“Don’t swallow it!” The young man’s brows and eyes were now scrunched up in a knot. Seeing her stunned, he reached out his fingers, about to hook them into her mouth.

Li Ruantang caught his wrist. She instinctively swallowed the food in her mouth and calmly said, “What’s wrong?”

“You… you swallowed it all?”

Meng Jun slumped, feeling guilty towards Li Ruantang. His long fingers covered his face as tears immediately fell, “Wuu, Tangtang, I forgot there were peanuts in these pastries too.”

“Peanuts?” Li Ruantang breathed a sigh of relief, but hadn’t yet embraced this silly young man to explain in detail.

The young man, still with tears in his eyes, suddenly stood up and was about to walk out with quick steps, “Tangtang, don’t be afraid. I just checked, there’s still some medicinal soup left in the kitchen.”

“Jiu jiu!” Li Ruantang hurriedly pulled him back into her arms. Her jade-like delicate fingertips gently wiped away the tears from the corners of the young man’s eyes. Then she leaned close to his ear and said softly, “Actually, I can eat peanuts.”

“Eh?” The young man who had been struggling to go fetch the medicinal soup was stunned. He looked up at her, “But just now when you ate the peanut pastry, you clearly became drowsy.”

He reached out and hugged Li Ruantang’s neck tightly, “Tangtang, are you deliberately lying to me because you’re afraid I’ll feel guilty?”

“How could that be?” Li Ruantang rubbed his tear-reddened cheeks, “I had simply taken some medicine pills beforehand. Otherwise, how could I have fooled the doctor and completely lured Qin Rong into the trap.”

“Besides, think about it. Didn’t we have a peanut-eating competition when we were little?”

If she hadn’t mentioned it, the young man truly wouldn’t have remembered.

Li Ruantang smiled softly, holding him as she reminisced quietly, “Do you remember that piece of dark jade?”

Dark jade?!

Meng Jun’s ears burned, and he lowered his eyelids.

At that time, they were only seven or eight years old. Little Li Ruantang had gotten a piece of dark jade, and during a break from studying, she happily leaned over the wall to share it with him.

The early autumn sun was gentle and not harsh. The leaves above the wall were slightly yellowing, and with just a breeze, a ground of gold would fall.

“Jiulang, be careful.”

Having just received the dark jade, little Li Ruantang was naturally extremely nervous. She anxiously watched little Meng Jun who was playing with the jade, “My mother said this jade will be our family heirloom in the future, to be given to my husband!”

“Husband?” Little Meng Jun was stunned, “Then when you have a husband, does that mean you won’t be able to play with me anymore?”

“How could that be?” Little Li Ruantang asked in surprise, “A husband is a husband, you are Jiulang, why couldn’t we play together?”

Little Meng Jun said confidently, “But I heard my father say that if a woman with a husband has close male friends, she wouldn’t be considered a good wife-master.”

“Is that so.” Little Li Ruantang’s brows and eyes immediately became worried. She glumly leaned on the wall, glanced a few times at the equally troubled little Meng Jun, and suddenly had an idea, “Jiulang, why don’t you be my husband!”

“Me?” Little Meng Jun looked at her in confusion. Little Li Ruantang grinned mischievously, took out a few peanuts from the pouch she always carried, peeled off the shells and handed them to the dazed young master, “Here, this way, I can both be a good wife-master and still play with you.”

“Besides, your voice is nice. If you call me wife-master in the future, it will surely make many people envious.”

She spoke these shameless words casually.

Little Meng Jun also thought what she said made a lot of sense. He was about to agree when he choked on the chewed peanuts in his mouth and coughed non-stop.

The young man didn’t remember much about the past, but in his impression, there was one time when he coughed so badly it seemed like day turned to night, and he almost coughed up his lungs.

For a long time after that, he didn’t eat peanuts again. It was only in the past two years that he slowly started eating pastries made with peanuts.

“So, you don’t eat peanuts—” The truth pressed on the tip of his tongue, like honey-coated candy, sweetly seeping into his heart.

Meng Jun’s ears burned, his eyes like black gems soaked in water, moist and bright, “Because of me?”

