Song Xinya stared at the man who had suddenly appeared before her, her large, tear-filled eyes brimming with disbelief.
Qin Yuhe?
She shook her head at him. It was fake. She wanted him so badly that she must be hallucinating.
It was New Year’s Eve. He should have been spending it with his clan.
He wouldn’t appear here.
Looking at Song Xinya’s tearful eyes, her face streaked with tears, and her slightly trembling lips, Qin Yuhe strode toward her and pulled her forcefully into his arms, holding her tightly.
“It’s me, Yaya.”
He took her hand and placed her palm over the left side of his chest.
“Yaya, feel my heart.”
“It’s beating so fast because I saw you.”
Song Xinya felt the heat of his body against her palm, as well as his heartbeat, which was much faster than usual.
He was real.
This really was Qin Yuhe.
He had come to find her!
Song Xinya looked up at him with her tear-streaked, delicate face and greedily studied his handsome, striking features. Questions flickered in her eyes.
“How did you get here?”
Qin Yuhe lowered his head and kissed away a tear at the corner of her eye.
“I came to find you, my darling Yaya.”
Song Xinya was still a little dazed. “It’s New Year’s Eve. You should be at the old residence, celebrating with the Qin family.”
Qin Yuhe slipped both arms around her waist affectionately. “Who says I have to spend New Year’s Eve with my clan? The Jade Emperor?”
Song Xinya: “...That’s how you’ve always spent it before.”
Qin Yuhe: “Starting this year, that rule has changed. From now on, I’m going to spend every New Year with my darling wife.”
Hearing him say that he would spend every New Year with her from now on, Song Xinya felt almost dizzy from the overwhelming happiness.
“What do you mean?”
Qin Yuhe gazed at her with a gentle smile. “Our Yaya is so clever. Why is your brain working so slowly today?”
Song Xinya scratched her head awkwardly. “I-I just can’t process this.”
Qin Yuhe: “Then I’ll put it plainly. We’re not getting divorced. We’re not separating. We’ll be husband and wife forever, stay together forever, and spend every New Year together from now on.”
Song Xinya: “But what about your clan?”
Qin Yuhe: “They’re grown adults. They can do whatever they want. I’m not their father, and I have no obligation to look after them for the rest of their lives.”
Song Xinya: “What about me?”
Qin Yuhe: “Of course I’ll take care of you. I’ll cherish you in the palm of my hand, hold you close, and protect you for the rest of your life.”
Song Xinya buried her face against his chest, her burning cheeks rubbing back and forth against him.
She wrapped both arms tightly around his waist. When her arms tightened around his back, she heard him hiss.
She looked up at him. “What’s wrong?”
Qin Yuhe said, “Nothing.”
He patted her head. “Let’s go home first.”
Only then did Song Xinya remember that they were still standing outside in the freezing snow.
She took his hand. “Let’s go home.”
The key slid into the rusty iron lock. Song Xinya pushed open the old, peeling wooden door and led Qin Yuhe inside.
The first thing they saw was Song Tingye, bent over as he mopped the floor, his backside facing them.
“Sis, you’re back from buying groceries.”
Song Tingye turned around. The moment he saw Qin Yuhe, he let out a shocked, “Holy crap!”
“President Qin, what are you doing at our house?”
Qin Yuhe: “President Qin?”
Song Tingye: “Yeah. Weren’t you and my sister going to get a divorce or whatever? So I started calling you that. I’ll have to change what I call you again later anyway.”
Qin Yuhe: “I’m going to live happily ever after with your sister. You’d better consistently call me ‘brother-in-law’ from now on.”
Song Tingye: “Really?”
Qin Yuhe: “If you don’t believe me, I can slap you across the face so you can feel for yourself that this isn’t a dream.”
Song Tingye immediately covered his face. “You haven’t even slapped me yet, and I already feel like it hurts.”
Qin Yuhe waved him away. “Go finish mopping the floor.”
