Zhou Shiyi replied: 【I love you too. Just like before.】
If it weren’t for the two children taking up most of their time and energy over these past few years, perhaps his relationship with her would have been even better.
When the twins were still young, he had more than once thought about having another daughter.
He wanted to experience the look on his cousin’s face when seeing his daughter, the feeling of holding a daughter to soothe her to sleep.
But as ZuoZuo and YouYou grew bigger, the house was never quiet for a moment, and such thoughts gradually faded away.
Until now, he no longer even had the idea.
If they had another child, three children would consume all the energy of the two of them.
Besides, no one could guarantee the next baby would definitely be a girl.
What if it was another son? Then there wouldn’t even be time to cry.
After replying to Zhong Yi, he began handling work emails.
The overseas Supercharging Network construction has been fully completed. With this core competitive advantage, Kuncheng New Energy Vehicles’ overseas market share increased by 8%.
This winter break, Shao Jin An resumed the self-driving route that was only half completed that summer, retracing the entire route once again.
With the charging and range issues resolved, the same route took much less time compared to that year, making it much more convenient.
This time, Jì Fánxīng accompanied him on the drive.
They stayed two days in Ronda and specifically visited the café where he had once arranged to meet Shao Jin An. Jì Fánxīng even took photos to send back to him.
Jì Fánxīng: 【I heard you talked about me here.】
Jì Fánxīng: 【If you hadn’t flown so far that year to invite Shao Jin An, I wouldn’t have had any connection with him later.】
If Zhou Shiyi hadn’t asked her to connect with Shao Jin An, she wouldn’t have contacted him again, and Shao Jin An wouldn’t have taken the initiative to visit her. There would have been no continuation.
He continued on his self-driving journey, seeking to challenge extreme road conditions that interested him.
As for her, she would follow her father’s arrangements and marry someone agreeable, muddling through life that way.
Perhaps it was destined from the moment she was first captivated by Zhong Yi’s appearance at Yu Laoshi’s art exhibition years ago and asked her to explain the “趣” (Fun) series that all their future connections were set.
Jì Fánxīng added: 【I tested it today at the charging station—600km added in 10 minutes. When you first proposed that target, I thought it was unrealistic.】
Zhou Shiyi: 【Overseas electricity restrictions. Kuncheng’s Supercharging Stations in China already achieve 700km added in 10 minutes.】
On the day the technical bottleneck was broken, Du was so excited he said they could keep going for another ten years without issue.
That same day, his father said he wanted to learn from Du.
His eldest uncle mercilessly exposed him: “If you don’t want to raise the grandkids, just say so, don’t pretend you love work that much.”
After handling all the emails, Zhou Shiyi noticed Zhong Yi had finished showering and was lying on the bed.
This brief moment each night belonged only to the two of them.
Zhong Yi wrapped her arms around the man’s neck, bearing all his weight.
Zhou Shiyi’s burning body heat radiated through his solid muscles, scorching her.
He lowered his head and kissed her, silencing all her sounds.
Zhong Yi’s fingertips almost dug into his back.
For a few seconds, Zhou Shiyi was nearly unable to move.
He laughed softly, telling her not to grip too hard.
“Can’t move. What should I do?”
Zhong Yi buried her face in his shoulder and pretended not to hear.
“Baby.” Zhou Shiyi kissed her, “Relax a little.”
Zhong Yi deliberately misinterpreted: “I’m not nervous.”
“I am?”
Zhou Shiyi patiently coaxed, “Loosen up a bit.”
Kissing her, his hands drew her closer, shifting her focus. “That email, were you just trying to keep the peace, or did you originally intend to send it to me?”
“Originally intended to send it to you.”
“Do you remember how long it’s been since you last messaged me?”
Zhou Shiyi added, “Not counting work or talking about the kids.”
Zhong Yi couldn’t recall.
As she zoned out, trying hard to remember, Zhou Shiyi reached her.
Her mind briefly blanked, quickly replaced by tingling sensation.
She hadn’t recovered for a while and bit his shoulder because he was too forceful.
Zhou Shiyi laughed.
She said whatever she wanted, and he didn’t argue.
The bedroom light switched on, and he carried her to the bathroom.
Zhong Yi still used the same sweet-scented shower gel as before. The water washed away the foam, leaving her body emitting a faint sweetness.
Zhou Shiyi came out after her and lay down on the bed. She noticed the scent on him was different from before.
Zhong Yi leaned close to his neck and sniffed carefully: “Did you change your shower gel?”
He swallowed.
“Why the sudden change?”
“You said we were an old married couple, no longer exciting to each other.”
