Chapter 53: Can You Stop Watching Cartoons Every Day? Part 1

The next day.

This time, I slept straight through until two in the afternoon. The moment I woke up, my head felt like it was splitting open, and the discomfort all over my body made me completely lose my appetite.

I wanted to lie back down and sleep a little more, but Su Liumeng kept urging me to go eat.

“You can’t keep staying up this late,” she said as she brought the dishes to me.

“I’m someone who cultivates, so even if I only sleep a few hours a day, it’s fine. But you’re not like me.”

“Mm.”

I forced myself to eat a big bowl of rice.

The result was predictable—I threw it all up.

At last, I finally understood what Su Liumeng meant when she said I had a weak constitution and cold uterus.

No matter how much the ghost infant restrained its yin energy, its very existence continued to draw in massive amounts of it, indirectly affecting my body.

So much deadly yin energy was being absorbed by me constantly—how could I not be weak and frail?

That’s exactly why my pregnancy symptoms were so much more intense than a normal person’s.

I stared at my pale, delicate fingertips.

Yesterday, Su Liumeng’s body temperature had been so low, yet I had only felt a faint chill.

That proved my own body temperature had already dropped below normal. The influence of the yin was that severe.

No wonder I was the only one suitable to carry this child.

Constantly absorbing that much yin energy… only someone like me, a “pure yin” body, could barely withstand it.

“Still feeling unwell?” Su Liumeng was massaging my legs.

The nausea came in waves. After resting a while, I felt much better. The growing hunger in my belly was pushing me to try eating again.

I’d secretly asked a few others for tips on how to deal with severe morning sickness.

Some had replied, “What else can you do? If it’s just dry heaving, bear with it. If you puke, eat again.”

Everyone’s experience is different, and yes, in the end, if you don’t suffer through it, what can you do?

Just talking about it might help a bit.

Some gave more practical advice—like eating something sour, and trying to eat small amounts more frequently.

There were also more scientific explanations—maintaining a good emotional state helps; depression, anxiety, and stress can all intensify pregnancy reactions.

I only skimmed those articles. It was hard to blame everything I was going through solely on the ghost infant being different from other babies.

Reality and reason both told me that a large part of this was also my own doing.

After eating half a bowl of rice, I had no energy left to think about how to make it up to Su Liumeng. I just sat on the balcony, basking in the sun.

Thankfully, Su Liumeng didn’t hold anything against me. Instead, she patiently comforted me the whole time.

She never once brought up what happened yesterday.

My gaze drifted blankly toward the sky.

It was just an ordinary straw lounge chair. The moment I leaned back against it, I soon drifted off to sleep.

Su Liumeng stood before the lounge chair, quietly watching the girl before her for a long time, as if she wanted to carve every detail of her face into her mind.

The sun slowly tilted westward, stretching her shadow across the floor.

Then Su Liumeng turned and went back into the room, returning with a light pink blanket she often used. She gently draped it over Si Xinyan’s lower belly.

As she tucked her in, her gaze lingered on one particular spot for a long time.

Seven and a half weeks—still not enough to show yet.

And yet, for some inexplicable reason, she had the urge to reach out and gently touch that little belly. Even if it was over a dress, she would feel content.

Though the act felt out of character, she really wanted to try.

Maybe… it would feel soft?

Resting her chin in her hand, Su Liumeng tilted her head slightly.

After a moment, she puffed out her cheeks and murmured to herself,

“If Xiaoyan were awake, she definitely wouldn’t let me touch her. She’d start spouting a bunch of reasons again—like ‘the baby doesn’t like it’ or something.”

The baby wasn’t even two months old yet. Still in the womb. How could it have opinions about being touched? As the mom, she should know that better than anyone, right?

But in the end, it all came down to one thing—Xiaoyan just didn’t want her to touch it.

Su Liumeng ultimately refrained from reaching out, and instead gently poked the soft, chubby cheek in front of her.

The sensation was like poking the bounciest jelly—her fingertip would sink in, then bounce back after she let go…

Bounced back.

Su Liumeng gave it a light touch but didn’t dare touch a second time. She was afraid of waking up Si Xinyan.

It was obvious to the naked eye just how unwell this girl was—completely dazed, even picking up the wrong dishes several times while eating.

Su Liumeng had been trying to understand everything about Si Xinyan.

Even though she already knew plenty, each deeper dive was like savoring a bottle of aged wine—time only made the flavor linger longer and deeper.

Right now, Su Liumeng was curious:

What does Si Xinyan look at on her phone when she’s alone?

She hadn’t been interested in games lately. But time always needs to be filled somehow—no one does absolutely nothing all day.

Could it be similar to the kind of websites Su Liumeng browses?

*****

5:20 a.m.

I turned over with a soft hum from my nose—gentle and delicate.

“Mm…”

“You’ve been sitting here this whole time?”

“Yeah.”

I shook my head from side to side. Probably because I’d finally had enough sleep, the pain had dulled. I propped myself up from the recliner, and the light blanket naturally slid off me, revealing a large expanse of tempting, snowy white skin.

Su Liumeng’s breath hitched for a second before she quietly looked away.