Song Tingye cheerfully replied, “You got it, Brother-in-law.”
With Qin Yuhe’s arrival, the gloomy, oppressive atmosphere in the house vanished in an instant, and the four youngsters became a bunch of mischievous monkeys again.
Song Xinya said brightly, “I’m going to make New Year’s Eve dinner for everyone.”
Qin Yuhe followed her toward the kitchen. “I’ll help you.”
Song Xinya placed both hands against his chest and pushed him toward the bedroom. “I know you didn’t sleep at all last night. Go get some rest. Cooking is easy for me—I don’t need your help. Listen to me and go to sleep. If you don’t, I’ll get angry.”
Qin Yuhe was pushed to the bedroom door. He braced one hand against the doorframe.
“All right. I’ll listen to you.”
Song Xinya turned and walked lightly toward the kitchen. If her four younger siblings hadn’t been there, she would have skipped all the way there.
Ahem. She was a mature adult now. She couldn’t do something so childish.
After watching Song Xinya enter the kitchen, Qin Yuhe turned his attention to Jin Ruizhì, who was holding a red paper bearing the character for “fortune” and preparing to stick it on the television.
“Jin Ruizhì, come here.”
“President Qin, what is it?”
“Help me with something.”
Could there really be something in this world that he could help President Qin with?
Qin Yuhe walked into the bedroom, and Jin Ruizhì followed him.
Qin Yuhe pointed at the open door. “Close it.”
Jin Ruizhì didn’t understand why two men in a bedroom needed to close the door, but he obediently did as he was told.
The instant the bedroom door shut, Qin Yuhe’s tall body collapsed heavily onto the bed.
Jin Ruizhì turned around and paled in alarm. “President Qin, what happened?”
Qin Yuhe lay facedown on the bed, his lips deathly white.
“Keep your voice down. Don’t let Yaya hear you.”
Jin Ruizhì hurried to his side. “What can I do for you?”
Qin Yuhe: “Go buy iodine, cotton balls, painkillers, mupirocin ointment, sterile gauze, and bandages.”
The moment Jin Ruizhì heard that he needed so many things, he knew Qin Yuhe’s injuries were serious. He quickly said, “Hang in there. I’ll go buy them right now.”
He rushed out of the house and sprinted all the way to the pharmacy. After buying everything, he ran back without daring to stop and catch his breath.
The moment Jin Ruizhì entered the house, he softened his footsteps, trying to keep as inconspicuous as possible and avoid attracting anyone’s attention.
He carried the bag of supplies inside.
Song Xinya came out of the kitchen and ran into him.
“Jin Ruizhì, what are you carrying?”
She studied the plastic bag in his hand, which was printed with a red cross.
Jin Ruizhì replied, “Nothing. I suddenly had a stomachache, so I went to the pharmacy to buy some medicine.”
Song Xinya stared at him for a second, then turned around, walked to the refrigerator, opened it, and took out a tomato before returning to the kitchen.
Jin Ruizhì let out a sigh of relief and quietly slipped into the bedroom.
Qin Yuhe had taken off his coat. The moment Jin Ruizhì saw his back, his pupils trembled.
He had known that President Qin was badly injured, but seeing the wounds on his back with his own eyes still left him deeply shaken.
They were a bloody, mangled mess.
The phrase “a bloody, mangled mess” was not an exaggeration at all when describing the injuries on President Qin’s back.
In fact, even those words were not enough to convey the full extent of his wounds.
Jin Ruizhi glanced at the medicine in his hand. “Will treating it at home really be enough? President Qin, you should go to the hospital and get it checked out.”
Qin Yuhe said, “Tonight is New Year’s Eve. I want to spend the holiday with my wife.”
Jin Ruizhi said nothing more. He dipped a cotton ball in povidone-iodine and moved to apply it to Qin Yuhe’s back.
Just as the cotton ball was about to touch Qin Yuhe’s wound, the bedroom door opened, and Song Xinya appeared in the doorway.
