Dong Xinyuan stood outside the door, dumbfounded. After a moment, she heard Eldest Brother asking, "Is anyone there? Who locked it? Hurry up and open the door."
The Dong Xinyuan who’d initially planned to take advantage of Eldest Brother’s unconsciousness to dispose of the evidence by unlocking the door now chickened out. She moved her stout and pudgy legs, retreating step by step.
Dong Huiying banged on the door for a long time without hearing a response and was at a loss, then — bam!
Well, the door shattered into pieces and clattered to the ground.
Dong Xinyuan: "——Whoosh!!"
If not now, when would she run? It was too terrifying; Eldest Brother was too, too awful!
What was this guilty-conscience look Er Yuan had plastered on her face all about?
Little Brother Sannian glanced at Second Sister fleeing in panic, then at Eldest Brother who looked puzzled inside the room. He gave a shy smile, his cheeks revealing a cute dimple.
They say the New Year brings new beginnings, and for Dong Huiying, this New Year was genuinely thrilling!
On the first day of the first lunar month, she spent the entire day acting submissive and cowardly, feeling like a villain, the guilt almost crushing her.
She greeted everyone with a smile, acting like a total lackey — helping Eldest Brother serve soup, brewing medicine for Lao Er, and finding time to appease the scowling Lao San. Lao Si kept gazing at her eagerly, which she couldn’t pretend not to notice, while Lao Wu seemed to suddenly flip a switch, sneaking out his hand like a thief to touch her, but before making contact, he would get nervous and retract it.
This happened over and over, leaving Lao Wu so agitated he was clawing at himself, and she was truly at a loss for words.
Yixuan approached her, holding a quilt with a design of green peonies embroidered on damask.
Dong Huiying thought she had finally made it through the day, but then Yixuan caught her off guard.
"What is this?" she asked, looking at the quilt in Yixuan’s arms. Yixuan, with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, said, "Has my lady forgotten? Second Brother said, starting from today and in the order of seniority, it is one person per night. As Eldest Brother is the eldest, and today is the first day of the lunar new year, it shall be Eldest Brother who shares your bed. This is Eldest Brother’s quilt; I brought it here on purpose."
Yixuan looked downcast, "Does my lady think Yixuan is being overly meddlesome? Or is it that my lady wishes to share a quilt with Eldest Brother? Very well then, I’ll take this quilt back."
"It’s not that, I..."
"Hmm, I’ve thought about it again, and my lady’s quilt seems a bit small, it might not be enough for two people. It’s probably better to add another quilt."
After Yixuan left, Dong Huiying sat on a stool, her expression wooden as she looked at the kang bed opposite her, seeing two quilts - one pink damask with mandarin ducks playing in water, and the other green damask with the National Colour Peony.
Wasn’t this development a bit too quick?
Right, Shu Yu, was Shu Yu really not joking?
The door creaked open, startling her so much that she jumped up. In her panic, she turned around and saw Liang Zhichen clad in a pine-colored cotton robe, his white hair loose and flowing, he was closing the door with his back to her.
One could imagine the restlessness in her heart.
"My lady?" Liang Zhichen secured the door latch, then turned to look at his little wife who was nervously clutching her hands and looking at him with an embarrassed expression.
A low chuckle escaped his throat and he casually strolled toward her.
She blinked, "It’s just that, from the moment I woke up today, I feel like I’m in a dream, a dream that I can’t wake up from?"