Chapter 1

After Qingming, the southern city carried a fresh, warm air.

In the dawn light, a breeze brushed the leaves, bringing a faint fragrance of flowers and the crisp scent of grass.

The sky was like a pale watercolor painting, washed in light blue, and the sun rose slowly, bathing everything in warm light.

Every morning, sunlight would come through the window and fall on the happiness tree Su Hui had placed in the corner of the living room at home. In the past two years, whenever Su Hui walked out of the bedroom and saw that scene, she always felt especially happy.

But this year, everything had gone so badly. Because of policy shifts, the once-profitable real estate sector suddenly went downhill, and that made Su Hui, who did landscape design at a property company, lose her job at once.

Actually, being unemployed was no big deal to Su Hui. Her father ran a small security company, her mother managed human resources at a state-owned enterprise, so she didn't need to take special care of them in everyday life. Her husband, Liu Yiqiang, was an IT guy who spent his days writing code at the company and often did small programs for people in his spare time. He could be said to have both his main job and side hustle thriving.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have paid off the mortgage in just two or three years. Of course, Su Hui's parents had helped a great deal there.

What really made Su Hui feel bad was that her monthly visitor always arrived on schedule. Occasionally, if it was late by a few days, just when Su Hui thought that happiness was about to arrive as expected, that relative would suddenly appear before her like a mischievous child playing hide-and-seek, leaving Su Hui and Liu Yiqiang helpless except to keep trying.

Su Hui and Liu Yiqiang only confirmed their relationship when they were about to graduate from college, and then they got together.

Su Hui knew there was a little calculation in Liu Yiqiang's feelings for her. His family lived in a remote village out in the countryside; in the past, it took six or seven hours by bus to get to the city even once.

Even now that there was a highway, it still took more than an hour on the expressway, plus another two hours or so on mountain roads.

Liu Yiqiang was the first college student in their village. Su Hui knew that when he got close to her, he was at least partly hoping to use her to gain a foothold in the city, but who didn't have a few little schemes of their own?

At the very least, he was sincere to her.

Whether toward her or toward her parents, there was nothing to complain about.

Su Hui and Liu Yiqiang got married as soon as they graduated from college. When they first got married, they agreed not to rush to have children. Liu Yiqiang's parents saw that they were only twenty-two, so they didn't say much. By rights, at Liu Yiqiang's age of twenty-two, in their countryside he'd already be at least the father of one child, but because Liu Yiqiang was the most educated person in their village, his parents didn't press him too hard about children.

But now they had been married for four years, and there was still not the slightest sign of a pregnancy in Su Hui's belly. People in the countryside had started whispering and guessing whether there was something wrong with Su Hui or Liu Yiqiang, and maybe they couldn't have children.

On top of that, when Su Hui and Liu Yiqiang got married, Liu Yiqiang didn't have much money, and Su Hui's parents understood the two young people, so the two of them simply got their marriage license at the civil affairs bureau and that was that.

Liu Yiqiang also held firm under his parents' pressure and didn't go back to the village to hold a wedding banquet, which led the villagers to connect their childlessness with that too, saying that because they hadn't followed the customary rites and informed their ancestors, the ancestors were displeased.

How did Su Hui know all this, you ask?

Please. Su Hui and Liu Yiqiang's parents got along very well, and she was even best friends with Liu Yiqiang's younger sister, who had married to another province. All these messages were indirectly conveyed by Liu Yiqiang's mother when she hinted and prodded the two of them to have a child.

Su Hui once asked her sister-in-law what customs their village required for marriage, and her sister-in-law always blushed and told her to ask Liu Yiqiang. But Liu Yiqiang always said those things were rural backward habits, told her not to ask, to just pretend she didn't know and ignore the gossip from the village.

But he couldn't stand up to other people's whispering, and even Liu Yiqiang's mother had begun to suspect that the reason the two of them couldn't have children was Su Hui's problem, because she was absolutely certain that Liu Yiqiang had no problem at all.

That made Su Hui very unhappy. She had even thought it was Liu Yiqiang's problem, so she dragged him to the hospital for an examination. But aside from Su Hui having a retroverted uterus, the two of them were completely normal.

Only then did Liu Yiqiang's mother stop whispering complaints about Su Hui in front of him.

But even so, no matter how hard they tried, Su Hui's monthly visitor still came every month.

