A Mei was awakened by the urge to relieve herself.
Still drowsy, she opened her eyes, only to meet a pair of deep, burning eyes.
A Mei blinked, instantly becoming much more alert. In a soft voice, she called, “Husband.”
“Mm. Why are you awake, my wife? Do you need to use the chamber pot?” An Sheng asked.
A Mei nodded.
An Sheng immediately helped her sit up, then fetched an outer robe and carefully draped it over her shoulders. His voice was gentle and low. “Go on, then.”
Before long, A Mei returned from behind the folding screen, crawled back beneath the covers, and settled once more into his warm embrace.
“Husband.”
A Mei suddenly asked, “Do you always stare at me while I’m asleep?”
An Sheng nodded openly and frankly. “That’s right.”
A Mei: “…”
She was genuinely puzzled. “I always feel like you’re staring at me whenever I’m asleep. Why is that? Aren’t you tired, husband?”
An Sheng did not answer her question. Instead, he asked, “What? Are you frightened?”
A Mei shook her head. “Of course not. How could I be afraid of you? I can sense subconsciously that it’s you. It just feels a little strange when I think about it carefully.”
An Sheng suddenly let out a low chuckle. “You’re always sleeping far too soundly. You don’t have the slightest bit of caution.”
A Mei objected as though it were only natural. “I’m sleeping beside my husband. What do I need to be cautious about? I’m your wife, after all. If you want to look at me, then look all you like. You must be looking because you like me. It’s not as if I’ll lose a piece of flesh just because you look at me. It’s not like you could eat me, right?”
As she spoke, A Mei’s bright, dewy eyes fluttered, and she asked in a soft, childish tone, “Husband, am I right?”
An Sheng stared into those shining eyes for a long while. The tenderness in his gaze gradually, visibly, turned into something obsessive and heated.
Her trusting, utterly unguarded appearance filled An Sheng’s heart, and suddenly…
He rolled over and pinned A Mei beneath him. Lowering his head, he bit down on her rosy lips, deliberately using a little more force. In a deep voice, he said, “My wife is absolutely right. Your husband really does want to eat you up, one bite at a time.”
A Mei: “…”
At last, Douzi was happily and thoroughly satisfied as he played cuju with the other children.
That evening, the moment An Sheng returned to the residence, Douzi happily hopped over to his brother-in-law. His little eyes shone like two bright lanterns, blinking with innocent excitement and delight.
“Brother-in-law, a bet is a bet. This is what Douzi wrote. Please take a look.”
An Sheng accepted the sheet of paper and unfolded it. After reading it over, he nodded and looked at Douzi. “Mm. Did you have fun?”
Douzi nodded eagerly, his face glowing with an innocent smile. In a clear, lively voice, he said, “I did! Thank you, brother-in-law!”
An Sheng curled his lips and waved his hand casually. “All right, there’s no need to be so polite with your brother-in-law. Go play. I’m going to find your elder sister.”
Douzi nodded readily. Before leaving, he pointed toward the garden in the northwest corner of the residence. “Brother-in-law, I saw Elder Sister heading over there earlier.”
An Sheng immediately set off for the garden.
Before he had even turned onto the path, he heard the nervous, nearly tearful voice of one of A Mei’s maids.
“Oh heavens, Madam, please, I beg you! You’re as precious as a princess. You can’t afford even the slightest mishap. Please come down!”
“If the master finds out that we allowed Madam to do this, none of us will live to see tomorrow!”
“Madam, be careful!”
“Madam, please come down!”
…
When An Sheng entered the garden, the view opened up before him.
A group of maids had gathered around a tree, all of them standing in a tight circle. They had their arms outstretched as though ready to catch someone, terrified that the person in the tree might suffer even the slightest mishap.
An Sheng followed their gazes upward and immediately spotted a familiar figure in the branches.
A Mei’s legs were spread at different heights, each foot braced against a branch, while both arms were wrapped tightly around the trunk. Sweat glistened at the tip of her nose, trembling with each breath. Her expression was focused, and her limpid eyes reflected the mottled shadows of the tree in their excitement. In short, she looked utterly determined to climb all the way to the top.
