Zhou Shaojin blinked her eyes in confusion.

Her long eyelashes were curled and upturned.

Cheng Chi’s heart fluttered along with them twice.

“Uncle Chi.” Zhou Shaojin said uncomprehendingly, “Did my brother-in-law… do something improper? Let me apologize to you on his behalf, all right?”

That expression actually carried a somewhat timid apprehension.

Cheng Chi felt as if a large stone had struck his chest, making it hard for him to breathe.

Just for the sake of Liao Shaotang, she was being so careful before him, even wanting to apologize to him on Liao Shaotang’s behalf… Wasn’t her sister Zhou Chujin a hundred times more shrewd and capable than her? Why did she need to take the lead in this matter?

Cheng Chi couldn’t speak for quite a while.

Zhou Shaojin’s entire attention was focused on Cheng Chi. While others couldn’t discern Cheng Chi’s joy or anger, she could sense it.

She didn’t know why Cheng Chi was so angry.

Just moments ago everything had been fine.

Even if her brother-in-law had done something wrong, he… he didn’t need to be so angry with her! Moreover, she had already said she would apologize to him on her brother-in-law’s behalf… Could brother-in-law really have done something?

Zhou Shaojin felt both frightened and uneasy in her heart.

She couldn’t help tugging at Cheng Chi’s sleeve, saying in a low voice, “Uncle Chi, please don’t be angry anymore, all right? I’ll have Sister talk to brother-in-law… Brother-in-law always listens to Sister…”

Cheng Chi saw her eyes had reddened with anxiety, looking at him pitifully like a little cat about to be abandoned. His heart softened, then tightened again.

What was wrong with him?

So what if these socks were made for Liao Shaotang? Shaojin’s needlework had always been excellent. Chujin was like both mother and sister to her. It was only natural for her to help Zhou Chujin make a few pairs of socks for Liao Shaotang… Just that in the future she shouldn’t spend so much effort, even embroidering on the socks—wasn’t that a bit too extravagant…

Could this be what others called jealousy?

Was he jealous that Shaojin treated Liao Shaotang better than herself?

But that was too ridiculous…

Cheng Chi’s mind was somewhat chaotic.

Yet beneath this chaos, his heart was clear as a mirror.

He was afraid he really was jealous!

He couldn’t help but pull Zhou Shaojin into his embrace, kissing the top of her head and saying, “I’m not angry! Don’t be afraid! I saw you made so many pairs of socks, and the patterns are so complex, I was worried you’d hurt your eyes…”

Did Uncle Chi think these patterns were too complex?

Zhou Shaojin thought of the socks Nan Ping had made for him and immediately pushed Cheng Chi away, saying, “You, you don’t like the patterns on those socks?”

She had spent so much thought designing them.

Cheng Chi suddenly realized.

Shaojin had made these socks for him.

She hadn’t gone out to have fun, but stayed home making socks for him.

He thought of that tranquil dense shade, thought of that serene and gentle jade figurine sitting in the shade doing needlework… His heart was like rising dough, rippling with nothing but tender affection.

“Shaojin.” He once again tightly embraced that little person. “I like them very much, very much…”

His murmuring voice sounded low, hoarse, and rich beside her ear. Hot breath wound around her neck. Her heart was burning hot, her body felt numb and tingly until she could barely stand steady.

“Shaojin…” He called her name, then suddenly took her earlobe into his mouth. His voice became muffled, “My darling…”

Zhou Shaojin jumped in fright, her heart panicking, her legs weak. She raised her hands to push Cheng Chi away. “Don’t… don’t…”

That voice was broken and fragmented, like a kitten crying, even more stirring to the heart.

Cheng Chi was utterly intoxicated. Reason had long been tossed into some corner. How could he bear to let go? One hand around her waist, one hand around her back, as if wishing to embed this body into his, he kissed her lips.

Her pink lips were cool and soft, her small tongue warm and delicate. The entanglement between lips and teeth was like butterflies dancing playfully among flowers… Everything made Cheng Chi deeply intoxicated.

And for the first time aroused in him a desire to indulge.

“Shaojin…” As he kissed this person who made him love her more each time he learned of her thoughts, he willingly coaxed her in the gaps between kisses, “I’ve been away for over twenty days, thinking of you every day… Just hoping to return quickly… The weather was so hot, I even got a rash… Camphor powder didn’t even help… And you? Did you miss me…”

Uncle Chi was doing this again!

Not respecting her at all!

Zhou Shaojin’s eyes brimmed with tears. Both ashamed and angry, she was thinking that this time no matter what, she couldn’t let him treat her so casually again… But then she heard Cheng Chi’s humble, pleading voice by her ear… Her heart trembled ceaselessly. She no longer had the strength to push Cheng Chi away… Her heart was just reproaching herself for being useless when she heard that in rushing back, he had even developed a rash on his back… Her heart ached terribly. How could she still care about her own various discomforts? She hurriedly asked him in an urgent voice, only to have him take advantage to capture her tongue and suck on it for a long while. Her voice came out broken and tuneless, “Where… where is the rash… Did you have a physician look at it…”

Cheng Chi himself didn’t know the corners of his mouth had turned up.

He just knew that what the little girl felt most heartbroken about was him. As long as he said he was uncomfortable somewhere, no matter how much she disliked it, she would endure and yield to him, would comply and follow him… In the previous life, how could that bastard Cheng Xu have pushed her to that point? However, without Cheng Xu, even if the little girl were reborn, she probably wouldn’t have fallen to him.

Thinking of this, his resentment toward Cheng Xu faded considerably.

