"How about we say that Chaohao and Mumu are your and my brother's children? What do you think?" Luo Wanqi said, looking at Lan Yuxi without blinking.
Her brother had secretly liked Yuxi for many years. He was afraid of implicating her and had never dared to confess. Later, he found out she had someone else in her heart, so he was even more hesitant to speak. For so many years, he had silently guarded the girl he loved like a knight. As a sister, she could only watch, unable to help in any way. Now that Yuxi had regained her memories, she and Nan Xiao had no future, and she wanted to help her brother. Luo Wanqi prayed silently, "Brother, this is all I can do for you. Whether Yuxi agrees depends on your fortune."
Lan Yuxi sat up abruptly. "Luo Wanqi, I've seen people who betray their brothers, but I've never seen anyone betray their brother as much as you! Brother Jiaqi is already twenty-eight. You're just going to saddle him with two children out of nowhere. Are you planning for him to be a bachelor his whole life?"
Luo Wanqi pouted. "My brother dotes on Chaohao and Mumu as if they were his own. He'd be willing to be a bachelor his whole life if it meant being with them."
"That won't do!" Lan Yuxi interrupted her with a frown.
"This won't do, that won't do! Then what do you suggest we do?" Lan Yuxi cupped her rosy cheeks and pondered. "How about we say that I married a Chinese man after I came to Country M, and later, that Chinese man died?"
"Marriage requires registration, and you'd have to invent a bunch of male relatives and friends. None of your brothers are easy to fool. They'd see through it if they investigated!"
"Then let's say the children were born through my artificial insemination."
Luo Wanqi glared at her impatiently. "Then wouldn't Chaohao and Mumu become illegitimate children?"
"They are already... Bah! They are my Lan Yuxi's children. Who dares to call them illegitimate!"
"Human words are formidable. You can tell them not to say it, but they'll insist. I agree with Wanqi. I'm willing to be Chaohao and Mumu's nominal father."
Lan Yuxi followed the voice and looked over. A stunningly beautiful man in a white shirt walked over. His sleeves were loosely rolled up at the wrists, simple yet slightly elegant, with an indescribable sexiness, like a prince who had just casually discarded his evening wear after a lavish banquet. In an instant, Lan Yuxi felt as if she saw the entire universe in his eyes. She suddenly had a bad premonition.
Luo Jiaqi gazed at her with burning eyes, a smile as warm as a spring breeze rippling from the corner of his lips. Lan Yuxi couldn't bear to hurt him and shifted the topic with a smile. "So, Jiaqi Ge, who is as ethereal as an immortal, is also an eavesdropper."
Luo Jiaqi chuckled softly. "It's not that I wanted to listen, but you two were talking too loudly. I couldn't pretend not to hear. Yuxi, to prevent the children from being gossiped about, will you be their father?"
Lan Yuxi blinked. Just now he was a nominal father, and now he was a father? Was Brother Jiaqi no longer willing to bury that feeling deep in his heart? Lan Yuxi avoided his pleading gaze.
"Brother Jiaqi, I appreciate your willingness to help me. But I can't drag you down with me. If my parents and brothers find out that you made me pregnant before marriage, they'll kill you."
"I'm not afraid..."
"You're not afraid, but I am! I've made up my mind. After we return home, I'll tell everyone that Chaohao and Mumu are adopted... I'll have someone handle the adoption procedures."
Luo Jiaqi furrowed his brow slightly. "Yuxi, doing this is unfair to the children."
"There's no such thing as fair or unfair. I'll never marry in this life, nor will I have any other children. Everything I have in the future will be theirs." Lan Yuxi finished speaking and fled into the room in a slight panic. She had said it like this, hoping Brother Jiaqi would understand. She would never fall in love with anyone else in this life, and she didn't want to hold Brother Jiaqi back.
Luo Wanqi looked at her brother with sympathy. Luo Jiaqi smiled gently. "You don't need to look at me like that. It's my fault. I shouldn't have been too impatient."
Luo Wanqi sighed softly. "It's not your fault. It's my misjudgment. I thought that since Yuxi had regained her memories, she and that person would have no chance. But her reaction makes me think she's still thinking about that person."
Luo Jiaqi shook his head. "She's not thinking about that person. She's just been hurt too deeply and is afraid to give her heart away easily again." The siblings exchanged a glance, each seeing helplessness in the other's eyes.
Upon returning to her room and seeing the two children, Lan Yuxi's energy instantly revived. She stayed with them until they fell asleep before quietly slipping out of the room. Luo Wanqi had been waiting for her in the living room. Seeing her emerge, she asked in a low voice, "Are they asleep?"
"Yes." Lan Yuxi picked up the water cup on the coffee table and took a large gulp. "I'm so thirsty, I told three bedtime stories in a row."
Luo Wanqi smiled and refilled her cup. "Did you talk to them about the adoption then?"
"Not yet. I'll do it after I complete the adoption procedures."
"So, you've made up your mind to proceed this way?"
"Mhm." Lan Yuxi glanced at the time. "You should get some rest too. I'm going to the study to make a call back home."
"Okay, don't stay up too late." Luo Wanqi handed her the water cup and returned to the guest room.
As soon as Lan Yuxi entered the study, she locked the door. The moment the door closed, tears welled up in her eyes like a spring. Soon, the silent sobs turned into uncontrollable weeping. The house had been decorated by her personally, and the study was soundproofed. She knew that even if she cried herself to death inside, no one outside would hear her. So, she cried without restraint, like a child. She had only cried like this three times in her life.
The first time she cried was when she was five. Qiu Shuying, in an attempt to force her to call her 'Mother,' cruelly told her that her parents were long dead and she would never see them again. She knelt by the artificial lake and cried heartbrokenly. She thought no one noticed her, but Nan Xiao had been hiding behind a tree watching her. He intended to pick her up after she had vented, but she didn't want to live anymore and jumped in while crying. Nan Xiao shouldn't have jumped into the lake to save her that time. If she had died, she wouldn't have experienced the subsequent heartache.
The second time she cried was when she was thirteen. Nan Xiao returned for summer vacation that day. As soon as he entered the courtyard gate, he heard her clear crying. He was greatly alarmed, thinking she had been bullied again, and rushed to see her. Many people stood outside the door, but she resolutely blocked it, refusing to let anyone in. "Xi Bao, your little uncle is back. Open the door." Hearing his voice, she quickly opened the door and pulled him inside. "I'm dying, why are you only back now? Sob sob..." She cried in his arms, shaking the heavens and earth. Half an hour later, he finally understood why she said she was dying. A public scene of embarrassment, too awkward! Later, he secretly went out and bought her two packs of 'Little Wings.' Later still, he secretly washed her blood-stained underwear and bedsheets.
The third time she cried was when she was nineteen.