Chapter 45

Chapter 45

Rong Yuan was a man of his word. During breakfast, he asked Gu Shenhan what the families they were gifting liked. Gu Shenhan's personality made it strange for him to pay attention to such things, so he had no idea.

So Rong Yuan had to call the family estate to ask Grandma for help.

After learning the results, he designed patterns based on the recipients' preferences and had someone make molds according to his requirements to produce mooncake gift boxes.

Money makes the world go round; even though it was a last-minute decision, everything was still completed on schedule.

Rong Yuan also personally selected tea and crab for each family. Both items were things money could buy and weren't novel, but the greeting cards he wrote himself were another story.

When writing, he didn't think about which family was lovely and deserved more words or which was annoying and deserved a perfunctory note; he put real effort into each one. Gu Shenhan watched from the side and teased, "Do they even deserve this?"

Rong Yuan waved the brush at him. "Keep nagging and I'll paint your face."

Gu Shenhan mimed zipping his lips, then lay on the side to watch Rong Yuan work. The mooncakes were being made by others, and he was watching Rong Yuan write. He had seen Grandma write countless times since childhood and had tried it himself. But he could never calm down; after writing for a while, he would lose patience and he'd rather shoot hoops or read an economics book.

But Rong Yuan was different. When he did these things, he gave off a feeling—centered on Rong Yuan—of creating another independent space. In this space, everything was warm and gentle; even the air had a soothing effect on people.

At first, he was just watching the writing, but unconsciously, his gaze shifted to the person. Strangely, just watching him like this calmed his restless heart, as if he could forgive all the imperfections in the world.

"Honey, what are you looking at?"

"At my wife," Gu Shenhan said. "On such a precious holiday, we're not going out, but writing these for them—they should consider themselves lucky you're doing this for them."

"What are you talking about? Isn't that our family's ancestral grave too?"

"That's true." Gu Shenhan smiled and helped grind the ink.

He couldn't write well, but he was very good at grinding ink. Grandma had often roped him into doing it as a kid. At first, she made him practice calligraphy, but he didn't like it no matter how much he tried, so she made him grind ink instead. He had to grind enough ink to earn his playtime, so he became skilled at it.

Thinking back now, besides calligraphy, he had also spent a lot of time buttering up Grandma—that was one of the rare times in his youth when he didn't hate the world.

Rong Yuan finished writing, waited for the ink to dry, and folded the blessing cards, setting them aside for later use.

Gu Shenhan asked, "How'd you get so good at this? Have you done it before?"

Rong Yuan said, "My mother taught me. I watched her do these things every year, and after seeing it enough, I just picked it up. I was born into a marquis's household, and the family discipline was quite strict."

"No wonder you can ride a horse and write such good calligraphy. Can you shoot a bow?"

"Yes!" Rong Yuan perked up at this. "Though I might not hit the bull's-eye every time, I'm not bad. Sometime I'll show you my archery skills. Oh, right—is that even a thing here?"

"There is. How about I take you to check it out now?"

"Better not. Drawing a bow needs a lot of arm stretching, and that's not great for the little one. In two months, once the baby's more settled, we can go."

"Fine. He's the most important now. But since I'm resting for so long, isn't there something you've been wanting to do but couldn't by yourself?"

Rong Yuan thought seriously for a moment and said, "First, let's ask Xiao Yu and Xiao Tang if they want to come for the holiday. If they do, take me to the supermarket to grab some snacks. If not, I'd like to check out the places you like. If we can do something you enjoy together, that would be even better."

Gu Shenhan nodded in agreement, and Rong Yuan contacted Lin Xiaotang.

He sent a video call to Lin Xiaotang because Yan Yu sometimes gamed, and a video call might throw him off. Lin Xiaotang answered quickly, and after hearing Rong Yuan's idea, he went to check with Yan Yu.

Yan Yu said without hesitation, "Go! One less meal for us to cook. It's a chance for Xiao Tang Ge to rest too. We can even bring back some food."

Lin Xiaotang didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "So it's settled?"

Yan Yu was indeed in the middle of a game and nodded. "Yes. By the way, Xiao'an Gege, there's another embroidery job we might take. The same client as last time, still embroidering magnolias. The fee is thirty-five thousand."

"That much? How big is it?"

"Embroidering the entire hem of a mamianqun (horse-face skirt). She said it can be done within two months, but she wants only you to do it."

"Do you have the design?"

"Yes, I made it last night. Xiao Tang Ge can make the skirt fabric, and we can get the material too."

Lin Xiaotang sent the image to Rong Yuan. "There's a bit of a gradient effect; this part is probably the trickiest. But it's not full embroidery—it's only at the bottom."

Rong Yuan looked at it and said, "I can do it. I'll go to Bishui Bay later to discuss the details."

Yan Yu said, "No rush. I told the client that our master's booked up, and I need to check if the timing works. I'll get back to her in two days."

Before Rong Yuan could agree, Gu Shenhan said, "Two months for just thirty-five thousand? Xiao Yu, are you treating your sister-in-law like slave labor? No way!"

Yan Yu was exasperated. "What slave laborer earns thirty-five thousand in two months? If there's such a good job, Han Ge, you should introduce it to me. Besides, with Xiao'an Gege's speed, it definitely won't take that long."

"That's not the point. He can't overwork himself now." Gu Shenhan said to Rong Yuan, "Take good care of yourself. I'll give you thirty-five thousand an hour."

