Lu Yixue had no idea what Pei Shijin was thinking. Upon receiving the affirmative response, she immediately beamed with joy, her face lighting up with a radiant smile.
Pei Shijin gazed steadily at Lu Yixue. Even though she had seen that beautiful face for many years, her heart still raced at the sight of her smile.
“Where are we going?” Lu Yixue’s voice pulled the distracted Pei Shijin back to reality.
“Ahem.” Pei Shijin wasn’t sure if she had noticed her lapse, so she coughed twice to cover her embarrassment. “To the clinic to pick up some medicine for Little Mingzhu.”
“Oh, right. We should go. I’ll grab some heat-clearing meds while we’re there.” Lu Yixue’s gaze landed on Pei Shijin’s hand like a dragonfly skimming water before quickly darting away. “The weather’s been so hot lately; it’s easy to get inflamed.”
Pei Shijin caught that fleeting glance, and her mind instantly flared with heat, though she wondered if she was overthinking it.
It had been months since their last intimate contact—the previous time had been during her Susceptible Period.
The thought made Pei Shijin’s mouth go dry. Fortunately, Little Mingzhu’s innocent voice dispelled her wandering thoughts. “Mingzhu wants sweet medicine! No sweet, no eat~”
“Good medicine tastes bitter.” The elevator doors opened, and Lu Yixue led Little Mingzhu inside. She held the door open with her arm and looked back puzzled. “Why aren’t you coming? Forget something?”
Pei Shijin hurried into the elevator. “I was thinking about what medicine might be sweet.”
“Is there any?” Lu Yixue had taken plenty of medicine growing up, but none of it had been sweet. “Sweet ones probably have sugar added, which isn’t good for the efficacy.”
“Mingzhu’s okay with sweet and happy medicine, even if it works slower!” Little Mingzhu quite liked her cool red-eyed mom.
Pei Shijin smoothed down her daughter’s cowlick. “Mommy will try not to let Little Mingzhu take bitter medicine.”
Lu Yixue watched Pei Shijin thoughtfully. When the elevator reached the first floor and they stepped out, she finally spoke again. “I want something sweet too.”
Pei Shijin blinked in confusion, then grabbed Lu Yixue’s arm with one hand and checked her pulse with the other. “Your liver fire is a bit high. Some chrysanthemum tea should do the trick.”
Lu Yixue expressionlessly withdrew her hand. “Oh.”
It seemed simple hints wouldn’t work. Lu Yixue sighed inwardly, wondering when she could finally sink her teeth into some meat.
Pei Shijin didn’t notice Lu Yixue’s exasperation. She was lost in thought, suspecting that Lu Yixue was overthinking things, leading to stagnant liver qi.
She knew exactly what was bothering Lu Yixue, but she couldn’t help with any of it or offer guidance.
Pei Shijin sighed to herself. If Lu Yixue’s mood and energy truly fluctuated because of her, then faking an illness wouldn’t be fair to her.
She’d just have to compensate in other ways later, tonifying Lu Yixue’s body from elsewhere.
Little Mingzhu was busy chatting with Chen Jiayao on her watch, showing off her cool red eyes and the sweet medicine she’d get.
The three of them were occupied with their own thoughts and arrived quietly at the clinic.
The clinic was lively upon arrival, packed with patients mostly there for inflammation-related issues: sore throats, mouth ulcers, lip inflammation, constipation, breakouts—each with their own brand of “fire.”
Little Mingzhu looked around and still thought her own “fire” was the coolest.
Pei Shijin laughed helplessly at her logic while grabbing her medicine. “When you grow up, I’ll buy you colored contacts. You can have eyes any color you want—no need to get sick.”
“What’s a colored contact?” Little Mingzhu’s eyes sparkled. She had inherited Lu Yixue’s amber irises—round, large, and very pretty.
But influenced by cartoons, she thought red, purple, and green were cooler.
“It’s like a lens that goes directly on your eyeball.” Pei Shijin called out to the busy Song Zonghui. “Do you have disposable colored contacts in your bag?”
“Yeah, yeah, grab them yourself. And help me fill this prescription too.” Pei Shijin ended up with three prescriptions.
The clinic’s three staff were usually laid-back, but during peak illness seasons, they got swamped. Today, for some reason, patients flooded in.
Pei Shijin glanced at Lu Yixue, who pulled a pair of disposable purple contacts from Song Zonghui’s bag. “I’ll go help out. You put eye drops in Little Mingzhu and explain contacts to her.”
Lu Yixue nodded and led Little Mingzhu to the chair behind the counter. “Come on, Mommy will put drops in your eyes first.”
Little Mingzhu had never had eye drops before and was full of curiosity. She held the bottle and tilted it every which way. “How do you do it?”
Lu Yixue had Lu Mingzhu rest her head on her lap, skillfully pulled back her eyelids, and administered one drop in each eye.
Little Mingzhu instinctively blinked, but with her lids held open, she couldn’t fully close them. The drops stayed in, and she whined pitifully, “Mommy, my eyes feel so sour.”
“Blink now.” Lu Yixue patted her head. “It’ll feel better soon—nice and cool.”
Little Mingzhu blinked, and once the stinging faded, it indeed felt refreshingly cool. “The world looks brighter!”
“Mm-hmm. Up you go—Mommy will show you the contacts.” Lu Yixue supported her waist and pulled Little Mingzhu to her feet.
Little Mingzhu squealed excitedly in a whisper. “Contacts! Contacts!”
