Against the Light - Chapter 135
Chapter 135: A Family of Four
Gu Xinran never would have imagined that one day, she'd end up trending because she was supposedly bad at taking care of her wife.
This was just ridiculous. :)
Bai Yilan sat on the sofa and turned on the television. A live broadcast of 【Queen's Stage】 happened to be on, and the bullet comment section in the corner was densely packed with messages congratulating her.
She rolled her eyes, turned off the TV, and picked up her phone. News notifications, Weibo pop-ups, and even the small corners of webpages were all extensively reporting on her pregnancy.
This was simply unbearable!
"Haven't we already debunked the rumor? Why are these people still clinging to it?"
"Sigh, that's netizens for you. They love gossip and excitement. They'd rather believe it's true than not. Just bear with it. They'll forget about it once the hype dies down." After all, both of them were very popular right now, and having just 'remarried,' they were under intense scrutiny from netizens.
Bai Yilan thought for a moment, switched her phone to video mode, and handed it to Xinran.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm going to do a somersault for everyone to prove it," Bai Yilan said.
"???"
"Hey, hey, hey, no, no, no! That's really not necessary!" Gu Xinran didn't know whether to laugh or cry as she pushed her back down. A somersault? Seriously? If she accidentally got bumped or bruised, wouldn't those netizens track her down through the internet and flay her alive?
"But speaking of which, we should start preparing soon. Don't you want to meet our soft and adorable baby Xiao Ye sooner?" Gu Xinran glanced at her flat abdomen and smiled gently. She had looked up the relevant information and knew that the technology in this world was extremely advanced. It was already possible to combine two eggs for gestation, but it had to be done through in vitro fertilization. They would first have their eggs retrieved and fertilized, and once successful, the embryo would be implanted into the mother's body. This meant they would have a child that truly belonged to both of them.
Bai Yilan placed a hand on her abdomen, stroking it gently. Her smile faded as she seemed to fall into deep thought.
"What's wrong?"
"I want to wait a little longer."
"Hm? Wait for what?"
"Let's wait a few more months. Until May to conceive," Bai Yilan said.
Gu Xinran frowned slightly, then realization dawned on her.
In their past life, they had found out they were pregnant with Xiao Ye in May.
It seemed Yilan was still fixated on whether this child would be Xiao Ye.
After all, Yilan felt guilty about Xiao Ye. She must have desperately wanted to make it up to their Xiao Ye, so while she was full of anticipation for this new life, she was also filled with a fear of the unknown.
Gu Xinran was more open-minded about it because, in her memories of their past life, she had seen that Xiao Ye lived the rest of her life happily. But Yilan hadn't seen that. She had never even seen Xiao Ye grown up, let alone witnessed her become a wife and a mother.
Gu Xinran was silent for a long while. It wasn't that she couldn't understand. Yilan just wanted to create more 'coincidences' to achieve some sort of psychological comfort. But what if—what if this new life was a boy, or looked completely different from Xiao Ye? What then?
Then, the greater her hopes had been, the greater her disappointment would be.
And taking it a step further, if Yilan continued with this mindset, Gu Xinran couldn't imagine the immense psychological pressure she would be under throughout the pregnancy until delivery.
Gu Xinran took a deep breath, shook her head, and looked at Yilan, suddenly smiling. "Yilan, in our past life, you were the one who was pregnant and gave birth. Why don't you let me do it this time?"
"What? Don't be ridiculous. If you give birth, what if it's not Xiao Ye?"
"She would still be our child. If she doesn't look like Xiao Ye, would you not love her?"
The faint smile on Bai Yilan's face gradually faded.
"I know you miss Xiao Ye very much. I miss her too. I also really want to see her again in this world."
"But these are things we really can't be sure about."
Gu Xinran was silent for a moment before taking Yilan's hand.
"Do you remember what we said in the desert? As long as it's our child, she is Xiao Ye."
"If she doesn't look like Xiao Ye..." Bai Yilan's nose tingled.
"Then we'll call her Xiao Ye, and we'll love her twice as much. When she grows up, we'll tell her that we're actually a family of four. That she has an older sister who is gentle, quiet, and wonderful. Even though she's in another world, she loves her mothers, loves you, and loves this family very much."
"You have to love her too."
Gu Xinran stared ahead, her gaze deep, tears welling in her eyes.
After a long moment, she took a breath and turned to Yilan. "Okay?"
Bai Yilan raised a hand to cover her eyes, sobbing softly.
Gu Xinran stroked her shoulder and pulled her into an embrace. "Don't treat her as a replacement for Xiao Ye, and don't worry about whether she looks like her or not. Even if she looks exactly like Xiao Ye, she is still a brand new life, a testament to our love."
"Okay?"
Gu Xinran gently patted her back, stroking her trembling body, and felt a sense of oppression.
"If you're really that worried, then let me do it. I don't want to see you carrying such a heavy burden," Gu Xinran said softly.
"I miss her." Bai Yilan sniffled, tears streaming down her cheeks and into Xinran's collar.
