His hand paused, knowing her thoughts without asking, and after a moment, he said, "No need to move to the guest room. It would be too much trouble. Just sleep here."

She questioned, "What about you?"

He curled his thin lips, "Either you can invite me to sleep with you, or I’ll sleep on the sofa in the bedroom."

Jiayi blushed, "You could sleep in the next room, there’s no need to squeeze onto the sofa."

"Zaizai is very observant, seeing us in separate rooms he would ask all sorts of questions."

Jiayi thought for a while and sighed, "Then you... just sleep on the sofa."

Huo Zhenyang didn’t say anything, picked up a blanket and a pillow from the cabinet, turned off the lights, and went to the outer part of the bedroom.

Lying down, Jiayi heard the rustling sounds from the outside room; he must be laying out the blanket.

Then came the sound of fabric rubbing, and finally, the noises ceased.

He must have lain down by now.

For some reason, Jiayi could not fall asleep with her eyes closed for a long time.

The sofa, although soft, was not as comfortable and spacious as a bed. With his tall stature, he might find it uncomfortable.

And... the blanket he took earlier seemed quite thin. It wouldn’t... cause him to catch a cold, right?

The recent weather has been a bit chilly, even Zaizai caught a bit of a cold.

While lost in her thoughts, time slowly slipped by.

Finally unable to bear it, she sat up and glanced outside.

After hesitating for a moment, she got out of bed, slipped into her fluffy slippers, hobbled over, picked up the thick quilt from the bed, and walked out.

In the outer part of the bedroom, on the sofa, he was covered with the blanket, eyes closed, breathing evenly, seemingly fast asleep.

Indeed, with his long arms and legs, the blanket couldn’t cover his entire body, and his legs were exposed.

She bent down and gently draped the quilt she was holding over him, trying not to touch him.

After covering him with the quilt, she was about to get up when his eyes suddenly opened, shining like cat’s eye gems in the night, bright and stunning, fixed on her.

Caught off guard by his waking, she felt like a child who had been caught doing something wrong—somewhat embarrassed, she stammered:

"I... I... saw the temperature seemed to have dropped, so I brought you an extra quilt."

His gaze held a meaningful depth as he acknowledged her words, "Mmm, it is a bit cold."

"Really cold?" She bit her lip, twisting her pajamas in slight turmoil.

His tone playful, "You didn’t mention it before, but now that you say it, my head feels a bit heavy. I don’t know if it’s a fever."

Surprised, she raised her hand to check his forehead. Perhaps it was psychological, but it seemed slightly warm, though she couldn’t be sure if it was really a fever.

With that in mind... he definitely shouldn’t continue sleeping on the sofa like this; it could get worse by tomorrow.

After struggling for a long time, she finally made up her mind, muttering, "Otherwise... you should... just sleep inside."

"It’s okay," he persisted in subtly declining, while bringing his hands to his mouth and coughing twice, "My body isn’t that weak; I’ll just take some preventative medicine later."

She was still hesitating, but after hearing his words, she immediately insisted, "Go inside."

"Would you like that? Are you sure it’s okay? I’m really fine," he said, his eyes slightly hazy as he looked at her, suddenly feeling a bit wicked for deceiving such a little white rabbit, but feeling compelled to do so.

Does she know how tormenting it is for him to watch her sleep alone inside?

Since she’s afraid he might get sick and naively invited him in, he wasn’t going to be polite anymore.

She pursed her lips, "Mhm. It’s fine."

He didn’t refuse anymore, rose from the sofa, glanced at her bare, silky white ankles outside the slippers, picked her up, walked to the inner room, and placed her on the bed.

Upon touching the bed, Jiayi rolled towards the inside, then dove into her own quilt, indicating with her eyes, "You cover with that quilt."

He quietly watched her as she wrapped herself up tightly like a zongzi with an extremely strong sense of guard, couldn’t help but laugh, but said nothing. He bent his tall frame, turned over, and got into bed.

The bedroom became quiet once more.

Jiayi turned her back to him, wrapping the quilt tightly around herself.

At first, she was a bit anxious, but gradually, she calmed down.

Thankfully, the bed was king-sized, very large.

So sleeping in the same bed with him wasn’t awkward.

She heard his breathing, took it as a sign he had fallen sound asleep, quietly exhaled a sigh of relief, and relaxed completely.

Suddenly, a pair of long arms reached over, whoosh, and she was forcefully pulled into his embrace.

She was startled, hadn’t even had the chance to cry out softly, when the long-missed searing breath enveloped her overwhelmingly.

His arms locked around her like a cage she couldn’t break free from, holding her tightly from behind, with his face buried shamelessly in her soft neck, inhaling her fragrance.

It’s been so long since they were this close.

He was going crazy, almost to the point of explosion.

How could he just let her off so easily?

She should’ve known he wouldn’t be so well-behaved! How could she forget?

Others invited the wolf into their home, but she brought one right into her bed.

Jiayi bitterly smiled and whispered softly, "What are you doing..."

"This way, you won’t catch a cold." He increased the strength of his arms around her waist, his teasing tone laced with wickedness, as if fearing she would struggle. He lowered his voice further, "I won’t touch you. Tonight."

Her foot was still injured; even if he missed her terribly, he wouldn’t be so impatient.

However, it was only for tonight.

He couldn’t guarantee for the future.

This was the embrace she had missed for so long. Subconsciously, she didn’t want to refuse and let herself be held just like that.

Seeing her obediently still, he was content, but his gaze changed slightly, his eyes darkened, and a large hand slid from her waist and began gently caressing her abdomen.

His palm was wide and powerful, and yet the touch was so careful as if he was handling a treasure, afraid that too much strength might cause damage.

She wasn’t the model-type skinny, having flesh where it should be, and her waist was always slender, not skinny enough to wrap a hand around. Even now, it didn’t seem like she had borne him two children before.

Jiayi’s cheeks flushed, and as his hand touched her, she felt her body temperature rising noticeably. She moved slightly, "You said you wouldn’t...you wouldn’t make a move."

"Not making a move doesn’t mean not moving hands or feet," he spoke with a mischievous tone, playing with words.

She knew better than to take this man’s words at face value.

"Just hold for a moment, be good. Don’t move," he said, tightening his arms and breathing warmly below her tender earlobe.

He was doing much more than simply holding her; he was fully taking advantage of the situation.

Yet she seemed to be softened by the gentle murmurs behind her ear, bewitched, and ceased any further movement.

The first night of formally moving back to Disheng ended like this, with his half-coaxing, half-rascally embrace.

*

In the morning, when Jiayi woke up, the space beside her was empty, only the warm lingering scent of him remained.

Zaizai had already been taken to kindergarten by the servants.

Auntie Li came upstairs and told her the young master had something to attend to and had left.

Jiayi was puzzled; he wasn’t temporarily holding any official titles upon his return to Yunling, so what could he possibly have to do?