The Missing Husband Returned (07)

Moonlight fell like water, a soft veil draped over the country lane.

A summer night's breeze rustled the towering cornstalks on either side of the path. Wildflowers and grasses leaned at the roadside, and the occasional chirp of insects or birds could be heard.

The village was quiet and peaceful at night, with only two figures on the road.

Xue Ci walked faster than usual, trying to put some distance between himself and the man behind him. But however fast he went, Lu Xiunan could keep up, and easily at that.

Instead, Xue Ci himself hurried so much that he nearly fell.

Lu Xiunan caught him in time. "Why are you walking so fast? You know how delicate you are. What if you fall?"

Xue Ci didn't even protest being called "delicate." He pressed his lips together and moved away.

He thought Zhao Ying had been a little strange tonight. After saying those things to him, he had stared fixedly at him and leaned his face close.

Even Xue Ci wasn't so slow that he couldn't understand what that meant-Zhao Ying had wanted to kiss him.

The protagonist's personality had completely changed after he lost his memory.

He was fussy and picky.

He talked more, too.

Especially when it came to those strange things he said.

Fortunately, Xue Ci had noticed quickly and covered the other man's mouth with his palm in time.

For one thing, he was afraid that any intimacy between them now would affect the progress of the plot. For another... his few experiences with kissing told him it wasn't a very comfortable experience.

The field wasn't far from home, and Xue Ci soon arrived.

He thought Zhao Ying would go straight to pull weeds after seeing him home, but the other man kept following him.

The man was tall and powerfully built, making his presence impossible to ignore. As Xue Ci walked back and forth, he kept brushing against him by accident, yet even then, the other man didn't move aside at all.

Xue Ci ignored him and went outside to wash his hands.

He had just turned on the tap when Zhao Ying, standing beside him, suddenly gripped his wrist.

"Why are you ignoring me? Just because I wanted to kiss you earlier?"

Xue Ci's eyelashes trembled slightly.

Sure enough, he had guessed right. The other man had wanted to kiss him.

Xue Ci pressed his lips together and gave a vague "Mm," hoping to leave the subject at that.

He hadn't actually intended to make an issue of it, but the man himself was particularly bothered by it.

He even turned the blame around-

"You did it on purpose, didn't you? Looking up at me like that at a time like that, with your eyes so wide. You were so damn pretty." Lu Xiunan's breathing was uneven, his dark eyes fixed on Xue Ci's somewhat uncomprehending face. "Your mouth smelled so sweet, too. I don't even know what you'd eaten."

What was he talking about?

Xue Ci took a moment to process it, but he didn't understand what Zhao Ying was trying to say.

He tried to free his wrist and said softly, "I understand..."

But Lu Xiunan still wouldn't let go. "Then why did you cover my mouth?"

Xue Ci paused and pretended not to hear, lowering his face. "I need to wash my hands."

"Answer the question first." Lu Xiunan refused to let it go, as though he had fully assumed the role of husband and Song Xueci were a little wife who disliked him and wouldn't let him touch him.

"A few days ago, you even suggested I sleep on the floor. Today you won't let me kiss you. Are you sure I'm your husband?"

"..."

Xue Ci would bite his lip without realizing it when he was thinking. He was so conflicted that he bit down harder, and the little patch of soft flesh on his lip had long since turned a tender, ripe red.

It drew Lu Xiunan's gaze.

"Y-you should let go first..." Xue Ci felt guilty.

Lu Xiunan came to his senses and let go as if by reflex.

It was as if he had obeyed Xue Ci without thinking.

Xue Ci washed his hands very slowly, deliberately stalling for time. At last, when he had finished, he found an excuse.

"Go pull the weeds first."

His voice was very quiet and soft.

Lu Xiunan strongly suspected that Song Xueci was trying to send him away. He also strongly suspected that Song Xueci wouldn't let him kiss him because he had someone else.

He took a deep breath. "Will you tell me once I've finished weeding?"

Seeing him relent, Xue Ci immediately nodded.

Lu Xiunan took a hoe and a pair of gloves and went to the cornfield alone.

He had never expected a day like this to come for him-

Huddling in the kitchen to brush his teeth, bathing with water from a basin.

Cooking and washing clothes for someone, and even having to work in the fields.

A young master like him was actually doing work to wait on someone else.

Lu Xiunan couldn't make sense of it, and he understood even less why he had wanted so badly to kiss Song Xueci earlier.

Maybe it was because Song Xueci's lips were so red and his cupid's bow so plump that they looked very kissable.

But why had he been rejected?

