Chapter 42 Chapter 42 This kind of reciprocity is just what suits her...
"Madam, would you like more tea?"
The voice of the Qingke came into the warm room through the screen.
Sheng Puzhu rubbed her brows, her fingertips unconsciously resting on her wrists. She tried to curl them up, but they were still very sore.
"No, I'll give you a glass of milk instead."
"Yes." The Qingke retreated quietly.
The candlelight was dim, and Sheng Puzhu placed his brush on the pen holder. He had lost his mind for the umpteenth time tonight.
She stared at the rouge color on her fingertips, which was so pink that it almost showed through her skin. It was like clouds in the sky at dusk, or like flower juice stained on white porcelain. With a light press, soreness and swelling seeped out from the cracks in the bones, and even the muscles and bones of her fair wrists felt so soft that they seemed to be broken.
It was so big that even though she didn't see it, she couldn't hold it with one hand.
Even if he helped to hold on, it didn't work. In the end, he had to use both hands. She was in that position, so if she wanted to avoid falling, she had to lean all her strength on his arms and sit still.
The temperature that remains on the fingertips is incredibly hot and cannot be dispelled no matter how long it takes.
In a trance, she couldn't help but think of how Xie Zhiyan's palm with thin calluses covered her irresistibly, fingers interlocked, gently but forcefully teaching her those unspeakable movements.
This guy is so hateful sometimes.
Sheng Puzhu felt annoyed for a moment, shook his hands, and turned his attention back to the piles of account books in front of the desk.
She needed to be busy to distract herself from the indelible memories of last night.
The warm room was quiet, with only the occasional sound of flipping papers and the colliding of abacus beads.
Settling accounts requires calmness and no mistakes are allowed.
"Drink milk while it's hot."
So when Xie Zhiyan's clear voice, wrapped in the frost of the winter night, came from behind.
The tip of Sheng Puzhu's pen, which was suspended on the blank paper, suddenly shook. He almost lost control of the strength in his wrist and dropped ink on the account book.
The familiar scent of cypress berries enveloped her from top to bottom, and the slight chill seemed to nail her to the spot.
"My dear." Sheng Puzhu took a deep breath, put down his pen, and was about to stand up to salute, but Xie Zhiyan pressed his shoulder and made him sit back in the armchair.
"No need to bother."
Xie Zhiyan stood behind her, holding a bowl of steaming milk in his hand.
He leaned over, his tall figure almost blocking out most of the candlelight. The front of his robe naturally stuck to her back, tall and broad like a mountain, pressing down heavily.
"Drink this first." Xie Zhiyan handed the milk to Sheng Puzhu's lips. The rim of the white porcelain bowl made her red lips and pomegranate teeth look even more beautiful.
Sheng Puju was not used to such intimacy. She subconsciously reached out to take it, but he avoided her.
"The bowl is heavy, don't hurt your hands." Xie Zhiyan laughed nonchalantly, and gently pressed his thumb on the corner of her lips. "Didn't Madam cry and say her hands were going to break last night?"
"Don't talk nonsense." Sheng Puzhu's breathing stagnated, her eyelashes trembled, and she wanted to cover his mouth.
Milk was mixed with nectar, and the sweet aroma of milk lingered between the two of them.
His hands were big and steady, and his hand was very steady. He tilted the white porcelain bowl slightly, allowing the milky white milk to moisten her lips bit by bit.
Sheng Puzhu secretly curled her fingers. She had to admit that he was right. Today, even the lightest brush in her hand felt powerless and stumbled when she was keeping accounts, let alone other things.
But she felt it was not proper to let him feed her, so she quietly refused.
Xie Zhiyan was not annoyed, his voice was as calm as ever: "If Madam doesn't want to."
He brought the porcelain bowl closer, his eyes dark and unclear: "Then... try another way of feeding?"
Change one?
Sheng Puju couldn't think of how else to feed him, but that didn't stop her from feeling that the look in his eyes was too dangerous.
"That's good."
Fearing that he might do something more extreme, after weighing the pros and cons, Sheng Puzhu tilted her head slightly, revealing her slender neck, leaned sideways on his hand, and swallowed the milk in the bowl in small sips.
She drank most of the bowl of milk, then shook her head and said no, "I'm full."
"Are you really full?" Xie Zhiyan's eyes fell on her lips and he asked slowly.
Sheng Puzhu gently sipped her lips, which were moistened by the milk, and felt that the milk in her stomach was almost swelling her to the point of making her lose consciousness.
