CHAPTER 273: CHAPTER 247: HIS WORDS, HEART-STIRRING

"You, what kind of reward do you want?"

"The reward I want... is quite domineering and greedy."

Su Xiaomeng had no idea what she still had on her that she could give back to him...

"Someday in the future, if I lose an arm or break a leg, you’ll have to stay by my side without leaving—"

Su Xiaomeng quickly turned her head and covered his mouth with her hand, tears hanging from her eyelashes...

"Don’t say things like that!"

Yin Shixiu removed her hand and kissed her eyes, licking the salty tear into his mouth.

"There are sudden disasters and blessings in life, and this life is so long... Now, I stay by your side without leaving, loving you, caring for you, and protecting you, just to let you know, if the day ever comes that I bleed, you’ll have to lick my wounds for me too."

Su Xiaomeng stared at him intently, but the tears continued to fall.

He smiled gently, continuing as he laughed, "If I become penniless, you’ll have to eat buns with me. If I become disabled, you’ll have to take care of me in all aspects of life. If I can’t move, you’ll have to push my wheelchair to see the world, and if I die..."

Su Xiaomeng’s heart raced, startled by his words...

"You’ll have to stay a widow for me, for a lifetime."

Su Xiaomeng was already in tears, dumbfoundedly looking at him, the tears kept falling.

Finally, finally...

Yin Shixiu finally saw her smile, though accompanied by tears and a sparkling drip of snot from her nose...

But she finally smiled.

"Hehe..."

She turned over, straddled him, hugged his neck tight, and rested her forehead gently against his...

"Hehehe..."

Yin Shixiu hugged her waist, lips curled, "That funny, huh?"

Su Xiaomeng nodded, then softly said, "Uncle, how could there be a man like you in this world..."

"Why wouldn’t there be? Isn’t he right in front of you?"

Yin Shixiu tilted his head slightly, kissed her little lips, then smacked his lips, "Hmm... snot?"

Su Xiaomeng quickly extended her arm, grabbed a tissue from the bedside table, wiped her nose hard, sniffed, then pouted her small mouth...

She was asking for a kiss.

But Yin Shixiu looked at her, unable to hide his disdain and unwillingness.

Su Xiaomeng’s pouting gesture turned a bit stiff at once, as her newly settled heart started to waver again, just when her little mouth was about to draw back.

Yin Shixiu held her neck tightly, kissed her lips hard.

Su Xiaomeng looked into Yin Shixiu’s smiling eyes, aware that he was teasing her...

Her palm glided over the spine, gently brushing over the red marks.

"Does it hurt?"

Su Xiaomeng pursed her lips, a momentary sour feeling flashed in her eyes, then her eyebrows lifted, eyes narrowing into a line, she softly said with an almost seductive voice, "Do you want to try?"

Yin Shixiu raised his eyebrows, then quickly shook his head, "Just looking at it hurts, better not."

Su Xiaomeng pouted, "You were just talking about sharing life together as a couple..."

"But you can’t drag me along with your self-harm..."

Su Xiaomeng held his face, "When did you find out?"

"We sleep together every night, you can attend classes, do chores, take care of the kids, using every method to shift your focus away from me, but I can’t..."

Yin Shixiu shook his head, pretending to sigh with great pity, lamenting, "Not seeing you for a moment, I miss you like crazy..."

Su Xiaomeng pinched his cheek, "Is such ancient poetic verses used by you like this?"

"Even if it’s ancient, it’s still a love poem, love poems... if not used in the dark night with a lover, when should they be used? Hmm?"

"Yes, yes, whatever you say is right, your words make sense, okay?"

Yin Shixiu chuckled, "Don’t do silly things anymore... just for me, for the kids."

"Do you know that every mark you’ve scratched on yourself is also scratched on my heart, I like your fair, smooth and fragrant body..."

"Uncle, do you really... really don’t mind..."

Yin Shixiu covered her mouth with his hand, lowered his head, showing with his actions how much he liked her, how much he wanted her.

Su Xiaomeng hugged his shoulders, letting him bury in her heart, gently licking her wounds.

Just as she was getting a bit indulgent, and Yin Shixiu’s actions became bolder and more unrestrained, Su Xiaomeng suddenly awoke, she quickly patted Yin Shixiu’s shoulder, "Stop... stop stop stop..."

Yin Shixiu refused?

Quickly said, "Don’t move..."

"Stop it!"

Someone raised his head dissatisfied, he looked at Su Xiaomeng...

"Huang, Huang Huang woke up..."

"Woke up?"

Yin Shixiu was stunned for a moment, thinking the little guy shouldn’t be awake so soon.

Even if he did wake up, he should make a sound, but—

Yin Shixiu turned around, only to see Prince Huang sitting at the bedhead, his eyes open, just silently watching his mom and dad, without blinking.

Su Xiaomeng hurriedly got off Yin Shixiu, realizing Prince Huang had peed, she quickly changed his diaper.

"Mommy..."

Prince Huang hugged Su Xiaomeng’s neck, his little face rubbed against her cheek, looking very attached.

