MHWFYYTMDF Chapter43

It had been nearly half a month since they returned from He Muyan’s home. During this time, he frequently received phone calls from Mother He, who never stopped showering him with warm concern and care; even more thoughtful and attentive than his own biological mother.

Speaking of his own mother, Song Li scrolled through WeChat to look at the photos he had just received of his mom and dad vacationing on some tropical island. Two people whose combined ages added up to over a hundred years were over there playing with water guns and wearing Hawaiian-style floral shirts, looking so childish that he could hardly bear to look directly at them.

Come to think of it, this trip had actually been arranged by He Muyan. When they went over to his mom’s place for dinner last week, Mother Song had been indescribably concerned about Song Li’s belly. Drawing from her own past pregnancy experience and the materials she had gathered from searching online, she custom-designed a comprehensive pregnancy guide for him.

It included meals for all three daily dining times as well as exercises suitable for pregnant men. Crucially, every single item came with a very detailed schedule. Even more exaggerated was that Mother Song would regularly come over to supervise and make him check off his tasks; falling short on even a single item meant enduring her nagging lectures for at least half an hour.

It was truly devilish.

After a week of this, Song Li couldn’t take it anymore, his face noticeably slimming down from the ordeal. When He Muyan returned home from work, he saw him slumped over the sofa, looking half-dead.

Taking off his coat, He Muyan bent over to pick up his little wife. “What did Babe do at home today?”

Song Li trembled in his arms without even raising his face, indignantly extending a single finger to point at the schedule on the table nearby.

“I was just supervised by my own mother to do a routine of warm-up yoga. I’m so exhausted, I’m going to die.”

He Muyan picked up that schedule, which was densely packed, and lightly knit his brows. “Is the schedule so full? You spent your entire day at home doing these?”

Song Li let out a limp “mmnf” and nodded pathetically.

Distressed, He Muyan stroked his hair without saying another word while staring at that schedule in deep thought.

And thus came the next day, when they went to Song Li’s parents’ house for dinner, and He Muyan unexpectedly whipped out two plane tickets out of nowhere, saying that the two elders had been working too hard lately and should go out to relax.

Mother Song had originally claimed that traveling was too tiring and she had no interest, but upon seeing that the destination was the tropical island her close friend had been frantically recommending to her, she couldn’t help but feel tempted. Father Song was quite eager to go as well. After discussing it, the two elderly folks readily accepted the plane tickets.

Striking while the iron was hot, He Muyan added that he had already arranged the airport pickup service and hotel for them; they only needed to show up and enjoy themselves without worrying about a single thing.

Mother Song was so delighted that she praised her good son-in-law non-stop for being so caring.

Watching his mom and dad eagerly head into their room to pack their bags, it took Song Li a moment to realize the hidden cleverness behind He Muyan’s move, giving him a subtle thumbs-up from the side.

Now, Mother Song and his dad had already been out vacationing for two days, enjoying themselves so much that they lost track of time; far too thrilled to remember to torment Song Li anymore.

Song Li lay spread-eagled on the large bed, kicking his legs contentedly.

Life with no one bossing him around was so blissful.

When He Muyan came out after taking a shower, he happened to catch this scene of him flailing his arms and legs on the bed.

Song Li seemed to have accidentally twisted his stomach, reaching out to cup it as he let out a soft cry.

He Muyan was frightened, he immediately dropped the towel in his hand and hurried over. “What’s wrong? Did you bump your belly? Let me see.”

Song Li’s belly had grown increasingly larger recently like a blown-up balloon. Yet he happened to have the kind of physique where only his belly grew while the rest of his body stayed thin. With such a frail frame carrying such a big belly, anyone watching couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat for him at any given moment.

After catching his breath for a moment, Song Li saw how nervous He Muyan was and smiled, gently patting his round, bulging belly. “I’m fine. It’s just that I got excited just now and moved too hard, so the guy started moving along with me.”

He Muyan felt his belly to make sure nothing was really wrong before finally setting his mind at ease, flicking his forehead with a finger. “Lili is becoming more and more like a little child lately. Acting so recklessly.”

Song Li giggled, raising his head to look at his hair, which was still dripping water, and carefully sat up while supporting his belly.

“Let me dry your hair for you.”