He continued coaxing her, “I was rushing back… Thinking that once I returned to the capital I could see a physician…”

Such a good opportunity—not seizing it would make him a fool.

Cheng Chi took advantage to grasp her hand and guide it inside his garment…

“Feel and see, has that rash gone down yet?”

“No, no!” Zhou Shaojin felt her face burning hot, her hand curling into a fist as she tried to dodge.

Despite her panic and confusion, through the thin summer shirt, she still sensed the suppleness and firmness of his body.

This made Zhou Shaojin’s face even redder. The burning heat on her face felt so intense it seemed to steam tears from her eyes.

Cheng Chi only wanted Zhou Shaojin to gradually grow accustomed to their intimacy. Naturally he didn’t really want Zhou Shaojin to touch him. Moreover, he had only been too lazy to wear a cooling hat on the first day of travel and gotten a bit red on the backs of his hands from the sun. There wasn’t actually any rash at all. If Zhou Shaojin felt around, wouldn’t his lie be exposed?

He let go of her hand.

Zhou Shaojin breathed a sigh of relief.

Cheng Chi felt her body had relaxed considerably compared to before.

But he smoothly slipped his hand in through the side opening of her vest.

Zhou Shaojin, seeking coolness and being in her own home, wore only a thin shirt of silver-striped gauze over her undergarment, with a vest over that. Cheng Chi easily reached inside.

“Don’t!” Zhou Shaojin reached back to catch Cheng Chi’s hand, tears nearly hanging on her long, upturned eyelashes.

Like morning dewdrops, crystal clear and translucent.

Cheng Chi lovingly kissed those teardrops.

Salty. Cool. Sliding into his heart.

“Darling, let me kiss you.” His hand moved upward from her waist, caressing her smooth back that was warm as jade. He captured her tongue, “So sweet!”

Zhou Shaojin was utterly embarrassed, wishing she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

But Cheng Chi’s hand seemed to carry fire, making her body burn hot, her blood roiling as if something was about to burst forth.

This unfamiliar feeling frightened her…

“Uncle Chi, don’t be like this… don’t be like this…” She pleaded pitifully for mercy, tears about to fall.

“All right!” Uncle Chi never cared what she said. He would only act according to what he thought was good for her. Although Zhou Shaojin was pleading like this, she didn’t actually expect Cheng Chi to follow her words—it was merely a desperate hope. But as soon as she begged him, he so decisively withdrew his hand from inside her garment.

Zhou Shaojin froze.

Cheng Chi had already smiled and pecked her earlobe, saying suggestively, “Then I’ll just kiss Shaojin’s ears instead…” His tone rather implied that Zhou Shaojin quite enjoyed him kissing her earlobes.

Zhou Shaojin was stunned for a moment.

How had the refined and noble Uncle Chi become like this?

Her ear was entirely taken into Cheng Chi’s mouth. All sounds around became less real.

Zhou Shaojin pushed at him, holding back for a long time before managing to squeeze out the word “scoundrel.”

Cheng Chi kissed her temple and laughed lowly, saying indulgently like a fool, “Uncle Chi only becomes like this when encountering you… Have you ever seen me give any other woman a second glance?”

He really hadn’t!

Including the beautiful Ji Ying.

Zhou Shaojin’s heart was instantly filled to overflowing with tender affection.

Her body grew even softer.

This time Cheng Chi leisurely and carefully kissed her—tenderly, lingeringly, devotedly… Cherishing her like a treasure as he kissed her.

Zhou Shaojin closed her eyes, as if stepping into empty space where she could see nothing, hear nothing, only Cheng Chi’s strong arms and kisses that were sometimes gentle, sometimes domineering…

She didn’t know how long had passed when suddenly her body felt cool. She discovered Cheng Chi had released her.

Was he not kissing her anymore?

Zhou Shaojin stared blankly at Cheng Chi.

She didn’t know how alluring her dazed, somewhat lost expression was.

Cheng Chi smiled helplessly and said with a smile by her ear, “Someone’s coming in!”

Zhou Shaojin didn’t react for a moment.

Cheng Chi smiled as he helped arrange her garment and hair.

Only then did she realize.

“Ah?!” She exclaimed softly.

Cheng Chi had already helped her sit properly on the kang.

Outside the curtain came Fan Liushi’s respectful voice, “Fourth Master, the kitchen has prepared cooling mung bean soup, iced it too. I’ve brought some over…”

Cheng Chi looked at Zhou Shaojin, her face flushed and rosy, delicate and weak like a spring flower in full bloom.

The curtain was lifted without anyone’s permission.

Fan Liushi walked in carrying a red lacquer tray with gold-painted begonia flowers.

Behind her followed Nanny Shang, whose expression carried a hint of anxiety.

When Nanny Shang saw Cheng Chi and Zhou Shaojin sitting on either side of the large kang by the window, and though Zhou Shaojin’s face was quite flushed and her body leaned softly against the large cushion, Cheng Chi’s expression was gentle as he calmly and casually examined those socks carefully, she still couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Cheng Chi absentmindedly accepted the mung bean soup.

From his vantage point, even Zhou Shaojin’s neck was pink.

He thought, no wonder that vulgar poem wrote “Once favored with rain and dew, she sheds her green youth to charm with her very bones”—it seemed there was some truth to it after all… He had arranged for someone to create an opportunity to give Yuan Shi the evidence of Cheng Shi and Cheng Zheng framing Cheng Xu, and Yuan Shi had indeed made a fuss as expected. Originally he had thought this matter needed to proceed slowly… But now he wanted to embrace his beauty sooner.

He should add more fuel to Yuan Shi’s fire!