Chapter 19 should be like this.
She held her breath, afraid of missing any subtle change in the other person's expression.
Li Minghua felt somewhat uncomfortable under her sudden, probing gaze.
She lowered her eyes, avoiding the scorching gaze, and began to seriously consider this rather strange question.
The cool touch of the stone table seeped through her sleeves. After a moment, she frowned slightly, slowly shook her head, and said in a voice that carried undisguised distress and a hint of resistance: "It feels... very uncomfortable."
"Really?" Tang Xiaoning's eyes lit up instantly, like two small lanterns, incredibly bright.
Because of her words, the pent-up frustration just now seemed to deflate like a punctured balloon.
"Yes." Li Minghua nodded affirmatively, his tone almost frank.
The furrowed brow revealed her distress: "It's as if I'm constantly being watched in the shadows, my every move is being observed. Even something as trivial as my taste preferences is known to others..."
She paused, as if searching for a more appropriate description: "...there is absolutely no privacy. This is not a comfortable way to get along."
The heavy stone in Tang Xiaoning's heart, the one called "jealousy," suddenly fell to the ground, replaced by an indescribable sense of lightness.
Her lips almost uncontrollably curled into a smile, but she forced herself to maintain a composed expression, deliberately pursing her lips and letting out a snort, feigning a reluctant tone of reprimand:
"Hmph! At least you have some sense of vigilance! You still know what's good for you! I thought..." She deliberately dragged out the word, glancing at Li Minghua.
Tang Xiaoning: "I thought you were easily won over by those sweet words and a few bowls of carefully prepared sweet soup! That would be so pathetic!"
"No." Li Minghua answered decisively without the slightest hesitation, "A cannonball coated in sugar is still a cannonball."
She used a battlefield metaphor, which was concise and powerful.
Tang Xiaoning was immediately amused by this vivid and apt metaphor, and burst out laughing, her eyes and brows beaming with a bright smile.
"Yes! That's absolutely right! It's a sugar-coated bullet!"
Minghua, you must remain vigilant at all times, hold your ground, and never surrender!
She was like a confident young general, waving her arms and speaking with great enthusiasm.
After laughing, the unease she had just let go of quietly resurfaced.
Her eyes darted around, and she leaned closer to Li Minghua again, this time lowering her voice even further: "Then... Minghua."
She licked her slightly dry lips, her heart inexplicably racing: "What kind of... uh, 'care' do you think is comfortable, and not a 'bullet'?"
As soon as she asked the question, she felt her cheeks burning, yet she couldn't help but eagerly await Li Minghua's answer.
This question is clearly beyond the scope of a female warrior who spends most of her time traveling the martial world and whose mind is mostly focused on swordsmanship and strategy.
Li Minghua was visibly taken aback, frowned, and fell into a difficult contemplation of this unfamiliar concept.
She unconsciously tapped the table lightly with her knuckles, making a rhythmic, soft sound.
After a moment's thought, she spoke hesitantly, her words much slower than usual: "At least... it shouldn't be so deliberate, making people feel burdened and on guard."
She paused, seemingly searching for a suitable reference point in her mind, her gaze unconsciously sweeping over Tang Xiaoning across the stone table.
At that very moment, her gaze fell upon Tang Xiaoning's slightly disheveled hair, which had become disheveled from her awkward footwork practice and subsequent annoyance.
A small, delicate pearl hairpin was inserted diagonally at her temple, about to slip off.
Almost instinctively, without any hesitation or unnecessary thought, Li Minghua naturally raised his hand.
Tang Xiaoning felt a slight movement in the light and shadow before her eyes, and a wisp of breath carrying the faint dampness of Li Minghua's sweat after practicing martial arts was approaching.
She couldn't even see the movement clearly, only feeling a gentle touch on her temple.
His calloused fingertips brushed against the sensitive, delicate skin above her earlobe, sending a shiver down her spine.
With her slender fingers, Li Minghua deftly and steadily pulled out the wobbly pearl hairpin and then carefully inserted it back into the depths of her dark hair.
His fingertips even gently smoothed a few unruly strands of hair from her temples.
The entire movement was fluid and natural, as natural as the rising and setting of the sun and moon.
“...It should be…” Li Minghua’s voice rang out at a very close distance, and Tang Xiaoning could even feel her breath brushing against her bangs as she spoke.
Li Minghua's gaze was focused on the hairpin she had just put on, as if confirming its stability. There was no intimate or ambiguous expression on her face, only a calmness after completing a simple task, as pure as when she was wiping her sword.
"...It's like helping you put on a hairpin; it's just something I do casually, without needing to think too much about it or expecting anything in return."
Tang Xiaoning was completely stunned.
All the teasing, probing, and feigned indifference from before were frozen in that instant.
She even forgot to breathe.
The small patch of skin near her temple that had been touched felt like it had been scorched by a spark; the burning sensation spread rapidly, making half of her cheek scald.
She could only stare blankly at Li Minghua's profile, which was so close to hers.