Looking into his bright eyes, He Muyan said, “Okay.”

To make it easier for him to dry, He Muyan also took off his shoes and sat on the bed. Song Li shuffled over to face him; he originally wanted to kneel to dry his hair, but with his belly so big now, he tried it and found the heavy weight far too uncomfortable, so he gave up on the idea.

Just as he was hesitating over what relaxed and convenient posture to choose, He Muyan patted his own thighs. “Over here, Lili.”

Song Li glanced at him and understood his meaning, carefully moving over while supporting his belly.

He Muyan wrapped his arm around his waist and lowered his head to make it easier for him to reach.

Gazing at the clean, fair crown of his head, Song Li suddenly felt that the current He Muyan was so well-behaved.

He couldn’t resist reaching out a finger to lightly poke it.

He Muyan’s voice floated up from below, sounding a bit puzzled, “Lili?”

Holding back a smile, Song Li placed the dry towel on his head and began to rub it gently.

He Muyan’s hair was very dark, yet its texture was soft; not at all like his stubborn, rock-hard personality.

After rubbing for a short while, Song Li’s hands began to stall, the hand holding the towel trembling subtly as the faint, bluish veins on his fair back-of-hand throbbed gently.

In the end, Song Li really couldn’t hold back anymore. Hunching his back, he wrapped both hands around He Muyan’s head. “Y-You… don’t mess around.”

It wasn’t his fault for suddenly reacting like this; this person was simply being far too outrageous, deliberately taking advantage of the fact that Song Li was drying his hair and had no free hand to stop him.

As his belly grew larger, Song Li frequently wore loose, convenient clothing. Although the weather had turned cold, the heating was on all day long at home, so after showering today, he had only put on a large shirt; one of He Muyan’s, two sizes bigger than his own, which gave him no sense of restraint at all and felt very comfortable.

After struggling for a moment, Song Li simply draped the towel over He Muyan’s face and leaned in to kiss him on his own initiative.

Song Li felt that He Muyan was truly becoming more and more outrageous lately…

He just loved saying all sorts of flirtatious, shamelessly dirty talk; not only saying it himself, but also teasing Song Li into saying it too.

Knowing full well that Song Li was thin-skinned, he deliberately coaxed and wore him down.

………………

And so on and so forth.

Every time he regained his senses afterward, Song Li felt so embarrassed he could die a hundred times over.

Seriously, it was far too humiliating, and their boundaries were slipping lower and lower.

Because they had made such a fuss the previous night, Song Li couldn’t muster any energy the next day. Even while eating breakfast, he still looked sleepy and drowsy, his hand loosely holding the fork with barely any strength.

He Muyan poured him a glass of milk and casually pinched his cheek to wake him up. “Eat first, then you can go back to sleep for a bit. Be good.”

Song Li nodded with a muddled “oh, oh,” but made no movement with his hands while burying his face right in the glass of milk.

Seeing this, He Muyan had no choice but to sit over beside him to support him in his arms. Holding the glass to his lips, he fed him sip by sip, and only after a good while did the milk reach the bottom of the glass.

Song Li let out a soft little burp, smelling entirely of milk.

He Muyan used a tissue to wipe his mouth. Looking at his rosy, moist lips, he couldn’t resist lowering his head to kiss him again. One kiss wasn’t enough, so he slipped his tongue inside as well.

Only after a while did he raise his head contentedly, wiping away a strand of saliva from the corner of Song Li’s mouth with his finger. “Babe is so sweet, you’re filled with milk flavored.”

Song Li grumbled a couple of times. Extremely sleepy, he wrapped both arms around him and buried his face in his chest, refusing to move.

He Muyan then carried him upstairs. The moment he laid him down on the bed, Song Li rolled to the side and hugged He Muyan’s pillow.

Bending over, He Muyan whispered into his ear, “Babe, I’m heading off to work.”

Even though Song Li was so tired he was nearly asleep, his body still reacted automatically. Reaching out, he wrapped his arms around He Muyan’s neck and kissed the corner of his mouth. “Laogong, drive carefully.”

His eyes remained closed from start to finish.

Holding back a smile, He Muyan rubbed his hair. “Lili is so good.”

Really, he was far too good.

Driving upfront, Li Xiu couldn’t help but glance at the rearview mirror beside him from time to time.