Song Xueci was always acting coquettishly with him and even called him husband, didn't he?

He called him husband, yet he wasn't even willing to kiss him?

With his hand over Lu Xiunan's mouth and his face flushed red, he had looked as pure as could be.

Hadn't his husband been in heaven when he kissed him before?

Lu Xiunan's thoughts had veered completely off course. Irritated for no apparent reason and burning with jealousy, he put all his strength into pulling weeds.

By the time he finished, two hours had passed. Lu Xiunan was drenched in sweat and itching all over from bites by who knew what kind of insects. The hair over his forehead was soaked, and his trouser legs and palms were covered in dirt. He was a complete mess.

He had actually managed to finish such backbreaking work, all to get an answer from Song Xueci.

Lu Xiunan muttered to himself, "What on earth am I doing?"

When he got home, Song Xueci had left a light on and gone to bed.

It was a far cry from what Lu Xiunan had imagined. He had thought Song Xueci would be like a little wife who had missed his husband terribly, rushing over to hug him and act coquettishly the moment he returned, then wiping his sweat with a tissue.

And this was what he got? There wasn't even any water to drink.

Lu Xiunan glanced at the person on the bed, then went to bathe with an expressionless face. He changed his clothes, bolted the wooden door, and returned to the bedroom.

Song Xueci didn't wake up. At some point he rolled over, his two slender, fair legs swaying right in front of Lu Xiunan.

Lu Xiunan collected himself, looked away, and glanced at the cardboard box beside the bed.

Song Xueci must have been doing handcrafts before going to sleep. The contents of the box were in disarray. Lu Xiunan walked closer, and his gaze fell on a very thin strip of white lace.

He looked at the lace, then glanced at Xue Ci's feet.

His breathing inexplicably grew heavier.

Xue Ci vaguely heard the fragments making a racket.

They were all muted, though...

He was still partly conscious and could faintly feel someone lifting his leg.

His ankle itched.

Xue Ci struggled to open his eyes. Once he saw what the man was doing, crouched by his feet, all traces of sleep vanished.

He propped up his upper body with his hands and pulled his legs back, curling up against the head of the bed.

His skin flushed faintly pink at the other man's strange behavior.

Lu Xiunan noticed he was awake and coughed awkwardly. "You're awake?"

Xue Ci's shoulders trembled slightly. "What w-were you doing just now?"

He had seen Zhao Ying tie a white strip around his ankle and keep staring at it.

Lu Xiunan said nothing and awkwardly turned his face away.

Perhaps the thoughts on his mind were too difficult to voice, for the man remained silent.

Xue Ci: "?"

What was that... Had he run into another pervert?

Xue Ci edged back toward the head of the bed and tried to untie the strip around his ankle, but the bow was too complicated. He tried several times without managing to undo it.

Xue Ci suspected Zhao Ying was deliberately trying to upset him over what had happened earlier, and his brows knitted slightly.

His cheeks puffed up.

"Are you going to tie me up and hit me?"

Lu Xiunan's eyelid twitched. "Why would I hit you?"

Xue Ci said, "Then why are you tying me up?"

"I'm not tying you up." Lu Xiunan didn't know how to explain it either. His thoughts were already in a mess, and in his frustration, he asked outright, "Your hus... Haven't we done this before?"

Xue Ci was utterly bewildered. "Done what?"

Song Xueci's skin was too delicate.

He had only tugged at it a few times at random, yet red marks had appeared on his ankle. Against his pale skin, they were especially startling.

Seeing Song Xueci like this made Lu Xiunan's own heart ache. He sat down beside him and tried to help him undo it, but when Song Xueci drew away again, he promptly held down that slender, fair ankle.

"If you dodge me again, I really will kiss you. I'll kiss your mouth red and suck your tongue until it's swollen."

"Not just your mouth. I'll kiss you in other places too."

Xue Ci's breath caught.

He hadn't expected Zhao Ying to say something so shameless. Heat rushed through him, but he looked pitiful and didn't dare say another word, afraid the other man might really do it.

Lu Xiunan loosened the lace. Xue Ci didn't even give him a chance to rub his ankle, quickly covering his legs with the thin blanket.

Only his head remained visible as he watched him warily, like a little animal.

Lu Xiunan hadn't intended to do anything in the first place, but Song Xueci's pitiful appearance only made the itch in his heart grow stronger.

The man chuckled. "Afraid of me?"

Xue Ci bit his lower lip, his eyelashes trembling nonstop.

The room was large, but Zhao Ying's presence was overwhelming, and his eyes were gradually growing dangerous.

