Chapter 125

"It doesn't matter. Eat whichever you like, and however much you can eat."

"…Alright, Feifei will listen to Brother Jiang."

Bai Feifei's original intent in saying that was to get Jiang Sishui to invite Jin Lingzhi along.

After all, this girl had been fooling around on Taihu all night, so she must be both tired and hungry by now.

Just now, it wasn't only her whose stomach was growling.

Who would have thought Jiang Sishui acted as if he hadn't caught her meaning, and from the moment he entered, he acted as if he hadn't seen Jin Lingzhi at all, leaving her out in the cold.

Was it that he'd lost interest in Jin Lingzhi?

Absolutely not!

Then he must have had his own considerations.

Thinking of this, the understanding Bai Feifei stopped dwelling on it.

So both of them fell silent, and for a moment only the soft sound of Bai Feifei's chewing remained in the room.

Sure enough, the impatient Jin Lingzhi was the first to lose her patience.

Seeing that neither of them paid her any attention, Jin Lingzhi let out a heavy "hmph" to remind them of her presence.

Yet Jiang Sishui still ignored her.

Bai Feifei had been about to take a sip of soup, but she pulled her hand back at the last moment, her red lips pressed together as she fought not to laugh out loud.

Jin Lingzhi waited a moment, still receiving no invitation, growing even more annoyed, and gave another heavy stamp of her foot.

Jiang Sishui finally reacted.

As if he had only just noticed Jin Lingzhi's presence, he said in pleasant surprise: "Oh my, so Miss Jin is here too. My apologies, my apologies."

Jin Lingzhi whirled around abruptly, her little face puffed up with anger, glaring furiously at Jiang Sishui.

Jiang Sishui met her gaze with a smiling look.

After only a few breaths, Jin Lingzhi was the first to lose the standoff.

Without a word, she grabbed a steamed roll on her own and began devouring it without ceremony, her cheeks bulging, and each bite taken with great force.

As if what she was chewing wasn't a steamed roll, but some bastard scoundrel!

Bai Feifei could hold back no longer and burst out laughing.

Jin Lingzhi shot her a sidelong glance, her little mouth pouting, but didn't argue with her.

Jiang Sishui also found it amusing and stopped teasing her, taking out another set of bowls and chopsticks from the food box and handing them over.

Jin Lingzhi froze on the spot.

She looked at the bowls and chopsticks, then at Jiang Sishui…

After two breaths, she suddenly twitched her nose, then reached out to take them, mumbling softly under her breath words no one could make out.

That stubborn yet aggrieved pitiful look was unspeakably adorable.

For a while no one spoke. Bai Feifei and Jin Lingzhi buried themselves in their food, while Jiang Sishui watched them eat.

Time passed in quiet stillness, and the entire table of morning fare was slowly divided up between the two of them.

Bai Feifei stood up to clear the dishes, and Jiang Sishui hurriedly said: "Leave it, I'll do it."

Bai Feifei pressed him down, smiling: "Leave this sort of thing to Feifei. When there's a woman around, where's the need for a man to trouble himself with such things?"

Hearing this, Jiang Sishui stopped insisting, but still said: "Alright, but between you and me, there's no need to draw such distinctions."

Bai Feifei gazed at him gently and said softly: "I know. You just sit down first."

With that, she picked up the food box filled with the dishes and turned to leave the room.

Jin Lingzhi, having eaten and drunk her fill, felt a bit embarrassed. Lowering her head, she silently prepared to follow.

"Wait a moment." Jiang Sishui suddenly called out to her.

Jin Lingzhi was startled, but stopped her feet without meaning to.

Watching Jiang Sishui approach step by step, the young girl's heart pounded wildly. She crossed her arms over her chest and said warily: "I-I only ate a meal from you, you… what are you going to do?"

Jiang Sishui came to a halt in front of her, his upper body leaning forward.

Jin Lingzhi didn't dare move, watching helplessly as the distance between them grew closer and closer, until at last their faces were almost pressed together.

Just as Jin Lingzhi's heart was about to leap into her throat, Jiang Sishui finally stopped.

The two were inches apart, able to clearly feel each other's breath against the other's face.

Just as Jin Lingzhi was wildly guessing in her heart what he meant to do, Jiang Sishui spoke: "The hoeing is done at noon, sweat drips to the earth below. Who knows the rice upon the plate, each grain was earned through toil and woe."

