Chapter 211: Sleepiness
Pan Yue was due in January, so there was no urgent rush. The plan was for everyone to travel back to the Capital together after she gave birth. The timing would be perfect, allowing Wanyan and Gu Tingxiao to spend a few months with the Gu family.
“In that case, we need to prepare some gifts for Grandpa, Grandma, and your parents,” Wanyan mused. “Your eldest brother and sister-in-law are the ones staying behind to take care of the four elders while we’re away, so we should definitely buy something nice for his family, too.”
Gu Tingxiao nodded as he pulled a long strand of noodles into his mouth. He considered all of these logistics his responsibility. “You make the arrangements, honey.”
At home, he deferred to his wife in everything, happy to let her organize things exactly as she saw fit.
Sheng Wanyan turned the ideas over in her mind. When it came to gifts for the elders, the most practical options were premium nutritional supplements and fine fabric for new clothes. For Brother Gu and his wife, she needed to select something substantial and presentable. As for their children, she planned to get them some fun toys. Since there were still two months left before the trip, she could take her time putting everything together.
“Wanyan, I’m going out on a mission in two days,” Gu Tingxiao suddenly announced.
Wanyan’s heart skipped a beat. He had only just fully recovered from his previous injuries—why on earth were they deploying him again so soon?
“Don’t worry, it’s not dangerous this time,” Gu Tingxiao added quickly, seeing her expression. “I’ll be back in half a month.”
Sheng Wanyan didn’t believe a word of it. If a mission carried zero risk, the military wouldn’t be dispatching elite officers. But as a military wife, she couldn’t stand in the way of his duty; her only job was to maintain a stable, secure rear.
“Are you sure your body is healthy enough to handle it?” she asked, eyeing him critically.
Hearing her question his physical capability, Gu Tingxiao’s eyes narrowed with a sudden, dangerous glint. For a wife to openly ask a man if he was “up to the task” was practically begging for trouble. He would make absolutely sure she felt exactly how capable he was tonight!
Sheng Wanyan suddenly felt a strange prickle of danger in the air, and an involuntary shiver ran down her spine. It wasn’t until she returned to the bedroom later and tried to hide beneath the quilts that she finally understood the consequences of her words.
The next morning, Sheng Wanyan dragged herself upright, clutching her aching waist as she gritted her teeth. “Gu Tingxiao!”
Massaging her lower back, she walked into the kitchen and let out a soft huff at the sight of the beautiful breakfast he had already prepared. Gu Tingxiao was exactly the type of person who would deal you a blow and then immediately offer a piece of candy to smooth it over.
Two days later, Gu Tingxiao officially deployed. Once he was gone, Sheng Wanyan took a trip into the city and returned laden with a massive hoard of goods.
She began categorizing the items meant for the Capital. For the nieces and nephews, she had selected a high-quality set of artists’ paintbrushes. For Brother Gu’s household, she set aside five large slabs of cured bacon and three whole pheasants and rabbits. She also allocated twenty kilograms of fine grains and five kilograms of brown sugar to their pile.
After all, Brother Gu and his wife had moved back into the ancestral estate to live with the four elders. Once she and Gu Tingxiao returned to the Capital, the entire family would be dining under one roof, so it was only proper that they contributed their fair share of rich provisions.
To round out the gifts, she packed five tins of premium malted milk powder along with custom-tailored sets of new clothes and shoes for the four elders. She also extracted twenty fresh apples and twenty pears from her spatial storage. In this freezing northern climate, burying the fruit deep in the snow banks would preserve them perfectly without spoiling. By the time they reached the Capital, the skins of the fruit would be slightly wrinkled from the journey, ensuring the Gu family would never suspect they had been plucked fresh from a magical spring orchard.
Additionally, Gu Tingxiao had gone hunting in the mountains with his comrades prior to his deployment, bringing back an abundance of rabbit pelts. Wanyan used the soft fur to craft warm winter scarves and gloves, which Pan Yue helped her present to their grandparents and Mr. and Mrs. Sheng. This left Wanyan free to focus entirely on her in-laws’ gifts, knowing Gu Tingxiao would be right beside her when they were presented.
Finally, she packed a generous assortment of fine candies and delicate pastries for the children, ensuring her husband wouldn’t lose a single ounce of face when they arrived at the estate.
Over the next two weeks, Sheng Wanyan practically lived on the brick kang. Feeling entirely too lazy to cook for one person, she simply pulled prepared meals directly from her spatial dimension whenever she felt hungry. Occasionally, terrified that her grandparents across the lane might notice the lack of activity, she would force herself to light the stove just to maintain appearances.
One afternoon, Grandma Sheng noticed that not a single wisp of smoke had risen from Wanyan’s chimney all day. Worried, she walked across the lane and knocked firmly on the front gate.