"We're already married. Why are you afraid of these things?" Lu Xiunan spoke each word distinctly as he leaned close to the poor little widower. "Didn't we do these things before?"

He saw Song Xueci slowly shake his head, and his breath caught.

He asked in disbelief, "You've never been kissed?"

"..." Xue Ci shook his head again.

"Then what about the other things? Have you done those?"

Xue Ci said nothing, his eyelids lowered and the tips of his ears red.

What was going on?

They had been married for so long, yet they hadn't done any of those things, hadn't even kissed?

Lu Xiunan stared at Song Xueci's face.

There was no way he wasn't interested.

After thinking it over, Lu Xiunan could only come up with one possibility-Song Xueci's former husband couldn't get it up.

He was still thinking about that mess when a soft, barely audible voice suddenly came from within the room. "Could you sleep on the floor tonight...?"

Lu Xiunan looked up and saw that the corners of Xue Ci's eyes were red, making him look as though he'd been bullied.

Why did he have to look so pitiful?

It wasn't as if Lu Xiunan liked bullying people.

"All right."

"I won't kiss you tonight, and I won't suck your tongue until it's swollen either."

Lu Xiunan reassured Xue Ci in his own way. He took bedding and a blanket from the wardrobe, quickly made a bed on the floor, and lay down.

Xue Ci relaxed a little.

Seeing Zhao Ying lying there quietly, he reminded him softly, "The light..."

"I know, little princess."

Lu Xiunan patiently got up, turned off the light, and lay back down.

Xue Ci wanted to protest the name, but he didn't dare say anything more.

The room fell quiet.

Less on guard now, he curled up under the blanket, his eyelids gradually growing heavy.

Just as he was drifting between sleep and wakefulness, the man's low, husky voice suddenly sounded beside his ear. "Then have you kissed any other men?"

Xue Ci froze for a moment, his toes curling together.

"N-no..."

His instincts told him to lie to the other man like that.

But no OOC warning sounded.

This time, the man didn't ask him any more strange questions, though his breathing was loud. Xue Ci closed his eyes in relief. Even though he was wary of the man in the room, he was simply too tired and sleepy to resist.

His eyes gradually closed.

Lu Xiunan couldn't sleep.

A powerful possessiveness made the muscles throughout his body tense, his blood surging.

No wonder Song Xueci wouldn't let him kiss him.

It would have been his first time.

Lu Xiunan's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed several times.

Why get married if his body couldn't do it?

Wasn't that making someone a widow while his husband was still alive?

Lu Xiunan's eyes soon adjusted to the darkness, and he glanced at the lump beneath the covers on the bed.

Fortunately, the man had died early.

Song Xueci could still meet someone in good health.

"Cough, cough-"

Zhao Ying coughed violently.

A nurse coming on duty happened to hear him. She approached the ward and cautioned him, "Don't move around! You've been unconscious for almost a week, and you're still not out of danger. What if you bump into something?"

Zhao Ying's expression changed. "A week?"

"Yes. A kind person brought you to the hospital after your car accident." The nurse saw that he seemed to be getting out of bed to fetch something. "Call me if you need anything."

Only then did Zhao Ying look up, his face bloodless. "Could you get me the red strip of cloth on the table? Thank you."

The red strip of cloth was covered in dust, and the bloodstains on it had turned brown.

The nurse had heard that when the patient was wheeled into the hospital, his hand had still been clutching it so tightly that several people had to work together to pry his fingers open.

The nurse brought him the strip of cloth. "Where's your family? Can you give me their address?"

At the mention of his family, Zhao Ying knitted his brows. "Nurse, when can I leave the hospital?"

"Leave the hospital? That won't be for a while." Seeing his gaze immediately dim, the nurse asked, "Do you have their contact information? The hospital can help you get in touch with them."

Zhao Ying promptly gave her a string of numbers.

In Zhou Family Village, only the village chief's house had a landline.

"If you get through, ask for Song Xueci. Tell him I'm in the hospital, but I'm not badly hurt and I'll be back soon. Tell him not to worry and to take good care of himself. Sorry for the trouble."

Probably his wife, the nurse thought. She wrote it down. "All right. Make sure you rest."

After the nurse left, Zhao Ying lay down, but he couldn't fall asleep.

It had already been a week.

Was Xue Ci frantically looking for him everywhere? Was there no one to cook for him? Would those relatives take the chance to bully him?

The more Zhao Ying thought about it, the more anxious he grew, and he hoped the hospital could reach him.

When he recalled that dream, his expression grew even more grave.

