Chapter 21

"...After taking inventory of the storeroom, Yu Nu went to see the matron she had borrowed from the governor and asked her about the merchants who supplied the governor's residence. She met with several merchants in one afternoon and spent five hundred taels of silver to place an order."

Speaking of the money Mi Yao spent today, Pu Qing couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement. She was already spending so much on the first day of her marriage. How could her master afford to support her in the long run?

"That's it?"

Xiao Chuan had finished his official duties and was standing at his desk, practicing calligraphy with his brush in hand.

Upon hearing Pu Qing's words, he remained unmoved, clearly not taking the five hundred taels to heart.

Feeling that his master did not share his opinion that Mi Yao was pushing her luck, Pu Qing added, "When Yu was taking stock of the storeroom, she had her servants move any good items she found to her room. She also gave her servants many rewards. Just now, she went to the accountant's office to ask for a hundred strings of cash so that she could give them as rewards when she met the servants in the mansion tomorrow."

Such extravagance is deserving of punishment.

Unfortunately, he was the only one indignant in the room. After he finished speaking, he didn't hear his master say anything, so he knew that his master still didn't care about these things.

If that's the case, then he'll have no choice but to join in the fun tomorrow when the Yu family gives him a reward.

So that Yu Nu would know what she was doing, and that his eyes would be watching over her for his master.

When Xiao Chuan returned to the main courtyard, Mi Yao had already moved into a side room. His sleeping room had been restored to its original state, with no unsightly red decorations and even the strong sweet fragrance had dissipated.

As he stood in the courtyard, he frowned upon hearing the sounds of musical instruments coming from Mi Yao's house not far away.

He forgot that Mi Yao was a living person who could make noise. He should have let her live in the next courtyard instead of sharing a courtyard with her.

At this very moment, inside Mi Yao's house.

After taking a bath, Mi Yao lay listlessly on the rosewood mother-of-pearl inlaid couch, too lazy to even read. Her eyes swept over the glass lantern, the gilded incense burner inlaid with rubies, and the Tang tri-colored phoenix-head vase that she had rummaged through the storeroom in the room…

He would occasionally rub Xiao Shan's cheek next to him.

Xiao Shan was not wearing a hat inside the house. Her hair, which was loose like dandelion leaves, was loose. She was intently playing with the little jade flute she had just acquired. Every time she put her lips to the hole and blew a little sound, she would excitedly rub against Mi Yao to let her know that she could make a sound.

"Our Miss Xiao might become a master of musical instruments in the future."

Mi Yao complimented him.

Seeing that she had finished speaking, Xiao Shan puffed out her cheeks and happily played the flute. When she got into the mood, she decided to teach Xiao Shan to speak.

She was close to Xiao Shan, and news about Xiao Shan would come to her without her having to ask.

Xiao Chuan had taken care of Xiao Shan's inability to speak. When Xiao Shan was two years old, Xiao Chuan had consulted doctors for her, and more than one.

Every doctor came to the same conclusion: Xiao Shan's throat was fine; if he couldn't speak, it was either because he was a late learner or because he had some brain problems that weren't yet apparent due to his young age.

The Xiao family frequently summoned doctors, and rumors began to circulate outside. Most of these rumors said that Xiao Chua's murderous aura was too strong and that he had killed too many people, so Heaven had taken away his youngest daughter's ability to speak.

Perhaps angered by these remarks, Xiao Chuan neither invited a monk to exorcise the evil spirits for Xiao Shan nor continued to have Xiao Shan see a doctor.

She was certain that there was nothing wrong with Little Carrot's brain, so it was just that he was a late learner to speak.

“Flute—” Mi Yao pointed to the small jade flute in Little Radish’s hand and slowly uttered the two words.

Xiao Shan stared wide-eyed at Mi Yao's movements. When she mentioned the flute, Xiao Shan nodded and raised the jade flute in her hand to indicate that he knew it was a flute.