When no one answered, the old woman frowned, assuming her granddaughter was simply indulgence-sleeping again, and turned back. But by the time dinner rolled around and the chimney remained completely cold, panic set in. She hurried inside to find her grandson.
“Wanze, go check on your little sister this instant,” she urged. “Her gate has been locked tight all day, and she didn’t answer a single one of my knocks. Go see if her bicycle is still in the courtyard.”
Hearing this, Sheng Wanze didn’t hesitate. He rushed across the lane and nimbly pulled himself up the courtyard wall to peer inside. Spotting the frame parked near the door, he knew his sister hadn’t left the base.
“Grandma, the bicycle is right there,” he called down.
“Could something have happened to her?” Pan Yue asked anxiously, supporting her heavy belly as she stepped out into the lane, her face filled with concern.
Grandma Sheng’s heart gave a violent thud. Terrified, she looked up at her grandson. “Climb over the wall and check the house! Xiao Gu is away on a mission; if something has happened to our girl out here alone, it will be disastrous.”
Sheng Wanze nodded. Moving with a soldier’s agility, he vaulted over the wall into the courtyard, threw open the main gate from the inside to let the elders in, and began pounding on the front door.
The only sound that greeted his knocks was a sharp, anxious whine from Maodou inside. His brow furrowing, Sheng Wanze strode over to the bedroom window, trying to peer through the glass, but the heavy privacy curtains were drawn tight. He rapped sharply against the pane several times, but received zero response.
Acting quickly, he hurried around to the rear kitchen. Wanyan had left the back door leading into the kitchen unlatched, allowing him to slip smoothly into the house. Once he unlocked the main entrance from the inside, Grandma Sheng and the others scrambled into the warm rooms.
They rushed into the bedroom to investigate. Finding Wanyan lying motionless beneath the quilts on the kang, Grandma Sheng’s breath caught. She stepped forward, gently shaking her granddaughter’s shoulder.
“Wanyan! Wanyan, wake up!”
Sheng Wanyan’s brow furrowed slightly as she drifted back to consciousness, staring blankly at the crowded room. “Grandma…?”
Seeing her eyes open, Grandma Sheng clutched her chest, letting out a long, shuddering sigh of relief. “You nearly frightened me to death, you silly girl! How on earth can you sleep this deeply? We haven’t seen a sign of life from you all day.”
Wanyan rubbed her throbbing temples, slowly pushing herself up into a sitting position. “I was just taking a nap, Grandma.”
“A nap? You’ve slept through the morning and the afternoon! You didn’t even get up to light the stove,” Grandma Sheng chided, her tone a mix of lingering panic and irritation. “Don’t you need to eat anymore? Are you trying to live on air like an immortal?”
The old woman continued to grumble, but mid-sentence, a sudden, sharp thought struck her. She froze, staring at her granddaughter with an intense, uncertain focus.
“Child… have you been feeling unusually sleepy lately?”
“Mm, yes,” Wanyan admitted, nodding vaguely. “I’ve just felt incredibly exhausted these past few weeks.”
Grandma Sheng studied her face. Noting that her complexion remained beautifully rosy and vibrant, a wave of profound realization washed over her. She immediately turned to the men. “Both of you, out.”
Grandpa Sheng and Sheng Wanze exchanged a bewildered look, but obediently retreated from the room, shutting the heavy wooden door tightly behind them.
The moment the latch clicked, Grandma Sheng lunged forward, grabbing Wanyan by the hands and inspecting her thoroughly. “Wanyan, listen to me carefully. Aside from this overwhelming urge to sleep, have you experienced any other physical discomfort? Any nausea or unusual cravings?”
Sheng Wanyan shook her head, pulling the quilt aside to clear a space on the platform. “No, nothing like that. I just find myself getting tired incredibly easily.”
“Has your monthly cycle arrived yet?”
The sudden question left Wanyan entirely stunned. Beside her, Pan Yue’s jaw dropped, her eyes darting instantly to Wanyan’s flat stomach in absolute disbelief.
Wanyan had been married for half a year without a single sign of a pregnancy. The busybodies in the family quarters had already begun whispering malicious gossip behind her back, and traditional circles would inevitably assume the Gu family was growing anxious for an heir. If Wanyan was truly carrying, every single one of those flying rumors would be instantly obliterated.
“Grandma, do you mean…?” Wanyan stammered.
Grandma Sheng offered a definitive, joyful nod.
Sheng Wanyan swallowed hard, her hand instinctively drifting down to rest against her abdomen. Her cycle hadn’t arrived this month, but since a week’s delay was a perfectly common occurrence for her, she had simply assumed it was running late. She hadn’t given a single thought to the possibility of a pregnancy.
Her personal philosophy regarding children had always been to let nature take its course, trusting that a baby would arrive whenever the timing was right. She never could have anticipated that life would bloom at this exact, critical juncture—but it was an undeniably magnificent, joyous surprise.
