As the two sat quietly facing each other to eat, Zhou Quan would occasionally steal glances at Li Mai's expression.
"Is there anything you want to ask?" Li Mai glanced at him; the man's questioning expression was all too obvious.
"Has Xiaomai ever had someone she liked before?" Zhou Quan asked softly.
After asking the question, he lowered his eyes, concealing his expression, and didn't dare look into her eyes, afraid of seeing the answer he had guessed.
Li Mai looked at him in surprise and shook her head: "No, why do you ask? The only people I could contact before were the boys in our village who followed me to dig for medicinal herbs. The oldest one was Li Dong, who was the youngest. It was even less likely that I would contact anyone else."
In this world, Li Mai has never had anyone she liked.
As for her from that other world, she had already arrived in this world, and her teacher was long gone. The past was the past, and she didn't intend to share her secret as a transmigrator with Zhou Quan. Therefore, she naturally wouldn't say a word about her teacher.
Besides, she didn't think Zhou Quan would know that she wasn't the original owner of Li Mai. They didn't know each other before and had no interaction, so he wouldn't doubt her identity.
"What's wrong? Why are you suddenly asking this?" Li Mai asked him in return.
Zhou Quan certainly wouldn't say, "I suspect you're looking at me as if you're thinking about someone else." He gently shook his head and whispered, "It's nothing!"
Li Mai looked at him with suspicion. He shouldn't be the kind of person who asks questions so casually out of boredom. On the contrary, Li Mai thought this man was a very insecure and meticulous man.
Suddenly, she realized that it was because of her previous words that he had overthought things. Did he think that she found him troublesome?
This seems to be a big misunderstanding. Li Mai thought for a moment and asked, "Afraid that I'll leave you? Leave this home?"
Zhou Quan stopped eating, looked at her silently, and nodded after a long while.
Li Mai smiled and said, "No, I won't leave this house until your leg is fully recovered. As for the future, once your leg is healed, if we haven't developed feelings for each other, I will give you a divorce agreement and leave."
"This is good for both of us. With your character and looks, once your leg heals, even if we get divorced, I believe there will be no shortage of girls who want to marry you. And I can go and do the things I want to do."
Li Mai spoke these words to him earnestly. After she finished speaking, she smiled at him and lowered her head to eat.
Upon hearing these words, Zhou Quan instantly lost his appetite. He slowly put down his chopsticks, placed his hands on his lap, and clenched them tightly.
He lowered his head, his eyelids drooping to conceal the pain in his eyes.
They had only known each other for a few days, but he loved her as his wife, and even after they recovered, he didn't want to let her go.
Seeing his expression, Li Mai silently put down her chopsticks as well.
Suddenly, Zhou Quan raised his head and stared straight at her. "If my leg heals and we develop feelings for each other, can you stay and continue being my wife and living with me?"
Li Mai looked at him in surprise, but didn't say anything.
Zhou Quan lowered his eyes and made another decision. He knew that for someone like him, who couldn't even take care of himself, to say he liked or loved such an outstanding girl would be an insult. But he wanted to try, he didn't want to let her go. For her sake, he would try his best to stand up again, to be able to hold her, pamper her, and love her like a normal man.
He looked up again, met her gaze, and whispered, "Xiaomai, starting tonight, I want to sleep next to you, is that okay?"
He didn't want the distance between them to be as great as that of three people, and his desire to keep her was so strong. He couldn't do anything else right now, so he would start by letting her get used to sleeping next to him, Zhou Quan.
From now on, she can only sleep with him.
She is his wife, and he will not let her leave. He will work hard to be worthy of her and to give her a happy future.
Li Mai was taken aback by Zhou Quan's words. After a moment of stunned silence, she glanced at the kang (a heated brick bed) and nodded silently, "Okay!"
This must be a sign of his insecurity, right?
Fine, if he wants to give it a try, then let's give it a try. What if we both fall in love with each other?
If by then nothing has developed between them that would make her willing to give up her freedom to stay for him, then she can leave then.
Fortunately, the two of them made things clear today, so they can get along more naturally in the future. They don't have to be so formal and polite like strangers sharing a bed as before.
Seeing her nod, Zhou Quan smiled!
He wasn't oblivious to the hesitation on her face. It didn't matter; as long as she was willing to let him get closer, he would prove to her that he could.
Perhaps because he was in a good mood, Zhou Quan ate half a bowl more rice tonight.
After dinner, Li Mai took Zhu Zhu to the yard to look at the rabbits and chicks, and to do some exercise to help with digestion.
After being carried to the outhouse by her two younger brothers, Zhou Quan sat in the courtyard and quietly watched the mother and daughter chatting, laughing, walking around, and having a lively time.
He felt that such days were so wonderful; this was what it felt like to have a wife and children at home!
When it was time to sleep that night, Li Mai didn't hesitate. Since she had promised him, she laid his mattress next to her own and moved the kang table to the windowsill.
For convenience, Li Mai let him sleep inside while she slept outside.
Zhou Quan had no objection; Li Mai would eventually have to blow out the lamp, lock the door, and so on.
After lying down, Li Mai couldn't fall asleep for a while. After all, she was a little unaccustomed to the sudden presence of another person breathing beside her.
She lay flat on her back, listening quietly to his breathing, which seemed to be getting faster and faster.
Was he nervous?
Li Mai smiled, then suddenly turned to face him, silently watching him in the darkness.
"Can't sleep? Want to hear a story?" Li Mai asked.
"Okay!" Zhou Quan took a deep breath and responded softly.
"Once upon a time, there was a very clever man, whom people called 'Big Smart.' He believed that he could create anything that existed in the world. One day, he was studying an egg and thought that humans were a hundred times smarter than chickens. Since chickens could invent eggs, then humans could too."
"So he studied how chickens lay eggs, and then he replicated the entire structure of a chicken's body, trying to make chickens lay eggs using the tools he created."
"In the end, this clever man actually succeeded and finally made eggs using a chicken. Then, he thought that since chicken eggs could hatch into chicks, it meant that the eggs he made could too. So he continued to create conditions to hatch chicks."
"Guess what happened next?" Li Mai asked Zhou Quan with a smile.
Zhou Quan thought for a while, but couldn't figure it out. He shook his head and said, "I can't guess. What happened next?"
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