"But I don't know how to coax people."
Lu Meng's hand was still hooked around the man's, and though she said this, her dark, lustrous eyes clearly held a glint of cunning.
Didn't know how?
Lu Bofan leaned back lazily, yet still held her: "I saw you coaxing Grandpa quite skillfully just now."
Lu Meng showed no trace of guilt: "I only know how to coax elders. Are you one?"
Lu Bofan could hardly fail to see she was doing it on purpose. The man wasn't angry either; he unhurriedly drew a conclusion: "So, you just don't want to coax me."
Lu Meng's fingertip trailed downward, leisurely landing on his Adam's apple. Following her movement, the sexy protruding curve rolled up and down, as if lightly grinding against her heart, giving her a strange sense of satisfaction.
"How do you want me to coax you?"
She suddenly kissed his jaw: "Like this?"
Lu Bofan's dark, calm gaze fixed intently on her, yet he didn't stop her movements.
Lu Meng's eyes fell on the man's lips. She listened to her own heartbeat and boldly rose on her tiptoes to kiss him—
If anything, it was less a kiss than an irresponsible tease.
Feeling the tightening pressure at her waist, she lifted her gaze with slightly trembling eyes, directly colliding with the man's eyes, revealing blatant cunning: "Or like this?"
"President Lu, I don't know how."
Lu Bofan let out a very soft laugh and succinctly dropped one word: "Fine."
Fine what?
Before Lu Meng could ask, her face was suddenly lifted, and the kiss that fell was surging and intense.
"Open your mouth. I'll teach you."
They had kissed quite a few times, but this was the first time Lu Meng found herself somewhat unable to hold her ground.
Lu Bofan gently invaded all her breath. The dense, clinging kisses made her want to retreat and catch her breath, but someone held the back of her neck and kissed her again.
Her tongue went numb. As she stumbled backward, her hand around the man never loosened.
Compared to the previous restrained, respectful kisses, this one seemed full of intense desire.
Lu Meng hadn't expected her teasing to develop to this extent. The corners of her eyes reddened as she tried to call a halt to this lesson: "I don't want to learn anymore, and I don't want to coax you either."
Lu Bofan stared at her moist red lips: "As a teacher, you should know best that giving up halfway is wrong behavior."
Lu Meng felt he hadn't been scolded enough by Grandpa.
"I think you don't want me to coax you—you're just taking the opportunity to satisfy yourself."
What she said made Lu Bofan seem terrible, yet the man wasn't angry at all. His palm moved up, his calloused fingertip stroking the woman's cheek, a smile rising in his eyes: "Thinking of me as that bad?"
Lu Meng's breath was unsteady: "Aren't you?"
The man answered frankly: "The two don't have to conflict."
Lu Meng's former view on love was that two people without feelings couldn't possibly kiss, let alone do more intimate things.
She was also very clear that even though she was quite satisfied with Lu Bofan so far, there wasn't much feeling between them.
Perhaps there was, but such shallow heart-flutter contradicted another kind of desire in her heart—
She didn't dislike kissing Lu Bofan, or doing, that, with him—she could even say she enjoyed it very much.
Was this normal?
Lu Meng didn't know.
But she wasn't willing to lower her head in this game of ambiguity. She reached out, grabbed the man's collar, and with a little force made him lower his head: "What if I just don't want to coax you anymore?"
Lu Bofan lowered his gaze to glance at her hand, then lifted his eyes again, his tone leisurely: "It's fine. No one's ever comforted me before anyway. I'm used to it."
"….."
Lu Meng had never imagined he could be this kind of person.
She looked up at him from below, her hands wrapped around the man's neck, her dark eyes brimming with laughter. When she spoke, there was a hint of affectionate command: "Seeing as you're so pitiful, fine then. I'll reluctantly comfort you this once."
"Carry me."
Lu Bofan had always been the one giving orders, and he was used to looking down on others.
But in this moment, the positions were reversed. He lifted her up, Lu Meng's fingertips disappearing into the man's black hair as she lowered her head to kiss him.
After all, in the Lu family's old residence, the two of them were somewhat restrained.
And there was nothing prepared here either. Lu Meng had originally only intended to end things with a kiss.
But Lu Bofan told her it wouldn't be that quick to comfort him.
He set her on the washbasin counter, kissing her the entire time, his warm palms cupping the woman's face, occasionally brushing against her ears.
Though it was supposed to be her comforting him, Lu Meng didn't exert any effort at all.
The man's wedding ring looked as if it had been washed, gleaming with a damp luster. She truly couldn't bear to look at it directly, and turned her gaze away with flushed cheeks and burning ears.
But his hand-washing movements were so unhurried, his clothes not even disheveled—this sanctimonious yet calm appearance was truly infuriating.
Lu Meng really couldn't stand being alone in the same space as him. Fortunately, her skirt hem had been tucked up and bitten hold of earlier, so it hadn't gotten splashed.
She casually straightened herself up and planned to go downstairs for some water.
Only when she reached the first floor did she discover that Feng Qingshu's daughter Tongtong was sitting on the sofa watching cartoons, clutching a large bottle of milk.
The little girl had been cleaned up by her mother, pristine and white—completely different from the dirty little mess fished out that afternoon. She even greeted her politely: "Auntie, good evening."
