Chapter 51: Her Boyfriend Could Slap a Flirt to Death (14)

The sun rose in the east, heralding a new day. Bai Yao opened her eyes to the familiar ceiling above her. Wearily, she lifted a hand to press against her forehead. Beside her, someone called her name softly, “Yao Yao.”

She turned her head.

Xue Yan was kneeling on the bed, staring at her unblinkingly. Strangely, his eyes were red, fringed with misty tears. In a quiet voice, he asked, “Did you have a nightmare?”

Bai Yao was silent for a moment, then let out a relieved breath. “I think I did have a nightmare, but now that I’m awake, I can’t remember any of it.”

Xue Yan’s tense posture eased. He pressed his lips into a thin smile. “It was a bad dream anyway. If you’ve forgotten it, that’s for the best.”

Bai Yao sat up, her gaze sweeping over him from head to toe. Under her scrutiny, Xue Yan felt his scalp prickle; just as he was about to crumble under the pressure, she asked, “Why are you up so early today?”

In the past, if she didn’t drag him out of bed every morning, he’d clutch her pillow and sleep till noon.

Xue Yan fiddled with the hem of his pajamas.

Bai Yao’s sleepwear was blue, his was pink—what she called couple’s pajamas. She’d gone to great lengths to commission the best tailor in town to make them from the finest fabric.

There were no delivery services here; daily necessities had to be bought in town. Bai Yao had long since accepted that this remote place had no courier access.

Xue Yan had always been careless with his life before. To put it bluntly, he’d never cared whether he ate pig slop or fine flour—as long as he survived, it was enough. Only after being with Bai Yao did he begin to have good food, good clothes, good toys, and all the best things the little town could offer—so much so that the other children in town wept with envy.

Xue Yan stared down, lips pressed into a thin line. “Yao Yao… I… um…”

He hesitated for a long time, unable to put together a full sentence.

Bai Yao sighed, reached out, and cupped his face gently. “I understand. I must have woken you with my nightmare.”

She offered him an excuse.

Xue Yan’s black eyes were pure and clear—she had always liked his eyes. But now they were damp, vulnerable, as if he might shatter at any moment.

Bai Yao leaned into his arms, lifting her gaze to him. “Why didn’t you hold me this morning?”

Every morning before, hadn’t she always awakened in his tight embrace?

Yet now, as she nestled into his arms, Xue Yan trembled slightly. His hands stiffened, wanting to wrap around her but held back by some inexplicable timidity.

So, he was troubled by something. Bai Yao kissed his cheek, her voice gentle. “Didn’t I teach you? We’re engaged—fiancés. Whether it’s something happy or something sad, we shouldn’t keep secrets from each other. If you bottle things up and make your partner guess, it really hurts the relationship.”

Xue Yan’s gaze flickered, his long lashes casting a slight shadow beneath his eyes. His gaze grew dim, and after a long time, his voice came out hoarse. “Yao Yao, I’m sorry.”

Bai Yao feigned annoyance, ruffling his hair. “How many times have I told you? Stop saying sorry to me! You’re the one I like, you know. Have some confidence—even if you really did something wrong, it must be someone else’s fault, or the world’s fault, but never yours!”

Such words could easily spoil someone rotten.

Xue Yan blinked, his mood lifting a little. But when his eyes drifted down to her belly, he grew dispirited again. “Yao Yao, I made you pregnant.”

Bai Yao’s expression froze for a moment. Then she shot him a dangerous look. “What do you mean, you made me pregnant? Are you hoping someone else would?”

“No!” He grew agitated at once. “I’m the only one who can make you pregnant!”

“Then why are you upset?” Bai Yao pressed.

Xue Yan’s lips twitched, and he spoke in a small voice, “What if… what if the baby inside is an egg? So… if you don’t like it, we don’t have to…”

“As long as it’s our child, I’ll love it,” Bai Yao replied.

Xue Yan fell silent, staring at Bai Yao in a daze. Slowly, he lowered his eyes, murmuring, “I see.”

A moment later, he looked up, his eyes curving with a smile. “Alright, I’ll love the baby with you!”

Bai Yao wanted to keep talking—after all, having a child was no trivial matter. But then the alarm rang; it was time to go to work. There was no time to cook breakfast, so she hurried Xue Yan to get ready and head out.

He was used to being pampered by her, but now he seemed quite self-aware, taking the initiative to pedal the bicycle. Along the way, they bought two steamed buns. He dropped Bai Yao off at the school first.

Waving goodbye, he watched her enter the school gates. The cheerful expression on his face faded, and with his head bowed, his entire being exuded a deep loneliness as he walked his bicycle away.

All morning, Bai Yao was distracted at work. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off with Xue Yan. At noon, she asked Teacher Wu to keep an eye on her class during the lunch break and slipped away from the school.

