Chu Yin was numb now, caught in the most embarrassing and inexplicable situation he’d ever faced.
How on earth was he supposed to come up with an excuse for Aunt Wen? But Aunt Wen was looking at him, completely flustered, and all concern for privacy or awkwardness had flown out the window as she reached out, trying to find the cause herself.
If he didn’t say something soon, Aunt Wen would probably call an ambulance. Then he’d go down in history as the first person ever admitted to the ward for “phantom limb pain” of unknown origin.
He had to explain, no matter how clumsy the excuse! Anything would do for now!
“Aunt Wen… I’m fine, really. I was just pretending, joking around to tease you…” He forced a cheerful smile, trying his best to squeeze out a smile as bright as a chrysanthemum.
Wen Chunhan looked at his constipated expression, both worried and amused. She gently scolded, “You’re gritting your teeth so hard there are veins popping on your forehead. And look at this cold sweat!”
The mature, intellectual beauty gave up questioning him. She reached for her phone by the bedside, ready to call the Hospital Hotline.
“Wait… I’ll talk!” Chu Yin hurriedly pressed her slender hand, not daring to dodge or hide anymore.
“I’ll give you thirty seconds. If you don’t tell me, I’ll call for an ambulance.” Wen Chunhan put on the unquestionable authority of a senior, her face stern like she was lecturing a child who had made a terrible mistake.
Gritting his teeth, Chu Yin racked his brain for an explanation—any explanation.
“I-I had a… normal reaction when I woke up. I was worried you’d be embarrassed if you saw, so I tried to move away…”
He was the only male in this household. Wen Chunhan was unmarried, and his Aunt Yan Dongnuan, though she had a biological daughter, had done IVF rather than having a child the usual way. That was the requirement of the Yan Family’s Strict Family Head—either accept an arranged marriage or remain single forever; feelings must not affect decision-making. With her personality, Yan Dongnuan could never accept the former, so she just had IVF and lived with her sister.
In short, the man they’d spent the most time with these years was the young man of the house, Chu Yin. But of course, they understood the basics of physiology. For boys his age, morning reactions were normal—it wasn’t something perverse or deliberate.
“So you tried to move, and then what? How’d you end up rolling around in pain? There aren’t any hard objects like keys in the bed, so you couldn’t have bumped into anything, right?” The woman pressed on, her beautiful eyes flicking worried glances toward his injured area.
Chu Yin slowed his speech, buying himself time to think:
“And then… when I tried to kneel up, the sheet was so slippery that my foot slipped, and I fell back… landed right on it…”
“…”
Aunt Wen blinked silently. She used her fingers to mime a shape, silently asking if he’d bent his “I” into an “L”.
Chu Yin really didn’t want to discuss his private parts with his elders, but without an explanation, he’d never get out of this. So he braced himself and said:
“It’s not the stick that bent, it’s that I landed on the balls. Like when you get hit in the ribs with a basketball by accident… It’s nothing serious, I just need a moment.”
Aunt Wen accepted this explanation. Seeing that, Chu Yin knew he wouldn’t be carted off in an ambulance. He let himself collapse back into the bed, curling up to adjust to the pain.
In literature, there’s The Nun and the Fish, but if it were The Nun and the Piranha, no one would daydream about it.
Wen Chunhan had no idea how to handle this situation, so she lay back down in bed, wrapping her arms around Chu Yin and gently patting his back.
She still wanted to help the child somehow. “When Lingqi fell as a kid, I’d always blow on the sore spot and rub it for her…”
“This one really doesn’t need blowing or rubbing!” Chu Yin immediately cut Aunt Wen off.
His muscles had just started to relax. If he tensed up again, he’d die.
“We still have some Cooling Pain Relief Patch at home. It works for bruises and pain—can you use that?”
“That’s… not really appropriate…”
What’s the difference between that and White Tiger Balm?
They say love makes you lose your head. He knew Aunt Wen meant well, but this idea was enough to make him break into a cold sweat.
“The pain’s already fading, Aunt Wen. You really don’t have to worry so much… Oh, right, how did you sleep last night?” Chu Yin changed the subject, shifting the attention back to the beautiful woman.
“I slept quite well. From now on, you can be Aunt Wen’s body pillow, alright? Raise a son for a thousand days and use him in a moment of need~”
Chu Yin felt embarrassed, but he didn’t mind. If he could fall asleep every night in Aunt Wen’s soft embrace, all his weariness and troubles would melt away. It would be hypocritical to say otherwise.
But every morning, there was always the risk of running into these awkward situations.
As boys grow, they naturally start avoiding their mothers. If a little friction or accidental contact made things awkward between them, how could they look each other in the eye afterward?
He still remembered vividly his wedding night with his Master’s wife. Every time he got close to Aunt Wen, it would trigger those memories. But dreams are dreams—they shouldn’t be mixed up with reality.
If, because of Aunt Wen’s care and affection, he did something impulsive that hurt her, that would be wrong!
“Aunt Wen, if we sleep like this every day, what if something embarrassing happens when we wake up?” he stammered.
“You’re not doing it on purpose. Boys have their physiological reactions. When Lingqi had her first period, wasn’t it me who guided her through it?”
“Alright then…”
Chu Yin realized Aunt Wen always saw him as a little boy and said nothing more.
Maybe he was the strange one. Maybe he’d just misunderstood Aunt Wen’s perfectly normal parental affection…
Half an hour later, the alarms around the house began to ring in chorus.
One by one, the family woke and washed up, then gathered around the dining table for breakfast.
Breakfast was Chu Yin’s responsibility—noodles with sugar water eggs, pretty much like instant noodles. As long as it didn’t involve tricky timing or seasoning, he was quite skilled at it.
“Mom, didn’t sleep well? Why do you have dark circles? Did you and Chunhan Mom take turns not sleeping well?” Yan Lingqi pressed her face close to her mother Yan Dongnuan’s, gently touching the skin under her eyes.
Wen Chunhan was concerned too. “Our family really has had a run of bad luck lately. I just caught up on sleep, and now you, Dongnuan? Is it insomnia or too many dreams?”
Chu Yin kept his head down, sipping sugar water, not daring to say a word.
Yan Dongnuan tried to remember, then gave up and shook her head.
“I feel like I was struggling with some difficult problem in my dream. When I woke up, it felt like I hadn’t slept at all.”
“A nightmare?” Wen Chunhan asked, puzzled.
“Not a nightmare. I didn’t dream of anything scary. I was just thinking hard about something in my dream and wore myself out.”
Aunt Dongnuan had just been trying to recall that tough problem, curious what could stump her so much.
She’d been an outstanding student and a star at work, so anything that could trouble her was interesting.
Wen Chunhan thought her sister had been tormented by nightmares. She laughed, “You really are something, Dongnuan. Even in your dreams, you’re solving problems and give yourself dark circles. If today isn’t too busy, why not work from home?”
“Yeah, maybe your messed up schedule has affected your sleep. If you’re not busy, just take it easy!”
Chu Yin chimed in, thinking this was a good chance to learn more about his aunt’s interests. Next time he entered the dream world, maybe he’d have more to talk about with the Snow Ash Witch.
Though he got along well enough with his family, compared to Aunt Wen, he realized he didn’t know much about his aunt. They didn’t chat much.
But that couldn’t be helped. With her cold personality, it was hard to start a casual conversation with Aunt. If he forced it, it would just get awkward.
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