After I Woke Up to Find I Had a Wife - Chapter 5

By the time Lin You finished wrapping up her temporary work, it was already around four or five in the afternoon.

Lin You threw her arms wide, letting out a massive stretch. Ah… A succession of wild, uncontrollable yawns followed.

Ever since she retired from the military, it had been a very long time since she sat at a desk working like this.

Knock, knock. A tapping at the door interrupted Lin You’s moment of relaxation.

Instantly shifting back into the elegant, refined Head of the Lin family, she cleared her throat and lowered her voice to a deep, composed tone: “Come in.”

“Youyou, the Mistress has been asleep all afternoon. If she keeps sleeping, she won’t be able to sleep tonight. It’s a good time for you to take a break too, what do you think?” Auntie Gui stood at the doorway with her hands resting in front of her stomach, asking tentatively with a beaming smile.

Lin You tilted her head, pondering for a moment before agreeing.

Having received a satisfactory answer, Auntie Gui left in high spirits. Tonight, she was going to cook some delicious, nurturing meals to help the Mistress condition her body.

Lin You took a deep breath. Although she had told herself internally to be good sisters with Fu Xinran, how exactly were good sisters supposed to act?

Lin You stroked her chin thoughtfully, whipped out her phone, and searched the internet.

How do best friends interact?

The list was as follows:

When she is happy, laugh with her.

When she is sad, cry with her.

When she acts crazy, join the crowd and be crazy with her.

When your best friend has worries, treat her anxieties as your own and always stay mindful of her fragile inner heart.

When she is sick, be so anxious that you shed tears, wishing the pain were on your own body.

When she does something foolish, always be the first one there to protect her.

Know what she loves to eat and what she hates to eat.

Know when her heat cycle is approaching and always have suppressants ready for her.

Always be able to catch her drift and keep the conversation going.

…

Hiss. Being a best friend is actually pretty hard work.

Lin You vexedly tugged at her hair. Sigh, whatever. I’ll just cross that bridge when I get to it.

The webpage listed a massive wall of text, but to summarize: treat her well. To what extent? Figure it out yourself.

Because of this, she didn’t scroll all the way to the bottom, and naturally missed the very last line of text on the page:

Congratulations! If you have achieved all of the above, you will harvest a lovely wife. Wink

Following the System’s directions, Lin You found Fu Xinran’s room. She spent a good moment mentally preparing herself at the door before finally suppressing the anxiety in her heart.

She had truly never made friends with anyone outside of her military teammates, let alone a friend with such a complicated relationship. Her life was too hard.

Bringing her pointer and middle fingers together, she knocked gently on the door. Knock, knock. Then she waited quietly for a moment.

Hmm? Is she sleeping too deeply? Lin You knocked a few more times, but received no response.

Her heroic eyebrows knitted slightly. She opened the door directly and took a large stride inside, but saw no one.

Lin You walked over to the bathroom—it was empty too.

Shifting her gaze back to the bed, she saw the blanket was neatly arranged, but the pillow on the bed was missing.

Ah, could it be that Fu Xinran changed rooms today? Auntie Gui didn’t mention anything.

“System, help me locate her.” Lin You didn’t want to go downstairs to ask Auntie Gui, lest she happily receive a full nag-package about “not caring enough about your wife.”

The original owner deeply trusted and respected Auntie Gui, who had raised her since childhood. She allowed Auntie Gui to handle daily, trivial matters, which was obvious from the fact that Auntie Gui assisted Fu Xinran in managing the household.

Auntie Gui also doted on the original owner like a half-daughter. To avoid blowing her cover, Lin You made up her mind to face Auntie Gui as little as possible.

“Uh, Fu Xinran is resting in the Host’s bedroom.” The System scanned the area and located her.

“Aren’t they sleeping in separate rooms? Does Fu Xinran not loathe me anymore?” A massive question mark popped up in Lin You’s mind.

According to the plot, the relationship between the original owner and Fu Xinran at this stage shouldn’t be anything good. Could there be a deviation?

