Xie Zhaozhao gave her hand, and he led her into the water.

He lifted her up, and she wrapped her legs around his waist and hugged his neck.

"Little Darling," he said, his voice a little hoarse.

Her eyes were like crystals submerged in water, clear yet with a hint of wateriness. The corners of her eyes were slightly upturned, and the pure pupils and cold, fierce eye shape blended together in a wonderfully beautiful way. Her lips were thin and pale as water.

What do you want?

Xie Zhaozhao now feels increasingly inseparable from him, even for a quarter of an hour.

She liked everything about him.

He waded through the water, holding her close. She looked down at him, her fingers gently wiping the water droplets from his face.

She whispered, "Gu Shaoyu, I think I might like you!"

"Yes, you like me!"

Why are you so good to me?

"I haven't been good enough to you, not good enough..."

If you were good enough, you wouldn't look at me with such gratitude.

It's only right that I treat you well; there's no need for gratitude!

The two remained silent.

They blended together perfectly.

Afterwards, he washed her clean, wrapped her up, and made her sit down while he took a bath.

Water slid down his shoulders, flowing down his chest and back, outlining his broad back, his muscles trembling slightly under the impact of the water.

In stark contrast to his refined and scholarly demeanor when he donned court robes, he was now incredibly alluring.

"You really won't take a concubine in the future, will you?" Xie Zhaozhao didn't even know why she asked this question.

Gu Shaoyu turned around, shook the water droplets off his face, bent down, and gently brushed the hair off her face.

He said, "I have said that I will never take a concubine in my life, and of course, I will never keep a mistress or have a concubine. In short, until the day I die, it will only be you!"

Xie Zhaozhao's eyes crinkled into a smile as she kissed him on the back of his broad shoulder.

He whispered, "I want you to only have me, and I to only have you."

Gu Shaoyu picked him up and carried him back to bed.

He made progress again today!

Xiao Guai has begun to open her heart, although she has only tentatively opened a crack.

"Sweetie, let me ask you a question: Do you prefer January 1st or January 31st?"

Lying in bed, he asked Xie Zhaozhao earnestly.

Xie Zhaozhao thought he was asking her whether she preferred the first or last day of the first lunar month.

However, the first month of the lunar calendar is only thirty days long, so where did the thirty-one days come from?

But someone as meticulous as him couldn't possibly be wrong; there must be some deeper meaning behind asking that question.

If she can't think of anything, she'll say, "January doesn't have 31 days, right? Besides, I don't feel like I like or dislike either January 1st or 30th."

Is it pretty much the same every day?

Are you asking which day is more meaningful?

"This...which day do you think is more meaningful?"

Unaware of the trap, Xie Zhaozhao earnestly said, "Isn't the first day of the Lunar New Year more meaningful?"

"Why?"

"Because it's the beginning of a new year, I'm still with you," Xie Zhaozhao answered sincerely.

"I like January 31st," Gu Shaoyu said seriously. One day more than the 30th, how amazing!

Xie Zhaozhao couldn't understand it. This kind of question was too childish. It was like asking me to tell you which hand's candy I liked, since I had candy in both hands.

Seeing her in a daze, Gu Shaoyu couldn't help but lift her fair ear and whisper something to her.

Xie Zhaozhao was stunned, her face flushed red, and she grabbed a pillow and threw it at him.

Sure enough, this person can't be serious for more than three minutes!

Gu Shaoyu laughed heartily and ran around barefoot, trying to hide.

Xie Zhaozhao gritted her teeth and said, "Gu, Shao, Yu!"

"Oh, Gu Shaoyu pressed her hands under the covers and coaxed her, 'Little darling, look at me. One hundred days is nothing...'"

"You, you still dare to say it, say it again..."

I'm so angry!

On the third day of the Lunar New Year, early in the morning, the old lady came to find Xie Zhaozhao again to go to Ci'en Hospital, which annoyed Gu Shaoyu.

In front of Taxue, Xie Zhaozhao said, "Go and listen to what they're saying. If you don't want to listen, come back. You don't need to go unless it's something important."

Ta Xue dared not say more, she had no choice. The old lady always got the short end of the stick from the third madam, so why did she keep causing trouble and making herself disliked?

Xie Zhaozhao went to the old lady's courtyard and found that Gu Chengyan and Xie Xiangxiang were both there.

Gu Chengyan's complexion had been poor since before the Lunar New Year. He didn't say anything, but Xie Zhaozhao knew it.

He was dismissed from his post, never to be employed again, and even received forty lashes. For the past two weeks, he probably not only deceived all the women in the mansion but also pretended to be ill all along, right?

He saw Xie Zhaozhao and greeted her politely, "Third Aunt."

Xie Zhaozhao didn't even bother to nod at him and went straight into Ci'en Courtyard.

When the old lady saw that her sisters-in-law and concubines from various courtyards had also arrived, she said with a very grim expression, "No matter what, everyone in the mansion is family. We're all connected by blood. We can't do something that would make us a laughingstock by harming our own relatives!"

She spoke for a while, and Madam Tu angrily echoed her, while Xie Zhaozhao, Madam Lu, and the others were completely confused.

“Mother, there are no outsiders here, so please speak your mind!” Xie Zhaozhao looked at the old lady. “The rise and fall of this household is related to everyone.”

Only after the old lady told Xie Zhaozhao did she realize that, starting from the first day of the Lunar New Year, someone had been blocking Gu Chengyan every day and feeding him a pill.

It is said that there were different men in black, and no matter how Gu Chengyan tried to hide, he couldn't escape them.

Even when he didn't go out, but stayed in his bedroom with the doors and windows closed, someone would hold him down in bed and stuff a pill into his mouth.

Xie Zhaozhao asked the old lady, "Have you reported it to the authorities?"

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