He looked once, then looked again.

It wasn’t his fault for lacking professional ethics and driving carelessly; their boss was truly far too strange today.

He seemed to be in a very good mood. In the mere five minutes since getting into the car, he had already smiled three times.

Three times!

What kind of frequency was that?

That was the frequency of smiles appearing on his face over an entire month in the past!

Holding it back time and time again, Li Xiu was ultimately unable to resist the curiosity in his heart, “Boss, was there something happy this morning?”

Supporting his cheek with one hand, He Muyan raised his eyes to look at him. “Why?”

“It’s nothing,” Li Xiu shook his head in a hurry. “It’s just that you seem to be in a very good mood.”

He Muyan nodded, the smile at the corner of his lips growing slightly wider. “It is very good.”

Oh my goodness. Li Xiu didn’t dare ask any further, he felt their boss had been possessed by an evil spirit today.

Fortunately, however, He Muyan quickly resumed his usual expression, suddenly asking him, “Are there any major matters left this month that require my presence at the company?”

Recalling his schedule, Li Xiu shook his head, “Other than a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of a new project, there isn’t anything particularly important.”

“Just step in and show your face for the ribbon-cutting yourself.”

Li Xiu nodded. “Does the boss have other arrangements?”

He Muyan fell into thought for a moment. “Find some spare time over these two days to check out wedding planning companies with good reputations. If there aren’t suitable ones domestically, you can consider overseas ones as well, but make sure it isn’t overly tiring from travel; try to keep the timeline as short as possible.”

Li Xiu was somewhat dazed, his first reaction actually being whether their boss was planning to venture into the wedding market.

Only after a moment did he realize, looking at him in surprise, “Boss, are you planning… planning to… with Mr. Song…”

He Muyan nodded and asked him, “Why so surprised? Shouldn’t I?”

Li Xiu shook his head, shaking it vigorously, “You should, you absolutely should!”

Or rather, it was long overdue!

Li Xiu didn’t know why he was so hyper either, and asked further, “Does Mr. Song know about this?”

He Muyan shook his head, “I haven’t told him yet. Next month is his birthday, so consider it a present for him.”

Li Xiu practically wanted to gasp for air. Was this still the cold-faced workaholic boss he knew, who once asked him with a clueless expression “what is love”?

How did he suddenly become so smooth and romantic?

The very smooth President He continued to say to him, “Do you think if I give him a wedding ring, he’ll be happy?”

Li Xiu let out a “Huh?”, “Boss, you haven’t bought a ring for Mr. Song?”

He Muyan gave him a look.

Li Xiu felt sweat on his brow. Right, how could he forget? Their boss had only recently acquired these romantic instincts. The clueless version of him in the past could not possibly have possessed the romantic cell to buy someone a ring—

Even if that person was already the wife he stamped and brought home.

Thinking about it this way, Mr. Song seemed to have a bit of a problem too. You guys are already married! Don’t you know what marriage means? Why did you get the certificate registered without making your husband buy you a ring?

Instead, you dragged it out until the baby is almost due before starting to organize all this.

What on earth were these two doing before?

Naturally, Li Xiu didn’t dare ask his boss these questions. After steadying his emotions, he said to him, “Boss, I think a wedding ring carries immense significance. For a suitable and beautiful marriage, apart from going through proper legal procedures, spiritual symbols are also very important. A wedding ring is a crucial symbol.”

He Muyan rubbed his fingers together, “Since a wedding ring is so important, why has he never asked me for one?”

Li Xiu asked him carefully, “Is boss referring to Mr. Song?”

He Muyan didn’t answer him, still immersed in his own emotions as if asking and answering himself, “Or could it be… he feels a wedding ring isn’t necessary? He thinks our marriage doesn’t need such a symbol at all, or… he simply doesn’t believe our marriage is beautiful and right?”

He Muyan’s voice wasn’t very loud, but with the car interior being so quiet, Li Xiu heard every single word of his mumblings loud and clear.

What was going on? Why did it feel like every time he spoke, his boss would interpret it into an extreme detour?

Cold sweat practically dripped down Li Xiu’s back. He felt it was imperative to quickly pull his boss back before he went down a complete dead end; otherwise, wouldn’t he end up as the troublemaker ruining his boss and boss lady’s marriage?