The sunlight filtered diagonally through the curtains, and a gentle breeze lightly stirred the window sheers. Fragmented patterns of light and shadow fell across the elegant, minimalist room.

A sleeping beauty lay on the bed, her body naturally curved on her side, revealing stunning lines. Strands of her hair were scattered across the silver-grey duvet cover, inviting endless fascination.

Lin You quietly pushed the door open, only to see the beauty lying on one side, using a pillow that didn’t match the color or style of the other side at all, though it still paired decently with the silver-grey bedding.

My best friend is truly gorgeous. Lin You unilaterally claimed the title of best friend.

Stepping forward with light, cautious steps, she stood by the bedside. She gently tapped Fu Xinran’s arm. “Ranran, wake up. It’s time to eat.”

Half-awake and half-asleep, Fu Xinran heard the voice and opened her eyes fuzzily. Seeing the person half-bent over standing by the bed, she jolted completely awake.

“What time is it?” Fu Xinran asked, her face flushed with a post-sleep rosy glow as she looked at a visibly worried Lin You.

“It’s almost five. If you keep sleeping, you won’t be able to sleep tonight.” Lin You’s expression was normal, but her tone was softened by more than two pitches compared to usual.

“I’ll head out first. Take your time to shake off the sleep, no rush.”

Watching Lin You turn to walk away, Fu Xinran fell silent for a brief moment. “Lin You, we need to talk.”

Hearing Fu Xinran’s slightly raspy voice, Lin You halted her steps.

Did I blow my cover? That’s impossible. The thought ran a lap through her mind, but her body turned around very honestly, quietly looking at Fu Xinran, waiting for what would come next.

Looking at Lin You standing in the shadows, Fu Xinran felt a sensation that was simultaneously very unfamiliar yet deeply familiar for a split second.

“The child… do you want it?”

The frigid, raspy voice hit Lin You like a bolt from the blue. She didn’t even care about keeping character anymore; she directly took two or three strides to Fu Xinran’s bedside and plopped right down.

Her handsome, striking face was filled with pure panic. Her hard-won calm heart began to thud wildly again. I haven’t even managed to become best friends yet, and I’m already about to bite the dust?!

Lin You let out a sudden wail, “The child is completely innocent! She didn’t do anything wrong!”

Fu Xinran was caught completely off guard by Lin You’s reaction. Looking at the pitiful person whose eyes were already welling up with tears, Fu Xinran felt as though she had suddenly traveled back to that afternoon when she was ten years old.

Back then, Lin You hadn’t presented yet. She was incredibly cheerful and generous, her radiant, unbridled smile deeply seared into Fu Xinran’s heart.

But after her presentation, Lin You became like a completely different person—almost turning into a machine that was terrified of anyone getting close, spending every single day buried in work.

Seeing Fu Xinran staring blankly at her, Lin You looked back expectantly. “Are you really thinking about not keeping the child? I can earn money to raise her!”

At this moment, Lin You completely forgot that she was the Head of the Lin family with countless assets. Even if she had a hundred children, she could easily afford to raise them.

“Even if… we have to sleep in the same bed from now on, can you endure it?” Fu Xinran askingly voiced the deepest question haunting her mind.

Lin You nodded in frantic agreement. As long as the child can be saved, what’s wrong with sleeping together! I can even hold you while we sleep!!

Fu Xinran’s fingertips tightened, fiercely clutching the blanket. Her arms trembled slightly as she took a deep, centering breath, staring at the person before her who was acting like a large wolfhound—looking up at her with earnest, pitiful eyes.

Fu Xinran’s direct, piercing gaze made Lin You’s skin crawl. Her hairs stood on end as she wondered blindly: Could it be that my answer still wasn’t enough to satisfy her?

Lin You immediately promised, “In the future, I will take good care of you and the child. I will absolutely never let either of you suffer any grievances, not even from myself. Let’s live a good life together from now on. The past is already in the past; the future belongs to us.”

