Murong Yunxi quickly grabbed her bathrobe and tied it around her waist before jumping off the bed and running into the dressing room.
Gong Yu looked at her and burst into laughter.
At the airport.
Yun Muxi carried Niannian in her arms and sat down on a chair as she waited for Gong Yu to finish checking in.
A voice from behind called out, "Xiao Xi?"
Murong Yunxi turned around and saw that it was Mou Yichen. She had not seen him for a very long time, and he had changed a lot. He seemed to have lost a lot of weight and the tiredness on his face was difficult to hide.
Murong Yunxi was slightly surprised. "Yichen? You..."
Mou Yichen looked into her eyes deeply. His gaze was full of sorrow; a long period of longing for someone.
He seemed to have not expected to see her here too. After taking some time to register, he replied, "I"m on a business trip! I"m heading to Sanya to talk a business deal. Are you bringing Niannian on a vacation?"
Hearing her own name, Niannian looked up and was pleasantly surprised when she saw Mou Yichen. "Daddy Chen!"
She then got on her feet and flew towards him as if she had a pair of tiny wings.
The moment her soft and tiny figure ran into his embrace, Mou Yichen"s face lit up with a warm tone of gentleness. He let her run into his embrace and hugged her tiny figure tightly. Although Niannian was not his child, he had been treating her like his own for the past few years. They had not seen each other for a long time and missed each other dearly.
Mou Yichen picked her up and carried her to Murong Yunxi. His eyes shone like stars and he never shifted his gaze away from Murong Yunxi.
He thought that by working hard and not giving himself any time to rest he would be able to forget about Murong Yunxi. However, from the moment he saw her again, his longing for her came flooding in and he became overwhelmed in his thoughts.
She looked at him and smiled, "Gong Yu and I are bringing Niannian on a trip to Sanya."
Hearing the two words "Gong Yu", Mou Yichen"s heart tightened. He thought that he had already seen through everything, but when he really had to face it, he realized that he had overestimated himself. At this moment, his heart was still fluctuating in pain.
Mou Yichen answered calmly, "Oh!" You two are together?
But this sentence was stuck in his throat.
"Is your body okay?" Murong Yunxi found the atmosphere awkward and tried to find another topic but failed to find anything else.
"Yea, I"m fine!" Mou Yichen turned towards Niannian and said in a gentle voice, "Niannian sweetheart, did you miss Daddy Chen?"
Niannian nodded and planted a kiss on his cheek, "Yes, I did! Daddy Chen didn"t come to visit me for a long time! I was sick for quite some time and you didn"t come."
Hearing her words, Mou Yichen frowned naturally. He turned towards Murong Yunxi and asked worriedly, "Was Niannian sick? Was it serious?"
"Yes, they found that she had aplastic anemia. They performed a bone marrow transplantation on her and she"s almost fully recovered now." Murong Yunxi spoke of the matter very lightly and omitted all the difficulties and seriousness of the issue. At the end of the day, they were all in the past and there was no need to worry Mou Yichen.
"Why didn"t you tell me?"
"There were many things going on during then so I didn"t notice. I didn"t tell anyone, even Xuanxuan was the last to know. Later on, I thought that it wasn"t worth mentioning since it was already in the past."
"Xiao Xi, you"ve had a hard time! It must have been difficult taking care of Niannian, right?"
Mou Yichen looked at Murong Yunxi with a pitiful look. He saw that her chin was sharper. He thought about how difficult it must have been to take care of Niannian alone. How busy was she during that period of time?
"It was okay! I wasn"t alone, there were people helping me."
Mou Yichen was just about to reply when Gong Yu walked over after checking in. He stood by Murong Yunxi and waved the tickets in his hand, saying gently, "Xiao Xi, I"ve finished checking in."
He then saw Mou Yichen carrying Niannian and nodded to him as a greeting.
At this moment, a boarding announcement was made. Gong Yu opened his arms towards Niannian and said, "Niannian, come to daddy."
Niannian opened her arms obediently. Gong Yu carried her with one hand and pulled their luggage with the other. He said to Murong Yunxi in a gentle voice, "Xiao Xi, let"s go. It"s time for boarding."
She looked towards Mou Yichen. "Yichen, are you on the same flight? Let"s go together."
Mou Yichen walked alongside Murong Yunxi and headed to the boarding gate together.
Mou Yichen was seated behind the trio on their right. They all settled down in their seats.
Although it was Niannian"s second time on the plane, the first time was the Murong Family"s helicopter, so this was her first time on a pa.s.senger plane. Hence, she was very excited.
While on the plane, Yun Muxi began to feel sleepy. She fell asleep just a short while after the plane took off.
Gong Yu asked a flight attendant for a pillow and a blanket. He thoughtfully placed the pillow under her neck and covered her with the blanket. Then, he started taking care of Niannian by playing games, chit-chatting and telling her stories.
