"No way?" Yu Wanwan murmured, but a voice in her heart said: Yes, he would do it.
Thinking of this, the chill of being watched by invisible eyes crawled up her spine again.
"Why not?" Gu Enzhun said decisively. "He can't cling to you physically now, so he's using public opinion and 'deep affection' to blackmail you. This is definitely his doing."
She continued earnestly, "I think the most critical thing now is not Lu Peizhi, nor the messy online opinions, but you and the man at the door."
Yu Wanwan looked at her blankly. "Us... what about us?"
"I can tell that your man has fallen in love with you. It's because he likes you that his face was so grim yesterday." Even though Yu Wanwan said they didn't fight last night, Gu Enzhun, as an observer, firmly believed something must have happened when they got home. She patiently advised, "Don't tell me things like 'He can't possibly like me.' I've watched every episode of your videos. The way he looks at you is never simple. And I think you have that indescribable feeling for him too. It's like there's just a thin layer of paper between you two, but neither of you is willing to poke through it. Or rather, you're the one running away from it."
Yu Wanwan lowered her head, her eyes deliberately avoiding the topic. "That's not true."
"I also think you're too caught up in it to see clearly, Little Fish," Mi Xiaonai chimed in. She glanced toward the door and suddenly laughed like a fangirl. "But now I understand why you kept praising him in the group chat. He's really handsome, even with that grumpy face yesterday."
She deliberately created a sense of "crisis" for her best friend, trying to make her recognize her own heart. Her voice was sly: "If you really don't like him, can you train him well and give him to me? I like this type."
"Look at you, all pleased with yourself," Gu Enzhun scolded playfully. Seeing her serve herself another bowl of pig trotters, she couldn't help saying, "How many bowls have you had? And you're still eating?"
Mi Xiaonai's mouth was stuffed full, and she said pitifully, "This is my last feast before fasting. Can't you let me eat more?"
Gu Enzhun teased her, "It's not that I won't let you eat more. Think about it—the more you eat, the more you'll have to go to the bathroom. You find the hospital toilet disgusting, and if you use a squat toilet, with one leg injured, balancing on one leg like a golden rooster would be so uncomfortable."
That woke up the glutton. Hearing this, Mi Xiaonai put down her bowl and chopsticks glumly and muttered, "True. If I don't eat, I'm hungry; if I eat, I have to balance on one leg." Her voice feigned sobbing as she looked up to the sky and lamented, "Why is my life so hard!"
Hearing Mi Xiaonai's tragic yet hilarious lines, Yu Wanwan couldn't help laughing, and the little melancholy in her heart was momentarily diluted.
The three of them played a few rounds of Dou Dizhu in the ward to pass the time. Since no one was at Gu Enzhun's home, she stayed to take care of Mi Xiaonai. Yu Wanwan reluctantly left the ward and saw Zhang Jingxu pacing in the hallway, talking on the phone with a rather solemn expression.
She didn't approach to disturb him but quietly waited nearby for him to finish.
Soon, Zhang Jingxu ended the call and turned to look at Yu Wanwan, who was waiting quietly at the ward door. Perhaps because last night's incident had not fully passed between them, they both spoke and behaved with extreme caution: "Ready to go home?"
"Mm," she nodded lightly and followed him into the elevator.
In the cramped, enclosed elevator, the floor numbers silently changed. The man's crisp cedar scent mixed with the faint disinfectant smell of the hospital spread silently in the limited space.
Yu Wanwan's mind was still heavy. Gu Enzhun's words of advice lingered in her thoughts, refusing to leave.
She cautiously glanced at the person beside her out of the corner of her eye, then quickly lowered her eyelashes, her heart stirring with doubt.
Could he really like me? And what about me? Do I really like him too?
Yu Wanwan didn't know. It seemed like such a clear matter, yet she always doubted it repeatedly, then denied it again... Maybe she really was too caught up in it to see clearly.
They got into the car. The wind and rain outside had lightened, as if the typhoon was about to end.
Zhang Jingxu started the car. After driving for a while, he suddenly spoke: "My parents are back."
"Huh?" Yu Wanwan jerked her head up. This was too sudden.
Her voice was weak as she asked, "Uncle and Auntie... came back during a typhoon?"
"They've been back for a while. They were hanging out in Beijing recently," he glanced at her and continued, "They said they wanted to come back before your birthday to celebrate it with you."
Hearing this, Yu Wanwan suddenly remembered that the string of worries had made her almost forget—the day after tomorrow was her 25th birthday.
——
When they got home, the open kitchen was filled with enticing aromas. Zhang Changgeng and Yu Ruosu had already been waiting for some time.
Upon seeing Yu Wanwan, Yu Ruosu completely ignored her own son and walked up to Yu Wanwan with an enthusiastic face, taking her hand and exclaiming, "Daughter-in-law!"
This warm-hearted cry made Yu Wanwan's whole body stiffen, as if she were put on fire.
In front of her were Zhang Jingxu's parents, whose faces were beaming with smiles but whose eyes were full of curiosity. Beside her was her "contract husband," who had just gone through a storm with her and had a delicate relationship.
If this wasn't a hellish minefield, nothing was.
"A... Auntie, hello," she stammered, forcing out a stiff but polite greeting. Only after saying it did she realize she should probably change how she addressed her.
Sure enough, her use of "Auntie" made Yu Ruosu freeze for a moment.