Just as Li Xiu was about to speak, He Muyan’s phone suddenly rang. It was a work call.

Li Xiu had no choice but to shut his mouth first and wait for his boss to finish the call.

Unexpectedly, this single call lasted half an hour. Once it hung up, they went straight upstairs to the company for a meeting. After the meeting, they went on to train the new employees, keeping the entire morning busy and hectic. By the time he finally had time to sit down, rest, and drink a cup of coffee, he only belatedly realized that although work was done, why did he always feel like there was still a much more important matter left unaddressed?

Li Xiu thought for the duration of a whole cup of coffee, yet still couldn’t figure out a lead. At lunchtime, the sales department manager invited him out to eat together, so Li Xiu happily went along, officially throwing the matter completely to the back of his mind.

That evening, He Muyan had another business dinner, this time with several government officials who were there for an inspection. As the company’s president, He Muyan had no choice but to accompany them throughout the entire event.

By around nine o’clock, he could barely sit still anymore, raising his wrist to check the time every now and then.

To be honest, he had attended hundreds, if not thousands, of business dinners like tonight’s, and situations that lasted much later; even requiring him to stay up all night with them, were nothing out of the ordinary.

Yet there had never been a single day where he felt as restless and uneasy as tonight; and right now, it wasn’t even ten o’clock yet.

This kind of mood wasn’t appearing for the first time today either. It wasn’t just during business dinners; earlier, when Lian Jiu asked him out for drinks, he had been turned down as well, and turned down several times in a row.

Lian Jiu had even complained to him about this, accusing him of prioritizing romance over friendship. He said He Muyan went straight home on the dot right after work every single day, whether it was rain or shine; that once he got a wife, he completely forgot his brothers, so much so that even stepping out for a drink was off the table. He even cursed him for being henpecked.

Henpecked. Strictly speaking, for the vast majority of men, this term could hardly be considered a complimentary description. Yet, when applied to him now, he didn’t seem to find it repulsive at all.

Li Xiu was much more eloquent than Lian Jiu, remarking that this kind of mood was a fine quality a married man ought to possess, called being devoted to home.

He Muyan liked this term very much. Strictly speaking, however, he wasn’t truly devoted to the home, but rather devoted to the person inside it.

No, make that two people.

What troubled him, however, was that the person at home didn’t seem to harbor the exact same feelings as he did.

For instance, after realizing there might be a business dinner today, he had messaged the baby at home at the very first moment. Yet that message was like a stone sinking into the ocean, and only after two whole hours did he receive a reply, “En, got it.”

Gazing at this WeChat reply, He Muyan stared so intently that his eyes nearly pierced through the phone screen.

He remembered previously scrolling past a post in his Moments about a married couple: after getting hitched, the husband was busy every day with business dinners and neglected his new bride’s feelings. Consequently, their relationship broke down, and the young wife chose to abandon her husband while carrying their unborn child.

The blogger who posted it even stood up for women at the end, telling men to cherish full-time wives who were willing to sacrifice their own lives to stay at home for them, as well as to pay more attention to their wives’ psychological states during pregnancy. Carrying a child was millions of times harder than they imagined, so men should never treat their demands as unreasonable throwing of tantrums, along with a whole series of emotional chicken soup for the soul.

After reading it, He Muyan carefully reflected on his way of getting along with Song Li. Because it was a male pregnancy, in order to avoid unnecessary trouble, Song Li indeed had no difference from being a full-time homemaker right now.

However, he himself didn’t frequently stay out for business dinners and refused to return home either. Even on the rare occasions he came home late, he basically had never seen Song Li display any dissatisfaction regarding it. If anything, he was far too calm instead; calm to the point of being almost indifferent.

And that was precisely where the problem lay. He Muyan felt that Song Li seemed far too independent, possessing not even a shred of dependency on him. Normally at home, it was almost always he himself who couldn’t resist clinging to him first. Most of the time, Song Li was either reading books or busy with his own affairs; if he didn’t take the initiative, Song Li might not have a single extra bit of physical contact with him for an entire day.

He couldn’t help but think back to the topic about wedding rings he had discussed with Li Xiu in the car this morning.

He Muyan fell silent. He suddenly felt: in this marriage, had it been nothing more than his own one-sided enthusiasm from start to finish?

