Chapter 32

When they reached the bathhouse, Sister Yang made Yingzi stick with Lin Xixi and even instructed Lin Xixi directly, “After you finish washing, don’t just leave. I still have Wu Nier to take care of.”

Lin Xixi had no choice but to accompany them the entire time. When they finished washing and came out together, the only one waiting outside was Captain Zhao.

Lin Xixi casually asked, “Uncle, where’s little Yan Xiang?”

Thinking she was being subtle, but in reality, any request leaves traces. Captain Zhao glanced at her and simply replied, “They left,” saying no more.

Lin Xixi couldn’t even get in touch with Yan Lei!

Lin Xixi was feeling extremely frustrated.

When Yan Lei returned home, Qiao Wei had already finished cleaning up, including washing her hair. In the hot summer, after the sweat-inducing activities with Yan Lei the previous night, she finally felt refreshed.

The lunchbox had been sitting on the stove and hadn’t cooled down. Yan Lei came back with Yan Xiang, and as soon as he put down the basin, he went into the kitchen to tidy up Qiao Wei’s bathwater. Qiao Wei served rice in bowls and brought out the lunchbox with dishes, making it ready for the family to eat.

After finishing the bathwater, Yan Lei washed the bath basin next to the well with his hands, but his eyes were fixed on Qiao Wei.

Qiao Wei, after her bath, was still wearing one of his white shirts, revealing her long and straight legs.

A few days ago, when she first wore it like this, Yan Lei thought it was strange for her not to wear her own clothes and choose his shirt instead. He also thought the shirt was too big for her, loose and long, not fitting properly.

Now, everything seems to have changed.

The shirt, once baggy and large, hid her figure completely. However, during the night, Yan Lei traced the curves and slender figure with his palm. Those lines, in his mind and under the shirt, were even more enticing when not visible.

Not to mention her legs, which are fair and smooth.

After a couple of extra glances, Yan Lei felt the summer heat overwhelming, making him feel uneasy.

Qiao Wei put down the lunchbox, looked up, and noticed Yan Lei’s intense gaze on her legs. She raised her calf to inspect.

“Did I get some stove ash on them?” She looked at her calf, then lifted the shirt’s corner to check her thighs, but found nothing. “No? Where did I brush against?”

Yan Lei cleared his throat, went over to hang the bath basin on the wall, and said, “No, you didn’t brush against anything.”

Qiao Wei muttered, “Then why are you staring at me?”

Under the same roof, she squeezed past him to go to the kitchen to get food.

Yan Lei quickly glanced at Yan Xiang, who was trying to rearrange the lunchbox position near the dining table, and whispered in a voice the child couldn’t hear, “Your legs look good.”

Qiao Wei almost choked on her own saliva. This compliment was really… simple and unadorned.

What’s even funnier was that after Yan Lei praised her, he dared not make eye contact with her, only looking into the distance.

Qiao Wei turned around, pressed against the wall, and said, “If you think it looks good, then praise me loudly. Don’t act like a thief.”

“We’re under the same roof; if he hears and learns these things, what will you do?” Yan Lei looked at Yan Xiang and lowered his voice.

“He should learn.” Qiao Wei shrugged. “The kind of dad you are, the kind of son you should have.”

“He should learn how Dad praises Mom so that he’ll know how to make his own wife happy, just like you make your wife happy.” Qiao Wei blinked at Yan Lei.

Yan Lei blinked back.

Qiao Wei retracted her hand from the wall, looked at him with a half-smile, and turned to go to the kitchen.

Yan Lei stepped out from under the eaves, hands on hips, looking at the yard. For some reason, his heart was beating a bit faster, and this strange feeling couldn’t be explained.

Soon, Qiao Wei came out holding a rice bowl, and Yan Lei went over to take it. Qiao Wei said, “Go get the chopsticks.”

Yan Lei went to the kitchen to get the chopsticks, and the family of three sat down in the small courtyard. The fragrance of the food filled the air, and mosquito coils emitted a gentle white smoke.