Lu Meng responded to the child amiably: "Tongtong, good evening."
She walked over and poured herself a glass of water, only to hear Tongtong call out sweetly again: "Uncle, good evening."
The man's voice was calm, yet faintly tinged with good mood: "Good evening."
Lu Meng's eyelashes trembled slightly. She didn't particularly want to talk to him, so after drinking her water she planned to head back.
As she went upstairs, Aunt Chen came out of a room. She nodded in greeting, and Lu Bofan had already come up behind her.
Lu Meng didn't intend to pay him any attention. The moment she stepped forward, she heard Lu Bofan ask Aunt Chen from behind: "Do we have any warm-colored bedding sets at home?"
She immediately turned back and, where Aunt Chen couldn't see, silently twisted the man's waist.
Aunt Chen didn't notice the couple's small movements: "Warm-colored?"
Lu Bofan took hold of her hand, his expression utterly placid as he replied: "Mm. Pink, light yellow—anything but black or gray."
Aunt Chen thought for a moment: "We do."
Lu Bofan nodded: "Then from now on, switch everything in my room to those."
"Alright. Should I change them tonight?"
Lu Meng silently squeezed his hand, but the man held firm, answering evenly: "Yes, please. Sorry to trouble you to find them."
"Oh, no trouble at all."
"You don't have to do this." Back in the room, Lu Meng said to him without even pulling her hand free: "We don't come to Grandpa's place often. This is too much trouble."
"It's no trouble."
Lu Bofan smoothed the frown from her brow, born of worry: "If we don't change them, you won't sleep comfortably."
Lu Meng still disagreed: "I can tough it out."
"I'm not really okay with it."
Lu Meng didn't immediately understand what he wasn't okay with. Lu Bofan glanced at the large bed he was accustomed to sleeping in and said calmly and naturally, "Since I know your preferences, there's no reason to make you suffer or force yourself."
His words made her heart skip a beat. She parted her lips, and the embarrassment and irritation from earlier in the bathroom seemed to dissipate considerably in that moment. Her tone softened involuntarily: "I'm not that fussy."
Lu Bofan looked down at her. "You can be fussy."
"Don't forget, we're married. Any request you make of me is legitimate."
Lu Meng's lips moved, but suddenly she couldn't say anything at all. She just managed a dry "oh."
She took her pajamas into the bathroom but stood there in a daze, head bowed, rubbing her wedding ring. A rare expression of bewilderment crossed her face.
This marriage—he seemed to have already adapted to it, while she was still drifting outside the safety line.
Compared to his thoughtfulness, she seemed a bit too polite.
Lu Meng didn't know what she was troubled about either. After her shower, when she came out of the bathroom, the bedding on the bed had already been changed.
Late at night, she unusually had no drowsiness. Her emptied mind suddenly surfaced a question—
If anyone were his wife, would Lu Bofan be this considerate?
Lu Meng stared blankly. She really couldn't sleep, so she quietly turned over again. Suddenly, a strong arm wrapped around her waist.
The man pulled her into his arms, his palm gently patting her waist with a practiced motion, as if he'd done it many times before.
Lu Meng's body instantly stiffened. After a long while, she turned over very quietly and called him in a near-whisper: "Lu Bofan?"
She'd thought he was already asleep. The man's hand still rested on her waist, and a very soft "mm" escaped from his throat.
She'd originally wanted to ask him: If someone else were your wife, would you be this considerate too?
But the man's voice sounded first: "Can't sleep, or did you have a nightmare?"
The assumption that had been troubling her silently dissolved into the night.
In the past, when she encountered things she didn't like or found annoying, she would discard them without hesitation. How had she been trapped by a hollow assumption today?
She suddenly didn't really want to ask that question anymore.
Taking a deep, slow breath, in the darkness, the woman said softly, "Have you been holding me like this while I sleep for a while now?"
Lu Bofan's voice betrayed no guilt or unease: "Mm, is that not allowed?"
"…."
Lu Meng closed her eyes. After a long time, she muttered, "I move around a lot in my sleep. If I kick you, you'll just have to deal with it."
She said that, but she didn't keep the deliberate, distant gap between them like the previous few times.
Lu Bofan curved his lips soundlessly. This—he had indeed experienced long ago.
Lu Meng stopped thinking about all those messy things. Leaning against his chest, drowsiness finally overtook her.
But in the middle of the night, she vaguely heard some movement. She wanted to wake up, but her eyelids were heavy.
Lu Bofan patted her back soothingly: "Go back to sleep."
Aware that he had left, she didn't sleep deeply, her subconscious still attuned to the sounds outside.
After who knew how long, Lu Bofan returned.
She was already sitting up, rubbing her eyes drowsily, asking him what was wrong.
"Tongtong has a high fever."
Lu Meng tried hard to wake herself up, lips parting: "Is it serious?"
"The family doctor is here. My brother and the others are all watching over him. There won't be any problems."
Lu Bofan saw that she was too sleepy to stay awake, so he pulled her back into his arms and soothed her, coaxing, "Go to sleep."
Just as she was drifting off, a scene suddenly surfaced in Lu Meng's mind—the moment when the man brushed his knee as she went to call Grandpa for dinner.
With her eyes closed, she took his hand and moved it down, asking drowsily, "Does your leg hurt?"
"Let the doctor take a look at you too."