Chapter 95 [VIP]

Mi Yao's words did not dampen Xiao Chu's enthusiasm.

Her snow-white, delicate soles were grasped by rough, wheat-colored hands. The calloused fingertips kneaded her muscles and bones in the hot water. As she watched the well-defined fingers slip through her fingers, Mi Yao felt herself becoming wicked, her mind filled with erotic thoughts.

My feet were itchy and numb, and the sensation traveled from my legs to my lower abdomen.

Mi Yao couldn't stand it anymore. She grabbed Xiao Chuan's hand and turned his palm over: "Have you been carrying bricks these past few days?"

The two didn't hold hands often, but she was forced to be very clear about the feel of Xiao Chu's fingers.

The calluses on his palms weren't as rough as they are now.

"I'm training with horses and guns, but I don't want to lose my life."

Xiao Chuan obediently held out his hand, and seeing that Mi Yao had finished reading, he interlocked his palm with hers, holding her five fingers in his palm.

When Mi Yao heard him mention practicing shooting, her eyes flickered. Noticing that her gaze had drifted to some part of Xiao Chuan's body, Mi Yao dug her nails into the back of Xiao Chuan's hand, trying to clear her mind.

"Go get a chair, let's soak our feet together."

The water in the wooden basin was still scalding hot, and without Xiao Chuan's support, the insteps of her feet turned crimson.

Xiao Chua moved quickly. Mi Yao originally thought he would refuse, thinking that his feet were unsightly compared to hers.

He responded with a "okay" and quickly went to fetch a stool, taking off his shoes and socks and plunging his feet into the water in one smooth motion, without showing any sign of inferiority.

Mi Yao's foot pressed down on Xiao Chu's instep, and to relieve the itch from the skin touching, she curled her toes to scratch him.

The originally large wooden basin became narrow after Xiao Chuan joined in.

Xiao Chua dodged a few times, but seeing that he couldn't avoid it, he simply let Mi Yao rub against him.

Even so, Mi Yao was still not satisfied. She thought Xiao Chua was too rough and his deep eyes didn't seem to indicate discomfort. She told him to lift his feet so she could tickle his soles.

"It's as thick as the soles of my feet."

"I don't care."

Hearing Xiao Chuan's resistance, Mi Yao grumbled, "You're making excuses. You do what I tell you to do. There are no excuses..."

Xiao Chuan obediently flipped his feet onto the edge of the wooden basin and propped them up, while leaning over to cover Mi Yao's mouth with his tongue.

Having stolen the moisture from Mi Yao's lips, Xiao Chuan slightly distanced himself, looking down at her rosy, moist lips: "I don't know why, but every time you start talking nonstop, I feel like I've gone deaf, and all I can see and think about is your constantly opening and closing lips."

Mi Yao: ...

Feeling that Xiao Chuan was being sarcastic and calling her nagging, Mi Yao slapped him on the chest.

"What do you mean? Do you think I'm boring? I'm speaking seriously, but you're full of inappropriate thoughts."

This time, Xiao Chuan didn't interrupt her; he kissed her lips only after she finished speaking.

His tongue plunged deep inside, and Mi Yao suspected that he had not only trained his horsemanship and spearmanship, but also his tongue. His tongue tip had a rougher texture, which made her tremble uncontrollably all over.

Mi Yao couldn't help but press down hard, stomping firmly on Xiao Chua's instep in the hot water. Her mind was foggy; she couldn't tell if she was stomping on him because she hated his intrusion, or if she was trying to get closer to him because she liked kissing him.

The wooden basin had been overturned at some point. Mi Yao, her almond-shaped eyes half-closed, looked at the water that had soaked the scarlet carpet and felt that she was even wetter than the carpet.

"May I?"

She knew that recently, in order to concentrate on important matters, Xiao Chuan had been channeling all his extra energy into training, and was still practicing shooting and horsemanship late into the night.

In this situation, she broke his rule, fearing that he would blame her for the mistake.

“I’m afraid you’ll get tired and think I don’t know my place. I’m afraid I won’t be able to come back for more than ten days in a row. Please have pity on me this once and let me have a few bites of meat before I leave.”

Meat can get greasy if you eat too much of it, and if you haven't had it for a while, you start to crave it.

Before Mi Yao could even process what was happening, she nodded.

They ate this meat until the early hours of the morning.

"I'm not saying you'll only eat a few bites!"

Exhausted, Mi Yao realized she would have difficulty getting up early the next day and glared at Xiao Chua, angrily rebuking him.

"Madam, please don't be angry. It's just that my stomach is acting up. Once it's full of meat, I can't stop eating."

Xiao Chuan reached out and slapped his mouth first, then patted his stomach.

Seeing the red mark left on his muscular abs, clearly indicating that force had been used, Mi Yao couldn't help but roll her eyes: "You hit the wrong place, the gluttonous part is clearly in another location."

Xiao Chuan raised an eyebrow slightly and grabbed Mi Yao's wrist: "Since Madam has suffered, then Madam should be the one to punish her."

I knew that if she really continued fighting, it would be well past dawn.

Mi Yao broke free of his hand and pinched Xiao Chu's upper and lower lips with her fingers.

"Stop nagging and close your eyes to sleep."

She realized that once a man's interest was satisfied, he would automatically become smooth-talking and glib.

Their expressions and mannerisms became increasingly irritating.

*

Mi Yao was busy with infrastructure construction, and Xiao Chuan was busy suppressing bandits. Their occasional brief reunions were always accompanied by other officials who were also working.

She felt that spending all her time with her husband was too cloying, and that her personal space would be reduced without limit.