After swallowing a mouthful of food, Yan Lei glanced at Qiao Wei. Qiao Wei also looked at him.

Yan Lei looked at Yan Xiang again. Yan Xiang was enjoying his meal.

Yan Lei put down his chopsticks and said, “Xiang Xiang!”

Yan Xiang looked up and said, “Hmm?”

“Is Mommy pretty or not?” Yan Lei asked with a smiling face.

With rice still on the corners of his mouth, Yan Xiang didn’t hesitate to say, “Pretty!”

Yan Lei said, “Then loudly praise Mommy; don’t tell me.”

Yan Xiang followed suit and immediately exclaimed loudly to his mom, “Mommy, you’re really pretty!”

Qiao Wei laughed, covering her mouth to avoid spraying food. “Got it, thank you, sweetheart!”

After saying that, she glanced at Yan Lei with a smile.

Yan Lei, with a serious face, instructed Yan Xiang, “In the future, if you think Mommy looks good, praise her loudly. Mommy likes to be praised, and it makes Mommy happy when she is praised.”

The child quickly accepted the lesson: “Okay, I got it!”

Who doesn’t like to be praised? Yan Xiang especially likes it. Under the sounds of joy and laughter, the evening passed.

After putting Yan Xiang to bed, Qiao Wei came out and saw that the study room to the west still had a desk lamp on, and Yan Lei was still reading.

Qiao Wei pressed Yan Lei’s shoulder and leaned over. “How much have you read? Oh, not even a third yet?”

With fewer entertainment options, one becomes more focused when doing something. Yan Lei read books every night after dinner, and he read quite quickly.

Ignoring her, Yan Lei turned a page and said, “Let me tell you, once I finish reading, this book must be dealt with.”

“Okay, okay!” Qiao Wei nodded, indicating she wouldn’t object, but she got her face closer. “So… is it interesting?”

That voice was right by his ear, and the breath even entered his ear, making it itchy.

Yan Lei rubbed his ear and became serious. “Whether it’s interesting or not is different from being right or wrong.”

Qiao Wei nodded with a smiling face, “Mm-hmm!”

Yan Lei hesitated for a moment, then reorganized his words: “We can’t say that the wrong things are interesting.”

Qiao Wei’s smile deepened. “Mm-hmm!”

She even gave a thumbs up to Yan Lei before turning and going back to the bedroom.

Yan Lei sat at the desk, contemplating. He felt like something was off.

Flattening the book to read a bit more, he moved his ears and heard rustling sounds from the bedroom. Qiao Wei was lying down.

Immediately, he felt restless and couldn’t concentrate anymore. Yan Lei turned off the desk lamp and went into the room.

As soon as he lay down, he reached out to grab Qiao Wei, but she dodged.

“Don’t mess around!” She scolded in a low voice. “If you mess around again, I won’t be able to get up tomorrow morning to make breakfast for you.”

In just a few days, Yan Lei was no longer the man who, when rejected, would just smoke in silence. He moved closer, still pulling Qiao Wei into his arms. “If you can’t get up, then don’t make it. I’ll eat at the camp. You can take Xiang Xiang to the main courtyard. If you wake up too late, there won’t be breakfast in the main courtyard either. You can buy cookies at the supply and marketing cooperative.”

 Qiao Wei chuckled and scolded, “How can breakfast be made with cookies?”

You can’t just use cookies to fill a child’s stomach; after all, children need proper nutrition to grow.

Yan Lei dismissed it: “Why not? Let Xiang Xiang have cookies for breakfast. Let him envy other kids.”

Qiao Wei realized that cookies could be a good option at this moment.

She had an idea and asked, “Can we get milk here?”

Yan Lei impatiently asked, “Why do we need that?”

Qiao Wei informed him, “Milk is nutritious. Children should have at least one egg and a glass of milk every day.”