“Mm.” Li Ruantang nodded, only she hadn’t expected this small matter would become the bait to lure Qin Rong.

The young man in her arms suddenly grew quiet. He obediently nestled against Li Ruantang’s shoulder, the corners of his lips turned up high in uncontrollable joy.

He secretly planted light kisses on the exposed part of her neck, “Tangtang, I think you had good taste when you were little.”

No wonder when he made a bet with her after she returned to the capital, “If Li Ruantang couldn’t find a husband before the new year, she would have to give up the dark jade”

She had such a peculiar expression.

The young man pondered for a moment, then burrowed further into her embrace, “Tangtang, you still haven’t said what you’ve been doing with that Qingping these past few nights.”

“Of course it was—” Li Ruantang deliberately paused. As expected, Meng Jun nestled against her neck grew anxious, eagerly tugging at her sleeve, “Was what?”

He held his breath, partly afraid Li Ruantang would say something unpleasant, partly feeling that she wasn’t the kind of frivolous woman.

Moreover, the young man had learned a lot from Sang Shen, and he knew his Tangtang was very inexperienced. Even when kissing, she only lightly hooked his tongue, not daring to use any force at all.

His mind wandered as he thought about this.

Li Ruantang lowered her gaze to look at the young man clinging to her shoulder. Those upturned phoenix eyes seemed to hold countless stars, and when combined with his flushed eye corners, they immediately displayed endless charm, like peach blossoms blooming brilliantly under the east wind’s caress.

Just one look at her, and it felt like a petal had fallen into his heart, gently causing a slight itch.

Li Ruantang seemed to have her soul hooked. She slowly leaned over and pressed against those slightly cool thin lips.

Their intertwined fingers tightened and whitened, as if wanting to shut out the entire world, leaving only the two of them.

The corner bell on the couch rang crisp and clear in the night.

The young man lying on the soft pillow had his thin lips swollen from being sucked early on, and even the root of his tongue felt numb and tingly. He looked at the smiling Li Ruantang with a dazed expression, “Did he teach you this too?”

Meng Jun turned over, burying his face in the bedding. He had enjoyed her kisses very much, but…

That sourness lingering in his heart was like a dull knife, gradually erasing the momentary joy.

“You’re overthinking again.” Li Ruantang gently pinched his cheek and smiled, “I only asked him for some books.”

“Really?” The young man looked up, half doubting.

“Silly Jiu jiu.” She tenderly pressed against his thin lips which bore teeth marks, her fingers cradling that handsome face, “Knowledge and action in unity, I only wish to be with you.”

The moonlight outside the window was hazy, as if also shy from these blushing words of love, quietly hiding behind the clouds.

The carriage of the Suqin Wang Fu slowly drove along the return journey. The surroundings were quiet, and occasionally when a playful breeze lifted the carriage curtain, one could hear the whispers inside.

Naturally, it wouldn’t be good to enter directly through the main gate of the Meng residence. Li Ruantang, as usual, hid him in her cloak before walking to the base of the wall.

The young man nestled in her arms grew bold, his arms circling Li Ruantang’s shoulders, awkwardly making excuses, saying he didn’t want to return to the residence directly no matter what.

“Jiu jiu……”

Smooch—

“Listen to me……”

Smooch—

“It’s late now……”

Smooch—

He was determined, whenever Li Ruantang opened her mouth, he would immediately press against her. A perfectly good sentence immediately became quite romantic.

Li Ruantang sighed softly, and had no choice but to first instruct the servant to boil some hot water.

The misty water vapor couldn’t block the surging emotions in his heart. The young man stared blankly at the undergarment embroidered with little rabbits hanging on the clothes rack, his whole body heating up.

The unclear dreams and whimpers from that night gradually became the shyness swelling in his heart.

Meng Jun slowly wrung out his hair with a handkerchief. He peered out beyond the bamboo curtain with a flushed face. Hearing familiar footsteps, he hurriedly dashed under the covers.

On the raised wooden bed, behind the half-drawn gauze curtains, hid the blushing young man.

He covered his head with the thin quilt and stammered, “Tangtang, I… I’m so scared, so tonight, can you not send me back to the residence?”