JOH CH64: Sweet

In the blink of an eye, summer was in full swing, and it was already July. The weather grew increasingly hot.

Su Yiran was a little over eight months pregnant. His body felt heavy, and he became tired more easily.

Summer clothes were light, and his abdomen showed a clear bulge. Sometimes, when Su Yiran looked at himself in the mirror, he would feel a slight trance, a very unfamiliar sensation.

Fortunately, Gu Yuanting was always by his side. When Su Yiran saw Ting-ge, his heart felt settled, and that inexplicable sense of unease and unreality quickly dissipated.

Recently, he had been attending childbirth preparation classes with Ting-ge. Male pregnancy was different from female pregnancy, so Gu Yuanting specifically hired a top expert in this field from abroad. Every Wednesday and Saturday, the expert would come to their home at a fixed time to give them lessons.

In addition, they had also read several books on childbirth knowledge. This was indeed useful. After scientifically understanding this knowledge, much of Su Yiran’s underlying fear was alleviated, and he became much calmer.

That evening, after dinner, Su Yiran and Ting-ge took a walk in the community garden. The outdoor temperature had dropped in the evening, and a gentle breeze blew, making them feel very comfortable.

Gu Yuanting carefully supported Ranran, not daring to take his eyes off him for a second. He meticulously observed Ranran’s expression, fearing he might be uncomfortable.

Su Yiran, this time, didn’t say anything. In fact, during this period, as his body changed, he himself also started to become more cautious.

He thought of the call with his parents last week and asked Gu Yuanting, “When did Mom and Dad say they were coming over last time? The end of this month or next month?” He couldn’t quite remember.

Gu Yuanting said, “The end of this month. Don’t worry, I’ll arrange for someone to pick them up then.”

Su Yiran nodded. They chatted about his parents for a while, and the conversation inevitably turned to the baby. Su Yiran looked up at Ting-ge and smiled, “The baby has been much better behaved recently. He hasn’t been moving around wildly, and if he does move, it’s very gentle.”

Gu Yuanting said gently, “He’s very well-behaved.”

Gu Yuanting looked at Ranran, listening to Ranran’s rambling about the baby, chatting with him as usual on the surface. But in reality, during this time, it was as if a heavy stone had been pressing on his heart.

Sometimes, waking from a dream in the middle of the night, it even suffocated him.

He knew that when Ranran said the baby wasn’t moving around wildly anymore, it was actually because the baby had grown bigger and had less space to move. Gu Yuanting had learned a lot about pregnancy and childbirth, not only reading many scientific popularizations but also watching many videos, popular forum posts, and various news articles.

The more he learned, the more afraid Gu Yuanting became.

But he couldn’t let his emotions affect Ranran. He had to suppress his emotions, burying all negative feelings deep in his heart. He tried his best to stabilize himself, appearing as if everything was normal and under control, to give Ranran a sense of security.

Gu Yuanting checked the time, calculated that half of Ranran’s walking time was up for the day, and said to Su Yiran, “Shall we go back?”

The two returned along the same path. Back home, with their walk over, Gu Yuanting didn’t let Su Yiran walk any more. He had him sit on the sofa and watch TV, then went to cut fruit to feed him.

When it was time to bathe and sleep, Gu Yuanting carried Ranran into the bedroom, gently placed him on the bed to sit, and stroked his little face: “I’ll go run the bathwater. Wait patiently.”

Su Yiran’s face flushed. He nodded: “Mm.”

Since his movements became inconvenient, Ting-ge wouldn’t let him bathe himself anymore. Every day, Ting-ge would personally bathe him.

Gu Yuanting went to the bathroom, ran the water, and tested the temperature with his hand. Then he returned to the bedroom and saw Ranran sitting obediently on the bed, waiting for him with a flushed face. He couldn’t help but feel his heart soften. He quickly walked over, lifted Ranran’s chin, and gently kissed him.

Su Yiran was dizzied by Ting-ge’s kiss. After finally finishing the kiss, Ting-ge lifted his T-shirt from below: “Ranran, lift your arms.”

Su Yiran blushed and obediently raised his arms, letting Ting-ge take off his upper clothing.

Gu Yuanting then squatted down to take off his shoes and socks, then also took off his pants, not sparing his underwear.

Finally, he scooped up the naked Ranran and placed him in the filled bathtub in the bathroom.

The water temperature was just right, and Su Yiran, half-lying in the bathtub, felt very comfortable.

Ranran’s body glowed white under the light. Gu Yuanting’s throat moved, and his eyes darkened, but when his gaze swept over his abdomen, the hidden passion subsided.

He took a breath and sat beside Ranran, beginning to bathe him. First, he gently wiped him with a wet towel, then lathered him with shower gel, and finally rinsed off the bubbles with the showerhead.

After bathing, Gu Yuanting lifted the wet Ranran out of the bathtub, wrapped him in a large bath towel, dried him off, then carried him back to the bedroom, placed him on the bed, helped him put on his underwear and pajamas, and made him lie comfortably under the covers.

After this bath, Su Yiran’s face was flushed. He sat leaning against the headboard, and seeing Ting-ge starting to put away the clothes he had just taken off, still holding his changed underwear in his left hand, he quickly turned his head, too embarrassed to look, and picked up the storybook on the bedside table.