Su Xiaomeng’s heart softened, and she turned to kiss her son.

This little commotion woke Shuangshuang as well. Her sleepy eyes opened, and seeing Prince Huang and mom being so close while she was asleep, her eyes instantly reddened...

With a sour nose, she was about to cry...

Yin Shixiu saw this and picked up the nearby rabbit hand puppet, slipped it onto his hand, and skillfully jumped in front of Shuangshuang, "Shuangshuang, I want to eat carrots... do you have any carrots?"

"Ah, ah..."

Shuangshuang immediately forgot about crying, her chubby little hand pointing at the rabbit puppet.

"Shuangshuang, I am Tutu, Tutu..."

"Dudu, ah..."

"Tutu, ah..."

"Dudu, ah!"

"Tutu... Shuangshuang, Tutu..."

"Dudu! Giggling... hehehe..."

Shuangshuang excitedly clapped her hands, seemingly competing with Yin Shixiu, which was quite amusing.

Prince Huang didn’t join the fuss; he just wanted to cling to Su Xiaomeng, wrapping his small hands around her neck, with his little face resting on her shoulder, gradually calming down...

Yin Shixiu played with Shuangshuang for quite some time before Shuangshuang started feeling a bit tired again, her chubby belly pressing against Yin Shixiu as she lay on him.

Drool... drip-dropping down.

Su Xiaomeng leaned against the headboard, sympathetically looking at Yin Shixiu, only to see him with his hands spread, exhaling a breath, and tilting his head to one side, with a death-like expression.

This made Su Xiaomeng laugh.

Prince Huang was much more obedient and well-behaved than Shuangshuang; he fell asleep shortly after lying on Su Xiaomeng.

The large bed had four people sleeping all in a disarray.

Yin Shixiu leaned on Su Xiaomeng’s thigh, comfortably breathing out.

He held her hand and softly said, "Tomorrow, go to Famen Temple and take down the red ribbon you hung on the Bodhi Tree."

Su Xiaomeng paused for a moment, staring blankly at him...

Yin Shixiu stretched out his hand, hooked her neck, pulled her head down, dangerously narrowed his eyes, and said coldly, "If you dare say something like that again—"

"I won’t."

Su Xiaomeng kissed his lips, "I won’t, uncle. I’ll go first thing in the morning."

Yin Shixiu nodded, yawned, and closed his eyes.

Su Xiaomeng also lay down, letting Yin Shixiu lean against her abdomen, one hand bound by Prince Huang’s hands and feet, and one hand resting on Yin Shixiu’s face.

At this moment, she felt no hate, no complaints, no unwillingness.

Only by tasting bitterness can one discern sweetness.

She would never forget what Ren Yixuan did to her, but with this scar that would eventually scab over, she would hold her husband’s hand and move forward together.

Ren Yixuan wanted to destroy her, but she couldn’t let him have his way.

He wanted her life to be overshadowed by his, but she was determined to show him she would live better than he imagined.

The name Ren Yixuan would surely fade from her memory, and many years later, should she remember again, she might only say...

Oh, there seemed to be such a person... she once gave her heart.

But the outcome was less than satisfactory.

The next morning, Yin Shixiu received two calls.

One was from Bai Sidong, informing Yin Shixiu that the hotel surveillance had been deleted, and the police might need him to pick it up personally.

"The hotel’s surveillance being deleted is quite strange..."

Bai Sidong said but didn’t speculate further, just mentioning he’d get the footage from the general surveillance at the police station.

Yin Shixiu hung up the call, feeling a sense of doubt.

Why would the hotel’s surveillance... be deleted? Even if the Rong Family copied one, there was no need to delete the remaining one...

As he was feeling puzzled, the second call came—

His eyes narrowed slightly, and after hearing the report on the other end, he merely said, "Treat Mr. Ren well, I’ll come later."

After hanging up, he leisurely put on a coat and dressed both Shuangshuang and Huang Huang.

According to last night’s arrangement, Su Xiaomeng left Yin Mansion early, driven by the chauffeur to Famen Temple—

That wasn’t her truest wish; she had lied to the Bodhisattva and the Buddha.

Because she was cowardly, but from now on, she wouldn’t evade anymore, wouldn’t be so cowardly.

She wished for time to rewind so that she could meet him earlier...

Yin Shixiu didn’t take Huanghuang and Shuangshuang back home but left them temporarily in the care of his parents.

He drove to a villa in the suburbs.

The villa was under Yin Shixiu’s name, but he had never lived there; instead, he lent it to a few of his trusted assistants.

When the car stopped, a woman with a dignified makeup opened the car door for Yin Shixiu, "President."

"Where is he?"

"Inside. I’ll take you."

Yin Shixiu, with steady eyes, followed the woman upstairs, then stood at the first room on the second floor.

Yin Shixiu pushed open the door; the woman wanted to walk ahead of Yin Shixiu but was stopped. "It’s okay, you can go down. No matter the commotion, don’t come in."

"But..."

The woman wanted to say something more, but seeing Yin Shixiu’s indisputable expression, she quietly retreated.