"How, how can this be possible?!" Jing Li said anxiously.
Qin Zhao patted his back and said in a gentle voice, "Mr. Xue was joking with you."
Jing Li was startled, and indeed saw Mr. Xue in front of him couldn't help laughing.
Xue Ren said: "Why did you expose it so quickly? I wanted to tease him more."
Jing Li had been freezing for the whole morning, his brain was numb from the cold, and only now did he realize, "Did you guys team up to deceive me?"
"Who made you so gullible?" Seeing Jing Li was about to get angry again, Xue Ren hurriedly said, "Okay, I won't joke with you anymore. Your symptoms are most likely caused by a cold. You should be fine after a few days of rest in the county town. Don't worry."
Jing Li: "That's more like it..."
How could she be pregnant? That's so weird.
Xue Ren didn't disturb them anymore. He told them to have a good rest and went back to the drugstore to smoke his pipe.
Qin Zhao took Jing Li into the house.
There were fire pits under the beds, making the whole room warm. The room had been cleaned beforehand, and everything was in place, even the bed was covered with a thick layer of cotton.
Jing Li slumped on the bed, too lazy to move a finger.
Qin Zhao took out their luggage one by one and put them away. He turned around and saw his own Xiaoyu looking lazy. He couldn't help but laugh: "Fortunately she is not pregnant. I am a child myself. How can I take care of a child?"
Jing Li was not happy to hear this. He turned over and propped up his head with his hands to look at him: "Why, you still don't want to have a child?"
"Of course not." Qin Zhao shook his head but did not explain further.
Jing Li felt strange.
Didn't the ancients care a lot about passing on their family line? Why does Qin Zhao seem to not care at all
Watching Qin Zhao busying around in the house, Jing Li couldn't help but ask again: "I'm not Shuang'er, do you really not care?"
Qin Zhao didn't even raise his head and smiled, "You've been following me for so long, and you're just asking this question now. Isn't it too late?"
"I have to ask clearly." Jing Li said seriously, "There are examples of couples who can't have children, which leads to family discord and eventually part ways. What if you mind and don't want me anymore in the future?"
Qin Zhao paused.
He put down the clothes in his hands, walked to the bed, lowered his head and kissed Jing Li on her cold lips.
"Have you... been worried about this?" Qin Zhao asked in a low voice.
Jing Li blinked and looked away: "No, I just asked casually, if you don't want to answer-"
"No." Qin Zhao interrupted him.
Jing Li's voice paused.
Qin Zhao stroked Jing Li's face with his fingertips, and held up his face tenderly and intimately, letting him look into his eyes: "If you want to ask, I can tell you everything today."
"You are not Shuang'er. I did regret it." Qin Zhao said, "But that regret is only because I can't have a child with you. I don't care about my past, and I don't have any idea of leaving a bloodline. People like me shouldn't..."
He paused strangely, then said nonchalantly: "So you don't have to worry about these. I will never abandon you for anything, because none of these things are as important as you."
Jing Li's heart was beating hard. His face was still cold, which made Qin Zhao's palms look hot. The heat was transmitted to him without reservation, and his palms, which were originally frozen stiff, began to sweat unconsciously.
"I... I know." Jing Li whispered, "I won't ask again in the future."
Qin Zhao smiled and said, "It's okay, you can ask."
"I don't mind telling you a few more times, as long as you are willing to listen."
Qin Zhao kissed his warm cheek before letting him go: "Change your clothes. I'll go get some hot water from Ayi. It will be more comfortable to take a bath before going to bed."
After saying that, he turned and walked out.
Jing Li slowly untied his belt.
They were going out today, wearing three layers of clothes, and their clothes were very complicated. In addition, the room was as warm as spring, and Jing Li began to feel sleepy as soon as he lay down, and he didn't even want to get up and take off his clothes.
When Qin Zhao returned, he saw his own Xiaoyu half-undressed and curled up on the bed sleeping.
He smiled helplessly and walked forward to peel the person out of the complicated clothes.
Ayi's house has three courtyards. In addition to the outer courtyard connected to the medicine shop, there are another large and small courtyard, an inner courtyard and a side courtyard. Qin Zhao and his family live in the side courtyard of his family.
There are three rooms in the side courtyard, one main room and two side rooms.
Qin Zhao took off Jing Li's outer robe, wrapped him tightly in a thick robe, and carried him out of the main house.
Jing Li shuddered in the cold wind outside, buried his head in Qin Zhao's shoulder, and asked dazedly: "...Where are you taking me?"
"Bathing."
The villagers were not very particular, so the bathtub was placed in the main house, covered by a screen. But this house had a special bathroom, in the side room next to the main house.
A bathtub was dug in the middle of the bathroom. It was filled with water and a herbal bag for bathing was floating in the water.
Qin Zhao put Jing Li on the wooden chair next to the bathtub, pinched his face, and said, "Wake up, take a bath and then go back to sleep."
Jing Li was wrapped in a dark animal skin robe, with his hair hanging down softly, looking very small. He curled up on the recliner, motionless, and it was unknown whether he heard it or not.
