Chapter 32
Chu Xihuan’s strange gaze was fixed on Lin Zhao’s sparkling eyes. She took a deep breath and finally smiled. “How did I not know that I had married a pervert?”
This person was always asking for kisses and hugs. What was she if not a pervert?
Lin Zhao’s eyes widened in disbelief. She felt very wronged. In her understanding, “pervert” was not a good word.
Xihuan is scolding me!
“How am I a pervert?” Lin Zhao muttered in dissatisfaction. “I want Xihuan to kiss me because I like Xihuan. It’s because you’re my wife that I’m like this. I’ve never thought of anyone else kissing me.”
Chu Xihuan glanced at her. It would be a problem if she thought of someone else kissing her.
“You…” Chu Xihuan wanted to ask her why she was so obsessed with such things, but as soon as she opened her mouth, she stopped and swallowed the rest of her words.
Realizing what she was about to do, she couldn’t help but smile wryly. She was not like Lin Zhao, who had no experience with relationships. If she asked such a question now, it would be like she was deliberately bullying her.
Chu Xihuan looked down at herself. Was she really that good? Even Chu Xihuan herself found it hard to understand why Lin Zhao had accepted her in such a short time.
“Me?” Lin Zhao looked at her, confused, not understanding why she had started a sentence and not finished it.
Chu Xihuan placed a piece of fish belly in Lin Zhao’s bowl. “…You should eat more.”
“Oh.” Lin Zhao lowered her head and ate the meat Chu Xihuan had given her. Then, as if she had thought of something, she quickly looked up and said with a scrunched-up face, “Didn’t Xihuan just call me a pervert!”
Why had the topic suddenly changed to her eating more!
Lin Zhao looked at Chu Xihuan with a puffed-up face, as if she were demanding an explanation.
Chu Xihuan was speechless. Why was this person so difficult today?
Or… was it because “pervert” had hit a nerve that she was so concerned about it?
Chu Xihuan thought to herself. Seeing Lin Zhao still looking at her with a resentful expression, Chu Xihuan smiled helplessly. “Alright, alright, you’re not. I was wrong. I misunderstood you, okay?”
Her tone was too casual and perfunctory! Even Lin Zhao could tell!
“You still think I’m a pervert!” Lin Zhao was a little annoyed. She was not a pervert!
Chu Xihuan was speechless.
She didn’t say any more nonsense. She suddenly stood up, leaned across the table, and pinched Lin Zhao’s chin, lifting it slightly. She bent down and kissed her on the lips. As Lin Zhao was stunned, she sat back down in her seat and said lightly, “How about this? Are you satisfied now?”
Lin Zhao was completely stunned. She stared blankly at Xihuan, who had already started to eat calmly. The feeling on her lips had not yet disappeared, and it still seemed to retain the softness of Xihuan’s kiss.
“What, you’re not going to eat?” Seeing that she was not moving, Chu Xihuan looked at her with a calm expression. However, if you looked closely, you would find that the tips of Chu Xihuan’s ears were already faintly red.
Lin Zhao’s spirits visibly lifted. She looked at Chu Xihuan with sparkling eyes, then, as if in disbelief, she reached out and gently touched her own lips. After confirming that Chu Xihuan had really kissed her, Lin Zhao couldn’t help but grin.
“Xihuan~ You kissed me~” Lin Zhao giggled foolishly. Xihuan kissed me!
Chu Xihuan lowered her gaze slightly and said nothing, just eating her own food.
Lin Zhao’s gaze fell on Chu Xihuan’s lips, and she asked with a greedy expression, “Then can I kiss Xihuan now?”
She had originally thought that Xihuan would only kiss her at night, but she never thought that now, in the daytime! At noon! Xihuan had kissed her again~
Chu Xihuan was speechless.
This person was really difficult and clingy.
“No,” Chu Xihuan said with a stern face, placing another piece of vegetable in Lin Zhao’s bowl. “Don’t talk while you’re eating. Be quiet.”
Hearing her stern tone, Lin Zhao couldn’t help but pout. She had just kissed her so softly, but now she had changed her tune in the blink of an eye!
Chu Xihuan ignored her, but her own eating speed had quickened. By the time she finished, Lin Zhao had only eaten half. She put down her bowl and chopsticks and said, “You eat slowly. I’ll go and get busy.”
She felt that she couldn’t sit with Lin Zhao anymore. That person’s resentful gaze was about to pierce her.
“Ah, oh.” Lin Zhao replied blankly and saw Chu Xihuan walk into the study with seemingly calm but quick steps, closing the door behind her.
Lin Zhao looked down at the half-eaten food on the table, a little confused. The fish today was so delicious. Why did Xihuan eat so much faster?
Not understanding, she also quickened her pace of eating. After washing the dishes, she ran into the study and said, “Xihuan, I don’t have to go to the docks this afternoon. I’ll practice my writing at home.”
Although she could earn some money by moving goods at the docks for an afternoon, practicing her writing also took time. If she waited until after work to practice, it would already be dark, and she would have to light an oil lamp, which would also cost money.
“Mm,” Chu Xihuan replied without looking up, her hands still busy with her needlework. In her heart, she was actually a little embarrassed.
Why was it that today, of all days, Lin Zhao was not going to work? Now that the two of them would be under the same roof for an afternoon, Chu Xihuan already felt a little uncomfortable and awkward.
Lin Zhao didn’t notice her discomfort. She spread out the paper, ground the ink according to the method Chu Xihuan had taught her yesterday, and started to write seriously, stroke by stroke.
