The commotion in the room startled the people next door.
Jiang Zhiyu came over and knocked gently on the door, his voice laced with concern, "Xiaomi, Wu Li, are you two alright?"
Ever since they returned last night, the atmosphere between the two of them had been weird, with neither paying any attention to the other.
You have to know, usually when these two were together, if one wasn't throwing three sarcastic remarks, the other was firing back five.
They basically bickered endlessly from morning till night.
Once, they even argued over bizarre little things like which came first, the chicken or the egg.
Xiaomi even insisted on dragging him, Master, and Yaoyao into taking sides.
Master and Yaoyao voted for Xiaomi. Even though the outcome was already clear, he still brought out his precious friendship vote to support Wu Li.
Actually, if one observed carefully, Wu Li never truly got angry during their debates; the corners of his mouth always curled in a faint, half-smile.
As for Xiaomi, she would often stand with her hands on her hips, puffing up with anger at her husband. Sometimes she would blurt out a curse word or two in her haste, but he would only pinch the girl's cheek and pretend to scold her, saying little girls aren't cute when they swear.
Yet, the doting expression the young man wore as he held his wife's little face in his hands, pinching and rubbing it, clearly showed how deeply he adored her.
Just now, it was obviously Xiaomi's voice that was louder in the room.
Jiang Zhiyu only heard her shout: "Why are you yelling at me!?"
In fact, he hadn't heard a word Wu Li said at all; instead, Xiaomi's furious roar nearly blew the roof off.
For a brief moment, he almost thought Yaoyao had possessed her.
After all, Xiaomi usually spoke in a soft, sweet, and gentle voice. Even when she lost her temper, her voice merely became a bit more petulant. But if it were Yaoyao's fiery temper, opening her mouth would be like a lion's roar, enough to scare off a hundred thousand elite troops.
Had he not known that Yaoyao was waiting outside the Phantom Sound Pavilion at this moment, he would have almost thought that shout from next door came from her.
"We're fine."
Wu Li's slightly cold voice came from inside the room.
Outside the door, Jiang Zhiyu paused, a sudden, inexplicable wave of emotion welling up in his heart.
He had assumed the one to answer him would definitely be Xiaomi, but he never expected Wu Li to speak up. When interacting with him, Wu Li was always aloof and indifferent, leading Jiang Zhiyu to often wonder if he had done something wrong to make the other man dislike him.
But remembering how Wu Li had spoken up for him in front of Master not long ago, and now taking the initiative to respond.
Could it be that Wu Li was also trying to get closer to him?
To be honest, in the environment Jiang Zhiyu grew up in, everyone around him treated him, the young master, with either flattery or hypocrisy. The reason he always loved sticking to Master was precisely because, although Master was strict, he always treated him with absolute sincerity.
And Wu Li was the first friend he genuinely wanted to get close to.
Perhaps it was precisely because Wu Li, despite knowing his identity as the Young Master of Lingyu Province, never gave him special treatment, just like Yaoyao, who would smack him on the head when he deserved it.
That was why, at times like this, he felt the other party wasn't holding back because of his status, but was treating him genuinely for who he was.
Jiang Zhiyu's eyes grew a little hot. He sniffled, tilted his head back slightly, and pulled out his folding fan to fan his eyes.
He even couldn't help but suspect: could this young couple be pretending to fight just to ease the tension between him and Yaoyao?
Yaoyao had been giving him the cold shoulder, but ever since Wu Li and Xiaomi started fighting, she probably had no one else to talk to and had finally warmed up to him a bit.
Just look, he had just earned a rap on the head from her.
He felt completely refreshed.
Even the sunlight felt especially warm today.
Remembering that knock on the head, Jiang Zhiyu snapped his folding fan shut.
He almost forgot, the reason Yaoyao took her anger out on him was precisely because she had been waiting for her archery master for too long.
Before returning to his room last night, he clearly heard Yaoyao and Wu Li agree to go to the outskirts of Qianwu Town to learn archery at the hour of Chen this morning.
