Chapter 74.2 Eleventh Kiss

Yu Yuan closed his eyes in despair to conceal the bleakness in them.

Just as he was feeling dejected, Yan Mu gently touched his eyelashes.

Then, he heard Yan Mu say, “I do like you.”

“Before, I used to ask myself, what exactly were my feelings for you? At first, I hesitated to admit it, because I was afraid of mistaking other feelings for love.”

Yu Yuan opened his eyes, and Yan Mu’s soft fingers caressed his lips.

One stroke, then another, and another still, as if soothing his restless soul.

“What about later?” Yu Yuan asked hoarsely.

“Later, I realized I was wrong.” Yan Mu paused for a while before saying, “No matter how much I deceive myself, I still like you.”

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“Gb Yw……”

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The teenager flipped his body around and held himself above Yan Mu.

He explored everything he had never seen before with his lips and tongue. 

Everything was so beautiful and novel, and he was like a child hugging his new toy, so fond of it that he couldn’t let go of any part of it³爱不释手 (àibùshìshǒu) – to love something too much to part with it (idiom); to fondle admiringly.

“Wuu……” The young girl’s body couldn’t help but tremble.

Her bright eyes now seemed to be covered with a layer of thin mist, and through it, one could see beautiful flowers blooming from the soul.

Both of Yan Mu’s hands tightly gripped the sheets beneath her, and her body couldn’t help but tense up.

She felt like she’d entered a secret realm she’d never seen before.

She wanted to stand tall and see far beyond⁴登高望远 (dēnggāowàngyuǎn) –  an idiom; taking the long and broad view; acute foresight, on the peak of the mountains, taking in all of the beautiful scenery of the secret realm.

Yu Yuan’s movements suddenly paused.

“W-what’s wrong?” Yan Mu’s voice was as soft as a pool of water.

The teenager was softly gasping, and his eyes were red.

He covered Yan Mu tightly with the quilt, then closed his eyes for a while to calm himself down.

His upper garment had come off at some point, revealing his pale body and refined muscles.

Yan Mu’s eyes were filled with hunger.

But soon, Yu Yuan calmly covered himself with his clothes.

“Not now,” Yu Yuan said.

His breathing was still a little rapid, but the desire in his eyes gradually subsided.

“Our wedding day is coming soon.” Yu Yuan reached out his hand and tenderly pushed Yan Mu’s sweaty hair aside.

“Speaking of this, I still don’t know when our wedding date is……” Yan Mu realized.

“It’s on Lunar New Year’s Eve. You’ll be seventeen after the New Year.”

Yu Yuan kissed Yan Mu’s forehead, and methodically put his clothes back on piece by piece.

People in ancient times generally got married at an early age. For example, back in Qingshui Village, girls the same age as Yan Mu had already had kids.

It’s just that Father Yan was worried about Yan Mu’s sickly body, so he hadn’t been willing to marry her off.

“Where are you going?”

Yan Mu was secretly sighing when she saw Yu Yuan get dressed and walk away.

“I’ll go fetch water for a bath for you.”

The teenager’s footsteps paused, and he looked a little shy.

Yu Yuan left the room as if fleeing.

A hint of sweetness rippled in her heart, and Yan Mu inexplicably felt a little funny.

She pursed her lips into a smile and lifted the quilt off her body.

Just now, she was too distracted, so she hadn’t felt it. But now that the quilt was lifted, she discovered that her body was covered with marks.

Yan Mu’s peachy cheeks turned red from the sight, and she hurriedly wrapped herself into a ball again with the quilt.

********************

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was almost the Empress’s birthday.

Father Yan had also returned.

But he didn’t seem too happy.

Because Father Yan had heard that, during his absence, Yu Yuan and his precious daughter were actually engaged.

This was something no father could tolerate.

So as soon as Father Yan was done handling the birthday affairs, he angrily came to the bookstore to confront Yu Yuan.

Everyone had a tacit agreement to keep the incident where Yan Mu was injured from Father Yan. So, all he knew after returning from a long journey was that Yu Yuan and Yan Mu were inexplicably engaged.

Father Yan was furious, so he decided to secretly come to the bookstore for a surprise inspection.

