MHWFYYTMDF Chapter26

His nausea wasn’t just a physiological reaction to the pregnancy, but more so a psychological disgust toward Pei Yuan as a person.

Song Li wasn’t stupid; he obviously knew what was going on with this Pei Yuan who had popped out of nowhere. It was just that his timing was far too coincidental. He came to see some “old friend” the very moment He Muyan had stepped out on business.

Besides, did he look like he was here to see an old friend? He was clearly here to show off and warn him. With all that green-tea, manipulative nonsense he spewed, the mere thought of that face made Song Li feel utterly disgusted even now.

Fuming with anger, he originally wanted to go back to sleep, but now he wasn’t sleepy at all. He pulled a can of cold milk from the refrigerator and, completely ignoring He Muyan’s repeated reminders not to drink cold beverages, twisted the cap off and downed most of it in one go.

Around four in the afternoon, Auntie Chen suddenly came over, carrying quite a lot of fresh vegetables and fruits, and warmly asked him what he wanted for dinner. Song Li was a bit surprised at first, but on second thought, he knew it must have been He Muyan’s instructions again. It looked like he wouldn’t be back for dinner tonight.

Song Li let out a cold laugh, only feeling deeply exhausted in his heart.

Although he was in a bad mood, he couldn’t resist the physical fatigue. After taking a shower and lying in bed, his eyelids began to fight before he could even read two pages of the book he was holding.

Drowsily, he had no idea how long he’d been asleep, but through the haze, he kept feeling something persistently fussing around his ear. Losing his patience, Song Li waved his hand to brush it away, only to have his wrist caught and pinned above his head.

He opened his eyes confusedly, looking into a pair of pitch-black eyes above him.

“Lili.” He Muyan’s voice was very hoarse.

Song Li curled his lip. “So, you actually remembered to come back.”

He Muyan smiled. “Lili missed me.”

Song Li moved his wrist. “It’s uncomfortable, let go of me first.”

He Muyan let go of his hand and lowered his head to kiss the back of it. “I don’t know my own strength. Did I hurt you?”

Just as Song Li was about to speak, he suddenly caught a whiff of a faint scent on him; it was a very subtle, crisp, woody, cold fragrance that was seventy to eighty percent similar to the one on Pei Yuan. He fell silent again and turned his face away.

“Don’t get so close to me, it smells terrible.”

He Muyan froze, subconsciously raising his arm to sniff it. “Is it the smell of alcohol? I drank a bit tonight. Is the smell very strong?”

He said that then, afraid the scent might become too overwhelming for him, immediately got to his feet, stripped off his shirt, and tossed it onto the floor.

Song Li looked at his excellent physique and lowered his eyes.

He Muyan leaned down again, looking at the soft, beautiful contour of his profile under the light. The fire in his heart burned in waves, and he couldn’t resist lowering his head to bite his earlobe slightly. “Lili…”

Song Li was really in no mood to be intimate with him right now. He reached out and blocked his lower abdomen. “Be gentle, my stomach.”

He Muyan let out a hoarse laugh before extending his long arm to scoop him into his embrace. Pressing his lips against his forehead, he murmured indistinctly, “I won’t do anything, don’t worry.”

Song Li pressed his cheek against his chest, listening to the steady, thumping heartbeat within his chest cavity. Gradually, the nerves throughout his body relaxed as well, and he casually traced patterns on his chest with his fingers.

“Where did you go today?”

He Muyan’s voice sounded as if he were about to fall asleep. “My family called, so I went home for a meal.”

Song Li let out an “oh.” He wanted to ask him several questions like, “Who is Pei Yuan?”, “Did you meet with Pei Yuan?”, “What is your relationship with Pei Yuan?”, and “Do you know that Pei Yuan came to the house today?” The words were already at the tip of his tongue, yet he just couldn’t bring himself to ask them.

Meanwhile, the breathing of He Muyan above him gradually became long and even; he had completely fallen asleep.

Song Li gave a bitter smile and buried himself deeper into his embrace.

He slept fitfully that night, drifting through one dream after another, each of them featuring Pei Yuan’s strikingly handsome face. In the end, Song Li jolted awake, drenched in cold sweat.

He Muyan was currently putting on his clothes nearby. Hearing the commotion, he hurriedly walked over, bending down to look at him. “What’s wrong? Had a nightmare?”

Song Li was still panting heavily. Looking at his concerned and worried eyes, they instantly overlapped with the face from his dream where He Muyan and Pei Yuan were mocking him together.

Disgusted, he pushed him away with his hand. “Get away from me.”

He Muyan was a bit bewildered. He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt that ever since last night, Song Li’s attitude toward him seemed somewhat different.

However, thinking back to the various abnormal reactions of pregnant individuals that Li Xiu had sent him previously; including things like being sensitive and suspicious, angry and mistrustful, as well as experiencing inexplicable emotional breakdowns, he felt he could understand Song Li’s current behavior.

Thinking this way, the tenderness in He Muyan’s heart grew a few degrees deeper. He reached out and rubbed his hair a couple of times. “If you don’t want to see me, I’ll go out right now. What do you want to eat for breakfast? I’ll go prepare it first.”

What is there to be prepared? You make it taste so bad yourself; in the end, won’t you just have to go out and buy it ready-made anyway?

Speaking of which, ever since checking and finding out he was pregnant, Song Li hadn’t even eaten a single normal breakfast. Thinking up to this point, the anger he had kept buried all night suddenly exploded completely. He abruptly flung off the quilt, turned around, and glared at him.

