Chapter 91 – Suspicious (1)

Jerk!

With blushing face, Li Man angrily retorted, “I didn’t see it.”

“Oh.” The smile in Li Yan’s eyes deepened. He snorted and asked. “You didn’t see it? I thought you had put it away?”

Was he saying that she had stolen and hidden away his headband? He was really overthinking things.

Li Man rolled her eyes at him. She didn’t feel like continuing to explain herself to him. She turned around and wanted to go out to get some fresh air. But, the arm that was wrapped around her waist didn’t let go. It slid up to her lower abdomen as she moved.

What was even more despicable was that broad hand suddenly exerted force and pulled her back. Her back ended up snuggly touching his chest. His warm and clean masculine scent surrounded her. Li Man didn’t have enough time to react. With his chin lowered against her delicate shoulder, he softly murmured into her ear, “Wife, are you scared of me?”

Who’s scared of you? Eh, wait a sec.

When Li Man abruptly turned around, her forehead brushed against his warm and soft lips, and a strange feeling slipped across her heart. She slightly trembled. For a moment, she forgot the question that she wanted to ask.

The corners of Li Yan’s mouth flew upwards. His slender fingers stroked his lips, then they gently repeated the action on Li Man’s forehead.

Such an intimate move left Li Man feeling as if she had been struck by lightning. She nervously retreated until her back touched the table. She stared at him for a long time. For a while, she couldn’t think of the right words to say. She could only feel her heart wildly beating.

Right after Li Shu came back, he saw that Li Man and Li Yan were staring at each other. Feeling puzzled, he asked, “Wife, what’s wrong?”

Li Hua had followed Li Shu inside. He suspiciously looked at Li Yan. “Second brother?”

Li Yan slightly raised his eyebrows. There was a smile on his lips. “Why are you all looking at me? Do you think that your second brother is going to eat her or something?”

Seeing that Li Man was still staring at Li Yan, Li Shu carefully touched her and asked, “Wife?”

Startled, Li Man seemed to return to her senses. She fixed her gaze on Li Shu, then her line of sight drifted to Li Yan before landing on Li Hua.

Li Hua! A jolt went through Li Man’s mind. She pushed Li Shu to the side, walked forward, grabbed hold of Li Hua’s hand, and pulled him along as she walked outside.

“Wife?” Li Shu was astonished. He hastily followed after them.

Li Man only pulled Li Hua out the door. Right under the eaves, she picked up a stick and wrote on the ground, “Wife, what exactly does that word mean?”

This was the first time punctuation marks were used*. At first, Li Hua was a bit confused. Soon after, he understood. There was an indescribable happy surprise in his eyes. He pointed at the comma and the question mark. “Did you make this up yourself?”

* (T/N: Modern punctuation marks like commas and question marks weren’t used in ancient Chinese writing.)

No matter what, the addition of these two strange symbols improved the clarity of the writing.

Li Man wasn’t in the mood to explain punctuation to him. She just pointed at the question with the branch and said, “Tell me.”

“It’s the meaning that you think it is. ” Li Hua’s fair face was slightly flushed.

“What I think?” Li Man’s heart trembled. She wanted to ask again to make sure, but she didn’t dare to say it aloud, so she wrote on the ground, “Am I your second brother’s wife, or your third brother’s wife?”

Why had Li Yan also recently addressed her as wife?

She felt as if she was in over her head. Could the word wife mean something different here? Could it have a similar meaning to big sister, aunt, or aunty instead?

A trace of dismay shone through Li Hua’s eyes. Why had she only mentioned second brother and third brother? She was also his wife, ah.

And so, Li Hua took the stick from her and wrote on the ground, “You’re my wife.”