Gu Yuanting put away Su Yiran’s clothes for washing—the outer clothes went into the washing machine, the underwear was hand-washed—and then took a shower himself. When he came out, he saw Ranran reading a story to the baby.

He first went to make a cup of milk and brought it over: “Ranran, drink your milk.”

Su Yiran “mm”-ed, took the cup, and finished the milk. Then he and Ting-ge read some small stories to the baby together, and sleepiness soon crept in.

Gu Yuanting saw the sleepiness on his face and quickly put down the storybook: “Time to sleep?”

Su Yiran nodded: “Let’s sleep.”

Gu Yuanting placed a soft pillow behind Su Yiran’s waist, turned off the light, and held him as they lay down. Su Yiran closed his eyes in bed, and sleep quickly overtook him.

Gu Yuanting held Ranran, finding it hard to fall asleep.

Su Yiran slept soundly, but in the night, he had a vaguely unsettling dream. When he woke up in the morning, the memories of the dream slowly surfaced in his mind, and Su Yiran’s expression gradually turned unpleasant.

Gu Yuanting saw his face was a bit pale and immediately became worried, asking anxiously, “What’s wrong? Are you uncomfortable somewhere?”

Su Yiran said, a little dazed, “I had a nightmare.”

“A nightmare?” Gu Yuanting held him, soothingly stroked his back, and gently kissed his forehead, “Don’t be afraid, dreams aren’t real. I’m right here.”

Su Yiran was still recalling the content of the nightmare: “I dreamed I was in a big house, participating in a candy-eating contest, and then I ate so, so many cilantro-flavored candies…”

As he spoke, he seemed to taste the flavor he had tasted in the dream, and his face wrinkled. He looked at Ting-ge, almost in tears, “Can you imagine? Cilantro-flavored! Candy! Oh my god…”

Gu Yuanting: “…”

He stroked Ranran’s hair: “It’s okay, that was just a dream.” His heart relaxed. He had just thought Ranran really dreamed something terrifying.

Su Yiran nodded, his face pale. For some reason, he hadn’t felt much while sleeping, and his impression of the dream was vague, but after waking up, the dream became vividly clear.

Thinking of cilantro-flavored candy, Su Yiran shivered. Too horrifying.

Even after getting out of bed and having breakfast, Su Yiran was still thinking about that terrible nightmare.

Gu Yuanting saw that his complexion was still poor and guessed why. He cut some fruit and fed it to him: “Have some fruit? It’s sweet.” After thinking for a moment, he added, “No cilantro flavor.”

Su Yiran: “…”

Su Yiran obediently finished the fruit, but it had no effect. The shadow of cilantro candy still lingered.

He forced himself to ignore it and said to Gu Yuanting, “I’m going to stream. This will be my last stream today.”

Since last month, because Ting-ge was very worried about him, he originally wanted him to stop streaming directly. Su Yiran felt that his energy was still fine and he was bored usually, so he refused to stop streaming. However, he reduced the streaming frequency to twice a week, and the duration became half an hour.

Recently, because he easily felt fatigued and lacked energy, he decided to stream one last time and would resume after the baby was born and he had recovered.

Gu Yuanting nodded and accompanied him into the cake room. Su Yiran made toffee during this live stream. It was finished quickly within half an hour. After saying goodbye to the audience, he ended the broadcast.

Then he logged into his Weibo account and posted a message: 【Dear viewers, my live streams will be paused for a while. I’m going to have a baby during this time [pink bunny smile], planning to return in September. Thank you all for your support [pink bunny smile]】

After posting on Weibo, Su Yiran didn’t pay attention to anything else and directly exited Weibo. What he didn’t know was that as soon as this Weibo post was published, the internet exploded.

He stared blankly at the freshly made toffee.

Gu Yuanting remembered Ranran’s nightmare from last night. He recalled Dr. Chen saying that during pregnancy, some people might experience clear nightmares due to anxiety about the future, leading to restlessness.

He became worried and, uncharacteristically, took the initiative to say, “Have two candies? They’re sweet.” He thought for a moment and added, “No cilantro flavor.”

Su Yiran hesitated, which was rare for him. The thought of cilantro and candy mixed together made him waver, but ultimately, he couldn’t resist the temptation of candy. He picked up a piece and ate it.

Mmm, sweet!

It has nothing to do with cilantro…

The sweet candy dispelled Su Yiran’s nightmare’s shadow. Unconsciously, he ate several pieces, and then several more.

Gu Yuanting originally indulged him, watching him eat, but seeing him eat piece after piece in a flash, he quickly stopped him, taking the candy from his hand: “Enough, Ranran, no more.”

Su Yiran looked longingly at the candy in Ting-ge’s hand, swallowed, but still controlled himself with great restraint, saying nothing.

Gu Yuanting, seeing Ranran’s pitiful look, couldn’t bear it. He bit off half the candy and ate it, then fed the remaining half to Ranran: “Last half piece.”

Su Yiran’s eyes lit up. After eating the candy, he couldn’t help but smile at Ting-ge, his lips pursed.

Gu Yuanting saw him smile, and his heart itched. He couldn’t help but cup his little face and lean down to kiss him. He tasted the sweetness of candy from Ranran’s mouth. Remembering that he also ate half a candy, he couldn’t help but ask Ranran in between kisses: “Am I sweet?”