The Cold Side Character from a Male-Lead Novel is Pregnant - Chapter 23.3

Hearing this, Chen Kan hurriedly pulled Sister Calico off the map and pinned her back onto Handong Province. Then, following Yan Yu’s wishes, he pulled Taro’s dart and pinned it onto the map of Japan.

“Fine, fine. Not the girl, the dog goes.”

Chen Kan watched Yan Yu’s reaction. Even though he had changed it, Yan Yu seemed too stunned by the offense to even look at the map anymore. He turned away.

Chen Kan’s heart felt a soft squeeze. Who would have thought the usually cold and rational Yan Yu would get angry over something so ridiculous? It was truly incredibly cute.

Chen Kan sat on the sofa, looking relaxed, but his fingers were unconsciously stroking his sleeve. He watched Yan Yu’s thin back, and the urge to coax him surfaced again with a hint of indulgence he hadn’t noticed himself.

“Still mad?” Chen Kan asked.

Yan Yu’s shoulders moved slightly. After a few seconds, he turned his face. His eyes were still cold, but the sharp anger had faded into a more complex scrutiny. He seemed to be judging if Chen Kan was just brushing him off again.

“You’re really giving them?” Yan Yu asked.

“Yes. Japan is for the dog. Is that okay?”

Yan Yu turned back to the map, feeling a bit of a guilty conscience. “We shouldn’t be that mean to the dog.” Yan Yu pulled Taro’s dart out, thought about it carefully, and pinned it back onto Alaska, where he could pull a sled. He said firmly, “There. That’s fair for the dog, too.”

Chen Kan was impressed. “Oh, I have no objection. Let’s do that.” Chen Kan crossed his arms and looked at the map, asking casually, “Do you feel a bit happier now?”

Yan Yu looked at him strangely and said naturally, “Of course.”

Still not satisfied, Chen Kan shifted from casual observation to a serious gaze. “Yan Yu, can I ask why you’re so obsessed with getting ‘fiefdoms’ for these… uh, cubs? Don’t you think they’re too small?”

Chen Kan was curious. Yan Yu was treating this like a solemn ritual to ensure everyone had a place and something to rely on. What was he afraid of? Was he afraid they would be homeless? Or was he filling a deeper insecurity perhaps compensating for his own younger self who had no one to rely on?

However, Yan Yu looked at him as if he were an idiot. His clear eyes held a trace of mockery.

“Dynasties change, Chen Kan. I’ve worked for you for many years. To put it bluntly, if your tastes change one day and you decide you love old men, I have to leave myself a way out, don’t I?”

Chen Kan: “…”

Why the old men again? Was this the core of his inner demon? Fear that Chen Kan would love old men?

“You can rest assured, I will likely never love an old man in this life,” Chen Kan said with a straight face, which added a layer of comedy to the moment. “If you need it, I can write you a letter of guarantee. Would that help?”

He was asking seriously. But Yan Yu’s face returned to its cold, arrogant state as he rejected him. “No need. A man’s promise is like heated chocolate.”

“Why would chocolate be heated?” Chen Kan asked.

Yan Yu replied, “Exactly. It only looks like chocolate; it’s actually dog poop.”

Chen Kan: “…”

Chen Kan felt completely defeated by Yan Yu’s logic. He followed Yan Yu around, watching as he confirmed every window was open for ventilation, letting the sandalwood scent out. Then, following Yan Yu’s orders, he drove to the pet shop to pick up all the cats and the dog from their bath.

Back home, Yan Yu even brushed every cub’s fur and checked each one for any signs of “mistreatment” from the “Imperial Music Bureau” (the groomers). He found nothing, but he practically counted their hairs to make sure none were missing.

Chen Kan hoped that since everything was going Yan Yu’s way, the inner demon would fade. Last time, Yan Yu woke up just after being promised the passbook. He was usually so easy to coax, almost easy to fool.

But now… the situation was not optimistic.

After confirming the kittens were safe from “illegal harm,” Yan Yu, maintaining his “favored consort” persona, took the breast pump to the bathroom. He stayed there for an hour—exactly 3,600 seconds without coming out.

Chen Kan paced outside, more and more anxious, like an incompetent husband waiting for his wife to give birth. He realized he had been absent during every step of Yan Yu’s “birthing” process, which was truly wrong of him.

After his 108th lap outside the bathroom, he finally knocked.

“Yan Yu?” Only the faint sound of water answered. “You’ve been in there for almost an hour,” he said, trying to sound calm. “Are you okay?”

The water stopped.

After a moment, Yan Yu’s voice came through the door, muffled but clear: “Bring the little cat in.”

Chen Kan paused. “Which one?”

“All of them.”

Chen Kan questioned him, “…What for?”

The doorknob turned, and Yan Yu pulled the door open just a crack. Moist, hot steam surged out, mingling with the unique, cool fragrance of his body. His face remained expressionless, water still dripping from the tips of his hair. The collar of his pajamas hung open slightly, revealing a section of his collarbone.

“Get them in here. It’s time for a feeding.”

Chen Kan felt his temples throb twice.

“…They can’t drink that.”

“Why can’t they?” Yan Yu frowned slightly, as if discussing the most normal matter in the world.

