"I... um," he nodded slightly, then with bowed head followed behind his second brother. Yet the moment he remembered seeing that woman return home not long ago, Yixuan welcoming her and her lovely smiling face, he felt a strong aversion, not wanting to go back at all.
But that was his home, why shouldn’t he be able to return?
Summing up his courage, he straightened his chest once more.
Exactly, it was his home. Of course, he could return, and indeed he had to return!
Otherwise, wouldn’t that be letting Dong Dabao gloat?
Her occupying his home and forcing him not to return. Where was the sense in that?
Right, that was it, there was no mistake!
After several days of braving the elements in the mountains, once Dong Huiying was back home and lying on the wide and long earthen kang bed of the eastern room, she closed her eyes in contentment.
The bed beneath her was warm. The heated floor had been made so cozy, she drifted off to sleep without knowing it.
When she awoke, the first thing she felt was a cold hand gently caressing her cheek. Though it was chilled, the skin was fine, and as it grazed her face twice, it was actually quite comforting.
In a drowsy haze, she opened her eyes to see a beauty, hair hanging loosely, leaning by the side of the kang, a shallow smile on their lips as they gazed intently at her.
Dong Huiying was startled.
"Liang—" She attempted to call the man’s name, but he pressed his finger to her lips.
Liang Shuyu’s eyes lacked warmth, and his heart was even more inscrutable than Big Brother Liang Zhichen. Dong Huiying couldn’t fathom his likes or dislikes, let alone guess his thoughts.
In the previous month, because Shu Yu’s health had been poor, she paid him extra attention, bustling about to modify prescriptions and nurse him back to health. Despite all this, there was always a cold distance between them.
To him, she was truly like a doctor to a patient, and he appeared to be a very compliant patient, cooperating with her treatment.
But now, here he was in her room, touching her of his own volition.
It was so out of character that she almost wondered if she was dreaming.
"You have exhausted yourself," he didn’t withdraw his hand but continued, as he did while she was sleeping, tracing her sweet features with his slender fingers. His lips curled in a lazy, casual, serene smile. Yet, even as he gazed at her, his eyes partially concealed, his presence felt untouchable as the moon in the sky—clearly in front of her, yet intangible, and all she could do was to stare at him foolishly.
A slight noise came from outside the door. Dong Huiying jolted to alertness in an instant.
She pushed his hand away, asking, "Is something the matter? Are you feeling tightness in your chest or coughing again?"
Shu Yu stood up and poured her a glass of water, his gaze drifting toward the door where a figure had quickly darted away from view.
He chuckled softly, "I noticed your lips are dry, you must be thirsty. Have a drink to moisten your throat."
"Thank you—" She took the cup. It was one of the items she had bought during their last trip to the market. She had bought many things then, like the jade-colored long shirt Shu Yu was wearing, which had been newly made from the fabric she brought back.
This man, a person like jade, truly suited such a color.
Watching her sip the water, clutching the blanket like a little kitten and moistening her lips, he suddenly swept aside the stray hair beside her cheek.
"So it turns out you are quite the beauty?"
"Hehe," she gave a dry laugh, uncomfortable, and shifted back a little.
With one hand propped on the kang, supporting his body, Shu Yu leaned in, teasing and seductive in equal measure.
"Are you, perhaps, afraid of me?"