In that split second, Shen Shuxing felt the blood surge within him. He averted his gaze in a panicked rush, nursing an impulse to bolt right out the door.
The moment he turned around, the woman behind him burst into a violent fit of coughing, her little face stark white—the spitting image of a delicate, sickly beauty.
“I know you hate me because of what happened before, but I already know I was wrong. To err is human; can’t you give me one more chance to turn over a new leaf?”
She sounded utterly pitiful, yet her hands had long since stopped behaving, wandering restlessly all over his body.
“I am already your person. If we separate, I’d rather just die right now.”
With that, she blew a gentle puff of air against his ear, continuing to coax him step by step: “How about we live our lives properly, take good care of Mom and Dad, and I’ll bear you a chubby little baby next year, okay?”
She lightly kissed his lips and caught a glimpse of the repressed desire in the depths of his eyes. Before she could see it clearly, a pair of large, strong arms wrapped around her waist. Pressing into the hollow of her neck with ragged breathing, he said in a hoarse voice, “Let’s live our lives properly.”
He closed his eyes. Even if it was a trap, he accepted it.
Clothes scattered across the floor, shedding piece by piece like falling petals.
His hand reached into her flowing hair, cupping the back of her head tightly to deepen the kiss.
Zhao Yaoyao felt her body grow light as he scooped her up entirely, pressing her against the wall. He kissed her with a tenderness that bordered on devotion, slowly guiding her and letting her experience an unprecedented wave of pleasure over and over again.
He was gentle yet aggressive, holding the dominant position throughout the entire process. Step by step, he pressed her until she had no choice but to raise her hands in surrender.
In the silent night, there was only the sound of two hearts meeting frankly, slowly drawing closer to one another…
In the middle of the night, Shen Shuxing took a cold shower to suppress the beast that kept roaring within him. Because his little wife couldn’t take any more and had fallen asleep in exhaustion, he had no choice but to stop, terrified of hurting her.
When Zhao Yaoyao woke up, she felt somewhat embarrassed. Clearly, she was the one who had provoked the battle in the first place, yet she was the one waving the white flag in the end. This body was weak beyond words; it looked like she really needed to recuperate and build her health back up.
Screeech—
The door was pushed open. Shen Shuxing walked in carrying a basin of hot water and bolted the door behind him.
Then, he wrung out a face towel, preparing to give her a sponge bath.
Startled into a mix of shock and apprehension, her voice even quaked slightly: “What are you doing?”
Shen Shuxing paused his movements and explained, “Don’t worry, this face towel is clean. From now on, I’ll keep it for you to wash your body.”
“I’ll do it myself.”
She struggled to sit up, but her damned legs refused to muster an ounce of strength at this critical moment, aching and sore all over to an extreme degree.
“Just lie down and don’t move. I’ll be done in a second.”
Shen Shuxing moved swiftly, gently wiping her down. Yet as he wiped, his gaze began to shift and grow strange, and even his breathing turned heavy.
Realizing the situation was going sideways, Zhao Yaoyao hurriedly wrapped herself tightly in the quilt from head to toe: “All wiped, let’s sleep! If we don’t sleep, dawn is practically going to break.”
Shen Shuxing stepped outside to empty the water, then tiptoed back onto the bed. Pulling Zhao Yaoyao into his embrace from behind, he whispered, “Once I complete my mission on this upcoming trip, I can be promoted to battalion commander. By then, family quarters will be arranged, and I’ll bring all of you over.”
The fact that he could say such things proved her efforts were still paying off, as the man at least no longer rejected her.
“Alright, I’ll listen to whatever you say.”
The first ray of morning sunlight slanted diagonally into the small, low window. Shen Shuxing had already simmered a bowl of meat porridge, placing it by the bedside along with a warm, piping-hot egg—likely laid by yesterday’s old hen.
Zhao Yaoyao stood on no ceremony; she ate the egg, finished the porridge, and then lazily crawled out of bed.
