Lemon Soda Candy - 97

During the period surrounding her marriage to Chen Luobai, Zhou Anran actually felt a certain lack of tangible reality to it all.

Perhaps it was because after registering their marriage, they didn't host a large wedding. Zhou Anran, being introverted, didn't particularly like the idea of a grand wedding ceremony with hundreds or even thousands of spectators. In the end, they chose a seaside location and invited only a very small number of extremely close relatives and friends for a gathering.

It felt less like a wedding and more like a group trip, relaxed and joyful. The only pity was that by then, the vast majority of their friends had already started working. Some had to leave two days early, others arrived two days late; they couldn't all gather at once. It wasn't one hundred percent perfect. But in life, achieving over ninety percent perfection is already considered fortunate.

It might also have been because Chen Luobai had proposed before they even graduated from university. They were both already officially acknowledged by each other's parents, with only the marriage registration pending. During their postgraduate studies, they had practically been living together, so they were already quite accustomed to this state by the time they officially shared a home after marriage.

The moment it felt truly, particularly real came during the New Year holiday that year.

Their two families lived close by, which was convenient for the holidays. On New Year's Eve, both families had the reunion dinner together at Chen Luobai's home. After the meal, Chen Luobai went back with her to her home to stay the night.

Also because they lived so close, and despite being together for so many years, Chen Luobai had never stayed overnight at her home before. This was the first time.

That night, after Zhou Anran finished showering in the secondary bathroom, she pushed open her bedroom door and walked in. She saw Chen Luobai, also wearing pajamas, standing by her desk, fiddling with a small ornament.

Zhou Anran was sentimental and found it hard to part with many things.

She clearly remembered that the small ornament in his hand was something she had bought during her first year of high school.

The person not far away had just showered. His hair was soft against his forehead, and the pajamas he wore were the couple's set she had bought, a fluffy white that made him look especially young when worn.

In that instant, Zhou Anran felt a disorienting sense of temporal dislocation.

It was as if her first-year high school self, who could only silently gaze up at the stars, had pushed open her bedroom door and discovered that one of those stars had fallen right into her home.

Hearing the noise, Chen Luobai turned his head and asked with a smile, "What took you so long in the shower?"

He was wearing the pajamas she bought.

He was standing in her home, holding her old things.

He had just finished watching the Spring Festival Gala with her parents.

In this very moment, Zhou Anran finally felt a solid, tangible sense of reality: I really am married to this person.

Zhou Anran walked over, raised her arms to wrap around his waist, and looked at the small ornament in his hand. "What are you doing with my stuff?"

Chen Luobai placed the ornament back on the desk and wrapped his arms around her in return. "Zhou Anran, a reminder: we're married now. All the things in this room are communal property."

"Don't try to trick me." Zhou Anran looked up at him. "This is all my pre-marital property."

Chen Luobai sighed in an exaggerated manner. "Damn, I should have had you sign a prenuptial agreement."

Zhou Anran: "The kind where what's mine is yours, and what's yours is still yours?"

"So in your eyes, I'm that kind of unscrupulous legal professional?" Chen Luobai wore an expression of feigned displeasure.

After saying this, the person still holding her turned them slightly, pressing her against the edge of the desk, and reached out to tickle her.

Zhou Anran was trapped between the desk and his embrace, unable to escape. She laughed until tears welled in her eyes, noticing his hand restlessly changing position.

The room fell silent for a moment.

Zhou Anran's fingertips tightened their grip on his pajamas.

Chen Luobai's breathing grew heavier, his gaze dark as he looked at her. "Shall we move to the bed?"

Zhou Anran slowly nodded.

After being carried and placed on the bed, Zhou Anran was slightly dazzled by the overhead light. Perhaps because she had been thinking about high school tonight, remembering how she had secretly tried to decipher his feelings countless times in this very room, on this very bed.

Though it should have been a very familiar activity by now, she suddenly felt exceptionally shy again.

Zhou Anran nudged him with her foot. "Should we turn off the light?"

"I want to see you." Chen Luobai said. "Besides, we're married. Why turn off the light?"

Was there even a half-penny's connection between being married and turning off the light?

But Zhou Anran, whether persuaded by his crooked logic or because of his previous statement, didn't press the matter further.

Chen Luobai didn't speak again either.

The room grew quiet once more, leaving only faint, fragmented sounds.

Until a long, gentle stretch of time had passed.

"Baby."

Chen Luobai, as if remembering something, suddenly called out to her.

