Kyoto Night Kiss

After several prenatal checkups, Qu Yun was given a strict schedule, which mainly required her to turn off the lights and go to bed at 10 p.m. sharp.

Because she sleeps too much during the day, she might stay up all night if not supervised.

Lu Junhe recently noticed that Qu Yun seemed particularly fascinated by videos about hotel operations and store management. She would always frown when she came across videos of so-called senior managers talking theoretically online.

He muttered under his breath that the planning here was unreasonable, the cost accounting there was completely wrong, and so on.

Lu Junhe paused, flipping through the magazine, and raised his eyelids to ask, "Have you recently become interested in the hotel industry?"

Qu Yun, without even looking up, said, "It's hard to explain."

"I have this feeling that I killed someone in a hotel in my past life, and now I have to work for the hotel."

At 9:59 p.m., the alarm clock rang.

Lu Junhe reached out and smoothed the neatly made bed sheet beside him, then turned to look at the little girl who was still holding her phone, and gently reminded her, "Time's up, hand over the phone, it's time to sleep."

Every day around this time, Qu Yun would whine to him and say, "Just five more minutes."

Lu Junhe nodded in agreement, but on the condition that he would add five minutes each time from now on.

Qu Yun then scolded him for being a "profit-driven businessman".

There was a second half to the sentence: Lu Junhe was obsessed with desire, but she dared not say it.

But tonight, the music was unusually well-behaved.

She turned off her phone and placed it on the bedside table. As soon as she got into bed, she lay flat and closed her eyes, looking like a well-behaved girl ready to fall asleep.

Lu Junhe raised an eyebrow almost imperceptibly, but didn't say anything.

After turning off the lights, he gently placed his lips on Qu Yun's forehead and whispered, "Goodnight, baby."

"I'll come back early tomorrow afternoon for your prenatal checkup and we'll go to the hospital together."

Qu Yun's eyelashes trembled slightly, and her voice was soft and sticky: "Okay, goodnight to you too."

The man had already lay down, reached out and gently wrapped his arms around her waist, and soon his breathing gradually slowed down.

It was so quiet that there wasn't a sound at all.

Qu Yun timed it perfectly and carefully turned over, her back pressed against the man's chest behind her. She didn't dare to move too much, but quietly stretched out her arm and fumbled for the bedside table with her fingertips.

It was icy cold and hard.

—Her cell phone is her most precious possession!

Qu Yun had already turned the screen brightness to the lowest setting when the screen was locked, so it was perfect to turn it on now in complete darkness.

She deleted all the videos from the backend, including those from hotels and other establishments.

She excitedly clicked on the latest updated chapter of the comic, which was right at the most thrilling climax!

Qu Yun pulled the blanket up a little and hid under the covers, wishing she could examine every detail with a magnifying glass.

She even slowed her breathing, completely immersed in the story.

Completely unaware of the man behind her who should have been fast asleep, he slightly raised his eyelashes, taking in all her little movements.

Qu Yun was engrossed in watching, and the corners of her lips unconsciously turned up in a smile, when suddenly her hand was empty—her phone was snatched away.

The next second, the warm light on the bedside table turned on with a "click".

Qu Yun is no coward either.

She straightened up abruptly, her knees buckled, and she knelt on the soft sheets. "I swear, this is the first time."

The first time tonight.

Upon seeing this, Lu Junhe's Adam's apple bobbed slightly.

He asked casually, "Really?"

As he spoke, he was about to tap the screen, intending to see what this little girl was secretly looking at in the middle of the night.

Qu Yun panicked instantly when she thought about the ongoing plot. She lunged forward, trying to grab her phone back. It was only then that she realized how big her belly really was.

heavy.

The man held his arm up high, but refused to give it back to her.

He even defiantly waved his phone.

Seeing that he was about to look at her again, Qu Yun immediately arched her back, clutching her stomach, "Ouch... I can't take it anymore... my stomach hurts so much..."

Lu Junhe could easily tell that this was an acting performance that was as bad as could be.

But when Qu Yun cried out that her stomach hurt, they didn't dare to be negligent in the slightest.

He suppressed the playfulness in his eyes and asked with concern, "Shall we go to the hospital now?"

