Pretty Wife Insists I Live Off Her - Chapter 41

Chapter 41: This House Needs a Little Noise.

Yue Lei no longer cared much if Miss Z had found a new flame. After all, even her wife felt she was irrelevant in front of her mother. Why, then, should she place her hopes on a stranger on the other end of the internet?

If she were truly only in her early twenties, she certainly wouldn’t be able to suppress these emotions. She might have obediently waited behind the door for Mo Yingxue to introduce her to her mother. But if she wasn’t introduced, she definitely wouldn’t accept it. She would rush out and say a few words in front of Mo Shu, even if it was embarrassing. She would leave an impression, good or bad.

But now, her body housed the soul of her self from eight years in the future. This soul was more mature, more enduring, and more sensible. Even when wronged or saddened, she could remain silent.

Yue Lei’s ASMR stream was quiet and subdued. She used various props for trigger sounds and rarely spoke, even in a whisper. It was completely different from her usual loud and boisterous style.

Although the audience wasn’t quite used to it, most of them were there for Yue Lei’s face. As long as the face was there, the empire stood; today was a session of immersive face-gazing.

Miss Z was absent, and there was no gift-requested segment typical of ASMR streamers. Relying solely on the scattered small gifts from Yingzi and others, Yue Lei’s hands were nearly worn out from tapping, and her revenue was only a fraction of her previous streams.

However, this stream was crucially important to Yue Lei. It was a stress-relieving stream, a cathartic release. In the company of her audience, Yue Lei’s heart truly found peace. She seemed to contemplate many things, yet nothing at all. In any case, those feelings of sadness, grievance, and loss were drawn out of her body and suppressed.

Yue Lei streamed for almost four hours, changing props every five or six minutes. She had used almost every makeup brush, cardboard, plastic card, and spoon near her. The stream finally ended.

She smoothed her hair, a faint smile touching her lips: “Babies, see you next time. That’s all for today’s stream.”

After instructing the assistant she had hired to edit and post the recording, Yue Lei closed her phone. She checked the time—it was dinner time. However, she wasn’t hungry at all. It was as if her five senses were dulled, and her connection to the world had lessened.

She dragged her lazy body to send Mo Yingxue a message:

“Xiao Xue, you and your mother go ahead and eat dinner. I’m a bit sleepy and going to bed now.”

Yue Lei shed her clothes one by one, slipped under the covers, and prepared to sleep. Half-awake, a few broken tears slipped from the corners of her eyes. She hastily wiped them away with the back of her hand, turned her head, and continued sleeping.

Ms. Mo Shu usually spent the first day at home with her daughter. She wasn’t very good at mothering, so she simply talked as if she were lecturing a student, telling Mo Yingxue about the projects she’d been busy with and the things that had happened during her absence. Whether Mo Yingxue wanted to know or was curious about these things was not her concern.

If there hadn’t been a high-maintenance woman who constantly needed company hidden in the house, Mo Yingxue would have listened to her mother as usual, completing this forced bonding time that neither mother nor daughter truly needed. But now, she wanted to go back and be with Yue Lei, so she wanted to end the conversation as quickly as possible.

Mo Yingxue interrupted Mo Shu’s story about a research partner who kept failing an experiment and finally knelt to the instrument to get reliable data. Her dark eyes looked at her mother: “Mom, what are you planning to do during this visit?”

“Attend two seminars, teach a few classes at the schools I previously arranged with…” Mo Shu thought for a moment. “Oh, and I also need to meet and have dinner with Duan Xiyu’s family. Do you still remember Duan Xiyu?”

Mo Yingxue shook her head, having no recollection of the name.

Mo Shu smiled: “You were in the same kindergarten class. You were the smallest girl in your class, and she was the big, round, and chubby one. I asked her mother for parenting tips, but it turned out she just had a good appetite, and you didn’t eat well. You never liked playing with people, so you probably never spoke to her. I wonder if that chubby girl has lost weight now.”

She glanced at Mo Yingxue and decided: “You’ll come with me to dinner. You never had a truly close friend growing up. Maybe meeting Duan Xiyu again will give you someone to talk to. Didn’t you like collecting cars a few years ago? Her family owns a car detailing factory. You can ask her for an old classmate’s discount.”

Mo Yingxue was always reluctant to engage in these unnecessary social activities. She internally scoffed, what kind of old classmate is a kindergarten classmate? She opened her mouth intending to refuse. But when her eyes met her mother’s identical dark gaze, her refusal turned into: “Alright, just let me know the time in advance.”

She thought the conversation was over, but Mo Shu put down her teacup and smiled at her again: “Good. It’s not fair for just Mom to share her life. Find your recent paintings and let me see them.”

This meant she wanted to see the physical artwork, and photos wouldn’t suffice. Mo Yingxue didn’t want her mother entering her studio, so she called Aunt Wang, and the two painstakingly moved the paintings from the second floor to the third for her mother’s viewing and critique, then moved them back to the second floor afterward.

By the time they came out of her mother’s room, they were thoroughly exhausted. Mo Yingxue saw Yue Lei’s message and frowned. This woman never missed a meal. Why didn’t she have an appetite today?