"I know, I know."
"Don't force yourself. You still have me, okay?"
"Mm."
Gu Xinran held and comforted her for a long time. When she felt the breathing of the person in her arms gradually steady, she looked down and saw that the woman had actually fallen asleep, her cheeks flushed and teardrops still clinging to her eyelashes.
Gu Xinran gently laid her down flat on the sofa, brought over a thin blanket to cover her, and sat beside her, watching her quietly for a while.
After a while, she got up quietly, went to the second-floor balcony, opened the door, and let out a long breath in the sea breeze.
She looked up at the sky full of stars.
I wonder how Xiao Ye is doing in that world.
Is Lin Yuqing bullying her?
No, she probably wouldn't dare. That old friend of mine wouldn't have enough time to dote on her, how could she possibly bully her?
Thinking of Lin Yuqing made Gu Xinran puzzled again. It was strange. She had met all her close friends from her past life in this world, so why hadn't she run into Lin Yuqing yet?
Late at night, Bai Yilan heard a faint sound. She lifted her eyelids and groggily opened her eyes. Seeing the thin blanket covering her, she felt a little dazed.
She lifted her head and saw Xinran on the adjacent sofa, leaning against it and sleeping soundly. Her right hand was draped over the armrest, and a pencil had fallen onto the floor directly below it—that must have been the source of the sound.
Bai Yilan pushed herself up, frowning slightly. She got up quietly and walked barefoot to the sofa. She saw a drawing board resting on Xinran's lap. A few sketches were on the white paper, and the one in the center was clearly a family of four.
Xinran was sitting on the ground, her eyes curved as she smiled at Yilan.
Yilan was squatting, and in front of her was a slightly taller little girl holding a piece of cake, a look of pure satisfaction on her face as she ate, her eyes squeezed into a line, looking incredibly cute.
Behind Yilan, a slightly shorter little one with small arms and legs clung to her tightly like a koala, clearly very dependent on her.
Yilan, meanwhile, was using one hand to wipe cream from the corner of the older girl's mouth while using the other to support the younger one's bottom, afraid she might fall. The scene was exceptionally heartwarming.
The family of four was happy and harmonious. Seeing it, Bai Yilan couldn't help but lift the corners of her lips, imagining such a scene in her mind.
But the drawing in the bottom right corner took a different turn.
In the drawing, Yilan was flying a kite with her older daughter, the two of them smiling at each other. Not far away, the younger daughter held the end of a string, dragging a kite with a broken line behind her. Only her back was visible—a small, exceptionally helpless figure.
Bai Yilan's elegant brows furrowed slightly. Her slender fingers stroked the image of the younger daughter in the drawing. She glanced at the sleeping Xinran and couldn't help but fall into thought.
The drawing in the top left corner presented an even starker contrast.
The older daughter was wearing a beautiful princess dress, happily eating cake. The younger girl, however, was in tattered clothes, barefoot, and filthy, wailing her eyes out.
"..." Seeing this, Bai Yilan's face darkened. In Xinran's drawing, she had become an extremely biased, vicious mother...
Bai Yilan picked up the drawing board, retrieved the pencil, and sat back down on the sofa. Looking at the pitiful little girl in the drawing, she felt a strange unease in her heart.
She picked up the pencil, thought for a moment, smiled, and began to seriously alter the drawing.
Early in the morning, Gu Xinran was woken by the chirping of birds outside the window.
She rubbed her eyes, feeling sore all over. A glance revealed that she had spent the entire night sleeping awkwardly on the sofa. No wonder she felt so uncomfortable.
She stretched. She didn't see Yilan, but she did spot a familiar-looking drawing board standing on the table.
She picked it up for a look and was instantly stunned.
The drawings on the paper had been changed!
The central image of the happy family of four was untouched.
In the top left corner, the little girl who was originally in rags and wailing had been changed. She was now wearing a beautiful princess dress identical to her older sister's, with a large cake in front of her. Her crying face had been replaced with a wide, simple grin, and next to it was a line of small text: 【You have everything your sister has】
Gu Xinran couldn't help but chuckle. Her heart warmed, and she felt greatly relieved. It seemed Yilan's state of mind had improved.
Just as she was feeling happy, she suddenly frowned. She noticed someone else had been drawn next to the little girl—someone in tattered clothes, wailing loudly. Gu Xinran squinted at it for a moment, then smacked her lips. The person in the drawing looked a bit like... herself??
The bottom right drawing was even more obvious. Yilan was cradling the little one while flying a kite with the older daughter, a heartwarming scene of three. And not far away, the lonely figure clutching the end of the string was also... her.
This was utterly ridiculous!
Gu Xinran put her hands on her hips, so angry she threw the drawing board onto the sofa. She was about to go find Yilan to settle the score when she felt something was off. She turned, picked up the board, and looked closely. In the blank space in the bottom left corner, there was another line of small text.
【Family Status Analysis Diagram】
"..."
Okay, now she was even angrier.
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