Your Highness, your wife doesn't want you anymore!

As the old saying goes, once the Laba Festival is over, the New Year is just around the corner. In the blink of an eye, it's New Year's Eve.

Aunt Qing returned to her hometown early for the Spring Festival. This year's New Year's Eve dinner was cooked and prepared by Jin Si Nian and her grandmother Liu Xin Lan.

Nan Zhi sat alone on the living room sofa, staring at the closed kitchen glass door. There was a note on the door that read, "Pregnant women are not allowed to enter."

She thought to herself that Kings was really naive.

He could only watch the two of them busy inside through the transparent glass. Jin Si Nian caught a glimpse of her peeking around and waved to her through the glass. His deep voice came through the crack in the door: "Sit still and wait. Dinner will be served soon."

Just then, the phone rang in the living room. It was Mrs. Jin calling. Nan Zhi picked it up and stammered a soft greeting, "M-Madam."

On the other end of the phone, Mrs. Jin's tone was tinged with suppressed displeasure. She cut to the chase: "Where is Si Nian? Give him the phone."

Nan Zhi glanced at Jin Si Nian, who was wearing an apron and washing vegetables, and replied truthfully, "He... he's cooking in the kitchen."

Madam Jin's tone instantly turned somber, filled with grievance: "I prepared a full table of New Year's Eve dinner at the old house. It's one thing that you don't want to come back, but Si Nian hasn't shown up either, and even Si Wen is nowhere to be seen today."

Nan Zhi was slightly taken aback, not expecting that her elder brother, Jin Siwen, had not returned to the old house to spend the New Year with her.

While he was still in a daze, Jin Si Nian heard the phone ringing in the living room. He quickly wiped the water off his hands, and without even taking off his apron, he strode out and gently hugged Nan Zhi from behind, his nose brushing against her cheek. His voice was gentle and magnetic: "Zhi Zhi, who called?"

Nan Zhi turned her head slightly and whispered, "Mrs. Jin."

Jin Si Nian's expression instantly turned cold. He took the phone from Zhi Zhi's hand and went to the outdoor terrace to answer the call: "Mom, I told you a long time ago that I won't be going back to the old house this year. It's enough for you to have my older brother with you."

Looking at the table full of untouched delicacies, Madam Jin felt a deep sense of desolation: "Where has Siwen gone? None of you brothers are coming back. I raised you all, and now I don't even have anyone to share a New Year's Eve dinner with."

"Si Nian, I have now accepted Nan Zhi. You should all go back to the old house and reunite."

Jin Si Nian's tone was uncompromising: "No need. Even if you acknowledge Zhi Zhi, Zhi Zhi has never truly accepted you as her mother-in-law."

"You'll be spending New Year's Eve alone this year, next year, and every year after that."

"Don't worry, I will not fail to fulfill my filial duties. I will bring gifts to visit you during festivals, but we will not go back for New Year's Eve dinner."

"I won't say any more, I still need to have New Year's Eve dinner with Zhizhi and her grandmother." With that, he hung up the phone decisively.

Back in the living room, Jin Si Nian tossed his phone onto the sofa and whispered to Nan Zhi, "Don't answer her calls anymore."

Nan Zhi looked up at him, her heart softening as she asked, "Is it really... okay to leave her... to spend the New Year alone?"

Jin Si Nian led her to the table laden with dishes, his smile gentle: "What's wrong with that? Look, the whole table is full of your favorite dishes."

"Grandma specially stewed a rich soup with the free-range chicken she brought from the countryside."

Liu Xinlan carried out the last large bowl of duck tripe. The table was full of dishes, and every dish took into account Nanzhi's dietary restrictions during her pregnancy, with no seafood and no peanuts that could cause allergies.

She has her loving grandmother, Jin Si Nian who always indulges her, and two unborn babies in her womb.

And happiness.

It was almost 10 p.m., and Nan Zhi was still curled up on the sofa with the remote control, watching the Spring Festival Gala.

Jin Si Nian looked up at the clock on the wall for the third time and gently advised, "Zhi Zhi, it's time to go upstairs to sleep, it's too late."

