Chapter 24 Don’t you mind that we kissed before?

The faint morning light spread across the sky, casting a soft, gauze-like light on the white walls and black tiles.

At one o'clock in the morning, Pei Huaijin, who was used to getting up early, sat up from the bed, pinched his eyebrows, and tried to cheer himself up as soon as possible.

The person inside was still asleep, their posture no longer as docile as it had been the night before. Their hands rested casually on the pillow, their face tilted to one side, not even the slightest sign of sleep. Their breathing was long and drawn out, clearly still sound asleep.

The charcoal in the incense burner in the room had burned out, and the air was filled with coolness. Pei Huaijin tucked her hands under the quilt, then lifted the curtain and walked downstairs. He went to the wardrobe to change his clothes, washed up, and went to the yard for morning exercises.

Qing Jian was already waiting in the yard, accompanying him in morning exercises.

"My dear, did you not sleep well last night?" Qing Jian saw two dark traces under his eyes.

"Well, I caught cats all night."

"There's a cat in my husband's room? Why didn't I hear it?"

"Just kidding..." I don't understand this.

It wasn't a cat, but a little girl who was scared and crying in a dream. He didn't know what she dreamed about. She cried and shouted that he didn't want to eat her. She also got up and kowtowed and begged for mercy, making the bed a mess. He was woken up by the noise and couldn't bear to watch it, so he had to sit up and pat her while comforting her.

Before getting married, he never imagined that he would have to get up in the middle of the night to wake his wife up.

After morning exercise, he went to Begonia Garden to pay his respects to his mother.

His mother was still angry with him because he protected Shen Youran and refused to see him. He asked the maid and learned that his mother was fine, so he returned.

It was past midnight and the daylight was getting brighter. He went to the study to read a book and practice calligraphy for a while. Before he knew it, half an hour had passed.

At noon, the kitchen staff brought breakfast. Pei Huaijin went to the side hall to prepare for breakfast, but found that Shen Youran had not come out of the bedroom yet.

Her maid, Danruo, came over and timidly explained to him, "The young lady is still washing up, so let your husband have breakfast first."

Now that I've started washing up, it should be quick.

Pei Huaijin didn't move his chopsticks: "It's okay, I'll wait for her."

Dan Ruo bowed and left, then returned to the bedroom. She helped Shen Youran, who was halfway up and still hanging on the bed, up and said anxiously, "Madam, the young master is waiting for you to have breakfast, please come over quickly."

“Dan Ruo…” Shen Youran leaned softly on her, “I slept so hard.”

In the dream I was reciting a lesson and being chased by a tiger. When I woke up, I not only didn’t feel tired, but my head was buzzing.

"Young lady, please wake up quickly. I just lied to you that you had already started washing up. We need to hurry..."

She had brought in some water earlier, and swiftly helped Shen Youran rinse her mouth and wipe her face. She simply tied up her hair and helped her to the side hall.

Shen Youran forced himself to cheer up, but the sleepiness in his body had not yet subsided. He had no appetite at this moment. He sat at the table dejectedly, staring blankly at the breakfast on the table.

"This time it's not leftovers." Pei Huaijin saw that she was reluctant to pick up her chopsticks, and he remembered her aggrieved look last night.

"Oh." Shen Youran responded expressionlessly, his eyelids about to droop.

Pei Huaijin then realized that she didn't seem to have woken up yet.

"Didn't you go to bed at 11:00 last night?" Calculating the time, she had slept for almost five hours, so why did she still look like she hadn't gotten enough sleep?

"I really can't eat right now," Shen Youran said as her mind wandered. She had already come up with an excuse to catch up on some sleep. "I haven't combed my hair yet. I'm going back home today, and I want to do a more formal bun. You eat first, I'll go back to my room to comb my hair..."

Then he called Danruo and returned to the dormitory in a daze.

She didn't dare go back to bed to catch up on some sleep, fearing she would oversleep. So she sat in front of the dressing table, leaning on it and planning to take a nap. "I'll just sleep for a little while, and then you can wake me up to do my hair..."

