Chapter 718 - 483: Nobody Asked for Your Opinion

Jiangg Yao burst into a fit of giggles at his words, her shoulders trembling. Her bell-like laughter was exceptionally cute.

After she laughed without a care in the world for a good while, Chen Yuan felt as if he’d been infected by her joy, and the corners of his mouth lifted into a slight smile.

’What a blissful time...’

He lathered the shampoo in her hair, his fingertips gently massaging along her part as if giving her a head massage. Jiangg Yao’s head wobbled back and forth under the movement of his large hands, and she made a series of funny faces as if there were a camera in front of her.

And she was striking a pose.

’If I could, I’d want to protect her childlike innocence forever,’ Chen Yuan mused. ’I wish Yaoyao could always be this happy, with all of life’s troubles kept far away from her.’

’We should have at least a few years of peace after getting married... Even though Liu He said we should have a baby soon, during a woman’s optimal child-bearing years, that still feels so far off for Jiangg Yao. She’s just a kid herself. How could she take care of another child?’

"That should be enough. Rinse it for me."

"You’re not going to do it yourself?"

"Sure. While you’re at it, go out and grab that bottle of perfume I left out. I’ll spritz some on when I get out so I can smell all nice... It smells way better than that body wash."

Chen Yuan agreed and pushed open the bathroom door.

He had expected things to be a little awkward when he returned to the room and faced Jiangg Ning, but to his surprise, Ningning was no longer by the bed. She had probably gone back to her own room.

This allowed Chen Yuan to breathe a small sigh of relief, and his guilt lessened slightly.

He snatched the perfume from the desk.

After her hair was washed, it was time to wash her body. This was the main event, the part that made one’s face flush and heart race. According to the two sisters’ standards of cleanliness, not a single nook or cranny could be missed.

Chen Yuan wrestled with himself for a long moment. He took a deep breath, and just when he finally felt he was ready...

...he realized Jiangg Yao had no intention of letting him help.

Instead, she was humming a song to herself as she lathered up with soap bubbles.

"Pervert," Jiangg Yao said a moment later, shooting him a mischievous glare.

"Hey, I haven’t moved an inch."

"Then why are your eyes glued to me?"

"Ahem—"

It would be a lie to say she wasn’t shy. Jiangg Yao was only pretending to be composed on the surface. After all, she and her sister were different from other girls in a certain way, so a physical sense of bashfulness was inevitable.

"It’s very cute..." he whispered.

The next second, the loofah that should have been in Jiangg Yao’s hand came flying at him.

Chen Yuan couldn’t dodge in time and got a face full of suds.

"No one asked for your opinion!"

...

Actually, Jiangg Yao was completely right about one thing. Couples should be a bit bolder in their relationships, bravely trying new things with a healthy and inquisitive mindset. This deepens their understanding of each other, not only creating wonderful memories but also aiding their psychological growth.

Everyone is born into this world as a blank slate. Understanding and learning to love is a mandatory lesson in life.

After calmly accepting the task of scrubbing Yaoyao’s back, Chen Yuan felt a subtle change within himself, as if he had become a little more familiar with her.

The feeling was magical.

As he held Jiangg Yao’s arm and helped her rinse her whole body, Yaoyao unexpectedly asked a question he had never seriously considered before.

"Master, what’s your home like?"

"Home?" He faltered for a second.

"You know, the place where you grew up. How far is it from Mingzhu City? What does it look like? You’ve already been to my home, but I still don’t know anything about yours..."

A hint of curiosity shone in her bright eyes, and she seemed to eagerly await Chen Yuan’s answer.

"That... I’ll have to think about it..." Chen Yuan mused for a moment. "It’s a place with no mountains."

"No mountains?"

"That’s right. Whether you take a plane or a high-speed train, once you get there, you’ll know what a true plain looks like. No mountains, just endless fields everywhere. In spring and summer, we grow wheat; in winter, we grow corn. Whether it’s the county or the city, as soon as you get to the outskirts, it’s all farmland... Kids from small towns like that have mostly worked in the fields with their parents. Spring planting, autumn harvesting, winter storage—the four seasons are very distinct."

"Farmland everywhere? Is it like what you see in school textbooks, all in square plots?"

"It’s much more real than that. You could ride the high-speed train for an hour and see the exact same scenery the whole time. That’s the farmers’ land."

"Wow, the way you describe it is kind of moving."

"The place I lived was a two-bedroom apartment in the staff housing the school provided for teachers. I lived there for about ten years... My dad and mom had one room on that side, and my room was on this side, but it was smaller. Our neighbors were just two walls away, and the whole row was where the teachers lived. Each home had a small yard. The yards used to be big, but they got smaller after the school renovated and rebuilt the housing complex."

Jiangg Yao listened intently, as if trying to picture the scene in her mind.

"My bedroom was very simple. There was just a bookshelf, a desk and chair, and the bed. But the bookshelf was filled with a lot of my childhood toys: toy cars, game cartridges, a black-and-white handheld game console, all kinds of balls, and an empty fish tank."

"Why an empty fish tank?" she asked, smiling as she pressed her lips together.

"I bought a little turtle when I was a kid, but it staged a jailbreak and escaped. So only the fish tank was left on the bookshelf. It’s been there ever since."

"So when will I get a chance to see the place where you grew up?" she asked eagerly.

"Don’t be in such a hurry. We’ll definitely go before we get married, and we’ll have to go back every year after we’re married, too. Just don’t complain that you can’t stand the small-town environment. They still have taro ice cream bars for fifty cents there. People sometimes dry their crops on the road, so it gets really dusty. If you spend a whole day outside, your face will feel like it’s covered in a mud mask... And at night, you’ll have to sleep with me in a narrow bed, and the whole family eats at a tiny wooden table."

"Hahahaha, I don’t believe it’s that bad. You must be trying to scare me."

"Why would I lie? That’s the place I grew up," he said gently, brushing the bangs from Jiangg Yao’s forehead.

"If it’s really like that, I won’t mind at all. I want to try the fifty-cent ice cream, and if the bed is too small for both of us, I’ll just sleep on top of you."

"Easy for you to say now, young lady. Just don’t complain when the time comes."

"I won’t," she said softly. "Because it’s your home."

Hearing her say that, Chen Yuan suddenly felt a slight tremble in his heart.

A subtle, indescribable feeling washed over him.

His eyes grew warm, and he couldn’t help but reach out and pat her head.

"Such a good girl."

...

For girls, bath time doesn’t just end with washing. They still have to apply body lotion, do their skincare routine, wash their face with specific products, exfoliate, put on a face mask, and so on.

These were tasks that didn’t require Chen Yuan’s help.

He just needed to wrap Jiangg Yao in a bath towel, tie up her hair, and then lift her straight into his arms and walk out of the bathroom.

"Mission accomplished."

Looking at Jiangg Yao—with warm water droplets still clinging to her collarbones, so clean there wasn’t a single flaw to be found, her fair skin fragrant and soft like white jade—Chen Yuan felt an inexplicable sense of accomplishment.