Chapter 33

Tong Yufei was reading at his desk when he heard him say that. He was startled and asked, "Will this cause any trouble?"

Mo Daoyan walked into the room and gently placed his hand on her shoulder. "The work progress is more than ten days ahead of schedule, and with Brother Zhou here, even if it's delayed for half a day or a night, the sky won't fall. These days, I've been busy running around between the company and my aunt's house, and I owe you the most. Not only can I not be with you, I didn't help with the move, and you had to choose the bed by yourself. As a husband, I'm derelict in my duty. I'm not going anywhere now. I'll take a few hours to accompany you. Are you happy?"

"Of course I'm happy to have you by my side."

Mo Daoyan didn't see any feigned happiness on her face. If she had pretended to be fake like she did just now and showed any sign that she wanted him to get out of the house immediately, he could have said something even more disgusting to her. But her smile was so sincere that he lost interest in teasing her.

He squeezed over to the chair where she was sitting and sat down next to her: "What are you studying?"

Tong Yufei stood up and tried to offer him the chair, but he grabbed her waist and pulled her back onto his lap. She wasn't as reserved as she had been the last time. Seeing that he was trying to get closer, she sat down calmly. She smoothed her hair to hide the blush on her face, and pointed to the book she was reading and said, "Pictographs."

She was reading the "Chinese Pictographic Dictionary." Ultimately, proofreading hinges on the ability to read characters. Different proofreaders have different ways of memorizing characters. Some have exceptional memories, their brains akin to a walking dictionary, while others carry a Xinhua Dictionary, readily available for reference. She enjoys studying characters themselves. The "Chinese Pictographic Dictionary" is comprehensive, encompassing over ten Chinese scripts dating back to the Neolithic period. It explains each character in chronological order and through their evolutionary processes. Interspersed with nearly a hundred original "pictographic calligraphy and paintings" by the author, it's not only a must-have for text workers but also a work of art.

"I first saw this book in my adoptive father's study."

Using the character for "hand" as an example, she explained the etymology and meaning of pictographic characters to Mo Daoyan. She also mentioned the six categories of ancient Chinese characters found in the Shuowen Jiezi (Explanation of Chinese Characters): pictographic, indicative, associative, phono-semantic, loan characters, and transliteration. She strongly agreed with the author's view on the basic composition of ancient Chinese characters: that they are essentially pictographic, or ideographic, indicative, or phono-semantic characters formed by combining pictographic characters.

After talking for more than ten minutes, Mo Daoyan remained silent. This reminded Tong Yufei of the boring geography classes he had attended before, when he felt extremely uncomfortable. Tong Yufei felt that he was so stupid to actually teach Mo Daoyan. It was like trying to add more soil to a mountain and overestimating his own abilities.

She stroked the gilded title and said, "I talk too much."

Every profession has its own expertise. Although her interpretation of pictographic characters is far from the level of "art", it is enough for him. Although text and history are nothing special to him, listening to his aunt's history and listening to Tong Yufei's explanation of pictographic characters are two completely different experiences. His aunt's narration is full of strong personal colors. Once it disagrees with her point of view, it is difficult to continue listening. Tong Yufei's explanation is almost free of personal emotions. It is more like a calm description of other people's works. It is worth listening to.

Another reason is that she has a pleasant voice, which adds a unique flavor to the "classroom".

He continued to ask, "How do you interpret the word 'yu' in your name?"

"'Yu' had not yet formed a fixed character shape during the oracle bone script period. It was not until the bronze script period that it had a clear character structure..."

"What about the Xiaozhuan period? Were there any further standardizations?"

She wore blue-gray trousers with a white undershirt tucked loosely inside. Mo Daoyan silently pulled the undershirt out from the front, slipping his hands under the hem of her clothes and stirring them around her body. Her voice could no longer be steady. She was reading a reference book and had the leisure to teach others. This meant that she had already learned the necessary content for today's work and the exam, and the rest of her time was free. She could teach him pictographic characters or do other things.

When she fell silent, he looked at her intently: "Why don't you talk anymore?"

"Are you listening?"

"Didn't I hear?"

"Multitasking?"

“Why can’t it be coordinated optimization?”

"I can't do it. I can only do one thing well at a time."

"Let's talk about it tomorrow. Let's finish today's work first."

"Well...I'm going to take a shower."

Mo Daoyan touched her velvety hair, the ends of which were not yet completely dry: "Haven't you washed it?"

"The bed just arrived today, and I was sweating when I made it..." She tried her best to appear relaxed, but the mention of "bed" and the thought of why he stayed tonight and what they were going to do soon made her ears burn. "I'll be right back."

Mo Daoyan lowered his head and said nothing. He didn't mind whether she was sweating or not, because she would sweat more soon anyway. But if she attached great importance to the "first time" and wanted to do it perfectly, he had no reason to stop her.

Hot steam swirled in the bathroom. Tong Yufei stood under the shower, water droplets trickling down her neck, causing a subtle shudder. She braided a towel into a hair drying cap and put it on her head. She hadn't intended to get her hair wet, but the rush of water still dampened a few strands. She reached down to turn down the water valve and gently wiped her damp hair with a towel. The bathroom mirror was covered in a thin layer of mist. When the mist cleared away, her pale pink skin and a face without a smile were reflected in the mirror.

She really shouldn't face him like this. She stretched out her index finger and touched the corner of her mouth, pulling out a smile.