Throughout the flight, Niannian and Gong Yu had a fun time playing together. Watching from the back, Mou Yichen could not help but feel a little bitter. Niannian used to stick to him too, but today, the position had been replaced by Gong Yu. He even felt that their relationship was even closer. Furthermore, he also noticed how Niannian switched from calling him "Daddy Yu" to just "Daddy". Did that mean...
He dared not continue thinking about it. He felt a pain in his heart and started praying for this flight to end quickly.
After getting off the plane, Mou Yichen bid goodbye to the three of them hurriedly, as if he was fleeing from them.
Gong Yu brought Murong Yunxi and Niannian to the reserved hotel.
This was Niannian"s first time staying in a hotel and she was very excited. Gong Yu reserved the best room, the presidential suite with the best view of the ocean. Standing in front of the French window, Niannian could see all of the scenery at once. The little girl could not stop squealing in excitement. Gong Yu smiled as he stood by her side.
Murong Yunxi started organizing their stuff. She hung their clothes into the closet.
Gong Yu turned around and looked at the busy Murong Yunxi. "The photographer and other staff will only arrive the day after tomorrow. We have all the time to ourselves for the next two days. I"ll bring you two to wherever you want to go."
Niannian turned and said to him excitedly, "Daddy Yu, I want to play at the beach."
Gong Yu caressed her head lovingly and nodded, "Okay, we will go to wherever Niannian wants to go. For today and tomorrow, I will play with you and mommy."
Niannian nodded and exclaimed excitedly, "Then can we go down and play now?"
Murong Yunxi took a look at the time and frowned. "It"s lunchtime soon, we"ll first go for lunch, and you have to take a nap afterward. When you wake up from your nap, we"ll then go down and play, okay?"
Niannian looked at Gong Yu with a face of regret. Her face was plastered with unhappiness and pleading. There was no need for words; her tiny expression portrayed her emotion perfectly.
Gong Yu glanced at Murong Yunxi and thought carefully. He said gently, "Niannian, daddy thinks mommy is right. It"s lunchtime soon, if we go down and play now, we can"t play for long before we have to come back for lunch. Why not we rest for a while now and go for lunch directly? Little kids have to take naps every day, so let"s follow what Mommy said. After your nap, I"ll bring you to play, okay?"
Gong Yu was very patient and his words were euphemistic. Niannian accepted his proposal and nodded. However, her gaze still hid a tint of expectation and yearning.
Murong Yunxi looked at Gong Yu in slight surprise. She could not help but admire him. He was really patient in educating young children and he even has his own way of doing things. Most importantly, Gong Yu was on her side, this was actually the most important thing in family education.
In the past, she took care of Niannian on her own, so this was never a problem. However, many other parents have different opinions and see divided views. This was not beneficial for a child"s education at home. Besides, since they got married so suddenly, she had yet to consider stuff like this. Needless to say, she did not even sit down and talk to Gong Yu about how they are going to give their child a uniformed education on morals and values. Now that she saw this scene, her heart was comforted.
Coincidentally, Gong Yu turned and looked at her. She smiled and nodded at him, signaling her approval of his way of doing things. He replied with a smile. The duo"s mutual understanding of each other was well-portrayed without a medium.
During lunch, Gong Yu brought Yun Muxi and Niannian to the hotel"s restaurant. He specially ordered a seafood feast. Niannian was extremely excited. Looking at the big lobster, she smiled and asked, "Daddy, what is this? I"ve never eaten this before."
Hearing that, Murong Yunxi looked at Gong Yu awkwardly, "Niannian is still young, I"m worried that she"ll have an allergic reaction, so we rarely ate seafood."
Gong Yu smiled and cut a piece of lobster tail meat and placed it onto Niannian"s plate. "This is called lobster. Try and see if it"s good. If you like it, I"ll bring you to eat some more next time."
Niannian nodded and placed the piece of meat into her mouth. She chewed it with relish.
Gong Yu cut another piece and placed it on Murong Yunxi"s plate. "You have some too."
During the meal, Gong Yu spent most of his time taking care of Murong Yunxi and Niannian"s meal.
Murong Yunxi put down her chopsticks. "I"m full, you should eat too. You"ve been taking care of Niannian and I and have not eaten much."
Gong Yu said with a smile, "I got full while watching you guys eat."
"You"re saying that you lost your appet.i.te while watching us eat? You got full just by watching?" Murong Yunxi knew that Gong Yu did not mean that and joked with him purposely.
Gong Yu was not annoyed. He smiled and answered, "Hmm, seems like it, the way you two eat..."
Murong Yunxi and Niannian glared at Gong Yu at the same time. He smiled and added, "... makes me happy. I am full just from watching."
Murong Yunxi and Niannian broke into laughter at the same time.
Seeing how the duo sitting opposite of him resembled each other, Gong Yu felt a warm sensation in his heart. Days like this felt so good. It was simple happiness.
Gong Yu"s phone started ringing. It was from Seventh Brother. He answered casually, "h.e.l.lo, Seventh Brother... Okay... I got it... Okay, let me ask Xiao Xi. I"ll get back to you after I hear her thoughts on this. Okay, bye!"