Zhong Yi wrapped her long legs around him: “Just teasing you. There’s still freshness.”
She tilted her head and pecked his lips, “I still prefer the scent you used before.”
She was used to it; it gave her a sense of security when falling asleep.
Zhou Shiyi: “Just think of it as changing boyfriends.”
Zhong Yi laughed: “That can’t happen. I only love Zhou Shiyi.”
Zhou Shiyi cupped her head, forcing her to keep eye contact.
“Say that last sentence to me again.”
“I only love you.”
Zhou Shiyi flipped over, moving to the top.
His lips brushed her forehead, then her eyes, kissed down her nose, gently trailing downward.
He knew very well that she no longer had feelings for anyone else, but everyone liked being the one who mattered most.
Since having children, it was the first time they stayed up so late.
Zhong Yi traced the scratch marks soaked with sweat on his back: “Does it hurt?”
Those were from when passion overtook him. Even now, touching them soberly, she felt pain herself.
Zhou Shiyi looked down at her and said, “No.”
Zhong Yi joked, “Serves you right for changing shower gel.”
If he hadn’t changed it, there wouldn’t have been any topics afterward, and they wouldn’t have felt anything again.
So the culprit was the shower gel.
***
The next morning, Zhong Yi didn’t get up until nearly 7:30.
It had been years since she felt that kind of soreness from being crushed.
She forced herself up despite the aching, and when eating breakfast, even noticed her tongue hurt.
Beside her, the man was satisfied from last night and ate more breakfast than usual.
Zhou Shiyi was off work today, and the two children saw him at home as soon as they came downstairs and immediately pounced on him.
“Daddy!”
“Daddy, why aren’t you going to work today?”
“Daddy, are you on vacation?”
“Daddy, play with us! Play with us!”
One child clung to his neck, the other grabbed his leg, as if afraid he might run away.
Zhou Shiyi’s ears, which had finally enjoyed some peace after a whole night, were forced to endure two unstoppable little trumpets again.
“Let’s eat first, okay?”
“No!”
“No!”
The two of them used all their strength, almost shattering his eardrums.
Zhou Shiyi calmly reasoned, “Daddy’s on vacation. For the next few days, I won’t work and will stay home to play with you every day. Can you eat first?”
“Daddy, you really will play with us every day? You’re not lying?”
“Hmm.”
“Daddy, I love you!”
“Daddy, I love you a hundred times!”
“I love you ten thousand and one thousand times!”
Both children took turns planting firm kisses on his cheeks.
The children loved him—on the condition that Zhong Yi wasn’t home.
Once Zhong Yi returned, he had to step aside and couldn’t even lean on her.
Zhou Shiyi: “No need to love me so much. Just say a few less words.”
ZuoZuo and YouYou giggled and jumped down from their dad.
YouYou pushed his brother forward, and the two of them ran laughing and shouting toward the dining room.
For having twins, Zhou Shiyi’s only comfort now was that they could grow up with each other and wouldn’t be lonely.
While they were eating breakfast, he leaned back on the sofa to rest his eyes.
He had gone to bed too late last night and was woken at six by an alarm he forgot to turn off.
After eating, ZuoZuo and YouYou discovered their dad was asleep.
Shhh.
Both simultaneously put fingers to their lips, signaling silence to each other.
ZuoZuo whispered into his brother’s ear, “Daddy worked late and is tired.”
YouYou: “I know.”
Zhou Shiyi turned to ask the butler Jiang Bo for a blanket.
Jiang Bo: “YouYou, why do you want a blanket?”
“To cover Daddy, Daddy’s cold!”
Jiang Bo walked into the living room and saw Zhou Shiyi sleeping on the sofa.
He ruffled YouYou’s little head: “I’ll get one for you right away.”
In that moment, he suddenly felt the children had grown up.
A few months ago, they wouldn’t have noticed if someone in the house fell asleep, wouldn’t keep quiet, and would have played as they pleased.
ZuoZuo and YouYou carefully covered Daddy with a blanket, cautiously took his phone away.
Jiang Bo smiled, extending his hand.
They couldn’t be allowed to play with the phone.
The two children had no choice but to reluctantly hand over the still-warm phone.
Jiang Bo wanted to take them upstairs to play, but they refused and lay on the sofa beside Zhou Shiyi, saying they wanted to watch Daddy sleep.
Seeing them quietly lying there, Jiang Bo told Ayi to keep an eye on them and went to his own work.
Expecting three-and-a-half-year-old kids to stay quiet was unrealistic.
Five minutes later, YouYou asked his brother, “Daddy’s been sleeping so long, why isn’t he awake? If he doesn’t wake soon, it’ll be dark.”