Qin Zhao knew that he was just being lazy, so he whispered, "If you do this again, I'll carry you downstairs to wash?"
When Jing Li was at home, he had the experience of not wanting to move after doing that kind of thing and being carried into the bathtub by this person.
But the ending is always hard to describe.
Jing Li was too sleepy to open his eyes, and said vaguely: "I'm still sick, you just know how to bully me."
"Be good and listen to me." Qin Zhao refused to let him go. He kissed and coaxed him, disturbing him so much that he couldn't sleep.
Jing Li was annoyed by his disturbance and pushed his hand away impatiently: "I know."
He reluctantly put his legs into the bathtub to test the water temperature. His body temperature was much cooler than that of ordinary people, and he couldn't stand water that was too hot.
Qin Zhao had obviously adjusted the water temperature for him in advance, and it was just the right temperature, neither cold nor hot.
Jing Li closed his eyes again, and a red light flashed across his body. After the light faded, a small koi slid from the stone steps into the water.
The little koi fish swung its fins comfortably in the water, shook its tail, turned over, and fell asleep.
Qin Zhao: “…”
Cooking fish is sometimes quite convenient.
Qin Zhao bent down to pick up the clothes that Jing Li had dropped on the ground, glanced at the little koi floating on the water, his expression frozen.
The little guy hasn't been eating much these past few days, and today he only drank a mouthful of porridge the whole day. How come he looks fatter
Mr. Xue's words suddenly recurred to my ears—"There are many strange things in this world. What if Xiaoyuer has a special physique, but it just happens not to be revealed from his pulse?"
If we talk about special physique, this little fish should be unprecedented.
He is not a human being...
Qin Zhao squatted beside the bathtub and gently stroked the belly of the little koi with his fingers.
The little koi still likes to lie on its back on the water when sleeping. Its body is only the size of a palm, and its belly looks even rounder.
Feeling Qin Zhao touching him, the little koi shook its tail comfortably.
Qin Zhao touched the fish scales along the belly all the way to the tail. The smooth scales felt cool and comfortable to the touch, but he couldn't see anything unusual.
He must have just been overthinking it.
Qin Zhao hadn't seen Jing Li's original form for some time. Maybe he had been fed a little fat before. After all, the little guy was a big eater before the weather turned cold.
Most likely influenced by what Mr. Xue said today, even he became a little suspicious.
Qin Zhao thought so in his heart and breathed a sigh of relief silently.
He was about to withdraw his hand, but suddenly he felt a small protrusion near the tail of the little koi. Before he could react to what he had touched, the little koi's tail swung and hit Qin Zhao's hand.
The little koi woke up instantly, swam to the other side of the bathtub, and said angrily: "What are you doing!"
This person actually touched him when he turned back into his original form... touched him there!
abnormal!!!
Qin Zhao then realized what he had bumped into and quickly explained: "I... I didn't mean to do that, sorry..."
The little koi was so angry that its small body kept rising and falling. Suddenly it was no longer sleepy and glared at Qin Zhao angrily.
What made me even more angry was that after he touched me, he actually...
There was actually a reaction.
The little koi hid his lower body in the water. He suddenly felt lucky that he was now a fish, otherwise Qin Zhao would have noticed that his face had turned red.
The man and the fish were in a stalemate for a moment. Qin Zhao felt a little embarrassed and comforted him, "Don't be angry, I really didn't mean it. I'll go out and wait for you, okay? You can soak it slowly."
After saying that, he picked up Jing Li's changed clothes and turned to walk out.
After walking out of the bathroom and being blown by the cold wind outside, Qin Zhao realized that something was strange.
He had touched small fish like this before, but he had never touched that spot.
How come this time...
In the bathtub, Jing Li quietly changed back into human form and looked outside.
Qin Zhao had already closed the door and left. The bathtub was covered with curtains, so even if someone walked in, it would be impossible for them to immediately see what was going on in the bathtub.
Jing Li breathed a sigh of relief, leaned against the edge of the bathtub, and looked down at the bottom of the water.
… so spirited.
It's really strange. I wasn't so reluctant to touch her before. Could it be because I haven't done that for more than half a month
Since the weather turned cold, Qin Zhao had not touched him much, and the occasional affection was limited to kissing and hugging, or helping him with his hands. One reason was that the room was too cold, and Qin Zhao was afraid that he would get sick, and the second reason was that due to the weather, Jing Li was indeed not in a good mood these days.
So... after moving to a warmer place, your interest immediately returned
So what should we do now
He was too embarrassed to ask Qin Zhao for this.
Jing Li sat quietly in the water for a while, but the heat in his heart still did not subside. He could only resign himself to reaching out his hand, recalling Qin Zhao's usual practices and following his example.
Ayi cooked the welcoming banquet in the evening himself.
The young boy has lived alone these years, and apart from Mr. Xue, he has no one to talk to. After waiting for Jing Li to come as a guest, he couldn't wait to show off his good cooking skills and cooked a large table of dishes.
The four of them ate and chatted in the main room.
Ayi was a little nervous and asked Jingli in a low voice: "Do you like the food?"