Chen Kan gritted his teeth. With a wooden face but ears turned crimson, he said, “They’re too small…”

Yan Yu looked at him, his eyes reflecting a sense of realization and faint mockery—as if thinking, Your illness is acting up again. “What do you mean by that? You’re certainly big enough. If they won’t drink, will you?”

Chen Kan took a deep breath, trying to be reasonable: “Yan Yu…”

Yan Yu didn’t speak; he just stared at him.

That gaze gave Chen Kan a sense of inexplicable agitation, as if he were the one being unreasonable.

A few seconds later, Yan Yu suddenly reached out and grabbed his wrist.

Caught off guard, Chen Kan was yanked forward a step, half his body squeezing into the gap of the door.

The space was suddenly cramped. Steam swirled around them, and the mirror was covered in a layer of white mist, with condensed water droplets slowly sliding down the glass.

As the warm, humid air of the bathroom instantly enveloped him, Chen Kan clearly smelled the light scent of body wash mixed with a faint, elusive, and strange aroma. The scent was delicate but carried a sense of warmth like the thin film that forms on the surface of boiled milk as it cools. A hint of fattiness was mixed with a very faint muskiness, baked by body heat into a thin, watery sweetness.

It was wedged abruptly into the damp steam, completely at odds with Yan Yu’s habitual coldness.

However, this scent also acted like a small hook, unexpectedly catching Chen Kan and causing a familiar tightening in his chest. His Adam’s apple bobbed uncontrollably.

But immediately following that was a more surging wave of heartache and bitterness.

His Yan Yu, the man who found it awkward even to show weakness when sober was currently trapped in such a state, enduring this bizarre suffering with his physical body and even becoming “accustomed” to it.

He hurriedly averted his gaze, which might have otherwise landed on that damp area, as if the scent had taken physical form and was scorching his vision.

“What are you doing?” Chen Kan lowered his voice, feeling the grip on his wrist was warm and forceful.

Yan Yu was looking up at him, tiny water droplets still clinging to his eyelashes, but his gaze was clear and sharp, carrying a stubborn streak of provocation. “Why are you standing there putting on an act and asking questions, you pervert?”

Chen Kan, who just earned his second new title of the day after “Old Man Lover”: ?

Yan Yu said, “You won’t let my cubs eat. What else could you possibly mean?”

Chen Kan’s breath hitched. They were both adults; they had read the original work. To claim ignorance now would be an act.

Chen Kan’s gaze instinctively swept downward, glancing over the wet front of Yan Yu’s silk pajamas. The fabric clung to his skin, vaguely revealing the unnaturally swollen silhouette on the male chest beneath.

Then, Yan Yu’s other hand suddenly rose, covering his chest. He pressed down lightly through the soaked pajamas. His brow furrowed briefly before relaxing again, and he said impatiently:

“Hurry up. I’m engorged to death.”

Chen Kan felt a certain string in his brain snap with a loud hum.

He stared at Yan Yu’s slightly trembling eyelashes and the reddened corners of his eyes for a few seconds. Then, without any warning—

He leaned down and kissed Yan Yu’s lips.

The kiss carried a head-on force. It wasn’t a probe; it was an act of pacification.

One of his hands braced against the wall beside Yan Yu’s ear, while the other pinched Yan Yu’s chin. His thumb pressed against the jawbone, forcing the face that tried to turn away to tilt up, ensuring Yan Yu received the kiss fully.

There was still a hint of that lingering sweet scent between their lips, but it was quickly covered and swallowed by a more dominant aura.

Yan Yu seemed completely blindsided. A short sob caught in his throat, and his fingers fruitlessly grabbed at the fabric on Chen Kan’s chest.

Chen Kan didn’t stop. He even deepened the kiss, his tongue prying open the teeth that had loosened slightly from shock, as if refusing to leave Yan Yu a single inch of room to retreat.

Yan Yu was kissed into total stiffness. Gradually, the strength seemed to drain from his tense spine, and he went limp bit by bit. The fingers clutching the clothes lost their power, merely hanging there loosely.

Only his eyelashes fluttered violently, like the wings of a butterfly drenched by rain.

So beautiful.

After an unknown amount of time, Chen Kan finally pulled back a fraction—just as he intended to use this kiss to distract Yan Yu, Yan Yu suddenly landed a slap on him with a crisp thwack!

It stung fiercely against his left cheek.

Yan Yu continued to prop up his body. His cold eyes were covered in mist and slightly out of focus, yet his gaze was heavy and filled with utter loathing.

His chest heaved, and his lips had been ravaged into a bright, wet red, yet his tone was as flat as if he were discussing the weather:

“Did I f***ing give you permission to kiss me?”

Chen Kan: “…?”

With a reddening handprint on his left cheek, Chen Kan knit his brows and asked the obvious: “You let me… that, so I can’t even kiss you?”

Unexpectedly, Yan Yu said icily, “Stop messing around with these useless things. Either bring the cats here, or do it yourself if you won’t, then get the hell out. I’ll call Fu Guanqi over.”

Chen Kan: “…? Who.”

“Fu Guanqi.”

“?”

The romantic atmosphere around Chen Kan instantly turned terrifying. He curled his lips into a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Go ahead. If you have the guts, call him here right now.”

Support