Thinking that she shouldn’t leave snacks in her room anymore, Mo Yingxue marched to the ground floor guest room. It wasn’t dark yet, but the blinds were tightly drawn because the woman hated the light, not letting a single ray in. She had turned off the indoor lights herself.

Mo Yingxue saw Yue Lei wrapped up like a silkworm, sleeping with her back to the door. She found it endearing and really wanted to pull her out of the covers and cuddle her.

“She didn’t do anything yesterday. Why is she sleepy so early?” Mo Yingxue muttered, softening her steps as she approached the bed.

When she rounded the bed and saw Yue Lei’s pale, drawn face, Mo Yingxue frowned deeply. She crouched down and turned on the bedside lamp. The soft, warm light made the room feel much cozier. Mo Yingxue gently wiped the dried tear tracks from Yue Lei’s face with her thumb and asked worriedly: “Yue Lei, why are you crying? Are you feeling unwell?”

“No… maybe I had a bad dream…” Yue Lei was truly asleep. With her brain naturally cleaning out the mental clutter, she had actually forgotten that she had been sad before falling asleep. She grabbed her wife’s hand and instinctively pressed it against her face.

She felt a little embarrassed. She was all warm from her deep sleep, but her wife’s hand felt so cold. Yue Lei glanced at Mo Yingxue, pulled her hand down, and warmed it with her neck.

Since she did this, Mo Yingxue naturally didn’t suspect that she had actually been crying. She pulled her hand back, kicked off her shoes, and crawled into the covers already warmed by Yue Lei. She gazed at her, helping to smooth her messy hair: “Why are you sleeping so early today?”

Yue Lei gave her a half-truth: “I was a little bored while you were talking to your mom. I streamed an ASMR sleep aid video for a bit, and ended up making myself sleepy.” She sounded a bit sheepish at the end, smiling as she burrowed into Mo Yingxue’s embrace.

Mo Yingxue held her hand, her heart beating faster and faster. She had been busy connecting with her mother just now and hadn’t had time to use Miss Z’s phone. Miss Z hadn’t shown up for this stream, and hadn’t even replied to Yue Lei’s message. Could Yue Lei be upset because of this?

Mo Yingxue thought deeper but decided it was unlikely. Yue Lei wasn’t the kind of person who was obsessed with money. The absence of the cash cow, Miss Z, would at most be a slight disappointment. Since they didn’t have much emotional communication normally, it wouldn’t escalate to the point where she was so heartbroken she had to cry and make a fuss.

So, maybe she really did have a nightmare. She wondered what kind of dream it was and if she was in it. She quelled her pounding heart and absentmindedly stroked Yue Lei’s hair, just like petting a cat or a dog.

Mo Yingxue’s voice was normal: “Why did you secretly start streaming?”

“I was really bored waiting for you guys to finish talking. I streamed very, very quietly. You didn’t hear anything, did you?” Yue Lei lowered her head, acting busy out of guilt.

The cathartic stream and the short nap had completely pulled her out of the earlier feelings of being neglected and abandoned. Yue Lei now found her feelings from a few hours ago childish. Once a human being figures things out, they can’t even empathize with their former weeping self!

“It wouldn’t have mattered even if it was loud.” Mo Yingxue brushed Yue Lei’s hair back, exposing her soft facial contours and beautiful, delicate features. She examined her inch by inch, as if admiring a work of art: “My mom and I are both very quiet. This house needs a little noise.”

“Oh, so you think my voice is noise!” Yue Lei was flustered by the intense staring and deliberately played along with her words: “Such a cold woman! Just wait until our kittens grow up and meow loudly every day! Then we’ll see if my voice is the noise, or if the cat’s meowing is the noise!”

“They’re both lovely,” Mo Yingxue smiled and leaned in to kiss Yue Lei’s eye. “You must be hungry now, right? Do you want to go out to eat?”

Yue Lei was indeed hungry. The kiss made her heart flutter. She looked up, trying to kiss Mo Yingxue’s lips but missed, so she sat up, cupped her head, and pulled her close, dominating yet gently claiming her fragrance and sweetness.

When the kiss ended, Yue Lei hugged her soft, beloved wife contentedly, feeling like the happiest person in the world.

The two of them kissed as if the world were ending tomorrow, and they had to give each other their entire heart today. Mo Yingxue felt a little oxygen-deprived. Her body was languid, and she rubbed against Yue Lei’s neck. She softly asked again if she wanted to go out for dinner.

Yue Lei asked her: “Is your mom out?”

Mo Yingxue: “Probably not. She’s adjusting to the time difference. She should be asleep by now.”

After hugging her wife again, Yue Lei reluctantly pulled herself out of the warmth: “Let’s go eat then. I saw a Fujian restaurant the other day that looked quite good.”

After admiring Yue Lei putting on clothes with her back to her in the dim light for a moment, Mo Yingxue tugged on her bra strap: “No one is watching tonight. Wearing this is so uncomfortable. Sister, take it off.”

Yue Lei felt a little awkward, but then realized she was right. Women face too many restrictions, and she really didn’t want to squeeze her chest back in after just waking up. She quickly took off her bra and put on an oversized black T-shirt made of a relatively thick, quality material.

With the view gone, Mo Yingxue climbed out of bed: “Sister, you get ready first. I’m going to change my clothes.”

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