“Nothing.” Jiang Yu looked up at him and, without drawing attention, slipped the ginseng into her sleeve.
She casually made up an excuse. “Jiang Mo keeps eating random things. I was scolding him.”
Xiao Lingzhou’s handsome features were half-hidden in the dim lamplight. Hearing this, he turned back into the kitchen.
When he came out again, he was carrying Jiang Mo’s dog bowl.
Inside were vegetables boiled in plain water and shredded chicken.
Jiang Yu had said Jiang Mo was too fat and needed to slim down, so she had specially designed this “weight-loss meal” for him.
Though Xiao Lingzhou didn’t understand what a “weight-loss meal” was, he roughly grasped that it meant eating less greasy food.
He placed the bowl in Jiang Mo’s usual spot. Without needing to be called, Jiang Mo wagged his tail and pounced on the bowl, eating with great enthusiasm.
After running wild all day, the diet meal he normally despised had turned into a delicacy. In no time, he had polished it off.
He even licked the bowl until it was spotless.
Still unsatisfied, he circled Xiao Lingzhou and whimpered for more food.
“You’ve eaten enough today. No more,” Xiao Lingzhou said seriously as he squatted down and patted the dog’s head.
Jiang Mo dared to act cute and spoiled in front of Jiang Yu, but he didn’t dare act up before Xiao Lingzhou.
Hearing this, his tail drooped. Reluctantly, he slunk back to his little nest and lay down.
Seeing this, Jiang Yu swiftly slipped away.
Xiao Lingzhou didn’t stop her. He went to check the medicine simmering on the stove.
He had to drink medicine after every meal—this had been going on for nearly a year.
After their marriage, he had explained to Jiang Yu that he had been left with a childhood ailment and needed medicine to recuperate.
Jiang Yu had never really doubted it.
Not until last night, when she learned his true identity and finally understood everything.
He had concealed who he was and acted a role in front of her.
Little did he know that now—having learned the truth—she too was acting, deceiving him in return.
After drinking his medicine and bathing, Xiao Lingzhou returned to the bedroom.
Jiang Yu lay on a rocking chair with a book covering her face, looking as though she had fallen asleep.
Noticing that she hadn’t even changed the dress Jiang Mo had dirtied, Xiao Lingzhou stepped forward and lifted the book from her face.
Gazing at the woman’s beautiful, sleeping features, he bent slightly and pressed a kiss to her smooth white forehead.
Then, moving gently, he scooped her up in his arms.
The sudden sensation of being lifted made Jiang Yu startle awake.
Drowsily, she lifted her eyelids—and Xiao Lingzhou’s sharply defined jawline filled her vision without warning.
There was no doubt his looks were exceptional.
Even in the softly glowing lamplight of the night, his brows carried a calm, elegant charm.
At this moment, he was dressed in a loose white robe. His black hair hung unbound.
Beneath the slightly open collar, a firm chest was half-revealed.
As his Adam’s apple moved, droplets of water slid from the damp ends of his hair, disappearing deeper into his collar…
Sleepy-eyed, Jiang Yu stared at him. Her muddled mind had already forgotten the terrifying scene she witnessed the night before.
Her body instinctively leaned closer to him.
Her hand, practiced and familiar, slipped through his open collar and rested on his chest, covered in a thin layer of muscle.
Feeling the woman’s slightly calloused yet soft hand roaming over his chest, Xiao Lingzhou smiled helplessly and murmured hoarsely by her ear,
“Qingqing, this habit of yours really needs to change.”
He wasn’t some saint with iron self-control—how could he endure her intentional or unintentional teasing?
Yet she was never well-behaved.
Every time she fell asleep, her hands would still wander over him, lighting fires everywhere. Seeing her serene sleeping face, he couldn’t bear to wake her, and could only go drink cold tea alone to quell the heat.
His voice was far too gentle—so gentle that Jiang Yu thought she must be dreaming.
Adhering to the philosophy that only fools pass up free benefits—and that each time you take one, there’s one less opportunity— her hand grew even bolder, slowly sliding down from his chest to his tightly defined abs.
The corners of her lips lifted happily as she mumbled,
“Don’t move… let me touch, let me touch…”
She didn’t have many hobbies.
She was just a bit greedy for money and good looks.
Aside from glittering silver, nothing stirred her heart more than men with eight-pack abs, broad shoulders, narrow waists, handsome faces, and long legs.
And Xiao Lingzhou had it all—perfectly matching her tastes, as if tailor-made for her.
It was hard not to fall for him at first sight—purely out of lust.
Feeling the excellent texture of his firm abs, she closed her eyes and grinned foolishly, her smile nearly reaching her ears.
If not for Xiao Lingzhou suddenly speaking, she might have continued indulging.
“Qingqing, your clothes are dirty. Take a bath before sleeping.”
What?
A bath?!
Jiang Yu jolted fully awake.
She opened her eyes and looked around, only to realize that at some point Xiao Lingzhou had already carried her into the washroom.
So it wasn’t a dream!
The scenes from the bamboo grove last night flooded back into her mind. She sprang out of his arms at once.
“No need!” she blurted out.
Feeling the warmth in his arms vanish, Xiao Lingzhou’s phoenix eyes dimmed almost imperceptibly.
He glanced at the slightly dirty hem of her dress, then returned to his usual gentle expression, pulling her back into his embrace and kissing her cheek.
“Be good, Qingqing. You’ll sleep more comfortably after washing.”
Jiang Yu’s mind was completely clear now. She thought that if she didn’t bathe, he definitely wouldn’t let her off tonight. Her ears burned as she pushed him away.
“You go out. I’ll wash myself.”
Since their marriage, she’d been lazy and he had always bathed her—but now it was different.
The thought of those hands—the ones that had snapped a man’s neck—washing her body sent chills through her.
Xiao Lingzhou didn’t understand and frowned slightly.
“What’s wrong? Haven’t I always bathed Qingqing before?”
He was too close—so close that the scent of his freshly bathed body filled her nose, and her eyes couldn’t help but catch glimpses of his enticing, half-revealed chest.
She swallowed and secretly pinched her thigh.
Cursing herself for being useless—nearly getting bewitched by his looks again—she forced herself to calm down and awkwardly made up another excuse.
“My waist still hurts…”
She blinked her watery peach-blossom eyes at him.
The meaning was obvious: You did this last night—you know what I mean, right?
In the past, bathing often turned into something else.
She was hinting that she feared he wouldn’t be able to control himself again.
Xiao Lingzhou’s jade-like cheeks warmed slightly. He coughed softly and murmured against her fair neck,
“My fault. I was too reckless last night.”
Then his tone shifted.
“Still… every time we bathe, it’s Qingqing who teases me first. I’m a normal man—it’s hard not to lose control…”
Hearing the smile in his voice, Jiang Yu’s face burned red.
What he meant was that as long as she didn’t light the fire, he still had some self-control.
Annoyed, she straightened and shoved him lightly, pouting.
“If you don’t even have that much self-control, then fine—but if another woman teased you like that, would you lose control too?”
Meeting her angry peach-blossom eyes, Xiao Lingzhou’s handsome face darkened.
“Qingqing, don’t talk nonsense. I’m not a beast. It’s only because you are my wife that I do such things with you. How can you compare other women to yourself?”