Jiang Huai enjoyed massaging Chu Xianning’s shoulders.
While it wasn’t exactly an advantage, the process itself was very happy. He was happy cooking for Chu Xianning, happy massaging her shoulders, and happy playing chess with her. It was as if even doing nothing, just sitting there with Chu Xianning, would make the despicable little mouse in his heart squeak with joy.
Chu Xianning’s shoulders were slender. The fabric of her white dress at the shoulder was like sheer gauze. His fingertips felt the tender smoothness of Chu Xianning’s shoulders. Standing behind her now, he could see Chu Xianning’s neckline with a slight bow of his head.
Fortunately, Chu Xianning had a slender and graceful figure. Even when he lowered his head, her neckline was perfectly modest, revealing nothing suggestive. Jiang Huai then smelled the fragrance on Chu Xianning, and greedily couldn’t help but want to sniff it for a longer time.
When Luo Yueguan, wearing a purple silk long dress, emerged from the room, she happened to witness Jiang Huai massaging Chu Xianning’s shoulders. She brought a chair and sat beside Chu Xianning, like an obedient child.
After Jiang Huai finished massaging Chu Xianning, Luo Yueguan tilted her head and looked at Jiang Huai, “Auntie Luo wants one too.”
When Jiang Huai was young, Luo Yueguan often ordered him to massage her shoulders and legs when she visited the courtyard. Back then, Jiang Huai would obediently listen, and Chu Xianning wouldn’t say anything. But now, Chu Xianning spoke, “You’re not allowed to go.”
Luo Yueguan widened her eyes and looked at Chu Xianning, “Why?”
“He is my disciple, not yours,” Chu Xianning replied calmly.
“But he’s also my son-in-law, why didn’t you say that? What’s wrong with a son-in-law massaging his mother-in-law’s shoulders? Are you going to control that too?”
Chu Xianning really couldn’t refute Luo Yueguan, so she tilted her head and looked at Jiang Huai, who was standing behind her, and said calmly, “If you want to go, then go.”
Cold sweat immediately dripped from Jiang Huai’s forehead.
At this moment, Luo Yueguan was looking at him with a sinister expression, while Chu Xianning’s eyes were so calm. He seemed to be in a dilemma. Jiang Huai suddenly understood what it meant to seek perfection and find none—it was truly unbearable.
“It’s just… massaging shoulders… right?” Jiang Huai still went behind Luo Yueguan and gently placed his hand on her shoulder. Luo Yueguan immediately revealed a triumphant smile and looked provocatively at Chu Xianning. But Chu Xianning merely turned her face away, saying nothing more.
“Lighter, lighter,” Luo Yueguan began to deliberately order Jiang Huai around.
“Here, this spot… yes, right here.” Luo Yueguan was so happy she could barely contain herself. After a while, Jiang Huai withdrew his hands and returned to sit opposite Chu Xianning, starting to brew jasmine tea.
However, after the tea was ready and pushed in front of Chu Xianning, Chu Xianning didn’t move at all, as if she hadn’t seen it.
“You’re not jealous, are you?” Luo Yueguan said, her voice playful.
Chu Xianning merely glanced at her, “I’m just a little strange.”
“Strange about what?”
“Nothing.” Chu Xianning shook her head.
She was just strange that Jiang Huai hadn’t really treated Luo Yueguan as his mother-in-law before. After all, Luo Yueguan and Luo Qingyu weren’t that close. Perhaps it was because Luo Yueguan and Luo Qingyu were on better terms now that Jiang Huai thought he should take care of Luo Yueguan more.
Chu Xianning wasn’t angry about this, she was just a little confused.
She picked up the flower tea on the table and took a sip. Luo Yueguan said, “Jasmine tea is so boring. Try mine?”
“No,” Chu Xianning refused with a shake of her head.
“It won’t hurt to try. Jiang Huai, brew a pot.”
