Chapter 50: You’re on My Side

Chapter 50: Chapter 50: You’re on My Side

"What’s wrong?"

Seeing Chen Yuan at the door, Jiang Wanyi wiped away a tear.

"She’s not even nine months old. She doesn’t understand anything. How could I hit her? How could I bring myself to do that?"

As he’d expected. The dead of night was the perfect time for getting emotional.

Even a strong woman like Jiang Wanyi was starting to get emotional at this hour.

"’Jade can’t be made into a vessel without carving, and people don’t learn etiquette without being taught.’ It’s a painful lesson, but a lesson learned."

Chen Yuan felt greasy just spouting such preachy, cliché advice.

If he ever got his hands on some real money, he’d probably be the type to corrupt innocent women and then try to convince prostitutes to turn over a new leaf. ’I really need to fix these bad habits of mine,’ he thought.

"I understand the principle, but look how cute she is when she’s sleeping. I nearly died giving birth to her, and I still hit her. And so hard, too. I feel like I’ve failed her."

Wiping away another tear, Jiang Wanyi looked at Chen Yuan.

"And another thing—you didn’t stick up for me just now. Whose side are you on, anyway?"

’I’m done for.’

’How did the blame shift to me again?’

"From now on, we’re a team. If she misbehaves again, you call me. I’ll smack her palms, and you can play the good cop."

"No. If you hit her, she won’t be close to you anymore. You put her to sleep every night, you play with her... you’ve done so much. If she stops liking you, I’ll be upset."

"Isn’t that a bit of a contradiction?"

"I’ll be the bad cop, then. But we have an agreement. Next time this happens, you have to be on my side. You have to be on my team."

"Deal."

"Go back to sleep. Leave your clothes by the door after you take them off, and I’ll wash them for you."

"Okay."

It was getting late, and Chen Yuan didn’t want to disturb them any longer, so he went back to the guest room.

He took off his clothes, left them by the door, and got into bed to sleep.

He was sleeping fitfully when Mili’s crying woke him up.

He picked up his phone and glanced at the time. It was a little after one in the morning.

Chen Yuan didn’t plan on going out. It wasn’t that he was lazy; it was just that something this minor was well within Jiang Wanyi’s ability to handle. She’d coax the baby back to sleep in a little while, so there was no point in him going out.

After a few minutes of lying there, Mili’s crying hadn’t stopped. Jiang Wanyi was doing her best to soothe the baby.

"Mili, be a good girl. Don’t cry, Mommy’s holding you."

"Quiet down, now. Uncle is sleeping. We have to be good and not disturb Uncle’s sleep."

Chen Yuan sat up in bed. From the sound of it, Jiang Wanyi couldn’t handle her.

Getting out of bed, he opened his door, went to the bathroom, and found a bath towel to wrap around his waist. It wouldn’t be right to go over in just his underwear.

He opened the door to the master bedroom, which was lit by a small night-light.

Jiang Wanyi was wearing a thin tank top, the same kind she’d worn when he was helping her induce lactation. She wore it to bed for convenience when feeding the baby.

"Did we wake you up?"

"I’m used to it. I usually get up to check on her around this time anyway."

"Ba~ba~~~"

When she saw Chen Yuan, Mili stretched out her little hands, tears streaming down her face.

He took the baby from Jiang Wanyi’s arms.

The moment she was in Chen Yuan’s embrace, her crying subsided significantly.

Jiang Wanyi sat limply on the bed, a look of resignation on her face.

"I’m realizing now she’s not attached to me at all anymore."

"At least I can calm her down. If no one could, we’d really be in trouble."

"I don’t know what’s wrong with her today. She didn’t even drink 100 milliliters, just kept crying."

’Mili had been spanked earlier and gotten a fright. Of course she was going to cry tonight, and in a way that couldn’t be soothed.’

Chen Yuan didn’t tell her the reason. If he did, it would only add to Jiang Wanyi’s stress, and she’d probably cry secretly after he left.

Holding the baby, he gently patted her back and hummed a nursery rhyme.

Mili quickly quieted down and slowly fell asleep in his arms.

"You sleep here. I’ll take her back to my room."

"All her things are in my room. If you go back, you’ll have to take everything with you. Just leave her with me. You get some good rest."

"Can you handle her?"

"It should be fine. Now that she’s asleep, she won’t wake up again until around five."

Jiang Wanyi whispered:

"But you’ll have to watch her for a little longer. She didn’t drink much earlier, so I need to pump the rest."

"Okay, go ahead."

While Chen Yuan watched the baby in the room, Jiang Wanyi took the breast pump to the living room.

When she returned, she had half a bottle full.

"Here, you drink this. By the time she wakes up again, there’ll be more."

"If you say so. I’ll have to get up at five anyway, might as well get her leftovers then too."

"You brat."

Jiang Wanyi smiled and handed him the half-bottle of milk, taking the baby from him at the same time.

"Bottoms up."

Tilting his head back, Chen Yuan downed the half-bottle of milk and went back to sleep.

When he woke up again, it was already past six.

His washed clothes were sitting by the door, completely dry.

When he came out, Jiang Wanyi was already in the kitchen making breakfast. She had cooked noodles for him, and next to them was a large glass of milk.

"I’m drinking up all of Mili’s rations."

"She can’t finish a full feeding at once right now, and it’s a waste to throw it out. You might as well drink it."

"Maybe it’ll help me grow big and tall, too."

"You’re impossible," Jiang Wanyi said with a laugh.

He had class today, so Chen Yuan left after he finished eating.

...

Back at school, the first class of the day was English.

Bai Yueran was dressed in her usual cool style: black stockings, high heels, and a red dress, which sparked a widespread discussion among the girls in the class.

As usual, Chen Yuan sat in the front row. It was the undeniable duty of the class representative.

"What is that smell?"

Setting down her bag, Bai Yueran furrowed her delicate brows and said bluntly, "Chen Yuan, go open the windows and air the place out."

"You got it."

Chen Yuan got up and walked toward the back of the room. As he opened a window, he called out, "Alright, everyone in the back, pull up your pants and put away your tissues! Class is starting."

"Fuck! Can you act like a decent human being for once!"

He returned to his seat with a grin. Bai Yueran straightened her bangs.

"Chen Yuan, where did we leave off last class?"

"We got to the part where you and your husband met while you were traveling. He hit on you, and then you two got all... buddy-buddy and traveled together..."

Bai Yueran gave an awkward laugh. ’How does this brat remember so clearly? Did he actually go home and review it?’ she thought.

"Who asked about that? If you want to hear the story, I’ll tell you all later. Let’s start the lesson first."

"We were talking about high-frequency vocabulary and key sentences for the CET-4 exam."

"First, look at the screen. The high-frequency vocabulary for the CET-4, in previous exams..."

"Now, close your books. We’ll start the dictation. Number one... Number two..."

...

"my husband and I..."

By the end of the class, he hadn’t retained a single thing she’d taught, but he’d managed to count every single run in her stockings.

Once English was over, the class representative’s mission was complete. He gave his seat up to Zheng Wenkai.

As they switched seats, Zheng Wenkai grumbled, his complaints full of righteous indignation.

Why did Chen Yuan get to stare at black stockings while he was stuck in the front row counting leg hairs?

Back in the last row, Chen Yuan sat with his three "sons" from the dorm and decided that after their first semester, he’d take the three of them "out to sea."

"Chen Yuan! Chen Yuan!"

Li Yingying turned around from her seat to look at Chen Yuan.

"Teacher Wang said you’re signing up for the Top Ten Campus Singers competition?"