Fu Xinran nodded but didn’t say a word, shifting her gaze away from Lin You’s face.

It wasn’t until she saw Fu Xinran’s retreating back as she left the room that Lin You finally let out a small sigh of relief.

Fiercely clutching her chest, she thought, That was too close. I almost bit the dust right there.

Back in her own bedroom, Fu Xinran stood in front of the mirror, her eyes flashing. “Does a child truly possess such a massive amount of magic?”

If she hadn’t caught the scent of Lin You’s pheromones, she really would have believed that Lin You had been replaced by some unknown person.

The difference was simply too vast. “Perhaps it’s a good beginning?” Fu Xinran murmured to herself. Marrying Lin You was something she had been willing to do.

But a stone that couldn’t be warmed, combined with Lin You’s shadow-like, tracking guilt, had previously made her feel utterly suffocated.

Remembering Auntie Gui’s reminder and not wanting Fu Xinran to go through too much trouble, Lin You directly and unilaterally announced the news of Fu Xinran’s pregnancy in the family group chat.

It instantly caused a massive explosion among the relatives.

A continuous barrage of red packets detonated from the top of the chat all the way to the bottom.

Festive emojis flooded the screen: “Congratulations to Eldest Cousin and Eldest Cousin-in-Law on your precious baby!”

Every single one she tapped open was set to the maximum financial limit for a transaction.

There were over thirty people in the family group, and a whole line of identical red packets filled the WeChat screen. Lin You happily collected tens of thousands of yuan in red packets.

“Is our family really this harmonious?” Lin You clicked through the red packets with immense joy. After all, in her past life, she was a notoriously unlucky person who, regardless of a red packet’s size, would at most pull eighty cents.

She absolutely loved these exclusive, custom red packets.

“This is the first time I’ve seen Cousin snatching red packets, and her speed is so fast too. It’s a bit hard to get used to.”

“Exactly, exactly…”

“Do you think everyone is like you guys? The most obedient child in our family is Youyou. She got married early, and now your sister even has a child, while you guys don’t even have a girlfriend. Aren’t you ashamed?”

“By the way, Lin the Third, look at yourself. How old are you? As your mother, I’m not even expecting you to get married anymore, but you could at least bring a granddaughter back for me!”

…

What followed was an endless barrage of marriage and childbirth nagging from countless relatives. The bustling family chat was completely packed with rows of sixty-second voice messages. Looking at it made Lin You’s scalp tingle, and she immediately closed the group.

It seemed that no matter which world you were in, being urged to marry was a terrifying ordeal.

Lin You admired the 15,000 yuan she had accumulated in red packets for a short while before deciding to forward the entire amount to Fu Xinran.

This would perfectly demonstrate a best friend’s thoughtfulness—just look at these abundant blessings!

Tapping open Fu Xinran’s avatar, she saw that their last chat history was a mutual “New Year’s Greetings” during the Spring Festival.

This paper-thin marital relationship truly made one feel helpless.

Even though I have an extra two ounces of meat down there that’s hard to accept, I really can’t stand people who marry a wife and still act like they’re the aggrieved party.

If you didn’t want to marry, you should have just refused directly. What are you putting on an act for?

It’s a total waste of everyone’s energy.

Fu Xinran’s phone buzzed. Tapping open WeChat, she saw a new incoming message, and she was even more surprised when she saw who had sent it.

An eyebrow arched up. Her slender, fair fingers tapped open the dialogue box, and what greeted her eyes was a transfer of 15,000 yuan, carrying a note that read: “Blessings from the whole extended family.”

Fu Xinran accepted the transfer and replied with a single question mark.

“This is the blessing money given to our child by the family group chat. I noticed you hadn’t collected them, so I helped you accept them first.”

Hearing Lin You say “our child,” a brilliant smile bloomed on Fu Xinran’s face, like the early spring sunshine—chilly yet profoundly warm. Mhm, her performance isn’t bad, Fu Xinran nodded with satisfaction.

As for their future life, she found herself feeling a tiny bit of anticipation.