Jiang Huai, sitting to the side, silently took out a new teapot and brewed a separate pot specifically for Luo Yueguan. However, he continued to drink the jasmine tea himself. Luo Yueguan looked at him displeasured, “What’s wrong with using the same teapot?”
“It will leave different flavors, Master dislikes it,” Jiang Huai explained patiently.
“Then try the one I brought?”
“I tasted it last time. I won’t try it now. I’ll try it next time.”
Luo Yueguan’s calf subtly kicked Jiang Huai under the table. Jiang Huai’s expression was calm, and he could only give Luo Yueguan a gloomy sideways glance, urging her to restrain herself.
He felt that this place was not suitable for lingering. If he stayed any longer, he didn’t know how miserable he would be tonight. So he stood up, “Then, I’ll go check on Wanwan and Qingyu first?”
“Go ahead,” Chu Xianning said calmly.
…
After Jiang Huai left the courtyard, Chu Xianning shifted her gaze to Luo Yueguan.
Her eyes were as cold and aloof as ever. The more she looked at Luo Yueguan, the more guilty Luo Yueguan felt. She had tried to remain silent, feigning innocence, but Chu Xianning’s eyes were like a cold sword edge. After a moment, she looked at Chu Xianning displeasedly, “Why are you staring at me like that? Aren’t you jealous?”
“No,” Chu Xianning replied indifferently.
“Oh, oh, oh, really not or pretending not to be? Why do I feel like I can smell the sourness?”
“I just find it a bit strange.”
“Strange? What’s strange?”
“You are very strange.”
“How am I strange?”
“It’s just a feeling,” Chu Xianning said after a moment of silence. “Luo Qingyu is your daughter.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just saying,” Chu Xianning turned her face away.
But Luo Yueguan suddenly looked like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. She sneered, “What do you mean by that? Do you think I have some kind of intention towards your precious disciple?”
“You misunderstood.”
“I misunderstood? Is that what you think? Hmm? We’ve known each other for so many years, do you think your little thoughts can hide from me? What, do you really think I have…?”
“Yes.”
Luo Yueguan suddenly burst into laughter, “Why would you think that?”
“Because you seem very strange.”
“So you think I’ve fallen in love with him?” Luo Yueguan laughed even more heartily.
“That’s not it,” Chu Xianning shook her head.
“Why not? Could it be that I’ve fallen in love with him?” Although Luo Yueguan’s exquisite performance was a bit exaggerated, she had always been eccentric in front of Chu Xianning, so Chu Xianning didn’t notice anything unusual, just glanced at her calmly.
“It would be strange for you to fall in love with a man.”
Luo Yueguan laughed until she doubled over, “Why is it impossible? What if I really did fall in love with him?”
“It doesn’t seem like it.”
“It doesn’t seem like it just because you say so? Hmph, if I really fell in love with him, I wouldn’t care about master-disciple ethics like someone else. Don’t say I’m his master, even if I were his biological mother, I would hold onto what I wanted.”
Chu Xianning gave her a faint glance, “Can you stop being so crazy all the time?”
“Why are you changing the subject? I know your little thoughts… I’m just reminding you, you know. He’s getting married to Qingyu in a year. By then, someone will be alone for the rest of her life.”
“I never think there’s anything wrong with being alone,” Chu Xianning replied calmly. “I’m just reminding you that Luo Qingyu is his future wife, and you are Luo Qingyu’s mother. He’s not a child anymore, so don’t be so unrestrained as before. Elders should act like elders.”
“I am unrestrained, hmph, you’re just jealous, you’ll make yourself sick, you’ll make yourself sick, you’ll make yourself sick.” Luo Yueguan picked up the tea on the table and took a sip, looking into Chu Xianning’s eyes as if provoking Chu Xianning would bring her some pleasure.
Chu Xianning’s eyes calmly watched her. After a long while, she sighed very, very lightly.
“Why are you sighing?”
“It’s nothing,” Chu Xianning shook her head.
“Are you secretly laughing at me for being childish in your heart again, Chu Xianning?”
“No,” Chu Xianning shook her head.
