Not Leaving

These two ways of making an entrance are the most surprising and impactful that he could come up with after racking his brain.

Xiaoyi’s ideas were quite difficult to understand. What was the difference between a ‘flash’ and a ‘pop’?

Seeing that neither of them was speaking, Xiaoyi wondered if there was something wrong with his presentation.

After Xiaoguo and Jiang Danhe came together to make a decision, they both vetoed Xiaoyi’s suggestion. They would prefer to go with a more natural approach.

When Zhuang Zhuang opened his eyes in the morning, they would just appear in front of him. There was no need for any exaggerated surprise. The simpler the approach, the greater the surprise.

Xiaoyi was feeling so sleepy that he kept rubbing his eyes and nodding off on the table. Seeing this, the two of them carried him back to his room to sleep.

As soon as the little guy touched the pillow, he quickly snuggled under the blanket. Without having to coax him, he fell asleep naturally on his own.

When she left Xiaoyi’s room, Xiaoguo realized that she had been out for quite some time.

“Then I’ll go back first.”

She didn’t dare to stay out for too long, as Zhuang Zhuang might get suspicious.

“I’ll walk you out.”

Xiaoguo nodded and the two of them walked towards home.

Along the way, they could only hear the sound of the cold wind blowing. The entire village was enveloped in silence. Accompanying their footsteps were the barking noises of dogs in the distance.

“Quickly go back and rest. You must be tired from the bumpy journey.”

As they reached the doorstep, Jiang Danhe showed no sign of leaving. Xiaoguo didn’t think much of it. She was only worried about his health.

“I’m not leaving. I’ll go in with you.”

Jiang Danhe calmly voiced out the plan that he had harbored for a long time. But he avoided eye contact with Xiaoguo because he was feeling guilty.

She knew it!

Before they came out, he had blown out the candles in the room. He had been planning this from just now?

Just when Jiang Danhe thought that Xiaoguo was going to refuse him, she nodded instead.

“Come in.”

Xiaoguo snickered and looked at the man, who didn’t move an inch. She raised her eyebrows. “Why? Don’t you want to return to your house anymore?”

“I do. I do!”

Jiang Danhe quickly replied and followed her into the house. He was afraid that she would lock him out if he replied a second late.

“Keep your voice down. I wonder if Zhuang Zhuang is asleep.”

They had secretly planned the surprise for so long. Tomorrow was the most important day. They had to be extra careful.

Jiang Danhe understood. He nodded and followed behind her quietly.

When she arrived at the main hall, Xiaoguo went to Yu Ling’s room first to greet them.

Seeing that the two of them were still sticking on the flowers, she did not forget to remind them, “Your brother-in-law and I will stick on the flowers tomorrow. Rest early.”

“Yes, yes, we understand…”

Although the two of them said yes verbally, they still continued with their work right after Xiaoguo left the room.

Jiang Danhe did not go near the girls’ room because he wanted to make himself scarce. When Xiaoguo came out, he asked, “Are they still awake?”

“No, they are sticking on the flowers.”

Jiang Danhe nodded when he heard this. But in his heart, he was thinking, “Sticking on flowers? What’s that?”

Xiaoguo carefully opened the door a crack and peeked in.

Zhuang Zhuang was lying flat on the bed with his fists clenched. His face was flushed from sleep, looking like he had fallen fast asleep.

Xiaoguo was relieved to see that. After bringing Jiang Danhe in, the two of them worked together carefully to move Zhuang Zhuang to the bed. While moving him, they did not dare to breathe too loudly, fearing that they would wake him up.

After putting him down, the little guy just rolled over, smacked his lips twice, and went back to sleep.

Xiaoguo gestured silently to Jiang Danhe to get some rest.

Jiang Danhe smiled and nodded before taking off his coat.

Xiaoguo got into bed first, with Jiang Danhe following closely behind. After the two of them lay down, he blew out the candle. The room immediately became quiet, with only the sound of their faint breathing.

Jiang Danhe had a lot to say to Xiaoguo, but he eventually gave up on speaking as he didn’t want to wake Zhuang Zhuang from his sleep. He turned around to embrace Xiaoguo, before falling asleep himself.

