Early the next morning.

When Gu Xingyi woke up, all he felt was soreness and numbness throughout his body—especially his entire arm, which seemed to have lost all feeling.

Dazed, he opened his eyes and discovered that at some point, Xia Xiyao had snuggled back into his arms again. Her whole body was clinging to him like an octopus.

And as for Xiao Nainai—no one knew when, but she had somehow flopped sideways and ended up sleeping at the foot of the bed.

"..."

Gu Xingyi was speechless. These two had nearly identical sleeping postures—neither of them slept properly!

Originally, he'd been sleeping quite soundly, even having a nice dream. But halfway through, the dream turned into a sleep paralysis nightmare. Now, seeing this scene, the mystery was finally solved.

Using the only arm still free, Gu Xingyi scratched his head and carefully shifted his position to sit up slightly. That helped ease some of the numbness in his body.

But this small movement seemed to displease Xia Xiyao.

Her soft, fair little face scrunched up, her lips pouted, and she let out a soft whimper before scooting in even closer to him, hugging him tightly once again.

Gu Xingyi froze on the spot.

This early in the morning?!

She's trying to start something for real!!!

He couldn't take it! No way he could take it!

Gu Xingyi felt like he was suffering beyond belief.

He glanced toward the foot of the bed, where Xiao Nainai was still sleeping soundly—and his expression turned into a mask of agony.

Rubbing his nose, Gu Xingyi thought to himself, Nainai is already three years old now! Not that little anymore!

Maybe... it's time for her to have her own room!

With that in mind, Gu Xingyi carefully tried to extract the arm that Xia Xiyao was using as a pillow. It felt completely numb—as if it didn't even belong to him anymore—so he had to use his other hand to help lift it out.

Maybe sensing that her "pillow" had vanished, Xia Xiyao's lashes fluttered, and a moment later, she slowly opened her eyes. She lifted her head groggily, looking at Gu Xingyi with a bit of sleepy confusion, her entire expression incredibly cute and innocent.

As soon as their eyes met, Xia Xiyao snapped wide awake!

Gu Xingyi didn't move. Xia Xiyao froze, too—her arms and legs were still draped across his body. Realizing the position they were in, her face instantly flushed bright red, even her ears turning crimson—like a shrimp just dropped into boiling water!

Gu Xingyi blinked. Xia Xiyao scrambled off of him in a panic, turning her back toward him and not daring to look his way, her heart pounding wildly.

Oh no! What if he thinks I did it on purpose?!

Biting her lip, Xia Xiyao curled up into a ball like an ostrich. She even heard the sound of Gu Xingyi gulping behind her!

Gu Xingyi was seriously struggling now. He needed to splash his face with cold water—immediately—to calm himself down!

Any guy waking up to a delicate beauty snuggled up to him like that, and being unable to do anything about it—would be absolutely devastated!

Gu Xingyi quickly got up, hunched over, and darted out of the bedroom like a puff of smoke.

Only after hearing the door close did Xia Xiyao finally breathe a sigh of relief. She gently patted her burning face, her eyes full of mixed emotions.

It seemed that ever since Gu Xingyi started sleeping in the master bedroom, she'd been unconsciously climbing into his arms in her sleep. She clearly remembered lying properly on the other side of the bed when she fell asleep...

Not to mention, Nainai was in the middle too!

Thinking of Nainai, Xia Xiyao suddenly froze. She quickly sat up—and there, sprawled out alone at the foot of the bed, was poor Xiao Nainai.

……

This...

Xia Xiyao pursed her lips and carefully picked up Xiao Nainai, placing her back into her original spot on the bed.

She kissed Nainai's little cheek and smiled softly.

Looks like it's time for Nainai to have her own little room too!

Gotta say, in this matter—their thoughts as a couple were perfectly in sync!

When Gu Xingyi came out after washing up, Xia Xiyao happened to walk out of the bedroom as well. Her loose pajamas completely concealed her graceful figure, and Gu Xingyi touched his nose, feeling a bit regretful inside.

After all, he was her husband—shouldn’t he have taken a few more looks just now?

But he quickly shook off such pervy thoughts. If he was going to look, he’d do it openly and justifiably one day!

Noticing Gu Xingyi’s somewhat strange gaze, Xia Xiyao glanced at him and silently headed to wash up herself.

It was still early. Normally, this would be the time for Gu Xingyi’s morning run, but he wasn’t planning to go out today. Since Xia Xiyao had finally come back, he wanted to spend more time with her.

Plopping down on the sofa, Gu Xingyi pulled out his phone. He wanted to check the theme keyword for the first round of the StarSong Gathering finals.

Xia Xiyao never told him these things proactively—he had to be more self-aware.

But when Gu Xingyi saw the keyword for the first round, he immediately froze. What the hell?

Tragedy? Horror atmosphere?

Are they kidding?

Is this the kind of keyword a proper show should use?

Gu Xingyi’s lips twitched. He never expected the keyword for the finals’ first round to be something like this.

Just then, Xia Xiyao finished washing up and came out of the bathroom. Gu Xingyi looked up, confused.

“The keyword for your StarSong Gathering finals is ‘tragedy’? ‘Horror atmosphere’? Who came up with that?”

Hearing this, Xia Xiyao walked over to the sofa and sat down, nodding.

“Mm~ Each keyword for the finals is personally decided by the director. No one knows what it will be.”

Gu Xingyi frowned. He felt like that director had to be out of his mind!

If Ren Chao knew what Gu Xingyi was thinking, he’d probably cry. He didn’t want this either—it was hard for him too!

But it was his teacher who insisted again and again.

And his teacher… was a veteran horror film director.

A teacher’s command was the hardest to disobey, especially in the eyes of the older generation, where a teacher was like a father. Ren Chao didn’t want to let his master down.

Besides, even though this genre of song wasn’t mainstream, it could test the songwriter’s skill from another angle!

Of course, Gu Xingyi knew none of this. Since the keyword had already been set, he could only rack his brain for ideas.

He really hadn’t listened to many songs of this type.

It was the first time Xia Xiyao saw Gu Xingyi frowning while composing. So he did have moments of difficulty—unlike before, when every song seemed to come to him effortlessly.

Seeing this side of Gu Xingyi made him feel more real to her. Xia Xiyao raised her hand and gently smoothed the frown between his brows.

“No need to rush. No matter what, the two of us will work hard together. As long as we have no regrets, that’s enough.”

As her soft fingers brushed over his brow, a warm current seemed to flow through Gu Xingyi’s heart. He looked up and saw Xia Xiyao gazing at him seriously and gently.

Fresh-faced after washing up, Xia Xiyao looked more beautiful to him than ever.

Under Gu Xingyi’s direct and intense stare, Xia Xiyao’s face began to warm. She didn’t understand why he was looking at her like that just from one sentence. That gaze, aside from admiration, looked like he wanted to eat her up.

So weird, Gu Xingyi!

But the next moment, she no longer found it weird at all!

Because in her eyes, Gu Xingyi’s face suddenly moved closer, and then soft warmth landed on her lips. Xia Xiyao’s eyes widened in surprise, even blinking twice in disbelief.

What was that? A sneak attack?

Gu Xingyi had now fully understood—when it came to his dear wife, things like cold showers to calm down were total nonsense!