Chapter 33: Eating Melon

Bang—

In the dimly lit room, the sound of a porcelain bowl shattering echoed. Yan Zhujun sat on a huanghuali stool, his cloudy eyes filled with anger: “How dare you, Su Mu, use such despicable means to humiliate my Yan family.”

Ling Hua hurriedly offered a cup of tea: “Master, please calm down.”

Yan Zhujun took the tea, but seeing the tea leaves floating in the water made him even angrier. He forcefully smashed the teacup on the ground, shattering it to pieces.

Tea and shards splashed onto Ling Hua’s face.

“Defiling Jiyue’s purity is defiling the entire Yan family. From now on, when we Yan family members go out, we’ll be pointed at and gossiped about! People will talk behind our backs! This ungrateful wretch, if I had known it would come to this, I should never have taken her in back then. I should have let this beast starve to death!” Yan Zhujun was furious to the extreme, his chest heaving violently.

Ling Hua thought to himself:

‘Wasn’t it you who provoked Su Mu first? She’s merely retaliating. At this point, no matter how much kindness you showed before, you should be prepared for a falling out. Now that you’ve become enemies, did you expect your foe to show mercy?

Moreover, she just finished the provincial exams, and the results are about to come out. At this crucial moment, deliberately creating these scandals, isn’t it just to ruin her future? A woman’s future and career are as important as a man’s chastity, more important than life itself.

Even if Su Mu had a good temper, she would never tolerate this.

Furthermore, the rumors Su Mu spread aren’t fabricated out of thin air. It’s true that she helped Yan Zhujun keep the family property, and it’s also true that Yan Jiyue admires other women.’

However, Ling Hua wouldn’t dare to say these thoughts aloud even if it killed him.

He wiped the tea from his face and said with a forced smile: “Master is right, but the fact that Su Mu dared to do such an inconsiderate thing, disregarding the life-saving grace you once showed her, proves that she has no intention of reconciling with the young master.”

“Even if she doesn’t want to reconcile with Jiyue, I can’t stand by and watch this person who has tarnished our Yan family’s reputation get involved with that foreign male prostitute. Do you know what people outside are saying about our Yan family now? This grievance cannot be left unresolved!” Yan Zhujun furiously slammed his hand on the table.

Ling Hua was speechless but didn’t dare to dissuade him while he was in such a rage. The current Su Mu was no longer the Su Mu they could push around at will.

Back then, whether it was the Yan family’s servants or outsiders, they could freely insult and bully Su Mu because she was alone in Juancheng, without a clan to rely on, forming a stark contrast with the wealthy and powerful Yan family.

So even when unsavory rumors about the young master spread, they didn’t dare say Yan Jiyue was unchaste, but only sneered at Su Mu for being cuckolded.

But Su Mu had ability, and that couldn’t be helped. In just a few short months, she had leaped from a commoner to a xiucai. Whether or not she passed the provincial exams to become a juren, it was only a matter of time before she entered the government office. If she passed the juren exams, she would rise to the top in one step.

Those outsiders couldn’t wait to curry favor with her.

“Go prepare the carriage!” Yan Zhujun said coldly.

“Prepare the carriage?” Ling Hua was startled and quickly asked, “Master, are you going to find Su Mu?”

“Who else could it be? She has made the Yan family so miserable, I can’t just swallow this anger silently.” Yan Zhujun said.

“Master, please reconsider! Su Mu is now a xiucai, and the results of the provincial exams are about to come out. If she passes and becomes a juren, even the county magistrate will have to show her respect. We can’t make an enemy of her at this time.” Ling Hua advised.

Yan Zhujun sneered: “She can pass the juren exam? With just those few broken books she read at the last minute? Juancheng hasn’t produced a juren in decades. She was already lucky to become a xiucai. Others can’t pass the juren exam in a lifetime, what makes her qualified to leap from a commoner to a juren in just one year?”

“But…” Ling Hua still wanted to persuade him. If Yan Zhujun wanted to court death, he could go alone. He was just afraid that if Su Mu became successful, she might hold a grudge against him too.

“What? Are you afraid of her too?” Yan Zhujun narrowed his cloudy eyes.

Ling Hua shook his head repeatedly: “That’s not what this servant means. This servant is just considering things for master’s sake.”

“Consider what?”

“The rumors we spread before, Su Mu must know it was us, but she has no evidence. If you go to her doorstep, won’t that confirm these things were done by you? This way, you and Su Mu will have completely fallen out.”

Yan Zhujun didn’t care: “A fallout is inevitable sooner or later.”

Ling Hua said: “Master has always been prudent in his actions. The results of the provincial exams will be out in a few days. If she doesn’t pass to become a juren, we can certainly teach her a lesson, let her know the Yan family is not to be trifled with. But just in case, I mean just in case, if she happens to have a stroke of luck and passes to become a juren, if we fall out with her now, won’t we be offending a future county magistrate? Why don’t we wait a few more days and see the exam results before deciding?”

Yan Zhujun was silent for a while. Even though he was angry, he didn’t dare gamble with the future of the Yan family and Yan Ting.

“Fine, I’ll wait a few more days then.”

Ling Hua breathed a sigh of relief inwardly and changed the subject to Yan Jiyue: “Speaking of which, the young master is the one most affected by this incident. A pure and innocent man, slandered and defamed by others, it will be difficult for him to find a wife in the future. The old Li from the restaurant, who was considering taking the young master as his second husband, has also stopped mentioning it because of this incident.”

