That night, Xue Jinxu did not spend the night in the Xue Mansion as was originally planned by the Chen couple, rather, she had asked Butler Lee to send her home.  She waited and waited for Chen Linyun and Kang Sola's arrival.

Yet, for naught…

Kang Sola did arrive, and she had reported to the missus that she was with her older brother, Chen Linyun, alright, but he did not go inside the house after dropping her off.  What was surprising was that Kang Sola seemed annoyed by the topic of her older brother, and Xue Jinxu just thought it unusual from her.

She released the girl from questioning and proceeded in waiting for her husband in silence amidst the night.  In the end, she was defeated by sleep, as she woke up several times from it, still waiting for the husband during the wee hours of the morning.

'What's this, he did not go home?' She fetched her phone and sent him a message: 'Where are you?  Are you alright?  I'm worried.'

His response only came through after an hour or so, telling her the usual not-to-worry response.  Yet, his very response agitated her some more.  She had not returned to slumber again after that.  

When Chen Linyun finally arrived home, it was already broad daylight, around ten in the morning.  He strongly smelled the pungent stench of alcohol that even if he's a meter away, people around him would discern.

"Were you with Zhu Li Qiang the whole night?"  Xue Jinxu probed, seeing how drunk her husband was. "You shouldn't spend too much time with him.  His negativity might rub off onto you."  

Chen Linyun slumped onto the sofa of their master's bedroom. "I was alone." He said curtly.

"Hmmm?" Xue Jinxu turned her head towards him, one hand supporting her hip and the other caressing her growing tummy. "Oh, you were alone all night?  I see.  You must be tired.  Let me prepare a soup for you."

Chen Linyun ma.s.saged his temples and that part between his furrowed brows.  He was having a headache from too much drinking.  "Don't bother.  I'll just sleep."

"I'll at least prepare a hot bath for you first, honey."

"Jinxu." Chen Linyun warned.  His tone scared the wife.

"Hmm?"

"Stop.  Just stop.  You're adding to my headache."    He leaned at the backside of the sofa and slouched farther down.

Xue Jinxu's one brow arched upwards, in the lines of 'Excuse me?', but she did not add fuel to the fire.  Whatever his problem was might have taken its toll on him.

She simply let him be.

"Okay.  As you wished."  She left the room in disappointment, yet trying to be more considerate of him.

However, days and days pa.s.sed, but his mood did not improve.  Chen Linyun almost always scowled at nothing and no one in particular, but more noticeably, he had become more critical at Kang Sola than before.

And Kang Sola, too, had become rebellious almost overnight.

But when asked either of them, no one would spill the beans.  Out of respect, Kang Sola kept her mouth shut about their familial discovery the night of her birthday, at the request of her older brother, Chen Linyun.  He did not want anyone to know about it.

Poor Xue Jinxu and Xue Guangxi who were left in the dark could not guess what was going on between these two.  They were caught between two clas.h.i.+ng stones.

At one point, Kang Sola brought up to Xue Guangxi her thoughts about moving out.

"Has your fight with brother-in-law reached that point already?  Do you want to leave this house?  Where do you plan to go?"

With a frown, Kang Sola stared at the horizon. "Anywhere.  I think I can manage."

"Don't be too reckless, Sola.  Don't do anything yet, please?  I'll try to see what I can do." Xue Guangxi worriedly implored.

At the back of Kang Sola's mind, he could think of one other destination: her other older brother's house.  She had wanted to go to his side and catch up, but she simply could not do so.  That one dinner was rather too awkward that she had not optimized spending her time with them fully.  She had wanted a round two, but she knew it was impossible while staying at Chen Linyun's house.

In actuality, she had sent several messages to Han Fengyu about the idea of staying with him in his house.  She was that comfortable with him.

However, he was able to non-committally shrug her off, brush her off without her noticing much about it.  He did not even promise.

Yet, Kang Sola was okay with it all.  No hard feelings, whatsoever.

Chen Linyun seemed wanting the same thing - keeping a distance from his sister, and everyone in general.  He kept silent, but his body language implied the lines of it.  He would leave the house to work a lot earlier than his usual schedule, at a few minutes past six in the morning.

Even then, he went home late every single day.  Most days, he arrived at around ten or eleven in the evening.  During this time, Xue Jinxu, being heavily pregnant, would already be sound asleep.  Yet, his presence would wake her up, and her anxious heart could finally be at ease.

Xue Jinxu grew more worried over the days.  She had asked Mo Wenbin and even Zhu Li Qiang if Chen Linyun had shared anything of note to them, but they both responded that they had not been in touch with Chen Linyun of late.

Xue Jinxu had even asked her brothers if they knew anything, or if her husband has confided to either of them.  Perhaps to her twin brother?  They seemed pretty close in their past encounters.

Again, she heard a negative response.  

She asked Kang Sola, but in the middle of questioning, the girl would end up scowling, and at this point, she could tell, 'Ahh, they have not made up yet.'

"Sola, dear, please, can you tell me what's bothering your brother?"

"I don't know, Xu-Jie.  He doesn't even want to talk to me.  He always gets annoyed at me even if I don't do anything at all."

"Don't say that.  Your brother cares for you, you know that, right?"  Xue Jinxu rubbed the young girl's forearm.  "Let's just be more understanding of him, hmmm?  There must be something giving him pressure and stress."

To herself, she added, 'He didn't let anyone into his head, again.  How can we help him?  I want to help.  I want my husband back.'

Her eyes flickered with heightened anxiety and helplessness.