Su Hui and Liu Yiqiang had also gone to the hospital for artificial insemination, but it ended in failure as well.

That made Su Hui endlessly frustrated, and she even started to believe in some superstitious things.

For example, Liu Yiqiang's mother had mentioned to Liu Yiqiang that maybe the two of them should simply find someone to borrow some seed from. Once they had one child, maybe more would follow.

That made Liu Yiqiang's liver burn with anger.

Su Hui and Liu Yiqiang had a very good relationship, especially after they got married. They were as inseparable as a scale and its weight, so close they were almost like one person.

They were also very harmonious in sex.

Ever since Liu Yiqiang's mother had hinted to the two of them about borrowing seed, their bedplay had acquired a lot of new material. Many scenes Su Hui had only ever seen in Japanese adult films had become love stories directed by Liu Yiqiang for the two of them.

In Su Hui's words, the two of them were now almost no different from refined degenerates.

That was because yesterday Liu Yiqiang's mother had come under the pretext of stocking up the little supermarket she ran in the village, and took the opportunity to come see her son and daughter-in-law.

At dinner, she started pushing them to have a baby again.

As she spoke, tears even began to fall, and that made Su Hui feel helpless.

"Mom, it's not that we don't want one. We aren't taking any precautions, and we've already gone to a traditional Chinese doctor to regulate our bodies, but... we're anxious too."

"Hui'er, how about we just borrow one?"

"Mom... what are you talking about?" Su Hui was a little uncomfortable with her mother-in-law being so frank.

Before, when her mother-in-law said these things, she would always whisper them to Liu Yiqiang in secret. She had never brought it up so directly in front of the husband-and-wife pair.

"I'm saying, how about we borrow some seed first? A woman only has to give birth once, and after that it's easier to have more children. Don't worry, borrowing seed is very common where we come from. Our family will absolutely not look down on you because of it, and the child borrowed this way, we'll treat him completely as a descendant of the Liu family. We won't wrong him."

"But..."

"Hui'er, rest assured, the men I help you choose for borrowing seed are all eighteen-year-old boys, and their backgrounds are clean too, with no bad habits. They all look decent and proper, and they're strong and healthy too."

"No, but what if he can't have children either?"

"Hui'er, if you're worried about that, then I'll find one who has already had children."

"Mom, is that really something we can just borrow whenever we want?" Su Hui's face was already burning red. Tears hung on her fair cheeks, making her look especially pitiful and lovely.

Meanwhile Liu Yiqiang sat to one side without saying a word, his hands clenched tightly under the table.

What a cycle of karma the world was.

Back then, when he was eighteen, other families had come asking him to provide seed. At that time he had been proud and pleased with himself. After all, he was the most bookish person in the village. If this had been in the old days, every household in the village might have had his child.

It was only because more people had gone out to work now, and many young people had learned from city people that whether or not they had children wasn't viewed as seriously anymore, that the number of people asking for seed had decreased.

In the village in the past, borrowing seed wasn't only about being unable to have children. Borrowing a seed to change a family's genes and lineage was also a reason many people sought it out.

That had formed the village's own distinctive, little-known culture and custom of borrowing seed.

"Hui'er, Mom knows that you city people look down on us country folks' customs, and you can't accept them. Otherwise you wouldn't have been married so long and still hardly ever gone back with Xiaoqiang."

"Mom, no, it's not that we didn't go back because of that. It's just that we're busy with work on weekdays, so we take the holidays to go out and travel."

"Then the borrowing seed..."

"This kind of thing... with someone I don't even know, making love with another man, I..."

"Hui'er, if you feel too embarrassed, then can I ask Strong to borrow a belly and have one baby?"

"Mom, what are you saying, this..."

"Hui'er, consider it me begging you. Mom will kneel to you." As she spoke, Liu Yiqiang's mother knelt down on the floor.

That immediately threw Su Hui into panic. She hurriedly tugged at Liu Yiqiang's mother and tried to pull her up. "Mom, don't do this. Get up, get up."

"Hui'er, if you and Strong don't have a child, your father-in-law and I won't have any face in the village. People in the village will laugh at us. Even your dad hardly dares to go out and drink with his old friends anymore."

"Mom, Yiqiang and I are still young. We'll do our best to get pregnant, so please stop forcing me, okay?"

