Chapter 36

“I-I was getting onto the bed. It’s too dark to see,” Shen Yu stammered, explaining.

Because just now she felt herself pressing against Xie Tingzhou’s body, but she didn’t know exactly where she was pressing.

There was a rustling sound in the darkness.

Xie Tingzhou got up from the bed, his voice cold. “Get in.”

Shen Yu hurriedly groped her way onto the bed, lying down with her clothes on. She recalled the feeling from earlier, feeling more and more uneasy about it.

Although the sensation through the blanket was vague, she was sure that she hadn’t pressed on Xie Tingzhou’s chest before.

Where could it be?

She hadn’t slept well last night, and now she couldn’t resist the fatigue. Shen Yu thought about it and fell asleep.

Xie Tingzhou was awakened by the loud voice of a woman outside.

For some reason, he had slept particularly well these past two nights, and it had been a long time since he had slept so soundly.

Shen Yu sat at the table with her back to the bed, one arm resting on the table, fiddling with something. Occasionally, there were soft inhales.

“What are you doing?” Xie Tingzhou got up and asked.

Shen Yu turned abruptly, looking at him like a startled deer, her eyes watery, like a pool of clear spring water, with a hint of vulnerability.

Xie Tingzhou’s heart trembled inexplicably for a moment. Before he could explore what that strange feeling was, Shen Yu had turned her head away quickly.

Xie Tingzhou put on his outer robe and walked over, finally seeing what she was doing.

Several wounds were distributed fiercely on his arm, presumably caused by wild animals.

“Did you encounter a wild animal on the road yesterday?” Xie Tingzhou asked.

With medicine powder sprinkled on the wound, Shen Yu was too pained to speak.

When she was injured before, she would whimper and cry out in pain, able to act spoiled with her father and brother. After her father and brother left in the past life, she learned to endure the pain by herself no matter how difficult it was.

After a while, Shen Yu spoke up, “It was a leopard. I wouldn’t have been injured originally, but I squatted for too long, and my reaction was slower in the cold weather. But in the end, I managed to kill it.”

“You went hunting?”

Shen Yu blew gently on the wound on her arm, feeling the pain. “I asked my grandfather yesterday. There are beasts in the mountains. I was lucky today. A leopard’s fur is valuable; otherwise, I wouldn’t have gotten so much silver.”

Xie Tingzhou looked at his own clothes, feeling indescribable.

He was about to speak when he heard the woman outside suddenly ask, “Uncle Zheng, I heard from Zhao Shun’s family that you have guests at your house?”

Both of them stopped moving and exchanged a tacit glance.

Shen Yu had already flashed over and pulled out the knife hidden under the bed.

Xie Tingzhou pressed his shoulder and shook his head at him, then turned to look at the door. He heard the old man outside say, “They’re distant relatives of mine, coming to visit during the New Year.”

Both of them breathed a sigh of relief.

Xie Tingzhou glanced at the knife in Shen Yu’s hand and said lightly, “Were you thinking of silencing them just now?”

“How could that be?” Shen Yu looked at him inexplicably, “I was planning to run away.”

“Then why did you take out the knife?”

Shen Yu lovingly touched the knife. “Such a good knife, it would be a shame to lose it.”

She hadn’t even been willing to throw it away when she was about to drown in the water, so she definitely couldn’t afford to lose it here.

Outside, the woman held a handful of pumpkin seeds, peeking inside.

“Why don’t you call them out to see? Zhao Shun’s family passed by your house yesterday, and when they went back, they talked about your relatives, saying they were exceptionally handsome. She’s lived for so many years and has never seen anyone so good-looking. She said they were like the Buddha in the temple.”

Uncle Zheng chuckled and declined, “They’re shy, and they haven’t woken up yet.”

Leaning against the bamboo frame, the woman said, “I’m just curious what kind of appearance could make someone unable to move. Zhao Shun’s family said he looks like the Buddha in the temple.”

Shen Yu remembered the broad-headed and wide-eared appearance of the Buddha in the temple, and then looked at Xie Tingzhou’s handsome face. She couldn’t connect the two at all.

Xie Tingzhou noticed Shen Yu’s almost-smile, warningly glanced at him, then flipped his robe and sat down nearby.

“Hand.”

Shen Yu saw that he was going to bandage her wounds, so she didn’t refuse, placing her arm on the table and handing him the gauze.

His hands were well-defined, with long fingers, like they had been meticulously carved. He worked deliberately, and in his hands, the gauze seemed to transform from ordinary cloth into exquisite silk worth a hundred pieces of gold.

The coarse linen robe he wore couldn’t conceal the nobility emanating from him.

Shen Yu couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. The difference between the families of nobles was really something.

Two words: wealthy!

After finishing the bandaging, the idle chatter outside hadn’t ended yet. The woman seemed unwilling to leave, continuing to talk.

“Has your nephew gotten married yet?”

“How many people are there in your family? How many acres of land do you have?”

Uncle Zheng was annoyed by her questions but patiently dealt with her.

The person outside didn’t leave, and Shen Yu felt restless, pacing back and forth in the cramped room.

Xie Tingzhou was annoyed, raised his eyes, and asked, “What are you doing?”

Shen Yu struggled and said, “I want to… use the bathroom.”

Xie Tingzhou said, “Go ahead.”

“I can hold it a little longer,” Shen Yu pursed her lips.

If she went out, she would definitely be seen by that woman, undoubtedly increasing the risk of exposure.

Xie Tingzhou didn’t say anything. After a while, seeing Shen Yu’s face contorting with discomfort, he teased, “You can still hold it?”

Shen Yu dared not speak. She was holding back, afraid that speaking would let out her frustration. She could only shake her head seriously.

Xie Tingzhou chuckled lightly. “Then hurry up.”

Shen Yu felt relieved and hurriedly ran out the door.

The woman was doing her utmost to persuade Uncle Zheng to call his nephew out to see her, wanting to see what kind of person could make someone unable to move.

“Uncle Zheng, you’re really too stingy. Just a look won’t make you lose anything, hey—”

The woman stood up straight, pointing at Shen Yu, who rushed out of the room. “That must be your nephew, right? Oh my, he really is good-looking, just like the Buddha.”

Thank you.

Shen Yu was in a hurry and didn’t have time to speak. She quickly ran to the latrine behind the house.

The woman’s face was full of excitement, even after Shen Yu disappeared from sight. “Has your nephew found a wife?”

After saying that, she shook her head. “No, no, he’s even more beautiful than my daughter, or…”

The woman suddenly widened her eyes, staring dumbfounded at the figure who emerged from the room, dropping the handful of pumpkin seeds on the ground.

“This, this, this…” The woman couldn’t even articulate properly, “this must be a deity.”

Xie Tingzhou stood at the door, his sharp and cold gaze sweeping past, and the woman immediately felt weak in the legs.

When Shen Yu came back from the bathroom, she saw the woman, who looked to be around forty, standing dumbfounded by the fence, staring in the direction of Xie Tingzhou, her face gradually flushing red.

Good, Shen Yu thought to herself, she’s taken a liking to Xie Tingzhou.

She was probably even older than Xie Tingzhou’s mother, the Princess of Beilin.