Chu Yi's face was exposed to the air, the bright white light overhead was dazzling, and her eyes hurt a little. She stared at Qiao Anchen and suddenly reached out and hugged him.
"Sigh, it's nothing." Chu Yi snuggled against his neck, sighed, and said softly.
"I guess my period is coming soon, so my emotions are fluctuating a lot."
“But…” The two embraced quietly, the atmosphere tender and affectionate. Qiao Anchen pondered for a few seconds before speaking earnestly.
"Didn't you just finish last week?"
"..." Chu Yi immediately let go of him, all her sorrow vanished in an instant, and she sat there expressionless.
"oh."
"Then I might be remembering it wrong."
Author's Note: First Year: Hehe
...Um, I wonder if anyone's interested in checking out the author's column? If you bookmark it, you'll find—
Jiang Dalv will be added to your author collection!
65. Chapter 65
With Qiao Anchen, the king of ruining the atmosphere, present, Chu Yi could no longer act coy. She pursed her lips, then kicked the person in front of her.
"Go get me a glass of water, cold, please."
Qiao Anchen paused, about to say, "Didn't you just go there?", but his male intuition made him shut up.
After a moment, he slowly gave an "oh," turned around, and went outside to pour her some water.
The matter was put behind them, but the New Year was anything but peaceful. After returning from Qiao Anchen's house, the two went to Chu Yi's house to offer New Year's greetings as usual.
With several relatives present, the conversation inevitably turned to them, and it was still about the children. This time, Chu Yi lost her previous good temper, just smiled, and said something neither soft nor hard.
"No, I'm not having any more children, there's no rush."
“You and An Chen are not young anymore, why aren’t you in a hurry—” The speaker was an aunt from afar. Upon hearing Chu Yi’s answer, she couldn’t help but speak up. As a result, someone next to her noticed Chu Yi’s expression and nudged her.
The conversation abruptly ended, and the scene became somewhat awkward. Ms. Wenfang glanced around the table and quickly made a gesture.
"Come on, everyone, eat up! This pig's trotter took me a whole afternoon to stew. Try it!"
After the dinner party ended and most of the relatives had left, Ms. Wenfang glanced at Chuyi sitting on the sofa and said something cold and indifferent to her.
“Come with me.”
Both of them looked up abruptly. Ms. Wenfang smiled reassuringly at Qiao Anchen, then turned her gaze back to Chu Yi and glared at her with a stern face.
Chu Yi slowly stood up and followed her into the room.
Her mother then locked the door.
"What's wrong with you? Are you really planning to never have children?" She turned around and looked at Chu Yi, hands on her hips, her brows furrowed.
"Mom, why does everyone keep asking me this question? Does getting married mean you have to have children?" Chu Yi was extremely confused, distressed, and annoyed.
“I don’t know what you young people think now, but that’s basically how it was for our generation. After getting married, the first thing we did was have a child,” Ms. Wenfang said without hesitation.
"Besides, you and An Chen have been married for almost two years and there's still no news. Isn't it normal for everyone to be concerned about this issue?"
"But there are too many families who don't want children now, and besides, we weren't prepared at all."
"Is it that you weren't prepared, or that An Chen wasn't prepared?" Wen Fang hit the nail on the head, leaving Chu Yi speechless.
She remained silent for a long time before speaking again, her tone somewhat deflated.
“I’m still a child myself, how can I take on another life? I don’t dare,” Chu Yi said in a low voice, her head hanging low, her eyes filled with confusion and fear. Wen Fang looked at her and sighed.
“All mothers in the world have gone through this. Do you think I was prepared when I gave birth to you? I was still pushed around, but now I've raised you to be this big, healthy and lively.”
“But things are different now…” Chu Yi muttered softly, “We can make our own choices.”
"Fine, fine, fine." Ms. Wenfang was too lazy to argue with her anymore and left with that sentence.
"Anyway, I'm telling you, you can keep dragging this out. An Chen is getting on in years. Even if you don't think about others, you should at least think about him."
“What do you mean you’re not young anymore? It’s not too late to wait another two years!” Chu Yi retorted angrily. Ms. Wen Fang rolled her eyes, didn’t want to pay attention to her, and pushed the door open and left.
More devastating than the words of others is a warning from one's own mother.
Before, Chu Yi might have only felt a sense of unfamiliarity and fear, along with a slightly strange feeling, about the arrival of another life. But being urged by so many people, it seemed like a task that had to be completed. Chu Yi's resistance was compounded by an inexplicable sense of aversion.
She had seen a lot of things related to pregnant women online, sometimes news, sometimes pregnant bloggers sharing their lives.
Pregnant women often experience various kinds of pain.
From the initial morning sickness and physical discomfort, having to walk carefully, to the swelling in the hands and feet later on, and the increased difficulty in movement as the belly grew, making it impossible to lie flat to sleep, and sometimes the pressure on the chest made it hard to breathe.
As for those ugly stretch marks that have a certain probability of appearing and can never be eliminated, body shape changes, skin deterioration, and even eczema and urticaria that may occur in special cases, each one of them terrifies Chu Yi.
