Chapter 22

When Jiang Yimiao slept, she liked to put her two hands together on her stomach, or place both hands on her side, clutching the edge of her plush quilt in her palms.

Since she was a child, she liked to sleep with something soft in her hands, so she liked cute and fluffy items.

Even if the quilt she was currently covering was just a solid color quilt without any patterns, she still thought it was cute.

Jiang Yimiao maintained a straight posture every time before she fell asleep, it was the only way she could sleep.

But when she fell asleep, her sleeping posture would become a four-sided one.

Zhao Shuming pressed down on his swollen temples, he was sleepwalking again tonight.

He hadn’t had any work that had caused him much stress recently, but he still felt sick to his stomach.

Maybe it’s because his heart is starting to empty out and a sense of crisis has arisen, which has made him too tense in the past two days.

Zhao Shuming couldn’t remember what he did during his sleepwalking, but he woke up when his arm was paralyzed by the pressure of his own head, and he sleepwalked to her room like last time, then sat on the edge of her bed and fell asleep.

When he woke up, Jiang Yimiao was sleeping peacefully, Zhao Shuming squatted in front of her and quietly looked at her sleeping face for a while, the darkness of the room made his vision blurred, but his sense of smell seemed to have become even more sensitive, even when he squatted in front of her bed, he could see her face clearly. Even when he squatted in front of her bed, Zhao Shuming could smell her scent extra clearly.

Such an odor was like a visible smoke covering his eyes.

Zhao Shuming thought he was probably crazy to be lying in her bed.

But they used to be like that, every time he couldn’t sleep or was sleepwalking, Jiang Yimiao would always be there for him, even though she would fall asleep beside him in less than a few minutes.

Although Jiang Yimiao could not do anything about his insomnia, and would only let Zhao Shuming try to count the sheep to sleep, but she is the one who has always been with him sincerely.

Even if she may not love him now,…….

Zhao Shuming carefully laid down on the side of her bed, not covering the quilt, just wanting to be alone with this feeling of being in the same space as her.

Zhao Shuming thought that he might indeed be sick, every time he smelled Jiang Yimiao’s scent and sensed her presence, it was easier for him to fall asleep.

Zhao Shuming just wanted to stay here quietly for a while longer, but he didn’t expect to fall asleep just like that, even if his sleep was shallow.

So shallow that he was woken up just as Jiang Yimiao rolled over, and with that came her smashing hand.

Jiang Yimiao woke herself up.

Zhao Shuming held his breath, a little nervous for a moment, so nervous that his ear drums felt the beating of his heart. He lay peacefully still, pretending that he was sleepwalking before lying on her bed.

When Zhao Shuming thought that Jiang Yimiao would wake him up like last time, she suddenly got up and pulled the other quilt over, carefully covering him.

Zhao Shuming’s eyes were closed, and he couldn’t see Jiang Yimiao’s movements, so he could only judge her movements based on the rise and fall of the mattress and the sound of her breathing.

He didn’t open his eyes until the room returned to silence.

The air-conditioned room in the middle of the night was a bit cool, and Jiang Yimiao wrapped her entire body in the quilt, only exposing her head and hands. And her palms were now clutching the edge of the quilt.

She fell asleep again, and Zhao Shuming stroked the quilt she had covered him with.

This air-conditioned quilt Jiang Yimiao didn’t cover very often, and it had always been folded into a four-square shape and placed at the end of the bed.

But the quilt was still stained with her flavor. Zhao Shuming pulled the quilt up and covered the tip of his nose to quietly draw in the odor he was infatuated with.

He didn’t wonder why Jiang Yimiao didn’t wake him up, in everyday life, Jiang Yimiao was actually a very careful person, she knew that he didn’t sleep well and thought that it wouldn’t be good to wake him up when he had a hard time falling asleep, so she didn’t wake him up.

She even thoughtfully covered him with a quilt and held her favorite doll between the two.

Zhao Shuming rolled over and silently looked at her sleeping face.

They had become as close as they used to be, so close that she didn’t even realize how wrong it was for two people to sleep in the same bed.

Zhao Shuming didn’t know that he was dark, despicable and shameful, but it didn’t matter, if he could gain Jiang Yimiao’s sympathy and attention that was enough.

Wrapped in Jiang Yimiao’s scent and the sound of her breathing, which was so light that it was almost inaudible, Zhao Shuming had a rare and satisfying night.

The biological clock woke Zhao Shuming up earlier than Jiang Yimiao’s alarm clock, and he opened his eyes like a timed robot at 7:30 on the dot.

His body was a little hot and heavy, Jiang Yimiao’s doll had long since been squeezed somewhere, and half of her was pressed against him.

Just like when she was a child, every time she woke up from a nap, her posture was like a burnt shrimp – bent over on her side, her arms and legs pressed against Zhao Shuming’s body.