Xue Ci was awakened by a knock at the door.

By the time he got out of bed, Zhao Ying had already opened the door.

Zhou Qize stood outside.

The two seemed to have been talking for a while.

Xue Ci froze where he stood.

Fortunately, 11 told him the progress bar hadn't gone backward.

Perhaps Zhou Qize wasn't an important character in this world, and his involvement wouldn't affect the plotline that had gone astray.

Xue Ci breathed a sigh of relief and immediately ran to the door.

His chest rose and fell, and his lips parted as he panted in little breaths.

Zhou Qize glanced at him, then quickly looked away.

Lu Xiunan, standing to the side, was especially perceptive about such things. He immediately understood how Zhou Qize felt about Song Xueci. He scoffed inwardly and quickly stepped in front of Xue Ci.

Zhou Qize sensed strong hostility.

It came from Xue Ci's husband.

Knowing he was in the wrong, he stepped back a little. "Xue Ci, when did Master Zhao come back?"

"A few days ago." Seeing that Zhou Qize had clearly gotten much tanner over the past few days, Xue Ci felt especially guilty. "Sorry, I didn't tell you and made you come all this way for nothing."

Zhou Qize said, "It's fine. I didn't help much anyway. Now that I've seen Master Zhao's back, I'm relieved."

The more he said that, the worse Xue Ci felt, thinking he owed him a great deal.

"Wait a moment. You left your clothes here." He glanced at Zhao Ying. "Bring that black coat over."

So that coat belonged to this guy.

Lu Xiunan snorted inwardly. Very unwilling to leave Xue Ci alone with another man, he made an excuse. "I don't know where it is."

"It's in the wardrobe, on the far right," Xue Ci urged. "Hurry."

Lu Xiunan started to speak, then stopped. In the end, he obediently went back to the room.

He hadn't noticed that he, too, had become an obedient dog.

While Zhao Ying was back in the bedroom, Xue Ci immediately moved close to Zhou Qize and whispered, "My husband was in a car accident. He can't remember anyone."

Zhou Qize was taken aback.

No wonder the man had looked at him like a stranger just now.

"Has he seen a doctor? Does he... still remember you?"

Xue Ci shook his head. "No, but he knows who I am now."

"I see." For some reason, Zhou Qize felt disappointed.

"Could you keep it from the others for now? Just say he went away to visit relatives." Xue Ci tilted his face up, wearing a pleading expression. "I'm afraid that if the villagers find out my husband has lost his memory, they'll come and bully me."

Whenever Xue Ci came close, a faint, delicate fragrance wafted over. Zhou Qize couldn't say what it smelled like, but his whole body tingled, and he couldn't stop himself from swallowing.

His mind went completely blank, too.

"...Okay."

Remembering something, Zhou Qize added, "I'll find someone else to take over Master Zhao's work. I'll settle his wages for you tomorrow."

"With him in this condition, it really isn't a good idea."

"If anyone bullies you, tell me."

Zhou Qize is such a good person.

Xue Ci repeated the thought silently to himself and smiled at him. "Thank you."

Zhou Qize turned his face away and found that his heart was beating unusually fast.

As soon as Lu Xiunan came out of the bedroom, he saw the guilty look on Zhou Qize's face. What had this outsider been talking about with Xue Ci?

He tossed the coat to him, his face cold. "Anything else?"

Zhou Qize looked at him.

Zhao Ying had become even more unpleasant to look at since losing his memory.

He looked away and said to Xue Ci, "I'll get going, then. If you need help with anything, just ask."

Xue Ci went outside to see him off. When he saw Zhou Qize stop to look at the flowers he'd planted, he asked, "Do you like flowers? It's been too hot lately, so they haven't bloomed much. If they do, I can give you some."

Zhou Qize hadn't even seen a flower, but his heart was already bursting with joy. "My family likes flowers too. We've been looking at what to grow lately. Do you know how to pick them?"

Xue Ci nodded. "Do you want me to help you choose?"

He had grown up at his grandmother's house. The old lady liked growing flowers, and he had picked up quite a bit from being around her.

"All right. When the weather cools down, I'll come find you and we can go to the market together."

Having received Xue Ci's promise, Zhou Qize left in high spirits.

When one person was happy, someone else had to be sour-faced.

Inside the house, Lu Xiunan waited until Xue Ci came back in, then demanded coldly, "Why did you agree to go out with him?"

Xue Ci didn't hear the jealousy in his voice. "He's helped me a lot, and he's a very nice person."

I wait on you every day. Am I not nice?