At the neighborhood committee office, Aunt Zhang looked troubled. “Um… Teacher Bai, Xiao Xue didn’t come in today.”

Xue Yan had skipped work—a thing he’d never done before.

Bai Yao’s brows knitted in concern. She left the office in haste and headed home.

At the inn entrance.

Tian Susu noticed Jiang Xun staring at Bai Yao’s direction, oblivious to whatever she was saying. She tugged at Jiang Xun’s sleeve, her gesture charming and winsome. “Jiang Xun, is there something wrong with Teacher Bai? You’ve been watching her.”

Jiang Xun withdrew his gaze and smiled. “Nothing. I was just wondering if her identity here is really as simple as it seems.”

Cha Lan walked out of the inn, and the people nearby instinctively edged away from him in fear.

Tian Susu, recalling that Cha Lan had killed someone, moved to stand behind Jiang Xun.

Cha Lan’s expression was inscrutable, making it impossible to guess what terrifying things he might do next.

Following Jiang Xun’s plan, the group split up to search for clues.

After balancing the accounts, Boss Shu was supposed to check the kitchen’s cleanliness, as per his usual schedule. But as he passed the girl sitting on the sofa, he paused. “Aren’t you going with them?”

Yin Huanmian looked up at him, surprised.

Understandably so—Boss Shu never initiated conversation, and his routine was as fixed as clockwork.

He smiled. “I’ve noticed you all listen to Mr. Jiang. Everyone trusts him—he must be a good man.”

Yin Huanmian flipped through her travel guide and replied indifferently, “There are no purely good people here.”

Just like last night’s vote. From the one question Jiang Xun asked Cha Lan, it was clear he’d already guessed what Cha Lan had done, but waited a full fifteen minutes before bringing it up.

Of course, Yin Huanmian didn’t consider herself a good person either.

The only reason she wasn’t mingling with the group was that she’d been ostracized—for a simple reason.

She was someone Tian Susu disliked.

Boss Shu looked at the top of her head for a long moment before suddenly asking, “Would you like some rose milk tea?”

Yin Huanmian looked up at him again.

He smiled. “I’m rather good at making it.”

She held his gaze for a long time before finally smiling. “Alright.”

At twelve forty-five, Bai Yao unlocked the door to her home. No one was in the living room.

She walked straight to the bedroom. Sure enough, the curtains were drawn, the room unlit and dim, and one pillow was missing from the big bed.

Bai Yao sighed, then walked to the wardrobe. She pulled open the door to find someone huddled inside, clutching a pillow in fright.

He was buried under her dresses. In fact, his clothes only took up a small corner of the wardrobe; the rest was filled with her garments, saturated with her scent.

Xue Yan’s eyes were red, his gaze misty, with tear tracks still fresh on his pale, handsome face.

He was curled up in this dark corner like a ragdoll discarded by its owner, so fragile he might tear apart at a touch.

Xue Yan never expected Bai Yao to come home. Panic and anxiety flickered across his ashen face, and the first thing he blurted out was, “Yao Yao, I shouldn’t have skipped work and run home…”

Bai Yao said, “I don’t want our relationship to suffer from endless guessing. I’ll give you one last chance—tell me exactly what’s on your mind.”

He hugged the pillow tighter, as if clinging to her. The kind of pain that seemed to shred his soul surged within him, but he dared not waste the opportunity.

“You’re pregnant… I know I should be happy with you, but I just can’t. I keep worrying—what if you end up loving the baby more than you love me?”

“What if you start giving the snacks you buy for me to the baby instead?”

“What if you stop holding me at night, and hold the baby and put it to sleep instead?”

“What if you stop telling me bedtime stories, and only sing lullabies to the baby?”

“What if you start calling the baby ‘darling’ every day, take him out to play, buy him treats and give him pocket money…”

He went on and on, and at last, he lifted his eyes, bloodshot as if wounded, and in utter despair, unable to suppress his fear, he asked her in a trembling voice, “Yao Yao, what should I do if you stop loving me?”

She was only newly pregnant—was this some kind of prenatal depression?

Bai Yao was exasperated. She slipped off her slippers, bent down and crawled into the cramped wardrobe, squatted beside him, and yanked the pillow from his arms, tossing it outside, fixing him with a steady gaze.

His arms were empty now, just like the emptiness inside him, but he didn’t dare move.

After a long while, she chuckled softly. “You’re the greatest source of fear in this town—what could you possibly be afraid of?”

Xue Yan blinked, dazed, his tear-filled eyes moist.

Bai Yao knew he felt safer in the dark, so she closed the wardrobe door, pressed herself into his arms, and took his stiff hands, wrapping them around her body.

In the darkness, she searched for his lips, kissing them softly, whispering, “If you want to hold me, then just do it. Hugging a pillow is never as comfortable as hugging me.”