When Mi Yao opened her mouth again and slowly uttered the two words, Xiao Shan understood that Mi Yao wanted her to learn. She obediently opened her mouth and made the same mouth shape as Mi Yao, but without making a sound.

Mi Yao wasn't in a hurry. She casually pointed to things in the room and slowed down her speech so that Mi Yao could imitate them.

Her two older brothers had also taught her this way of speaking, but every time she made a few "ah ah" sounds, she would find that saliva would flow out of her mouth, so she was unwilling to open her mouth anymore.

Now that the teacher is Mi Yao, she became interested and first imitated Mi Yao's mouth shape without making a sound.

Seeing that Mi Yao had lost interest in picking up the books on the table, she still wanted to play with Mi Yao, so she pointed to the names of the things that Mi Yao had just taught her and said "ah ah ah" to each one.

It doesn't sound like a pure "ah"; the tone is still somewhat similar to the original pronunciation.

Mi Yao raised an eyebrow and rewarded Xiao Shan by rubbing her cheek: "Little lady, you're so smart. Shall I teach you again?"

Xiao Shan nodded vigorously.

Mi Yao taught it again, but this time at the end she pointed to herself and said, "Mother—"

She suddenly remembered a saying that the easiest and simplest thing for a child to learn to speak is to call out "parents".

There was no way to call someone "Mom" back then, and the word "Mother" was too difficult to pronounce, so she taught her "Niang" instead.

Xiao Shan was clearly very interested in this title, tossing the jade flute aside and starting to point at Mi Yao and shout "Ahhh!"

Mi Yao was still groaning even after her hair had almost dried.

"The way you call her 'little lady' sounds a bit like 'mother'."

Shuanghua went inside to extinguish the candle. After listening to a few sounds, she felt that Xiao Shan's voice was almost identical to "mother".

"Um……"

Mi Yao responded weakly. She was starting to regret teaching Xiao Shan that name. First, she was tormented by the demonic sound, and second, she was worried that Xiao Shan would learn that name and have to call her that in everything.

Xiao Shan was engrossed in making progress, and Mi Yao refrained from interrupting her. She only pinched Xiao Shan's cheek when it was time to extinguish the candle.

"Go to sleep, you can study again tomorrow."

Xiao Shan obediently hummed in agreement.

Mi Yao felt a sense of accomplishment when she heard the sound quite accurate. After putting her to bed behind the ebony and gilded magnolia-patterned screen, she kissed her on the forehead, seeing how obedient she was.

Xiao Shan was already reluctant to part with Mi Yao, and even after getting into bed, he still stared at her with wide eyes. When Mi Yao kissed him, Xiao Shan's eyes opened even wider, round and bright like shimmering pearls.

He touched his forehead and then his lips.

Seeing that Xiao Shan was about to perk up again, Mi Yao pinched her cheek and warned, "Close your eyes and go to sleep!"

Only after Xiao Shan closed his eyes did Mi Yao return to the bed.

Little did she know that as soon as she left, Xiao Shan opened his eyes again and continued to touch her head, which had been touched by her mother's fragrant and soft lips.

*

The next day, when Mi Yao woke up, the first person she saw was Xiao Chuan.

After two consecutive days of this, Mi Yao felt like she was being scared out of her wits.

Glancing at the soft quilt that had been on her but had fallen to the ground, and touching her cheek that was still aching from being pinched, Mi Yao grumbled, "Xiao Lang, is this how you awaken a delicate flower?"

When it was time for breakfast, Xiao Chuan still hadn't seen Mi Yao, so he knew that her promise to him yesterday was just empty talk and a way to get rid of her.

Knowing that she wouldn't remember if he had her maid call her, he came himself.

Who knew that after she fell asleep, she was like a dead pig. He pulled off the blanket for her, but she was still fast asleep with her eyes closed, showing no sign of waking up.

