Chapter 42: Zhenguan, Get Down

Wang Zhao said in a low voice: “I’ll give you a massage too, to prevent your legs from cramping when you fall asleep later.”

Li Zhenguan let out a soft “oh” with a reddened face, not daring to look at Wang Zhao’s face, only lowering his head to look at the pair of hands on his calves.

However, Wang Zhao probably had never given anyone a massage before, her movements were a bit awkward, and she would occasionally ask Li Zhenguan if the pressure was okay and if his legs still hurt.

After about five minutes, Wang Zhao stopped her hands, applied a hot towel to the area where Li Zhenguan had cramped, and then patted his calves.

“I’ll have a doctor come check on you tomorrow. For now, let’s sleep. I’ll tell my father to make you some soup to drink tomorrow,” Wang Zhao said gently.

Li Zhenguan quickly said, “There’s no need to trouble uncle- I mean, father. This is normal for me, all pregnant men are like this. It’s normal for calcium deficiency to cause cramps at night.”

On his first day entering the door, he didn’t want to leave any weaknesses. In the past month or two, he had finally managed to get along so well with Wang Zhao’s father – ahem, now his father too. This must have been the result of his careful treatment.

Wang Zhao didn’t insist. She just remembered that the nutritionist from the Li family would probably come every day, carefully arranging meals for Li Zhenguan. This was something her family didn’t need to worry about. Wang Xuechun and Zhang Ke were also open-minded, showing no dislike for Li Zhenguan bringing a nutritionist as “luggage” when he entered the door. This was also why the Li family sent the nutritionist over after inquiring.

She threw her towel into the basket in the bathroom, planning to deal with it tomorrow. Coming out, she met Li Zhenguan’s gaze on the bed and smiled, “Are you thirsty?”

Li Zhenguan shook his head.

So Wang Zhao didn’t ask any more questions. She turned off the light and prepared to get into bed. Just as she was about to lie down, one of her wrists was quietly grasped by Li Zhenguan. Wang Zhao was startled for a moment but didn’t pull her hand away. Instead, she turned her head to look at the person beside her.

“What’s wrong?” she asked in a low voice.

Li Zhenguan didn’t speak, just hooked Wang Zhao’s wrist again.

Wang Zhao quietly looked at Li Zhenguan, waiting for him to speak.

Li Zhenguan shrank into the quilt a little, only exposing the upper half of his face, his clear black and white eyes looking at Wang Zhao, stammering: “Actually…”

“Hmm?” Wang Zhao raised an eyebrow slightly, her voice lifting slightly.

Li Zhenguan hooked the inside of Wang Zhao’s wrist again, making her move involuntarily. This subtle action had a strange feeling of tickling through boots.

A very light voice came from below: “Actually, it’s already four months now, I can do it.” After saying this, his voice got smaller and he didn’t dare to meet Wang Zhao’s gaze anymore, lowering his eyelids, his eyelashes moving a few times. He said softly, “I asked the doctor before, as long as the movements are gentle and slow, it’s fine.”

The surroundings fell silent for a moment.

Li Zhenguan felt a patch of darkness pressing down on his head. He shrank back a little, but before he could feel embarrassed, the quilt was pulled down, and the floor lamp beside them clicked off, plunging the room into darkness.

He turned his head to look at Wang Zhao.

The woman had already lain down and closed her eyes. Seeming to sense Li Zhenguan’s gaze, she hooked the corner of her mouth almost imperceptibly, her voice faint yet unusually gentle: “It’s late, let’s sleep first. You’ve been busy all day and got up early. You might be able to handle it, but the child in your belly definitely can’t.”

Li Zhenguan was stunned, and it took a good while before he nodded slightly with pursed lips, finally showing a smile on his face.

Now that things were clear, Li Zhenguan was no longer worried. He now truly didn’t feel that Wang Zhao didn’t want to touch him, but somehow, Li Zhenguan felt that Wang Zhao still maintained some distance from him.

After the lights were turned off, Li Zhenguan fell asleep not long after. After all, being pregnant, his waist was sore and swollen after lying down in bed at the end of this day. With his worries put to rest, his whole body relaxed, and after closing his eyes, he fell into a deep sleep within a quarter of an hour.

However, Wang Zhao lying beside him had some trouble falling asleep. She opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling, listening to the shallow breathing sounds beside her ear. She turned her head to glance at the person next to her; Li Zhenguan was already sound asleep.

The young man’s face in deep sleep was indescribably docile and quiet, unlike when he was awake with that indescribable pride and sense of grievance between his brows and eyes, now replaced with a hint of gentleness.

Wang Zhao thought, it’s really not easy. Li Zhenguan’s appearance was written all over with the word ‘trouble’. She didn’t know why, but suddenly had an illusion that her future life would not be too peaceful.

Listening to the light breathing of another person beside her ear, Wang Zhao thought about many things in her mind, past and future.

In this process of wandering thoughts, Wang Zhao didn’t even notice that her expression was as calm as a dark, bottomless pool in the deep mountains.

After a long time, when deeper darkness was about to sweep over this room, Wang Zhao finally closed her eyes and fell asleep.

However, this sleep didn’t last long. When the minute hand of the clock in the room pointed to the next mark, Wang Zhao’s breathing became rapid for a few seconds, and then her eyes opened. After a burst of rapid breathing, she quickly came to her senses, realizing that this was a dream, not a very pleasant one.

She raised her hand to touch her forehead, which was already covered with a thin layer of sweat, and her pajamas were damp with sweat.

In this situation, she couldn’t sleep anymore.

Wang Zhao got up from the bed alone and went out, without turning on the lights, taking a set of clean clothes and her phone, and closing the door behind her.

Their house was designed with three bedrooms, two living rooms, and two bathrooms. It was an old house, so the floors were all wooden. If it were built now, it would definitely be expensive, but at that time houses were cheap, and Wang Xuechun’s mother, that is, Wang Zhao’s grandmother, was working in a unit that could allocate houses, so this was still a staff dormitory of a unit.

Among the three rooms, two were made into living rooms, and one was a study, but most of the time it was Wang Xuechun who used it. Wang Zhao rarely worked or studied in the study, so its decoration was all done by Wang Xuechun, who grew some flowers and plants, making it very cultural.

In addition, there was a bathroom outside, close to the two rooms, mainly used by Wang Xuechun and her husband, but occasionally Wang Zhao would also use this bathroom to wash up.