“You are!”
At this point, Chu Xianning would usually be too lazy to deal with her. She stood up, “I’m going to bathe.”
“Let’s go together, together!”
“You just bathed.”
“Oh, then let’s bathe again. Don’t be so stingy. We’re both women, and we’ve bathed together before. I promise not to tickle you this time.”
Chu Xianning looked at her indifferently, “You’re not allowed to follow.”
“Stingy!” Luo Yueguan pouted and leaned back on the lounge chair, looking at the moon boredly.
…
In Wen Wanwan’s courtyard.
Jiang Huai gently knocked on the door, and it opened.
The courtyard was bathed in moonlight. Under the light of the firefly stones, Luo Qingyu, wearing a dance skirt, was teaching Wen Fufu to dance. Wanwan opened the door. Wanwan’s eyes suddenly lit up exceptionally brightly, and she leaned closer. Jiang Huai gently hugged her soft body. After a while, Luo Qingyu also leaned closer, and Jiang Huai hugged her too. Then he looked at Wen Fufu.
Wen Fufu crossed her arms and had a look of disdain on her face. She said, “Brother-in-law, you don’t think I want a hug too, do you?”
“…” Jiang Huai was speechless.
The three girls were dancing in the courtyard. There was some fruit wine on the table. By now, the two girls’ faces were flushed, and they were about to bathe in the bathhouse. Jiang Huai returned now, and before he could even exchange a few pleasantries, Wen Wanwan and Luo Qingyu dragged him to the bathhouse.
He didn’t even have a chance to take off his clothes before Wen Wanwan unfastened his sash, and Luo Qingyu removed his clothes from behind him. For some reason, Jiang Huai felt that the eyes of both girls seemed to want to devour him.
The water rippled in the bathhouse. As soon as Jiang Huai sat down on the steps by the bathhouse, Wen Wanwan and Luo Qingyu, wearing bathrobes, approached. One sat on his lap. The two girls turned to look at him, leaned closer, and almost simultaneously whispered into his ears.
“Brother Jiang Huai, who do you want to feed first?”
“Brother Jiang Huai, who do you want to bully first?”
Jiang Huai’s forehead instantly broke out in a sweat. But after a moment, he thought of a way to break the deadlock. He reached out and cupped each girl’s face, “Then you decide who goes first?”
Wen Wanwan’s cheeks blushed, and she said innocently, “Then let Sister Qingyu go first.”
Luo Qingyu blinked her eyes and said aggrievedly, “Sister Wanwan has been thinking a lot lately. I heard Sister Wanwan’s room filled with sighs for several nights.”
“That’s not true…” Wen Wanwan’s cheeks flushed. “Then I heard noises from Qingyu’s room too.”
As the two girls talked, they began to frolic and tussle on Jiang Huai’s lap, tickling and pinching each other. Jiang Huai’s head was dizzy. Looking at the rippling water in the bathhouse in front of him, he took out a bottle of flower dew and said, “Why don’t we bathe first?”
“Brother Jiang Huai, do you want to watch us apply flower dew to each other?”
Wen Wanwan took the flower dew, poured it into her palm, and then gently patted Luo Qingyu’s collarbone. Her movements were gentle and slow. Luo Qingyu’s cheeks flushed slightly. She leaned closer first and sat in his arms with her back to Jiang Huai.
Jiang Huai reached out and gently held her slender waist. Wen Wanwan suddenly whispered, “Qingyu isn’t ready yet. Let’s wait a moment…”
Saying that, Wen Wanwan stood up from Jiang Huai, leaned down, gently parted Luo Qingyu’s slender legs, and her delicate pink tongue made Luo Qingyu’s toes tense.
The price of bullying Qingyu like this… was that late at night, when they returned to their room, Wen Wanwan pressed Jiang Huai under her, controlling the pace and intensity in her favorite way, while Luo Qingyu reached out with her flower dew-covered fingertips, getting closer, causing Wen Wanwan’s body to tremble until tears were about to fall.
