Su Liumeng’s feelings were complicated; she could only rub my head, “That’s not it. I’ll admit, I’ve been a little frustrated. After all, there’s been nothing new after marriage. But more than that, I find your personality really cute, like a riddle waiting for me to solve, full of alluring charm at every turn.”
I didn’t listen to her comfort, instead sinking deeper into my feelings, unable to play the ostrich anymore after Su Liumeng exposed the truth.
My voice trembled, “I’ll try to change, but you have to give me some time to adapt. Don’t push me too hard all at once.”
Su Liumeng pinched my cheek, my chubby little face feeling like pudding under her fingers, “Mm, I’m still looking forward to a different kind of baby. Baby—as your one and only Dao Companion, I really want to see you in white stockings, to see how breathtaking you’d be. I don’t know if that’s asking too much.”
“It’s not… too much.” I buried my head in her arms, just thinking of myself in white stockings made me unable to lift my head. “But, but, I’ve never tried it, and I don’t know what dress to match it with. Can’t we… do it next time?”
My voice sounded pitiful, deploying my lifetime’s worth of green tea girl tricks, hoping to get by with a little cuteness.
Since I can’t avoid it now, and I promised Su Liumeng I’d change, then at least let me dodge it for a couple of days.
That shouldn’t be too much to ask, right?
Su Liumeng nearly agreed on the spot, hearing my pitiful plea, but managed to steel herself—who could resist a green tea girl’s tricks?
But that wouldn’t do.
How can you quit halfway through a plan? That would be all for nothing.
Su Liumeng hardened her resolve, hugging the girl shrunken in her arms like a startled deer, gently stroking her soft, porcelain cheek, and said in her unique, cool voice, “Baby, you keep asking me if I have any reasonable requests after marriage—white stockings are the easiest one to accept. If you want to delay even this with cuteness, what about the requests that go further? After you promise to change, will you really be able to face them?”
To put it plainly—there are even more embarrassing things in the future. If you back down at the first step and try to delay with cuteness, will you bite me when I share my wishes later?
I blinked my big eyes, finally lifting my head, “Are your reasonable requests… all really reasonable?”
“Of course.” Su Liumeng was clearly taken aback, “I’m not that outrageous, am I? A wish is not a task, not like some outlandish plot in certain anime. I can promise you, every wish and request I make will be the most common things in a married relationship.”
“Like white stockings—I want to see my wife in them. How normal is that? Couples who are married are supposed to really like each other, so it’s only natural to like everything about your partner. On the other hand, if someone doesn’t like their wife, never wants to look at her, isn’t that basically writing ‘I’m emotionally cheating’ on their forehead?”
Su Liumeng threw out her killer move again, making me flustered and panicky, “Baby, you don’t want me not to like looking at you, right?”
Hiss—I was nearly tongue-tied, blurting out, “No way, you can’t like anyone else!”
I bit my lip, forcing myself to say what I used to be too embarrassed to say, face pink, “You can only look at me…”
After saying that, I felt it wasn’t enough, so I added a not-so-threatening threat, “Or I’ll bite you.”
Su Liumeng answered with a smile, “I won’t. My orientation is you, baby—did you forget? So how could I ever like someone else?”
Looking at the girl’s earnest vow, a strong sense of crisis rose in my heart. It felt like if I didn’t do something, I really would be surpassed by some vixen out there.
Fickleness is all too common.
Most people stop cherishing someone once they have them.
I can’t gamble on human nature’s weakness.
Sure, I could find someone else to love.
But right now, I only like Su Liumeng. I don’t want to lose her for any reason.
In the end, my strong sense of crisis beat out my embarrassment, and I stood up, blushing with shame, “Wait here, I’ll go change for you right now.”
Su Liumeng watched the girl purse her lips, knowing just how much of a struggle she’d just gone through.
She felt inexplicably moved as she watched me stand up with such effort. “Maybe… it’s fine. Wait until after the baby’s born, then try it. You’re not very mobile right now.”
“No.” This time I resolutely refused, all those vixens can just stay away! “Don’t look down on me—it’s just putting on stockings, what’s so hard about that?”
“I’m not so fat I can’t get up.”
I kept saying I was fat.
Su Liumeng looked at my still far-from-chubby figure, totally disagreeing with that.
After thinking, I added, “I’ll just wear over-the-knee socks—they’re easier to take off. There’s only a few weeks left until my due date, so I shouldn’t overdo it. Over-the-knee socks are basically just longer socks. I can handle that psychologically.”
Su Liumeng came over and gently supported my arm, chuckling, “Xinxin, I remember you don’t have stockings in your room, do you?”
My face froze, and I whispered, “Actually… I do.”
That wasn’t a lie.
Back in college, when I planned to live under a new identity, I bought all sorts of things girls usually keep, several sets at once.
Like skincare products—toners, lotions, serums.
Just because I never used them, doesn’t mean I don’t have them.
Su Liumeng’s eyes changed, “So you’ve known all along, and just lectured me with a bunch of reasoning?”
I felt like my face was burning, wanting to bolt.
I could only grumble, “So what, mind your own business.”
“Can’t I buy them and not wear them?”
So annoying.
