Nan Yu especially liked Tan Linyuan's way of openly and unreservedly admitting his emotions.
She lowered her head and watched him devoutly kiss the palm of her hand. Her heart and hand both tingled.
"Say it again."
"Say what again?"
"Say you love me again."
Tan Linyuan looked up, his eyes fixed on her.
Her face was fair and delicate. During her recent stay in the hospital for recuperation, she seemed to have put on a little weight.
There was a bit of flesh on her face, but she was still very beautiful, with the light in her eyes flickering.
He looked at her intently, wanting to engrave every frown and smile of hers deeply in his mind.
Never to forget for the rest of his life.
"You know, I've always been afraid to say this," he said, his eyes solemn. "But in my heart, I've repeated it thousands of times."
He was afraid and couldn't say it.
He even had trouble concentrating when facing the Buddha and accidentally blurted out her name while chanting scriptures.
His heart had been in turmoil too many times.
Countless times, tens of thousands of times.
From then on, every crevice of his heart had been filled with her shadow.
Nan Yu was insistent. She hugged him tightly, her voice muffled. "What's the use of that? Only when it's said out loud is it real."
Actually, Nan Yu had once thought that she might be too vulgar.
She liked passionate love, blatant preference, and reckless madness.
"Love is only meaningful when it's said out loud," Nan Yu looked into his eyes. "Say it out loud for me to hear!"
Tan Linyuan pleaded. "… Spare me."
He was a man who didn't show his emotions easily. For him to say the three words "I love you" was already his limit.
Let alone saying it out loud…
Nan Yu looked at him and knew it was extremely difficult for him to do so. So she made a concession. "Well then, I'll say it from now on."
"I love you so much…"
"How could I love you so much…"
"How could there be someone like me who loves you so much…"
She said it boldly, expressing her love and affection without reservation.
Tan Linyuan stared at her and didn't say a word for a long time.
He wanted to say "thank you", but it seemed too formal; and saying "I love you too" at this moment might seem a bit perfunctory.
His hand gently rested on her waist as he looked into her eyes.
"Before I met you, I never thought there would be a sun in my life. It was dark, damp, and lonely."
"And you are my sun."
Nan Yu tilted her head back, her lips curving, but there was a glimmer of moisture in her eyes.
Her voice was soft. "You are the sun for many people."
Including her, who had once been a follower of this sun.
Tan Linyuan lowered his head and kissed the corner of her eye.
"I'm fake, but you're real."
— You are the sun bestowed upon me by heaven, an everlasting one.
…
For as long as Nan Yu was in the hospital, Qu Jiaran sent her supplements.
The expensive tonics were sent as if they were free. She wished Nan Yu could take several boxes a day.
Even though Tan Linyuan frowned and said no more, Qu Jiaran still looked indifferent and said it wasn't for him.
"What's wrong with giving them to my best friend?"
Tan Linyuan looked cold and still didn't give her a chance. "If something goes wrong after she takes your supplements, can you take responsibility?"
"You can send someone to check. If there's a problem, just throw them away. I'll buy new ones," Qu Jiaran didn't care. "Anyway, I have plenty of money."
"Besides, we can't let Yuyu suffer. No one else matters," Qu Jiaran said, shaking her head. "I have to spoil my sister."
Nan Yu was lying in bed, watching the two of them argue.
She felt a strange sense of warmth.
She never thought that one day the three of them would be in such a relationship.
But at least, it felt good.
However, Nan Yu still told Qu Jiaran to take good care of herself. After all, she was pregnant, and it wasn't safe to run around.
"Don't you know me yet, Yuyu?" Qu Jiaran pouted. "It would be really unsafe if you let me stay at home."
She was the kind of person who couldn't sit still at home for even a day.
As Qu Jiaran reached the third month of her pregnancy, her check-up results weren't as good as Nan Yu's had been.
She had a weak constitution, and the doctor said she was anemic and needed to take good care of herself during pregnancy.
Qi Zhu supervised Qu Jiaran's meals every day, but Qu Jiaran was picky to begin with, and this problem had gotten even worse after she got pregnant.
"I only have a good appetite when I'm with Yuyu," Qu Jiaran said happily. "Why don't you admit me to the hospital too? I want to be in the same ward as Yuyu."
"No way," Tan Linyuan refused immediately. "She needs to rest, and we're going to be discharged soon."
"You…" Qu Jiaran was so angry that she pointed at him but couldn't say a word for a long time.
She thought Tan Linyuan was deliberately targeting her, but she had no evidence.
Nan Yu couldn't help but laugh and played the peacemaker. "Okay, Linyuan and I just hope you can take more care of your own body. You are the most important one."
After being coaxed by Nan Yu, Qu Jiaran felt much better. "Yuyu, I knew you were the one who cared about me the most."
She even took the opportunity to push her luck. "Then when Yuyu is discharged from the hospital, can I stay at your place?"
The couple almost said in unison:
"Of course you can."
"Absolutely not."
Qu Jiaran: "…"
On the day of Nan Yu's discharge, Tan Linyuan played a little trick.
He asked Qi Zhu to take Qu Jiaran for a prenatal check-up, saying that Nan Yu was also going for one, which was very important for pregnant women.
Qi Zhu always put Qu Jiaran's safety and health first. Now that she was pregnant, he didn't dare to make any mistakes.
He took Qu Jiaran for the check-up early in the morning, so Qu Jiaran didn't get to see Nan Yu off when she was discharged.
When Nan Yu found out, she couldn't help but laugh. "I feel like the two of you are like concubines vying for favor in the harem."
While helping her with the discharge procedures, Tan Linyuan said coldly. "I'm the main wife. She can't compete with me."
Nan Yu was stunned. She didn't expect him to say such a thing seriously and laughed so hard that she bent forward and backward.
After she stopped laughing, she said. "Do you know? Sometimes I feel like you and Qu Jiaran are the same kind of people."
They had both been hurt by their relatives, both had an overwhelming sense of possessiveness, and both craved love.
Tan Linyuan frowned. "I don't want to hear such things."
Although he didn't dislike Qu Jiaran, it was hard for him to calmly listen to his wife say that he was the same kind of person as another woman.
Nan Yu smiled. "I haven't finished my sentence yet."
Tan Linyuan raised his eyebrows, signaling her to continue.
"People of the same kind are suitable to be friends, while complementary people are suitable to be lovers."
Tan Linyuan replied briefly. "I only agree with the second half."
He was too lazy to be friends with Qu Jiaran.
Nan Yu: "…"
She found that sometimes when Tan Linyuan got serious, he could be quite childish.
When they got back to Yenanwan, the first person to visit was Sister Min.