After making sure the chicks were alright, Li Mai washed her hands and went back inside to watch Zhou Quan teach Zhu Zhu to read.
Seeing her mother listening, Zhuzhu pulled Limai to Zhou Quan's side as well. She leaned between the two of them and read the words with Zhou Quan.
Li Mai glanced at the little guy's happy little feet shaking and smiled indulgently. Without agonizing over it, she subconsciously leaned against Zhou Quan and earnestly followed Zhou Quan to learn to read with Zhu Zhu.
The two women were relieved, but Zhou Quan's heart was in turmoil. He never expected that teaching his daughter to read would bring him such treatment.
Fortunately, Zhou Quan is the kind of person who is reserved but secretly passionate. Even though he liked the feeling of being leaned on by Li Mai, with the child present, he only paused briefly before continuing to teach Zhu Zhu to read seriously.
However, he still subconsciously softened his voice a little.
"Today we will learn eight words. Just remember these eight words carefully before you go to bed tonight."
Zhou Quan taught Zhuzhu the eight characters: "Cold comes and heat goes, autumn harvest and winter storage."
Zhou Tao and Zhou Lei had already taught Zhuzhu the first sixteen characters, and she recognized and could pronounce them.
Zhuzhu is still quite young, so Zhou Quan said that she should learn to recognize characters this year and start learning to write characters next year.
Li Mai had no objection to the arrangement.
After teaching Zhuzhu to read it several times, Zhou Quan explained the meaning of the sentence to her again.
Zhuzhu said she remembered, grabbed the book, and jumped off the ground. She put on her shoes, ran out, and went to brag to her aunt and grandparents that she had learned eight more characters.
Li Mai shook her head as she watched the little guy's cheerful figure and sighed, "It's better for people to live in childhood. They can be carefree and don't understand anything. As long as they live a happy life, that's enough."
"In fact, after experiencing a lot, what people ultimately seek is still the clean, pure, and carefree time of childhood."
Zhou Quan quietly felt her body, which had been leaning against his shoulder, slowly straighten up. He instinctively reached out and grabbed her arm, whispering, "I'm sorry!"
He knew that his situation made her feel the hardship and pressure of life, right?
He felt terrible. If he hadn't been a burden to her, a girl as capable as her should have achieved something no less than a man.
But when he thought about how she might suddenly leave him because she couldn't bear it anymore, he wondered if he would go crazy.
Perhaps he never had her before and didn't think much of it. He used to think he might be lonely for the rest of his life. But after he had her, he found that he had grown accustomed to her and developed a possessive desire for her. He didn't want her to be too far away from him or go to a place where he couldn't see her.
Li Mai felt the hand gripping her arm tremble slightly and tighten. She turned her head in surprise to look at him, meeting the crazed darkness in his eyes.
Possessiveness!
Li Mai suddenly sensed that he had developed a possessive desire for her.
She instinctively pushed his hand away and whispered, "It hurts!"
Zhou Quan snapped back to reality upon hearing her cry of pain. His expression panicked, he quickly let go of her hand, and said with trembling lips, "I'm sorry, Xiaomai, I'm sorry, I, I'll rub it for you!"
He said he would rub it for her, but he didn't dare to touch her arm directly. Instead, he looked anxiously into her eyes, waiting for her answer.
Li Mai met his gaze and felt a pang of regret for her impromptu reflection on life, realizing she hadn't expected it to frighten him.
She silently stretched out her arm. "Okay, massage it!"
With her permission, Zhou Quan breathed a sigh of relief and quickly grabbed her arms with both hands to gently massage them.
Li Mai looked at the spot he was rubbing and shook her head helplessly, "Not there!"
"Huh?" Zhou Quan blushed, feeling extremely embarrassed.
Li Mai simply rolled up her sleeves to show him the red marks on her arm from his earlier grip.
When Zhou Quan saw the red mark, his expression darkened. He wanted to apologize again, but thinking about how much he had just said, he wondered if she would find it offensive. So he could only purse his lips and silently and gently massage it for her.
Li Mai observed his expression, a slight smile curving her lips. Wasn't it said that men in ancient times were very averse to seeing or touching a woman's skin above the wrist? But looking at him, he didn't seem to feel anything amiss!
"It's alright, it doesn't hurt anymore, thank you, husband!" Li Mai smiled at him and was about to lower her sleeve.
Actually, if he hadn't rubbed it, it would have been fine in a while. She was just doing this to distract him and prevent him from dwelling on the matter.
Zhou Quan withdrew his hand, and something suddenly came to mind. He subconsciously looked at Li Mai.
When he saw her slender, fair arms, his eyes widened instantly. He looked at his hands in disbelief, and then at Li Mai's arms, which had already lowered their sleeves. Zhou Quan couldn't believe that he had just grabbed her skin with those two hands.
Zhou Quan: ......
He quickly looked at Li Mai and saw her smiling with pursed lips, looking at him. His mind went blank for a second.
I had skin-to-skin contact with the wheat!
"Wheat, I... I'm sorry, I'm not..."
He was so nervous that he forgot what he wanted to say.
Li Mai leaned closer to him with bright eyes and asked in a low voice, "What's wrong? Do you regret rubbing my arm?"
"No...yes, no, Xiaomai, I..." Zhou Quan swore that this was the first time in his life he had ever stammered like this. He couldn't remember what he wanted to say at all, and he was so nervous that his palms were sweating.
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