It was my first time trying to reason with someone, and I still ended up being unreasonable.
Although I always acted so justified, there was a bit of willful stubbornness behind it.
But in the end, I didn’t get away with it.
I still felt a twinge of guilt in my heart.
I hadn’t really done my duty as a wife.
That’s also why I interrupted Su Liumeng so sternly just now.
I slowly took Su Liumeng’s hand, comparing her palm that was a size or two bigger than mine, and gently pressed my fingertips to hers.
The warmth of skin-on-skin contact gradually calmed my chaotic heart.
Before returning to my room, I thought for a while and decided to ask, “Why don’t you… just tell me everything now, so I don’t have to keep guessing. For example, is there anything else particularly feudal about me? Tell me now, so I can be mentally prepared before I try to change…”
Su Liumeng barely thought before replying briskly, “No need to get into details. Xiaoyan, you seem to have misunderstood the cause and effect here. I’m not trying to demand more and more. I just hope that with me, you don’t always have to be so guarded… After all, real life isn’t like a game with a progress bar showing how intimate we are. Just remember this, and you’ll naturally know how you should act, which will help our married life run smoothly.”
I blinked my pretty eyes, pinching my clothes’ hem, feeling for the first time that marriage was actually quite complicated—I couldn’t just do whatever I wanted anymore.
Marriage is two people’s business. You have to consider your partner’s feelings.
Su Liumeng supported me up the stairs.
It wasn’t easy to walk this stretch, because as I climbed, my center of gravity leaned back, but a pregnant woman’s weight leans forward, making it easy to stumble.
With Su Liumeng’s help, I didn’t have to hold onto the banister.
Su Liumeng saw it all, remembering it in her heart. She felt a warm current slip through her chest.
Sixin Yan, when it came to her and Su Liumeng, always instinctively chose to trust her, which moved Su Liumeng in a quiet way.
No stone cannot be warmed.
Even if Sixin Yan really is a stone.
Protecting your child is a mother’s instinct. That hand subconsciously reaching for the right-hand railing is really just a sign of not yet trusting the other person unconditionally.
The villa always had a thermostat system.
Compared to life twenty or thirty years ago, the technology had advanced again.
“Let go.”
Su Liumeng was a bit reluctant.
I twisted my hand in hers for a bit, and then finally, glaring at her, pulled free.
“Why are you so clingy?”
Su Liumeng pouted, “After all the trouble it took to marry you, can’t I be a little lovey-dovey?”
I didn’t get mad. Instead, I nodded seriously, “You… have a point.”
“Next time, I’ll try to be cooler.”
Back in my room, facing my wardrobe, I hesitated for a while—I hadn’t put everything in storage.
A home needs to feel like home; you can’t just leave the wardrobe empty.
I pulled out my suitcase from under the bed, opened a hidden compartment Su Liumeng hadn’t checked, and inside were lots of unopened stockings, including a pair of white over-the-knee socks.
I walked to my wardrobe and opened it, revealing a dazzling array of cute dresses.
With the villa’s constant temperature, it was already a bit warm. After a while, I picked a strapless, waist-fitted, pure white layered dress.
But just the dress alone seemed to expose a bit too much shoulder.
My first instinct was to add a sheer overlay, but I forced my cute little hand to stop.
Hiss—
Am I really a primitive…?
At this moment, after realizing I was a primitive, I clashed for the first time with my own traditional thinking over what to wear.
Not even going out, and just in front of my partner, yet still so conservative.
What’s the point?
Can’t let Su Liumeng see nothing, can I?
I pursed my lips, inwardly scolding myself. I should reward my other half, so I changed straight into the dress.
Modern clothes always felt less pretty than ancient ones.
But those flowy fairy-style dresses from olden days don’t really go with white stockings, do they?
I actually like ancient-style shawls, those gauzy drapes that feel so ethereal.
A shawl is something you wrap around your arms, usually a layer of thin gauze.
Forget it, this layered dress will do.
With its multiple layers of airy fabric, it also hid my tummy quite well.
After changing, I let my hair down.
Long, pitch-black hair fell naturally down my back, and the feeling of always having my shoulders exposed, like being stared at, finally faded.
In summer, I’d wear camis too, but usually with a light cover-up.
Plus, since I hardly went out, the overall style was acceptable to me.
I didn’t sit at the bed’s edge to put on socks, since it was too hard to bend over. Instead, I sat right on the bed, using my not-so-short arms and a little technique to finally roll on the over-the-knee socks.
With a snap, they straightened, wrapping my calves in a snug embrace.
Just after putting them on, I thought these would definitely help with varicose veins.
I put on a pair of black ankle boots.
Black and white, with the creamy color of my skin in the “absolute territory,” made for a visually striking combination.
Looking at the mirror, the rosy-lipped, white-toothed girl with a flawless face stared back in a daze. My ears slowly flushed pink.
Who gets shy staring at themselves?
I really had enough of myself.
I grabbed the outermost layer of sheer gauze and spun in front of the mirror, showing off.
My long black hair flew out like a waterfall, as if I were a little sprite in mid-leap, with stars twinkling in my eyes. It made me look ready to run away giggling at any moment.