Jing Li nodded: "Yeah, I like it very much."
"As long as you like it!" Ayi suddenly became happy. "I was worried that you wouldn't be used to it. Usually, it's just Grandpa Xue and I eating together, so the food is quite casual."
Jing Li: "Don't bother. Actually, Qin Zhao and I should have cooked..."
Qin Zhao picked up some food for him and corrected him, "I cooked."
If Jing Li were to do this, he would probably burn the whole kitchen down.
This was the result of their discussion.
Ayi originally thought that the rooms in his house were empty anyway, and wanted to let them stay there for free, but the two were unwilling to take advantage of this and insisted on paying him rent according to the county price.
But Ayi refused to accept it. Finally, Mr. Xue decided to let the two of them help look after the shop and cook while they lived there, in exchange for the rent.
However, today is their first day here, and Ayi took the initiative to cook a welcome banquet for them.
"It's better if you come. It's more lively."
Mr. Xue said, "In the past, it was just me and Ayi during the Chinese New Year. Although my good grandson didn't say anything, I could see that he was very lonely and needed a friend of the same age to accompany him."
Ayi was a little embarrassed, but he didn't deny it. He said to Jing Li, "You've never been to the county town to celebrate the New Year before, right? The New Year here is very lively, with lantern festivals, acrobatics, and opera performances. I'll take you there later."
Jing Li: “Yeah!”
Xue Ren added, "It just so happens that there are New Year's goods being sold on the street these days. You can go shopping tomorrow and leave this boy to look after the shop."
He pointed at Qin Zhao.
Before Qin Zhao could answer, Jing Li said, "Okay, Ayi and I will go buy it."
Qin Zhao raised his eyebrows slightly.
They had agreed to go shopping together before coming here, and this little bastard forgot about him again.
Ah Yi hesitated: "This is not a good idea..."
Qin Zhao was just about to hear what he was going to say, when Ayi paused and said seriously, "Mr. Qin is going to take part in the county exam in February, right? Taking care of the shop will delay your study time, right?"
Qin Zhao: “…”
Qin Zhao was silent for a moment, then said calmly: "It's okay, it won't have any impact."
That was how it was settled.
After dinner, Jing Li and Ayi, who hadn’t seen each other for a long time, stayed to chat for a while until the moon was high in the sky, and then they went back to the house at Qin Zhao’s urging.
Ever since Jing Li took a bath in the afternoon and had a good sleep, he seemed to have recovered a lot of energy and even ate more dinner than before.
Seeing him like this, Qin Zhao felt that coming to the county town to celebrate the New Year was the right decision.
Compared with these, not being able to go shopping together seems harmless.
It was late at night. After the two of them finished washing up, Qin Zhao bent down with his back to Jing Li to make the bed.
Jing Li sat at the table and looked at him.
The room was as warm as spring. Qin Zhao was only wearing a thin inner garment, which outlined his broad shoulders, narrow waist, and slender legs. When he moved, a part of his dazzlingly white waist was revealed from the hem of his garment, and his skin was tight.
Jing Li couldn't help swallowing.
He hadn't had a good time in the bath today.
Obviously Qin Zhao had helped him do it in the same way on weekdays, but he tried to do it anyway, but he just couldn't get it right. After trying for a long time, he ended up losing all interest.
He still wanted to...
"It's done, go to bed." Qin Zhao's voice rang out, and Jing Li came back to his senses, only to find that the other party had been standing in front of him without him knowing when.
Qin Zhao bent down slightly and raised his hand to touch his face: "Why is your face so red? Are you hot?"
"No, it's not hot!" The touch was like an electric current flowing into the body. Jing Li stood up like lightning, turned around and walked quickly to the bed, "I'm sleepy and I want to go to bed."
He climbed onto the bed, pulled the quilt over himself, and stood facing the wall without moving.
Qin Zhao looked at his back thoughtfully, laughed, turned off the oil lamp, and climbed onto the bed.
The house became quiet.
The moonlight outside the window was just right. It was unknown how much time had passed before Jing Li turned around quietly. Qin Zhao lay on his side beside him, quietly closing his eyes, and seemed to have fallen asleep.
Jing Li stared at that face and felt his heartbeat gradually quickening, and his body was filled with that unfamiliar feeling of heat again.
It's so weird.
It was never like this before.
Jing Li couldn't stand the feeling any longer, so he reached out and touched Qin Zhao's fingers hanging by his side.
He lightly ticked it.
The bed beside him suddenly became lighter, and Jing Li was turned over. When he raised his eyes, Qin Zhao turned over and pressed on him, with a smile in his eyes: "Do you want it?"
Jing Li was pressed tightly all over by him and couldn't move.
He bit his lip tightly, almost unable to hold back the trembling of his fingertips: "I didn't..."
"No?" Qin Zhao kissed his cheek and said in a low voice, "Then I'll go to sleep?"
Jing Li's breathing became more and more rapid, his eyes were a little red, and he couldn't utter a word.
Qin Zhao's hand slid down his arm, interlocking his fingers, and asked softly and patiently, "This is your last chance. Tell your husband, do you want it?"