"You know it's not about the money. Besides, Xiao Yu is right. For this size and difficulty, I won't even need a month, let alone two."

"Doesn't that still tire you? Embroidery requires sitting for long periods, which isn't good for blood circulation."

"Then I'll take two months to do it slowly. Otherwise, I'll get too bored. You can't stay home to keep me company every day, babe."

"Xiao Tang Ge! Hang up, hang up—I don't want to eat their dog food."

"How's a single dog supposed to survive without dog food?" Lin Xiaotang said. "I think this real-life couple is so fun to watch." Rong Yuan and Gu Shenhan were so pleasing to the eye that he could already imagine them having two children in three years.

"Oh my god, you're toxic." Yan Yu looked like he couldn't stand it. "Fine, you enjoy that. I'll finish this round."

"How can I enjoy it now that you've said it out loud? Xiao An, I'm hanging up. We'll talk about the skirt when you get here."

"Okay."

Rong Yuan ended the video and asked Gu Shenhan, "Babe, why did Xiao Yu say 'eat dog food'? He's not a dog. And what does 'single dog' mean?"

Gu Shenhan, hearing how seriously he asked, replied, "'Single dog' means someone without a boyfriend or girlfriend—kind of a self-deprecating joke about being lonely and pathetic like a dog. 'Feeding dog food' is when couples show off their affection."

Rong Yuan said, "Then you shouldn't dote on me too much in front of them from now on, or it'll make Xiao Yu sad."

Gu Shenhan waved it off. "So what? He's not that fragile. Maybe a little nudge will get him thinking about dating someone. And I'm serious. Embroidery is hard on your eyes, neck, and lower back."

"But doing something you love, that's a whole different feeling."

He hadn't particularly liked it before, but since coming here, he found that picking up the needle and thread helped him calm down, and it always reminded him of the times he and his sister gathered around their mother to learn.

Gu Shenhan was silent, as if considering.

Rong Yuan tugged at his sleeve. "Sweetheart, don't worry—I definitely won't let myself get tired."

Gu Shenhan thought about the person who shared his marriage certificate having to work for a month or two for just thirty-five thousand yuan, and his head ached—especially with the possibility of a little one on the way.

But he had never been able to resist Rong Yuan's requests. He said, "Just this once. If you want to embroider things to sell, it shouldn't be at this price. Didn't you mention earlier that the threads here have many colors and you could now embroider things you couldn't before due to limitations? You can do that as a hobby."

Rong Yuan smiled. "Okay, I'll consider it more next time. Actually, I mainly wanted to do something with Xiao Yu and Xiao Tang. It's rare to share a hobby with good friends. Babe, don't you and Liang Zheng and Lao Yan have any common hobbies?"

Gu Shenhan said in that super annoying tone of his, "My hobbies are punching Lao Yan, and investing money in Liang Zheng to be my workhorse."

"Punching Lao Yan?"

"Boxing. He got into plenty of fights when he was younger, and he's pretty slick at street fighting—almost on par with me. Liang Zheng is also good at making money; the money I invest with him can at least triple."

Rong Yuan didn't care about the earnings; he only noticed that Gu Shenhan had said "got into plenty of fights."

The first time they saw each other naked, he hadn't had the courage to look closely. Later, when they became familiar, he saw that Gu Shenhan had many scars of various sizes on his body. They were all on the front, with obvious cuts on his left arm and chest. But he didn't know what caused them.

He took Gu Shenhan's hand. "Don't let yourself get hurt in the future; it hurts me to see you hurt."

"That's hard to do."

"Why?"

"Because at night, someone can't help but scratch my back when they can't help themselves."

"You—shut up!" Rong Yuan shook off Gu Shenhan's hand and went to change clothes, getting ready to head out.

Gu Shenhan laughed and followed behind, suddenly feeling that going nowhere and just teasing his little husband like this was also very amusing.

However, he still had to keep his promise. He took Rong Yuan to the supermarket.

Usually, there was someone responsible for stocking up on groceries regularly, so they didn't need to prepare much. Rong Yuan just picked some snacks.

He saw many pictures of babies in the infant food section and asked Gu Shenhan what they were. Gu Shenhan said it was milk powder for feeding babies. Rong Yuan thought it was interesting.

On the way back, they passed a pharmacy, and Gu Shenhan bought some nutritional supplements for early pregnancy for Rong Yuan. After returning home, Rong Yuan took the supplements into the embroidery room.

Gu Shenhan wanted to enter, but Rong Yuan didn't let him.

Rong Yuan said he needed to think about how to embroider the magnolia flower and needed quiet. Gu Shenhan believed him and stopped bothering him.

But Rong Yuan wasn't embroidering at all. He picked up a brush again and wrote a special card.

Gu Shenhan saw that card two days later, after receiving the custom mooncakes. Among so many gift boxes, only his was different.

The crazy part was they shared the same bed, and he never thought that mooncakes could be for him.

They were a pair of little rabbit mooncakes. Individually they were shaped like the Yin-Yang symbol, and when put together, they formed a circle, packaged in a small paper box.

He also had a card. On it was written:

"My husband, oddly enough, even though we see each other every day, I still miss you. When you came home late at night, I would look at the moon by the window, and my heart was full of you. Even the Moon Goddess Chang'e may not have a heart so full of longing as I do."

"My love, do you know? In heaven or on earth, you alone are my fullest moonlight."

Gu Shenhan read it several times. In the end, he couldn't help it and sneakily posted a Moment on WeChat.

Then he set it to be visible only to a few friends and himself.