Gently combing her hair with a mahogany comb, her thoughts drifted back to the time her adoptive mother braided her hair, from the tiny, newly grown tufts at the age of a year old to the two, four-strand braids at the age of twelve. She had already learned how to braid her hair by then, but her adoptive mother insisted, sighing softly as she did so. She wondered what young boy would buy her hair, saying it was smoother than satin and blacker than pitch. She was naive and asked her adoptive mother, "Will bad guys cut off my hair and sell it? If I resist, will they cut off my head too?" Her adoptive mother laughed, then solemnly told her, "If anyone tries to cut her hair, tell me, and I'll chase them away. No one is allowed to touch her hair without permission."

Now that his adoptive mother was gone, no one could drive Mo Daoyan away. He always liked to rub her hair, making her smooth hair frizzy. But even if her adoptive mother were still alive, she probably wouldn't drive him away. He gave her the key to the house, and would provide her with a safe place to stay regardless of what happened in the future or whether the marriage could be successful, even though that wasn't what she wanted.

If not him, who else could it be?

When Tong Yufei returned to the house, Mo Daoyan was skimming through a large dictionary. Unlike her, who was immersed in it, he flipped through seven or eight pages, but still couldn't grasp the brilliance of pictographic characters. He only felt the layers of limitations. Pictographic characters first created a form and then a word, but how many abstract concepts in the world have no form? How can consciousness and thought be described? Not to mention the complex and intertwined concepts. Moreover, after thousands of years of development, many characters have lost their original appearance. Even a classic like "Shuowen Jiezi" is inevitably prone to errors.

In his cognitive system where the word "truth" is paramount, words without authenticity, no matter how beautiful their meaning, are nothing but towers built on sand. But strangely, he still found her explanations witty and interesting, just like her fictional songs and dances, which were clearly forms that had never existed in the human world, yet they could still radiate brilliantly.

Tong Yufei had been rummaging through the closet since he entered the room, but after four or five minutes he was still at a loss.

Mo Daoyan put down the dictionary in his hand and walked quietly behind her: "What are you looking for?"

"Square mattress."

She had sewn seven or eight small mattresses specifically for menstruation, but now they seemed to have disappeared out of thin air. Perhaps they were left behind in the old house due to the hasty move. The new off-white velvet sheets were just bought at the beginning of the month. She was using them for the first time tonight and she was reluctant to get them dirty. If she had known that he would come back suddenly, she should have changed to dark sheets, but changing them now would be too depressing. She had wanted to make do with a small mattress, but she didn't expect that even this way out was cut off.

Seeing her hesitate, Mo Daoyan turned and went back to his room. When he came back, he had a white shirt in his hand: "Use this."

This shirt of his had only been bought a week ago. She had cut the tag herself, rubbed it in cold water, and then hung it to dry. It was ridiculously expensive, nearly reaching four figures, worth as much as ten sets of sheets. But that wasn't the point. She didn't think the thin shirt could serve as a cushion, so she pushed it back. "It's too expensive, and it might not even work."

"Are you worried about the expense, or are you worried it won't be useful? If it can be put to good use, it's not a waste. But scientifically speaking... it's just a random event. There's no chance it will be sacrificed. To say it's useless is a bit too small. It's easy. Just keep it under control. I'm not that ignorant, so you should exercise some restraint too."

Their understanding of "it's useless" was clearly diametrically opposed, but she was too lazy to argue. This man was the best at biting back and loved to see her embarrassed. He knew very well what she meant, but he insisted on misinterpreting it. Before she could utter a word of rebuttal, his shirt had been tied around her waist. The light fabric now felt heavy, weighing down her heartbeat. Even though it was not their first time being intimate, she was still nervous and sweating.

Mo Daoyan took off his watch and placed it on the table: "Why don't you go take another shower? You're slippery like a fish before you even start. I'm not a cormorant, how can I catch you?"

Tong Yufei was amused by him and relaxed: "If you can't catch it, forget it."

"Do you have any family planning supplies at home?"

He retracted his arms, pulled her into his arms, kissed her on the mouth, and pushed her towards the bed. Suddenly, he remembered the activity that was forced to be terminated last time, so he asked her about it. She said at the time that she would go to the unit to get it, and it was more likely that she was perfunctory. He stayed on a whim and was not prepared. Although she was the one who needed contraception, he would stop in time if he knew that she did not want children and had no family planning products.

She was forced to sit on the edge of the bed and whispered, "In the second drawer of the bedside table."

Since they were already living together, they would have to face the issue of sex sooner or later. It was much safer to bite the bullet and go get the family planning supplies than to start unprotected sex without any preparation. This was a benefit she deserved, and she would have missed it if she hadn't taken it. To get the family planning supplies, she had to submit a copy of her marriage certificate. The older woman in charge of distributing the supplies saw the glaring "zero claim record" after five years of marriage and casually asked about her size. She was at a loss for words, and the older woman immediately thought she had met a sister in the same boat. Her husband must have been working away from home all year long, and they only saw each other twice a year. Now that he had suddenly come to get them, it must be that his husband had returned and was asking for more urgency.

Without a word, the elder sister handed her six boxes of family planning products, all in large, medium, and small sizes, and shared her experience: "A size too large will easily slip off, and a size too small will easily break. The right size is most important. Men are too concerned about their reputation and insist on getting the big one, but if someone dies... we women will suffer. To be on the safe side, it's best if you put it on him yourself. You'll know if it's a big enough size, and if it doesn't fit, change it immediately."

Mo Daoyan took out a box of family planning products from the depths of the drawer. The golden letters on the packaging box flashed a clear light in the dim light. Tong Yufei remembered what her elder sister said, and her ears immediately felt hot. Her flushed cheeks were hidden in her loose black hair.

The long night has just begun.