Jin Lingzhi: "…"

She was a bit dumbfounded. What kind of poem are you reciting at a time like this?

You made your old lady so nervous, and that's all it was?

Just as she was thinking this, Jiang Sishui added: "I'm someone who doesn't like to waste. Usually, every single grain of rice in the bowl, I'll lick clean."

Saying so, without waiting for Jin Lingzhi to react, he leaned his mouth over and drew a single grain of white rice from the corner of the young girl's lips into his own mouth.

Jin Lingzhi was dumbstruck!

She stood frozen in place, her mind a complete blank.

She'd been kissed?

Kissed by a man?

Even if it was only the corner of her mouth, a kiss was a kiss.

Although she had long known that the man before her wouldn't let her off, when it truly happened, Jin Lingzhi still felt as if struck by five thunderbolts.

For a moment, a complex tangle of feelings surged up in her heart—anger, shyness, confusion, sweetness…

But no matter what she felt inside, her pretty face flushed red at a speed visible to the naked eye, like a fully cooked large shrimp.

She glared at the smiling Jiang Sishui, becoming completely incoherent: "Y-you you you… you you you you you you…"

GLOSSARY:

Bai Feifei, Jin Da, Jin Lingzhi, Young Lady, Taihu, Zhuanshenchu Sect

After stuttering "you" for half a day without ever getting out anything coherent, Jin Lingzhi covered her burning cheeks and bolted out the door.

139 Maid Youcao, riding the dragon up to the heavens and down into the waters

Gazing at Jin Lingzhi's flustered retreating figure, Jiang Sishui's eyes and brows were full of smiles as he murmured to himself, "Even though I don't know whether you like Yuan Suiyun or not, in this life, you can only be mine."

Jiang Sishui was brimming with confidence.

Now that the Shanzhuang had become an isolated island, Jin Lingzhi couldn't leave even if she wanted to, which gave him plenty of time.

Jiang Sishui simply refused to believe that, under his soft-and-hard siege, this little hot pepper could still escape the palm of his hand.

Of course, he could also force the issue—Jin Lingzhi would still be unable to resist—but Jiang Sishui didn't want to do that.

Because the two of them were going to spend their lives together from now on, and he didn't want to leave Jin Lingzhi with a scar on her heart that could never be erased.

After all, what he wanted was a little darling wife who kept her own personality, not a female slave for him to vent his desires on.

Snatching her and trapping her here was already the limit of what he could bring himself to do.

To win the beauty, Jiang Sishui was willing to spend a little more time and effort.

At the same time, wasn't this process of conquering her step by step itself a kind of pleasure?

Bored with nothing to do, his gaze swept the room—nearly every corner of this room had been left with their footprints last night.

Looking again at the bed, the bedding had already been changed several times.

Involuntarily, Jiang Sishui's mind began to wander.

310 A moment later, Bai Feifei returned.

But she was alone—Jin Lingzhi was not following behind her.

Jiang Sishui wasn't surprised by this either.

A maiden who'd never known a man, who'd never even had physical contact with a young member of the opposite sex, suddenly being kissed on the lips by a man she'd known for less than a day—how could she recover so quickly? It would be strange if she could.

That girl was probably hiding in some corner right now, cursing him.

"Feifei, let's go out and play."

He took Bai Feifei's hand, half-embraced her in his arms, and the two of them went out leaning against each other.

By the shore, Huang Rong, Zhao Qiying, Wang Yuyan, Ah Zhu, and Ah Bi—the five women—were already waiting.

Seeing Bai Feifei's seemingly even more radiant beauty, the five women each had their own thoughts.

Wang Yuyan and Ah Bi were innocent and oblivious; apart from feeling that Bai Feifei seemed prettier, they had no other thoughts.

Ah Zhu's pair of playful, lively eyes rolled about, glancing at the others from time to time, and then, as if thinking of something, a trace of bashfulness shone through her lowered gaze.

Zhao Qiying hesitated, wondering whether she should find a chance to discuss the Classic of the Plain Girl with Bai Feifei, who had been through it, so she could have some mental preparation.

Huang Rong felt a twinge of sourness in her heart, and at the same time grew even more resolved about a certain notion.

The two sides met up, the women exchanged greetings, and Jiang Sishui took out the Water-Controlling Pearl, a single thought stirring in his mind.

In an instant, the waters of Taihu churned, and a stream three zhang wide, like a coiling flood dragon, rose and soared into the sky.