long, voices came from under the quilt.

“Fang Bao.”

“Hmm.”

His voice was very hoarse, “I don’t have protection.”

“It’s not needed.”

“What if you get pregnant?”

The young girl softly said, “I’ll have it for you.”

“Okay.”

Outside the window, the rain continued steadily.

The spring rain in the small town was gentle and lingering, like a lover’s tears during a farewell.

Green tiles covered in moss, a light left on in the courtyard, someone still awake inside the house, sitting on the doorstep, resting their chin in their hands, watching outside with focused expression.

Zhou Qingrang hobbled over with a cane, “What are you looking at?”

Lu Sheng turned in panic, without a good answer ready, she blurted out, “Looking at the moon.”

It was raining outside, the rain followed the roof tiles down, forming a curtain of rain at the door, with misty rain blurring the view, and dark clouds covered the sky in the distance, allowing no glimpse of the moonlight.

“There’s no moon tonight,” he said.

The girl, caught lying, spoke the truth in embarrassment, “Looking at the wall, the tiles,” she extended her hand, pointing to an orange tree in the courtyard, “that tree.”

Zhou Qingrang leaned against the doorframe, “What’s there to see in these?”

There was, actually.

She said, “Because I wanted to know if you used to climb over the walls, lift tiles, if you ever climbed that tree.”

If he was like the other children, running wildly and laughing freely.

Memories raised warmth in his eyes, changing the frost to water, rippling softly, with a faint smile on his lips that wasn’t so ice-cold anymore. He said, “In October, I would climb the tree to pick oranges; June and July were the rainy season, sometimes the rain was heavy, and it would leak, so I’d go up the roof with my father to fix the tiles.”

Lu Sheng stood up.

“Zhou Qingrang.”

He looked at her, “Hmm.”

The girl put all her thoughts into her eyes, tender and entangled, shy yet bold, filled with a young girl’s affection, “You like me too, right?”

He dared not look at her, his gaze shifted away, “Lu Sheng—”

She placed her hand on his waist, tiptoed, and gave him a light kiss on the lips, “In the future, when I live here with you, I’ll climb the tree and pick oranges for you in October, okay?”

Her tone was cautious, tinged with shyness, harboring all her courage and hope, she asked him if it was okay.

He did not answer, silent for a long while, he gripped his cane tighter and backed away, “Go to sleep, I’ll take you to the station tomorrow morning.” Without another word, he turned and walked inside.

“Cough cough cough cough cough…”

He walked slowly, coughing severely, with fingertips covering his mouth turning blue and trembling slightly.

Outside, the girl stood there, watching his back with tearful eyes.