Aunt Xiangzi, how did you manage to live?

However, before Mutsumi could even feel happy about Akira's concession, he added a supplementary clause—

"However, we need to keep at least half a meter apart!"

"...Half a meter away?"

Mu tilted her head, somewhat puzzled. She really didn't understand why Xiao wanted to distance herself from her to this extent.

After all, in Wakaba Mutsu's opinion, if you like someone to the point of wanting to become family with them, then simply sleeping in the same bed shouldn't be a big deal.

However, Xiao thinks this kind of logic is completely nonsense.

The night was getting late. Even though he was reluctant to share a bed with Mu, the thought of being greeted by Mu's pitiful little face if he turned around and left still made him grit his teeth and climb into Mu's bed.

That's exactly what happened now.

If the Ye family didn't have pajamas that fit Xiao's size, even Mutsumi's loosest long-sleeved pajamas would look at least two inches too short on him, not to mention that Xiao didn't want to wear girls' pajamas—

Under Mu's insistence, he surrendered unconditionally, obediently changed his clothes, and lay down on the very edge of the soft bed.

The bedroom lights were quickly turned off, and Mu lay down on the bed. Silence enveloped him, and he could even feel his heart beating rhythmically in his chest.

Calm down, this is nothing serious.

The girl lying next to him wasn't a cute girl around his age, but rather his heroic mother, Mutsumi Wakaba, who would adopt him in the future and raise him single-handedly—stop thinking about such nonsense.

He closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down, while simultaneously reconstructing past memories in his mind, attempting to distract himself in this way.

He did have some harmonious experiences of sharing a bed with his wife during his childhood.

In the period immediately after being adopted by Mutsu and brought back to the Wakaba family, Akira was afraid to sleep alone, yet she still felt a sense of unfamiliarity and difficulty in getting close to Mutsu.

He was too awkward to reveal this, but one night he silently grabbed Mu's sleeve as Mu was about to leave.

The woman, who seemed taciturn and aloof, saw through his needs and quietly held him through one difficult night after another.

So it seems that things were the same back then as they are now.

Once you sink into the soft, comfortable bed, it's hard to pull yourself out. The blankets are filled with the unique, faint fragrance of Ruoye Mu. When you close your eyes and relax your mind and body, you will be subconsciously surrounded by something called a sense of security.

This truly feels like home.

"...?"

However, before he could fall asleep, a tugging sensation from the sleeve of his right hand brought him back to reality from his half-awake, hazy state.

"Since Xiao came here, has she been keeping Li Xi and the others company?"

He turned his head and could see the girl's face, backlit by the moonlight, with her bright, blinking eyes staring intently at him.

"While I wasn't paying attention."

Even though Xiao had consciously kept a distance of about half a meter between them, Mu still silently reached out and crossed that boundary, grabbing his sleeve.

Just like when he was a child, he grabbed Mu's sleeve without saying a word.

"........."

Xiao was momentarily lost in thought, but he quickly realized that Mu was awkwardly trying to show him his concern.

Could it be that Mutsu feels apologetic for overlooking Akira's difficulties because he hadn't noticed his predicament before?

...He's such a considerate guy, he goes a little overboard.

"No. When I first arrived here, I was completely unfamiliar with the place and everyone, and Xiangzi even mistook me for a burglar. You know that, Mu?"

"Ah."

Mu didn't say anything more, but just nodded seriously.

"So, back then, everyone's attitude towards me was pretty much the same. Not to mention that they completely regarded me as someone sent by the Toyokawa family to try to win back Shoko's Su Shi by forming an alliance with me. Even Riki didn't give me a good look at first. But I understand. When faced with a stranger who suddenly appears in your life but is very secretive about his or her affairs, I probably wouldn't be careless either."

"However, Xiao was still a little unhappy about it."

"Well... personal feelings and logical assumptions can be viewed separately. I am indeed a little upset, after all, everyone in this century still has the same face I remember, only a bit more youthful and beautiful. But how did Mutsu know? I shouldn't have shown any negative emotions in front of you... Hmm."

Xiao is good at using bluffing and witty remarks to cover up her guilty conscience when her secrets are exposed, while Mu is good at something else entirely.

"Some things can be heard even if they are not spoken."

Lying on her side, she gently took the boy's hand and then tenderly guided it to press against the soft spot above her chest.

"Even if you can't hear with your ears, you can hear it here."

Through the warm fabric of the girl's pajamas, a steady rhythm could be felt quietly throbbing beneath her body.

Ruoye Mu's expression remained unchanged; the clear moonlight bathed her face, revealing no hint of blasphemy.

Chapter 41 The Mother and Son of the Wakaba Family

A precarious situation.

The current situation is completely unfavorable.

It's like finally getting to the point in a visual novel, when you've chosen the right option to open a girl's heart time and time again. And then comes the much-anticipated bonus scene.

Logically speaking, sharing a bed with a beautiful girl and whispering sweet nothings is a golden opportunity. If the atmosphere is just right, it wouldn't be out of the question to do something that makes your heart race and your face blush...

But the people around him were harmonious.

She is the heroic mother, Wakaba Mutsumi, who raised her single-handedly in another parallel universe.

Bathed in moonlight, the girl lying on her side looking at herself had a quiet tenderness in her eyes. Even the most dull and slow-witted person should realize just how heavy her boundless and limitless feelings were.

Those who frequently play visual novels should be aware that in this situation, different choices lead to key points in the storyline.