She always wanted to sleep after eating and drinking. This was a habit she couldn't change, so she nodded vaguely: "Yeah, I'm really full."
Xie Zhiyan hummed and said nothing more, casually placing his porcelain bowl on the small square table behind him.
When the two of them were not talking, they seemed to be guessing what the other was thinking.
Most of the time, Sheng Puzhu is calm and rational, and she is not the kind of girl who needs to rely on men. When encountering problems, her usual reaction is to solve them herself. If she cannot solve them, she will think of other ways.
It was like temporarily taking over the housekeeping responsibilities. Although she was unfamiliar with the job and had to deal with countless account books, it never made her anxious or worried.
In contrast, Xie Zhiyan was silent most of the time. His coldness and calmness were like his upbringing, engraved in his bones. As for his wife, he strictly abided by the family rules.
It’s a pity that neither of them is the type to share their true emotions with each other openly.
The couple seemed to have incompatible personalities, but under layers of disguise, they maintained a delicate balance.
Sheng Puzhu wanted to finish at least half of the accounts that had been delayed in the past few days before going to bed, so naturally he didn't pay attention to what Xie Zhiyan was doing.
The night was long and dark, and the candle flame popped.
Under the light, Sheng Puzhu put down the brush in his hand and gently rubbed his sore and weak wrist.
"Hmm..." The feeling was really hard to describe. When the numbness came out, she hummed unconsciously. She raised her fingertips in front of her eyes and could still see the red marks on the palms of her palms due to excessive friction, which had not yet disappeared.
"Are you still feeling sore and uncomfortable?" Xie Zhiyan's low voice startled Sheng Puzhu so much that her wrist trembled and she almost messed up the beads on the white jade abacus.
She turned around and saw the man still standing in the same place as before, staring at her against the light for who knows how long. The candlelight stretched his shadow very long, just half covering her.
"My dear, is there anything else?" Sheng Puzhu asked after calming himself down.
Xie Zhiyan looked at her, his dark eyes filled with indescribable interest.
His impeccable eyebrows raised, and his knuckles casually touched her wrist: "The accounts are complicated, I will help my wife with the worries."
Xie Zhiyan lowered his body, not needing her answer at all. He supported himself on the back of the chair with one hand, stretched out his other arm, and covered Sheng Mingzhu's right hand, which was holding the pen, with his palm, and wrapped the back of her hand with a force that was neither light nor heavy.
This is an intimate and ambiguous posture, holding her slender body in his arms.
The two were so close that they could hear each other's breathing and the different rhythms of their heartbeats vibrating in their chests.
Sheng Puzhu didn't even dare to breathe and wanted to pull his hand back, but he pushed it back easily.
"Don't be distracted when settling accounts." Xie Zhiyan said to her seriously.
How can I not be distracted!
When he leaned over, her soul deep inside her body trembled.
Sheng Puzhu felt a sudden heat rising in her body. She watched the man's palm covered with thin calluses pressed against the back of her hand. The slightly cold temperature, like jade against skin, penetrated her skin and made her fingertips tremble slightly.
"My dear, this is what distracts me." Sheng Puzhu raised her eyes and looked at him sideways. Her dark and watery eyes revealed a very honest emotion.
Xie Zhiyan just nodded when he heard it, as if he agreed, but he did not allow her to break free. He exerted force with his wrist, led the brush in her hand, and the black ink spread on the rice paper, and he wrote a line of words naturally.
Unlike the cold temperature of his body, his overly hot breath brushed past her ear. It was obviously not an intrusive gesture, but when he did this, it would always evoke some other emotions in her for no reason.
"Madam, just concentrate on the accounts."
"I'll record it for you." Xie Zhiyan's thin lips curved in the shadows.
This is simply a test of her patience.
Sheng Puzhu didn't know how many times he comforted himself before he could finally calm down.
The only thing to be thankful for is that things like settling accounts are much faster with help than at the beginning.
Sheng Puzhu was nervous at first, but then she gradually relaxed. Halfway through the account book calculations, she became increasingly sleepy and dozed off without knowing when.
"Are you going to sleep?" Xie Zhiyan asked gently.
"Hmm." Sheng Puzhu narrowed his eyes and began to talk nonsense because he was too sleepy. "No, I'm full and don't want to eat anymore."
His eyes fell, his palm rested on her lower back, he smiled silently, pulled out the brush that was pinched in her fingertips, and pushed the white jade abacus away.
He stood up slowly, used his arms to lift Sheng Puzhu's soft body into his arms, and then carefully placed her on his knees.