"Hui'er, you... this matter... Xiaoqiang, Mom is telling you, anyway it's either borrow some seed or borrow a belly. You two decide for yourselves, but this has to be settled one way or another." After saying that, Liu Yiqiang's mother threw down her bowl and chopsticks and opened the door to leave.

Liu Yiqiang chased after her and tried talking her out of it, but no matter how much he said, she wouldn't come back.

When Liu Yiqiang returned home and saw Su Hui in tears, he didn't know how to comfort her.

That night Su Hui shut herself in the bedroom, while Liu Yiqiang lay in the guest room bed, staring at the darkness filling the room, his heart sinking lower and lower. Could it be that he really had no way to escape the village's backward customs?

The village where Liu Yiqiang grew up was a remote one, deep in the mountains. Before there were roads, it took a full day to get to the county town once.

The girls in the county would all keep their distance the moment they heard a young man was from their village.

That also kept their village in a relatively closed state.

Borrowing seed, as a way for country people to continue the lineage, was also an utterly ordinary thing there. Rural people placed far less importance on sex and chastity than they did on carrying on the family line.

Liu Yiqiang knew that the son of the Second Uncle in his clan was actually his half-brother on his mother's side. Because of the generational relationship, Liu Yiqiang now had to address him as Uncle.

When Liu Yiqiang was little, their house only had one bedroom, so naturally he saw his parents having sex. Perhaps his parents thought he and his sister were still young and slept deeply, so they didn't bother hiding anything when they made love at night.

More than once, Liu Yiqiang had seen his father thrusting up and down between his mother's parted legs with his bare backside exposed, while his mother's legs were spread to either side of his father's body.

Even after his mother had been borrowed by Second Uncle to serve as a wife and then came back, Second Uncle would occasionally come over to be intimate with her whenever his father went out.

As for Liu Yiqiang himself, being the most educated person in the village, there had also been people who came asking him to provide seed. In the year he had just turned eighteen, he helped the wife of Fourth Uncle at the end of the village conceive a son, which gave Fourth Uncle, who had accidentally broken his waist while working odd jobs and was now bedridden, someone to support him in old age and perform the funeral rites.

After he was admitted to college, whenever he went home during vacations, there would still be one or two people coming to his house asking his mother to borrow some seed or the like.

Of course, for Liu Yiqiang, who had gone to college and seen more of the world, such customs had become backward habits. Even though he knew that sex had to be with a woman to feel good, he'd still rather masturbate by himself than have sex with village women for the sake of borrowing seed. That made him feel like nothing more than a breeding machine.

For the first time in four years of marriage, Su Hui was sleeping in a separate room. She looked up at the ceiling and, as a daughter-in-law, could very well understand the thinking of rural in-laws. As the saying goes, there are three forms of filial impiety, and having no heir is the greatest.

Carrying on the family line is a human instinct. If she herself had no child, she really couldn't accept that.

But no matter what methods the two of them used, she just couldn't get pregnant.

They had even restrained themselves for more than ten days in order to save up energy, just to strike on the day of ovulation and hit the target in one go, but not once had they succeeded.

That made the skeptical Su Hui start to become suspicious too, and she really began to wonder whether it was because they hadn't held the wedding according to their family's customs that their ancestors were unhappy.

She had also asked her father-in-law and mother-in-law to find someone in the village to read their feng shui and burn yellow paper, but it still had no effect.

As for the fact that Su Hui and the others had no child, Su Hui's parents were also a little anxious. As they put it, people have tasks they should complete at every stage of life, and at Su Hui and Liu Yiqiang's current age, they should be completing the task of having children. Fall behind in one step, and you'll fall behind in every step that follows.

Su Hui's parents considered that although they hadn't become rich and powerful over most of their lives, they had still advanced steadily and completed what they should at every stage.

So with Su Hui getting closer and closer to thirty, the frequency of the reminders to have a baby grew higher too.

As mentioned earlier, Su Hui and Liu Yiqiang had also gone for examinations and tried artificial insemination. All of that money had been paid by Su Hui's parents.

Liu Yiqiang's mother stayed angry and went back for a few days, and during those days Su Hui and Liu Yiqiang rarely spoke to each other as well. Su Hui, who wasn't going to work, shut herself in the bedroom every day, languid and listless, with no interest in doing anything.

