Chapter 31 — Half and Half

The brother-and-sister pair was back downstairs with their family. Mother Su turned her head and looked out the window.

Although it was still only early winter, she could tell that it was already freezing outside.

It wasn’t often that she saw her two children at home. She was reluctant to see them go, so she suggested, “It’s been a long time since I last saw the two of you, and it’s getting late too. How about staying the night?”

Parents like Mother Su were some of the most pitiful people on Earth.

Not only was raising children painstakingly hard but after the children grew up, they would proceed to leave and become preoccupied with their own lives. Mother Su wanted nothing more than to see her children more often.

Su Yanmo empathized with his mother, so he didn’t object.

Qin Jiran listened silently. He thought about how every time Mother Su suggested this in the past, Su Yanyi would turn it down.

The main reason was that even though he and Su Yanyi were husband and wife, they’d never slept in the same room before. It would be too awkward for them to stay in different rooms at Su Manor, so whenever Mother Su asked about staying overnight, Su Yanyi would respond with a negative.

Qin Jiran wanted to reject on her behalf; that way, he would be able to spare her the difficulty of having to say no to her own mother. However, it wouldn’t be appropriate. Considering the type of relationship he and Su Yanyi had, he would be stepping out of line.

As these thoughts ran through his mind, Su Yanyi interrupted by speaking up. It seemed like she had also been deliberating over something and finally came to a conclusion.

“We’ll stay tonight and leave tomorrow morning then.”

Everyone —save for Wang Zhirou— was pleasantly surprised, especially Mother Su. She instantly revealed a very happy smile on her face.

Su Yanyi naturally had her own reasons for accepting. Since she had disclosed her relationship with Qin Jiran, she wanted to live well with him.

Although her EQ was low, it wasn’t low enough for her to not realize that the marriage between her and Qin Jiran was an odd one. Feelings couldn’t be rushed; they had to be slowly nurtured. Gradually, the married pair would learn to get along better, but the key word was “gradually.”

Things between them would start to change, and she wasn’t averse to that change.

After chatting for a while longer, everyone retreated into their respectives rooms, with Su Yanyi and Qin Jiran heading towards the same one.

It was Su Yanyi’s bedroom. Like her office, it was spacious, simple yet exquisite, and colored with cool tones.

The instant they entered her room, Qin Jiran said, “I’ll sleep on the sofa then? The study is fine too.” Rather than have Su Yanyi misunderstand and assume he was harboring inappropriate thoughts, he thought it would be better for him to speak up about the sleeping arrangements first.

Su Yanyi was not surprised by Qin Jiran’s suggestion. She looked at her sizable bed and hesitated.

Should she let him sleep on the bed? Although she was unwilling, she wasn’t disgusted at all by the idea.

It would probably seem a bit odd if she suggested it, but at the same time, not saying it would make her feel… off.

The gaze she had trained on Qin Jiran slowly became complicated as she mulled over the dilemma. The change didn’t go unnoticed.

Perplexed, Qin Jiran thought for a moment and guessed that she was probably unhappy about having to share her room with him. His heart sank. He retreated back to the doorway before saying, “I’ll go to the study. You should rest early.”

Su Yanyi frowned and stopped hesitating. She directed bluntly, “What study? You’ll be sleeping here.”

Because she was anxious and somewhat displeased, her tone wasn’t a very nice one.

She was annoyed at Qin Jiran for trying to leave. However, the man interpreted it differently. He thought that he had done something he shouldn’t have and made her unhappy again.

His reasoning for that was understandable. He knew that Su Yanyi was rather considerate of her family members; in front of the Su family, the couple always acted a bit closer to each other than they really were.

That was what Qin Jiran believed.

Therefore, this time he assumed that Su Yanyi was afraid that her family would find out they weren’t sleeping together and be worried, so she was irked at him for trying to go to the study.

He concluded that she was feeling hesitant and complicated because while she opposed to him sleeping in the study, she didn’t want him to sleep in the same room as her either. When he thought he had figured out the heart of the matter, his chest tightened uncomfortably.

Anyway, the sofa was the only place he could sleep…

Unless she wanted him to sleep in the bathroom?

He shot an uneasy glance towards the bathroom and tried to comfort himself. Even if Su Yanyi didn’t like him in her room, she wouldn’t be that cruel, right?

Fortunately, Su Yanyi couldn’t read his mind. If she could, she definitely wouldn’t be happy.

“The sofa is too small. Sleep on the bed, we’ll share it half and half,” she said with a cold face. Then, she grabbed her pajamas and went into the bathroom, giving him no chance to respond.

Qin Jiran stood there frozen. The slight gaping expression on his face made him look a bit dumb, and internally, he was even more dumbfounded. He kept replaying Su Yanyi’s words in his mind like a broken record.

Then, finally, he swerved his head towards the bed.

Su Yanyi was letting him sleep on the bed with her?

Was this the best employee benefit of the century?

He stared at the bed, recalled Su Yanyi’s words, looked at the bed again, and after a long while, he seemed to have thought of something. His face suddenly reddened, and the corners of his lips turned up into a silly smile.

Congratulations on accomplishing the task once!

+1 Point.

Progress: 9/10.

Please continue working hard!

Su Yanyi was just halfway done with showering. When she suddenly heard the System beep, she was stunned. Then, she seemed to have thought of something. The tips of her ears warmed up, and the corners of her lips turned up to reveal a slight smile.

Sharing half of her bed gained her a point. She realized now that it actually wasn’t that hard to make the man laugh or smile. Just have some meals, chat a bit, do some sleeping, and occasionally make a fool out of herself. Not bad.

Yes, she was feeling proud and a little coquettish, even. However, when someone as cold as her behaved this way, the stark contrast made her seem very cute.

【 Master, you only need one more point. You have to do your best. Why don’t you work hard tonight? Mr. Master would definitely smile handsomely! 】001 made a timely appearance, going as far as to replacing its normal eyes with shining star eyes. Su Yanyi raised an eyebrow at the sight.

Work hard tonight? Two people sleeping together on one bed, what was there to work hard on?

Judging by 001’s excitement… It couldn’t be that, could it?