“Who can we blame for that? It’s his own fault!” Yan Zhujun slammed the table and stood up. “I’ve told him before, after marriage he needs to be mindful of his behavior. Even if he doesn’t like Su Mu, he should at least keep up appearances. But he didn’t listen, his admiration for Shen Yuxue became known throughout the city, giving Su Mu a handle against him!”

Ling Hua remained silent.

“Does he know about this?”

Ling Hua shook his head: “Judging from the reaction at Hantan Courtyard, the young master probably doesn’t know yet. But there are no secrets under the sun, the young master will find out in a few days.”

Yan Zhujun waved his hand: “You better warn those people at Hantan Courtyard not to gossip… Also, confine him to his quarters, don’t let him go out during this period.”

Ling Hua was surprised: “The young master?”

Yan Zhujun glared angrily: “Who else could it be? This mess is all because of his indiscretion. Don’t let him go out and embarrass us further during this critical time!… Wait until this blows over, then we’ll arrange a marriage for him.”

“Yes.” Ling Hua agreed verbally, but he knew clearly that it would be nearly impossible for Yan Jiyue to marry into a wealthy family now.

Which respectable family would want to marry such a restless man? Perhaps Yan Jiyue’s future marriage would be even worse than his own.

After the public opinion storm passed, Su Mu occasionally went out and clearly felt that the people around her were much more enthusiastic than before. Many wealthy families even sent her gifts, asking her to open a private school to teach students, but Su Mu politely declined them all.

She was naturally fond of peace and quiet. In her previous life, for the sake of business, she had forced herself to frequently enter places she didn’t like, meet people she didn’t like, and say things she didn’t like.

In this life, without the constraints of status and without the heavy burden of the Yan family, life was free of pressure.

Except for going out when necessary, she stayed in the house reading books and occasionally teasing Xie Yi.

The weather was hot in summer, and the room was even more humid and stuffy. She sat in the courtyard to enjoy the cool air, fanning herself while eating small watermelons cooled in well water, leisurely and comfortable.

Xie Yi sat beside her, head lowered as he embroidered a handkerchief. His high ponytail revealed a beautiful and graceful arc from the back of his head to his neck.

The dazzling summer sunlight pierced through the dense leaves, scattering fine, mottled light on the side of his neck. His fair and translucent skin was covered with a thin layer of sweat beads.

Su Mu fanned him, the clear and cool breeze from the base of the fan brushed against the stray hairs by his temples, sending a cool sensation across his sun-reddened neck.

“It’s hot over there, come sit closer.” Su Mu moved over, making room in the shade.

Xie Yi pursed his lips and moved closer to Su Mu. His arm lightly touched Su Mu’s hand. Due to the hot weather, Su Mu had changed into light, thin clothes, and it was easy to feel her body temperature through the light fabric.

This brief skin contact brought a hint of joy, almost imperceptible, to Xie Yi’s deep green eyes.

“Look at you, you’re all sweaty.” Su Mu fanned him again and used a skewer to pick up a piece of watermelon, bringing it to his lips.

Su Mu didn’t like eating watermelon in large slices, preferring the cut pieces from fruit stalls, which were both convenient and wouldn’t mess up her whole mouth.

Xie Yi keenly noticed her preference and would thereafter cut the watermelon into small pieces, put them on skewers, and bring them to her.

The day before yesterday, she had joked casually that the watermelon tasted like garlic, reminiscent of her mother’s cooking.

That night, Xie Yi washed the knives at home over and over again, but still couldn’t get rid of the stubborn garlic smell. So he went out and bought a new knife, used for nothing else but cutting watermelon for her.

The watermelon was bright red and dripping with juice. When brought to Xie Yi’s thin lips, it made them look even more alluringly red, making one want to take a bite.

There was a moment of bewilderment in Xie Yi’s eyes, his green gem-like eyes staring at her blankly and foolishly.

“Have a piece of watermelon, it’ll cool you down.” Su Mu couldn’t help but smile. Wasn’t he quite smart when they first met? How come he looks so silly now?

“…Um, Mu jiejie, I can do it myself.” Xie Yi stammered, his hands tightly gripping the embroidery frame, seemingly very uncomfortable with her feeding him.

He clearly wanted to be close to her so much, just now feeling secretly pleased from merely touching her arm, but now that she was actively feeding him, he became shy.

Come to think of it, this seems to be the first time she’s fed him food.

Looking at his nervous yet obedient appearance, Su Mu found him even more adorable than before, and felt an urge to tease him more.

She avoided Xie Yi’s attempt to take the skewer from her hand, the cut watermelon piece brushing against his lips. Her tone was somewhat forceful: “Open your mouth.”

With no choice, Xie Yi could only open his mouth, taking the entire piece of watermelon in. His teeth gently bit down, the juice exploding in his mouth, a tiny bit of red watermelon juice seeping from the corner of his lips, but still not as red as his face at this moment.

“Is it sweet?” she asked.

“Sweet.” Xie Yi nodded, incredibly happy inside but not daring to show it.

“Sweeter than the melons from your hometown?” The fruits from the Western Regions were famously sweet.

The blush on Xie Yi’s face deepened, as soft and red as a sunburn, spreading from within to without: “Sweet, the sweetest.”