To her surprise, it was Li Yan’s voice that said, “Sure.”
His voice startled Li Man and the dishrag dropped from her hand.
“Y-You came back?” Flustered, she bent down to pick up the dishrag to hide her inner panic.
“Who did you think it was?” Li Yan slight raised his eyebrows at her. He took out a small crock from the bottom of the cabinet, walked over to the stove, opened the crock, and used a small piece of bamboo to fill the oil lamp. Immediately, the light brightened a lot.
Li Man saw that the bruising on his face was mostly gone. “I-I thought it was Li Shu,” she answered honestly and went back to wiping the stove.
“Old three said there’s a leftover steamed bun saved for me.” Li Yan leaned over to her side.
Li Man quickly moved away. “It’s in the cabinet, in a bowl.”
Li Yan went over to get the food himself. As he ate, he asked, “Did you already eat?”
“En.” Li Man casually confirmed. Her hand movements had sped up. With him here, she had to remain alert.
Li Yan leaned against the stove. It only took a few bites to finish the steamed bun. “It tastes pretty good.”
Li Man didn’t respond. The surface of the stove was clean. She washed the dishrag in basin of water, wrung it dry, and placed it on the side of the stove. She went out to pour out the used water.
Li Yan slightly turned his head and observed her as she came back into the kitchen.
Li Man deliberately ignored that his gaze was focused on her. She pretended to be calm as she put down the basin. Without saying a word, she turned to leave.
However, her stiff bearing as she walked out betrayed her.
Right after she had taken one step past the doorway, he abruptly grabbed her arm and forcefully dragged her back inside.
It felt as if her constantly nervous heart had leaped up to her throat in alarm. Li Man’s voice was trembling as she asked, “What are you doing?”
Li Yan corned her against the wall. He helplessly looked at her. “I should be asking you this question.”
“…” Li Man gritted her teeth and glared at him.
Li Yan lightly shook his head. “You’ve already fallen to the point of being sold off. What kind of extravagant hopes can you still have? My family is poor, but at least we wouldn’t hit you, yell at you, or bully you -”
What would he call his current actions then? Li Man really wanted to ask this question, but confronted by his despotic gaze, she didn’t have any confidence to say anything.
“I don’t like how you try to hide as soon as you see me. You don’t act this way in front of them. You even treat third brother really well.” Li Yan couldn’t help suspecting, had he gotten too old and women were no longer charmed by him?
“Do you know that this makes me very angry?”
Li Man was so incensed by his unbridled arrogance that she laughed. “If you’re angry, than you’re free to keep your distance from me.”
“How could I do that?” Li Yan leaned over and suddenly got very close to her face. He closed his eyes and smiled. “You’re my wife. In the future, we’ll even sleep in the same bed. If I keep my distance from you, how will you get pregnant with my son?”
“Despicable scoundrel!” Other than these two words, Li Man couldn’t think of anything else to describe him.
Li Yan roguishly smiled. He gripped her chin, lifted her face, and lowly said, “Your cursing reminds me, yesterday’s feeling was pretty good.”
Once these words were said, a heated kiss heavily fell down and once again swallowed her voice before she could shout.