Nan Zhi gripped the remote tightly, shaking her head and pleading, "No, I won't sleep."

Jin Si Nian said with a helpless smile, "You're seven months pregnant now. Staying up late is bad for your health. Even if you're not sleepy, the two little babies in your belly need to rest."

As he spoke, he reached out to hug her, but Nan Zhi nimbly flipped away and stammered in defense, "Grandma said that we can't sleep on New Year's Eve, we have to stay up all night."

Jin Si Nian turned to look at Liu Xin Lan, who was sitting under the lamp knitting a scarf and occasionally glancing at the Spring Festival Gala. His eyes were filled with a questioning look, as if he were asking his grandmother if there was really such a saying.

Liu Xinlan lowered her head shyly, then laughed and exposed the child, saying, "This child is just talking nonsense."

In the past, on New Year's Eve, it was just the two of them, the grandmother and granddaughter. She was lonely, so she coaxed Zhizhi by saying that she had to stay up all night to keep watch over the year. Even though the little girl was so sleepy that her head was drooping, she would stay up to keep her company. However, she would always fall into a deep sleep before ten o'clock.

But now that the child has grown up, this excuse is no longer effective.

Now they're actually using this as an excuse to fob off Jin Jingnian.

"Did you hear that? Grandma said there's no such rule." Kings chuckled, bent down, and steadily picked the person up, heading straight upstairs to the bedroom.

The bedroom was warm and softly lit, and several intimate kisses fell upon Nan Zhi, leaving her dizzy and weak all over.

Jin Si Nian was very careful and dared not do anything reckless. Knowing that she was pregnant with twins, he dared not be too wild. He only showed her gentle affection and stopped when he felt comfortable.

Nan Zhi gently pushed him away with her soft little hands against his chest, and asked in a muffled, stammering voice, "Big... why didn't Big Brother go back to the old house... to be with Madam?"

Jin Nian lowered his head and planted a kiss on her smooth forehead, his tone indifferent: "I don't know, I can't control him."

"I guess he went to the villa where he used to live with Miss Lu, revisiting an old haunt and feeling sad alone."

Nan Zhi paused, then asked softly, "Then... are you going back to the old house tomorrow?"

Jin Si Nian picked up a strand of her soft hair and brought it to his nose to smell it. She had taken a bath before dinner, and her body was filled with a faint fragrance of bathwater.

"Zhizhi, you forgot that we're going to visit Grandma tomorrow. If we don't go see her, she'll scold me again."

"Then, what about the day after tomorrow?"

"I have guests coming to visit the day after tomorrow, so I can't leave."

"The day after tomorrow, it should be okay, right?"

Jin Si Nian pinched her puffed-up cheeks helplessly: "You have a yoga class the day after tomorrow, and you've already missed several. The doctor specifically advised that more exercise is good for childbirth."

The mere mention of yoga class caused Nan Zhi to instantly wilt, collapsing into the bed and completely lacking any energy.

Now her belly is round and swollen like a full-bodied ball. When she does stretching exercises in class, her body is clumsy and slow, and every movement is extremely difficult.

Looking at my clumsy and awkward reflection in the mirror during class last time, I felt a pang of sadness; the harder I tried, the more heartbroken I became.

Nan Zhi buried her head in the pillow and shook her head sullenly in refusal: "No, I don't want to go."

Jin Si Nian reached out and gently rubbed her protruding belly, coaxing her helplessly, "Why don't you want to go?"

"I've already paid the registration fee, it would be such a waste not to go."

He pressed his palm against her warm belly, his tone softening: "Move around more, so you'll suffer less when you give birth. I'll go with you, so why don't you go?"

Looking back on the entire prenatal yoga program, he only missed one class, after which Zhizhi and she missed classes together.

Nan Zhi fell silent.

Jin Si Nian had no choice but to scold the babies in her belly: "Mommy wants to skip yoga class, so you two aren't allowed to make a fuss when you come out."

"Come out obediently, don't make Mommy sad."

"Don't let Mom suffer!"