The Overnight Chosen Wife: darling, kiss me deeper

"I’m glad that you finally became part of our family." Wen Lin hugged Lanni tightly when the duo broke the news of their marriage over dinner the following day. They had asked their friends to not say a word of it to the Ji family so they wouldn’t ruin the surprise.

Ji Huifen held an envelope to her. "Here’s a little token. Welcome to the family, daughter-in-law."

"Thank you." Lanni smiled. Although Ji Huifen said that it was a little token, Lanni would later discover that the content was anything but. It was the ownership papers for a few properties owned by the Ji family, which had now been transferred into her possession—and that was not even part of the hefty dowry that was waiting in store.

Ji Huifen looked happier than usual. Not only was his biological daughter back, but he had a daughter-in-law now. He couldn’t help wanting to strike up conversations with Lanni. "When will the two of you have kids?"

Xiehan facepalmed while Wen Lin glared at him. "You old man, our son just got married. Don’t make it sound like our daughter-in-law is a baby making machine of some sort.

"I didn’t mean it that way." Ji Huifen caughed awkwardly. "I was wrong."

Lanni chuckled. She was certain that he really didn’t mean for it to sound that way.

Xiehan smiled at his parents’ little war. "Now that we are on the topic of kids, Lanni and I have something to tell you."

Wen Lin looked over excitedly. "Are you expecting a baby? If yes, I’m going to dance for the rest of the evening."

Although he did not voice it, Ji Huifen looked like he would be dancing the night away alongside his wife. Lanni nervously looked over at Xiehan, who placed a hand on her knee. He smiled to reassure her that it would be alright.

"No, we are not expecting a baby yet." He grinned at his parents’ disappointed expressions at his words. "But when we do, we would like to give our first son or daughter the surname Li."

Wen Lin and her husband felt as though they had been through a roller coaster, while Ruby felt bummed that she was not becoming an aunt any time soon. Lanni had been bragging about being an aunt endlessly ever since Luna found out that she was pregnant.

"This is what you wanted to talk about?" Wen Lin asked when she calmed down.

"Yes." Xiehan nodded while holding his wife’s left hand under the table.

Ji Huifen studied their expressions to gauge whether they were serious about the bombshell they had just dropped.

The couple exchanged glances before Wen Lin looked at her son and asked, "Why? Your surname is Ji. Why would you give your child a different surname?"

A second after she asked, she caught sight of the nervousness in Lanni’s eyes and figured it out. "Is it because of Li Yuming?"

"It was my idea." Xiehan took the blame when he realized that his parents were probably not going to welcome the idea, even though it was what Lanni wanted.

Of course, Wen Lin figured out the truth pretty fast. "I don’t know why you would want to do that..."

"In honour of Aunt Li. She deserves it." He interrupted his displeased mother.

"Well, that or whatever other reasons you may have." With the way she was looking at Lanni, it was obvious that she knew what the real reason was. "Xiehan, your child will bear your family’s surname. Otherwise, how the hell are you going to explain in future that your child’s surname is Li when yours in Ji?" She expressed her disapproval. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"Xiehan," Lanni shook her head at him so he would stop talking but he paid no heed.

"That it’s his mother’s surname. What’s so strange about that? It’s a common thing these days." Xiehan countered.

"Just because it is common doesn’t mean we have to do it. It’s complicated as hell! And do you know what’s even more complicated? It’s the fact that Li is not even his mother’s surname. I mean, logically, your wife’s surname is Xia." Wen Lin glared at him.

"Mother!" He roared. That was Lanni’s sore spot. Xia Hanchen was long dead but it didn’t change the fact that Lanni had once wanted to change her surname to Xia, only to realize that she was part of a scheme. Saying it out loud was like poking at a scar that was yet to completely heal on the inside.

"While I don’t like the idea of it, Lanni and Xiehan have every right to name their child as they please." Ji Huifen finally chimed in.

"Yes." Wen Lin did not deny it. "But I’m not going to sit back and watch my grandchildren take another family’s surname."

"It’s the blood that matters." Lanni finally spoke.

"That’s the exact reason why you shouldn’t be worried that the Li family bloodline will go extinct. You are related to her after all. Xiaomu and Linhou are related to her and so will your child. If she is the only person left in the Li family, nothing will change even if she were to adopt a dozen sons and name them after her relatives."

"Okay, that’s enough." Xiehan shut his mother and held his wife’s hand. He had been naive to think that his parents would agree.

"I have an idea that everyone will be satisfied with." Wen Lin spoke again.

Lanni had a bad feeling and although Wen Lin could feel her son’s warning eyes, she spoke anyway. "Why don’t you have your sister rename her kids to Li Xiaomu and Li Linhou?"

Lanni remained silent but her hand had clenched into a tight fist under the table.

"That was an awesome way to welcome your daughter-in-law home. My wife and I will take our leave now." He took her hand as he stood, the sarcasm in his voice apparent.

"Please stay the night." Ji Huifen didn’t wish for the newlyweds to leave with such tension. It would be much better if they calmly discussed this matter and reached a peaceful conclusion.

"My wife and I would like to be alone tonight." He placed a hand gently on the small of her back and led her out without saying goodbye.

....

"It’s okay, my love. We are the ones who get to decide on this, not them." He patted her back in the car.

This was exactly what he had said when they discussed it earlier—he didn’t find it necessary for his parents to have a say about their future children’s names. She had only thought that it would be respectful if they sought their opinion. The result was ironic.

"And to think she passionately welcomed me into the family a moment ago. I almost thought she really liked me." Lanni finally expressed her opinion. "If I liked someone, even if that person were to make a suggestion I found insane enough to qualify for the mental asylum, I would not be rude about my comments. She really didn’t have to drag Luna into this."

She looked up at him, he was silently gazing at her. "I’m sorry. She’s your mother after all, and I don’t intend to have a feud with your family. Especially not this soon."

He kissed her lips, interrupting her mid speech. "What did I just say, honey? Our kids’ names are totally up to us. Even if we have eight kids and name them after the planets, no one has a say in it."

"That’s scary." She laughed.

"Naming after planets?" He chuckled. "I don’t want to imagine having a son called Earth either."

"Not the planets. Eight kids." She blushed just thinking about it. "Where would they all live?"

He poked her flat tummy. "Right here. After that, they will live in our mansion. We can move to a bigger mansion if the space feels crumbled."

She burst into laughter. He was not actually considering it, right?

As if reading her next concern, he added, "We can have them in pairs. Four pairs isn’t impossible. Or trios. Triplets for the first two times and twins for the last. Actually, quadruplets is a thing too."

"Xiehan!" She smacked his chest. "Those who didn’t know would think that I’m your enemy and you were trying to kill me!"

_____

AN

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Quick question: How many kids would you want Lanni and Xiehan to have?