The next day, Ye An's life returned to normal, or as normal as it could be when sharing a bed with Xi Chen. With her head still nestled on the crook of Xi Chen's arm and enveloped in the warmth of his body heat, Ye An slowly stirred awake. She savored the feeling of Xi Chen's fingers brushing through her hair as her eyes blinked open sleepily and laid their gaze on him. Xi Chen seemed to have been awake for quite some time. Ye An wondered briefly if he had been watching her since then with those honey-colored eyes. She had to admit that something in her heart fluttered at the thought. Ye An shared a languorous smile with Xi Chen followed by a soft kiss on the lips. Xi Chen then planted another kiss on her forehead as she scooted closer to him. 

Ye An had thought that it would feel awkward to share a bed, and a blanket, with Xi Chen but it was all unnecessary worrying. Both of them were so knackered by the time they finished their meal last night that they fell asleep the moment their heads hit the pillow.

"Good morning." With his fingers still caressing Ye An's unbound hair, Xi Chen was the first to speak, his voice still husky from sleep. "I never realize how soft your hair is."

Ye An reached a hand out of the blanket and started playing with Xi Chen's hair too. "Says the man with silky smooth hair."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Xi Chen grinned and then raised an eyebrow. "Also, I didn't know that you snore in your sleep."

Ye An's hand left Xi Chen's hair to hit him on the chest. "No, I do not!"

"Oof!" Xi Chen immediately curled in on his wound.

Realizing what she had done, Ye An was immediately awake and clambered into a seating position. "My goodness! I'm sorry! How could I forget about your wound?!"

Xi Chen, while smiling through watered eyes, merely said, "I guess that's what I get for making a joke so early in the morning. Lesson learnt."

Ye An started to fuss about in concern. "Let me see. Is your wound alright? Are you bleeding again? Auntie Yu Lan is going to be so mad if you are." She gently pushed Xi Chen so that he was back on his back and started unraveling his top to inspect the bandage wrappings.

Xi Chen's lips curved into a smile of a thousand suns. He grabbed Ye An's fretting hands and placed it over the thick bandage draped across his chest. "I have to admit that watching you being so worked up about my wellbeing feels nice. I don't think I'll mind it if you hit me again as long as I get to watch you worry about me."

"Don't joke about that. I feel bad enough." Ye An frowned.

Xi Chen reached another hand out to smooth Ye An's frown lines. "Alright, alright. I won't joke about that. I'll listen to anything you say as long as we both shall live, my night sky."

Ye An didn't even have the chance to process the term of endearment that Xi Chen had casually tossed at her when a quiet knock was heard at the door.

"Let me get that." Reluctantly, Ye An left the cozy cocoon of Xi Chen's warmth. The reluctance was also mirrored by Xi Chen in the way his fingers held onto hers which he only let go when Ye An was absolutely out of reach.

"Good morning, Miss An."

"Oh, good morning, Auntie Yu Lan." Ye An greeted the elderly woman warrmly when she saw that it was Auntie Yu Lan at the door.

Auntie Yu Lan had on a mischievous grin as she asked, "I gathered that you slept well last night?"

For some reason, blush crept over Ye An's face. "Uh- Yes.. Um, are you here to check on Xi Chen?"

"Ah, yes. I'm dropping by for a quick check up before I go about my business."

"Welcome in." Ye An stepped aside and invited Auntie Yu Lan in.

At the sight of Xi Chen's disheveled top, Auntie Yu Lan's face was a picture of impish intrigue. "My, my. I guess it slipped my mind to tell you that you shouldn't be doing any vigorous activities."

"We- We didn't." Ye An stuttered from behind Auntie Yu Lan as the elderly woman helped Xi Chen into a sitting position and started removing the dressing over Xi Chen's wound with deft hands.

Auntie Yu Lan let out an amused chuckle as she examined the wound, tickled by the nerves in Ye An's stutter. "Hmm.. I guess the slight shift in the bandage wrappings might've just been an accidental jostle. But I was the one who left the food by your door yesterday. And it was fortunate that I volunteered to do that last minute. The canteen helper would've been as shocked as a bear caught in a bear trap if she were the one who sent the food."'

Even though they were both adults, without knowing exactly what Auntie Yu Lan saw or even heard, Ye An and Xi Chen could only hold their tongues and were together a perfect mimicry of children who got caught doing something they probably shouldn't do.

Auntie Yu Lan continued, "Well, I understand. I was young once. All of the excursions I had with Ruliang when we were your age.." Auntie Yu Lan suddenly turned bashful from a memory no one else could see. "But, wasn't that a weird position to be in when kissing?" She asked as she re-dressed Xi Chen's wound.