He had wanted to tag along, but Master was worried the fox spirit might return, so he kept him at the Phantom Sound Pavilion to keep an eye out for any disturbances.
He originally thought Wu Li had already gone downstairs. It wasn't until this moment, hearing this archery master still arguing with his little wife in their room, that he realized Yaoyao was still waiting downstairs for nothing.
Jiang Zhiyu coughed lightly outside the door and reminded him, "By the way, Wu Li, Yaoyao is still waiting downstairs to practice archery. Aren't you participating in the New Moon Archery Duel? Time is running short, you should hurry up."
Wu Li's gaze paused slightly; he had almost forgotten about this matter.
"Got it." He casually replied to Jiang Zhiyu outside, just wanting to send the man away quickly.
His gaze slowly fell on Chai Xiaomi's face. Seeing her flushed, delicate appearance, for some reason, he was afraid of anyone else seeing her like this.
Over the span of a few breaths, he barely managed to steady his breathing again.
He stood up, walked over to the washstand, took a handkerchief, soaked it, and wrung it dry. He came up to Chai Xiaomi and reached out to gently pull her closer.
"What are you doing?" Chai Xiaomi blurted out as his fingertips tilted her chin up.
She felt like there was something wrong with his brain today. Had he inhaled too much of that incense?
Thinking of this, her eyelashes lowered, and her gaze unconsciously drifted downward.
Her chin was suddenly lifted again. "Look up, let me wipe the drool off your face."
"!!!" Chai Xiaomi instantly realized: "You did that on purpose, didn't you!?"
First he wore his shoes on her bed, and then he rubbed his saliva on her face. It was naked revenge, revenge for their cold war last night.
Poor her, having worked so hard all morning to put on a full face of makeup in front of the courtesans.
With her blush wiped away, the essence of her entire makeup look was gone.
Then, thinking about how Wu Li had rubbed his saliva all over her face but had also ended up tasting the scented powder on her cheek, Chai Xiaomi was instantly amused. Her eyes curved into crescents as she leaned in and asked, "How does it taste?"
That's what he gets for being wicked, bet he didn't expect that! She had applied an even layer of powder on her face today.
Wu Li's hand, which was wiping her face, suddenly halted.
The handkerchief between his fingers was unconsciously gripped tight, crumpling into a ball. A drop of water seeped out and fell from the crevices. Seeing that it was about to splash onto her newly changed dress, he reacted quickly, raising his hand to flick the water drop away.
Then he froze slightly. It was just a drop of clean water.
Why had he subconsciously worried about dirtying her?
He concealed the flash of confusion in his eyes, completely skipping her second question, and only answered the first:
"Yes, I did it on purpose."
His tone was utterly shameless, carrying an attitude of what are you going to do about it.
Chai Xiaomi choked on her words.
She was out of ideas.
Was she supposed to wear her shoes and stomp a few times on his chaise lounge?
Her upbringing didn't allow her to intentionally vandalize public property. After all, once they left, this room would still be used by future guests.
Then... should she pounce on him and bite him a couple of times too?
Chai Xiaomi tilted her face up to look at him.
So tall.
She couldn't reach.
Just as she was trying to think of an excuse to trick him into bending down, Wu Li suddenly leaned down and approached her on his own.
His fingertips gently brushed against the spot on her cheek where she had been lightly bitten. Then he raised his eyes to look at her, his voice kept low, as light as a feather drifting onto the tip of one's heart:
"Do you need a cotton ball?"
Chai Xiaomi stood dazed for a few seconds, not yet having the time to process the meaning of his words.
His profile had already pressed against hers.
A soft, careful, and even somewhat docile touch rested just like that against her cheek.
His earring brushed her chin; it was slightly cold.
But her entire face began to burn uncontrollably.
Thump, thump.
I couldn't tell whose heartbeat it was. It pounded so deafeningly, as if it were about to burst through the chest and soar straight into the heavens.