Jiang Yimiao always easily made him collapse. Zhao Shuming took a breath and used his hands to carefully lift her arms and set her legs again.

He quietly shook her hand and couldn’t stop the smile on his face as he watched her quiet and calm demeanor until he didn’t know how many minutes had passed before he reluctantly got up and folded the quilt.

Today is finally a good day, the fierce sunlight through the curtains to light up the room, alarm clock ringing like death, Jiang Yimiao rolled over on the bed in a circle, before turning off the alarm clock.

She opened her eyes in a trance before realizing that Zhao Shuming was no longer on the bed, and as she swept her eyes, the air-conditioned quilt had been folded into a four-square shape and placed in its original position.

She smelled the scent of soy milk when she came out of the bathroom after washing up, Jiang Yimiao plopped down by the wall, “Is breakfast ready?”

“It’s done, but it’s still a bit hot, so it might have to wait.” Zhao Shuming placed the plate with breakfast on the table.

Jiang Yimiao touched her somewhat sore and swollen neck and sat down on the chair, watching him unzip the cute apron with lace trim, “You sleepwalked again last night, did you sleep well in the second half of the night?”

Zhao Shuming was stunned for half a second, “Quite well, slept until I woke up naturally, but River, did you wake up in the middle of the night last night to find me?”

He paused and poured soy milk into her cup, “Why didn’t you wake me up.”

“I saw you asleep, it was not good to wake you up, I was afraid that you would lose sleep again in the latter half of the night.” Jiang Yimiao said honestly.

Her expression was self-effacing, because she did think so, and since they were simply lying on a huge bed, and nothing physical had happened, she was unwilling to disturb his dreams.

Of course, not everyone sleeping on her bed was acceptable to her, except for her mom and Zhao Shuming and Cheng Wenyao, she couldn’t accept anyone else lying on the same bed as her. She couldn’t accept anyone else lying in bed with her.

Jiang Yimiao took a bite of the bun, “Are you unhappy about something lately, or are you under too much pressure in your work life.”

Jiang Yimiao frowned, she remembered that Zhao Shuming sleepwalked the most during his senior year of high school, which was the most stressful time of his student life. However, she still had some trouble figuring out what Zhao Shuming had encountered recently.

He hooked the corners of his mouth and smiled, “No, life has been pretty good lately …… you know, this is genetic for me, my dad he also has sleepwalking.”

Sleepwalking disorder has nothing to do with dreams, so the medical profession calls it sleepwalking disorder, and sleepwalking disorder has a clear genetic tendency, Zhao Shuming is obviously inherited by his family.

It’s just that he really wasn’t too happy lately, but he didn’t say anything to Jiang Yimiao because all these happy and unhappy things were related to her.

“Well, it’s best if it’s okay, if you have something unhappy you can talk to me ah, although I don’t know psychology, but we are the best friends well.” Jiang Yimiao gently took a sip of soy milk, the temperature was just right.

“Best? Even better than Cheng Wenyao and you?” Zhao Shuming propped his head up and looked at her with a smile, the smile on his face clearly didn’t look any different from normal, but it had a very compelling meaning to her.

“This, this is different, there’s no comparison.” Jiang Yimiao bit her chopsticks, a little hard to say.

She could feel that her feelings for Zhao Shuming and Cheng Wenyao were actually completely different, just where it was different she didn’t know.

He put away the smile on his face and pretended to look sad, “Miao Miao has grown up and can lie, I’m not even the best person in your heart, right? ”

“Okay, okay, you are the best. What do you mean I can lie to people.” Jiang Yimiao bristled, protesting against his words.

Zhao Shuming lost his smile, “Alright, I won’t tease you. Sending you to the office this morning?”

“The weather is nice today, it’s not raining, I’ll take the subway.”

Before Zhao Shuming could say “Don’t worry about bothering him”, Jiang Yimiao explained, “I usually sit for hours at a time, my spine is almost broken. A ten-minute walk on the road is considered exercise for me, so let me take the subway to work by myself today.”

“Well, that’s fine.” Zhao Shuming had noticed that she had been pressing her neck and shoulder area lately, she did usually exercise too little, and he no longer insisted on driving her.

Jiang Yimiao was still going about her daily mechanical repetitive life, looking forward to Friday since Monday, as for the previous blind date she had long forgotten all about it, even if the other person’s looks matched her aesthetic, she didn’t have any desire to fall in love.

After all, the most important thing is to make money, Jiang Yimiao every day to calculate how much longer they have to work, in order to buy a set of their own house in the center of their hometown.

As a result, the other party contacted her again, and Guan Zhengyu wanted to ask her to go hiking on the weekend.

Jiang Yimiao looked at the raw conversation in the dialog box on her cell phone and collapsed on the sofa with a long sigh.

The evening sunset sprinkled a layer of golden light in the sky, and Jiang Yimiao twisted her head to stare blankly at the sky outside her balcony.

