Song Xinya's cheeks were flushed a vivid red.
She glanced at the privacy partition that had already risen. Thankfully, the driver couldn't hear a thing.
Then she looked out the window. Cars rushed past on the highway, and some people were even looking over through their windows.
The last thing she wanted was to start something with him on the expressway.
For her own safety, and everyone else's.
She tossed the wet wipe into the disposal bag. "I'm not wiping anymore."
Qin Yuhe said, "Sweetheart, you can keep wiping."
Song Xinya said, "Quit being so dirty."
Qin Yuhe pressed his fingers to his forehead. "Where did you pick up all these weird words? Using them to describe your own husband, of all people."
Song Xinya said, "You become like the company you keep. You learn from whoever you're around."
Qin Yuhe said, "I've never used such a bold word to describe you."
Song Xinya said, "I've never done anything that would warrant that word. Even if you wanted to use it, you wouldn't have an excuse."
A smile tugged at Qin Yuhe's lips as he began undoing the buttons of his shirt.
Broad shoulders. A firm, smooth chest. The muscles where his neck and shoulders met were lean and sharply defined.
As he undid more buttons, his clearly segmented waist and abs came into view, solid muscle radiating the vigorous strength of a grown man. There was something intensely primal and seductive about him.
Song Xinya stared straight ahead with a perfectly proper expression.
In truth, her little ears were practically standing at attention, listening to the sound of Qin Yuhe taking off his shirt.
She thought she had concealed it well, but Qin Yuhe had already noticed those alert little ears.
He gave a lazy laugh. "You can look."
Song Xinya kept her eyes ahead, while her gaze sneaked toward him from the corner of her eye. "I don't want to."
Qin Yuhe said, "Your eyeballs are about to pop right out of their sockets and stick to me, and you say you don't want to look?"
Song Xinya said, "Since my eyes have minds of their own, I'll respect their wishes and reluctantly take a look at you."
She turned her head, darting a glance over him as though she were stealing something.
Her face immediately heated.
He was too sexy.
His body was really, truly too sexy.
Those full pecs, those hard, brick-like abs, and lower down... oh my God, that was even more alarming. So conspicuous, so impressive, so tempting.
Just one glimpse of Qin Yuhe's upper body, and an entire X-rated movie began playing in Song Xinya's mind.
As someone with a younger brother, Song Xinya wasn't actually unfamiliar with men's bodies.
Back when they lived in their small apartment, there had been no air conditioning. Song Tingye would often wander around shirtless.
Qin Yuhe's body was masculine; Song Tingye's was like that of a scrawny little chick.
Comparing Song Tingye's body with Qin Yuhe's in her mind, Song Xinya began to feel that her brother might be a little underdeveloped.
He ate so much beef every day. Where had it all gone?
Song Xinya let out a sigh, deeply concerned that her younger brother might still have a scrawny build in the future.
Qin Yuhe's voice drifted over. "You took one look at my body and sighed. Are you dissatisfied with my physique?"
Song Xinya said, "And if I said I was, how would you respond, sir?"
Qin Yuhe said, "I'd punish you right here. Pin you down and give you a thorough lesson."
Song Xinya swallowed and covered her mouth as she smiled.
All right, she admitted it. She was a little eager to find out.
Calm. Composed. She was a lady, after all.
Perhaps because he knew they were on the highway, Qin Yuhe thrust hard enough to make the car feel as though it might tip over.
His deep, unreadable gaze lingered on her for a moment. Then he picked up the spare shirt from inside the car and slowly put it on.
On the way back to Zijin Huafu, Song Xinya asked the driver to stop at a chain pharmacy.
Qin Yuhe accompanied her inside. “Are you feeling unwell?”
Song Xinya replied, “I’m not here for medicine. I want to buy something else.”
Something else?
What?
The moment Qin Yuhe entered the store, he spotted the Durex, Jissbon, and Okamoto products displayed in a prominent location.
They had never used any of those things.
From the very beginning, they had been planning to have a child, so contraception had never even crossed their minds.
Full of questions, Qin Yuhe followed Song Xinya farther into the store.
“Found them!”
Song Xinya stopped beside a shelf lined with pink boxes.
Following her gaze, Qin Yuhe saw what they were: ovulation test strips.
Song Xinya explained, “The books about preparing for pregnancy say that ovulation test strips can detect when the egg is released.”
“Having sex when the egg is released makes it easier to get pregnant.”
Qin Yuhe asked, “One box?”
“How could one box be enough? You have to test every day, and sometimes several times a day.”
There were ten strips in a box.
Song Xinya carried ten boxes of ovulation test strips toward the checkout counter.
Suddenly, she stopped and stared at the man paying at the counter in profile.
“Qin Yuhe, doesn’t that man look like your father?”
Qin Yuhe looked over. “He doesn’t just look like him. He is my father.”
Song Xinya asked, “What is your father doing at a pharmacy this late at night?”
Qin Hanxiao had just placed a box of Durex on the counter and was about to pay when the voice of his good son Qin Yuhe suddenly sounded beside him.
“Dad, what did you buy?”
In a flash, Qin Hanxiao stuffed the Durex into his right pocket. “I—I didn’t buy anything.”
“Really?” Qin Yuhe asked.
Qin Hanxiao coughed. “Really.”
Qin Yuhe pointed toward the door. “Look. Who’s that?”
Qin Hanxiao turned to look outside.
Qin Yuhe reached into his right pocket and pulled out what was inside.
“Ha. So you bought condoms.”
Qin Hanxiao’s face flushed with embarrassment. He looked so flustered, like a child caught doing something naughty by his parents.
“I bought them for someone else.”
“That someone else is you, isn’t it?” Qin Yuhe said.
Unable to keep arguing, Qin Hanxiao snatched the Durex back. “I’m in my fifties. What’s wrong with buying a box of these? It’s not against the law.”
Qin Yuhe said, “You’re already in your fifties. When your little brother gets excited, it probably only lasts two minutes anyway. Can’t you just endure it until it passes?”
Qin Hanxiao’s face turned bright red. “Who only lasts two minutes? Who? You’re the one who only lasts two minutes!”
“I said one sentence, and that’s the part you’re concerned about?” Qin Yuhe asked.
“You’re a man too. If someone slandered you by saying you only lasted two minutes, wouldn’t you care?”
“I wouldn’t,” Qin Yuhe replied. “Because it would be false.”
He looked Qin Hanxiao up and down. “You reacted so strongly because I hit the nail on the head.”
Qin Hanxiao knew his son had a silver tongue and a razor-sharp wit. He tossed a red hundred-yuan bill to the cashier, turned, and headed out.
Watching Qin Hanxiao’s retreating back, Qin Yuhe asked, “Is she at least respectable?”
Qin Hanxiao said, “Far more respectable than you. She’s never mocked me.”
Qin Yuhe said, “Well, if she wants to swindle an old man out of his money, of course she has to be nice to you.”
Qin Hanxiao got into the car, slammed the door shut, and drove away.
Song Xinya set the stack of ovulation test strips in her arms on the counter and looked at Qin Yuhe. “Are you about to get a stepmother?”
Qin Yuhe said, “If I am, then we both are.”
Song Xinya said, “Honestly, I’m not too keen on that. What if she’s younger than me? Then I’d have to call her Mom.”
Qin Yuhe wasn’t keen on it either.
On the way home, Qin Yuhe looked at the bag of ovulation test strips and said, “We really need to hurry up and make a baby.”
“Otherwise, our child might not even be born before my dad’s is.”
