“I just think it’s… kinda gross. Exchanging saliva with a random woman, sticking unimaginably close to her, having her fluids on my skin. I can’t accept that. In that sense, I might be a clean freak. If I don’t like anyone, I won’t be too interested, and I’d be perfectly capable of satisfying my own needs. With you, however, I’m like a broken dam.”
A broken dam…
Xu Moyan juggled those words on the tip of her tongue and found that they… fit the situation exactly.
Xu Moyan glanced downward. He was perfectly serious when he said that, and she believed him.
Even so, she said, “Hmph, for all I know, you’re just flattering me.”
“I’ve given you everything I saved up until now. My actions speak better than words.” Wei Zilin turned around and hugged her. He seemed a little dissatisfied with the suspicion in her words, so he pressed her down forcefully and chomped down on her shoulder.
…
Since this was not her bed, Xu Moyan did not sleep too soundly. When she opened her eyes blearily the next morning, one of Wei Zilin’s arms was still thrown across her body. She grabbed her phone from the bed’s headboard and checked the time. It was somehow only 6.10 in the morning.
After some thought, she decided to get out of bed anyway. She could not go back to sleep anyway, so she might as well get up earlier. That might leave a good impression on their elders.
Her fingers carefully picked up Wei Zilin’s wrist, which was considerably thicker than her own. She wanted to move his arm aside, but Wei Zilin suddenly exerted some force and pulled her arm into his as well, holding her tightly so she could not move.
Xu Moyan looked at him, but his eyes were still closed. Was he still sleeping?
“Why did you wake up so early?” Wei Zilin’s voice sounded groggy as it reached her ears.
Xu Moyan looked at him and saw that he had not opened his eyes yet, as though he was planning to go back to sleep. His voice in the morning was not as refreshing as the weather outside. Instead, it was a little hoarse, like a few grains of sand amidst the crystal-clear morning, floating in the dew.
Xu Moyan considered Wei Zilin’s early morning voice, hoarse with an edge of grogginess, her personal privilege. She could not help but narrow her eyes, losing herself in Wei Zilin’s hypnotic voice for a bit, before she finally opened her eyes.
“I always wake up early when I spend the night at a new place,” Xu Moyan said.
When she first moved to Wei Yang Garden, she had no choice but to wake up early for work, so he could not tell. By the time the weekend rolled around, she was already used to her new surroundings.
“Since we can’t go back to sleep, why don’t we do something else?” Wei Zilin drawled lazily, his hand already reaching into the covers.
Xu Moyan hurriedly grabbed his hand. “Stop that, last night was more than enough…”
Although she tried to make as little noise as possible, there were also times when she could not hold back. Her mind was completely blank at the time, so it was hard enough for her to try and hold back her voice. She could not for the life of her recall if the sounds that she did end up making were loud or not.
Even now, the creaking of the bed would rise unbidden in her head. Although she knew that those noises would not reach all the way downstairs, she still felt extremely awkward.
Just the mere thought that the domestic helper would come to clean the sheets and see the traces left on them made her wish for the sweet release of death.
Xu Moyan grabbed the chance to hastily slip out of Wei Zilin’s embrace. Ignoring the fact that she was stark naked, she quickly darted into the bathroom to take a shower.
Wei Zilin felt as though he had been had. Chuckling helplessly, he fell back into bed.
After that little exchange with Xu Moyan, however, he could not go back to sleep either. Even so, he was not mentally ready to get up just yet.
Mornings in April were actually quite cold. Wei Zilin’s arm had been hanging outside the covers for just a moment, but the hairs were already rising on it.
Right now, Wei Zilin huddled inside the warm covers, waiting for Xu Moyan to emerge from the bathroom while he closed his eyes groggily for a quick nap.
After her bath, Xu Moyan came out of the bathroom in her bathrobe. She had not brought a change of clothes, so she had no choice but to put on her clothes from yesterday. When she had made herself presentable, Wei Zilin suddenly threw the covers off and stood up boldly.
Xu Moyan hurriedly threw her bathrobe at him. “Really, you!” He was not wearing a single thing!
Laughing, Wei Zilin took her bathrobe and tied it around his waist before going into the bathroom.
Xu Moyan did herself up and looked into the mirror. Satisfied with what she saw, she went to the bathroom door and yelled at Wei Zilin through the door, “I’ll go down ahead, then.”
With that, she left the room before him.
As expected, Old Master Wei was already up. Jian Muhua had just emerged from her room, clearly having just completed her morning routine. There was a faint layer of make-up on her face, making her look perfectly elegant.
She did not know where the old master emerged from, but he was wearing some navy blue sleeves and white gloves, holding a bucket in one hand. When he saw Xu Moyan, he was very pleasantly surprised.
“Awake so early, girl?” Old Master Wei was in a very good mood when he saw Xu Moyan.
