Chapter 31: You are Tangtang, he can’t bear to part with you.

A flower petal fell silently.

But the heart touched by him, like a branch separated from its flower, trembled without wind, rippling in layers, easily dispelling the mist before her eyes.

Li Ruantang gazed blankly at Jiujiu, who was standing on tiptoe with eyes closed, leaning in. The young man’s face was flushed red, and the exposed part of his neck still wore her jade pendant, tied with an extremely sturdy knot using festive red string.

“Li Ruantang”

Her tongue slid over her own name, bitterness welling up in her eyes. If those guards hadn’t mistaken her identity today, with her awkward status as the eldest daughter of the Shu Qin Prince’s mansion, she feared she wouldn’t be able to protect him for long.

“Silly Jiujiu.”

Li Ruantang picked up the young man who was about to press against her and carried him horizontally, walking slowly towards the kang bed.

There were some things he didn’t understand, but she couldn’t be confused about.

The person she held carefully in her arms was clearly startled. He stared blankly, hugging Li Ruantang’s shoulders, his face instantly becoming even hotter.

Hmm, lying on the pillow is good too.

The young man nodded silently. Leaning in Li Ruantang’s embrace, thinking about being able to help her heal and detoxify tonight, the corners of his tightly pressed lips secretly revealed a smile.

The soft bedding, the perfectly arranged buckwheat pillow, and—

Those beautiful phoenix eyes secretly glanced at Li Ruantang sitting beside him, her expression solemn. She had never shown such a troubled look in the past few days.

Could it be that she was also feeling shy?

The young man’s heart instantly felt unbearably itchy. Although he also liked to see her blush when no one was around, the important matter at hand was pressing.

He carefully extended his hand from under the thin quilt, his slender knuckles jade-white, gently hooking onto Li Ruantang’s sleeve resting on the edge of the kang.

“Wife-master, it’s okay to turn off the lights and cuddle.”

Li Ruantang fell silent, her face instantly reddening again, not daring to look at her young husband again.

“Jiujiu, I have something to say to you first.”

“…Oh.” The young man, who had just been clingy, quite regretfully had to pause his grand plan of saving her.

After all, there was still a whole night, Meng Jun’s eyes turned, remembering what Zhou Fulang had personally said, he steeled his heart and pulled out his own belt in one go.

Under the thin quilt, the loose inner garment naturally fell open.

After she finishes speaking, he’ll pounce on her!

The young man silently corrected his rescue plan, afraid of missing anything and ruining all his efforts.

He very seriously went over what Zhou Fulang had said earlier in the day, thinking about each point again and again.

Ah, right, Zhou Fulang also mentioned holding hands!

The girl who had turned her back didn’t notice those beautiful phoenix eyes staring at her brightly. She sighed heavily, having just suppressed that surge of passion quite a bit.

Yet those fingers hooked on her sleeve were still unaware, following the sleeve to hold her fingers, secretly squeezing with delight.

So silly.

The solemnity in Li Ruantang’s eyes faded a bit, replaced by some amusement.

Going out today, she had received two pieces of news, one good and one bad. Remembering how Jiujiu had been distracted when she told him about the Golden Elixir case before, Li Ruantang’s smile deepened. She skipped the bad news and only said, “Tomorrow, we can set off to return to the capital.”

“Oh.” The young man responded perfunctorily as always.

He slowly moved Li Ruantang’s fingers, silently reciting the incantation in his mind a few more times, ‘Hold hands, place on the heart. Undo the clothes, no future worry.’

Wait, he seemed to have gotten the steps wrong.

The young man frowned slightly, glancing at the belt he had already undone earlier. This way, wouldn’t Li Ruantang’s fingers directly touch his chest?!

Meng Jun just thinking about it made his face feel incredibly hot.

Moreover, although he didn’t fully understand the matters between women and men, he had read books and knew that such skin-to-skin contact was indeed too intimate.

But the Zhang husband from the neighboring village had successfully saved his wife-master. The young man nodded silently, proving this method was feasible.

Besides, Mother had said before that fully trusting books was not as good as having no books at all. That’s right, as long as it could save a person, intimacy—, holding Li Ruantang’s fingers gradually produced a thin layer of sweat. Meng Jun pressed his lips tightly, only gripping her hand a bit tighter. This kind of intimacy was not impossible.

After all, they hadn’t slept embracing each other, the young man searched for reasons why he must save her, one by one.

Having finished explaining tomorrow’s arrangements, Li Ruantang turned to the side, immediately seeing her young husband’s increasingly reddening face.

“Jiujiu?”

“Hmm?”

Those beautiful phoenix eyes seemed to have captured the stars in the sky and the waves in the lake. They peeked out from under the thin quilt, looking at her with rippling emotions, hurriedly explaining, “…Wife-master, I wasn’t distracted this time! I listened very carefully.”

“You said we’re returning to the capital tomorrow.”

The young man followed along, secretly pulling the fingers held in his palm under the thin quilt.

Li Ruantang raised an eyebrow slightly, unable to guess what he was up to. She sighed with amusement, not exposing him.

“Jiujiu, we need to travel tomorrow, and there’s still some distance from here to the capital. The carriage will have difficulty traveling through Changshan Gully, so people will need to walk. So, tonight we’ll just cuddle…”

The low, gentle voice suddenly stopped. Li Ruantang’s eyes instantly widened a few degrees. Jiujiu lying under the thin quilt also appeared dazed.

But the palm pressing on the back of her hand never hesitated or loosened. “Wi-wife-master.”

The young man’s originally cool voice suddenly trembled a lot. He looked pitiful and confused, his eyes completely bewildered, seeming to ask her, yet also just softly murmuring, “My heart, it feels so strange.”

Even though her fingers were just touching his chest, Meng Jun felt as if her hand was inside his ribcage, gently pinching his heart, while also tickling it.

Both itchy and painful, his entire heart seemed to be going crazy because of her, beating thump-thump-thump uncontrollably.

“Jiujiu, you, you loosen your hand first.” The feeling under her fingertips was delicate. Even though Li Ruantang could endure a lot, she was still just a woman after all.

Moreover, her young husband had already expressed himself so clearly.

The young man was struggling intensely. Hearing Li Ruantang’s voice, he instinctively complied. Immediately, the palm pressing on the back of her hand loosened slightly, but before Li Ruantang could pull her hand away.