Qin Xiao’s entire body went rigid as he held the soft, fragrant figure in his arms. The sweet scent of wine lingered around her delicate body.
A little awkwardly, he grinned at Zhou Ye.
“She… really likes me.”
Covering her mouth with a laugh, Zhou Sui nodded.
“I think so too. The moment she heard that you’re going to marry her, she downed half a bowl in one go.”
The liquor was strong. Even her brother, who could hold his drink well, wouldn’t dare drink it like that.
Watching the two of them wrapped in each other’s embrace, Zhou Ye couldn’t help feeling his ears warm. Even if it was because she was drunk, the scene was far too intimate.
Matters between men and women were the easiest things to stir the heart.
His little sister was innocent. If she watched too much of this, she might start imagining things and end up getting tricked by some scoundrel.
Draining the last mouthful of wine, he grabbed his sister and prepared to leave.
“You take care of her. We’ll head back first.”
Zhou Sui hadn’t even finished eating and immediately protested that there was no need to rush. Unfortunately, her brother dragged her toward the door regardless.
Only after they stepped outside did Zhou Ye speak.
“Can’t you see the young couple wants some time together? Why are you staying? To hold a lantern for them?”
Pouting, Zhou Sui wrapped both arms around her brother’s arm and said coquettishly,
“Doesn’t being affectionate require a lantern too? It’s better when it’s brighter.”
“Qin’s wife is so pretty. There’s no way Brother Qin would bear to blow out the lamp. He’ll definitely want to admire everything clearly and thoroughly.”
“Y-you…” Zhou Ye nearly choked. “Listen to yourself. Is that something a young lady should be saying? Who taught you that?”
Zhou Sui hugged his sturdy arm even tighter and blinked innocently.
“Do I need someone to teach me? I hear the married women talking when I go wash clothes by the river every day.”
The veins at Zhou Ye’s temple twitched.
He tried to pull his arm free, but his sister clung even tighter.
“You’re already fifteen and have had your coming-of-age ceremony. Men and women should keep proper boundaries. Hugging me like when you were little isn’t appropriate anymore. Let go.”
He could clearly feel the contours of her body pressed against him, and it left him at a complete loss.
“No. I want to hold onto my brother. For my whole life.”
Zhou Ye: …
Zhou Sui wasn’t his biological sister.
Back then, his mother had given birth to a baby girl. Because of a difficult labor, both mother and child died.
Their father spent his days drowning in grief. His health deteriorated rapidly.
Then a terrible drought struck the north, sending refugees streaming south.
While walking along the roadside, Zhou Ye found a half-starved little girl barely clinging to life.
She had only been five or six years old at the time, while he was ten.
The cheerful little girl who joined their household eventually eased some of their father’s pain from losing his wife and daughter, but only for a few years before he too passed away.
Zhou Ye had raised Zhou Sui as though she were his own younger sister.
He knew how dependent she was on him.
At least, he had always believed it was the dependence of a younger sister toward an older brother, or perhaps a daughter toward a father.
Yet now, she hugged him without the slightest concern for propriety and casually spoke of spending a lifetime together.
Something struck Zhou Ye’s heart.
A faint numbness spread through him.
There was even a trace of sweetness mixed in.
Silently listening to the girl’s endless chatter beside him, he ultimately didn’t tell her to let go again.
Meanwhile, Qin Xiao slipped one arm beneath Qinghe’s thighs and lifted her into his arms.
For a moment, he hesitated.
Should he take her to the bathhouse or directly to the bedroom?
The intoxicating fragrance of wine mingled with her natural feminine scent, drifting into his nose with every increasingly uneven breath he drew.
That alone was enough to make his entire body feel as though it were being scorched by fire.
Now she was completely nestled against his shoulder, impossible to wake.
Her cheeks glowed like rosy clouds at sunset.
She looked like a flower in full bloom, waiting to be picked.
A rather improper thought surfaced in Qin Xiao’s mind.
Without further hesitation, he carried her straight toward the bathhouse.
The bathing tub felt unusually cramped today.
The cloth in Qin Xiao’s hand glided over her fair skin.
His thoughts drifted back to the unfinished kiss beneath the bamboo grove.
Lowering his head, he brushed his lips against her soft, delicate mouth, savoring the shape of those full, inviting lips.
One hand supported her slender waist while the other carefully washed her.
“Mmm…”
A soft murmur escaped Qinghe’s throat.
Startled, Qin Xiao immediately pulled back.
The woman before him was so beautiful that restraint felt nearly impossible.
Every part of him ached with desire.
Yet her head remained lolling to one side, showing no signs of waking.
Inside his mind, two voices were battling fiercely.
“You bought her. She’s yours. What’s the problem? If not for the wounds on her back, you’d have taken her the very first day. Now she’s right in front of you, completely defenseless. Qin Xiao, if you can still hold back, are you even a man?”
“No. That’s wrong. Don’t listen to him. She’s not property. She’s a person. If she agrees while fully conscious, that’s mutual consent. But if she finds out you took advantage of her like this, what will she think of you?”
Qin Xiao swallowed hard.
In the end, he settled on a compromise.
Taking her hand, he held it in his own.