Looking at that sharply defined and clean jawline, those slightly trembling long eyelashes, and the slight relaxation of her brow as she reached a conclusion after careful consideration…
Her heart felt as if it had been gripped tightly by an invisible hand, then suddenly released, and began to beat wildly and erratically, pounding against her chest as if trying to break free of its restraints.
She could clearly feel a surge of heat rushing from her neck to her cheeks, and her earlobes were burning hot.
The irritability, bitterness, and unpleasantness that had arisen because of Liu Yiyi just now vanished without a trace under this unexpected intimate touch. Instead, they were silently enveloped and replaced by a softer, warmer, and more comforting emotion.
"Oh... just doing it as I was going to..." Tang Xiaoning suddenly lowered her head, trying to hide her burning cheeks.
Her voice was barely audible, trembling with obvious panic.
Unconsciously, her fingers tightened the sash hanging at her side, crumpling the delicate silk into a ball.
Li Minghua helped her put the hairpin in her hair, his gaze lingered on her hair bun for a moment, and after confirming that everything was in order, he calmly withdrew his hand.
She sat up straight, her face showing no embarrassment or strangeness. On the contrary, a hint of satisfaction flickered in her eyes as she felt she had just come up with a rather apt metaphor to explain "comfort and care."
"Yes, that's right."
Her tone was flat; she was simply stating a cognitive conclusion.
Tang Xiaoning secretly glanced at her and caught a glimpse of the pure and calm expression on Li Minghua's face, as if she had "solved the problem."
Li Minghua's frankness was like a bucket of cold water, instantly extinguishing the romantic thoughts that had just been stirred in her heart.
What followed was a feeling of helplessness mixed with exasperation and amusement.
Her Lady Li, in some ways, is really... really as slow-witted as a block of wood!
Tang Xiaoning almost shouted it out in her heart.
She glared hatefully at Li Minghua's calm and expressionless profile, wanting to pounce on her immediately and shake her shoulders violently.
Or we could just crack open that head of hers that only thinks about martial arts and tactics, and see what's inside!
Is he a stubborn rock who knows nothing about emotions?
“Okay, ‘do it as you please’…” Tang Xiaoning took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart and surging emotions. She repeated the word almost through gritted teeth.
He couldn't suppress the corners of his mouth from curving upwards, revealing a helpless smile: "The standard you set... tsk, it's quite high."
She glanced meaningfully in the direction Liu Yiyi had left.
At the very least, Liu Yiyi's meticulously planned scheme was far from reaching the level of Li Nvxia's "doing things on a whim".
Li Minghua nodded in deep agreement, his eyes revealing an appreciative "you understand me" look.
She felt that Tang Xiaoning always seemed to be able to accurately understand her thoughts and feelings that were difficult for others to comprehend.
This tacit understanding gave her a sense of inexplicable peace of mind.
At that moment, in the dense shade of banana leaves behind the moon gate, a pair of eyes were fixed on the scene beside the stone table in the courtyard.
Liu Yiyi, clutching the heavy tray, didn't actually go far.
She watched as Li Minghua so naturally reached out and so attentively tidied Tang Xiaoning's hair, putting on the hairpins with such gentleness that it was almost tender care.
She saw more clearly Tang Xiaoning's cheeks suddenly flush red, her eyelashes drooping in panic, and her shy, girlish expression that she couldn't hide at that moment!
That unintentional, natural intimacy, that unspoken understanding and closeness, struck Liu Yiyi hard, shattering her previous obsessions and fantasies.
It turns out, it wasn't that the benefactor disliked being cared for or having their preferences remembered...
Her fingers tightened sharply around the edge of the tray, her nails digging deep into the wood with a dull, tearing sound.
The immense sense of loss and the chilling despair that welled up inside her seeped into her very being.
Compared to her own painstaking efforts to show care, which were always met with rejection and even disgust, the irony and cruelty of the scene before her almost suffocated her.
Tears instantly blurred her vision. She bit her lower lip hard to keep from sobbing out, and tasted a faint metallic taste of blood in her mouth.
A strong sense of resentment welled up from the bottom of my heart.
On what grounds?!
Liu Yiyi stared intently at the two figures in the courtyard, the last trace of tears in her eyes replaced by a rapidly rising gloom and obsession.
She will not give up! Absolutely not! Where there's a will, there's a way!
She believed that perseverance would eventually wear down a stone, and that as long as she put in enough sincerity and effort, one day the heroine's cold heart would be warmed by her, and she would look at her the way she looked at Tang Xiaoning...
She turned abruptly, her skirt billowing in a cold wind, and silently disappeared into the deeper shadows of the corridor, carrying the tray.
The sunlight was just right in the courtyard.
The shards of the flowerpot that Xiaocui had accidentally smashed had been quietly swept away, leaving only a faint scent of soil and flower roots in the air.
Tang Xiaoning unconsciously stroked the pearl hairpin that was neatly pinned to her temple with her fingertips, and the helpless smile on her lips had gradually deepened without her realizing it.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