 However, Yan Mu and Yu Yuan had gone out to buy materials, so there were only a bunch of guards in the store.

Father Yan sat on the stone bench in the courtyard for the entire afternoon, and it wasn’t until the evening that he saw Yan Mu and Yu Yuan come back hand in hand.

Father Yan slammed the table in anger and shouted, “An unmarried man and an unmarried woman together, how inappropriate!”

To think that he used to believe Yu Yuan was a well-behaved young lad and always had spoken up for him⁵Yu Yuan.

Look at him now, this kid must’ve surely been pretending before.

Father Yan’s heart was burning with anger.

His gaze towards Yu Yuan gradually turned unkind.

“Dad……” Yan Mu stepped forward somewhat helplessly, wanting to explain, but Father Yan protected her behind him.

“Daughter, don’t be afraid. Did this kid, Yu Yuan, deceive you? Be honest with Dad. Dad won’t blame you. I’ll stand up for you!” Father Yan said seriously.

Yan Mu was both moved and amused inside. She hurriedly defended Yu Yuan, “It’s not like that, Dad. Yu Yuan didn’t deceive me, we truly like each other.”

“You’re still a child, what do you know about love!” Father Yan was anxious.

“Dad, all the girls in the village my age already have children, I’m no longer a child,” Yan Mu explained seriously.

“You!”

Seeing that he couldn’t persuade his own daughter to agree with him, Father Yan changed his target to Yu Yuan.

“Tell me, what’s going on?” Facing Yu Yuan, Father Yan wasn’t that courteous anymore.

“It’s exactly like what Uncle has seen, I truly adore Yan Mu,” Yu Yuan said earnestly.

“What I mean is, why are the both of you suddenly engaged?” Father Yan was fuming with anger at just the mere mention of this matter.

“The Empress thought that we are a perfect match⁶郎才女貌 (lángcái-nǚmào) – talented man and beautiful woman (idiom); ideal couple, so she bestowed marriage to us,” Yan Mu interrupted from the side.

“Daughter, stop talking. Dad is asking Yu Yuan, this stinky kid!” Father Yan slapped the table in anger.

Seeing that this matter couldn’t be concealed, Yu Yuan could only tell him everything that had happened.

Father Yan’s expression went from shock to anger, then worry, and finally lingering fear.

He couldn’t care less about scolding Yu Yuan anymore, and hurriedly pulled his own daughter’s hand to examine her carefully.

“Dad, don’t worry, my burns are all healed,” Yan Mu hurriedly said.

“Your physical condition has been poor since childhood, and it takes a long time for you to recover from even a minor injury, how could your burns recover so quickly this time?” Father Yan asked worriedly.

“Um……”

Remembering the lies she had told Yu Yuan, she looked at Yu Yuan, somewhat guiltily.

Yu Yuan’s face remained calm, and she couldn’t figure anything out from his expression.

Alas, does Yu Yuan know or not?

Yan Mu was a little worried.

But the top priority now was to deal with Father Yan.

So Yan Mu had no time to care about Yu Yuan for the time being.

She looked at Father Yan and said, “Actually, my injury wasn’t very serious, but after all, it was on my face, so the imperial physician somewhat exaggerated it.”

“Dad, look, isn’t there no scar on my face at all?” Yan Mu leaned her face closer to let Father Yan have a look.

Father Yan looked over it multiple times, but saw that Yan Mu’s face was indeed fair and clear, without any scars.

And Yan Mu’s complexion was rosy, looking much better than before.

His worried heart was immediately at ease.

Father Yan once again aimed his gunfire⁷literally at Yu Yuan.

“Even so, I still don’t agree with your marriage.” Father Yan was still angry.

“Then, what would it take for Uncle to agree?” Yu Yuan looked up and asked.

“I won’t agree no matter what!” Father Yan coldly snorted.

But in the next second, Father Yan was dumbfounded.

And Yan Mu was also stunned.

Because Yu Yuan actually knelt straight down in front of Father Yan.

He didn’t avoid the looks of surprise of the other bodyguards and said with utmost sincerity, “Uncle, I’d like to ask your permission for your daughter’s hand in marriage.”

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Edited by: Gaze