Mysterious Beautiful Wife at Home (GL) - Chapter 19

Chi Nian nestled in her arms, the faint fragrance lingering in the air. The subtle scent of her hair, the intoxicating aroma of her body disrupted Zhang Yuning’s thoughts. With just a slight tilt of her head, she could kiss Chi Nian’s forehead.

She didn’t dare move, unsure whether Chi Nian was asleep or not. She didn’t even dare take a deep breath, afraid the slightest movement might wake the person in her arms. Zhang Yuning’s attention was fixed on the two notebooks within easy reach, leaving her wide awake.

After enduring for about half an hour, she finally heard Chi Nian’s steady breathing. Tentatively, she tested the waters with a small movement, and when Chi Nian showed no reaction, she placed her hand on the notebook again.

She lay on the left side, Chi Nian’s right arm draped over her waist while her left hand rested below, fingers entwined with Zhang Yuning’s. Suddenly, Chi Nian shifted, burrowing deeper into her embrace. Zhang Yuning lifted her chin and relaxed her shoulders, adjusting to give her a more comfortable sleeping position.

Seeing that Chi Nian remained unaware of her actions, Zhang Yuning mustered the courage to open the black notebook. Fortunately, the nightlight provided just enough illumination. Inside, she saw rows of numbers followed by a few surnames, it looked like dates. Was this a record of social engagements?

Holding the cover awkwardly with one hand, she painstakingly flipped through the pages. The contents remained similar, numbers and incomplete strokes of characters. Zhang Yuning had a strong ability for shorthand, so she immediately switched to memorization mode, imprinting the contents into her mind.

Was this some kind of code or cipher? Each page contained similar entries, along with extreme terms like “life, injury, death, rescue,” interspersed with words like “change, M, X see.” These seemed like abbreviations or incomplete notes, utterly incomprehensible.

She had never seen anyone’s notes more cryptic than this perhaps a deliberate measure against prying eyes. Chi Nian’s defenses ran deep, her vigilance no weaker than Zhang Yuning’s own. After forcing herself to memorize the entire black notebook, she finally finished committing its contents to memory.

Chi Nian slept soundly in her arms, and Zhang Yuning could only see the long lashes when she glanced down. Gazing at the woman in her embrace, waves of emotion surged within her. Zhang Yuning closed her eyes deeply, steadying her breathing before switching the positions of the two notebooks and opening the white one.

Earlier, Chi Nian had used the white notebook to record the times Zhang Yuning had chills. Flipping to the first page, she indeed saw: “12HC, 6HS.” She guessed this likely meant “12 hours of chills, 6 hours of sleep.” Beside the numbers was today’s date. However, beyond this page, the notebook contained no other entries.

Turning to the back, Zhang Yuning discovered densely packed records of similar content. Her eyes fixed on some dates that didn’t match the present, while the numbers beside “HC” and “HS” fluctuated, generally increasing over time. What did this mean?

And the date format, was it year or month? The latter pages even included small symbols, likely representing weather conditions.

For now, she would memorize it all. Zhang Yuning focused intently, forcing another round of memorization. It wouldn’t last long, but she could probably recall everything within two hours.

After reviewing the contents, she returned the notebooks to their original positions. Chi Nian had clearly let her guard down otherwise, why would she leave her bag so carelessly on the nightstand? Unable to reach it, Zhang Yuning gave up for now, unsure if there was anything else inside worth investigating.

She grew even more curious about what the contents of those notebooks represented. The black notebook was like a strange code, perhaps crackable through various methods, while the white notebook’s records might conceal even deeper secrets.

After reading them, Zhang Yuning couldn’t sleep. The contents she had just seen kept flashing through her mind, and she feared that if she accidentally dozed off, she might forget them. She had to recount everything while her memory was still fresh.

Her right arm was pinned under Chi Nian’s head, making it impossible to pull free without risking waking her. So Zhang Yuning endured, staring out the window, listening to the steady patter of rain, trying to treat the presence of Chi Nian beside her as if it were air.

Yet, from childhood till now, no one had ever slept beside her. She had bundled up in tattered clothes from trash bins, slept under bridges in the snow, curled up beside strangers’ cars but never had she known the warmth of companionship.

The Chi Nian in her arms was a stranger, yet there was an inexplicable familiarity likely an effect of their intimate proximity.

A rainy night, a roof overhead, a bed to sleep in, someone in your arms, this was the stuff of many people’s dreams. But Zhang Yuning, even when she had it, couldn’t allow herself to indulge. She forced herself to stay alert, diverting her attention, refusing to surrender to the moment.

A child unclaimed by fate had no right to ask for more. Occasionally, if she received a piece of candy, she would hold it in her mouth for the longest time, reluctant to chew, letting it melt slowly so the sweetness could linger in her heart forever.