“Your clothes,” she said curtly.

I looked down—and my face flushed crimson.

I hurriedly pulled my clothes down.

“You didn’t see… anything too colorful, right?” I tried to ask casually, sneaking a glance at her.

Su Liumeng replied even more blandly,

“Nope. I didn’t even notice the cartoon pattern on top.”

Me: “…”

Ugh. I was annoyed. I wanted to bite someone. Who admits things that easily!?

Su Liumeng silently pulled out her phone.

Seeing how focused she looked, I quietly stepped closer to her side.

The next second, I nearly exploded—steam practically coming out of my head. My gaze flicked between her and the screen in disbelief.

“You—!”

Her screen was still lit, displaying a search page on Taobao.

And the search term?

Exactly the cartoon design that had just been on my top.

Su Liumeng coughed and casually turned off the screen.

“Xinxin,” she said, turning to face me with the posture of someone about to launch into a long speech to justify herself.

I instinctively took a step back. “What are you doing? How—how can you be like this?”

It wasn’t even the first time she’d done this.

Whatever I wore, She always insisted on going out in matching outfits.

“Hmph.” I turned away, letting out a faint sigh.

“…Copycat.”

“Cough, cough.” Su Liumeng looked completely unrepentant as she replied boldly,

“How can copying my girl be called copying?”

I was momentarily speechless. “When did you become a girl!?”

Su Liumeng blinked, a mischievous smile on her lips.

“Because of you~”

“Just learned how.”

She gave me a cheeky grin, lifting her wrist with a silver bracelet.

In the sunlight, her manicured fingers looked especially fair and delicate.

Su Liumeng looked at the girl in front of her, her eyes locked on the blush creeping over my cheeks, trying to guess what I was thinking.

“Xinxin~”

Suddenly, Su Liumeng stood up.

“Tonight—wanna give it a try?”

“Maybe… you’ll really like it.”

“Wait, no, I should be calling you baby.” She corrected herself, though it didn’t do anything to dampen the sultry mood.

I felt like I’d been struck by lightning, instantly stumbling back another step.

“W-Who are you calling baby!?”

“My baby is one of a kind.”

“And besides, doing that while pregnant isn’t good!”

This girl—once she started being suggestive, she never stopped.

Just like once someone has their first time, there’s bound to be a second, third, fourth…

“If I don’t go in, then it’s fine, right?”

A tempting glint shimmered in her beautiful eyes. “Xinxin, I bet you’ve never tried it before… have you?”

Where did this female perv come from… I couldn’t even keep up. And why was she still calling me baby again!?

Could it be that she’s been chatting with Shangguan Xiyue all this time?

I had a strong feeling my cheeks were about to catch fire.

Ah—

What the hell were we even talking about?

Forget it. I couldn’t handle it anymore. Once again, I fled the scene in panic.

But truthfully, I wanted to grab Su Liumeng by the shoulders and shout at her:

Do all girls talk like this to each other? Or is it just you—acting like this only with me?

If that’s the case… then I really am one “lucky” girl, huh?

Su Liumeng barely caught a glimpse of a white dress disappearing from view. The air still held the lingering scent of her unique, sensual fragrance, keeping Su Liumeng rooted to the spot for a long while.

*****

The evening sky had begun to blush with twilight.

Gazing at the glow of the sunset, Su Liumeng recalled the delicate radiance just moments ago.

It’s not the wine that intoxicates—but the person.

To fall in love is to become addicted to the taste, to sink quietly without even noticing, to be completely swayed by a person’s every gesture, every smile, every frown.

Su Liumeng returned to the lounge chair and picked up the thin blanket that had been left behind.

The world around her seemed to fall into a hushed stillness.

The increasingly strong scent that filled her nose made her reluctant to let go.

Since when… did I become a pervert?

Su Liumeng silently chastised herself. Her mind, temporarily incapable of thinking straight, kept looping the same line over and over.

Clang—

Something heavy slammed onto the floor with a loud thud.

“You… what are you doing?”

I stood in the living room, right in the center of the darkened space, staring at Su Liumeng with disbelief.

Or more precisely, I was staring at what she was holding—and what she was doing.

Su Liumeng was truly mortified.

She swore this was the first time she’d ever done something like this—and she’d gotten caught red-handed.

Even with how thick her skin had grown, she still showed a rare moment of stiffness and awkwardness.

She didn’t want to be this humiliating either. But, well… A girl left alone for too long, yearning for someone she misses—wasn’t that somewhat understandable?

Su Liumeng was currently trying to talk herself out of the shame.

A flower-like girl, at a flower-like age.

Graceful like a flower reflecting on water, moving gently like petals in full bloom—

But now, she was clutching a light pink blanket with a face frozen in horror, her beauty completely stiffened.

She stammered, trying to explain.

“I… I was just collecting… material. Writing material. For a scene… tonight.”

Realizing she couldn’t dodge the situation anymore, Su Liumeng finally gave a straightforward, honest answer.

“Writing material…?” I didn’t immediately latch onto what she had been doing—or maybe I just hadn’t processed it yet.

Instead, my focus shifted entirely to something else.

“You mean… me?”