ZuoZuo: “Let Daddy sleep for two more hours.”
Brother said so, so YouYou seriously nodded, “Okay, two more hours.”
YouYou lay bored on his arm, occasionally poking his brother.
ZuoZuo giggled and poked his little brother.
Less than two minutes later, YouYou got up and pushed Daddy’s arm: “Daddy, it’s dark now, wake up!”
ZuoZuo shook Daddy’s leg: “Daddy, you’ve slept five hours!”
Zhou Shiyi opened his eyes, took a moment to adjust, not expecting to have fallen asleep.
He sat upright on the sofa and saw the blanket in front of him: “Did you guys cover Daddy?”
“Yes, yes, yes, yes!”
YouYou threw his arms around Daddy’s neck, eager: “Daddy, come play with us! Hurry!”
Hearing the noise, Jiang Bo brought the phone: “The brothers have grown up, they know how to cover you with things.”
Zhou Shiyi glanced at the time on the phone and, counting their meal times, realized he had only slept less than half an hour. Still, he was deeply touched by the children’s moment of thoughtfulness.
He pulled both kids close and hugged them: “Thank you.”
“Daddy will play with you in the morning, and in the afternoon we’ll pack our luggage together, okay?”
“Daddy, where are we going to pack?”
“To Christmas Town.”
“Daddy, I’ve been there.” ZuoZuo stated confidently.
Zhou Shiyi smiled and asked, “When did you go?”
“Anyway, anyway, I’ve been!”
YouYou chimed in: “I’ve been too!”
About whether they’d been to Christmas Town, ZuoZuo brought it up again on the way to the airport the next day: “Mom, I really have been to Christmas Town.”
YouYou bit an apple and said solemnly: “Brother and I went together and even ate a peace apple.”
Zhong Yi glanced at Zhou Shiyi beside her, who said nothing and looked out the window.
She smiled at their two sons: “You didn’t really go; it’s because you’ve heard the story so many times since you were little.”
In fact, they had simply heard Zhou Shiyi’s breakup stories so often over the years that their little minds had formed a deep impression of the words “Christmas Town,” and they vaguely believed they had actually been there.
When ZuoZuo and YouYou were small, whenever Zhou Shiyi coaxed his sons with whispers, he would repeatedly say a few sentences back and forth: “Before you were born, did you go to Christmas Town? Were you clinging to my leg, refusing to walk?”
“Remember, behind Christmas Town is the snowy mountain.”
“The Christmas Town market was very lively; I went there with Mom.”
He said these things so often that his father-in-law couldn’t stand it anymore: “Your breakup stories, our whole family can recite by heart. Even your grandfather knows about them.”
***
More than ten hours later, the plane landed in Boston. The heavy snow from the past two days hadn’t melted yet.
The two children got out of the car excitedly and fell into the thick snow in front of the door, rolling around as they hugged each other.
Zhong Yi asked the sons: “Have you ever been here?”
“No!!”
“No” because Zhou Shiyi rarely mentioned this place.
The children loved the snow and refused to go inside.
Zhong Yi put on a thick coat, stood on the doorstep, leaned against Zhou Shiyi’s back, and watched the two children having a snowball fight.
Zhou Shiyi asked the person on his back: “That day we broke up, did you later go to the window to look at me?”
Zhong Yi kissed his cheek: “I did. But your car had already driven away. The yard was empty then.”
Who would have thought that seven or eight years later, their two children would be playing snowball fights here?
They only stayed two days in Boston before the kids clamored to go to Christmas Town.
As the SUV neared the town, Zhou Shiyi glanced out the window from time to time.
The dream from a few years ago was now becoming reality.
It was the peak tourist season, and the market was crowded.
Zhou Shiyi held Zhong Yi’s hand as they walked behind. The two children excitedly chased ahead, looked after by several bodyguards.
He was afraid the scene from the dream would appear, where he couldn’t carry both of them, so he brought extra bodyguards to avoid not even being able to hold Zhong Yi’s hand.
“Daddy! Mommy! Hurry up!”
“Daddy, you’re too slow!”
“Daddy, why are you so slow!”
Zhong Yi teased them: “Because Daddy can’t walk anymore.”
“Daddy, I’ll push you! Let me fill you up with gas!”
“Daddy, here I come!”
The two kids, one pushing from behind, the other tugging at the hem of his coat, pulled hard forward.
Zhou Shiyi’s heart warmed.
It turned out the dream was reversed.
The children hadn’t tired or clung to his legs whining they couldn’t walk.
The child who refused to walk and insisted on being carried was himself.
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