Our daughter.
That bottle of red wine was brought into the guest bedroom together.
The translucent-red liquid flowed past the fair and delicate skin between the woman’s neck, and was finally lightly licked and tasted by Qi Song.
Yu Luo’s eyes held mist; in between gasps, she somewhat wanted to remind Qi Song not to be like this.
——It would make one more drunk.
But it was too late.
When she had just said, 「Then bully Jiejie like this」, it seemed she had already given Qi Song all qualifications and permission. Thus, the young woman was unrestrained and indulgent, no longer listening to her words.
The clear and cold fragrance of red wine fermented in the air, making both people lose themselves, finding it difficult to restrain themselves.
Qi Song’s head grew increasingly muddled and bloated. The red wine between her lips and teeth burned its way down her throat and into her stomach; reason burned out, and desire surged.
The clothing material and bedsheets emitted rustling rubbing sounds. On Yu Luo’s wrist, she wore a string of scarlet-colored jewelry, which swayed lightly with its owner’s body, looking bright and moist, and also rich and beautiful under the moonlight.
In the trembling, the woman’s hair tips were wet, sticking to the skin of her cheeks.
Her bright red lip petals were slightly parted, her breath moist and hot.
“Jiejie…”
Not knowing if it was because the effect of the wine was too strong, or because of the satisfaction that arose from her beloved person climbing to the cloud-tops, Qi Song still could not stop repeatedly calling out in a low voice, her slightly hoarse tone revealing attachment.
She lightly brushed away the black hair on the woman’s cheeks.
That face that made her soul-pulled and dream-lingered1 was somewhat blurry and unclear under the hazy mist in her eyes, as if separated by something, impossible to touch no matter what.
Qi Song’s heart suddenly and inexplicably felt a little sad.
Under the influence of drunkenness, any emotion could easily ferment.
The top of her heart trembled slightly; she lowered her head and somewhat anxiously kissed Yu Luo. Her lips and tongue forcefully and deeply possessed, making Yu Luo’s breathing become unsteady for her sake, making her unbearably whimper softly for her sake.
“Jiejie…” This entanglement also seemed to spur the alcohol’s invasion; the more passionately they kissed, the more empty Qi Song unexpectedly felt the top of her heart become.
Tears unknowingly flowed down from the corners of her eyes, rolling to the place where the two people’s lip petals were entangled.
Her gaze lost focus; she was already thoroughly drunk.
It seemed a certain shackle in her brain was thinned because of this, was forcefully impacted until a crack appeared. In a trance, Qi Song’s consciousness and mind were gradually swept by many blurry images——
On top of the vast and boundless pure white snow, someone knelt on one knee, the sky’s splendid aurora reflecting the woman’s tear-wetted, curved lip corners; in a cradle, a child was crying, and was picked up by a pair of hands, a hidden sobbing sound within the gentle coaxing; on the dark blue, vast sea surface, that brilliant and shining pink rosy-cloud light, and the woman’s skirt corner as passionate as a red spider lily…
These images vanished in a flash, as if nothing was left behind, and were even more impossible to grasp.
The tears in Qi Song’s eyes surged more and more; later, she was already unable to continue moving. She retracted her hands, tightly wound around and hugged Yu Luo, silently and lightly trembling.
Yu Luo’s chest rose and fell. She lightly stroked the back of Qi Song’s head and dazedly asked, “What’s wrong?”
Qi Song did not answer for a long time.
After a moment’s pause, Yu Luo belatedly realized a patch of wetness was flowing on her shoulder; it must be tears.
The top of her heart was immediately startled, and she detached from the moist heat of just now.
Just as she was about to ask again, she heard Qi Song helplessly murmur by her ear, “Jiejie…”
At the moment when alcohol and emotions were mixed and fermenting, reason gradually detached, to the extent that the previously hidden and unspoken content at this moment rushed out of the opening of Qi Song’s heart: “Today, I unexpectedly felt that Taotao is our child, and even that period of time just after she was born, it was me alone taking care of her…”
She slowly stroked Yu Luo’s lower abdomen; that place was a stretch of smooth and delicate, without the marks of having given birth to a child.
“In the past, I was an ordinary person, how could I have a child?” In her muddled state, she hugged the woman tightly. Clear tears continuously flowed down her cheeks, and she said, unable to control herself, “When I was taking care of Taotao alone, where did you go?”
“Where did you go, I wonder?”
These questions suddenly piled up in front of Yu Luo, making her lip petals slightly tremble and her lip color suddenly vanish.
Her breath rose and fell deeply, her eyes filled with words she wanted to say but could not speak out. After mumbling for half a day, at the moment when Qi Song’s emotions were so surging, she could in the end only powerlessly answer:
“Jiejie is right here.”
“Don’t be sad…” Her eye sockets were moist, and she gently coaxed, “I didn’t go anywhere, I have always been right here——”
Her words were not yet finished speaking when they were fiercely interrupted.
“You lied to me.”
