Inlaid With Jade - Chapter 57

Chapter 57 
You smell so good 
  
Lin Yu eventually kept the portrait. She was worried that Li Heming would touch her painting, so the next day, when Li Heming went out, she hid it behind his back. Her worry was not unreasonable. Which man did not care about his appearance when he first met his wife when he was young? Li Heming couldn’t leave such an ugly portrait in Lin Yu’s hands. 
  
However, Lin Yu refused to give him the painting, and Li Heming couldn’t rob it. He did not mention it after returning the next day, as if he had let it go. He seemed not to care much visibly; however, at night, while Lin Yu was bathing, he turned the room inside and out. 
  
When Lin Yu came out of the bath, she saw the pillows and quilts in disarray, and the cabinet door was wide open. At first glance, she thought there was a thief in the house. Even her underwear in the cabinet seemed to have been turned over and restored. 
  
Li Heming was not in the room. Lin Yu guessed in her mind; she could even imagine that he was rummaging around the room carelessly. 
  
She tied her coat belt, took off the cloak that Li Heming had casually hung on the truss, put it on, and went to the study on the right side of the bedroom. 
  
She secretly complained that he was petty and proud and hoped he would not find it. Her childhood memories of him were less clear than the portrait in the painting. 
  
She hurriedly walked through the corridor and saw that the study door was half open, and candlelight was visible on the window paper. When she entered the door, the rice paper with his small portrait was placed on Li Heming’s desk, and he seemed to be writing something on it. 
  
His cloak was too thick for Lin Yu to hold up, so she had to hold up the hem to prevent it from dragging on the ground. She hurriedly lowered her head and stepped over the hurdle. Before she entered the door, her voice had already rang out: “Li Er! Are you secretly destroying my painting?” 
  
It was late at night, and she called “Li Er” fiercely. Li Heming stopped writing and looked up at her. Seeing Lin Yu wrapped in his broad black cloak, his eyes involuntarily stayed on the snow-white undergarment vaguely exposed under the cloak for a moment. 
  
Because of the newly lit stove, the study was much colder than the inner room. Li Heming retracted his gaze and continued to paint. He did not answer her question but only said, “Close the door. It’s cold.” 
  
Lin Yu didn’t want to care, but when she heard him shout “cold” and saw that he was only wearing a thin spring coat, she turned around and closed the door, complaining: “If it’s cold, why did you leave the door open?” 
  
She ran towards him in small steps and said anxiously, “How did you find it? I clearly rolled it up and hid it in a scroll of painting in the painting tube. And you promised not to touch my painting. Do you regret it now?” 
  
Li Heming listened, but the pen in his hand did not stop. Lin Yu ran closer but saw that the man in the painting was intact and was not smeared with ink, as she had guessed. Seeing that she suddenly lost focus, Li Heming said, “Qiqi is a mean person.” 
  
Lin Yu blushed but realized something was wrong: “Since you didn’t plan to do anything bad, why did you secretly look for the painting behind my back?” 
  
After hearing this, Li Heming did not hide it and admitted openly: “I wanted to burn it, but since you liked it so much, I thought it would be okay to keep it.” 
 
With that said, Lin Yu didn’t plan to blame him. 
  
Li Heming put down his pen; Lin Yu pulled his hand away to look at the paper and saw that he had sketched a girl in a fluttering dress next to the man. 
  
The little girl had two buns and a round fan in her hand; she tilted her head to look at him in the painting. The word “Yu” was written on the hem of her skirt. 
  
Li Heming’s painting skills were far better than Lin Jing’s. Unlike Lin Jing, who casually drew a few strokes, he was serious and detailed. Lin Yu looked at the little doll with lively eyebrows and eyes on the paper and asked him, “Is this me?” 
  
Li Heming said, “Hmm.” 
  
Lin Yu found it fascinating. After a closer look, she saw that the little man was also slightly different from before. Li Heming added a few strokes to Lin Jing’s sloppy painting, and the little man’s jawline was smoother. The hair tied on the top of the head was also propped up. It looked much better, no longer like a skinny little monkey. It seemed he genuinely cared about how he looked in Lin Yu’s eyes when he was young. His changes were not noticeable, and Lin Yu pretended not to catch the few strokes he secretly added and said to him: “I want to hang it up.” 
  
Li Heming said: “Okay.” 
  
Lin Yu pondered momentarily and looked at him eagerly: “Then can I hang it in your study?” 
  
Only three calligraphy works hung in Li Heming’s study, and most of the walls were empty. He said, “It’s up to you.” 
  
Others might seem impatient when they say this. Still, Li Heming meant that she could hang it wherever she wanted, even if she wanted to take down the calligraphy and painting given by Emperor Chong’an on the wall and hang up this little portrait instead. After hearing this, Lin Yu immediately carefully examined the study layout and wanted to find a valuable place for the painting. 
  
She looked at the study layout, and Li Heming was staring intently behind her. 
  
“What kind of perfume did you use?” he suddenly asked. 
  
Lin Yu didn’t turn around but just said, “Hmm?” in confusion: “I didn’t use perfume. What’s wrong?” 
  
Li Heming lowered his eyes, sniffed her soft black hair loosely tied to her shoulders, and said lightly, “Nothing. It’s just that you smell so good.”