Drinking Tea

Shen Wuxiao ate as he spoke to Jiang Huaiyue, "Yue'er, if it's convenient for you, could I hire you to cook?"

"Of course, I'm only saying it casually. If you don't want to, I won't force you."

Jiang Huaiyue looked at him. "You shouldn't be lacking food and drink, should you?"

Shen Wuxiao shook his head. "It's not that I lack them. I just like this kind of warmth."

"I spend very little time with my family. They all have far too many things to keep busy with."

"I can't even remember the last time I ate something my mother cooked."

Shen Wuxiao was not making it up. The Shen Family was busy indeed.

Even when they went to the imperial capital, they were like divine dragons whose heads could be seen but whose tails could not.

Jiang Huaiyue pressed her lips together and expressed understanding.

Ordinary young masters and rich second-generation heirs also spent little time with their families.

After all, with such vast family businesses, there were surely countless matters to handle.

"There's no need to hire me. If I have the time, it's only a meal. It's nothing."

Jiang Huaiyue replied blandly.

Only then did Shen Wuxiao nod. "All right, then I won't stand on ceremony with you."

As he spoke, he rose slightly and picked up a chopstickful of food for Jiang Huaiyue. "Eat more. I've only seen you picking at rice!"

Jiang Huaiyue froze, but ultimately said nothing.

She merely ate in silence.

If it had been before, if anyone else had put food in her bowl, she would probably have thrown the bowl away.

But when she thought of how Shen Wuxiao had already done that with her...

Even though he did not know about it, and it had not truly been sharing a bed in the conventional sense...

He had still taken it from her.

In her heart, she simply could not treat him as someone entirely unrelated anymore.

Shen Wuxiao laughed secretly to himself.

This was the beginning of acceptance.

Once she got used to it, the outcome went without saying.

After dinner, even this lazybones Shen Wuxiao took the initiative to clear the dishes.

Shen Wuxiao had enjoyed this meal very much.

The main reason was that it really tasted good.

Moreover, Jiang Huaiyue no longer had the same barrier and wariness toward him as before.

After dinner, neither of them went off to tend to their own affairs.

Instead, they sat on the sofa, while Shen Wuxiao began making tea.

Shen Wuxiao opened a tin and took a sniff. "Mm, they sent new tea. I like it!"

Shen Wuxiao took out quite a bit and placed it into the tea set.

Jiang Huaiyue also felt that chatting might ease the awkward atmosphere.

She immediately asked, "A lot of people like aged tea. You prefer new tea?"

Shen Wuxiao's hands did not stop moving as he replied, "Yes, mainly because of the taste."

"New tea is hard to brew, but the tea buds are tender and the color is bright. It tests one's patience in brewing tea—you can't be impatient while steeping it."

"Aged tea isn't troublesome, and the liquor comes out quickly. But its flavor is heavy. The good thing is that it doesn't need to steep for long; you can brew it hard. There aren't so many techniques involved."

As he spoke, Shen Wuxiao looked at Jiang Huaiyue with a beaming smile!

"But I'm the sort of person who likes good things to be polished through many trials, so I think new tea is good. Still, old tea has its own wonders—it depends on personal preference!"

Jiang Huaiyue was left a little dumbfounded.

She even wondered whether she had asked the wrong question.

Why did it sound somewhat strange?

Yet she could not tell what was strange about it.

He seemed to be talking about tea, but also seemed not to be.

"You're quite the expert," Jiang Huaiyue could only reply.

As the two chatted, the topic quickly circled back to "Shen Wuxiao."

"The two people who came today must have been Shen Wuxiao's men. We only discussed him a few times, yet they chased after us. That person really is vigilant!"

Shen Wuxiao listened to Jiang Huaiyue talk about him, while having to agree along with her. "Yes, Shen Wuxiao is rather mysterious. There are all sorts of rumors about him."

"But very few people have come into contact with him. We really got burned today—we nearly ran into trouble!"