"You slept in this room in high school, right? This is the same bed, hasn't been moved?"

Zhou Anran: ?

She nudged him again.

"I wasn't an adult yet in high school."

"What are you thinking?" Chen Luobai tore open a wrapper. "I wasn't an adult either in high school. I wouldn't do anything illegal or against the rules."

Just as Zhou Anran was about to retort, a familiar feeling of fullness arrived.

The fingers resting on the bedsheet abruptly clenched. The words she hadn't spoken were blocked along with her breath, and she instinctively bit her lower lip.

Chen Luobai looked down at her from above, freed the lip she was biting with one hand, and smoothly let his fingers explore into her mouth, playing with her tongue.

"Don't hold back."

Zhou Anran couldn't speak; she could only bite him.

Chen Luobai then slowly withdrew his fingers.

Zhou Anran reminded him, "Mom and Dad are next door."

"Almost forgot." A certain someone smiled with an exceptionally roguish grin. "Then I'll have to trouble you, Baby, to bear with it a bit tonight."

Zhou Anran: ?"

This "bearing with it" lasted until the early hours of the morning.

Zhou Anran's family didn't have the custom of staying up late on New Year's Eve, but it was already late by the time they returned from having the reunion dinner at his place. The two of them had also stayed in the living room watching the Spring Festival Gala with the parents for a while. When they finished showering, it was already close to midnight.

By the time everything was over, Zhou Anran was so sleepy her eyelids were fighting to stay open. The man holding her from behind seemed still energetic, intermittently kissing her neck.

Zhou Anran couldn't even keep her eyes open, so she let him be.

Until Chen Luobai called her name again.

"Ranran."

Apart from calling her "Baby," or occasionally "Wife" after marriage, most of the time, Chen Luobai still called her by her name.

Just as he had said back then, he would punish himself by saying it thousands, tens of thousands of times more, so he would never forget it.

"What is it?" Zhou Anran mumbled in response.

Chen Luobai rested his head on her shoulder. "While you were showering, my clothes got caught on your drawer pull. I accidentally opened the drawer and saw a bottle of Coke inside. The expiration date was a year ago."

Zhou Anran's drowsiness vanished instantly.

Liking him in high school had been her own choice, following her heart.

Not being able to get close to him back then was also because she herself hadn't been brave enough.

Zhou Anran never felt that he owed her anything, so although she had kept that bottle of Coke, she had never proactively mentioned it to him.

But Chen Luobai was very smart.

"Was it the one I bought for you?"

Since he had already guessed, Zhou Anran couldn't hide it anymore.

She turned in his arms to face him properly and uttered a soft "Mhm."

Chen Luobai buried his face in her shoulder. "Feels like what I did back then still wasn't quite enough."

Zhou Anran: "It was more than enough."

"Really?" he asked.

Zhou Anran pulled back a little, returning to a state where they could look directly at each other, and said seriously, "It really, truly was more than enough."

Chen Luobai smiled and reached out to smooth the hair at her temple that had been mussed by his rubbing. "Living together from now on, I might still have areas where I'm not good enough. You're not allowed to hide it from me, and don't just endure it either. Get angry when you should get angry."

Zhou Anran was quiet for a moment, then said softly, "No one is perfect, and it's impossible to do everything perfectly—" 

Chen Luobai: "So I'm not perfect in your heart?"

Zhou Anran wasn't used to saying such things in the first place; she had only said it to comfort him, and now this scoundrel was interrupting.

She wrinkled her nose. "Don't interrupt me."

Chen Luobai laughed. "Zhou Anran, you're so fierce."

Zhou Anran glared at him.

"Okay, okay, okay." A certain someone surrendered. "You continue."

Zhou Anran: "No one can achieve perfection. I'm sure I'll also have areas where I'm not good enough. From now on, let's work hard together and embrace each other."

"Mhm." Chen Luobai tightened his embrace. "Work hard together, embrace each other."

Zhou Anran was already extremely sleepy. Having gotten everything off her chest, the drowsiness came rushing back.

"Sleepy?" Chen Luobai asked softly.

Zhou Anran buried her face in his shoulder. "Mhm."

Chen Luobai kissed her forehead lightly and reached out to turn off the light. "Sleep."

Zhou Anran closed her eyes contentedly in his arms.

Outside the window, the night was dark.

This was the first year of their marriage.

Just before falling completely asleep, Zhou Anran heard him say softly by her ear, "Happy New Year, Baby."

Zhou Anran mumbled a reply—

"Happy New Year.”

---

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