His previous two owners had such bad tempers that he found it hard to adapt to suddenly meeting someone as gentle as Su Mu, making it difficult for him to fall asleep as he turned over restlessly.

Suddenly, he laughed self-mockingly and cursed: “Cheap bone.”

What was there to get used to meeting a gentle owner? Did he want to meet another owner like the scholar’s husband and have another scar burned on his chest?

Xie Yi’s Central Plains language was halting, but thanks to the scholar’s husband, he had a belly full of vulgar words to curse men, able to curse for a whole morning without repeating himself.

But he couldn’t say those in front of Su Mu.

This woman was very kind to him; dirty words shouldn’t be said to her, it would be too offensive.

And it was also hard for him to imagine what it would be like for such a gentle Su Mu, who spoke softly and slowly, softer than the June breeze, to curse on the streets.

Such a Su Mu probably wouldn’t like him saying dirty words either. A man should be soft and gentle in front of a woman, speaking slowly and gracefully, even covering his mouth with a handkerchief when smiling.

No woman could resist a fragile man. Wasn’t it because Su Mu saw him being tortured by the scholar’s husband that she took pity and saved him?

Since she liked his weak, innocent, and obedient appearance, he might as well continue pretending. It wasn’t difficult anyway.

Just as Xie Yi had settled on his future persona, he suddenly sat up in bed, because he realized that the light in Su Mu’s room was still on.

He was a slave, how could he sleep before the master?

He had truly been blinded by Su Mu’s gentle nature, almost forgetting his own status.

Xie Yi reminded himself over and over in his heart that he was now a slave bought by Su Mu. Even if she tore up the slave contract, he couldn’t survive without her. He must please Su Mu to survive, then find a chance to save money and escape back to the desert.

After mentally repeating “please Su Mu” three times, Xie Yi put on his clothes and came to Su Mu’s room.

When Su Mu left the Yan residence, she took the writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone with her.

These were all bought with her own money, so of course she had to take them when she left.

Before transmigrating, Su Mu had studied liberal arts. Except for mathematics, she ranked in the top ten in her grade for everything else, considered an excellent student.

The female-dominated world also had distinctions between scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, with merchants ranked at the lowest level.

In her past life, Su Mu had originally planned to save some money and take the exams. She didn’t aspire to be a top scholar, even passing as a xiucai would mean escaping from the lowly status and no longer having to be a servant.

Unfortunately, later because the Yan family’s finances were drained, she was forced by Yan Zhujun’s leveraging of gratitude to take the path of business.

In the female-dominated world, no matter how much a merchant studied, they could not participate in the imperial examinations in the future, and the daughters of merchants also could not participate in the examinations.

Besides these, being an official in the female-dominated world was everything. They could openly ask merchants for money. Even when Su Mu eventually became the richest person in Juancheng, she still had to spend a lot of money every year to maintain good relations.

At the end of the year, when the county magistrate wanted to expand and renovate her mansion, she asked Su Mu for a thousand taels of silver. Su Mu was short on cash and couldn’t produce it, so the county magistrate gave her no end of trouble. This was the top of the food chain in Juancheng.

Living a second life, Su Mu didn’t want to walk the old path of being bullied everywhere, and prepared to pick up her initial goal of taking the imperial examinations.

Although she hadn’t attended school in the female-dominated world, she had lived in that world for ten years in her past life, and influenced by modern education, she persisted in lifelong learning, so she had some understanding of the ‘Four Books and Five Classics’ of the female-dominated world.

With a new goal to strive for, Su Mu began to burn the midnight oil, suddenly feeling like she was back in late-night self-study sessions in her second year of high school.

See, even after transmigrating, one still needs to study hard.

Sometimes Su Mu wondered if she had transmigrated because she dozed off in math class, so heaven was punishing her.

Just as Su Mu’s mind wandered, the candle burned to its end, the flame flickering, dazzling her eyes.

Su Mu’s eyes couldn’t open from the glare, and she was about to stand up to change the candle when someone had already replaced it for her. The bright candlelight relit, illuminating a pair of deep, dark green eyes.

“Why aren’t you asleep?” Su Mu was a bit surprised. He had suffered abuse from the scholar’s husband today and should have been asleep resting by all rights.

Xie Yi didn’t understand her words, he just smiled at her. His smile had a kind of natural infectiousness, like an obedient and well-behaved younger brother.

Due to his mixed blood, Xie Yi’s bone structure had the depth and definition of Western regions, but his appearance was extremely Eastern and classical. His eyebrows were dark without being drawn, his lips red without being colored, as if all the beauty of East and West were concentrated in him alone.

Su Mu pointed to his room and said again: “Go to sleep.”

Xie Yi shook his head, his fingers covered with tiny wounds carefully touching her sleeve. His dark green eyes glanced at her tentatively, and after confirming she wasn’t displeased, he hooked his finger on her sleeve and uttered two words: “Accompany you.”

Su Mu lowered her eyes and chuckled softly.

The Xie Yi before her seemed to merge with the Xie Yi from her past life.

In her past life, when she was in business, she often had to calculate accounts until late at night, and Xie Yi would stay by her side.

In the hot summer weather, he would stand behind her and fan her, chasing away annoying mosquitoes. If she was in a bad mood, he would go to the pond to catch fireflies to cheer her up.

The Yan residence was a deep, secluded mansion, as if there were always hands choking her neck, making it hard for her to breathe.

Xie Yi was the only person from whom she felt warmth in this strange world.

But even so, Yan Jiyue didn’t seem to want to indulge her.

She remembered it was the fifth year after their marriage, that year her relationship with Yan Jiyue had somewhat eased.

In the scorching summer heat, Xie Yi went to the pond to pick lotus flowers for her, wanting her to feel some coolness.

But as soon as he reached the edge of the pond, Yan Jiyue pushed him in. If she hadn’t jumped into the water to save him in time, Xie Yi might have been lost.

Su Mu was truly angry then, for the first time disregarding the young master’s face, criticizing him in front of the servants. This also marked the beginning of her relationship with Yan Jiyue taking a sharp turn for the worse.

Yan Jiyue was the most face-conscious person, how could he swallow this silently? He had a big argument with her, and looking at Xie Yi who had been fished out of the water, he spat out the words “green tea.”