Did My Wife Break Up With Me Today? - Chapter 43

Chapter 43: “I Can Continue to Help.”

Midnight.

A light rain began to drift outside the window.

Pitter-patter.

The window of the second bedroom faced a sturdy maple tree. The cold rain fell like silk onto the withered, autumnal yellow branches, while fiery red maple leaves drifted with the chilling wind.

At first, Chen Kongqing covered his face with his arm. In his panic, he grabbed a corner of the quilt to shield his face.

He didn’t dare open his eyes. Even hiding under the covers, he remained too afraid to look.

He just squeezed his eyes shut—very, very tightly—while his body trembled uncontrollably.

“Mmh…” The Rabbit bit his lip, yet a soft sound still escaped.

The sound of the rain outside grew increasingly noisy.

…

The Rabbit slept for a very, very long time.

He woke up groggy halfway through, but his subconscious seemed to be evading something, pulling him back into sleep immediately.

He drifted in and out of consciousness like this repeatedly.

It wasn’t until near noon that the Rabbit finally rubbed his eyes open.

The bedroom curtains were tightly drawn, and the air conditioning had long since been switched to heating mode.

The Rabbit snuggled in the quilt, staring blankly at the ceiling for a few moments.

Mm.

His chaotic brain gradually began to function.

He stared at the ceiling light, blinking his sore eyes.

Why is this light different from the one at Ling Xiao’s house?

Oh, right. I moved.

I’m currently renting a room at Dr. Xu’s place.

Dr. Xu…

Memories of the previous night surged into his head like a flash flood.

The Rabbit suddenly flipped over in bed.

His eyes landed on the light gray sheets.

His old sheets were dark blue…

His brain continued to trace back the memories of last night.

**

“Can you shower by yourself?”

The Rabbit’s lips were slightly parted, a bit of fluid glistening at the corner of his mouth, his gaze flickering.

The man couldn’t help but curl his lips. He pulled a tissue from the bedside table, wrapped it around his finger, and wiped it across the webbing of his thumb: “I can also continue to help.”

“N-No need.” The Rabbit seemed to finally snap out of it, stumbling out of bed. “I can do it myself!”

The Rabbit scurried away in a hurry, the man’s leisurely voice trailing behind him: “Alright, you go shower. I’ll change the sheets…”

**

So his sheets… were changed by Dr. Xu.

In his memory, Dr. Xu was wiping his hand with a tissue.

What was he wiping…

Chen Kongqing captured that fleeting image in his mind.

A milky white brilliance flowed into his thoughts.

Ahhh!

The Rabbit dove back under the covers, burying his head.

But hiding his head wouldn’t rewrite what had happened.

The Rabbit let out a silent wail inside the quilt.

The phone by his pillow vibrated.

He slowly reached his hand out from under the covers and dragged the cold phone back into his cocoon.

Once he unlocked it, he saw messages from Xu Jingmo.

Thank goodness it’s just a message.

It’s not Dr. Xu himself jumping into the covers.

Wait…

Chen Kongqing, why would you even think that!

Why would Dr. Xu jump into your bed?

The Rabbit bit his lip and closed his eyes, trying to recalibrate his thoughts.

Lnk: [Are you awake?] Lnk: [There is pumpkin porridge in the kitchen.] Lnk: [I’ve gone to the hospital.] Lnk: [It’s busy around the holidays, so I probably won’t be back for dinner.] Lnk: [No need to save food for me.]

The man’s messages were normal.

More than normal.

But looking at the messages, Chen Kongqing couldn’t help but remember…

Remember how, in this very bedroom, Xu Jingmo had sat on the edge of the bed. Those phoenix eyes had remained steady—if only the man’s hand hadn’t slipped under the covers.

If the quilt hadn’t been rustling.

Just looking at Dr. Xu’s serious face, no one could have guessed what his hand was doing.

The Rabbit’s head was once again filled with “lewd waste,” and his cheeks burned with heat.

Chen Kongqing: “…”

After a few minutes, he finally calmed his heart.

He couldn’t help but think: Luckily it’s winter break. If I had class or an exam today, I’d be distracted a hundred times over.

Azurite: [Okay.]

He didn’t know what else to say, so he politely replied with just those two words.

Little Grain [Carrot Emoji]: [Okay.]

Xu Jingmo was currently in a meeting. He looked down at the message, his brow arching slightly.

Lnk: [Do you feel more comfortable now?]

As he sent the message, the image of the Rabbit from last night appeared before his eyes.

A very obedient, very soft Rabbit.

A Rabbit with a flushed face and red eyes, lips parted, looking like he was about to break.

In that moment, he had really wanted to reach out his finger and make it so that those soft lips couldn’t close at all.

Chen Kongqing was indeed gasping for air right now.

He was so flustered by this simple greeting that his breathing was a mess—messier than the pot of porridge the man had left for him.

He really didn’t know how to reply…

The phone vibrated again.

Lnk: [If it rains later, please bring in the clothes from the balcony.]

This, he knew how to answer.

The Rabbit eagerly typed: [Okay.]

The same two words again.

The man wasn’t annoyed; instead, he seemed to see the Rabbit’s blushing face through those two words. The curve of his lips deepened. He followed up as if making casual conversation: [Is your WeChat background also Trumpet Creepers?]