Xi Chen choked. Despite his bold declaration yesterday, the barely concealed frantic in his eyes showed how he truly felt about Auntie Yu Lan possibly seeing or hearing what they were doing yesterday. "Weir- weird position? What position?"

"Well, you-" With a jut of her skinny chin, Auntie Yu Lan pointed at Ye An as she put on the finishing knots of the bandage. "-were just standing over him. Isn't that an awkward position to be kissing someone? With one standing and another sitting and facing a different direction. Or maybe I'm just old and know how creaky my bones will get from that stance." Auntie Yu Lan shuddered at the end of her sentence as if imagining the pain and aches that her joints would have suffered.

Both Ye An and Xi Chen exchanged a covert gaze and finally let out a heave of relief that no one would have noticed if they weren't looking. So, Auntie Yu Lan only saw the first kiss. Ye An thought. That was a relief.

"Anyways-" Auntie Yu Lan raised her neatly-trimmed grey eyebrows. "Keep the activities until after he's completely healed, alright? My wrappings are always immaculate and won't move around unless there were some over-enthusiastic movements."

"Y-yes, of course." Ye An stammered and Xi Chen nodded sheepishly. With that, Auntie Yu Lan left the hut and they were alone again.

As their eyes met, Ye An and Xi Chen burst out laughing.

"I was so scared for a moment." Xi Chen admitted. "I felt like I was a child again and it was my grandma reprimanding me."

"Well, I'm just thankful that it wasn't someone else who could've spread their discovery." Ye An entire body quivered. "I don't think I'd be able to stand being the center of everyone's gossip. I've already had enough experience of those back in the capital for a lifetime."

The rest of the morning was mercifully uneventful as they headed to the school together after a hearty breakfast at the food hall. Xi Chen was content with just sitting at the edge of the small roofed pavilion where classes were held. He had his hands splayed behind him as he leaned back and relaxed, watching Ye An teach new letters to the children as the morning sun rose to noon. Never once did his eyes left her.

"You're actually quite good at this." Xi Chen complimented Ye An when she finally had the chance to sit by him when the children had a short break to kick ball and play at the field.

"I think you're just biased because you're in love." Ye An teased.

Xi Chen laughed good-naturedly. "Well, that might be true. But I actually do think that you're a good teacher. I've had many instructors during my military training and the ones who are liked and respected the most by every cadet are those who treated their students with respect. And you are able to do that naturally. You speak to them as if they are adults. And I think they appreciate it even though they probably won't tell you that until they're grown."

"Hmm.." Ye An thought about for a bit. "Maybe."

"Do you ever want to have children of your own?" Xi Chen suddenly asked.

Ye An was perplexed by the unexpected change in the direction of their conversation. "I- I've never given it much thought." 

"Oh?" Xi Chen adjusted his posture so that he was facing Ye An and leaning towards her. "Why?"

Ye An stared at her feet when she answered. "Well, I can't- I can't give birth to children. At least, I don't think I could. I've been taking tonics since I bled for the first time when I was thirteen and it had been disrupting my womanly cycles. Now I barely bleed at all." Suddenly remembering her conversation with Auntie Yu Lan weeks ago, the one where the elderly woman advised her to ask for Xi Chen's hand in marriage, Ye An realized that this was her chance. She took a deep breath and looked straight into Xi Chen's eyes. "Despite that, I would still like to ask if- if- If maybe-"

Ye An couldn't do it. How could she ask him to marry her when she probably wouldn't be able to bear him any children. He had never shown any desire to have children of his own but don't all men want it and expect that of their wives? How could Ye An tie him down to her when she couldn't give him anything? She's not even sure if she was still the emperor.

Xi Chen watched Ye An, his eyes soft as he asked quietly. "Would you like to marry me?"

Ye An was startled speechless by this. Her mouth gaping like a fish out of the water, but no words came out of it.

Xi Chen rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously at Ye An's lack of response. "Maybe I should try again? I- Uh- Would like to ask for your hand in marriage, Lee Ye An. And I'm asking this from a man to a woman."

Ye An didn't answer right away, she merely asked, "Don't you want any kids?" 

Xi Chen's eyes shone with nothing but devotion to Ye An when he answered, "I don't mind either way. I just want to be with the woman I love. I just want to be with you, my night sky."

+* Thanks for reading! Please vote, comment, and follow if you like the story!*+

Writer's note: The way I spent 2 days and 2 nights to think about what's XC's term of endearment for YA would be. FYI, if you didn't catch it from Book 1 or you've forgotten about it (understandable because yours truly started this series back in 2020 lol), Ye An in Chinese/Mandarin is 夜安 which stands for peaceful night so that's where XC's "my night sky" comes from hehe ok bye