Inlaid With Jade - Chapter 41
Chapter 41
Old accounts
After half an hour, Lin Yu was sweating, and her clothes were too w*t to wear. Fortunately, there was hot water in the teapot in the room. She wiped herself clean behind the screen and changed her clothes.
When she came out from behind the screen, she saw Li Heming sitting in front of her dressing table with his back to her. He ate the chestnut cake that Lin Jing bought for her while rummaging through her dressing box. He didn’t treat her as an outsider at all. Seeing such a living man sitting in her boudoir, Lin Yu felt an indescribable feeling in her heart, as if she was a little itchy.
Li Heming had been alone in the Northern Office for two days. He didn’t eat well or sleep well. While Lin Yu was changing clothes, Li Heming had eaten most of the chestnut cakes with tea, leaving only two lonely pieces on the oil paper bag. He didn’t seem to like sweets very much but was hungry. Frowning, he stuffed the last two pieces of chestnut cake into his mouth and sipped the tea. After drinking tea, he was half full.
Lin Yu approached and stared at the empty oil paper bag. She never thought he would eat so quickly. She said blankly, “You ate it all? You didn’t leave me a piece?”
Li Heming paused when he heard the voice and glanced at the crumbs on the oil paper. Then he realized that he had eaten all the cakes his wife loved. He looked at her and saw her disappointed face. He slowly closed the drawer on her dressing table and said: “Let’s buy it when we return.”
But Lin Yu said: “It’s not easy to buy the cake. The business is thriving. It must be gone in the afternoon.” As she said this, she suddenly bent her knees and stretched out her hand to press on Li Heming’s abdomen, as if she wanted to feel how his stomach would be after eating so many snacks.
A woman would slowly chew a cake, which takes half an afternoon to eat while drinking tea, unlike him, who swallowed it whole without chewing it once. However, Lin Yu only felt his hardness through his clothes, and there was no sign of fullness; it was all muscle developed over many years of training.
Li Heming did not hide and even slightly opened his legs to indicate she could touch him. Seeing him leaning on the chair and looking up at her, Lin Yu retracted her hand and turned her eyes away, her ears burning: “It’s almost time to eat. Let’s do it when we get back…”
She seemed afraid he would ask her to “apologize” at this moment, so she quickly changed the subject: “I heard that you had a dispute with my brother.”
Li Heming withdrew his gaze from her blushing ears, did not hide it from her, and hummed lightly.
He was honest, but Lin Yu didn’t want them to quarrel, so she advised: “You have always been in contact with each other in the court, and you know that he has a straightforward temper. Why get angry with him?”
“Why?” Li Heming asked back.
It would have been better if she hadn’t persuaded him, but he started to bring up the past as soon as she persuaded him. He raised his eyelids and casually picked out one of the bad things Lin Jing had done: “On the wedding day, he called a group of relatives to force me to drink wine, and he didn’t stop even after half a jar of wine. He deliberately made me drunk and couldn’t enter the bridal chamber. If He San hadn’t brought people to stop him, he would have ripped my wedding dress.”
What he said was true. At that time, several people stopped Li Heming, causing him to be unable to get away. He had to drink one bowl after another of strong liquor, burning his throat with each bowl.
Lin Yu knew nothing about this matter. She remembered that she was puzzled that night about why Li Heming had left the guests and had gone to the bridal chamber early. She didn’t expect it to be this reason.
The groom would be ridiculed if he got drunk on the wedding night. This was the case when Lin Jing got married. When he was carried into the bridal chamber, he almost fell asleep. Later, his friends laughed at him for two months. Unexpectedly, he used this trick on Li Heming.
When Li Heming was young, his family suffered change. He was despised and looked down upon. Later, his brother died on the battlefield. He took care of family matters at a young age and became arrogant. With his experiences, it would be strange if he were dignified like a modest gentleman.
The old accounts were unsettled, yet Lin Jing grabbed him by the collar and scolded him again today. He was already suppressing his temper by not beating Lin Jing up. After he said this, Lin Yu didn’t know how to make up for her brother, so she had to say: “Then if he makes you angry again, at least don’t beat him.”
Li Heming asked: “What if your brother hits me first?”
Lin Yu trusted his martial arts, and she pointed to the embroidered sword lying on the side of the table: “He can’t beat you, and you still have a sword.”
Unsure whether it was because he felt guilty for eating her chestnut cake or accepted this statement, Li Heming raised his eyebrows and replied: “Okay.”
As the two were chatting, there was a sudden barking outside the door, and then a black dog swaggered through the door and rushed in with its tail wagging.
Lin Yu turned around and said in surprise: “Third Brother!”
Because Lin Yu liked to cook for Third Brother from time to time, the dog had a good relationship with her. After not seeing her for a few days, it missed her very much. It rushed to Lin Yu’s feet, swung its tail, and raised its front feet to pounce on her.
Lin Yu squatted down to hug it dotingly, stretched out her hand to rub its bulging belly, and pinched the fat on its belly: “It’s only been a few days. Where did you go to eat secretly? You have gained so much weight?”
When Li Heming looked at the person and the dog, he felt that Lin Yu’s touch on the dog’s belly was no different from her touch on him just now.
Third Brother didn’t understand, so it barked twice and stretched out its tongue excitedly to lick Lin Yu. Lin Yu turned her head away in disgust: “No, your mouth stinks.”
Third Brother was strong and sturdy. Seeing Lin Yu staggering and stumbling as if she was about to fall to the ground, Li Heming quickly grabbed the embroidered sword and pushed it away. Regardless of whether it understood, he stared at it expressionlessly and scolded: “Get out of the way. Can’t you see your master is about to fall?”
Lin Yu took the opportunity to stand up. She touched Third Brother’s neck twice before saying to Li Heming: “This is Third Brother, do you remember? You saw it on the street that day.”
“I remember,” Li Heming said. Not only did he remember, but he also remembered its fierce temper, wanting to bite him if it couldn’t eat his wontons. He thought of what happened that day and suddenly looked at Lin Yu ambiguously, which made Lin Yu feel inexplicably flustered. She complained in her heart: Why do you suddenly look at me like this?