Danruo knew that his daughter was a sleepyhead, so he had to help her with her hair and choose her jewelry. After a quarter of an hour, he woke her up again.

After combing her hair and putting on makeup, when she returned to the back room, the breakfast on the table had already been cleared away.

"Where's breakfast?" Shen Youran asked the maid who was wiping the table, "Didn't he leave some for me?"

"My dear, you said that the young lady doesn't eat leftovers, so I asked the servants to take away all the leftovers."

“…” She did say last night that she didn’t want to eat leftovers, but what she meant was not to eat the leftovers from the previous meal, not the leftovers from this meal.

"Don't worry, Madam," Dan Ruo said, "I'll go to the kitchen and ask them to make some more and send it over..."

However, before Danruo could leave, Qingjian came in and said, "Young Madam, the carriage is ready, and my husband is waiting for you in the courtyard."

This means to urge her to go out.

On purpose!

Deliberately not leaving breakfast for her!

If anyone dares to let her go back home hungry, she will definitely complain to her father when she gets back.

Shen Youran walked out angrily. When he left the hall, he saw a tall and graceful figure in the yard. She was wearing a steady dark blue robe with wide sleeves and a black and gold leather belt. The slightly dark color made her look more mature.

Compared with his outfit, I looked too childish in the peach pink outfit I was wearing today.

But she would not choose some old-fashioned colors just to match him. At her age, it is normal to like more delicate colors, such as cherry pink, sunset mist, and water red. In short, she likes all pink and tender colors.

She walked over and the other person turned around to look at her. She snorted and turned her head away, ignoring him, quickening her pace and unwilling to walk side by side with him.

At the gate of Pei Mansion.

When Shen Yunshu came over, she found Pei Huaian leaning against the carriage, chatting with Qing Wu.

Seeing her coming, Qing Wu retreated at the right time.

Shen Yunshu was a little surprised when she saw him: "I thought you would go out today too."

Last night, during dinner, the third sister mentioned that he wanted to become a monk. Shen Yunshu originally wanted to ask him about it last night, but she couldn't wait for him to come back, so she had to go to bed.

Today, she asked Tinglan to ask the people in the yard, and they said that they saw him go out again early in the morning. Shen Yunshu thought that he would not accompany her back home today, and was still thinking about how to explain to her father.

I didn't expect him to be waiting outside the mansion.

"I went out to have breakfast with Qingwu this morning. The breakfast in the mansion is always the same, and I'm tired of it." Pei Huaian would not tell her that he really wanted to hide away today, but Qingwu said that the bride was returning home today, and it would not look good if she was not accompanied by her husband, so he turned back.

As for breakfast, I actually didn’t have time to eat it. Now I’m hungry, but I can only bear it.

Shen Yunshu did not suspect anything and stood with him, looking towards the mansion, waiting for her sister and Pei's eldest son to come.

With the beauty by his side, Pei Huaian couldn't help but think of last night's dream.

Perhaps because he hadn't seen her the entire day yesterday, he didn't have any erotic dreams last night. Instead, he dreamed of the scene when he first met Shen Youran at the temple fair a long time ago.

When the wind blew up her veil, a mist appeared in front of his eyes, and he could only vaguely see a vague figure, which sometimes looked like Shen Youran and sometimes like Shen Yunshu.

The indescribable feeling in the dream made him feel that the dream seemed to be trying to tell him something.

He wanted to go to the temple to ask a master to interpret his dream today, but at the moment, it was more important to accompany Shen Yunshu back home.

Not long after, Shen Youran was seen walking towards here with a puffed face. She walked quickly, with a proud and arrogant look on her face.

Pei Huaijin was strolling leisurely behind him. Because of his long legs and big steps, he easily caught up with the angry man in front.

Shen Youran saw her sister, lifted her skirt and stepped over the high threshold, and walked straight to her sister: "Sister, I want to ride in a carriage with you."