He was the one who proposed marriage first, and when it came to the pregnancy, he was also the one who insisted that they keep the child. It seemed Song Li had merely been going along with his arrangements all along, drifting with the tide.

As for what his own true wishes actually were, he had never once asked him.

Even the wedding he was planning right now was no exception. That day in the main house’s garden, even after being talked to like that by that little rascal He Mingtang, Song Li hadn’t shown any particularly big reaction.

Instead, it was he himself who, terrified of wronging Song Li for even another second, immediately couldn’t hold back and announced in front of everyone that he would give Song Li a wedding.

Yet at that moment, he had completely failed to consider whether Song Li actually wanted this wedding of his in the first place.

The more He Muyan thought about it, the more his thoughts began to spiral, and the more wine he drank. The government officials beside him were completely dazed by his drinking, even slapping him on the shoulder and praising him for his impressive tolerance for alcohol.

Li Xiu also watched from the side, his heart leaping into his throat.

He could tell their boss seemed to be in a foul mood, yet had no idea what the cause was.

By the first half of the midnight hour, this drinking session finally came to an end. Li Xiu helped He Muyan, who could no longer walk on his own, into the car and wiped the sweat off his forehead. This was the first time he had ever seen him drink so recklessly without restraint after following He Muyan for so long.

It was far too unlike the usual He Muyan.

Considering that someone who had been drinking would feel uncomfortable blowing hot air from the AC, Li Xiu directly opened the window so that a cold breeze could blow in to make him feel a bit better.

Reaching out, He Muyan tugged his tie loose, his lips still unconsciously mumbling something under his breath.

Li Xiu listened carefully for a while before finally catching what he was saying, “Lili… Lili…” or something along those lines.

Li Xiu smiled. People had always said their boss didn’t know how to love someone, that he was cold and emotionally detached, but seeing him like this now, wasn’t it obvious that he loved with quite a passion?

Halfway through the drive, He Muyan suddenly called out to him from the back, his articulation surprisingly clear for once.

Li Xiu hurriedly pulled the car over to the side before turning back to ask him what was wrong.

He Muyan looked extremely uncomfortable, his brows drawn tightly together and his face pale. After reaching out and fumbling around for a moment, he managed to find his phone and handed it over to Li Xiu.

Li Xiu took it, unsure of what he wanted to do.

“Boss, do you want to make a call to someone?”

He Muyan seemed to have fallen asleep again, only answering him after a good while, “Check…”

Li Xiu leaned in closer to listen, “Check what?”

“Check… if there’s any message…”

Li Xiu hurriedly unlocked his phone, going through the call logs, text messages, WeChat, and email all at once. Confirming that there were no unread messages, he answered him, “No one sent you any messages.”

It was unclear whether He Muyan heard his reply or not as he simply closed his eyes again before turning his head to the side.

Li Xiu waited for a moment, and seeing no further instructions, he let out a sigh and walked back to the front to drive.

By the time he delivered He Muyan home, it was almost one in the morning. At this hour, Song Li had surely long gone to bed. Following his usual routine, Li Xiu put all his strength into helping him upstairs.

Yet when he reached the bedroom, he discovered the lights inside were actually still on.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Li Xiu knocked softly on the door and called out in a low voice, “Mr. Song?”

Song Li hadn’t slept this whole time either. The moment he heard the movement outside, he immediately got out of bed, coming over after a short moment opening the door. Looking at Li Xiu and He Muyan, who was entirely propped up against him, he let out a smile, “Thank you for bringing him back so late. It must have been hard on you.”

Because it was so late, only a single wall lamp was turned on in the room. The pale orange light enveloped Song Li as if wrapping his entire body in a soft, honey-colored aura.

Li Xiu was momentarily dazed by the sight, only coming back to his senses when Song Li called his name twice.

Meeting Song Li’s puzzled gaze, Li Xiu’s face flushed red, and he hurriedly tried to pass He Muyan over to him.

Looking at him, Song Li pointed a finger at his own belly and smiled apologetically, “With how I am right now, I really can’t carry him. I’ll have to trouble you to help me support him inside.”

If he had a free hand right now, Li Xiu would have loved to punch himself in the head. How could he have been so brainless?