She Couldn't Let Him Have Her All to Himself

Lu Mingyi looked away. "Earning money isn't the only way to contribute to the family."

"Oh, so I contribute both money and labor, and I even have to wait until the bathwater turns cold before I can wash. You're his brother. You might not mind, but I do."

Meng Zhixian had put up with it for a month. Every evening after dinner, Lu Mingxi always found some reason to follow their wife away, leaving him and Lu Mingyi to wash the dishes.

On their bathing days, which came every five days, he still had to wait for Lu Mingxi to finish bathing after doing the dishes. Lu Mingyi was his brother; he could indulge him all he wanted, but why drag Meng Zhixian into it?

They all served the same wife. Was any one of them nobler than the others?

In terms of favor, Lu Mingxi was the most favored, but anyone with eyes could see that their wife treated him like a younger brother, and the same went for the future principal husband.

For now, he only needed to compare himself with Lu Mingyi. Compared with the latter, he had shared a quilt with their wife, spent the most time with her in the study, and had even been intimate with her once.

The bathing room door creaked open. Lu Mingxi tugged apologetically at the hem of Meng Zhixian's clothes. "Sorry. I was thinking about something and lost track of time."

Meng Zhixian pulled his clothes free and snorted. "If you love thinking so much, bathe last from now on. Then you can think for as long as you like."

"All right."

Lu Mingxi agreed readily. Meng Zhixian said no more and went into the bathing room with the clothes he had prepared.

The bathing room door closed. Lu Mingxi lowered his head and said quietly, "I'll go to bed first."

Lu Mingyi watched him leave. Ever since they had returned from town, his normally lively, energetic younger brother had been this absentminded.

He looked toward the still-lit study, turning something over in his mind.

The door was pushed open, making the candle flame flicker twice. Su Yuhe set down her brush and looked at the newcomer. A blue-green cotton jacket was draped over his shoulders, and the loose neckline of his white inner robe revealed a small patch of snowy chest.

Meng Zhixian closed the door and slowly approached, circling behind her to knead her shoulders. "It's getting late, Wife. You should rest."

Hearing that so late at night sent Su Yuhe's thoughts in a rather suggestive direction, and goosebumps rose all over her. She clenched her back teeth and gently brushed his hands away. "All right. Go get some rest first."

He bent a little lower and wrapped his arms around her neck, his loose hair spilling over her chest like a waterfall. Leaning close to her cheek, he kissed her. "Could I stay here tonight?"

If that had been a hint just now, this was downright explicit.

Su Yuhe leaned back a little and touched the ends of his hair. They were still slightly damp.

"If you don't go back to sleep, where will you sleep?"

"Here."

"It hasn't been made up in here. You'll get cold in the middle of the night."

With his arms hooked around Su Yuhe's neck, he turned her toward him, his gaze lingering from her eyes down to her lips. He unconsciously leaned closer to her. She could already imagine what came next, and the sight made her heart itch, yet she still had to pretend not to notice.

"Come on, let's go back and rest." She took his hand naturally. "Once I've finished this copying job, I'll take you into town for a stroll."

The seductive look in Meng Zhixian's eyes instantly cleared. He came around in front of Su Yuhe and squeezed into the round-backed armchair with her. "Can I really go?"

"Mm."

While their wife and Lu Mingxi had been away, he had kept imagining their wife buying Lu Mingxi pretty clothes, taking him to eat delicious food, and treating him to sweet chilled drinks at a teahouse.

He did not know the particulars. He only knew that Lu Mingxi had come home holding candied hawthorn skewers.

"I want candied hawthorns too."

That was not what he had said when Lu Mingxi shared the candied hawthorns that morning, but she still said, "All right."

Thinking that perhaps he disliked sharing with others, she added, "I'll buy more next time, one skewer for each of you."

Meng Zhixian's smile stiffened. He threw himself into her arms, burying his whole face against her shoulder, his voice somewhat muffled. "No. He's already had two."

After thinking it over, he decided to keep working on winning their wife's heart. He could not let that brat Lu Mingxi have her all to himself.

Why did Lu Mingxi always get candied hawthorns all to himself, something only he had and no one else did, while their wife wanted to buy them for everyone when it was Meng Zhixian's turn?

Su Yuhe slipped a palm between their pressed-together bodies. His collarbones were too pronounced and dug into her uncomfortably.

"Then you can have three next time."

Meng Zhixian said nothing and simply held her in silence.

He still carried the scent of jasmine soap. His body temperature was slightly low, lending even the jasmine scent a cool, elusive quality.

His hand stroked Su Yuhe's hair. Half was coiled at the back of her head and half hung loose, with only a single wooden hairpin holding it up.

Her head was otherwise bare, and her ears, wrists, and neck were utterly unadorned as well.

There were no earrings, jade pendants, or necklaces. On her wrist was only a red cord with a single red bead threaded onto it. Only that red bead was passable.

"I won't have any. We'll use the money we save to buy jewelry for you, Wife."

Su Yuhe smiled helplessly and coaxed him as she would Lu Mingxi. "All right. Whatever you say."

Meng Zhixian burrowed deeper into her arms, but no matter how he wriggled, he could not nestle completely into her embrace. At that moment, he only hated that he was not small and delicate enough to curl up in her arms.

Su Yuhe's arms were growing a little sore from holding him. She gently patted his back. "Come on, let's go back to bed."