Xu Moyan nodded with a smile. “Where are you going, Grandfather?”
“To the backyard. I planted some vegetables and I want to go tidy them up. Might as well pick a few and bring them back for breakfast too,” said Old Master Wei, waving at Xu Moyan. “C’mere, come work in the yard with me. Xiao Jian, get the girl some sleeves and gloves.”
Jian Muhua wanted to say that Xu Moyan was just a young girl. If Wei Zilin found out that she was dragged out to till the fields so early in the morning, he would never have it.
However, the old master had spoken, so she had no choice but to bring some sleeves and gloves for Xu Moyan.
While the old master was distracted, Jian Muhua quietly told Xu Moyan, “Just go there for the sake of going. Don’t actually get down and dirty, got it?”
“Okay,” Xu Moyan said with a laugh before following the old master out.
By the time Wei Zilin cleaned himself up and came out of the room, he realized that he could not find his wife anywhere.
Seeing Jian Muhua in the living room, he asked, “Third Grandmother Jian, where’s Moyan?”
Jian Muhua pointed at the door to the backyard. “The old master called her to the backyard to help out in the vegetable garden.”
Wei Zilin turned around and headed straight to the backyard.
When he arrived at the door, he could see the old man and the young woman crouching in front of the vegetable patch through the glass. The old master was carefully distributing the soil around with a small hoe, whereas Xu Moyan pulled out any lettuce that she saw.
Wei Zilin could not hear what Old Master Wei was saying beside her, but it looked like he was teaching Xu Moyan how to harvest vegetables.
The image before him was picture perfect. This was probably the ideal life.
Wei Zilin smiled to himself and pushed open the door, walking to them.
His shadow fell over Xu Moyan, shielding her from the relatively pale morning sunlight. Xu Moyan paused and raised her head, seeing Wei Zilin standing above, all clean and refreshed.
Since she was looking up at him from below, it looked to her like he was all legs below his neck. Although his white shirt was from yesterday, he had only worn it for one day, so it was still clean now. The fresh morning sunlight fell over his body, as though casting halos of light onto his white shirt. It was almost dazzlingly white.
When she raised her gaze, she practically met the sun straight-on. Since Wei Zilin’s face was held against the light, she could not see him clearly. He looked foggy and almost ethereal.
He saw that there were already tiny droplets of sweat on the tip of Xu Moyan’s nose, so he took out his handkerchief and gently pressed it against the bridge of her nose, absorbing all her sweat away.
Xu Moyan gave him a sweet smile, and Wei Zilin noticed that she was wearing very thin clothes. He asked, “Are you tired? Or cold?”
Xu Moyan shook her head and was about to reply when Old Master harrumphed next to her. “We’ve barely been out for a few minutes. Seeing how worried you are for her, did you really think I could still bully her?”
Wei Zilin smiled and said, “She’s never done this sort of thing, so I was worried she would cause you more trouble than she would help.”
“Excuses!” Old Master Wei said as he patted the dirt off his butt and stood up.
There were already plenty of vegetables in the bucket by his feet. Picking up the bucket, Old Master Wei said, “Alright, we’re done here. Let’s go back.”
Wei Zilin hurriedly helped Xu Moyan up. Old Master Wei was walking ahead of them, and he could see what Wei Zilin was doing from the corner of his eyes. He harrumphed again. “Look at you! Acting like I’m bullying the young ones!”
“That’s right. Isn’t he horrible?” Xu Moyan complained to Old Master Wei too, even giving Wei Zilin a little glare.
Her words left Old Master Wei stunned, and after a brief pause, he roared with laughter, his spirits soaring as he went back to the house.
“Oh, you. I felt bad for you, but you berated me together with Grandfather.” Wei Zilin lifted his hand to pinch the tip of Xu Moyan’s nose.
“Alright, I know you feel bad for me, but I’m really not that tired. I’d barely been crouching there for a while before you came out, and Grandfather didn’t make me do much at all. He was doing most of the work, and he just left the last bit, pulling out the vegetables, to me. He probably just wants me to experience it.” As she said that, Xu Moyan laughed.
Old Master Wei clearly could not bear to order her around, and he even wanted her to experience the joy of the harvest. Despite that, he still stubbornly put on a stern tone.
“You’ve barely met him, but you’re already defending the old master. I wonder, how low will my position in the family go by the time we get married?” Wei Zilin acted depressed.
Although his voice still sounded wonderful, Xu Moyan did not immediately melt like putty over the sadness in his voice as she used to when they first met.
Perhaps it was because he was laying it on a little too thick this time. That was why it did not have any effect on Xu Moyan.
Xu Moyan wanted to raise her hand and scratch his cheek to show how shameless he was being, but then she realized her hands were still dirty and caked with soil, so she pulled back.
