46. Guests from All Directions

When Xia Lin woke up again, it was already the morning of the second day of the Lunar New Year. He had slept for a solid thirteen or fourteen hours, yet even so, he woke up with a sore back and aching limbs.

After all, he was just a frail scholar lacking in physical exercise. Running a full marathon back and forth on a whim had truly taken a toll on him. Upon getting up, he could distinctly smell a faint, feminine scent lingering on his quilt and pillow.

How to describe this scent? It was a wondrous fragrance, not that of shampoo or floral perfume, but the pure scent of a human being. It felt somewhat like back in high school, after finishing the physical education test, returning to the classroom and sitting at one's desk, just as a pretty girl sat nearby, wiping away her sweat while a ceiling fan blew a gentle breeze carrying her scent toward him.

It wasn't the foul, sweaty stench of a stinky man, but an indescribable fragrance. He was intimately familiar with this scent—it belonged to Sister Chuntong. After all, having huddled together day in and day out for two years, he knew it quite well.

He leaned in, sniffed carefully, and thought to himself with a start, "Good grief, did she sleep here?"

Yet, upon second thought, that question was utterly redundant. She had undoubtedly slept here; he had simply been too dead to the world to wake up. At that moment, Xia Lin felt profound regret. If only he had woken up last night, wouldn't he have been able to vigorously thrust the night away? Alas, at this hour, she had long since gotten up to go cook.

Xia Lin hurriedly dressed and ran out to wash up. Once he had tidied himself, he strolled into the front courtyard with his hands clasped behind his back, just in time to see Chuntong taking advantage of the fine morning sunshine to air out the bedsheets. A taut rope supported the fabric, and the morning breeze fluttered the slightly damp cloth, swaying in the interplay of light and shadow, dazzling to the eye.

Chuntong stood in the very middle, beating the sheets and blankets with a wooden stick, appearing utterly focused on her task.

Xia Lin tiptoed over, silently coming up behind her, and placed his hands around her waist. "Good morning, Sister Chuntong."

Startled, Chuntong recoiled at first, but quickly recovered, and the tension and vigilance on her body slowly melted away. She merely glanced at Xia Lin and said softly, "Master, breakfast is ready. You haven't eaten all day, go have some."

"There's no rush." Xia Lin pulled over a bamboo footstool, sat down right beside Chuntong, and asked with a grin, "You snuck into my bed to sleep yesterday."

Chuntong turned her head sideways, not quite looking bashful and coy, yet still somewhat embarrassed as she let out a soft sound of assent. Her voice at that moment was as faint as the buzzing of a mosquito. "Yesterday, I saw the master shivering with cold, and I worried whether you had caught a chill. I know nothing of medicine..."

"Well then, I truly must thank you," Xia Lin laughed. "Tell me, what if I had happened to wake up halfway through?"

You have to hand it to this rascal; asking such a question left Chuntong with no way to answer. So Chuntong simply stopped speaking and went back to working her hands briskly. Xia Lin knew full well that adults often didn't need to voice certain things aloud, but he just loved asking anyway; watching Sister Chuntong's mixture of shyness and indignation was immensely entertaining.

Chuntong was eighteen, turning nineteen very soon, which by the standards of this era made her a grown young woman. Many of her peers were already mothers. How could she not understand? Besides, back when she was trained at the brokerage, she had naturally been taught how to serve her master.

What kind of service? Naturally that kind of service; what else could it be? Female slaves were hardly considered human beings at all, and even they felt it was only natural to serve their masters. It was only after coming to Xia Lin that she finally felt what it was like to be treated as a person.

If there was one thing Chuntong feared most right now, it was Xia Lin transferring her away to someone else. She didn't even have the right to refuse; given their status, even if someone like her was beaten to death, it would merely incur a minor fine.

***

"Why does Sister Chuntong look so worried?"

Xia Lin looked curiously at Chuntong's profile, asking in puzzlement, "Did I do something that put you in such a difficult spot?"

"Master, please don't overthink it." Chuntong stood on tiptoe, using a bamboo strip to tuck in the corner of the bedsheet. "I'm just focusing on my work."

"You're lying to me, aren't you?"

Xia Lin chuckled and grabbed the hem of Chuntong's tunic. Since she was already standing on tiptoe, this tug caused her to lose her balance and fall backward. Chuntong let out a startled cry, but instead of hitting the ground, she landed squarely on Xia Lin's lap.

Alarmed, she made to stand up immediately, but Xia Lin pulled her back down. Feeling his arm wrap around her waist, she dared not struggle, only turning her head to give him a startled look.

That expression was simply magnificent. Pity he couldn't pull out his phone to snap a photo; if that picture were posted online, every single pure-desire influencer would be put to shame. It was an overwhelmingly divine expression.

At this time and hour, everyone was busy celebrating the New Year. In this little secluded realm, absolutely no one would come to disturb them. Chuntong had already closed her eyes. Although the fluttering of her eyelashes revealed her inner tension and agitation, she had clearly abandoned all resistance.

As for Xia Lin—with the peak hormone levels erupting from his seventeen-year-old body, calling him a little rutting ram would be putting it mildly. Reason was utter nonsense; throughout millennia of history, how many Liu Xiahui-level saints could there truly be? A relatively confined space, no legal constraints, a compliant female companion, and a seventeen-year-old boy.

Put those together and imagine the scene—you wouldn't even need to close your eyes to see it in vivid