Chapter 10

Xia Wenhua suddenly found it hard to breathe.

Because they had a lot of luggage, and Pei Songbai wanted the two children to be comfortable, he had bought tickets for all of them—so their family was the only one in this sleeper compartment.

People bustled past outside, which only made the quietness in here more noticeable.

In her past life, before she got sick, Xia Wenhua had been a bold and carefree modern woman—one who loved food, fun, and had no taboos. Teasing the young men around her occasionally wasn’t a big deal. Who would’ve thought she’d casually flirt with Pei Songbai—and get a reaction?

Seeing that Pei Songbai had no intention of letting it slide, Xia Wenhua quickly raised her hands in surrender.
“Uh… just pretend nothing happened, okay? Like you didn’t hear a word of it?”

Saying something too fast was satisfying for a moment—but explaining it later was a nightmare.

She didn’t even want to think about how feeble and powerless her excuse sounded. Would Pei Songbai just let it go?

Pei Songbai glanced at the two kids, who had fallen back asleep and showed no sign of waking. His mind drifted to the subtle warmth hidden in Xia Wenhua’s words these past two days. Then he suddenly looked up.

“‘Big sister loves me’? Comrade Xia—no, Xiao Wen—how exactly are you going to love me, hmm?”

He took a step forward, closing the distance between them, yet still left space for her to retreat. His tone was deep and meaningful.

He could feel Xia Wenhua’s genuine desire to live a good life. The woman had clearly thrown him a line, and if he kept retreating, he’d be too much of a coward.
(Side note: Songbai, dear, are you really sure Xia Wenhua is “throwing you a line”?)

The intense scent of masculine hormones filled the space in front of her. Xia Wenhua, caught off guard by her own failed provocation being turned against her, instantly blushed red.

When he saw she didn’t back away—and more importantly, that her eyes showed no disgust—Pei Songbai was encouraged. He reached out and gently pulled her into an embrace.

Adult emotions often come swiftly, yet sweetly. A handsome, composed, and gentle man like Pei Songbai had been right in front of her every day. As a once powerful CEO, Wenhua had already been moved long ago.

Now that their feelings were finally out in the open, even the air seemed to turn sweet.

Xia Wenhua didn’t let him be the only one to take the lead. She wrapped her arms around Pei Songbai in return, and when she felt his body stiffen in surprise, she mischievously tickled his waist.

As expected, the man stiffened like a rock. Xia Wenhua burst out laughing.

Thankfully, Pei Songbai had bought a soft sleeper compartment, which they had entirely to themselves—so no one was around to interrupt.

Being teased like that, Pei Songbai’s expression grew more and more rigid. Feeling the physical reaction from his body, he quickly grabbed Xia Wenhua’s hand.

“Stop it—this isn’t the place!”
His tone was serious.

But when Xia Wenhua glanced at a certain part of him after he spoke, his entire face flushed beet red.

“You… you!”

He had never encountered a woman this bold before. Pei Songbai felt like ever since they had finally talked openly, Xia Wenhua had become a completely different person from the one he thought he knew.

Xia Wenhua gave him a flirtatious glance.
“What’s wrong, Comrade Pei Songbai? You don’t like me this way?”

That same “Comrade Pei Songbai”—when she used to say it before, it always carried a sharp, ironic tone. After all, they were married, and that kind of distant formality made it feel worse than strangers.

But at this moment, hearing her say it like this, his whole body tingled.

Turns out, even a formal title could sound seductive when said by the right person.

Raised in the countryside, single since birth, and even after marrying had no real experience with women, Pei Songbai’s brain completely shut down.

Still, some primal instinct in him compelled him to reply to Xia Wenhua’s question:
“I like it. I really like it.”

Usually not good with words, Pei Songbai said this under Xia Wenhua’s teasing. It only made the air in the room grow more intimate and charged.

In Xia Wenhua’s words: if it weren’t for the inconvenient location, they would’ve already started some “romantic exercise.”

Unfortunately, as new parents with kids in tow, they didn’t have the luxury to think too far ahead. Their romantic moment didn’t go beyond the embrace—because they were quickly pulled back to reality by the sound of a child’s voice.

“Daddy, Mommy, what are you doing?”

“Dummy Chenchen, they’re hugging without us—I want hugs too!”

At the sound of their little voices, both Pei Songbai and Xia Wenhua instinctively jumped apart and turned to see the two boys—already wide awake and watching them from the bed. Who knows how long they’d been spying?

“You two little rascals, when did you wake up? Why were you sneaking around and not saying anything?”

Unlike the flustered Pei Songbai, Xia Wenhua had no trouble adjusting to the “mom” role and wasn’t the least bit embarrassed by the kids catching them in a hug.

She walked up, tugged their noses, and casually scooped them off the bed.

The two boys had been sleeping on the lower bunk on the left, feet-to-feet, just enough room for them to share the space—saving everyone a lot of effort.

Being children, they didn’t dwell on things. They were just curious about the hug earlier. But once distracted, Pei Xiangchen instantly got up and shouted:

“Mommy, pee-pee! Chenchen needs to pee!”

Just an hour younger, Pei Xiangguang took his usual role as the tag-along and added:
“Guangguang needs to pee too!”

Well, that was it. The two little troublemakers were awake, and any lingering romantic thoughts needed to be shelved.

Exchanging a glance, Pei Songbai quickly picked them up and headed out.
“You stay here and watch the luggage. I’ll take them to the restroom.”

Time on a train is dull and monotonous. Luckily, the journey from Gu County to Heilongjiang Province, where Pei Songbai was stationed, had a direct train—so even though it was long, there was no need to transfer, which made things much easier.

They would be on this train for three days and three nights.

On the first day, the two kids and Xia Wenhua were excited. They chattered non-stop in the carriage, full of curiosity.

By the final day, none of them—never having ridden a train for this long—had any energy left.

Their food supplies were running low. Although the restroom here was better than the one in the hard-seat cars, it was still a hassle. Xia Wenhua and the children didn’t even want to drink water anymore just to avoid going.

No matter how beautiful the scenery outside was, none of them wanted to move to the window.

Even someone like Xia Wenhua, who had endured hardship, found herself defeated by this endless train ride.

She could hardly imagine what it would’ve been like if Pei Songbai hadn’t bought soft sleeper tickets. The trip would’ve been a nightmare.

She took a deep breath and finally voiced the question that was on everyone’s minds:

“Songbai, when exactly are we going to arrive at your place?”