Outside the mansion gate stood two horse-drawn carriages and two mule-drawn carts, loaded with wild geese and various gifts for the return visit. Because they were returning to the Shen and Lu families today, they had prepared an especially large number of gifts. There were also some cakes that simply couldn't fit in the carts, so they were placed on the carriages.

It's not that Shen Yunshu doesn't want to ride in the same car with her sister, but now they each have their own husbands and are still sisters-in-law in front of the Pei Mansion, so there is naturally no reason for them to ride in the same car.

Besides, she rarely had the opportunity to be alone with Pei Huaian, so she naturally wanted to ask him about "becoming a monk" on the way back home.

So he politely declined his sister's request.

"We are returning home today, so we should follow the etiquette. Go to my eldest brother's carriage. If there is anything, we can talk about it after we get home."

"Well, it's nothing actually..." It's better not to complain to the elder sister about such a small matter as not having breakfast.

Just as I was about to leave, my stomach suddenly made a gurgling sound.

"You didn't have breakfast?" Pei Huaian, who was also suffering from hunger, asked her.

Shen Youran nodded, but was too embarrassed to say that Pei Huaijin didn't leave her breakfast because she had secretly gone back to take a nap.

"I know a place that sells delicious cooked meat patties. I'll buy you two on the way..." Pei Huaian had originally planned to go to his father-in-law's house on an empty stomach, but he didn't expect Shen Youran to give him a reason to buy breakfast.

Buy two more later. She definitely can't eat so much, so the rest will naturally have a reason to go into his stomach.

"Thank you, you are such a kind person..." Shen Youran was so grateful that tears welled up in his eyes.

Both were men from the Pei family, but one deliberately let her go hungry because she was not punctual, while the other was willing to buy her some bread on the way. It was a pity that she did not choose the latter at that time, and now it was too late to regret it.

Good person?

As soon as Pei Huaijin stepped out of the mansion, he heard her praising the other person as a good person because of two pancakes. Then, wouldn’t he, who didn’t give her breakfast, become a "big villain"?

The man who had the bread to eat disliked him even more. He raised his head and walked past him again, ignoring him and got on the carriage in front.

Qing Jian walked out from behind him and handed him two hot pancakes he had just ordered from the kitchen: "My dear, do you want more?"

"No," Pei Huaijin snorted coldly, "Eat it."

That would be great...

Qing Jian put it in his arms, planning to eat it after returning to Shen's house.

The carriage rumbled away from the mansion gate. The carriage was silent, with only the sweet smell of cakes filling the air.

If half of the seat was not occupied by pastries, Shen Youran would definitely not want to sit so close to Pei Huaijin.

Although she was sitting upright, she was actually drooling over the cakes.

However, Pei Huaian had already said that he would buy her cooked meat patties, so she had no choice but to swallow her saliva and hope that Pei Huaian would buy the patties as soon as possible.

After the carriage had been driving for about a quarter of an hour, she lifted the curtain and looked back for the third time. She saw that her sister and Pei Huaian's carriage had stopped. The driver, Qing Wu, jumped off the carriage and went to a restaurant on the side of the road.

He must have gone to buy some cakes.

Shen Youran thought happily: I will be able to eat hot cooked meat patties soon.

"Qing Jian," Pei Huaijin, who had not spoken for a long time, suddenly spoke, and said to Qing Jian who was driving the carriage outside the curtain, "It's a bit slow, don't miss the time."

"Yes." Qing Jian responded and whipped the carriage forward, and the speed of the carriage suddenly increased a lot.

Shen Youran leaned forward, and just as her head was about to hit the pillar of the carriage, a big hand supported her face in time and helped her back.

"I don't want your fake kindness!" Shen Youran pushed him away and glared at him angrily, "It's fine if you don't let me have breakfast, but you can't buy me some bread, Mr. Seventh Master?"

Pei Huaijin was pushed away by her, but he didn't look annoyed. He called out "Qingjian" again and then stretched out his hand outside the curtain.

