Extra Story 17: The End
“Leaving now?”
“Bye-bye~”
“Bring Sisi to visit us when you have time.”
“Okay~”
More than a month later, after confirming that Chen Cheng could take care of the baby, her mom and aunt finally left, though still looking worried.
Chen Cheng could finally breathe a little easier. The stress of taking care of the baby plus the pressure from the elders had made her feel unhappy these days. But to be fair, they really did help a lot and shared many useful tips.
Watching the elevator doors close, Chen Cheng's forced smile disappeared. She stretched and said, “Finally gone~”
She happily walked back into the living room. On the couch, her daughter was lying there quietly. Her big eyes were curiously looking at the cat nearby. Her little hands were reaching out, trying hard to touch the cat, but she couldn’t reach it.
Meanwhile, An Yuan was sitting nearby, totally focused on playing his game.
“I told you to watch the baby, and you're playing games?”
“She’s quiet and not crying. Isn’t that good?”
Just as he said that, the baby rolled off the couch. Chen Cheng’s heart skipped a beat and she rushed forward, but An Yuan, without even looking up, stuck out his foot and caught the baby just in time, then casually placed her back on the couch.
The baby didn’t notice the danger at all and kept staring at the cat.
Still shaken, Chen Cheng walked over and snatched the game console from An Yuan’s hands.
“You’re not allowed to play games while watching the baby!”
“I was watching her! I wasn’t really playing!” An Yuan said, feeling wronged. He turned to the baby, “Right?”
The baby heard the noise and kicked her legs a few times.
“See? She agrees.”
“Even so, you should’ve put her in the crib. What if something bad happens while you’re distracted?” Chen Cheng said angrily and kicked his leg. “I’m going to take a shower and change clothes. You better keep an eye on her!”
"Roger that!" An Yuan gave a silly salute.
“Crazy.”
With her mom and auntie gone, Chen Cheng could finally go back to wearing her old clothes from before pregnancy.
All sorts of mini skirts and shorts, wearing whatever feels cool!
After more than a month, her body had recovered a lot. The stretch marks had also faded quite a bit. She wasn’t sure if it was her body’s natural healing or if the creams An Yuan bought actually worked.
Compared to before she was pregnant, her figure now looked even more curvy. Especially her breasts, they were a size bigger, full and firm, not sagging at all from breastfeeding.
Chen Cheng found it a bit annoying, but An Yuan really liked it.
After her shower, she put on a light, strappy nightdress and tied her hair in a low ponytail. With the ponytail that cascaded over her shoulder, she looked like a confident and sexy housewife.
Chen Cheng stood in front of the mirror with hands on her hips, smiling proudly.
“I'm really beautiful!”
At first, she felt uncomfortable wearing skirts because they felt too short and unsafe. But now, she actually enjoyed the feeling of freedom. Of course, she would still dress more modestly when going out.
And wearing this kind of outfit gave her a fun way to tease An Yuan.
“An Yuan~”
It had been a few months since they’d last been intimate, ever since the later stages of pregnancy. Now, Chen Cheng walked into the living room shyly, her eyes full of nervousness and a bit of embarrassment.
She had gone to the hospital a few days ago. The doctor said everything was okay now!
“You finished your shower fast.” An Yuan, holding a bag of milk, didn’t even look up as he tore it open and took a sip. “When did we buy this bagged milk? Tastes kind of weird.”
“......”
“Why aren’t you saying anything?”
An Yuan looked up, confused, and saw Chen Cheng standing there with clenched fists, her eyes wide with anger and embarrassment, her whole face blushing like she was about to explode.
He stared, puzzled. “What’s wrong?”
The baby, who had been lying quietly nearby, suddenly smelled something familiar and started crying.
“Hey, hey, Sisi, don’t cry. What’s wrong, huh?” An Yuan panicked and quickly put down the milk, picked up the baby gently. “Did she poop? Chengzi, get the diaper!”