“I don’t want breakfast. I’m going home today.”

He Muyan froze, then said with a smile, “With the way you are now, if you go back, Mom and Dad will definitely worry. Besides, we still haven’t figured out how to tell them about this. If they find out, it’ll be a huge shock to them.”

Song Li puffed out his cheeks. “I’m not going back to my parents’ place. I’m going to my own apartment.”

Hearing this, He Muyan immediately frowned. “No.”

“Why not?”

Seeing his intense reaction, He Muyan sat down and looked at him. “In your current situation, how could I feel safe letting you live alone?”

Song Li remained unmoved by either persuasion or pressure. “I’m a grown man in my thirties. I can take care of myself. I’ll be fine.”

He Muyan didn’t expect him to be so persistent. He looked at him in silence. He hadn’t expected that Song Li, who usually felt too embarrassed to hold eye contact with him for more than a few seconds, would now stare straight back at him without backing down in the slightest.

He Muyan had no idea why he had suddenly developed such a strong resistance toward him out of nowhere. Sighing, he spoke helplessly, “Song Li, what are you angry about?”

Song Li bit his lip and turned his face away. “I’m not angry. It’s just been too stifling lately, and I want to go out and get some fresh air. I miss the days when I lived by myself.”

He Muyan fell silent for a moment, seemingly compromising a bit, and asked in a low voice, “How many days do you want to stay?”

Song Li gripped the quilt tightly. “There’s no telling for sure. Maybe I’ll come back whenever I don’t feel like staying there anymore.”

He Muyan paused, then stood up. “Alright. I’ll drive you over in a bit. Go wash up first, and I’ll go prepare the things you need to take with you.”

“No need!” Song Li scrambled out of the covers, his face slightly flushed from anxiety. “I’m not a woman, I don’t have a bunch of random things to pack. You must have work to do, right? I won’t disrupt your work. I’ll drive back myself in a bit.”

He Muyan stopped in his tracks before turning back to look at him. His suppressed gaze made Song Li feel a little nervous.

No! Song Li cheered himself on in his mind. I’ve already made it this far. If I give up now, all my efforts will be wasted. I have to stand my ground.

With this thought, he subconsciously squared his chest, showing He Muyan his attitude of refusing to back down.

He Muyan also seemed to have no way of dealing with him, shaking his head as he walked out.

As the bedroom door eased shut, Song Li finally let out a long sigh of relief he had been holding back.

He rushed into the bathroom to wash up, changed his clothes, and ran downstairs without bringing anything but his phone.

As he passed the study, he heard the sound of He Muyan tapping on the keyboard inside. Song Li hesitated for a moment but ultimately hardened his heart and didn’t go in to say goodbye.

As he drove out of the courtyard, the vast open scenery beyond came into view, and he was instantly overcome by a sense of freedom. Most of the gloom in his heart dissipated, and even his body felt much lighter.

During this past period, he had really been kept under too tight a leash by He Muyan. That man had even taken it upon himself to request a half-month leave of absence from the school on his behalf, making him too afraid to even contact Teacher Xu and the others, for fear that they would press him about what kind of illness he actually had.

As the car drove out of the villa district, He Muyan’s residence grew smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror. Song Li shifted his gaze. The excitement he felt when he first came out had already faded quite a bit, and as his mind cooled down, he began to think about what he should do next.

In truth, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to ask He Muyan about Pei Yuan. Moreover, he believed that with He Muyan’s character, if he asked, the man would not only tell him everything without reservation but would also explain the entire story to him as well.

It was precisely because he knew this would be the case that he hadn’t asked.

In other words, he didn’t dare to ask.

He had escaped, choosing to temporarily leave He Muyan for a while in this cowardly manner.

He also wanted to use this opportunity to properly examine his feelings for He Muyan; just how deep his affection for He Muyan had grown over these short months.

Was he truly so deeply mired that he could abandon all his principles and dignity for him, even if he was treated as a substitute, had the “white moonlight” flaunt it right in his face, or even give birth to the child in his stomach for his sake?

After driving all the way back to his apartment on Yangwan Road, he opened the door and immediately caught a faint musty smell lingering in the air. The living room was eerily quiet, not a sound to be heard. It seemed that kid, Xue Sang, had already patched things up with his boyfriend.

Song Li smiled faintly, did a sweep of the rooms, and opened all the windows to let the air circulate. In the end, he returned to the living room, pulled the dust cover off the sofa, and curled up on it in exhaustion.

Having gotten used to living in He Muyan’s spacious house, coming back here all of a sudden made him realize just how small his own place felt, and the view was nowhere near as open. No wonder He Muyan had complained about it being small the first time he came here.

The surroundings were terrifyingly quiet, so much so that Song Li could clearly hear his own breaths one after another. It was strange. Not too long ago, he had always lived in this apartment by himself, and this kind of silence was something he was as accustomed to as his three daily meals. Why did it make him feel so awkward and on pins and needles now instead?

He simply reached for the remote control on the coffee table and turned on the television.

The noisy sound from the TV slightly softened his discomfort. He stared at it blankly for a while, not even knowing when he fell asleep.

Half-asleep, feeling a little cold and too lazy to move, Song Li reached out and groped around beside him a few times. Mumbling drowsily, he said, “So cold… He Muyan, give me the quilt…”

The moment the words left his mouth, his consciousness slowly returned. Song Li opened his eyes, looked at the dimming light around him, and curled into an uncomfortable ball on the sofa.

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