But after all these separations and reunions, when she heard someone knocking on the door, she instinctively thought it was Xiao Chuan.

"Sister?"

Holding the account book, he looked at her blankly and asked, "Did I disturb you, elder sister?"

"It's nothing."

Mi Yao took the ledger from Yu Xiu's hand. Not only did Yu Xiu sense the change in her emotions, but she also clearly felt her own sense of loss.

Finding herself thinking about Xiao Chua, Mi Yao tapped her head, wondering what illness she had contracted.

Then she discovered that she wasn't the only one who was sick.

"When is Dad coming back? I miss him so much."

"Shan'er wants to too."

"Dad should be back soon. The New Year is almost here, and I want to..."

Xiao Yi silently followed behind his younger siblings, expressing his longing for Xiao Chuan.

Xiao Chuan's trip this time was the longest, more than twenty days have passed, and if he doesn't come back soon, he will miss the New Year.

The three children sighed and groaned. Mi Yao watched from the side and realized that it wasn't surprising that she was also missing them; after all, everyone was thinking about it.

Xiao Chuan braved the wind and snow to rush home on New Year's Eve.

His dark cloak had turned a mottled white, and he wore a hood. A few strands of thin ice still clung to his hair, and even his eyes seemed to be coated with a layer of coldness.

However, this layer of cold air shattered completely upon touching Mi Yao and Xiao Shan.

I feel cold.

Seeing Mi Yao rush over, Xiao Chuan dodged to the side, only managing to catch her waist with his hand.

Realizing that the leather of the glove was also cold, Xiao Chua touched it and immediately pulled away, then began to remove the iron-plated leather gloves from his hands.

He had only untied half of it when the woman he had stopped hugged his waist.

Enveloped in a familiar fragrance, Xiao Chuan's body finally relaxed in that instant.

"It's really cold."

Mi Yao had intended to hug him longer so that Xiao Chuan could feel the warmth of family, but Xiao Chuan's outer layer was a cloak that was freezing and melting, and his inner layer was metal armor. When Mi Yao raised her head, there was a small ice cube on the tip of her nose. She looked at Xiao Chuan with a pitiful expression.

Seeing this, Xiao Chua's frozen lips curled up, revealing a handsome yet slightly silly, stiff smile.

"I've told you everything."

"It's really cold."

"That's right, that's right."

As Mi Yao hugged Xiao Chua, Xiao Shan and Xiao Liang each hugged one of Xiao Chua's legs. When Mi Yao complained, they echoed her sentiments.

Compared to the three of them, Xiao Yi was much more reliable. He stepped onto a stool and reached out to try to subtly remove Xiao Chuan's heavy cloak, which was covered in snow.

Seeing this, Mi Yao took a step back, feeling fortunate that she had a reliable person in her family.

"If you can't make it back in time, it's fine to arrive tomorrow. Why rush?"

With her reason returning, Mi Yao frowned and spoke to Xiao Chua.

"I want to spend the New Year with you all."

After removing his cloak, Xiao Chuan went to the side hall to take off his armor, while Mi Yao went to get him a change of clothes. She was speechless when she got half of them.

Hugging the clothes, she hurriedly returned to the side room where Xiao Chuan had taken off his clothes: "You're so cold, what's the point of changing clothes if you don't go take a hot bath?"

"Mother is right, that's what Father thinks!"

The three children were watching Xiao Chuan change his clothes. When they heard Mi Yao say this, they thought it made sense and almost pushed Xiao Chuan, who was only wearing a thin shirt, out the door.

"I'd like to have lunch with you first."

“We’re not that greedy, Father. You’re just hungry and want to eat.”

After Xiao Liang finished speaking, Xiao Shan quickly took her bowl, picked up a piece of braised pork with his chopsticks, and exclaimed, "Ah—"

Knowing that the children missed him made Xiao Chuan happy, but every time he made eye contact with Mi Yao and said a few sweet words, they would interrupt and ruin the atmosphere, which was really annoying.

After bending down to eat the braised pork from Xiao Shan's chopsticks, Xiao Chuan reached out and pinched each of the three children's cheeks before sending them away.

“Your mother and I have something to say. Go eat first. If you want to wait for us, go to the dining room and wait for us. Don’t crowd around us.”

Seeing that Xiao Shan and Xiao Liang were about to speak, and fearing that they would ramble on again, Xiao Chuan added in advance, "I miss my wife. I want to be alone with her and don't want you guys to keep making a fuss by saying something unpleasant."

"snort!"

Xiao Shan walked ahead, followed closely by Xiao Liang, arms crossed, humming: "Hmph!"

There were no other people in the room. Xiao Chuan looked at Mi Yao and found that her expression was not much different from that of Xiao Liang and Xiao Shan.

However, even though their expressions are similar, his wife looks quite beautiful on her face as well.

Xiao Chuan leaned in and kissed her on the cheek before continuing to put on the clothes she had brought.

After getting dressed, he pulled her to go to the bathhouse.

Xiao Chua walked briskly, and Mi Yao couldn't help but lightly kick his shin: "You've been riding a horse for a whole day and night, aren't you tired?"

"After riding a horse for a whole day and night, my legs can open easily without much effort, which is very convenient."

Mi Yao: ...

Upon arriving at the bathhouse, Xiao Chuan first washed up, making sure his mouth was clean enough after eating dry rations for several days before entering the bath.

With hot water covering their bodies, Xiao Chuan didn't let Mi Yao go into the water. Instead, he kept his distance from her, only glancing at her occasionally.

In the end, it was Mi Yao who grew impatient with his gaze. She sat down by the pool, leaned down, and exchanged a deep, wet kiss with him.