Lu Xiunan badly wanted to ask, but he felt he sounded like a resentful husband.

Pretending not to care, he tossed out a "Do what you want" and returned to the bedroom.

As if by habit, he picked up the basin holding the dirty clothes.

Noon.

After Fu Yun drove to the edge of a village, he was sitting in the driver's seat, just about to send Lu Xiunan his location, when Lu Xiunan got into the car right on time.

"The stuff's in the back. I put all the ice cream in ice. If it melted, that's not my fault. You're the one who called me out in this heat."

Fu Yun felt he was turning from this brother of his into an errand boy. The day before yesterday, he'd delivered a refrigerator for Young Master Lu; yesterday, clothes and potted plants; and today, ice cream.

What was he up to, being so mysterious?

Thinking of the style of those clothes, Fu Yun couldn't contain his curiosity. "Brother Lu, are you pursuing a guy?"

Lu Xiunan frowned. "Since when have I been pursuing anyone?"

"..." Fu Yun didn't call him out, but his tone told him something was going on. "You haven't won him over yet, have you?"

He'd only asked casually, but Lu Xiunan's body visibly stiffened.

Fu Yun was shocked.

"No matter how good-looking someone in this village is, how good-looking can he be? And you still haven't won him over?"

"I'm not pursuing anyone," Lu Xiunan retorted, enunciating every word. Then he started asking about business.

Fu Yun said, "We're starting to see some signs, but it's best to sit tight for now."

All of that was under control, but Lu Xiunan pursuing someone and still not winning him over was truly a novelty.

"The village belle? No, wait, he's a guy. Just how pretty does a guy have to be for you to pursue him personally?" he teased, growing even more interested in the person Lu Xiunan was pursuing.

Small clothing size, fond of flowers and ice cream-putting it all together, Fu Yun couldn't help thinking he was the delicate, high-maintenance type.

But wasn't that the type Lu Xiunan hated most?

Why was he putting so much effort into pursuing him now?

The previous few times Fu Yun had come to deliver things on the sly, he'd suggested meeting him, but Lu Xiunan had insisted on keeping him hidden.

What was going on? Could he be as beautiful as a celestial?

Or had Lu Xiunan fallen under some kind of sorcery in the village?

This time, Fu Yun didn't leave right away. Instead, he got out of the car and followed Lu Xiunan while he wasn't paying attention.

He knew Lu Xiunan was highly vigilant, but this time he was in such a rush to get the ice cream back that he didn't notice him at all.

It's over.

Just how smitten is he?

Fu Yun followed Lu Xiunan for a while until they came to a dilapidated house.

He knew conditions in the countryside weren't good, but he hadn't expected Lu Xiunan to be willing to hole up in a godforsaken place like this.

Even more curious, he walked up to the door, only to run straight into Lu Xiunan coming out with a basin of clothes. On top was a small pair of underwear.

It was clearly not Lu Xiunan's size.

Fu Yun's pupils shook. "You're even fucking washing his underwear for him?"

Seeing that he'd followed him, Lu Xiunan knitted his brows and his face darkened. "Didn't I tell you not to come over? Get going."

"Thank fuck I followed you. What are you doing?" Fu Yun couldn't understand. "Did you sleep with him? Make him cry? Are you trying to make it up to him?"

"Can you watch your mouth?" Lu Xiunan was about to say more when he saw a figure standing by the fence not far away.

His expression instantly froze.

Fu Yun sensed something and turned around-

A fair-skinned, beautiful young man was looking in his direction with his lips pressed together.

"Husband..."

Xue Ci's voice was soft.

He had never met Fu Yun and thought he looked like someone from the city.

When had Zhao Ying gotten to know someone from the city?

He was a little shy around strangers, and hearing the man say things like "sleep with him" and "make him cry" had left him inexplicably embarrassed.

It was as though he'd heard something he shouldn't have.

His earlobes grew warm.

Xue Ci's voice was timid, soft as a flower bud, and he looked especially dependent. "Is this your friend?"

"Yeah."

Lu Xiunan had no choice but to admit it. Then he walked over and shielded him behind his back.

Where Xue Ci couldn't see, his expression immediately changed, his face dark enough to drip water.

The air around him quickly grew oppressive.

When Xue Ci called him husband, he had clearly seen Fu Yun's whole body tense up beside him, his breathing quickening as well.

Then came the sound of someone swallowing.

Even now, his eyes were still fixed-

Fixed on his little wife, Song Xueci.

Author's note:

In everyone else's eyes, he's already a dead husband who isn't going to make it.