"Bang!" Qing Jian threw an oil-paper bag filled with emotions into his hand.

Asking Qing Jian to take it and eat it was just a casual remark. The boy had to drive the car and certainly had no time to eat. As he expected, the biscuit was still on him.

"Don't you want to eat cakes?" Pei Huaijin stuffed the still warm oil paper bag into her hand, "Eat it."

Today, when he returns to his bride's home, how could he really let her go back hungry?

He urged her to go out because today he not only had to accompany her to the Shen family, but also to the Lu family where her biological mother lived. Moreover, according to the current custom, a bride returning to her parents' home had to return before noon on the same day. However, she had been staying in the bedroom for a long time and was about to be delayed. He had no choice but to ask someone to prepare breakfast first and asked Qing Jian, who had the fastest legs, to go to the kitchen to get two hot pancakes for her to take with her on the way.

But before he could give her the cake, his seventh brother had already asked to buy her some.

If she really ate the cakes from my seventh brother and didn't know that I also brought her cakes, I'm afraid she would really go back home with a lot of anger.

Sure enough, when the little girl saw the cake in his hand, her face changed and she asked in surprise, "How did you make it?"

Seeing that she didn't take it, Pei Huaijin opened the oil paper. The two pancakes with the aroma of meat immediately made the hungry person's eyes widen.

Shen Youran took it with a mixture of surprise and confusion, took a bite, the meat was fresh and delicious, the soup was filling, and the pancake was neither too hot nor too cold, just enough to satisfy her stomach.

She ate half of it in one go before she slowly realized that although he had asked someone to clear away breakfast early, he had no intention of starving her.

But she was unaware of this and kept getting angry at him.

Come to think of it, it was because of her oversleeping that she missed breakfast.

Shen Youran is a person who will not admit it if it is not her fault, but if it is her fault, she will admit it faster than anyone else.

Soon, after eating a hot pancake and feeling relieved, she took the initiative to apologize to him: "I'm sorry, I misunderstood you. I will get up earlier next time."

Pei Huaijin originally thought that she would continue to be angry with him for a while. After all, in his opinion, she was a stubborn girl. After she made her mother faint from anger last time, she was grounded to house arrest. She even grumbled in her dreams in the middle of the night that she was not wrong. He did not expect that her expression would change so quickly today. She treated him coldly before eating the pancakes, but after eating the pancakes, she actually admitted her mistake to him in a soft voice.

"You didn't sleep well last night, so it's okay to get up a little later." Since she took the initiative to admit her mistake, he didn't want to scold her too much, but he still taught her, "This is just this time, don't do it again."

"I know." Shen Youran smiled at him and took a bite of the second pancake.

I ate half of the second pancake and felt it was greasy.

Pei Huaijin poured her a cup of tea from the small table. After Shen Youran drank it, she took two bites of the biscuit and put it on the table.

"I'm full." Although she wasn't completely full, she really couldn't finish two greasy meat patties without some light side dishes.

Pei Huaijin saw the small piece of cake left on the oil paper, which looked like it could be eaten in three or four bites, so he advised her, "There was little rain in the north this March, and the wheat harvest is not as good as in previous years. Don't waste food."

"I know it's bad to waste food," Shen Youran frowned and glanced at the remaining pancakes, "but I really don't want to eat anymore."

"Forget it." Pei Huaijin did not force her, but picked up the pancake and started eating it bite by bite.

Shen Youran watched him calmly and gracefully eat the rest of her cake, and couldn't help but be shocked: "Why, why did you eat my leftovers?"

Pei Huaijin swallowed the last bite of the biscuit and said, "You can't just throw it away?"

"But... there's my saliva on it?" Shen Youran said awkwardly, "Don't you mind?"

"No problem," he looked at her calmly, "Didn't we kiss before?"

Shen Youran: "Okay, stop talking..."

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The author has something to say: See you in the evening for the next chapter!