After Shen Wuxiao finished speaking, he even sighed.

Jiang Huaiyue nodded. "We were indeed careless. But from the way his subordinates act, it isn't hard to guess Shen Wuxiao's true character!"

"Suspicious, vigilant, cruel, ruthless—he definitely possesses all of those traits."

Shen Wuxiao could not help admiring Jiang Huaiyue.

She had gotten them all right. He was suspicious, vigilant, cruel, ruthless, and even carried the label of having split personalities.

Of course, those who knew him all thought he had Super-Male Syndrome!

"Yes, while rumors from the outside world may not necessarily be true, they definitely do not arise from thin air. We should be more careful in the future!"

Jiang Huaiyue murmured, "Shen Wuxiao... Wuxiao... 'Boundless falling leaves rustle down.'"

"Even his name carries a chilling aura of slaughter!"

This piqued Shen Wuxiao's curiosity. He pushed the poured tea toward Jiang Huaiyue and asked, "How do you mean?"

Jiang Huaiyue's jade hand held the teacup as she took a sip. "The two characters Wuxiao were most likely taken from the seven-character verse, 'Boundless falling leaves rustle down.'"

"What that line truly depicts is the bleak, killing scene of forest leaves falling in profusion. From that, one can infer that Shen Wuxiao is probably violent by nature as well!"

"Lin Fan's younger brother dying by his hand was probably inevitable. Sigh..."

Shen Wuxiao merely smiled.

Lin Fan having a younger brother would be a ghost of a thing.

Damn it, did they really think he was a soft persimmon they could squeeze whenever they wished?

This was not his Protagonist script!

The two continued chatting like that.

Time quietly slipped away.

It was also about time to rest.

Jiang Huaiyue merely stood up and said to Shen Wuxiao, "It's getting late. I'll go rest first!"

With that, Jiang Huaiyue headed toward her room.

She still needed to cultivate.

The enemy was too strong. She had to improve herself as much as possible.

Naturally, Shen Wuxiao had no intention of leaving the villa.

But he was not in a hurry. Instead, he chose to put on a show.

About twenty minutes after Jiang Huaiyue returned to her room,

Shen Wuxiao went to his original room, carried out a quilt, and tossed it onto the sofa.

Then he went to the kitchen, took two kitchen knives, and placed them directly on the coffee table.

Today, he was playing the flower-protecting guardian!

After making all the arrangements, Shen Wuxiao turned off the living room lights, lay down on the sofa, and covered himself with the quilt.

He gripped the two kitchen knives in his hands and fell asleep just like that.

Inside the room, Jiang Huaiyue was sitting cross-legged in cultivation.

For a martial artist, cultivation was a daily required lesson.

Learning was like rowing a boat against the current: if you did not advance, you retreated. Naturally, she would not slack off.

She cultivated until one in the morning before getting up and heading to the bathroom.

After taking a bath, she changed into the nightgown Shen Wuxiao had asked someone to send along.

Just as she was about to sleep, she suddenly remembered something.

She wondered whether Young Master Sikong was in the villa. Perhaps, like yesterday, he had left.

She opened her room door, intending to take a look.

But as soon as she opened it, by the light spilling out from her room, she saw someone asleep on the sofa.

Who else could it be but Shen Wuxiao!

Jiang Huaiyue was somewhat speechless.

What was this guy doing? He had a room but would not sleep in it, insisting on sleeping on the sofa instead!

She was also quite curious, so she slowly walked over.

At that moment, Shen Wuxiao was sleeping sprawled in all directions, one foot raised high and hooked over the sofa backrest.

His quilt had also been kicked onto the floor.

Seeing this, Jiang Huaiyue inexplicably wanted to laugh.

A faint smile appeared on her face as well.

He was already so grown up, yet he still acted like a child.

Jiang Huaiyue had no intention of waking him.

However, although winter had not yet arrived, the nighttime temperature was not high.

And this was Bay Villa, where the sea breeze was still quite cold.