After My Ex-Boyfriend’s White Moonlight Proposed to Me - Chapter 73

Zhuang Yan woke up from hunger the next day.

He rubbed his hungry stomach and found that there was no one around him.

Xie Ning woke up earlier than him and had long come out of Zhuang Yan’s arms lightly. Maybe it was because Zhuang Yan was really tired that he was not awakened by such big movements.

Xie Ning couldn’t help but lower his head to trace Zhuang Yan’s face with his eyes.

Zhuang Yan’s eyes were closed and he looked very quiet. He looked somewhat harmless without the arrogance of the past.

Xie Ning reached out and touched Zhuang Yan’s face.

Zhuang Yan knew nothing and continued to sleep.

Xie Ning became bold, rubbing his fingertips across his face, rubbing his fine eyebrows, raising his nose, and staying on his lips for a while.

Zhuang Yan seemed to be aware of it in his dream and pursed his lips.

Xie Ning was taken aback and took his hand back abruptly. After confirming that Zhuang Yan was still asleep, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Remembering the touch just now, Xie Ning blushed unwillingly.

All this, however, Zhuang Yan would never know.

Zhuang Yan, who was now awake, tussled his hair, got out of bed, and went to wash in the bathroom.

The towels and toothbrushes were new. No one had used the ones that belonged to him. The only one touched was Xie Ning’s. They were all the same style, only the color was different.

Xie Ning’s was light, and Zhuang Yan’s was dark.

Two towels were placed side by side on the rack, and the two toothbrushes were also in the same cup.

Zhuang Yan looked at it for a while, his lips involuntarily curling up. 

According to his living habits, he didn’t like to mix his own things with other people’s, but if that person was Xie Ning, he felt that there was nothing unacceptable.

He was happy to place the two people’s home essentials together and even share something.

This was a very intimate attitude. 

Zhuang Yan knew that and he didn’t mind it at all.

When he went downstairs, Xie Ning was busy in the kitchen. He was wearing a beige cardigan with a bear patterned apron. He looked casual and at home.

Zhuang Yan walked over, hugged him from behind, and put his head on his shoulder.

“I’m making lunch for you.” Xie Ning was used to his hands and feet being held from time to time and was no longer surprised like he was at first, “Don’t be so clingy.”

If Zhuang Yan had not seen his red ears, perhaps this sentence would have been more convincing.

Zhuang Yan laughed: “Lunch?”

“Yes.” Xie Ning took the spatula and fried the vegetables again. “You didn’t even check what time it was?”

Zhuang Yan glanced casually, with surprise on his face: “It’s so late.”

“How long have you not been sleeping well?” The sleeves of Xie Ning’s clothes were rolled up and folded a few times, revealing his white wrists, and the faint tattoo on them could be seen when his hands shook.

Xie Ning used to cover his wrists tightly, but now he no longer had any worries. It seems that he had walked out of the past, and no longer felt that it was shameful.

Zhuang Yan thought for a moment and said, “Since you left, I haven’t slept well.”

Xie Ning: “No wonder you slept for so long today. This is the first good rest in a while.”

Zhuang Yan lowered his head and kissed the back of his neck. He then let go of Xie Ning and asked, “Do you need my help?”

Xie Ning thought for a while and directed Zhuang Yan to wash and cut the vegetables next to him.

Zhuang Yan washed and chatted with him at the same time: “You don’t look like you’ve been living here. Why do you have so many ingredients?”

Xie Ning said, “I went out to buy it in the morning.”

Zhuang Yan paused and turned to look at him: “Why didn’t you just order takeaway?”

Xie Ning poured the fried dishes onto a plate and said, “You can’t order takeaway every day.”

“Do you mean that you will stay here for a long time in the future?” Zhuang Yan placed the washed vegetables in a clean basin, took up a clean towel, and dried the water stains on his hands.

Xie Ning pursed his lips.

He seemed to be a little nervous, slowly approaching Zhuang Yan, before asking  in a low voice, “Will you stay here with me?”

After a few seconds, he couldn’t bear to wait for Zhuang Yan’s response.

Xie Ning lowered his head and said, “If you still prefer to live in the lakeside villa, I…”

He could not say the second half because his lips were blocked by another soft thing.

Zhuang Yan pulled him over uncontrollably and kissed him for a long time before saying in a low voice, “Sorry.”