He also offered a way out: "Shall I just rub it for you?"

"Just rub it and it'll be fine..." Qu Yun muttered softly.

Upon hearing this, the man immediately put down his phone and gently placed his warm palm on her protruding belly.

Qu Yun snuggled closer to him, then pressed her luck, "A little gentler."

"Massage in a clockwise direction."

Lu Junhe followed the Empress Dowager's words.

Forget it, as long as Qu Yun isn't chatting with random men outside, it's fine.

Let her read comics if she likes.

He can't die over something so trivial, can he?

*

My prenatal checkups during the day went smoothly.

After carefully reviewing all the reports, the doctor smiled gently and said, "All the indicators are ideal. After adjusting the diet last time, the nutrition is already very balanced."

She lightly tapped the estimated weight of the fetus on the ultrasound report with her fingertip and advised, "Judging from the current situation, the estimated weight of the fetus is a bit large. If the fetus continues to gain weight in the late stages of pregnancy, it will be more difficult to have a vaginal delivery."

"You can start gradually increasing some gentle exercise from today, such as taking a walk after meals or doing some prenatal yoga, to control the rate of weight gain."

Qu Yun nodded and made a mental note of it.

She was always quite relaxed when she came, but Lu Junhe was very nervous.

As soon as the doctor finished speaking, he was about to launch into a long, rambling monologue.

"But I've noticed she has a very poor appetite lately; she barely ate anything the past few days. Are there any other ways to help the fetus lose weight?"

"I don't want her to be so tired."

The doctor patiently explained the key points of balancing diet and exercise, and the two chatted engrossed in a question-and-answer session.

Qu Yun yawned out of boredom and casually unlocked her phone to kill time.

She happened to click on the university class group that popped up, and the group was flooded with messages saying that an offline class reunion was being organized tonight.

Many people in the group have signed up, and some have even tagged Qu Yun.

Qu Yun didn't reply and switched off immediately.

It's only been a short time since graduation, what's the point of having a reunion?

Most importantly, she actually...

Qu Yun gently touched her belly.

After the prenatal checkup, Lu Junhe drove Qu Yun home.

On the way, he received a call from the company, saying that some very important meeting had been moved up and that he needed to be there in person to preside over it.

Lu Junhe had no choice but to slowly park the car under the shade of the trees on the side of the street.

He turned his head, somewhat apologetically: "Yunyun, can you wait in the car for the driver to come and take you home? I need to take a taxi to the company now."

"I promise, even if the company collapses when you're in your late pregnancy, I won't care."

Qu Yun chuckled. "Lu Junhe, why are you jinxing it?"

"You can drive straight to the company. I'll get out and wander around the neighborhood. Otherwise, I'll just want to sleep as soon as I get home, and I won't be sleepy at night."

After a moment's hesitation, Lu Junhe realized he was simply too busy to handle everything and had no choice but to compromise.

He repeatedly told her to be careful and also told the driver to come and be ready so that Qu Yun could take a car back whenever she got tired.

The streets were lined with shops, and Qu Yun strolled around for quite a while, even looking at baby clothes.

She's absolutely adorable.

She walked a few hundred meters further, and when she felt it wasn't very interesting and wanted to go back, a red car came to a steady stop in front of the restaurant next door.

The car window rolled down, and sitting in the passenger seat was a female classmate of Qu Yun from university. She recognized her at a glance and excitedly exclaimed, "Qu Yun! It really is you! I thought you went back to your hometown to find a job after graduation. We've been calling you in the group chat for ages and you haven't replied. The male classmates were all disappointed."

The female classmate grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the restaurant. "Don't just stand there like an idiot. We booked a private room a long time ago, and my boyfriend is treating us today!"

Qu Yun instinctively tried to refuse, but the person pulling her was too enthusiastic, and she was still led into the restaurant.

The moment Qu Yun stepped into the private room, her gaze swept lightly over the familiar yet unfamiliar faces in the room.

Graduation hasn't been that long, and her classmates are all dressed in suits and skirts, with exquisite makeup, calm demeanor, and the competence and maturity of working professionals in every gesture.

Qu Yun felt a subtle sense of emotion welling up inside her.

How come everyone has changed so suddenly...?