But soon, she returned to her warm state: "How long have you two been married? Why are you still calling me Auntie? Is it because I haven't given you the 'change of address' gift money?"
With that, Yu Ruosu immediately took off the imperial green jade bangle from her wrist and put it on Yu Wanwan's hand: "Here, this bangle is my meeting gift for my daughter-in-law. Now can you change how you address me?"
"Auntie, I can't accept this..." Yu Wanwan was flattered and overwhelmed by this gesture. She forgot to change her address again, and while trying to decline, the bangle was already firmly placed on her wrist by Yu Ruosu, still retaining the latter's warmth.
Zhang Changgeng then stepped forward and handed her a bank card, his tone gentle like a learned old professor: "I don't know what to give you as a meeting gift. After thinking it over, I decided a bank card is best. From now on, use this card when you buy things."
Seeing this, Yu Wanwan still wanted to refuse, but Yu Ruosu directly stuffed the card into her hand and pulled her to sit on the sofa: "We're all family now. Refusing back and forth just creates distance. Don't be polite with us. Just take what the elders give you."
Yu Wanwan was flustered by Yu Ruosu's overwhelming kindness. As she was being led away, she deliberately turned her head to look at Zhang Jingxu, trying to signal for help with her eyes. However, he acted as if he hadn't seen it, wearing a calm, detached expression.
"Our Wanwan was beautiful as a child, and even more beautiful as a grown-up young lady. You know, when I found out you and A Xu got married, I was overjoyed. Our families have been close friends since childhood, and you two were engaged as kids. I always wanted to bring it up with your parents, but at that time, you were in a free relationship and had a boyfriend. Who would have thought that after all this time, you ended up together?" Yu Ruosu held her hand, looking at her with an extremely loving gaze, not at all stingy in expressing her affection. "It's a good thing you took a liking to him; otherwise, with his dullness, he'd probably end up a lifelong bachelor."
Yu Ruosu laughed as she spoke, completely disregarding her son's feelings.
She had always adored Yu Wanwan since childhood. Although her son was a genius academically, Zhang Jingxu hadn't spoken until he was two years old. Before that, Yu Ruosu had thought he had autism or was intellectually disabled. She took him to several hospitals for checks, and though the doctors clearly said all his physical signs were normal, Yu Ruosu still believed her child had some intellectual deficiency.
Because the neighbor's daughter, Yu Wanwan, who was born a month after Zhang Jingxu, was already babbling and communicating many words with her parents before she was one and a half. As they say, comparison breeds hurt. When she saw Yu Wanwan chattering away at her parents' feet every day, she instantly felt like her own child was practically mute.
Although Zhang Jingxu improved in speaking after turning two, he remained as quiet as a log—never initiating conversation unless someone spoke to him first.
It wasn't until kindergarten that Yu Ruosu noticed something: whenever Yu Wanwan from next door came to see him, Zhang Jingxu would be stimulated and talk a lot that day, though most of it was complaining about Yu Wanwan.
Thus, when Yu Ruosu realized Yu Wanwan could cure her son's reticence, she began inviting Yu Wanwan over frequently—even though Zhang Jingxu didn't like playing with Yu Wanwan, even though Yu Wanwan scared him with bullfrogs, even though Yu Wanwan occasionally bullied him like a little rascal. But whenever the Yu family sincerely brought Yu Wanwan over to apologize, Yu Ruosu just laughed it off and never held a grudge.
Even when the school teacher informed her that Zhang Jingxu was exceptional academically and could skip the conventional path to enter university early, Yu Ruosu flatly refused without a second thought. After all, Zhang Jingxu was already not talkative; studying with classmates several years older would only make him even more silent.
Compared to having a genius son, she preferred that her son could get along with peers, especially Yu Wanwan, who could stimulate him to talk, and have a carefree, happy childhood.
Later, due to work, the family immigrated to the United States. Without Yu Wanwan, that "cure," Zhang Jingxu reverted to his pre-two-year-old mute state, hardly uttering a word.
This worried Yu Ruosu so much that she almost wanted to return to China for her son's sake.
So when she learned that Zhang Jingxu and Yu Wanwan were married, she was more than thrilled. She even became the number one CP fan of the young couple, checking Yu Wanwan's two accounts daily for updates. Seeing the couple sweet and loving in the videos, she would get so excited that she'd show an 'auntie smile'.
Yu Wanwan was thus pulled along by Yu Ruosu to chat about all sorts of things for quite a while.
Until it was almost mealtime, Yu Ruosu suddenly dropped her "kind mother-in-law" image and asked with a slightly serious tone: "I have to ask—did you two have a fight?"
Upon hearing this, Yu Wanwan instantly felt as if she was facing a formidable enemy, guilt creeping in.
How did her mother-in-law figure it out? Was it so obvious?
A panicked turmoil surged in her heart. She felt that the paper shell of their "contract marriage" was as thin as a windowpane in front of elders who truly cared, ready to be pierced with a single poke.
The couple exchanged a glance. Zhang Jingxu answered his mother calmly: "No."
Having returned from Beijing in extreme weather, Yu Ruosu had planned to take the luggage to the second bedroom but unexpectedly found it was full of Yu Wanwan's things, with strong signs of habitation—clearly not just for a day or two.
Thus, Yu Ruosu strongly suspected that the two had never shared a bed since they got married.