248 — New Year, I Plan To Cherish Only You

They were losing themselves in the passionate kiss when they heard a knock on their door.

It was Li Yuchen who had come to inform them that it was almost midnight and everyone else had reconvened in the living room.

Pei Yueran pushed Li Chuanmo away in her haste, and due to the force, both of them ended up falling to the floor, hitting the wooden part of the bed and causing a hollow noise to ring out in the process.

Li Yuchen was startled at the sound and he called out, "Did something happen?"

Pei Yueran quickly replied in the negative and said they were coming, while Li Chuanmo smiled in amusement.

As she hastily tidied her outfit, her mouth kept talking incessantly, "I told you not to do anything, now see. What if Yuchen walked in on us?"

Li Chuanmo help her dress properly, then made her sit down in front of the vanity as he ran a brush through her glossy hair, "He won't do something like that, he knows better than to barge in. Besides, we weren't doing anything wrong."

Pei Yueran almost rolled her eyes. Just because they were not doing anything wrong did not mean that what they were doing was right. At least, it was neither the right time nor the place.

"By the way, what were you thinking of so seriously the other time?" Li Chuanmo asked. He did not miss the slight stiffening of her body. Presumably, it wasn't something she wanted him to know.

But against his thoughts, she responded a beat later in a low voice, "Actually, a thought flashed past, of a person I've not thought about in a long while."

Saying up to here, she looked at Li Chuanmo through the mirror. His face gave nothing away, but she understood he knew who she was talking about.

Li Chuanmo waited until he he had put an jade clip on her hair before responding, " You know, you don't have to walk on eggshells around me because of him.

"I'm jealous that someone else met you and got your love before me, but I'm also glad that you got to enjoy so much love. He is your memory now, and I can never fault you for cherishing your memories."

He then added a bit sourly, "Just don't do it often in front of me. I fear I'll be too jealous."

Pei Yueran smiled as she slowly said, "I plan to cherish only you henceforth."

It was a simple sentence, said without superfluity, but it made Li Chuanmo's heart thump.

I plan to cherish only you.

His hands that were resting on her shoulders squeezed them a bit as he said solemnly, "Thank you Ran. I'll make sure I cherish only you too for the rest of my life. I'll hold you at the tip of my heart, till our hairs turn white. I love you."

Pei Yueran smiled, a bright smile that eclipsed the light in her eyes as she stood up to hug him. "I love you too."

*****

Somehow, they made it to the stairs in time to hear the family counting down, at number three. When Pei Yueran was about to dash down to join them, Li Chuanmo held her back.

Immediately the countdown ended, he held her as spoke into her ear, "Happy New Year My Ran. Thank you for choosing me. Thank you for completing me. I hope to always be the first to wish you a happy new year."

Pei Yueran's already sentimental heart directly turned to mush. She wrapped her arms around him as she gave him her new year greetings too.

Then she saw a golden opportunity to tease him, "Didn't you say there should be no thanks between us? You already said thanks a lot of times in the past few minutes la."

Li Chuanmo gave a sly smile, "That's true, I did say that. But I also remember that I later changed my words and said that even when giving thanks, it's better to do it with actions and not just words. So let me practice what I preach."

Before Pei Yueran could reply, a slow, lingering kiss fell on her lips, similar to the one that was interrupted in the room. Her hands were still around his neck, and Li Chuanmo's hands went to her waist as both of them "thanked" each other with heart pounding actions.

They were interrupted by a loud cough, followed by the sounds of throats clearing. Both of them were slow to respond, not until

Li Qianye's voice was heard, "Why did both of you even leave your room? You should have just continued there instead of hiding out here on the stairs."

His tone was full of so much amusement that Pei Yueran squirmed. She was very embarrassed, wishing she could just disappear on the spot. Thankfully, Li Chuanmo understood and broke the kiss.

Li Junmo was full of admiration, ignoring the atmosphere as he spoke, "Big Brother, I've been begging you to teach me. You're definitely at a professional level ah. Don't be stingy."

Li Chuanmo's glare that was directed towards him was as cold as Pei Yueran's face was hot.

Zhang Heying spoke to diffuse the situation, "Both of you are newlyweds after all, it's totally fine, we understand."

Her words didn't really help though. The blushing person kept on blushing, while the other person kept glaring. The person being glared at thought it was funny and hid behind his twin sister while trying to control his laughter.

Eventually, it was Han Yichen that said, "We were just about to come upstairs to look for you since you didn't come for the countdown. Happy New Year."

Li Yuchen, who was staring at them with bright eyes suddenly remembered their purpose and happily shouted, "Happy New Year My Goddess!" Then after a moment, he added, "Dad."

Li Chuanmo rolled his eyes. He had now become a mere afterthought, a less important person in the mind of his son.

He then briefly considered halving Li Yuchen's allowance for the coming year. Maybe that would teach him a lesson.

Poor Li Yuchen. If he knew, he would have started begging with snot and tears. Not because he didn't have money —he earned a lot from programming nowadays — but because to him, the best money to spend was someone else's.

Of course, he also had a backer. Pei Yueran would never allow him "suffer".

Pei Yueran had finally calmed down enough to give her New Year greetings to everyone in the room. She was glad that no one mentioned anything to embarrass her further.

Everyone exchanged New Year greetings before Li Qianye and Zhang Heying sat down on the main seats in the living room. Then beginning from Li Yuchen, each of the other family members kowtowed to give formal New Year greetings to them, and in turn, the couple gave out red packets.