"The most beautiful girl in Qu University!" A skinny boy in the private room suddenly stood up and rushed over, his tone particularly exaggerated. "You actually came! Looks like my trip tonight wasn't in vain. Come on, let's sit over there!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than another boy chimed in, "Why should I sit next to you?"

"When the school beauty Qu came to sit here, I wiped my chair so hard it was shiny."

The two even seemed to want to physically take him away.

It's unclear who swung their arm too quickly, but their hand unexpectedly bumped into Qu Yun's arm.

Qu Yun was afraid that her stomach would be hit, so she instinctively took half a step back.

Her loose skirt tucked back, revealing her protruding belly.

The private room fell silent for a few seconds. Those who were close to each other looked at each other and realized that the rumor that Qu Yun had been kept by a rich older man when she was in school was true.

Qu Yun smiled awkwardly, "Actually, I was just strolling around nearby and happened to pass by. I didn't plan to come and join the fun..."

She really regretted not checking the group messages more often while she was in the hospital.

If she had known the restaurant for the class reunion was here, she would have crawled across the street if she had known.

If she leaves now, the rumors will probably spread that she was so hungry she ordered takeout that it turned out she was still selling food even after her second marriage.

Qu Yun shook her head and sat down in the corner, trembling.

Fortunately, after a short while, everyone started talking on their own, each saying how great their new workplace was.

The girl who pulled her in even said, "Hey, doesn't any of you work at the Lu Group?"

"I was hoping someone could share some common topics with my boyfriend..."

Qu Yun took a sip of the juice in her glass and thought, "Should I raise my hand?"

However, everyone was chatting with the girl's boyfriend, asking him if he had really gotten into the top Lu Group in Beijing.

Not long after, someone remarked, "I didn't expect that so few people in our class would be working in fields related to their majors."

"Everyone's path is getting wider and wider."

The girl who had dragged Qu Yun in earlier suddenly looked up at her and asked, feigning curiosity, "Yunyun, you still haven't told me what job you got after graduation. Didn't you get in with the highest score? Every teacher liked you so much."

She suddenly covered her mouth, her surprise perfectly timed: "Oh right, I almost forgot you're pregnant. Although everyone says that gender discrimination isn't allowed in the workplace, many companies still won't hire pregnant women, right?"

"Finding a job is definitely tough, but finding a man might be easier for you..."

The surroundings fell silent instantly, and everyone's gaze seemed to fall on Qu Yun.

They seemed to be waiting to see her embarrassed and humiliated.

Qu Yun remained calm as she looked at the man beside the girl, who was constantly scrolling through videos with his head down, and whose head was completely bald. She said indifferently, "So this is your experience?"

"But why don't you eat something better?"

One sentence left the girl blushing and speechless for a long time.

Qu Yun felt this game was really boring, so she went to the restroom and left.

The moment she stepped out of the private room, the suppressed chatter inside immediately erupted without restraint.

"Hey, does anyone remember how splendid Qu Yun was back then? She was ranked first when she entered the university, and she was ranked first in all her exams until graduation. She won the national scholarship twice, and her future was bright."

"Look at it now. What's the use of studying so well? She's already heavily pregnant right after graduation, and there's not even a hint of a ring on her hand. It seems she won't even get a proper title."

"So the rumors that circulated back in college were all true: Qu Yun was some rich man's mistress whom he couldn't keep in the public eye!"

The melody hasn't faded away yet.

She kept taking deep breaths; for the sake of the baby in her belly, she needed to calm down.

Just then, a steady, crisp sound of footsteps came from not far away.

Lu Junhe tried calling Qu Yun but couldn't get through. He had to ask the driver to find out that she had been dragged into a restaurant by some college classmate.

He knew that Qu Yun had hardly ever been in society except for going to school, and he had always been protecting her, intentionally or unintentionally, not wanting her to come into contact with too many disgusting people.

Now she stands outside the private room, looking sullen.

They must have been foolishly bullied.

Lu Junhe sighed inwardly.

After taking Qu Yun's hand, he pushed open the door and went in without hesitation. After scanning the room with sharp eyes, he said directly, "Those present who feel qualified to judge my wife's life choices."

"Stand up."