A Mei shrank into An Sheng's embrace, feeling drowsy, and reached out to push gently against his chest.
"Husband, A Mei is so sleepy."
A series of dense, gentle kisses fell on A Mei's forehead, the tip of her nose, and her cheeks.
"Be good, don't sleep just yet. It's time for dinner. Get up and eat something before you go to sleep."
A Mei opened her eyes, meeting An Sheng's gentle gaze, and softly complained, "It's all your fault, Husband. I'm tired, hungry, and sleepy now, and my body is so sore and weak that I can't even get up."
A Mei didn't know that her frail, soft, and pitiful appearance after being thoroughly loved by An Sheng in bed always easily gave him a profound sense of satisfaction and accomplishment as a man.
An Sheng also absolutely loved this look of A Mei's, showing that she belonged entirely to him, body and soul.
"Be good, it's my fault for tiring you out, but you still have to eat. How about I have the servants bring the food to our room, and I'll feed you myself?" An Sheng's heart was filled with love and tenderness. The moment he thought of how soft she had been beneath him just now, blushing and sweetly calling him "Husband," he felt he would gladly give his life to her.
A Mei thought for a moment and decisively shook her head, a unique shyness in her blinking eyes. "I'd better get up. After all, I am the lady of the house; it would be too improper."
An Sheng raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, improper? I work my fingers to the bone outside precisely so we can do whatever we please at home. Who would dare say otherwise?"
"Oh, my."
Seeing that her husband didn't seem to understand her meaning, A Mei shot him a bashful glance, her small face blushing red as she said, "Husband, you don't understand what I mean."
An Sheng stared at A Mei's sudden shyness. He leaned his face close to hers until their cheeks were touching, his warm breath brushing over her small face. "Then what do you mean, A Mei?"
A Mei's face turned completely red.
An Sheng felt both surprised and amused. They were currently embracing naked and had long since done the most intimate things a husband and wife could do, yet A Mei's tendency to get shy at the drop of a hat was simply too adorable and endearing.
Her watery eyes darted away, and her timid, shy voice came out in broken pieces: "It's... it's just that if we don't go out soon, everyone will know that we were in the room... in the room..."
An Sheng asked with a straight face, "In the room doing what?"
A Mei blinked, genuinely thinking her husband hadn't understood, and tried to be a bit more straightforward: "It's daytime... daytime... in..."
A wicked curve appeared on An Sheng's lips as he continued to tease her. "What is it? A Mei, you have to speak clearly."
A Mei buried her head in An Sheng's chest in embarrassment, but still muttered softly, "Daytime debauchery. It's so embarrassing."
"Oh, so that's it." An Sheng's mouth curled up high. With her soft body in his arms, his large hand stroked back and forth along A Mei's smooth back, putting him in an incredibly good mood.
"What's there to be embarrassed about? This is just a sign that we are deeply in love and have a sweet, intimate relationship. In our own home, we can naturally do whatever we want." He held A Mei, coaxing her gently.
A Mei naturally felt sweet inside too, but she still blushed. "But I just feel shy."
An Sheng had no choice but to patiently coax her for a while longer.
Their clothes were scattered everywhere. An Sheng got out of bed first, found a new set of clothes for A Mei from the wardrobe, and gently coaxed her as he helped her put them on.
A Mei blushed, lifting her arms and legs according to An Sheng's movements to let her husband dress her. After a short while, she genuinely felt a bit embarrassed and said sweetly, "Husband, doing this makes it seem like you're taking care of a child."
An Sheng smiled dotingly. "You are younger than me to begin with, so naturally I should take more care of you."
A Mei felt as sweet as if she had eaten honey, and she pouted softly, "But I'm not a child anymore."
Then she heard An Sheng's deep, gentle, and deeply affectionate voice:
"In front of me, you can be however you want to be. Not to mention a child, even if you wanted to act like a demanding queen, I would gladly serve you."
Hearing these words, A Mei felt completely intoxicated, so happy she didn't know how to express it.
Once she was dressed, A Mei insisted on helping An Sheng dress. An Sheng could never bear to let A Mei endure even the slightest hardship these days, but he couldn't dissuade her, so he let her have her way.
At dinnertime, Douzi finally saw his sister and brother-in-law.
Douzi first stared at An Sheng's face and let out a sound of surprise. "Brother-in-law, what happened to your face?"
Then he pouted, looking complainingly at his sister and then at his brother-in-law. "Sister, Brother-in-law, you slept for far too long this afternoon. Douzi waited for you the whole afternoon before you came out."
"Cough, cough!" A Mei, who was drinking soup, choked slightly upon hearing this. A flash of embarrassment and shyness crossed her delicate, rosy face as her watery eyes shot An Sheng a sidelong glance.
A large hand patted A Mei's back to soothe her, and she heard An Sheng say without changing his expression, "Douzi, Brother-in-law accidentally scraped his face, so your sister was applying medicine for me this afternoon."
Douzi nodded seriously. "Oh, no wonder I heard noises in the room when I went over. But before I could hear clearly, I was taken away by Wu Da."
As soon as these words came out, A Mei's eyes widened. When she heard that Douzi hadn't heard clearly before being taken away by Wu Da, she quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
The thing was, A Mei had originally been coaxed by An Sheng into washing off her makeup, and they had agreed to look over the household accounts for the month together. But somehow, An Sheng had changed his mind, and in broad daylight, he had lured her into bed...
Performing their marital duties, although A Mei felt sore and exhausted, she was also comfortable and joyful. But thinking about how they were almost caught and overheard by Douzi made her feel a mix of embarrassment and indignation, so ashamed she couldn't lift her head.
The more A Mei thought about it, the more she felt it was all her husband's fault. Why couldn't he wait until nighttime to be intimate? At this thought, she reached out under the table, found the thigh pressed against hers, and gave An Sheng's leg a hard pinch.
An Sheng raised an eyebrow. Without changing his expression, he grabbed A Mei's misbehaving little hand with one hand, gently kneading it, while his other hand casually picked up a few pieces of A Mei's favorite dishes and placed them in her bowl. He spoke slowly:
"Madam, you worked hard serving me this afternoon. Eat a little more."
A Mei: ...
Douzi looked at A Mei's face in surprise. "Huh? Sister, are you alright? Why is your face so red!"
An Sheng put down his chopsticks, reached out to feel A Mei's forehead, and said with a serious face, "Do you have a fever? It's fine, you don't feel too hot."
A Mei: ...
"Then why is it still so red? Sister, are you feeling unwell?" Douzi asked with concern.
Fortunately, A Mei and An Sheng had gotten up late, and their godfather and A Mei's father had already eaten. There were only the three of them in the dining hall at the moment; otherwise, A Mei would have truly wanted to find a hole in the ground to hide in.
...
