Chapter 105 Intimacy
As dawn broke, Leilei woke up with his own little scheme in mind. He tiptoed out of bed without disturbing Yaoyao, who was still sleeping beside him, and ran straight to the door of the west room.
He peeked through the door frame and saw Huo Zheng carrying a basin of warm water in. He handed a wrung-out hot towel to Lu Mingyue, who had just sat up, and whispered, "Don't catch a cold just now. Wipe your face and warm yourself up first."
Lu Mingyue took the towel and looked up to meet Huo Zheng's gaze. The two smiled at each other.
Leilei, despite his young age, is quite shrewd; seeing this scene finally put my mind at ease.
After breakfast, Huo Zheng helped Lu Mingyue clean up the dishes, while Yao Yao was pulled by Lei Lei to play with a slingshot in the corner of the yard, leaving only the couple in the house.
As Lu Mingyue was wiping the stove, Huo Zheng suddenly wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder, his voice low and gentle: "That little guy Leilei did something I wanted to do for me yesterday."
Lu Mingyue paused in her hand holding the rag, her ears turning slightly red. She turned to look at him and said, "You're just like a child."
Her words carried a hint of reproach, but her eyes were as soft as water.
Huo Zheng looked at her flushed cheeks, his Adam's apple bobbed, and he didn't say anything more. He simply lowered his head slightly and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.
The kiss was as light as a feather, yet it brought their hearts closer together instantly.
Lu Mingyue reached out and wrapped her arms around his waist, gently resting her head against his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat.
The room was quiet, with only the sound of their breathing mingling together.
The two were snuggling together when Yao Yao's clear voice suddenly rang out from the corner of the yard: "Mommy! Brother found a little bug!"
Immediately afterwards, Leilei grabbed his sister and rushed into the house. As soon as they stepped over the threshold, they caught a glimpse of their parents embracing.
Leilei immediately covered his eyes, but deliberately peeked through his fingers, shouting at the top of his lungs, "I didn't see anything!"
Yao Yao also covered her eyes like her brother, but her little head kept shaking as she curiously peeked through her fingers.
Lu Mingyue's cheeks instantly turned bright red. She hurriedly pushed Huo Zheng away, grabbed a rag from the table and pretended to wipe it. Her ear tips were so red they looked like they could bleed.
Huo Zheng chuckled, rubbed the tip of his nose, and turned to the two little troublemakers at the door, saying, "Come in, look how red your mother's face is."
Lei Lei then lowered his hand, pulled Yao Yao closer, and grinned, revealing his two little tiger teeth: "Daddy, did you secretly bully Mommy?"
When her son saw through her thoughts, Lu Mingyue picked up the broom beside her and gently tapped Huo Zheng's arm, scolding him, "It's all your fault."
Huo Zheng laughed and dodged away, then bent down to pick up Yao Yao, who was leaning closer, and pinched her cheek: "Your brother is talking nonsense. Dad is discussing with your mother that we'll take you two to the back slope to dig for wild vegetables this afternoon."
"Let's dig for wild vegetables!" Yao Yao's eyes lit up, and she immediately forgot what had just happened, tugging at Huo Zheng's clothes and shaking him incessantly.
Leilei also came over, his little face full of anticipation: "Can we dig up some ground ivy? Mom's ground ivy dumplings are the best."
Lu Mingyue looked at the three men, father and sons, making a ruckus, and couldn't hide the smile on her lips. She casually draped a rag over the stove.
"You can go if you want, but first you have to clear the weeds in the corner of the yard, otherwise you can forget about going out."
Leilei immediately grabbed Yaoyao and ran outside: "I'm going to get the little hoe!"
Huo Zheng put Yao Yao down, walked to Lu Mingyue's side, and before the children could turn around, quickly pinched her cheek, his eyes full of laughter, "Then I'll help you prepare the tools."
Lu Mingyue glared at him, but didn't dodge, her ears still flushed.
Before going up the mountain, Lu Mingyue had something else to do, so she went straight to Zhang Haihua's house.
Yesterday was the Mid-Autumn Festival, a day for family reunion. She was too lazy to make a scene over such a small matter, but her daughter had been bullied and cried for no reason, and she couldn't swallow this insult and let it go.
Zhang Haihua was squatting on the doorstep twisting hemp rope. When she saw her coming, she merely raised her eyelids, neither getting up nor greeting her, and said in a flat tone, "What is it?"
"Of course something happened." Lu Mingyue stood at the courtyard gate, not going inside, her voice distant. "Yesterday, your Erjun and Xiaojun threw mud at my Yaoyao on the beach, covering her dress in mud. Yaoyao cried for ages."
Zhang Haihua paused in her movements, frowning, and said, "Is that so? I haven't heard of it."
"Just because you haven't heard about it doesn't mean it didn't happen." Lu Mingyue's tone turned cold.
"Yesterday was a holiday, and I didn't want to go over and cause trouble, but the children's education can't be neglected. You need to discipline them properly; don't think they can bully others just because they're young."
I didn't argue with the child this time, but if I catch them doing it again, I won't talk to them like this. I'll discipline them myself then, so don't think I'm being disrespectful to the neighbors.
After saying that, Lu Mingyue turned and left without waiting for Zhang Haihua to speak again.
Zhang Haihua watched her retreating figure, her face turning pale and then flushed, the apron in her hand crumpled in her clenched fist.
As soon as Lu Mingyue left, Zhang Haihua threw her apron on the ground and stormed into the house.
The Cui brothers were playing marbles in a corner of the room when they saw their mother's pale face and quickly hid the marbles.
"You two little brats!" Zhang Haihua grabbed Cui Erjun's arm, her voice rising eight octaves.
"Did you throw mud at Lu Yaoyao yesterday? Now she's come knocking on our door, are you trying to embarrass me too?!"
Cui Erjun didn't dare to utter a sound, while Cui Xiaojun shrank back in fear.
The scolding and cursing from inside the house drifted out through the open courtyard gate without any obstruction.
A passerby heard the noise, slowed down, and stood at the alley entrance, muttering to himself.
"What's going on now? It sounds like Zhang Haihua is scolding the child."
"It's probably because of what happened yesterday when the child bullied Lu Jiayao. Lu Mingyue just came from here, probably to demand an explanation."
"These two families weren't close to begin with, and now they're probably even more estranged. If you ask me, Zhang Haihua's kids are all like little monkeys; it's no use getting them beaten."
The two whispered among themselves until the cursing inside the house subsided before quietly leaving.
The day after this incident, the Cui brothers emerged from the other end of the alley, carrying slingshots.
Upon catching a glimpse of Leilei and Yaoyao, Cui Erjun immediately pulled his younger brother to hide behind the wall, making sure to conceal the slingshot behind his back, afraid of being seen.
Zhang Haihua, who was taking out the trash, happened to see this evasive behavior.
"What are you two hiding for!" Zhang Haihua strode over and, in front of several neighbors at the alley entrance, reached out and knocked Cui Erjun on the head.
"Didn't you learn your lesson from yesterday? You're hiding from people like you've done something wrong!"
She then pointed to Yao Yao not far away and ordered in a stern tone, "Go over and say hello to your sister. Don't hide from her again!"
Yesterday, after her husband came home, he said that Huo Zheng had dragged him to the training ground and beaten him for three hours because of the children.
If he hadn't finally given up, he probably would have been completely bruised and battered.
Zhang Haihua obeyed her husband completely, so she wouldn't dare to cause trouble for anyone else.
The two brothers hunched their shoulders, shrank back, and slowly moved over. They whispered "hello" to Yao Yao and then quickly ran away.
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