“I just think it’s… kinda gross. Exchanging saliva with a random woman, sticking unimaginably close to her, having her fluids on my skin. I can’t accept that. In that sense, I might be a clean freak. If I don’t like anyone, I won’t be too interested, and I’d be perfectly capable of satisfying my own needs. With you, however, I’m like a broken dam.”
A broken dam…
Xu Moyan juggled those words on the tip of her tongue and found that they… fit the situation exactly.
Xu Moyan glanced downward. He was perfectly serious when he said that, and she believed him.
Even so, she said, “Hmph, for all I know, you’re just flattering me.”
“I’ve given you everything I saved up until now. My actions speak better than words.” Wei Zilin turned around and hugged her. He seemed a little dissatisfied with the suspicion in her words, so he pressed her down forcefully and chomped down on her shoulder.
…
Since this was not her bed, Xu Moyan did not sleep too soundly. When she opened her eyes blearily the next morning, one of Wei Zilin’s arms was still thrown across her body. She grabbed her phone from the bed’s headboard and checked the time. It was somehow only 6.10 in the morning.
After some thought, she decided to get out of bed anyway. She could not go back to sleep anyway, so she might as well get up earlier. That might leave a good impression on their elders.
Her fingers carefully picked up Wei Zilin’s wrist, which was considerably thicker than her own. She wanted to move his arm aside, but Wei Zilin suddenly exerted some force and pulled her arm into his as well, holding her tightly so she could not move.
Xu Moyan looked at him, but his eyes were still closed. Was he still sleeping?
“Why did you wake up so early?” Wei Zilin’s voice sounded groggy as it reached her ears.
Xu Moyan looked at him and saw that he had not opened his eyes yet, as though he was planning to go back to sleep. His voice in the morning was not as refreshing as the weather outside. Instead, it was a little hoarse, like a few grains of sand amidst the crystal-clear morning, floating in the dew.
Xu Moyan considered Wei Zilin’s early morning voice, hoarse with an edge of grogginess, her personal privilege. She could not help but narrow her eyes, losing herself in Wei Zilin’s hypnotic voice for a bit, before she finally opened her eyes.
“I always wake up early when I spend the night at a new place,” Xu Moyan said.
When she first moved to Wei Yang Garden, she had no choice but to wake up early for work, so he could not tell. By the time the weekend rolled around, she was already used to her new surroundings.
“Since we can’t go back to sleep, why don’t we do something else?” Wei Zilin drawled lazily, his hand already reaching into the covers.
Xu Moyan hurriedly grabbed his hand. “Stop that, last night was more than enough…”
Although she tried to make as little noise as possible, there were also times when she could not hold back. Her mind was completely blank at the time, so it was hard enough for her to try and hold back her voice. She could not for the life of her recall if the sounds that she did end up making were loud or not.
Even now, the creaking of the bed would rise unbidden in her head. Although she knew that those noises would not reach all the way downstairs, she still felt extremely awkward.
Just the mere thought that the domestic helper would come to clean the sheets and see the traces left on them made her wish for the sweet release of death.
Xu Moyan grabbed the chance to hastily slip out of Wei Zilin’s embrace. Ignoring the fact that she was stark naked, she quickly darted into the bathroom to take a shower.
Wei Zilin felt as though he had been had. Chuckling helplessly, he fell back into bed.
After that little exchange with Xu Moyan, however, he could not go back to sleep either. Even so, he was not mentally ready to get up just yet.
Mornings in April were actually quite cold. Wei Zilin’s arm had been hanging outside the covers for just a moment, but the hairs were already rising on it.
Right now, Wei Zilin huddled inside the warm covers, waiting for Xu Moyan to emerge from the bathroom while he closed his eyes groggily for a quick nap.
After her bath, Xu Moyan came out of the bathroom in her bathrobe. She had not brought a change of clothes, so she had no choice but to put on her clothes from yesterday. When she had made herself presentable, Wei Zilin suddenly threw the covers off and stood up boldly.
Xu Moyan hurriedly threw her bathrobe at him. “Really, you!” He was not wearing a single thing!
Laughing, Wei Zilin took her bathrobe and tied it around his waist before going into the bathroom.
Xu Moyan did herself up and looked into the mirror. Satisfied with what she saw, she went to the bathroom door and yelled at Wei Zilin through the door, “I’ll go down ahead, then.”
With that, she left the room before him.
As expected, Old Master Wei was already up. Jian Muhua had just emerged from her room, clearly having just completed her morning routine. There was a faint layer of make-up on her face, making her look perfectly elegant.
She did not know where the old master emerged from, but he was wearing some navy blue sleeves and white gloves, holding a bucket in one hand. When he saw Xu Moyan, he was very pleasantly surprised.
“Awake so early, girl?” Old Master Wei was in a very good mood when he saw Xu Moyan.
