Chapter 113: A Family’s Composure
A shy Su Yuqing looked incredibly cute, stripped of the weary maturity that had settled upon her after so many misfortunes.
Instead, she had a touch of a young girl’s delicate charm.
This was the demeanor she should have at her age. Seeing Su Yuqing gradually return to how a normal girl should be, Chen Mo felt a great sense of relief.
’No matter how tired I am, as long as I can see her getting better, it’s all worth it.’
The moment Chen Mo’s thumb touched her Tianchi Acupoint, the pad of his finger registered a soft, intoxicating sensation.
At his touch, Su Yuqing immediately curled her toes in shyness.
Her feet unconsciously bunched the sofa blanket into a swirl of wrinkles. Her coral-pink toenails peeked through the beige fabric, like early cherry blossoms trembling in the snow.
Her forearms suddenly clenched at her sides, and her body rose and fell with her quickened breaths.
"If you’re not comfortable, we can do this another time." Chen Mo’s hands were pinned between Su Yuqing’s arms and her side, leaving them immobile. He thought she was resisting the massage and immediately tried to pull away.
"N-No... it’s fine," Su Yuqing replied, her voice barely a whisper. "It’s just a little ticklish. I’ll get used to it."
At the same time, she relaxed her arms, freeing Chen Mo’s hands.
"Then it won’t be ticklish if I press a little harder," Chen Mo said, a smile in his voice. But despite his words, his fingertips actually lightened their pressure.
This particular acupoint wasn’t meant to be massaged with heavy pressure anyway.
He saw her right ear, peeking out from behind the pillow, twitch. It was clear she was doing her best to endure the sensation.
Still, Chen Mo was too embarrassed to linger in that area for long.
Once he’d spent enough time on it, he quickly moved on.
After finishing the main massage, Chen Mo worked on relaxing her back one last time.
As the heel of his palm kneaded out the knots near her shoulder blades, Su Yuqing suddenly arched her foot.
A muffled groan escaped from deep within the pillow, laced with a nasal whine like a kitten’s whimper.
Chen Mo’s gaze swept over the hem of her shirt, which had ridden up to her lower back. The exposed skin flushed red under his touch, like white porcelain slowly being infused with cinnabar.
Mesmerized, Chen Mo’s knuckles paused for a split second in the small of Su Yuqing’s back.
Then, his eyes drifted to the mounds hidden nearby beneath the hem of her skirt.
However, he was truly too embarrassed to help with the area that came next.
He pulled his hands back, wiped the sweat from his brow, and stood up.
"Get up and move around a bit. See how it feels." Chen Mo gave Su Yuqing a gentle smile. "If anywhere still feels uncomfortable, let me know, and I’ll work on it some more."
Her face already as red as an apple, Su Yuqing lifted her head from the pillow. She didn’t dare look at Chen Mo, simply doing as he said by standing up and moving around a little.
At that moment, she felt as if she had a whole new body.
Before, her body had felt so heavy, but now it felt wonderfully light.
"I feel so relaxed! Your technique is amazing," Su Yuqing couldn’t help but praise, looking at Chen Mo.
"If you like it, I can give you a massage once a week from now on," Chen Mo said with a smile. "Once a week is the ideal frequency. Any more is bad for you, but if you wait too long, the fatigue builds up again."
Hearing this, Su Yuqing was about to nod in agreement, but the lingering sensation of Chen Mo’s fingers near her Tianchi Acupoint made her flush with shyness, leaving her at a loss for words.
While she was lost in thought, Chen Mo had already prepared two glasses of warm milk.
"You can’t have cold drinks after a massage. You need something warm to promote circulation and help relieve fatigue. Take a hot bath in a bit, and I guarantee when you wake up, you’ll feel even more relaxed than you do now."
In the quiet of the night, when a man and a woman are alone in a room, a sudden silence is the most dreaded thing.
After he spoke, they both held their glasses of warm milk and suddenly fell into a quiet rhythm of sipping.
They seemed to be watching the television, but both kept stealing glances at the person beside them.
Their two hearts were already close, yet shyness kept them near yet far.
After finishing their milk, they each returned to their rooms to wash up and prepare for bed.
Watching Chen Mo close his door, Su Yuqing’s mind kept replaying the scene from two days ago when they had slept in the same bed in his room.
His pleasant scent and the inexplicable sense of security he provided kept replaying in her mind, refusing to fade.
’The feeling of falling asleep while surrounded by that reassuring scent... I really want to experience that again.’
’I just don’t know when I’ll have another chance, or another excuse, for it to happen.’
After taking a hot bath and lying down in bed, Su Yuqing began scrolling through videos about professional massage techniques.
’Next time, I’ll show him my skills. I want him to experience this wonderful feeling of total relaxation too.’
It was only because she had experienced it firsthand that she knew just how relaxing it was to have a professional work out all the tension in her body.
She wanted the man she loved to experience this wonderful feeling as well.
In his bedroom, Chen Mo washed up and went straight to sleep.
It was a habit he’d formed back when he was a frontline criminal detective. Opportunities to sleep in a proper bed were rare, so you had to take them whenever you could.
He only scrolled through his phone during his actual downtime.
Besides, he had been mentally exhausted lately. Now that he had confirmed there was a professional watching over the house—one even he had difficulty detecting—he could finally get a peaceful night’s sleep.
The main reason was that in the previous timeline, Chen Mo hadn’t been interested in anything except finding the cause of Su Yuqing’s death. As a result, he’d never paid much mind to the person who had been protecting him for quite some time.
Back then, Chen Mo had been so paranoid that he was suspicious of everyone, including this guardian. It wasn’t until his parents produced evidence that the man had been watching over him at the time of the incident that his suspicions began to fade. Furthermore, he learned the man had suffered a life-threatening injury to a vital part of his body years ago, rendering it non-functional. Only then did Chen Mo completely drop his suspicion.
Because they had never met face-to-face, and he had only heard a few snippets of information from his parents, Chen Mo had subconsciously overlooked this guardian who had never officially appeared before him since his return.
Of course, now that Chen Mo had the man’s contact information, he could ask him to watch over Su Yuqing’s safety if he ever had to leave the house alone. This would be a precaution in case the timeline "corrected" itself and forced the unknown killer to show up at their door.
Right now, Chen Mo was seeing enemies in every shadow.
He knew, logically, that a culprit who had evaded all investigation must be extremely cautious and meticulous—unlikely to be foolish enough to come knocking at their door. But his anxiety made him willing to ignore a part of that logic.
It was the only way to be absolutely, completely sure.
That night, both Chen Mo and Su Yuqing slept more soundly than ever before.