But real life isn't a visual novel, and real-life girls aren't the kind of girls who automatically appear as romance options just by saying hello.

Furthermore, if this life were truly a visual novel, Xiaozhen would want to remove all these option boxes and throw them to the winds. No one can romance Mutsu, not even herself.

Even if you're as shamelessly blushing and your heart is racing as Xiao Chunan, you should stop now.

If someone's heart races and they have impure thoughts just looking at their mother's face, wouldn't they be a sinner? No, this is an absurd, superhuman act of oppression that defies all reason.

Even as she felt an incredibly real sensation on her hands, Xiao still closed her eyes in pain.

The beautiful girl disregarded social boundaries and gently placed his hand on her soft breasts—this was good manners.

But this beautiful girl is the woman who will become his mother in the future; this is bad civilization.

If one were to blush, have a racing heart, or experience a rush of blood to the head because of such an unexpected stroke of good fortune, then that would be the worst of the worst civilizations, and even being subjected to slow slicing or being torn apart by five horses would be a fitting punishment.

In the end, driven by her last remaining moral compass, Xiao withdrew her hand from Mu's chest while reason still prevailed.

"I'm so glad you care about me... but there are some things it's better not to do."

"what's up?"

"...like this situation right now."

He pointed to the bed, and Mu blinked as if he understood but not quite.

"But I only let Xiao into my bed."

So that's the real problem!

"...Even if it were a real mother and child, they couldn't sleep in the same bed. Even Mutsu from before wouldn't have done that."

"Didn't Xiao ever need me to lull her to sleep when she was little?"

"Of course such things exist—but that's not the main point."

Xiao touched her temples, where veins were bulging, with a bit of a headache. She felt that Mu was like a newborn calf, completely unrestrained and irresponsible when it came to the boundaries between men and women.

"If I could do it before, why can't I do it now?"

"Mu wouldn't have slept with me when I was sixteen or seventeen."

"Well, okay... then let's treat this as a special case."

Mu seemed a little disappointed.

"I just want to be closer to Xiao."

They are closer in every sense.

After all, when two people are physically close, their hearts will inevitably draw closer as well.

"Moreover, Li Xi has said similar things before..."

She lowered her head and remained silent, while Xiao belatedly began to ponder what Mu meant by Li Xi's words.

"You mean... what Lixi said, that she would try her best to take care of me as a host in this time and space, and make me feel like I'm back home?"

"Ah."

Mu nodded vigorously.

"This should clearly be my responsibility."

Because everyone else can only become Xiao's aunt in the future, and she is Xiao's only legitimate relative, so she should naturally bear more responsibility and obligations... right?

Xiao roughly understood Mu's logic.

"I was supposed to take care of Xiao, but Lixi and the others beat me to it..."

Moreover, she couldn't stop Xiao from nearly losing her life under the wheels of a car while protecting Xiangzi.

Mu didn't say the last sentence aloud, but the loneliness and regret that flashed in her eyes when she lowered her head already told her what she was thinking.

"If it were Xiao's mother, she would definitely protect you."

So that's where her dilemma lay.

Mu knew very well that Xiao's frequent advances towards him in the beginning were because she in another parallel universe had given him enough care and companionship—but he in this world had clearly done nothing.

She passively accepted the boy's unconditional kindness, neither protecting his personal safety nor understanding him as a reliable companion.

The other self in that other world accomplished things that the current her could never do, and was someone she could only look up to and could never catch up to.

Ultimately, this guy was just making things difficult for himself.

Thinking about this, Xiao felt a bit amused and exasperated.

"But Mu is not my mother now, so there's no need for her to protect me."

He even seriously lifted the blanket and gestured to show off the muscles on his arms.

"If I had to say, it should be me protecting Mutsu! It must be fate that brought me to Mutsu's side at this age, so that I could repay a debt of gratitude!"

"But I hadn't noticed how much Xiao had suffered before..."

"It's okay, I don't care at all. Anyway, I'm lying here peacefully next to Mu. And after you learned the truth, you didn't think I was some self-righteous freak, did you?"

He grinned. Making girls happy wasn't Xiao's signature skill, but boosting Mu's mood seemed to be an innate, latent code etched into his DNA.

"So, let's stop dwelling on the past. We have plenty of time to create stories that are completely different from the past—in completely different identities. That's what I want to do most right now."

He soothed Mu's uneasy mind with a gentle tone, just like a gentle old father calming a child's wild thoughts.

Perhaps without either of them realizing it, their identities had subtly been swapped.

The girl who should have become a mother has become a sensitive child who needs care, while the boy who should have been a son has unknowingly become her support.

What kind of relationship the mother and son of the Ruoye family will develop in the future is currently unknown to them.

Chapter 42 Mother's Love Deteriorates Before Filial Piety

Before traveling to this time and space, Ruo Yexiao never dreamed that she would have the opportunity to open her heart to He Mu and have a long talk like this.

Now an adult, he and his middle-aged mother, Wakaba Mutsu, don't have many things in common. Although their relationship is relatively warm, the age gap between family members still creates a common barrier.

Regardless, he always hoped that Wakaba Mutsumi could have the best life—whether it was Wakaba Mutsumi in any parallel universe.

“To create different stories with completely different identities… I understand.”

In front of him, the girl who looked the same as her mother but whose features and contours were noticeably more youthful and immature nodded.

"However, I don't mind if Xiao occasionally confides in me."

"Inner voice...?"