“I’m just… overwhelmed with joy.”

Xie Ning raised his eyes to look at him and crashed into Zhuang Yan’s deep eyes, which harbored a light shining like countless little stars.

He said: “As long as I get to live with you, I am willing.”

After eating, they went back to the hospital again.

When the time came, Uncle Zhong was turning over and patting the back of Old Man Xie to prevent tension sores from lying down for a long time due to poor blood circulation.

“You’re here.” Uncle Zhong asked a little happy when he saw them, “Have you had lunch?”

Xie Ning nodded and said, “I’ve eaten.”

Uncle Zhong asked again: “Was it delicious? You didn’t spit it out after eating?”

As a person with previous offenses, Xie Ning was a little unwilling when asked by Uncle Zhong, especially in front of Zhuang Yan.

Fortunately, Zhuang Yan answered for him: “It was delicious. He didn’t spit it out.”

He clasped Xie Ning’s wrist and smiled at Uncle Zhong: “I’m watching closely.”

Uncle Zhong looked at him, then at Xie Ning, and smiled comfortably at Xie Ning’s red face.

In the evening, Xia Wan came again with Song Qingqing.

Seeing Zhuang Yan, who was with Xie Ning, her expression changed a few times, but Xie Ning’s attitude towards her was extremely cold recently. She opened her mouth and finally said nothing.

Her complexion was not good and Song Qingqing helped her to sit in the lounge next to her for a while.

Xia Wan grasped Song Qingqing’s hand in a trance.

There was an unconcealable sadness in her voice: “Wasn’t he getting better? How come this is happening again.”

Song Qingqing looked at her like this and suddenly didn’t know how to comfort her.

She sometimes felt that Xia Wan noticed the act she was putting on with Xie Ning and Zhuang Yan, but she didn’t ask anything, she was still immersed in her own illusion.

She was as good as ever to Song Qingqing, and it was this kind of genuine affection that made Song Qingqing unable to bear to completely abandon her.

“Auntie Xia.” Song Qingqing said, “If you want, you can treat me as your daughter from now on.”

…

Everything seemed to be going in a good direction.

A few days after Zhuang Yan returned, Father Xie woke up.

The sun was bright that afternoon, Xie Ning opened the curtains of the ward to let the sunshine in.

Father Xie liked to bask in the sun very much. In his words, bathing in the sun would make people feel warm and comfortable.

Xie Ning fixed the curtains and returned to the armchair next to the hospital bed.

This position originally belonged to Uncle Zhong, but this afternoon Uncle Zhong was rushed back by Xie Ning to rest.

Xie Ning now completely forgot his own bad habits, and because Uncle Zhong had been sleeping in the hospital for several days and had not taken a good rest, he easily persuaded him to go back.

Sitting in the armchair, Xie Ning picked up the book at the bedside, opened it, and slowly began to read to the old man Xie.

“…My rose, an ordinary passerby thinks she is the same as you. But she alone is more important than all of you, because she is watered by me. Because she is placed in the flower cover by me. Yes. Because she was protected by a screen. Because I eliminated the caterpillars on her body. Because I have listened to her complaints and self-praise, and because I have listened to her silence. Because…”

“…Because she is my rose.”

When the hoarse and slow voice sounded, Xie Ning’s hands trembled for an instant, and the book fell on his lap.

He suddenly raised his head and saw that Old Man Xie on the hospital bed opened his eyes for unknown reasons and was watching him.

Xie Ning was stunned for several seconds, then looked at Father Xie steadily, unable to speak for a long time.

“Your grandma loves to listen to me reading ‘The Little Prince’ to her when she was still here.” Because he just woke up, Father Xie spoke a lot slower than before, and even with a little hoarseness, “Now listening to you read it to me, I find I miss her quite a bit.”

Xie Ning reached out and took Father Xie’s hand, which was warm.

His eyes reddened inexplicably.

Father Xie said, “Why are you crying? Were you worried that I was going to go see your grandma?”

Xie Ning responded in a low voice, shaking his head: “No.”

“I miss your grandma very much.” Father Xie said, “I really want to see her, but I can’t bear to leave you either.”

Xie Ning’s eyelashes quivered slightly.

Father Xie looked at him: “I haven’t seen my two grandsons getting married yet. How could I be willing to leave like this.”