Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

"That's right—what your mother means is, we won't talk about that earlier business anymore. I'm asking what you were up to just now," Mother Zhou said with a smile. "Let's talk about something else."

"Oh, Mom!" Zhou Yanning's face flushed red, like a child caught in a lie by her parent.

"This girl—grown as you are, and still so shy." Mother Zhou laughed. "Jiajia, how are things between you and Yang Minlan?"

"Pretty good," Zhou Yanning said cautiously, head lowered.

"So have the two of you done that yet?" Mother Zhou watched her, asking with a half-smile.

"Done what?" Zhou Yanning blinked, then understood her mother's meaning, and her face grew even redder. She did not dare lift her head.

"From the look of you, I'd say not yet. Still, from what I've observed, the other two girls have likely already been intimate with Yan. With you and him, it's only a matter of time." Mother Zhou's tone turned grave and earnest. "So, as your elder, there are some things I still need to remind you of. I'm not opposed to this sort of thing, but I won't encourage it either—you make your own decisions. Just be sure to be careful and don't get pregnant."

"Mom, what are you saying!" Zhou Yanning covered her ears, unable to bear another word. She had never imagined she would one day discuss such a topic with her mother. Then, suddenly, something struck her as odd, and she asked in confusion, "Mom, you said I haven't yet been with Yan?"

Embarrassing as the question was, Zhou Yanning was desperate to know the truth, and so she forced it out.

"What's wrong? Is my judgment off? Don't tell me you and Yan have already—" Mother Zhou glanced at her daughter and asked in surprise.

"I—I don't know either. After I was injured, it seems a stretch of my memory just vanished, so I'm not clear exactly how far things have gone with Yan." Zhou Yanning shook her head. She herself did not understand much, and so she had no idea whether she was still a virgin—but her mother's words had suddenly filled her with doubt.

"Is there nothing serious about this amnesia?" Mother Zhou was instantly alarmed, her expression shifting as she looked at Zhou Yanning anxiously. "Why didn't you tell me before?"

"Mom, the doctor said it's only partial amnesia—just that I can't remember a period of time before the injury. It doesn't affect anything else," Zhou Yanning said. "It's not a big deal, so I didn't mention it."

"So that's it. You silly girl, you scared your mother half to death." Mother Zhou breathed a sigh of relief. "As long as you're all right."

"Mom, then what about me and Yan—" Eager for an answer, Zhou Yanning hurriedly prompted her mother.

"Well then, let your mother take a look and check for you," Mother Zhou said, seeing her daughter's anxious face. She had no idea what the girl was so worked up about, but she said it all the same.

"Th-then go ahead and check," Zhou Yanning said, blushing as she nodded.

"Mengyan, why—why have we come back again?" Lin Yanhe had followed Chen Shutang back to the room and asked, sounding a little disappointed.

"That Yang Cen—the very sight of him makes me angry." Chen Shutang gave a huff. "Zhou Yanning's mother finally comes to visit, and Jiajia ought to be keeping her company, but Yang Ce dragged her off to make mischief. Honestly, that man—let him go reflect on his behavior on his own."

Lin Yanhe sighed. Still, no wonder Mengyan was angry—on a night like this, Yang Ce couldn't hold himself back and had to go pester Jiajia, without even worrying that Jiajia's mother might find out.

Seeing that Lin Yanhe said nothing, Chen Shutang mulled it over until her anger faded. She looked up at Lin Yanhe and asked hesitantly, "Sister Lin, have I gone a bit too far? The past two days the three of us have been together the whole time—even if Yang Ce wanted to, he had no way to get close to us. Tonight Jiajia finally had a moment alone, so how could he pass up the chance? Looked at that way, what he did is only reasonable."

"I feel the same. Yang Shuoxuan had no idea the two of us would come looking for him," Lin Yanhe said with a nod.

"You—you little traitor, you always take Yang Yanzhou's side." Chen Shutang tapped Lin Yanhe on the forehead and laughed helplessly. "A moment ago you must have been cursing me inside."

"I was not!" Lin Yanhe shook her head quickly. "You're the elder sister. Whatever you do, naturally I do the same."

"See? That sentence just gave you away. You didn't want to come back at all—you only followed me because I'm the elder sister, isn't that so?" Chen Shutang teased, smiling as she squeezed Lin Yanhe's hand.

"I—" Lin Yanhe lowered her head. She had indeed very much wanted to stay just now.

"All right, off you go, or Yang Ce will start getting impatient and blame me again." Chen Shutang pushed at Lin Yanhe's shoulder, trying to shoo her off the bed.

"Mengyan, why don't we go together?" Lin Yanhe said, her little face reddening as she squirmed.

"I won't go. I was the one who led the charge out of there—if I went back now, wouldn't he mock me for it?" Chen Shutang smiled bitterly. "You go on your own."

"But—" Seeing that Chen Shutang would not go, Lin Yanhe felt uneasy.

"You go today, I'll go tomorrow—will that do?" Chen Shutang added, seeing Lin Yanhe hesitate.

"Well, all right then. Mengyan, I'm going," Lin Yanhe said, still a little embarrassed.

"Enough, stop dawdling here," Chen Shutang urged, seeing her expression.

Only then did Lin Yanhe put on her slippers and leave the room, looking back at every step. Watching her go, Chen Shutang sighed. All this time she had always styled herself Yang Juehuan's proper girlfriend and always wanted to be first—but now that she had won that place, she found that being the senior wife was so very hard.

She could not indulge Yang Ce too much, yet she could not be too cold to him either; she had to balance the relationships between him and the other girls as well. Tonight, for instance—did Chen Shutang not want to be with Yan herself?

But if she did not set an example, the household would likely turn upside down before long. She did not want Yang Ce sinking too early into the pleasures of the fairer sex and neglecting what mattered.

So Chen Shutang wanted to set limits for Yang Puqi, to keep him from running wild—yet fearing she might leave him with the impression that he could presume on her favor, she had no choice but to sacrifice her own interests and yield some opportunities to the others.

Chen Shutang sighed and curled up alone beneath the covers, a glint of crystal sliding from the corner of her eye. This, perhaps, was what they meant by every gain bringing a loss. Lin Yanhe made her way cautiously to Yang Juehuan's door and wanted to push it open, but after a moment's hesitation, she knocked instead.

Yang Ce was sulking when he suddenly heard footsteps again in the corridor. He quickly used his ability to look, and seeing that it was that girl Lin Yanhe, he was overjoyed—ah, little Yun'er still cares about me. All his usual kindness to her had not been in vain.

Yang Ce sprang from the bed, and when Lin Yanhe knocked, he flung the door open.

"Ah!" Lin Yanhe jumped, one hand to her chest. Only when she saw it was Yang Ce did she relax. "What are you doing? You scared me to death."

"Hey, so it's Zhiyun. I had no idea you were outside the door," Yang Xu said innocently. "It's a long night and I couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd step out for a stroll and see if I might find something. Little did I expect that before I even left the room, the something had come to me."

"I—" Lin Yanhe's face reddened slightly, and she said softly, "I just wanted to see whether you were asleep. Nothing more. I'll be going now."

Yang Ce chuckled and caught hold of Lin Yanhe. "Have you ever seen a sheep walk into a wolf's mouth and get spat back out?"