When Liu Yiqiang was at work, Su Hui would occasionally come out of the bedroom and walk around a little, but when Liu Yiqiang came home from work, Su Hui absolutely refused to step out of the bedroom. Although she didn't lock the bedroom door, if Liu Yiqiang went in, she would push him right back out.

After a few days like that, Su Hui's face turned deathly pale, all color gone from it.

Su Hui felt like a cloud blown apart by the wind, drifting aimlessly along the edge of life.

Wearing only one of Liu Yiqiang's shirts, Su Hui looked out at the gray, overcast sky. These past nights, Su Hui kept dreaming again and again. In her dreams, there were all kinds of men, and she herself was always beneath them or on top of them in all sorts of positions. No matter how they tossed her around, the hole between her legs was always stuffed full by a man's cock, and even her tongue was tangled with a man's tongue.

None of those men looked like Liu Yiqiang. Su Hui tried hard to make out the men's faces, but all she could see were those thick, hard cocks.

Su Hui felt like she had truly lost her mind.

A shaft of sunlight pierced through the thick clouds and fell on Su Hui, who was sitting on the bay-window seat in the bedroom. That made Su Hui, still immersed in her dream, feel warm and very comfortable.

Slowly, Su Hui opened her eyes and let out a long breath.

She stood up, went into the bathroom, and turned on the hot water. Steam quickly filled the entire room.

She stood under the stream, feeling the water droplets run down over her skin.

The comfort brought by the hot water gradually relaxed her body. She picked up the body wash, squeezed a little into her palm, and began to rub it gently over her body.

The scent of the foam spread through the room, mingling with the fresh fragrance of the hot water until the whole bathroom was filled with a pleasant feeling.

After washing in the warm stream, Su Hui sat naked in front of the vanity, her long hair still dripping with water.

She gently dried her hair with a soft towel, then picked up the hair dryer and blew warm air through it.

She closed her eyes, feeling the gentle touch brought by the dryer, enjoying the comfort of being wrapped in warm air. Her hair gradually grew dry and began to feel soft and silky.

She lightly applied foundation, evening out and softening her complexion, then used eyeshadow to sketch a faint line around her eyes, bringing out her bright gaze.

Finally, she applied a layer of pink lipstick, making her lips alluring and captivating.

When Su Hui finished her makeup, she stood before the vanity and looked at her naked self in the mirror, her figure slender and delicate, her curves graceful and enticing.

Her long legs showed healthy lines, her skin was fair and fine, and the blackness between her legs echoed the long black hair on her head, giving off an alluring fragrance.

Her waistline was elegant, and her slightly rounded hips looked full and seductive, impossible not to stir desire.

Her breasts were full and firm, slightly uplifted, radiating a captivating sensuality.

She gently stroked her own skin with her hands, feeling that hint of softness and smoothness.

So what if it was borrowing seed? What was the big deal? With such a fine body, looking this young, only playing with one man, her husband, was just too much of a loss!

Taking the chance to borrow seed and feel a different man seemed like a pretty good choice too.

Su Hui told herself that.

Su Hui couldn't remember which blog she'd seen the data set on:... how many men does a woman have to sleep with in her life to make it worthwhile?

Sleeping with no men was like wasting a life; sleeping with one meant losing out; two or three counted as traditional; three to five was normal; five to ten meant you had broken even...

Su Hui opened the closet. Hanging in the very back was the red dress, the most revealing dress Su Hui had ever bought. The wide open back plunged all the way to her waist, and when she walked it would always inadvertently reveal the elastic strap of her underwear.

The halter straps simply wrapped her firm breasts inside the dress, while the exposed back outlined her sexy curves.

She had only ever worn this dress once, when she and Liu Yiqiang went to the Maldives for a trip and she wore it on the beach.

She still remembered how Liu Yiqiang looked the moment he saw her appear before him in that dress. His mouth had gaped so wide it could have fit an egg.

That night, their lovemaking had also been especially intense and satisfying.

After changing clothes, Su Hui picked up her phone and ordered a pizza. She believed that tonight Liu Yiqiang wouldn't have any mind left for enjoying food. Tonight he would only properly savor her allure.

The doorbell rang. Su Hui stood at the doorway in that red dress, her sexy curves and alluring bearing almost making the delivery guy forget his job.

The dress's revealing cut, combined with the contours of her lithe body, made it impossible for him to look away.

When Su Hui took the delivery, she casually noticed the admiring light flickering in the delivery guy's eyes.