Perhaps he was really tired, or maybe his nose was filled with Xiaoguo’s scent every time he inhaled, but Jiang Danhe fell into deep sleep very quickly.

Xiaoguo secretly touched his face for a long time, but he didn’t notice it.

Looking at the tired man, Xiaoguo’s heart suddenly felt a little sorry for him. Some time ago, he had mentioned in his letter that he was extremely busy. It must have been hard for him to find time to come back this time…

The eyebags under the other party’s eyes told her the answer.

After retracting her hand, Xiaoguo wrapped her arms around his waist and snuggled against his chest as she slowly fell asleep.

—-

The next morning, the sound of birds chirping outside woke Xiaoguo up. Before she could move, someone stopped her.

“Don’t be anxious. Zhuang Zhuang won’t wake up so early.”

The room was still very dark. But as soon as Xiaoguo moved, Jiang Danhe felt it and immediately held her tightly while comforting her with his voice.

Xiaoguo immediately relaxed and lay on his chest again, a sigh escaping from her lips.

With Jiang Danhe around, she always forgets the time. Her usual biological clock never works whenever she is with him.

“Zhuang Zhuang didn’t wake up halfway, right?”

“… No.”

The pause in Jiang Danhe’s reply went unnoticed by Xiaoguo, who was still half-asleep.

What he didn’t tell Xiaoguo was that Zhuang Zhuang had to go to the toilet in the middle of the night. Being half-awake, the boy had mistaken him for Xiaoguo.

Jiang Danhe did not dare to make a sound and stiffly carried the little boy towards the toilet. After he was done with his business, the little boy did not notice anything unusual. As soon as he touched the bed, he turned around and fell back to sleep.

After resting enough, the two of them got out of bed.

When Xiaoguo came outside, she was surprised to find that Yu Ling and Xiao Zhu had already woken up and cleaned up two rooms. They were in the midst of wiping the tables with some cleaning rags.

“Why are you up so early?”

Speaking of this, the two young ladies appeared a little shy. “We have guests today, so we thought that we should get up early to tidy up the house.”

Xiaoguo smiled when she heard that. “You know everyone who is coming. There are no outsiders among them. You two should rest more.”

“Hehe, knowing that Zhuang Zhuang’s birthday is today, we were too excited to go to sleep. It’s good to get up and do some work.”

Yu Ling and Xiao Zhu smiled in embarrassment. They both felt embarrassed by their own actions and felt even more so when they said it out loud.

Xiaoguo snickered at their explanation. So that was the reason. They were indeed still young and had so much hope and aspirations towards everything in life. How nice was that…

At this moment, Jiang Danhe came out of the room. After greeting the two young ladies, he said to Xiaoguo, “Shall I pick up Xiaoyi?”

“Go on.”

The two of them had discussed last night that Xiaoyi should stay with them. It was not appropriate for the little guy to stay alone by himself, so it was better for them to bring him over to live with them.

After Jiang Danhe left, Xiao Zhu and Yu Ling couldn’t help but ask curiously, “Who is Xiaoyi?”

They had never heard of this name.

“I think you girls should roughly know who he is.”

They should have seen Xiaoyi before in the fishing village and on the island. After a brief reminder from Xiaoguo, the two of them reacted as if they had been struck by lightning. They asked in a trembling voice, “The crown prince?”

The two of them had seen this little figure before, but they had never come into close contact with him. After all, the two of them did not have any status and could not possibly get close to the crown prince at all. Therefore, when they heard that he would appear in the house, they became extremely nervous.

They were afraid of losing their lives if they made any mistakes.

For most commoners, hearing the title of the Crown Prince was terrifying enough, let alone seeing him in person.

It was already quite a feat that Xiao Zhu and Yu Ling didn’t faint upon hearing his title.

Once bitten, twice shy. When Yu Ling heard the noble title, she felt terrified. She feared that she might be enslaved again if she let her guard down for a moment and commit any mistakes.

Xiaoguo could tell that the two of them were feeling uneasy, so she comforted them. “Xiaoyi is completely different from what you think. You’ll know when you see him. Don’t be afraid.”

Even so, how could they not be afraid? That was the crown prince. Xiaoguo guessed that if she had met Crown Prince Xiaoyi first instead of the “commoner” Xiaoyi, her expression would probably be the same as that of the two girls.