Lu Mingzhu opened the box, revealing two soft, jelly-like round lenses. Little Mingzhu examined them closely. “Purple ones. Can I touch?”
“No, touching them makes them unusable. Wearing dirty ones could make your eyes sick.” Lu Yixue said seriously. They’d been teaching Mingzhu hygiene since she could understand, and she wouldn’t slack off now—even if a quick touch on the edge wasn’t a big deal, it wasn’t hygienic.
The little one’s eager hand snapped back. “Okay then. Can Mommy wear them?”
“Sure, Mommy will check the instructions.” Lu Yixue pulled out her phone to search for a tutorial; she’d never worn them before.
Mother and daughter huddled together, absorbed in the video. The steps boiled down to: pull, place, blink.
It looked simple, but in practice, it was tricky. Every time Lu Yixue blinked, the lens slid out of her eye socket.
Repeated failures didn’t frustrate her, but it was embarrassing—especially with Little Mingzhu’s big, sparkling eyes watching. Her expression shifted from super excited to puzzled to bored, piling on the pressure.
She grabbed Pei Shijin as she came by to grab something. “Help me put them in.”
Her fingers gripped Pei Shijin’s forearm, clearly sensing the warm body heat. Lu Yixue’s pinky traced light circles on the skin.
Before the second circle finished, she pulled her hand back. Broad daylight—what had possessed her?
Pei Shijin swallowed to ease the restlessness surging through her body. “Okay, let me see.”
“Mommy can do it?” Little Mingzhu perked up again.
“Should be able to.” Pei Shijin didn’t overpromise; she didn’t want to lose face either.
Ahem. Though she’d been busy, she’d kept an eye on them and seen Little Mingzhu’s reactions clearly.
She’d even wondered what she’d do if Lu Yixue asked for help—and figured her strong-willed wife would conquer it alone.
Yet here she was, arm seized.
Pei Shijin cupped Lu Yixue’s chin to angle her face, then pulled back her eyelid. “Relax.”
Too close—nothing could hide, including the heat in Lu Yixue’s gaze. Pei Shijin instinctively licked her lips, then regretted it.
Faking illness to tie Lu Yixue down—wasn’t that just her own greed?
Pei Shijin took a deep breath. “I’m putting it in.”
A blush tinted Lu Yixue’s cheeks.
The lens slid in smoothly, just like… Pei Shijin’s gaze drifted downward from Lu Yixue’s eyes, and she belatedly realized the double entendre.
Must be the heat making everyone restless, she thought. She and Lu Yixue both needed some cooling herbal tea.
“The other one.” Pei Shijin reminded the seemingly lost-in-thought Lu Yixue.
Lu Yixue let out a soft “Mm,” sweet at the end.
The sound made Pei Shijin’s hand tremble, and the lens failed. “Don’t move.”
Lu Yixue wanted to laugh but held it in. She hadn’t moved—who knew what had?
“Done.” Pei Shijin set the tweezers back in the box, grabbed her things, and hurried off to work again.
Lu Yixue blinked. There was a foreign-body sensation, but it was tolerable.
“Mommy, Mommy, let Mingzhu see!” Little Mingzhu hugged her leg impatiently.
“Okay, no rush.” Lu Yixue looked down. The violet eyes gleamed holy and pure in the soft light, adding a touch of gentleness to her features.
“So pretty!” Little Mingzhu stared blankly. Purple-eyed Mommy seemed so different yet the same. Her limited vocabulary couldn’t capture it—just pretty, and she wanted it.
Little Mingzhu wheedled, “Mommy, Mommy, Mingzhu wants purple eyes too—no more red eyes.”
Lu Yixue laughed. “No can do. Little kids’ eyes aren’t fully developed; contacts would hurt them. Do you want to stay short forever or have purple eyes?”
“Hmm~ Want both.” Little Mingzhu pitifully shook her arm.
Lu Yixue didn’t budge and patiently reasoned with her. “It’s not up to Mommy to give you both even if you want them. Mommy can’t do that.”
“Okay then, Mingzhu wants to grow tall.” Little Mingzhu moped briefly before perking up. “Mommy, Mommy, let’s take a photo! I wanna send to Chen Jiayao—I’ve got a purple-eyed Mommy, hee hee hee~”
The fallout was that Chen Jiayao’s mom, mid-afternoon tea, got dragged up by her daughter demanding contacts.
None? Then go buy some!
Not having red eyes already bummed Chen out; no purple-eyed mom would make her sad!
Hmph—not just purple, but red, orange, yellow, green, blue too!
Chen Mom: I don’t have that many eyes!
The smug Little Mingzhu couldn’t sit still and wanted to help Mommy and Aunt Zong Huian. She and Lu Yixue got assigned to sorting herbs.
Lu Yixue handled meds often and knew the precautions, so she worked smoothly.
With their extra half a pair of hands, everyone else lightened up.
At mealtime, Little Mingzhu’s stomach growled. Pei Shijin decisively ditched Song Zonghui to go eat.
The family of three dined in Lu Yixue’s apartment; she’d had a meal delivered.
At the table, Pei Shijin kept glancing at Lu Yixue.
“Why do you keep staring?” Lu Yixue asked.
Pei Shijin licked her lips, eyes drifting. “Not used to it.”
Lu Yixue stood, leaned over, and cupped Pei Shijin’s face with both hands, forcing her to meet her gaze. “Then look a little longer. You’ll get used to it.”
