Free Web NovelChapter 195: Chapter 195: A Sleepless Night
Shi Lan couldn’t help but bury her face in her blanket, cheeks burning. ’Private this, private that...’
She never expected the romantic He Hanshi to be so different from his usual prim and proper self. He really knew what to say...
Shi Lan’s heart hammered in her chest. She gave a soft huff, her voice muffled by the blanket. "Suit yourself."
He Hanshi’s laughter grew even softer, as if muffled by cotton, as if he were holding a piece of candy in his mouth. Seeing her bright red ears on the screen—a detail she hadn’t noticed was visible—his smile widened. "Alright. You should get some sleep, Lanlan. Good night."
"Good night."
Shi Lan peeked up at him, her voice soft as she replied in kind.
After they ended the call, a smile lingered on her lips as if she’d just eaten an overly sweet dessert. Still not the least bit sleepy, she rolled over a couple of times in bed before her eyes landed on a gift box on the nightstand.
It was the gift Yan Huoshui had given her tonight.
When she got home, however, she had been busy tidying up her room and making her bed, and had taken a shower on top of that, so she had completely forgotten to open it.
Shi Lan sat up and picked up the gift box.
You could tell just by looking at it that this was no ordinary gift. The black box was decorated with gold foil and gave off a faint floral scent.
She opened the box. Inside was a rather unique bracelet.
The bracelet itself was a silver chain, but dangling from the center were numerous teardrop-shaped, gem-like crystals. They were mostly red and blue, with two white ones mixed in, creating a beautiful effect.
Shi Lan ran her fingers over it. The crystals felt cool and smooth, like jade. As she touched them, her eyes widened slightly in surprise.
’If I’m not mistaken, these aren’t gemstones. They’re Energy Stones.’
The red ones were Red Crystal, and the blue, Blue Crystal. She didn’t know what the white ones were for, but in any case, the moment the bracelet touched her skin, it didn’t have the icy chill of a typical silver chain.
Shi Lan quite liked it, so she had no intention of refusing Yan Huoshui’s kind gesture.
It was different with Leo. With Leo, she still felt like he was a stranger, or at best a casual acquaintance she didn’t want to get too involved with. But she considered Yan Huoshui one of her own and wasn’t against growing closer to him.
Shi Lan fastened the bracelet onto her wrist. She flicked her wrist playfully for a moment, watching the red and blue crystals catch the light. A magical-looking liquid seemed to swirl within them, and staring at it for too long felt almost hypnotic.
Before she knew it, she had fallen asleep.
The lights automatically dimmed to a gentle, sleep-conducive glow, and the room fell silent.
At half past midnight, Shi Lan was already lost in sweet dreams, but several others on Capital Star were still wide awake.
Eager to heal his leg as soon as possible, Yan Huoshui had impatiently climbed into his Treatment Pod just after midnight.
He closed his eyes to begin the treatment, but his mind was busy imagining Shi Lan’s reaction to his gift. ’I wonder if she likes the bracelet.’
Then again, the first thing she noticed when she visited his home was the Red Crystal on the pillar. She clearly had a fondness for these shiny Energy Stones.
’She’ll probably like it.’
Meanwhile, Jiang Xia, who had just returned to the Jiang family estate, was being coddled by his parents and relatives. After they took turns comforting him, he was coaxed into eating a mountain of food. Without Shi Lan there to keep him in check, he accidentally overindulged. Feeling uncomfortably full for once, he even went for a short run in the courtyard.
The moment Mr. Jiang saw him running, he burst into tears, wailing that his son had suffered so much. To think he had to run after a meal! He even lamented that, in the past, Jiang Xia had a robot to push a chair for him wherever he went.
Jiang Xia tried to recall, a bit bewildered. ’Was I really that lazy back then?’
Du Yi spent a good while comforting Mr. Jiang, after which the two of them couldn’t resist hugging Jiang Xia and crying all over again, as if him running after dinner were the greatest injustice in the world.
Heaven knew, all Jiang Xia had done in prison was eat and sleep. He had only forced himself to develop this habit on Yaoxing to keep from getting fat and losing his appeal to Lanlan.
Jiang Xia rushed to explain to his parents that he hadn’t suffered in the slightest. It took quite some time for their tears to finally subside. Needless to say, he wasn’t able to continue his run. Instead, he ended up eating two more desserts.
Now, lying in bed and rubbing his stomach, Jiang Xia finally felt a little less stuffed.
He hugged the blanket, habitually bringing it to his nose for a sniff. When he couldn’t find the familiar scent, he buried his face in the pillow instead.
After nuzzling them for a while, it dawned on him: he wasn’t at Lanlan’s house anymore. The bedding didn’t carry the fragrance of her laundry detergent, nor did it have any trace of her scent.
Jiang Xia’s eyes suddenly grew red. They had only been apart for a day, and he already missed Lanlan.
He checked his comm chip, but seeing how late it was, he couldn’t bring himself to disturb her. In the end, looking utterly dejected, he rummaged through his bag, pulled out the rose-scented shampoo Shi Lan had given him, and hugged it to his chest. He then changed into the pajamas Lanlan had bought him, which finally helped him feel a little more settled.
The beds on Yaoxing had been simple, at least to Jiang Xia and Mu Tangfeng. They lacked automatic controls to adjust their firmness to a person’s body, and the sheets and duvet covers were nowhere near as comfortable as the silk and satin they were used to at home.
Not to mention, they occasionally had to sleep on the floor.
Yet, now that he was finally back in the home and bed he’d slept in since childhood, Mu Tangfeng was also tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.
He was wearing a set of luxurious, custom-made pajamas, a seasonal item his parents had specially prepared for him. In this age of mechanization where human labor and creativity were expensive, even his sleepwear boasted exquisite craftsmanship, and many of his clothes were still made by top artisans.
This was all because his parents knew how picky he was.
So they always prepared these things far in advance. Even when he wasn’t home, his closets were kept fully stocked with the clothes he would need for every season of the year.
But, having grown accustomed to the cotton pajamas he wore before, he suddenly found the silk sleepwear to be uncomfortable.
And his bed at home felt a little too soft, too slick.
Mu Tangfeng sat up, frustrated. He kicked his own bed a few times and grumbled, "What’s wrong with this thing? How am I supposed to sleep when it’s this soft?"
The mechanical bed, unfortunately, couldn’t talk back. But if it could, it would have pointed out that it was professionally calibrated to the most comfortable settings for Mu Tangfeng’s exact body shape, designed to provide the highest quality of sleep.
Mu Tangfeng almost gave in to the urge to dismantle the bed. Tugging at his silk pajamas, he suddenly remembered his luggage.
When he had arrived, his mom had seen his luggage, taken it from him with a pained expression, and, he recalled, left it on the sofa downstairs.
He hurried downstairs. Seeing his luggage still sitting safely on the sofa, he breathed a sigh of relief.
’Thankfully, everyone in my family knows I don’t like people touching my things.’ Otherwise, if his mom had seen some of the clothes inside, she would have surely deemed the fabric too coarse and thrown them out.
Mu Tangfeng did a quick check and found nothing missing, which improved his mood slightly. Then, as if carrying a treasure, he brought his luggage back to his room.
He changed into the pajamas Shi Lan had bought, made himself a new pallet on the floor, and placed his beloved vase in a prominent position.
Breathing in the scent of jasmine perfume wafting from the vase, he finally felt a hint of drowsiness.
Ye Ming, however, was different. He had no intention of sleeping at all.