Xu Moyan nodded with a smile. “Where are you going, Grandfather?”
“To the backyard. I planted some vegetables and I want to go tidy them up. Might as well pick a few and bring them back for breakfast too,” said Old Master Wei, waving at Xu Moyan. “C’mere, come work in the yard with me. Xiao Jian, get the girl some sleeves and gloves.”
Jian Muhua wanted to say that Xu Moyan was just a young girl. If Wei Zilin found out that she was dragged out to till the fields so early in the morning, he would never have it.
However, the old master had spoken, so she had no choice but to bring some sleeves and gloves for Xu Moyan.
While the old master was distracted, Jian Muhua quietly told Xu Moyan, “Just go there for the sake of going. Don’t actually get down and dirty, got it?”
“Okay,” Xu Moyan said with a laugh before following the old master out.
By the time Wei Zilin cleaned himself up and came out of the room, he realized that he could not find his wife anywhere.
Seeing Jian Muhua in the living room, he asked, “Third Grandmother Jian, where’s Moyan?”
Jian Muhua pointed at the door to the backyard. “The old master called her to the backyard to help out in the vegetable garden.”
Wei Zilin turned around and headed straight to the backyard.
When he arrived at the door, he could see the old man and the young woman crouching in front of the vegetable patch through the glass. The old master was carefully distributing the soil around with a small hoe, whereas Xu Moyan pulled out any lettuce that she saw.
Wei Zilin could not hear what Old Master Wei was saying beside her, but it looked like he was teaching Xu Moyan how to harvest vegetables.
The image before him was picture perfect. This was probably the ideal life.
Wei Zilin smiled to himself and pushed open the door, walking to them.
His shadow fell over Xu Moyan, shielding her from the relatively pale morning sunlight. Xu Moyan paused and raised her head, seeing Wei Zilin standing above, all clean and refreshed.
Since she was looking up at him from below, it looked to her like he was all legs below his neck. Although his white shirt was from yesterday, he had only worn it for one day, so it was still clean now. The fresh morning sunlight fell over his body, as though casting halos of light onto his white shirt. It was almost dazzlingly white.
When she raised her gaze, she practically met the sun straight-on. Since Wei Zilin’s face was held against the light, she could not see him clearly. He looked foggy and almost ethereal.
He saw that there were already tiny droplets of sweat on the tip of Xu Moyan’s nose, so he took out his handkerchief and gently pressed it against the bridge of her nose, absorbing all her sweat away.
Xu Moyan gave him a sweet smile, and Wei Zilin noticed that she was wearing very thin clothes. He asked, “Are you tired? Or cold?”
Xu Moyan shook her head and was about to reply when Old Master harrumphed next to her. “We’ve barely been out for a few minutes. Seeing how worried you are for her, did you really think I could still bully her?”
Wei Zilin smiled and said, “She’s never done this sort of thing, so I was worried she would cause you more trouble than she would help.”
“Excuses!” Old Master Wei said as he patted the dirt off his butt and stood up.
There were already plenty of vegetables in the bucket by his feet. Picking up the bucket, Old Master Wei said, “Alright, we’re done here. Let’s go back.”
Wei Zilin hurriedly helped Xu Moyan up. Old Master Wei was walking ahead of them, and he could see what Wei Zilin was doing from the corner of his eyes. He harrumphed again. “Look at you! Acting like I’m bullying the young ones!”
“That’s right. Isn’t he horrible?” Xu Moyan complained to Old Master Wei too, even giving Wei Zilin a little glare.
Her words left Old Master Wei stunned, and after a brief pause, he roared with laughter, his spirits soaring as he went back to the house.
“Oh, you. I felt bad for you, but you berated me together with Grandfather.” Wei Zilin lifted his hand to pinch the tip of Xu Moyan’s nose.
“Alright, I know you feel bad for me, but I’m really not that tired. I’d barely been crouching there for a while before you came out, and Grandfather didn’t make me do much at all. He was doing most of the work, and he just left the last bit, pulling out the vegetables, to me. He probably just wants me to experience it.” As she said that, Xu Moyan laughed.
Old Master Wei clearly could not bear to order her around, and he even wanted her to experience the joy of the harvest. Despite that, he still stubbornly put on a stern tone.
“You’ve barely met him, but you’re already defending the old master. I wonder, how low will my position in the family go by the time we get married?” Wei Zilin acted depressed.
Although his voice still sounded wonderful, Xu Moyan did not immediately melt like putty over the sadness in his voice as she used to when they first met.
Perhaps it was because he was laying it on a little too thick this time. That was why it did not have any effect on Xu Moyan.
Xu Moyan wanted to raise her hand and scratch his cheek to show how shameless he was being, but then she realized her hands were still dirty and caked with soil, so she pulled back.