Pausing for a moment, she added, in a characteristic manner of the times, “This way, they can have a healthy body. The body is the capital of the revolution, as the great leader said.”

At this moment, Yan Lei couldn’t recall exactly what the leader had said, but he couldn’t help but feel the smoothness of Qiao Wei’s palm and involuntarily thought of the description of a woman’s skin in the book he had just read: “like milk.”

“Qiao Wei…” he nibbled on Qiao Wei’s neck and couldn’t help whispering, “Your skin… like milk.”

Qiao Wei grabbed the neckline of her little tank top and bit it in her mouth!

Oh my, such cheesy endearments!

Though it was cheesy, it was a significant improvement. One must not ridicule others but encourage them.

After suppressing her laughter, Qiao Wei asked Yan Lei seriously, “Do you like it?”

How could he not like it?

Yan Lei buried his face in her neck. “Hmm.”

Qiao Wei kicked him. “Speak!”

Only then did Yan Lei say, “Like.”

His voice was low, as if expressing affection in such a way made him feel ashamed and uncomfortable.

People of this era, really.

Turning over, she faced Yan Lei, nose to nose. “The color of your skin is like wheat.”

Wheat made Yan Lei think of the countryside, but her voice was sticky, not like she was disapproving. Yan Lei hesitated for a moment and tentatively asked, “Do you… like it?”

Qiao Wei embraced his neck and kissed his lips, “Like.”

She pinched his strong arm and said, “I also like this; it’s particularly strong.”

Her hand slid to the man’s hard chest and pressed it. “This too…”

Before she could say the word “like,” her lips were sealed, only making a “um, um” sound.

Really, why be in such a hurry? She hadn’t finished yet.

With her mouth unable to speak, Qiao Wei could only use the warmth of her palm to express to the man how much she liked his strong abdominal muscles.

After all, she was still on her period, and after a while of fooling around, she had to calm down.

But Yan Lei wouldn’t let go of her.

Qiao Wei patted his hand, grumbling, “Aren’t you hot?”

“Not hot. You’re cool, and it feels comfortable to hold you,” he said. Perhaps because they had previously expressed mutual “liking,” he no longer felt as much embarrassment about saying “like.” After a pause, he even said in a low voice, “I like the feeling of skin against skin.”

Both of them took off their shirts, maximizing contact with their skin. They had done this yesterday and the day before.

Qiao Wei suddenly realized, “Is your skin craving affection?”

“What?” He didn’t understand.

“I mean…” Qiao Wei asked, “When you were little, did your parents or other family members often hug and kiss you?”

“No.”

“Did they kiss you?”

“Who would randomly kiss a boy?”

“So, it’s skin hunger,” Qiao Wei said. “Humans have an instinctual need for comfort. During childhood, it’s usually fulfilled by parents. Parents often hugging and kissing the child, or at least touching their head and face, can satisfy this need. In adulthood, it’s generally fulfilled in marriage through kissing, hugging, touching, and… marital relations.”

“Children who rarely received hugs and kisses from parents during childhood will need more comfort as adults than others. This need is called skin hunger.”

“Oh, so that’s it. You know a lot,” Yan Lei said.

He paused and murmured in a low voice, “So that’s how it is.”

Suddenly, he held Qiao Wei tightly—very tightly—but didn’t say anything.

Qiao Wei understood.

She had read the original text. In the rural family Yan Lei came from, only the surviving children were left alive. There was little hugging and kissing from adults to children; they were left to grow up on their own.

What’s worse, this need of Yan Lei’s had not been relieved within the marriage; instead, it had worsened.

He held her tightly without saying a word.

But it seemed like he had said everything.

Deeply resentful.

Why didn’t she kiss him earlier? Why didn’t she hug him earlier?

Since she understood everything, why did she treat him like that?

Qiao Wei sighed softly, feeling helpless.

She reached out to him and held him tightly.

She even wrapped her legs around him, trying to embrace him as much as possible.

In the darkness, she heard the man release a long, comfortable sigh.