Qi Song said pitifully, “You were not here.”
“You were not here…” She repeatedly said this sentence, and the more she said it, the more heart-sore she became. Later, she was already sobbing until she could not make a sound.
Yu Luo was hugged very tightly, and her breathing became difficult because of it. The feeling of powerlessness at this very moment was as strong as that of a certain morning two years ago.
“I…” Yu Luo slowly raised a hand, wiped away the tears that were too surging and caused her vision to blur, and stared blankly at the ceiling, murmuring somewhat at a loss, “I also don’t know, mhm…”
Her words were blocked back by a fierce kiss.
As if knowing that words could no longer fill the empty space between them, Qi Song picked back up her initial plan.
Drunkenness and emotions alternated; in between sinking, someone fainted, and was again un-thoughtfully shouted awake.
Pitiful whimpers were swallowed by the entanglement of lips and tongues. Time flowed, the curtains were half-closed, and at the moment of faint morning light, accompanied by a hoarse, unable-to-endure-any-longer 「You sleep on the sofa tomorrow」, someone was kicked off the bed.
Although the floor was padded with a soft wool carpet, Qi Song still muffledly grunted in pain.
The trace of tears on her cheeks had still not dispersed. Her eyelashes were wet, a few strands stuck together, and her eyes still held a thick desire.
Realizing she had been kicked down, she pressed her lips together, turned over with meaning still not exhausted2, and simply and deliberately lay on the carpet without moving at all.
The air was quiet for a period of time.
After waiting for their breathing to gradually calm down, the one on the bed probably couldn’t help but feel heartache, and thus fell into the trap without any defense.
With an aching waist and soft legs, she got out of bed, wanting to move the person on the carpet onto the bed to prevent them from sleeping uncomfortably.
She was truly too tired, to the extent that her feet had just touched the ground and, before she could even stand steady, she was so soft she was about to fall. And the person who seemed to have already fallen into a deep sleep suddenly opened their eyes, and with quick eyes and fast hands caught the falling woman, pulling her into their embrace.
Immediately after, she was pressed under their body.
Yu Luo did not react in time, lightly blinked her eyes, and only then, half a beat slow, realized something. “You…”
The kiss attacked like a swift wind.
A rabbit that carelessly falls into a wolf’s den does not have the right to express its feelings on being eaten.
The curtains in the early morning’s gentle breeze were brushed to a light tremble; outside the window, the slightly dim morning light gradually brightened completely.
“Mama.”
Taotao, as usual, handed over a small comb printed with a cartoon pattern. Qi Song extended a hand to take it and combed her hair for her.
A three-year-old child’s hair is fine and soft; under careful nurturing, her hair strands were jet-black and had a luster.
Very similar to Yu Luo’s hair quality.
In between combing, a few strands of hair naturally fell out.
Qi Song lowered her head, looking at the few strands of black hair on her palm. Her gaze gradually became a little vacant, and she started to daze off.
In the morning, Yu Luo had fainted and slept for the second time. After she gave Yu Luo a bath and tidied up, she could not fall asleep no matter what, so she simply got up directly.
The wine seemed to have not yet worn off. She was still a little muddle-headed, her mood was also muddled, and her thoughts were always stuck in a chaotic blankness.
Not until this very moment did that cloud and mist gradually dissipate and scatter, and last night’s memories clearly floated up along with it.
She, while crying, had told Yu Luo she felt Taotao was her own child, and Yu Luo unexpectedly did not refute a single word, but instead chose to coax her.
——So, could Taotao really be her and Yu Luo’s child?
Last night, at the moment of crying and releasing emotions, there was no time to notice or think about anything. And the reason that had been thrown into disarray at this moment finally returned; under soberness, messiness and astonishment climbed onto the top of her heart.
Qi Song felt her heart wrinkle because of this, and her chest could not help but rise and fall deeply.
She lowered her eyes to look at the child in her arms with a face similar to her own. Her hands and feet gradually became a little soft, and she suddenly did not know what to do.
Happy as if crazy, and also anxious and at a loss.
Is this her and Yu Luo’s child?
Meeting gazes with Taotao’s clear and bright eyes, hearing that soft and sticky “Mama,” her breath paused and became difficult. She had a kind of turbulent feeling of being suddenly swept up by intense happiness, bewilderment, and melancholy unease.
At the moment of dizziness and blurred vision, she urgently needed to save herself.
If it were usual times, Qi Song probably would not do anything, choosing to patiently wait for that ray of dawn called 「the variety show’s end」 from Yu Luo’s mouth that seemed to carry all the truth.
But last night, her heart was too empty. At that time, she seemed to have faintly remembered something——although right now the specific content was already like a goose passing without a trace3, that kind of sadness still lingered in the top of her heart, stretching on endlessly.
Qi Song had no way out, and could only clutch the one existing life-saving straw to alleviate the fear in her heart towards the unknown.
If Yu Luo could not say anything, then she might as well seek verification herself.