She panted softly as she gazed at the bright red fruit above her. Her eyes gleamed with purpose. But the maids’ incessant shouting had begun to annoy her, and she called down, “Enough already! This tree is only as tall as a person. What’s there to be afraid of? Climbing it is as easy as playing. If I want to climb a tree, who can stop me? And what do you mean by saying you’ll lose your lives? You’re this madam’s maids. Without my permission, who would dare do anything to you? Even if the master came, he wouldn’t be able to do a thing. This household is still run by me!”
An Sheng, standing beneath the tree: “…”
A Mei finally huffed and puffed her way up to the reddest peach. She grasped it with one hand, then belatedly realized that things below had grown suspiciously quiet.
She looked down and immediately met those familiar eyes.
A Mei blinked once, then twice. Her brows curved into a smile, and she happily called, “Husband, you’re back~”
The group of maids had already fallen silent and dropped to their knees in terror.
An Sheng, meanwhile, stood with his arms crossed in a lazy pose. The corners of his lips curved as he gazed up at A Mei with an ambiguous smile. “What is my wife doing?”
A Mei held the peach up toward him. “Husband, look! This is the peach I picked myself.”
“Oh.” An Sheng responded blandly.
Then he lowered his eyes and swept his gaze over the kneeling servants. In a cold, low voice, he barked, “Get out! A bunch of useless fools!”
His voice carried such chilling menace that everyone shuddered. They immediately scrambled away. Those in too much of a hurry even stumbled and fell.
Soon, only An Sheng and A Mei remained in the garden.
“Goodness, husband, why were you so fierce? Look how scared they are.” A Mei glared at An Sheng and could not help grumbling.
An Sheng snorted, his voice indifferent. “They can’t even properly serve my wife. What use are they? They actually let you climb a tree. It seems every one of them has grown tired of living.”
A Mei immediately became displeased. Hugging the tree, she glared at An Sheng. “Hey, husband, that’s not fair. I was the one who insisted on climbing. Besides, this tree isn’t even tall. And I climbed it for you!”
An Sheng raised an eyebrow. “For your husband?”
“That’s right! A Mei saw today that this peach tree had grown some lovely fruit. The one in my hand was especially red and beautiful, so A Mei wanted to pick it personally for her husband to eat.”
An Sheng’s expression softened, and his voice became gentler. “Couldn’t you have asked the servants to pick it? You’re delicate and precious. How could you do something so dangerous?”
“But I wanted to pick it for you myself.” A Mei pouted. “I’m so tired. Husband, you have no idea how difficult this tree was to climb. It took A Mei so much effort to get this peach.”
An Sheng’s gaze fell upon the peach tree, whose trunk was barely as tall as a person. For a moment, he fell into deep thought.
At last, he could not resist saying, “Didn’t my wife say that climbing this tree was as easy as playing? Who would have thought that my wife was so nimble and graceful?”
A Mei blinked and explained with complete honesty, “Not at all. Don’t flatter me, husband. It’s probably just because I haven’t climbed a tree in such a long time, so it was a bit tiring. If this had been back then, I would have been up and down in no time. But after getting used to being pampered, I’ve become rusty.”
An Sheng: “...”
A Mei could feel her husband staring at her with an expression that seemed almost... exasperated at how hopelessly impractical she was.
At last, he curved his lips into a smile and slowly opened his arms. His voice was gentle as he said, “All right, since you’ve picked the peaches, come down now, wife. Be good, don’t be afraid. Just jump down—I’ll catch you.”
A Mei obediently nodded and leaped down at once. The next moment, she landed securely in An Sheng’s arms.
An Sheng then tightened his arms, flipped A Mei around, and hoisted her high into the air, leaving half her body draped over his shoulder. Before A Mei could react, his large palm landed with a sharp smack on her backside.
A Mei froze, her eyes widening. It took her a good while to process the fact that her husband had just spanked her.
She was both embarrassed and shocked, her emotions tangled together as her little face flushed bright red. It hadn’t hurt, but she was a grown woman now—aside from the foolish days of childhood, when had she ever been spanked?
“Husband, why did you hit me? Ouch—I’m not a child anymore! How could you do that?”
As An Sheng carried his wife back, his eyes flickered with meaning, though his words were anything but innocent. “I’m teaching you a lesson. If you dare do something this dangerous behind my back again, wife, I’ll make your bottom bloom.”
