Evening.
As the sun began to set, its last rays of the day pierced through the thick, long patch of grass, radiating the cave hidden beneath.
The sunlight illuminated Gu Changsheng’s face, causing his eyebrows to frown in discomfort.
Slowly, he opened his eyes, taking a moment to adapt.
As he remembered the day’s ordeal, he looked down at his lap, and was left... Stunned... Shocked, even.
On his lap lay a breathtaking beauty, her lustrous black hair scattered around as some of it clung to her snow-white skin.
Her eyes shimmering silver, her cheeks flushed red, emitting a very cute aura.
This woman was none other than Dong Mulan, now having undergone a complete transformation inside and out.
Dong Mulan, as if sensing his gaze, slowly but surely woke up. What came into her view was Gu Changsheng’s wide-open mouth, while his eyes spoke of shock.
As she stood up from his lap, an intense urge to tease came over her.
"Inviting the mosquitoes for dinner or... for dinner??"
As she said this, she closed her mouth clumsily, unable to hide her wide grin. She found his choked expression a bit too hilarious.
"Hahaha~ sorry b-but... Hahaha~"
She rolled on the ground, holding her stomach with one hand and pointing the other towards him.
Gu Changsheng also slowly stood up as he dusted the dirt off his clothes, all in an attempt to hide his earlier embarrassment. But the blush on his face gave it away.
"You...!!!"
After a bit of bickering, they calmed down. Dong Mulan stretched and said,
"Let’s go back if all your business’s over."
"Not with you like this."
He answered, falling into a dilemma himself.
This left her puzzled. She was standing just beside the lake, so she simply turned and looked at her reflection as she muttered,
"Did something happen to m..."
Her muttering stopped midway as she looked at her own reflection. The reflection showed a beautiful woman, absolutely bewitching.
Truth be told, she wasn’t a beautiful woman. Hell, she was quite ugly, making her self-esteem go down the hill.
Even though she didn’t care much about her appearance, that was only relative to her not being so appealing.
Despite all this, Gu Changsheng liked her... And now...
He even gave her such a treasure...
A top-tier beautifying agent.
To think he could give a rare beautifying agent as a gift.
Truly...
As her thought process wandered, her eyes moistened bit by bit. She felt moved and loved.
[A/N: Ughh... I don’t know about your face, but you should definitely get your heart checked.]
...
Gu Changsheng was thinking about what to do about her change when he saw her crying.
Worried, he was just about to ask what happened when she suddenly came up to him with a blur and instantly captured his lips.
"Wha–mmpphh?!?"
This time, she was going all in, just as her tongue. Feeling the intensity, he also became active, his hands going through the motion.
But just as he was getting started, she suddenly broke free.
"Thank you!"
She said softly, her hand caressing his cheeks. That made him finally realize she had most likely found out that this was the golden fruit’s effect.
He nodded. Unable to come up with a solution, he decided to go back first.
"Let’s go to my place first."
Dong Mulan nodded, and they made their way out of the cave, back to their home.
...
1 hour later.
Dong household.
At this time, Dong Yang was having a drink with his friend, Ye Chen.
"Old Yang, your daughter truly lucked out with Gu Changsheng. I really envy you to death."
"Haha, just drop dead, you old foggy, but even death will not get you such a son-in-law!"
"Hmphh, you dare curse your father to death, you unfilial b*stard!!"
"Hahaha, your jealousy is materializing into reality, Old Chen. But really, Gu Changsheng is truly one of a kind. To care so much about my daughter that he decided to wait until her coming of age!!!"
"Show off, show off!"
"Hahahaha!!!"
...
*Knock**Knock*
As the two old friends chatted and laughed, a sudden knock echoed through the courtyard.
"Mulan’s dad, go see the door!"
Hearing his wife’s command coming from the kitchen, he intoned with a chuckle,
"Roger that."
Slowly standing up from his seat, he leisurely came to the door and opened it, only to see Gu Changsheng standing in front.
"Oh, Changsheng, come, come inside."
As Gu Changsheng came in, he greeted with a slight bow.
"Greetings, Uncle Dong, Uncle Ye."
"Hmm, Changsheng, come sit with us. Just now, we were talking about you."
Dong Yang said that as he sat down again. Ye Chen, on the other hand, teased with a grin,
"To be precise, your future father-in-law was singing your praises."
"Hahahaha!"
Gu Changsheng felt even more on edge after this due to what he was about to say.
"Umm, Uncle Dong, c-can Mulan stay with me tonight?"
Dong Yang: ???
Ye Chen: ???
What is happening? How in the heaven did the chicken eat its egg and the cow lay a cat??
My future son-in-law has gone astray!!!
Oh lord!!!
What Gu Changsheng didn’t know was that their village had a tradition where the man asked the father-in-law for permission to sleep with his wife after marriage.
What was even more bizarre was that some bold brats dared to ask for this before their marriage, and even succeeded.
"She sprang her leg, so I just thought if it’s okay..."
He hadn’t even finished when Dong Yang said impatiently,
"Go, go, go!"
Though he was a little baffled by Dong Yang’s attitude, he bowed gratefully and wound away.
Dong Yang, after seeing him walk away, sighed helplessly.
No worries, it will happen sooner or later, so let it be sooner.
"Old Yang... maybe he doesn’t have that intention, maybe you’re just overthinking it?"
Old Ye Chen, seeing his friend’s dejected look, comforted him while patting his shoulder.
"Hmph, I haven’t gone senile yet. If she hurt her ankle, can’t he carry her back??"
Old Ye got choked by his friend’s angry retort, unable to defend the young lad further.