Not long afterward, the splashing water suddenly ceased.
Tilting his head back, his lips remained parted for a long moment before he finally let out a low groan.
His entire body relaxed.
That didn’t count as taking advantage of her, did it?
He had merely borrowed her hand for a moment.
Once he was done, he lifted the damp, sleeping woman from the bath and carried her to the bedroom.
The next morning.
Qinghe sat up and tapped at her aching, heavy head.
The moment she did, she realized her clothes had been changed.
She was wearing only a peach-pink dudou and a pair of undergarments.
There was none of the sticky discomfort she had expected.
Had she been bathed?
She instantly became fully awake.
Hurriedly checking herself over, she found nothing unusual.
Even the straw mat was the same one as before, showing no signs of anything having happened.
Relief washed over her.
“He’s quite the gentleman after all.”
If not for the fact that something had been pressing against her at night over the past few days, she might have started suspecting that Qin Xiao, despite looking so strong, wasn’t actually capable in that regard.
What she didn’t know was that the “gentleman” Qin Xiao had barely slept at all while holding that soft, sweet-smelling woman in his arms.
At this very moment, he was outside in the vegetable garden, refreshed and full of energy, hammering away as he built the fence.
The sun was already high in the sky when Qinghe finally got up.
After eating the breakfast he had left warming in the pot, she heard noises coming from the western side of the house and decided to go help.
As she crossed the courtyard, she noticed a sack.
Something alive seemed to be moving inside.
Assuming it belonged to the Zhou siblings, she wondered if it contained rabbits or pheasants. Worried the animals might suffocate, she untied the opening.
“AAAAAHHHHH!”
A shrill scream erupted from the courtyard.
Qin Xiao’s heart instantly sank.
Dropping his hammer, he sprinted toward the house.
“Qinghe! What’s wrong?”
“Qinghe! I’m here! Come to me!”
Like someone who had just seen a ghost, the frightened girl ran straight toward him.
With a leap, she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and locked her legs around his waist.
“Qin Xiao! Snakes! Snakes! There are so many snakes! I’m terrified!”
Qinghe was genuinely crying.
She hated snakes more than anything.
When she was young, she’d been bitten by one.
Seeing over a dozen snakes of different colors tangled together inside the sack had nearly scared her soul out of her body.
At that moment, keeping both feet off the ground felt like the safest thing in the world.
Like a delicate vine clinging desperately to a sturdy tree, she trembled uncontrollably.
The soft little figure crashed into his arms like a frightened rabbit.
Qin Xiao froze for several moments before finally recovering his senses.
Was she seducing him?
It certainly felt that way.
And strangely enough, he didn’t dislike it at all.
Instead, he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer against his chest.
“Don’t be afraid. I’ll go take a look. Stay right here and don’t move.”
As he patted her back soothingly, Qin Xiao silently cursed Zhou Ye a hundred times over.
Fortunately, only two snakes had escaped from the sack.
Using a pair of fire tongs, he quickly caught them and stuffed them back inside.
Then he picked up the sack and bellowed toward the eastern hillside.
The deep roar echoed through the mountains several times.
“Zhou Ye! Come get your damned snakes!”
…
“They scared her half to death. If you leave creepy things like this at my house again, we’re done!”
The moment Zhou Ye arrived, he was greeted with a fierce scolding.
But whose fault was it?
The meal had been going perfectly fine until Qin Xiao and his little sweetheart suddenly started hugging each other. The sight had been so embarrassing that Zhou Ye forgot all about the sack.
He’d left snakes here before.
Why hadn’t Qin Xiao gotten angry then?
But scaring his precious wife was unacceptable?
What a friend who valued beauty over brotherhood.
“I’m heading into the county town. Need me to bring anything back?” Zhou Ye asked.
Qin Xiao planned to take Qinghe shopping himself, so there was no need to trouble his friend.
“No. I’ll be making a trip there myself.”
After the fence was finished, Qin Xiao brought up the matter over lunch.
He planned to take Qinghe into town to buy supplies.
They needed vegetable seeds, wedding necessities, and food for the days he’d be away in the mountains.
A troubled expression crossed Qinghe’s face.
“Qin Xiao, shouldn’t we tell your parents before we get married?”
Qin Xiao’s expression darkened slightly.
“No.”
“My household registration papers are in my possession. We’ll go register the marriage first.”
Fortunately, when he’d bought this house, he’d needed the family documents to transfer the property.
After the transfer was completed, he had never returned them.
Now, at least, he could decide his own marriage.
As for the wedding banquet, his parents would still need to attend.
His plan was simple.
Register the marriage first.
Once everything was finalized and impossible to reverse, he’d speak to his parents about the banquet.
At that point, whether they liked it or not wouldn’t matter.
As Qin Xiao happily calculated his future plans, he had no idea that Madam Qin was already on her way to his house with two visitors.
“This is the place.”
“Don’t be fooled by how shabby it looks now. My eldest son is very capable. One wild boar can earn him a whole tael of silver. Building a new house is only a matter of time.”
“Look over there. Those smoked chickens hanging up were caught by him recently.”
“If your Xiugu marries him, she’ll be living a good life.”