“Why are you sighing?” Jiang Yimiao wasn’t exactly a person who liked to sigh, Zhao Shuming sat beside her with some confusion, “Is something wrong at work again?”

Jiang Yimiao mechanically shook her head, “No.”

She twisted her head back and looked at Zhao Shuming, “Guan Zhengyu said that he hadn’t lived in South City for over ten years and was unfamiliar with the place, so he wanted to ask me to go out with him for the weekend.”

“How did he ask you to go out with him?” Zhao Shuming frowned, his tone breaking away from his usual mildness, “Doesn’t he have any other friends?”

Jiang Yimiao snorted a laugh, “How can you even guess this, he really doesn’t have any friends in South City, that’s why he looked for me ……”

Zhao Shuming choked and let out a somewhat breathless laugh, “So what do you think, do you want to hang out with him?”

She collapsed on the couch and shook her head, “I don’t really want to.”

“I’m so lazy, I don’t want to move, I want to be a rice worm at home.” Jiang Yimiao yawned.

“Be a rice worm?” Zhao Shuming originally thought that she didn’t want to go out with Guan Zhengyu because she wasn’t interested in him, but it turned out that she was simply tired of going to class and wanted to stay home.

But this was the first time he had heard the metaphor of being a rice bug from Jiang Yimiao.

“You’re like a rice ball, and I’m like a rice worm, waiting for you to feed me at home every day.” Jiang Yimiao and Zhao Shuming explained.

“Then you should reject him and be a good rice worm at home.”

“But I’m too embarrassed to reject him.”

Zhao Shuming looked down at his cell phone and opened the weather forecast to display it in front of Jiang Yimiao, “Miao Miao, there will be rainfall for the next fourteen days, so you can use the bad weather to reject him.”

Jiang Yimiao sat up straight from the sofa in a flash, came closer to look at the weather forecast, and gave a thumbs up towards Zhao Shuming, “You’re right, I almost forgot about this.”

She took out her own cell phone again and glanced at it, the forecast for the next two weeks were all rainy days, Jiang Yimiao hated going out on rainy days, “I’ll reply to him when it’s later.”

But Guan Zhengyu didn’t seem to see her point and said it would be good to go to an indoor attraction or the mall together.

Jiang Yimiao actually didn’t hate him, but she had just finished a big job a while ago, and she really wanted to lie at home for the whole day, waking up and eating and sleeping.

Jiang Yimiao was a bit annoyed, but she didn’t know how to reject Guan Zhengyu, so she could only think of waiting until she got off work on Friday before replying to him, and sometimes procrastination was simply a great way to solve problems.

In the last two days, the weather forecast predicted that it would rain, but it only rained for a short while and then became sunny again.

The sun was not so fierce in the evening, and the cicadas on the side of the road chirped alarmingly loud, Jiang Yimiao walked all the way home from the subway station while rubbing her waist, treating it as exercise.

Around the neighbors one after another began to cook, Jiang Yimiao in the corridor when I heard a very small frying sound.

There was a family of three on this floor, and the child was still in elementary school, often playing in the hallway with one of the children downstairs.

Jiang Yimiao glanced at the two children standing in the corridor secretly eating spicy noodles, was so cute that she couldn’t help but smile, she seemed to be like this when she was a child secretly eating spicy noodles.

Young is really good …… She silently lamented in her heart, opened the door of the house rare not living room to see Zhao Shuming, but the dining table has been set with fried dishes.

She leaned over the kitchen door to take a look, and Zhao Shuming wasn’t in the kitchen either.

Jiang Yimiao leisurely threw her bag onto the sofa, then quietly walked to Zhao Shuming’s room, she poked her head in, but found him lying on the bed.

Did he fall asleep from exhaustion ……

The curtains in his room were open, and the room was so bright that Jiang Yimiao immediately saw Zhao Shuming’s face and flushed ears as she approached the bed.

She subconsciously touched his forehead.

It was so hot ……

Her hand touched Zhao Shuming’s cheek, “Zhao Shuming, Zhao Shuming wake up.”

He opened his eyes with trembling eyelashes, in fact, Zhao Shuming slept in a daze, and he had been able to hear Jiang Yimiao’s words, “Miaomiao ……”

“Do you have a fever, how did you suddenly get a fever.” Jiang Yimiao had just walked a few hundred meters, the weather outside was hot, and along with it, her palms were still hot, but Zhao Shuming’s forehead was far hotter than her palms.

Zhao Shuming shook his head weakly, “It should be a fever.”

Jiang Yimiao hurriedly helped him up, and Zhao Shuming obediently sat up before his entire body collapsed onto Jiang Yimiao’s body with a loss of strength.

His face was pressed against her shoulder socket, and his hot body temperature was so hot that Jiang Yimiao shivered.