During the boring meeting, he had been scrolling through the Rabbit’s moments repeatedly.

Every time he saw that picture, it stung his eyes.

Lnk: [I think I saw them in a park before.]

Little Grain [Carrot Emoji]: [Yes, they are Trumpet Creepers (Ling Xiao Flowers).]

The man’s question made him realize something.

He had changed his profile picture, but he hadn’t changed his background image.

His background was also of Trumpet Creepers, with a pair of hand-drawn sneakers underneath.

Using it now was clearly no longer appropriate.

At noon, the bright sky still carried a hint of the dampness from the previous night.

The meeting happened to end at that moment.

Xu Jingmo packed his notes and stood up to leave.

“Jingmo, I’m leaving the statistics and analysis of the patients’ mental health to you,” the Director said with a smile, patting the man’s shoulder. “Usually, I wouldn’t give this kind of task to you, but Old Fu specifically mentioned it. He said since you’ve returned from abroad, you’ve done high-end research and published papers, but now that you’re back home, he hopes you gain more experience in the fundamentals. So, after the New Year, I plan to take you on a business trip. It might be for quite a while.”

Xu Jingmo nodded politely. “No problem, Director.”

The Director nodded. “Good, go get to work then.”

Xu Jingmo smiled slightly, exchanged a few more pleasantries, and hurried out of the meeting room.

The man walked with long, hurried strides.

Walking slowly behind him, Zhou Mujun’s sharp eyes caught sight of Xu Jingmo smiling at his phone.

He hurried to catch up. “What are you smiling at? You’re that happy about doing statistical analysis?”

Xu Jingmo remained staring at his screen, giving a perfunctory “Mm.”

“What are you looking at?” Zhou Mujun’s curiosity was piqued, and he leaned in to peek.

Xu Jingmo suddenly turned off the screen.

“Tch, guarding against a thief?” Zhou Mujun curled his lip.

Xu Jingmo said quite bluntly, “Yes.”

“…” Zhou Mujun pursed his lips. “What the hell, treating me like a thief.”

The man tucked his phone back into the pocket of his white lab coat, his lips curving upward without concealment. “It’s a treasure, of course.”

Yes.

The “treasure” had changed his background.

It was now a high-definition photo of a full moon.

Zhou Mujun: “Do I look like the type to steal your treasure?”

Xu Jingmo: “I’m not afraid of a thief stealing; I’m afraid of a thief thinking about it.”

Zhou Mujun laughed, suddenly remembering something. “You should say that to yourself.”

He then received two cold glares.

Zhou Mujun shut his mouth, deciding to end his teasing there. “Well, it’s not like your ‘thinking’ didn’t succeed…”

The gaze landing on his face now felt like two cold arrows.

Fine, fine.

Zhou Mujun honestly shut up.

At 3:00 PM, Chen Kongqing didn’t go to the lab.

He still couldn’t quite concentrate. He wrote part of a project report before his heart settled down a bit.

He curled up on the small sofa in the living room with his laptop on his knees.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the clouds shifted.

It turned gray again.

Through the glass, the cold wind let out strange howls.

“Black Cat Detective” seemed to hear it too, letting out a couple of soft meows.

Chen Kongqing rubbed his aching head, remembering Dr. Xu’s request.

He hurried up from the sofa and ran to the balcony to collect the laundry.

Only then did he realize that there was only one set of bedding hanging on the balcony.

A set of light gray sheets swaying in the wind.

The Rabbit licked his lips and forced himself to bring the sheets back inside, hanging them on the indoor drying rack.

He knew very well why those sheets were dirty.

Dr. Xu had washed them for him.

When the man was washing them, what did he see? What did he think?

But what he saw didn’t seem to matter anymore.

After all, even the man’s hands had been covered in…

The Rabbit sighed, rubbing his forehead with the back of his hand several times.

What’s done is done… there was nothing he could do. He might as well keep writing the report.

The Rabbit returned to the sofa, opened his laptop, and resumed typing.

It felt like only when he was writing reports did his brain have no chance to wander.

But as he wrote, his eyelids grew heavy. The dense text on the document began to blur into a heap.

He tried to force his eyes open, then completely collapsed.

The Rabbit fell asleep on the sofa, clutching his laptop.

After the Rabbit fell asleep, the little cat approached and let out two soft “meows.”

Seeing no reaction, the cat stopped calling, jumped onto the sofa, and curled up obediently next to the human.

When Xu Jingmo returned, he stood at the door changing his shoes.

The house felt exceptionally quiet.

If the heat hadn’t been on, he would have thought Chen Kongqing wasn’t home.

The man walked into the living room.

There, on the light-colored fabric sofa, sat a “rabbit” and a kitten.

The Rabbit was sleeping crookedly, his open laptop sitting precariously beside him.

Xu Jingmo slowed his pace, carrying a warm blanket, and approached silently.

He originally just didn’t want the Rabbit to catch a cold.

But as he drew closer…

The Rabbit’s tranquil sleeping face filled his vision.

His fleshy pink lips were slightly parted, the philtrum rounded.

The man’s gaze darkened, and his Adam’s apple bobbed.