Thinking like this, Qi Song’s heartbeat could not help but accelerate. The blood in her four limbs and hundred bones recklessly surged, making her breathing also become rapid.
Taking advantage of the not-yet-dispersed drunkenness, she did a bold, and also seemingly somewhat reasonable, thing.
A message came from the phone:
【You have already scheduled Huixin Medical Laboratory’s4 paternity test private service, please mail the test items to…】
After mailing the things out, Qi Song’s mood suddenly calmed down.
It was just like tossing a coin. Before the coin lands, people’s hearts often already have an answer.
Even if under the existing information, that answer was incomparably absurd to Qi Song.
Taotao felt Mama was a little strange.
As if they had never known each other before, looking at her curiously and with a sense of rarity.
Taotao attributed this to Mommy always sleeping in the room, and Mama missing Mommy too much, thus there were these abnormalities.
After all, she would also be like this sometimes.
When eating lunch, Taotao used children’s chopsticks to pick up food.
She could already skillfully use chopsticks, but usually preferred and more often used a spoon, so Qi Song had never discovered this detail——
Taotao’s way of holding chopsticks was the same as her own, and different from Yu Luo’s.
Her hand that was picking up food for Taotao paused, and she softly asked, “Cub, was it Mommy who taught you to use chopsticks?”
Generally, children only start to hold chopsticks when they reach three years old.
Taotao nodded her little head, and said to her with a milky voice and milky tone, “Mommy taught me to hold them, but I couldn’t hold them well.”
Saying this, her hand moved, changing to Yu Luo’s usual posture for holding chopsticks, indicating she was not used to this way of holding them.
“Later, I uncarefully5 held them like this…” She adjusted to the way of holding them she used just now to pick up food, “and then I could use chopsticks to eat, la6!”
After speaking, her eyes were sparkling, her whole face waiting for Mama to praise her.
Qi Song did not let her be disappointed.
Under the little cub’s happy smiling face from being praised, Qi Song thought in a daze——could it be that the posture for holding chopsticks can be inherited? Or is it that, Taotao imitated her?
Before, she did not have that awareness, so she never noticed. But today, in belated realization, many hidden signs suddenly became clear.
In between deep thought, countless memory details seemed to all confirm that Taotao was indeed a child she had once meticulously and personally raised——in Taotao’s behavior patterns, her shadow was everywhere.
But…
Qi Song checked online and saw that, in the year Taotao was just born, which was also the year before she and Yu Luo broke up, her schedule was tight and her work was busy.
That was at the peak before her career fell; she should have been so busy her feet did not touch the ground, so how on earth did she personally take care of a newborn child?
Last night was too tiring; Yu Luo slept in one go until six in the afternoon before waking up.
Just as she opened her eyes, she saw Qi Song lying prone by the bedside, currently watching her without blinking.
Seeing her open her eyes, she immediately sat up straight and softly said, “Jiejie is awake? I made you dinner, it’s just the right time to go eat.”
Yu Luo moved a little, feeling her four limbs were so sore and soft as if they were not her own anymore.
She strenuously wanted to prop herself up to sit; the young woman beside her immediately and attentively extended a hand to help her up.
Yu Luo opened her mouth wanting to speak, but her throat was so hoarse she could not make a sound for a moment.
“…” Yu Luo bit her lip, turned her head and glared at the main culprit.
Qi Song was like a little dog wagging its tail; she fawningly came closer for a bout of nuzzling, and also enthusiastically pecked several kisses on her face.
“Whatever Jiejie wants to do, I can do it on your behalf.”
“I truly wasn’t human last night.” She first “on behalf of” scolded herself, that gaze was exceptionally sincere, as if she had already deeply conducted a self-criticism.
Yu Luo’s eyelashes lightly trembled, knowing this person would actually dare again next time.
She cleared her throat, and after half a day finally said the first sentence:
“Where is Zaizai7, I wonder?”
Deliberately bypassing a certain person to not talk about them, mentioning the cub first.
“…” Qi Song was slightly startled, then slowly blinked her eyes and said pitifully, “Jiejie, I finished making dinner and then came over to eagerly wait for you to get up. How come the moment you open your mouth, you’re thinking of the cub?”
Pausing, she continued to pretend to be wronged, saying some rambling words to curry the woman’s attention:
“In your heart, is our daughter more important than me?”
After speaking, she belatedly realized that this sentence had inadvertently exposed a certain piece of information.
Thus, in an instant, her heartbeat was like thunder.
Amidst the powerful throbbing in her chest, she could not help but press her lips tightly. In a moment, she heard Yu Luo lightly hum:
“Before last night, no. But currently, it is temporarily like this, Miss Qi.”
In her words, there was no refutation of 「our daughter」.
Qi Song’s lip petals trembled slightly. After a few seconds, she barely managed to suppress her unsteady breathing, and with a calm and composed face, she smiled:
“Then I will be magnanimous, and not compete with our daughter.”
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