"Maybe she's protecting her food..." Chen Cheng muttered quietly.
Because of her large chest and the baby’s small appetite, Chen Cheng often felt uncomfortable from excess milk. She was too shy to tell anyone, so she secretly saved some in the fridge for emergencies.
Who knew how An Yuan mistook that for bagged milk, especially when there were two boxes of real milk in the kitchen cabinets!
“???”
An Yuan finally looked at Chen Cheng’s chest. She wasn’t wearing a bra, and under the thin nightdress, everything was clearly visible.
He suddenly understood. “Ohhh~”
“Don’t ‘Oh’! You pervert! Don’t you have any shame?!” Chen Cheng smacked him on the head in embarrassment and anger.
“At least act gentle in front of our daughter, can’t you?”
Chen Cheng softened her expression and smiled like a loving mom. She bent down with hands on her knees, spoke in a soft voice to the baby, “Your Dad was being naughty. He deserves a smack, right?”
Her loose neckline dropped even lower because of gravity, immediately catching An Yuan’s full attention.
So big... so white...
Whether on purpose or not, everything Chen Cheng did now seemed full of charm and temptation. After months of only relying on his own hand, An Yuan was getting visibly restless. He smiled shamelessly and hinted, “Chengzi, the doctor said we’re good to go now.”
Maybe their elders left at this time on purpose, to give the couple some alone time.
“Then... will you take the night shift?”
The baby still woke up every few hours crying and needing milk, making the nights very tiring. Luckily, they had formula milk at home, and with extra breast milk stored in the fridge, others could help even if Chen Cheng was asleep.
She had wanted to exclusively breastfeed at first, but she already had trouble sleeping. Waking up every two hours was too much. Once she was awake, she couldn’t fall back asleep.
“I’ll do it. You get some good rest. Your dark circles are getting worse.”
“I also want to drink some beer tonight...”
“Huh? Why the sudden urge to drink?” An Yuan was stunned.
Chen Cheng opened her phone’s calendar and showed it to him. “Look at the date. Tonight is the anniversary of our ‘lucky night.’”
“Then let’s drink! Tomorrow we’ll give Sisi the milk from the fridge!”
"Then hurry up and order food delivery!"
She happily held her daughter in her arms, supporting her bottom and back while gently rocking her, trying to help her fall asleep. She softly hummed a silly children’s song, “Little messy one~ so, so messy~”
“Hey, don’t pull my ponytail.”
An Yuan quickly ordered the food, then sat on the couch, looking up at Chen Cheng as she walked back and forth in the living room with their baby.
It had really been ten years now.
If someone had told him ten years ago that Chen Cheng would one day shine with motherly love, using a sweet voice to sing lullabies to calm her baby, he would’ve never believed it.
“The dark sky is hanging low~ and the bright stars follow close behind...”
It took some effort, but she finally got their daughter to sleep. Chen Cheng let out a sigh of relief, feeling like her singing was actually getting better.
She carefully carried the baby into the bedroom, placed her in the crib, and left the door slightly open so she could still hear if the baby started crying.
“Eat and sleep, sleep and eat, how nice~”
Chen Cheng sighed, feeling thankful that her daughter was relatively easy to care for. Even when she cried, she was easy to calm down, just like her.
“The food’s here!”
Just in time.
Chen Cheng ran over and sat on the couch, her legs crossed in an unladylike manner, not even caring that her skirt had ridden up to the top of her thighs, her eyes fixed greedily on the takeout bag.
Back when her mom was around, even eating takeout made her feel nervous. But now, she could finally eat it openly and happily!
She suddenly remembered her daughter, opened the surveillance camera feed on her phone, propped the phone up to the side, ensuring she could see her daughter sleeping peacefully at all times, and only then did she completely relax.
“Here! Your beer.”
An Yuan handed Chen Cheng an opened beer, and then chugged down a few gulps himself.
