She knew the young master meant well, but she couldn’t do it. He had not yet married her, and she could not share a bed with him. She even felt it was against ethics to sleep in the same room.
"Xiaotian, I am no longer the ’young master’ as you call me, call me Fugui!"
He no longer wanted to hear those two words, feeling that they were a mockery of how foolish he had been all these years.
Besides, he liked hearing Xiaotian call him by his name, even though she had been rather fierce just now.
"Young master, I..." She hesitated, having become accustomed to the title, and truly had not meant to yell at him earlier.
"Call me by my name!"
"Fugui!" Xiaotian, seeing the young master’s persistence, reluctantly uttered softly. In fact, she felt joy in being able to call him by his name.
"Get on the kang," Li Fugui thought. Xiaotian had been caring for him and sleeping on a chair all these days; she must be very tired and needed a good rest.
Li Fugui could see her concern. She was right, no woman should lightly get on a man’s kang, "Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to you."
"Fugui, that’s not what I meant." With the young master speaking to this extent, she obediently did as told, spreading the quilt from the chair on the kang and laid down beside him.
His beloved woman lay beside him, his heart thumping wildly. He had always wanted to marry her, but their statuses, one a young master, the other a maid.
Now he was no longer a young master, and she was no longer a maid; could they really be together?
He felt there would be no other woman like Xiaotian who would choose to stand by his side when he had nothing, she sacrificed her reputation just to take him in.
He had found it difficult even to hold her hand before because she cared much about reputation, but now she even hugged him and shared a bed for his sake.
"My parents are no longer alive, I now need to observe mourning for three years!"
"After three years, we can get married. Is that okay?"
Having heard Fugui’s words, Xiaotian fell asleep sweetly, knowing she would definitely wait till that day.
Lying on the kang, Li Fugui listened to Xiaotian’s steady breathing, knowing she had fallen asleep. He then got off the kang, moved the quilt back to the chair where Xiaotian had slept, and decided he would sleep on the chair from then on, so as not to make Xiaotian uncomfortable.
The next day, Li Fugui woke up to find no sign of Xiaotian, which panicked him. He didn’t know where she could have gone and waited a long time before he saw her return.
"Kept you worried, huh? I’ll go cook now." Xiaotian came home and went to see Fugui straight away.
"I...I didn’t go anywhere!"
"..." Xiaotian wasn’t good at lying; whenever she lied, she would stutter. He wondered where she really went without letting him know.
"You can’t fool me, you stutter whenever you lie!"
"Fugui, I went to work, washing clothes at Official Wang’s house!"
"..." Li Fugui quickly grabbed Xiaotian’s hand, noticing how red and chafed they were from long immersion in cold water, "Xiaotian!"
"Fugui, I’m fine, this is nothing!" Xiaotian then ran into the kitchen. She needed to quickly cook and prepare medicine for Fugui.
Li Fugui watched Xiaotian go and wondered, was he really right to have stayed?