After about half an hour, Zhang Yuning tried to free her arm. Chi Nian stirred but didn’t wake, merely turning onto her back. Zhang Yuning noticed Chi Nian’s face was deathly pale, as white as paper.

Was she sick? Zhang Yuning quickly reached out to check her forehead. No fever, and she seemed otherwise normal. But why did she look so frail, as if her breath were barely there?

She pressed her fingers to Chi Nian’s neck to check her pulse, and the motion suddenly reminded her of the car accident where they’d first met. That day, Chi Nian had been gravely injured in the driver’s seat, unconscious and on the brink of death. Zhang Yuning had checked her pulse the same way, only to be knocked out instantly.

She withdrew her hand, recalling those eerie experiences, and once again felt that Chi Nian was a dangerous person.

Finally managing to free her pinned arm, Zhang Yuning lifted the blanket and slowly inched to the edge of the bed, rising in complete silence. She went to the study and began typing everything she had seen into an encrypted file on her computer.

But no matter how hard she racked her brain, trying every decryption method she could think of, she couldn’t crack the contents of the black notebook. As for the white notebook’s date and duration records, after marking them on a calendar and cross-referencing historical events and news, she still found no clues.

What did any of this mean? At a loss, Zhang Yuning shut down the computer, transferred the data to her phone, and turned her attention back to assembling the moon lamp.

By the time exhaustion set in, she realized it was already 2 a.m. She really could outlast an owl.

Quietly returning to the bedside, she found Chi Nian sleeping peacefully. She lay down with deliberate care, but before she could even close her eyes, Chi Nian suddenly turned and embraced her again. This time, Chi Nian didn’t lift her arms instead, she crossed them around Zhang Yuning, resting her head on her shoulder. She didn’t wake, the motion seeming more instinctive than conscious.

Zhang Yuning exhaled deeply and closed her eyes, finally allowing herself to sleep.

The April rain left the entire Glazed Island damp. After the Qingming Festival passed, the surroundings began to bustle with activity. Occasionally, someone would knock on the door downstairs to buy medicine, but Zhang Yuning always let them take what they needed themselves. They were all neighbors, familiar faces, so she never worried about unpaid bills. This self-service clinic had made the local residents quite reliant on it.

Their daily life at home had settled into a quiet routine; eating, resting, and occasionally, Chi Nian would assign Zhang Yuning tasks like hacking into website backends. Simple ones were manageable, but the complex ones took her two or three days to complete. Most of the content was related to the research of Chi Shang Group, and Chi Nian seemed particularly interested in the projects of that scientist from before. Many encrypted research files had been stolen by her.

Zhang Yuning noticed that Chi Nian would send these files out. Who knew who she was leaking them to? These should have been top-secret materials. If the police caught her, a charge of corporate espionage would be inevitable.

Zhang Yuning was certain Chi Nian was planning something big, likely biding her time, quietly working toward a major move.

Chi Nian was captivating when she worked, completely absorbed in her own world, perfectly embodying the idea that a focused woman is the most beautiful.

She always sat on the floor by the balcony to work, having Zhang Yuning print out stacks of documents for her every day. Fragmented information was pieced together by her and then sent out.

“Xiao Zhang,” Chi Nian suddenly called.

“Just tell me what you need.”

“Coffee.” Chi Nian looked visibly exhausted. She used to drink one cup of Americano a day, then it increased to two, and now she wanted another.

Her complexion was poor. Sometimes she’d wear light makeup at home, but when she slept, it was obvious her fair skin even looked somewhat sickly.

“You’ve already had two cups today.”

“One more.” Chi Nian rubbed the corners of her eyes, as if fighting off drowsiness.

Zhang Yuning found it strange. Chi Nian slept at 10 PM and woke at 7 AM. No one had a healthier sleep schedule than her. How could she still be constantly tired?

“Are you feeling unwell? Should I draw some blood for a quick test? The equipment downstairs is usable.” After all, she was a doctor. Chi Nian’s fatigue could stem from multiple factors, and while a thorough examination wasn’t possible, they could at least check for basic issues.

“No need.”

“But your complexion isn’t good.”

Chi Nian lifted her eyes slightly, forcing a smile. “Do you think my face isn’t pretty anymore?”

“Of course not.”

“Then you’re worried about me?”

“Yeah.”

A flicker of surprise passed through Chi Nian’s eyes before she chuckled and said, “It’s nothing, don’t worry.” Her voice was hoarse, lacking vigor, almost as if she had a deficiency in qi and blood.

Maybe she could prepare something to replenish her qi and blood. Astragalus for qi, red dates for blood, donkey-hide gelatin would work too.

Before she could finish the thought, Chi Nian said, “Don’t even think about making me some astragalus soup. I won’t drink it.”

Zhang Yuning’s eyes widened. “How did you know what I was thinking?”

Was she a mind reader or something?

Chi Nian narrowed her eyes and smiled. “That’s a secret.”