"Does your hand still hurt?" He pinched her soft wrist with his fingertips.
"Yeah." Sheng Puzhu tried to pull her hand back in a daze, but he held it even tighter.
"Don't move."
Xie Zhiyan lowered his eyes, his long eyelashes casting a shadow under his eyes, and rubbed her snow-white wrist with his palm lightly. He had indeed gone a little too far yesterday, but this kind of thing, once started, cannot be easily stopped.
Sheng Puzhu narrowed her beautiful almond-shaped eyes and hummed comfortably.
Xie Zhiyan's fingertips pressed against the delicate skin, and the strength in his hands was just right.
Her fingers were slender, and he held them in his palm, warming them up little by little until they turned pink. He stroked them from wrist to fingertips, inch by inch, as if he was describing a rare treasure.
"Just sleep when you're tired, okay?" Xie Zhiyan asked.
"No, it's not over yet."
The next morning, Sheng Puzhu woke up.
She lazily turned over and subconsciously wanted to rub her sore wrists, but after looking at the hands raised in front of her eyes for a long time, there was no difference except that the skin was a little pinker than usual.
But his hands were no longer sore, and his wrists had regained most of their strength. The numbness and soreness in his skin seemed to have been ironed out and hidden deep in the bone joints.
Last night she drank a bowl of milk and felt so full that her memory became fragmented towards the end.
It seemed that more than half of the account book had not been finished. Later, Xie Zhiyan rubbed her hands, and when she opened her eyes again, it was already dawn.
Qingke and Naidong came forward to fetch water, and the smiles in their eyes could hardly be hidden.
"What good news is this that makes you so happy?" Sheng Puzhu asked curiously, leaning lazily on the soft pillow.
Qingke and Naidong looked at each other and laughed at the same time: "Of course it's something good that has to do with my wife."
Seeing that they were trying to tease her, Sheng Puzhu didn't want to say anything, so she waved to the lively Li Shuang.
Li Shuang walked forward with a smile, stretched out her hand to lift the curtain, and pointed in the direction of the small study in the warm room: "Sister Qingke got up early to finish all the account books left by the lady yesterday."
"Madam, guess is it over in the end?"
"So many, did you finish calculating them this morning?" Sheng Puju obviously felt something was wrong. She knew the abilities of her personal maids.
There is not enough time in the morning, and there are so many accounts that need to be checked very carefully.
Li Shuang blinked and nodded, "Yes! It's all settled."
"But it wasn't our calculation. Sister Qingke opened it and saw that the account wasn't in my wife's handwriting."
"Madam Du said that the light in the study was left on all night last night."
"So we secretly guessed that the husband must have felt sorry for his wife and helped to settle everything."
Sheng Puzhu stood up and walked to the desk. He could see the neatly arranged account books by just lowering his eyes. He picked up one at random and opened it. The handwriting was as beautiful as his handsome face, one in a million.
Freshly written words always have a pleasant scent of ink. Sheng Puzhu reached out to touch the words. With his soft and sensitive fingertips, he could even feel the traces of each word left on the paper.
He rubbed her hands for half the night last night and finished all the account books.
Last night he held her hand, and he seemed not to care, but he also took it to heart. So why did he do all that?
"When did you get up, sir?" Sheng Puzhu asked pretending to be calm.
The Qingke replied, "At the same time as usual, I got up before dawn, went to the garden to practice swordplay, and then went out after breakfast."
Sheng Puzhu was stunned for a moment, then raised his head and looked at Qingke and ordered: "When my husband gets up tomorrow, you must wake me up too."
The Qingke was puzzled: "If my wife gets up early, she will probably be tired all day. Now she has to manage the household, so she will have no time to rest."
Sheng Puzhu raised her eyes, smiled, and explained seriously, "I don't get up early every day, just a few times now and then, it's no big deal."
"Um."
"I've made note of this."
Sheng Puzhu paused at the account book on the table and calmly instructed the waiters, "Then I'll have breakfast first. After breakfast, you all come with me to the meeting room."
"Right." Sheng Puzhu thought for a moment and said, "Later, have someone ask the young master's servant what he eats for lunch when he discusses matters in the palace."
"If you have prepared lunch at home, could you please send it to the palace?"
Sheng Puzhu has always been unwilling to owe favors to others. Since Xie Zhiyan is willing to be a caring husband, it is not impossible for her to be a virtuous wife.
He settled the bill for her, and she reciprocated by paying more attention to her food.
This kind of reciprocity, with no one owing anything to either side, is exactly what she wants.
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