Not to mention the excruciating pain and dangers of childbirth.
I will never forget the news of the pregnant woman who jumped off the roof of the hospital because her family disagreed with her decision to have a C-section. How terrible must it be for someone to give up their own life?
And all of this is just the beginning.
After a new life is born, you are forced to transform into a mother.
You should dedicate most of your energy to nurturing his growth.
For a long time after a baby is born, you have to feed and care for them in the middle of the night, enduring their endless crying.
As they learn to speak and walk, you need to guide and observe them from the sidelines to ensure they grow up healthy and well.
As children go to school, they gradually develop their own understanding and their ideas become different from yours. They enter a rebellious phase and disagree with you.
All of this requires parents and family to help him establish correct values, guide him, educate him, and lead him in the right direction.
Educating a child is far more difficult than raising one.
Chu Yi admitted that he was a coward, weak and selfish, and his mind was full of random thoughts. He could extrapolate a lot from a very simple thing, and even imagine things for the next few decades.
But having a child is not something that can be decided in a few words. You must be fully prepared, be able to take responsibility for a person, and strive to ensure that their life goes smoothly and that they are happy.
Instead of waiting until one day, when he is sad and helpless, to say this to the world.
I'm sorry for being born a human being.
After the Spring Festival, winter came to an end, and the temperature grew warmer day by day. Finally, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, I saw green buds sprouting from the bare branches by the roadside.
Looking down, I saw that the grass that had been buried deep in the ground during winter had also sprouted, lush and green, as if announcing to everyone that spring had arrived.
The TV series starring Chu Yi has also finished filming and is expected to be released this summer. Cheng Li is still entangled with the aloof professor, and according to her, she seems to be close to victory.
Qiao Anchen remained as busy as ever, but the two would occasionally go out for a walk, shopping, or dinner together when they had free time. As for the children, the matter was tacitly put on hold.
If there's anything wrong with this comfortable and peaceful life, it's probably just that it's too peaceful.
I was so tired of playing at home that I had no choice but to get up and start a new serial, thus entering a state of diligently working away.
Thanks to the traffic generated by Ji Mubai some time ago, the popularity of Chu Yi's new comic exploded on the first day of its serialization, exceeding previous data.
She couldn't help but roll up her sleeves and rub her hands together, full of enthusiasm.
When Qiao Anchen came home from get off work, for the first time ever, he didn't see anyone sprawled on the sofa or bed, listlessly playing on their phone or iPad. Instead, he was sitting at his desk, engrossed in his work.
Qiao Anchen let out a surprised "Eh?"
"Chu Yi?" he called her name. Chu Yi looked up from her busy schedule, then quickly looked away.
"Um."
"You're back?"
"What are you doing?" Qiao Anchen walked over and peeked at the computer screen. There was a black and white line drawing on the screen, and you could see the outline of a girl. The lines were delicate and sharp, and she looked quite pretty.
"Work," Chu Yi replied. Qiao Anchen raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.
Drawing is a long and time-consuming process. What readers often finish in a few pages can take an author a week or more to complete. Of course, this refers to a laid-back comic artist like Chu Yi.
She was in good spirits tonight. When she finally stopped what she was doing, she rubbed her sore neck and glanced at the time, which was already 11:30.
Chu Yi yawned and pushed open the bedroom door.
Qiao Anchen was still awake. Seeing Chu Yi come in, he looked up and asked, "Are you done with your work?"
"Hmm..." Chu Yi nodded and went straight to the bathroom with her pajamas.
When they came out, Qiao Anchen was already lying down, looking like he was about to fall asleep.
Chu Yi lifted the blanket and crawled next to him, closing her eyes, looking a little tired.
"Do you have enough money to spend lately?" Qiao Anchen suddenly asked, and Chu Yi looked over in surprise.
Why are you suddenly asking this?
"You've started working." Qiao Anchen answered thoughtfully, nodding earnestly as he spoke. After all, in his memory, Chu Yi had been idle at home for several months.
Every day, besides going out to eat, drink, and have fun with Cheng Li, he would play with electronic devices, enjoying a carefree and happy life with nothing to do.
It was completely different from his overall demeanor.
For some reason, every time I come home from get off work, my tense nerves seem to relax instantly when I see Chu Yi lying there comfortably.
"I have a lot of money." After hearing his reason, Chu Yi first laughed, then whispered cautiously in his ear as if she were a thief.
Qiao Anchen turned his gaze over, his expression one of surprise and uncertainty.
We started counting on our fingers in the first year of junior high school.
"One, two, three... six, seven." She counted earnestly, then looked up at him with utter innocence.
"Seven zeros, I guess."
Qiao Anchen: "..."
"Have you forgotten?" Chu Yi reminded him, "My comic was adapted into a TV series before, and the copyright revenue alone was about this much."
"Although I haven't worked for the past few months, the website is still generating revenue. So, I'm not suddenly starting to draw because I'm broke, but because I'm tired of it."
"..."
After a long silence, Qiao Anchen finally said quietly, "Turn off the lights."