He then looked at Chen Cheng's focused gaze on the surveillance camera feed. His expression turned serious and dramatic as he let out a long sigh.
Chen Cheng raised her eyebrows and asked with a smile, “What’s wrong? Tell me so I can laugh at it.”
“My wife doesn’t love me anymore.”
“Huh?!”
“She stares at our daughter all day long and doesn’t even look at me properly.”
"Why are you jealous of your own daughter? Do you want to... now?"
Chen Cheng playfully poked his waist.
“Let me think…” An Yuan tried to remember what else he could complain about. “Oh! My wife is like a succubus! I don’t think my body can handle it anymore!”
“That doesn’t count! You’ve been resting for so long. You’re only 27 and already complaining?”
“Like you can handle it later!”
Chen Cheng puffed a breath toward An Yuan’s face, showing she wasn’t to be underestimated either.
She quickly finished one beer. Her cheeks turned a little red, and she rested her face in her hands with unfocused eyes. “Now it’s my turn...”
“I’ve got so many worries! I have to watch Sicheng all the time, and I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in ages.”
“I’ll take care of her at night from now on. It’s you who can’t let go, remember? Even when my mom helped, you still got up to check.”
An Yuan handed her a chicken skewer.
“And her insurance, I looked at it for so long and still couldn’t pick the best one…”
“Just get the best one.”
Chen Cheng drank a little more, just enough to feel tipsy but stopped there. She didn’t want it to affect her breast milk the next day.
“So far, I think I’ve done a decent job as a mom, right? Ah, sometimes she cries nonstop and I get so frustrated, not knowing what she wants.”
“It’s annoying, yeah, but once you look at her face again, the anger just melts away. She looks like a little angel!”
An Yuan added, “When she’s not crying.”
“Exactly! When she’s crying, it’s like she’s a little demon here to collect a debt!”
Even though she hadn’t drunk much, Chen Cheng looked kind of drunk already. She had a silly smile on her face and leaned against An Yuan’s shoulder.
She absentmindedly thought about her past life, then looked at her husband, her daughter, and the home that belonged to her now.
Compared to before, when she was carefree and ran away from all her troubles like an ostrich, now she had chosen the most troublesome thing, something that would affect the rest of her life. She had a child.
Yet, for some reason, her heart felt utterly full of happiness.
She wanted to grow old with An Yuan, raise their daughter together, face every challenge as a family. She wanted her daughter to experience all the beauty in this world, love, friendship, family...
She hoped her daughter would never regret being born into this world, never hate her for bringing her here.
She hoped her daughter wouldn’t feel trapped by her “original family,” wouldn’t run away from home after becoming independent, but instead would look forward to love, to having a happy marriage.
Just like she once dreamed of. Everything she lacked, every regret she had, she wanted to make up for it through her child, as if she was healing her younger self.
Chen Cheng knew she might not be able to do it alone, but luckily, An Yuan was by her side.
Suddenly, An Yuan called out to her. “Chengzi.”
“Hmm?”
“I love you.”
“Ugh~ You're so cheesy! It’s cringe!” Chen Cheng pretended to be disgusted, then raised her face and closed her eyes expectantly. "Well? Where's my kiss? Is that all you're going to say?"
“Mwah!”
“Ew! Now I’ve got spit all over me!”
Chen Cheng wiped her mouth and scolded him with a smile. But when their eyes met, her expression softened. Her eyes turned gentle, filled with affection. A blush like that of a young girl crept up her face as she shyly looked away.
An Yuan gently wrapped his arms around her slender shoulders, resting his chin on her head, and took a deep breath.
“Ten years…”
“Yeah.”
“The virgin boy has become a mother.”
“Get lost.”
“In the next ten years, and the ten after that, and many more days to come… let’s stick together, as best friends and as husband and wife.”
Chen Cheng nodded happily, “That’s exactly what we said back then~”
..............................................
The End.