Stepping outside, she saw Li Mei emptying the chamber pot. Because Shen Hai had limited mobility, eating, drinking, and relieving himself all took place on a single bed, leaving him entirely dependent on Li Mei for care.
It was Zhao Yaoyao’s first time stepping foot into Shen Hai’s room, which was thick with the scent of Chinese herbal medicine and a heavy, suffocating air of death.
Shen Hai was extremely emaciated, his body withered like dead wood, and his eyes held a sheet of utter desolation—like withered autumn grass completely devoid of vitality.
Naturally. For someone who had been so obsessively clean and fiercely proud to be permanently bedridden from the waist down for the rest of his life, having all his fighting spirit and pride ground away was inevitable.
Hearing Zhao Yaoyao enter, he merely lifted his eyelids slightly without speaking a word.
Unfazed by him, Zhao Yaoyao stepped forward and reached out to press down on his thighs. The ashen-faced Shen Hai finally reacted, pushing back with resistance as he rasped, “Get out!”
His leg muscles had already atrophied, and sensation was lost; curing him would be somewhat difficult, but not entirely impossible.
Once she had some spare cash on hand to forge a good set of silver needles and nursed her own body back to health, she could get Shen Hai back on his feet.
“Aiya, what are you running in here for? Hurry up and get out, aren’t you ashamed!”
Having finished emptying the chamber pot, Li Mei walked back in just in time to see her own daughter-in-law pinching her father-in-law’s thighs. If word of this got out, it would probably make people laugh their heads off.
Without offering an explanation, Zhao Yaoyao retreated from the room. After all, lacking any tools whatsoever, if she opened her mouth and declared she could cure Shen Hai’s legs, they would probably all think she had gone insane.
She gathered up yesterday’s medicinal herbs, intending to take them to town to sell. Walking there would take an hour and a half, which she figured could just count as a nice stroll.
Stopping and going along the way, she finally arrived in town. What broke her spirit the most wasn’t the walk, however, but the price of the herbs.
“I can only calculate these at fifty cents a catty for you.”
“This low?”
“For things like dandelions, thirty cents at most. I’m only giving you a higher rate because I see you’re a young woman and it hasn’t been easy for you.”
“If you think Uncle is cheating you, you can go ask around at other places that buy herbs, and you’ll know Uncle is telling the truth.”
The boss’s words struck her like a bolt from the blue. It meant all her running around busywork had only earned her a little over one yuan—and that was only because the man gave her a high price out of pity.
“Fine, I’ll sell them to you.”
It seemed that if she wanted to make money, she would have to look for another way out. Clutching her one yuan and thirty cents, she walked over to the pork stall and asked, “How much is pork per catty?”
“Seventy cents, pork belly is eighty cents a catty.”
Meat ration coupons had still been necessary a couple of years ago, but starting last year, the coupons became void, meaning people could buy as much as they wanted. Unfortunately, the money she had left was only enough to buy a little over a catty.
“Cut me a catty of pork belly, then.”
“Got it!”
With a single slash of his knife, the butcher sliced off a piece of pork belly two fingers wide, tossed it onto the scale—neither more nor less, landing precisely at one catty.
Handing over eighty cents left her with just fifty cents in total. Carrying her purchases, Zhao Yaoyao walked back with a face full of gloom.
“Second girl, it’s you! Come over here quickly.”
A middle-aged woman looked at her with a face full of oily, ingratiating smiles. Taking a closer look, Zhao Yaoyao recognized her as the original owner’s mother, who favored boys over girls.
“Silly child, Mom’s calling you! We stewed some meat at home today, so hurry and come back with Mom to have a taste. That meat’s been stewing for over an hour and is melt-in-your-mouth tender. Mom just tasted a piece, and oil was practically dripping down her throat—so fragrant it’s unbelievable! When Wang Auntie mentioned she saw you in town, Mom hurried right over.”
Seeing the woman move in to grab her arm, Zhao Yaoyao shifted back a step without a trace. Zhang Ying’s face was grinning almost to the point of splitting; surely she didn’t think she was still like the original owner, coming to hand them money all over again, did she?