Mu Xiaotian knew that he had done it on purpose, but he was not sure about letting Tang Ziyu sit next to someone else, so his face looked extremely unpleasant. The eyes of his brothers lit up: ‘I didn’t realise that my sister-in-law was so beautiful!’ By Song Dynasty standards, Tang Ziyu was definitely not the delicate and willowy type that people admired, and she was more in line with modern aesthetic views. But no man could deny that he liked her kind of woman, with a slender waist, long legs and high breasts, not to mention her delicate face. Mu Xiaotian looked at her coy appearance, and he hated the idea of kicking everyone out so that no one could see the beauty of his woman. ‘Unfortunately, the Great Hero Mu and a few of you are going to go back soon, otherwise you’ll be able to drink to our wedding in a few months.’ ‘Pat,’ Mu Xiaotian’s cup fell to the ground, and Tang Ziyu turned her head to look at him, her eyes flashing with a special light that made Mu Xiaotian want to kiss her.
The poor cup had fallen from his hands after he had crushed it, but everyone else just thought he had dropped it. A servant immediately refilled the wine cup, but they really were thick-headed and didn’t think about when the master of Xiaoyun Manor had ever dropped anything! Tang Ziyu knew it was because of her, and Mu Xiaotian must really hate her. She looked at Situ Ping with some concern, and he gave her an encouraging smile and gently held her right hand. Please help yourselves. Let’s see what my chef can do.’ Situ Ping invited everyone to eat. Mu Xiaotian drank his wine with a gloomy face, while the hand under the table held tightly onto Tang Ziyu’s other hand. No matter how hard Tang Ziyu tried to shake it off, the two men were using her hands as a form of competition under the table: Situ Ping looked elegant and occasionally chatted with others, while Mu Xiaotian looked serious and drank alone. Because he usually looks like a big iceberg, no one found it unusual.
‘Why isn’t your wife eating?’ the fourth brother asked fearlessly. Mu Xiaotian glared at him viciously, while Situ Ping just laughed, ‘If she’s not eating, of course she’s waiting for me to feed her!’ So he picked up a chopstickful of food and brought it to Tang Ziyu’s mouth. Tang Ziyu had to open her mouth, but before she could eat the food, Mu Xiaotian’s glass was already at her lips. Tang Ziyu was taken aback: ‘I don’t want to drink or eat, you guys eat!’ After saying that, she stood up, and the two men had to let go of her and let her go back to the back. The others were also distracted by the strange atmosphere and didn’t have the heart to eat, each pondering what was going on between these two people and that beautiful woman.
‘Doctor Situ, is what you said last time still valid?’ ‘Which sentence did you ask about, Hero Mu?’ ‘If I want to recover here, Doctor Situ can still let me stay here, right?’ ’ Of course you are welcome. It would be an honour for me to have you stay at my house!’ “Brother, you’re not…” Yue Qing tugged at the fourth brother, “Doctor Situ, then I’ll trouble you. We brothers will stay at the inn for now, and when you’ve fully recovered, we’ll go back together.” “Good, let the fourth brother go back first and report the news. So that the third brother and the others won’t worry at the manor.” “Yes, brother.” And so the meal ended in a strange atmosphere.
Tang Ziyu ate a few mouthfuls of porridge in her room, asked her maid to help her change clothes, and sat alone by the window, looking out at the gloomy night sky. It had been a long time since she had thought about her family. She wondered if that tenth cousin of hers had given birth to a boy, and who her fifth cousin’s new girlfriend was. She really didn’t know when she would be able to go home, and whether she should start packing tomorrow. Are you thinking of me?’ Situ Ping suddenly appeared in the window, and Tang Ziyu gave him a cold look, “Who would think of you!” “What about him?” Situ Ping pointed behind him at Mu Xiaotian. Tang Ziyu couldn’t help but stare at him, “Didn’t you leave?” “How could he leave? As soon as he heard that you had become my fiancee, of course he couldn’t leave!” Situ Ping pushed open the door and walked in, and Mu Xiaotian followed behind him and also entered the door.
Mu Xiaotian glanced at Tang Ziyu and said, ‘Are you going to continue to be the second in command and continue to live here?’ Tang Ziyu looked at him and thought, ‘Do I go with you?’ But she didn’t say anything. She knew that Situ Ping also wanted to know her answer, but she really didn’t have an answer for the two of them. Situ coughed, ‘I’ll go see your brothers off. You two talk it out and let me know the result.’ After saying that, he actually walked away. Tang Ziyu knew that he was afraid of hearing that her choice was not him, so he would rather withdraw than make things difficult for her. But Mu Xiaotian was not as gentlemanly as he thought. He now knew that the woman in front of him must be his. Tang Ziyu really wanted to hold back Situ Ping, but she didn’t dare to reach out because Mu’s face was really dark.
To be honest, apart from in bed, where she knew how to make him lose control, outside that realm of activity, she really didn’t know how to get along with this big lump of wood, as if no matter what she did, she was wrong. She really hoped that before she came here, she was a master of love affairs and knew how to navigate such scenes, but she wasn’t. Although she had had a boyfriend before she came here, it didn’t last long, because she was different from ordinary girls: roses and jewellery simply couldn’t make her happy, and her passion for exploration was also incomprehensible to others. So now she was alone in the face of the big log, she really didn’t know what to do. Should she be passionate? Or gentle? Or…?