Seeing her so well-behaved, Chu Xihuan was both relieved and a little unaccustomed to it.
The two of them were busy with their own things, and the atmosphere was quite harmonious. When Chu Xihuan finished altering the clothes, she called Lin Zhao over to try them on.
With the experience of the first set, Chu Xihuan’s speed was much faster this time. She had altered a total of three sets for Lin Zhao, and with the original set, four sets should be enough for Lin Zhao to change and wash.
Seeing that it was her own clothes, and having understood a little of Chu Xihuan’s temper, she didn’t say any nonsense. She held the clothes in her arms and happily went to change.
Looking at Lin Zhao standing in front of her in her new clothes, Chu Xihuan reached out and adjusted some details for her. “Not bad. You look much cleaner and more energetic,” she nodded.
If she weren’t worried that Lin Zhao would be reluctant, she would have wanted to tell her to throw away those two patched outfits.
“Mm-hm, Xihuan’s hands are so skilled!” Lin Zhao lovingly touched the clothes on her body. Xihuan had altered them so well that they fit perfectly, and even if she wore them to work, they wouldn’t affect her movements.
Chu Xihuan took out a new hair ribbon and untied the one on Lin Zhao’s head. “You should change it. This one has faded from washing.”
This brought Chu Xihuan too close. Lin Zhao’s face grew red as she smelled her faint fragrance. When Chu Xihuan walked in front of her, she couldn’t help but reach out and hug her waist, looking up at her. “Xihuan, I really want to hug you.”
She really wanted to be close to Xihuan.
Suddenly having her waist hugged and a person pressed against her abdomen, this overly intimate action made Chu Xihuan freeze in place. She looked down at the bold person in front of her, at a loss for words.
Her actions were so bold, but the expression on her face as she looked up at her was so pitiful and obedient that it was difficult to scold her, and also difficult to comfort her by patting her head.
“Who taught you this?” Chu Xihuan said after a long silence.
Lin Zhao blinked in confusion, looking at Chu Xihuan with an uncomprehending gaze, not understanding what she meant by “who taught you.”
“You taught me?” Lin Zhao said tentatively. After all, only Xihuan had been teaching her to read lately.
Chu Xihuan was speechless. She had not taught Lin Zhao such a shameless move.
Taking a slow, deep breath, Chu Xihuan smiled slightly. “So have you hugged enough?”
This person was not letting go.
Lin Zhao’s eyes lit up as she shook her head. “I can never hug Xihuan enough.”
If she didn’t have to get up every day, she wouldn’t want to get up after hugging Chu Xihuan every night.
Chu Xihuan was speechless.
“I’ve discovered that you’re quite a rogue,” Chu Xihuan said with a slight smile, pinching her cheek.
“Mmm? I’m not,” Lin Zhao’s words were muffled by her pinched cheek. She looked at Chu Xihuan with an innocent and accusing gaze, dissatisfied with her calling her a rogue.
She was not. She had never harassed anyone. How could she be a rogue?
Chu Xihuan snorted and placed her palm on her face, pushing her head back and forcing her to let go of her waist.
“Don’t be a rogue here. If you really have nothing to do, go and copy the four characters for ‘greedy’ a hundred times.”
Being pushed away, Lin Zhao felt as if she had been struck by lightning. She looked at her in shock, not wanting to believe that such cold and ruthless words had come from the soft lips of Xihuan.
And it was “greedy”!
Xihuan is scolding me again!
Chu Xihuan ignored her gaze and picked up the book she was about to copy, flipping through it.
The reason she had chosen to copy books was, on the one hand, that this job could indeed earn her some money. Although her older brother and second sister had helped her out of her financial difficulties, it was still good to have some income. On the other hand, copying books would allow her to get books she hadn’t read before from the bookstore, so that she could read what she wanted without buying them.
Lin Zhao saw her pick up a book and read it, and she didn’t dare to make any loud noises. She changed back into her own clothes and silently went to write.
Looking at the four characters for “greedy” that she had written, Lin Zhao pouted. Xihuan really liked to scold her for being greedy and taking a mile when given an inch. She was clearly the most well-behaved! She was not as excessive as Xihuan said.
With both of them having something to do, time passed exceptionally quickly. When it grew dark outside, they both realized that it was getting late. Lin Zhao put down her brush and said, “Xihuan, I’ll go and heat up the dishes from noon. Do you want to eat porridge or rice for dinner?”
The two of them couldn’t possibly have finished the fish they had bought at noon. There was still half left.
“Rice,” Chu Xihuan said quietly. She had had porridge yesterday and didn’t really want to eat it today.
“Mm, okay. You continue with your work. I’ll call you when it’s ready,” Lin Zhao smiled at her. She would heat up the fish later and make an egg custard. It would be ready soon.
Chu Xihuan nodded. After Lin Zhao left, she walked to where Lin Zhao had been sitting and checked her writing.
Some of the characters had too many strokes, and when written together, it was inevitable that they would smudge if the brush was not controlled well, especially since Lin Zhao was not good at controlling such fine details, which made it even more of a disaster.
But…
When Chu Xihuan checked one of the papers, she saw a line of characters in the bottom right corner.
Xixi takes a mile when given an inch.
Chu Xihuan: “???”
Was “Xixi” her?
Was “takes a mile when given an inch” referring to her?
**
Author’s Note:
Xixi: You dare to use the two characters I taught you on me! [Angry][Angry]
Zhaozhao: It’s not two characters [Please][Please]
