Xie Qingyu witnessed the entire process from beginning to end. He watched Wei Li carry Zhao Xiheng away, his throat itching, and he coughed twice. Perhaps due to the climate, he had lost a lot of weight during his month-long stay in Pingzhou, and even looked somewhat gaunt.
Two maids rushed over in alarm, "Young Master Xie, have you caught a cold?"
"In June, Pingzhou is only warm, not hot. My lord, don't wear too few clothes in the morning and evening to avoid getting chilled."
Xie Qingyu went back silently. Only he knew that this was not a cold from the outside, but a heart ailment.
Wei Li held Zhao Xiheng's waist, her chest pressing against his shoulder, causing a slight pain. She shifted, her soft breasts rubbing against his shoulder, making his bones feel weak.
He patted Zhao Xiheng on the back, "Don't move, or I'll throw you in to feed the fish."
Zhao Xiheng lowered her head, looking at her skirt that was far from the ground, and her toes that were faintly visible through the skirt, and suddenly she understood.
This is what Wei Li meant by not being allowed to step out of the courtyard.
Indeed, if one is to step out of the yard, one should naturally use legs and feet, but since her feet are off the ground and she was carried out, that doesn't count as stepping out.
...
Hmm, Wei Li is really good at twisting the facts.
She wrapped her arms around Wei Li's neck to steady herself, then buried her face in the crook of his neck. "Hold on tight, don't drop me."
The warm breath brushed against Wei Li's neck, sending shivers down his spine. His heart pounded with the same sensation.
"Lift your face up. Do you like rubbing against people so much? Are you a dog?" His voice was hoarse, with a slight, almost imperceptible tremor.
Zhao Xiheng didn't move. She even shook her hands and lowered her sleeves as much as possible to cover her hands completely. "No, the sun is too strong today. I'm afraid of getting a tan."
She had just asked her maid to bring a parasol, but the maid didn't follow.
"Are all the young girls in Jinyang as useless and spoiled as you?" Wei Li mocked.
"No, I'm the least delicate of all." She shook her head, her hair brushing against Wei Li's neck, making it increasingly itchy. "Can't a little lady be a little delicate? If you had a daughter, would you be willing to treat her badly?"
Zhao Xiheng wasn't lying. There were few girls in her family, and they were all treated like treasures. Compared to her aunt who kept a whole bunch of male lovers, and her cousin Zhao Mingxin, she was already being very restrained. She was just afraid of getting a tan. What young lady doesn't love beauty?
"Who says I can't bear to part with her? If I had a daughter, I would drag her out of bed before dawn to practice her kung fu, forbidding her from eating snacks or candy, and only making four sets of clothes for her a year."
"What if she cries?"
"I won't soften even if you cry," Wei Li said confidently, without the slightest hesitation.
"What if she gets angry with you and doesn't love you as her father anymore?" Zhao Xiheng continued to ask. She felt really sorry for Wei Li's future daughter. She wondered who would be so unlucky as to be born as his daughter.
Wei Li froze. "Who cares?"
Zhao Xiheng hugged his neck tighter. "You said it yourself. I'll be watching. If you don't keep your word, I'll definitely make fun of you about it."
Wei Li seemed very confident, "Take a notebook and write it down, then you can read it to me every morning."
Zhao Xiheng buried herself in his arms and laughed out loud.
They talked all the way, and it seemed they had arrived at their destination. Wei Li put her on the boat, and the small boat rocked gently.
Zhao Xiheng inexplicably wanted to laugh. Wei Li was obsessed with the fact that her feet couldn't touch the ground, probably to maintain the last vestige of dignity in the word "imprisonment."
She let go and looked around.
The first time I saw this lotus pond was in winter. It was dilapidated and lifeless, but the pond was very large, so I could imagine what it would look like when it was full of life.
As expected, layers upon layers of emerald green lotus leaves, along with pink and white lotus flowers and seed pods, connected to form an endless ocean.
With few people in the manor, there was naturally no one to manage the lotus pond, and the lotus flowers that grew naturally had a very wild vitality.
Zhao Xiheng wiped the boat clean, sat down, and then looked up at Wei Li on the shore. "Why don't you get off?"
Wei Li suddenly smiled maliciously, took the oar from the boat, and then kicked the stern.
The small boat cut through the waves and glided forward a short distance.
The boat was a short distance from the shore, but even that short distance was not something someone as small as Zhao Xiheng could cross.
With no oars on the boat, it was unlikely that she could continue rowing or return to shore.
Wei Li lifted his robe, then squatted down on the bank and looked at her.
The sun was indeed shining brightly today, casting a warm glow on him. The gold threads on his clothes shimmered, and his earrings reflected a dazzling light, but nothing could outshine the person himself.
He had very good teeth, white and even, with many sharp teeth. When he smiled, he didn't seem so sunny and friendly, but rather had a kind of bloodthirsty ferocity. After seeing him so many times, Zhao Xiheng didn't think he was very fierce. Instead, he looked a bit like a silly dog baring its teeth to scare people.