Seeing that her tone was indistinct and her eyes were still sleepy, but her skin was clean and flawless, like a delicate flower awakened by the morning dew.

The more he looked at her, the more he felt that she might have woken up early, washed up, and then gone back to bed pretending to be asleep, just to deliberately provoke him when he came over.

Why is Shan'er here?

Xiao Chuan ignored her words and instead looked down at Xiao Shan beside the bed.

Reminded by him, Mi Yao realized that Xiao Shan had somehow gotten off her small bed and onto her cot. Luckily, Xiao Shan had brought his own blanket with him, otherwise he would have been caught in his sleep like her, and was now shivering with cold, hugging his arms.

"My dear, I'm cold."

Mi Yao opened her arms to Xiao Chuan, "Either you carry your wife over to get her clothes, or you bring them to her."

It wasn't to help her, but to help his wife.

Xiao Chuan's narrow, cold eyes swept over the thin fabric covering Mi Yao's body. He could even see her chilled chest, which pushed up the cherry embroidery on her undergarment.

Such a demeanor actually belongs to the legitimate daughter of the Yu family.

Or perhaps it's that the legitimate daughters of their powerful families are like ice lotuses on high mountains in public, but this is how they are at home.

Before Xiao Chua could move, he saw Xiao Shan, who had woken up at some point, putting on his shoes and heading to fetch clothes for Mi Yao.

Unfortunately, she was picked up by Xiao Chuan halfway through her journey. Xiao Chuan shoved her back into her small bed behind the screen and threatened, "If you don't want me to hang you up, lie down and don't run around."

"Ah—da—"

Upon hearing Xiao Shan speak, Xiao Chuan was slightly taken aback, before he could even discern whether Xiao Shan was calling him A-Da.

Then the little girl, who had been staring at him with wide eyes, raised her hand and slapped him across the face.

Xiao Shan's strength wasn't much, but it successfully made Xiao Chuan's face darken.

What did the Yu family teach Xiao Shan?

She caught the cloak that Xiao Chuan threw at her, and seeing Xiao Chuan's face as black as the bottom of a pot, Mi Yao assumed that he was unwilling to serve her. She never expected that the sound she heard, which sounded like swatting a mosquito, was Xiao Chuan getting slapped.

"I'll wait for you for half an hour. If you're late, you'll be subject to military law."

Upon hearing about court-martial, Mi Yao blinked innocently, her soft voice lowering: "I'm not a soldier, why would I be court-martialed? Xiao Lang wouldn't be saying sweet nothings to me like a husband and wife, and the stick he's planning to use to spank me is his..."

Mi Yao glanced meaningfully at Xiao Chuan's lower body, but before she could finish speaking, Xiao Chuan hit her shoulder with a cup he had casually picked up.

"Shut up."

Xiao Chuan controlled his strength, but Mi Yao still felt pain. He didn't expect that if he couldn't win an argument, he would resort to violence. Mi Yao lay face down on the bed, her body, wrapped in a cloak, trembling uncontrollably.

It looked like she was crying because she had been wronged.

And what about you?

"Before Xiao Lang married me, he said I was a delicate flower. Now that he's married me, he just bullies me like this. I've heard of men who beat women because of their strength, and I thought only extremely evil people would do that. I never thought Xiao Lang would be like that too..."

Mi Yao sobbed as she spoke.

Hearing Mi Yao's cries, Xiao Shan, who was tightly wrapped in the quilt, broke free and ran to the bed to touch Mi Yao. He glared at Xiao Chuan for a moment, probably realizing that she couldn't beat him either, and had no choice but to open her mouth and cry.

One woman's voice was as loud as a shrill scream, while the other's was as soft as a mosquito's buzz. Xiao Chuan gritted his teeth: "Was the force I used just now considered hitting you?"

If he had really hit her, her shoulder would have been broken and she wouldn't have been able to lift it, instead of being able to hold up her arms and cover her face to pretend to cry like this.