However, her gaze quickly dropped to the bulge in the delivery guy's crotch.

She smiled faintly, a trace of teasing confidence in her eyes.

She knew that her clothes and her bearing had successfully drawn the delivery guy's attention, and the bulge in his pants confirmed it even more.

That self-assured smile seemed to tell the delivery guy: "Yes, I know I'm charming. I know I'm making your heart race."

The door was opened again, and Liu Yiqiang, after changing into slippers, walked in looking exhausted. He saw Su Hui with a hand on the back of a chair, smiling as she waited for him. The candles on the dining table gave off a faint glow, and Liu Yiqiang of course knew that under that soft, skimpy fabric was the pair of tender breasts he could never get enough of.

Su Hui felt as if she had returned to the way she had been right after the wedding, her face flushed red. She slowly walked up to Liu Yiqiang, rose lightly onto her toes, and brought her red lips close to his. Their mouths met.

Su Hui’s lips were burning hot, while Liu Yiqiang’s were cool.

Her little hands were already roaming over his body without pause. Liu Yiqiang’s desire was quickly ignited by her, and his hands were rubbing restlessly over her back.

Su Hui’s breathing grew ragged, and with a soft, involuntary "mn..." at the back of her throat, her hands kept moving over Liu Yiqiang’s. "Yiqiang, I really love you so much..." Liu Yiqiang’s hand had already covered her backside, and he kneaded her bare ass through the absence of panties.

His fingers circled the spot that made Su Hui tremble with desire.

"Hui’er..." Liu Yiqiang’s breathing was clearly heavier now, and his movements grew more forceful.

Su Hui’s dress had already slipped down to her feet, and the clothes on Liu Yiqiang’s body had also been stripped off by Su Hui.

Her full, proud breasts, with nipples swollen like grapes from the blood rushing to them, were set enticingly against her chest and were taken into Liu Yiqiang’s mouth again and again. While sucking on Su Hui’s nipples, Liu Yiqiang quickly kicked off his pants, scooped Su Hui up in one motion, and carried her into the bedroom in just a few steps. He tossed her onto the soft bed, then lunged onto her, pinning her beneath him as their lips met again.

Their hands roamed and caressed each other’s bodies.

Liu Yiqiang used his thigh to pry Su Hui’s legs apart, hooking them around his waist. The tight seam of flesh opened into a narrow slit, glistening from the juices that had already flowed out, looking especially tender and wet.

His glans slowly pushed past the swollen labia, forcing open the narrow, tightly packed passage, fully savoring the warmth and pressure inside, along with that layered, wondrous sensation.

"Oh..." They both let out the same word of pleasure at once.

Their rhythm was so perfect. Su Hui met every deep thrust of Liu Yiqiang’s, luxuriating in the shudder each plunge into her center brought her. Every time Liu Yiqiang drove in deeply, she couldn’t help letting out a loud "ah."

And every time he pulled out, it only made her crave a harder thrust.

Su Hui cried out wantonly, twisting her hips while her fingers left a trail of scratches across Liu Yiqiang’s back.

His cock moved in and out of her with wet, splashing sounds. Those obscene noises, mixed with the two of them groaning, filled the room. Her climax struck in an instant, and hot semen surged out, flooding through her body.

A large patch beneath her hips was soaked.

Su Hui didn’t want to move at all. The lingering aftershocks of her orgasm still drifted through her body as Liu Yiqiang held her and turned over, letting her lie on top of him.

Su Hui kissed his chest. "Hubby, I love you so much..."

"Wife, I love you too..."

"Hubby, what’s this borrowing-a-seed thing from your side really about? Can you tell me about it?"

"All right, just listen to it and don’t take my parents’ words too seriously. We’re both fine physically. Having a child is only a matter of time, so don’t put too much pressure on yourself."

"Mm, I’m just curious. I’m only asking."

"Fine." Liu Yiqiang tightened his arms around Su Hui and idly toyed with her breasts with one hand, falling silent as he thought about where to begin.

Su Hui, still unsatisfied, squeezed her lower body and felt the cock that remained hard even after he had finished.

Liu Yiqiang’s cock could not be called especially thick, but after he came, it stayed hard for a very long time every time. That was something Su Hui was especially satisfied with. Even though right now she had only Liu Yiqiang’s one cock, she still knew that a cock like Liu Yiqiang’s was not something you came across often.