The small boat rocked back and forth, and Zhao Xiheng was a little afraid of falling in, so she leaned over the stern and stirred the lake water. The water was icy cold, and small fish were nibbling at her hands. Her arms were as tender and white as a peeled lotus root, with slender fingers and a faint pink tinge at the tips.
Zhao Xiheng still didn't grow her nails long; they were just short, trimmed smoothly and evenly, neither too long nor too short, which made her fingers appear even longer.
She was born delicate and beautiful. In the past six months, she had grown up a bit and had a more tranquil and mature charm. Her cheeks were fair and delicate, and her black hair was loosely tied up with a jade hairpin. After the bumpy ride, it was almost disheveled, with a few strands hanging down beside her cheeks.
She wore a smoky pink ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress), and a white shawl draped over her slender shoulders, revealing her smooth, snow-white skin, part of which slipped into the water.
She continued to look up at him, the lotus leaves casting shimmering shadows on her, and asked, "Aren't you coming down to play with me?"
She wasn't worried at all that Wei Li would abandon her or simply ignore her. At most, he'd just give her a sharp tongue.
Wei Li left her alone on the boat, intending to scare her a bit before turning away and seeing if she would cry or be afraid, and whether she would dare to disobey him again.
But now, looking at her, Wei Li felt a flutter in his heart, his eyes seemed to glow with the rising sun, and the boy's heart was beating more violently than ever before, even more violently than before, and all the words were stuck in his throat and could not be uttered.
He already knew that Xie Qingyu said he loved Zhao Xiheng, but at this moment, listening to his uneasy heartbeat, he felt as if he loved her even more than usual.
The desire to hold her and die together in this lotus pond was intense and ferocious.
If we die together in this lotus pond, never to be separated for the rest of our lives, then there won't be so many things that disgust and annoy him.
"What are you thinking about?" Zhao Xiheng scooped up a handful of water and asked him with a smile. The cool water splashed on his face, bringing him back to his senses.
Wei Li splashed an even bigger spray of water, almost splashing it back into her face, saying, "How do you want to drown me?"
He showed absolutely no mercy; Zhao Xiheng's hair was soaked from the splash he threw on her, and it clung to her cheeks.
She blinked, and water droplets rolled down her long eyelashes, making her look innocent and pitiful. The water droplets also wet the chest of her already thin ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress) and part of her shawl.
The sheer fabric clung to her skin, revealing its color.
"You hold grudges too much." She wiped the water from her face.
She just scooped it up gently.
Wei Li looked away, not daring to look at her. He simply pushed her with the oar, pushing her deeper into the lotus bushes. Only when she stood up could Wei Li see her shadow.
A slender shadow flickered in the water, appearing to be about two meters long. After a short while, the shadow disappeared and instead climbed up the lotus stem.
Zhao Xiheng suddenly cried out Wei Li's name, her voice trembling and barely perceptible with a sob.
Wei Li's heart skipped a beat. Without thinking, he used the momentum to leap over the layers of lotus leaves and onto the boat.
Zhao Xiheng grabbed his sleeve and buried her face in his chest, "There's a snake!"
A water snake was quietly nestled on a lotus flower, its body twisting, its head half-raised, flicking its tongue, its scales shimmering.
It was about the thickness of a thumb, but very long, with its tail winding into the water.
The pond had been neglected for a long time, and with frogs and mosquitoes around, it was inevitable that it would attract these things.
Wei Li breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it was just a snake. He pulled out the dagger from his waist and threw it away. The snake was decapitated, its head falling into the water while its body continued to writhe.
"Are you done yet?" Zhao Xiheng moved her hands from grabbing his collar to hugging his waist.
"Clang." He used the dagger sheath to knock the snake's body off and slowly said, "Wait another quarter of an hour."
"Oh, be careful." She didn't suspect anything, but spoke in a muffled voice.
Wei Li sat down, tightening his grip on her waist.
Zhao Xiheng timed it perfectly, and two quarters of an hour later, her half-dry head popped out from his arms. She looked around and then breathed a sigh of relief.
"You have no backbone at all. A snake can't possibly kill you, can it?"
"It's normal for people to be scared." Zhao Xiheng never hesitated to have her lackeys, especially for someone as useful to her as Wei Li. To emphasize her gratitude, she snuggled up to him, looked at him with adoring eyes, and then sweetly rubbed her cheek against his.
"My lord is the best~ I knew my lord wouldn't abandon me."
A spoiled brat.
Wei Li cupped her face, making her look up at him. His hands almost covered her entire cheeks, tucking her wet hair behind her ears and gently caressing her rosy lips with his thumbs.
She wore lip rouge today because she was going out to play; it was a watery red color, making her lips look like glistening red cherries.
The lip rouge had now smudged and stuck to her lips and Wei Li's fingertips.
He narrowed his eyes and moved closer to her.
Seeing Wei Li's eyes darken, Zhao Xiheng felt that he wanted to kiss her.
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