Chapter 33

Xiao Changyuan was no stranger to the peach slice cakes Yun Pianpian fed him.
Yun Pianpian often gave him sweet treats.
But the lingering taste of that last piece of peach slice cake surpassed all delicacies in the world.
Why was that?
The dark, profound ink, black pupils of Xiao Changyuan's eyes deepened slightly.
He faintly understood why.
Xiao Changyuan stepped forward, slowly walking toward the kitchen.
Yun Pianpian was rinsing rice to cook when she suddenly heard Xiao Changyuan's cool, deep voice from behind.
“Wife, what did you put on your lips?”
Yun Pianpian had just placed the rinsed rice steamer on the stove.
Hearing Xiao Changyuan's words, she turned around and looked at him quietly.
“I applied a bit of lip rouge. What's wrong?”
Xiao Changyuan stood less than three feet away from Yun Pianpian.
When she turned to face him.
His dark, profound gaze fell upon Yun Pianpian's alluring, dewy red lips.
Her crimson lips shimmered with a tempting, glossy hue. They looked utterly delicious.
Xiao Changyuan's eyes gradually darkened.
A turbulent undercurrent surged in their depths, like the ocean beneath the night sky.
Calm and black, yet concealing danger.
Xiao Changyuan stared at Yun Pianpian's red lips, step by step approaching her.
Yun Pianpian felt there was something off about Xiao Changyuan's gaze.
Her heartbeat quickened, her breath grew rapid, and she retreated step by step until her back pressed against the cold wall.
Yun Pianpian lifted her clear, bright almond, shaped eyes, gazing at Xiao Changyuan in panic.
“Husband, what are you doing?”
Xiao Changyuan pinned Yun Pianpian against the corner.
His shadow enveloped her.
Those dark, ink, black eyes fixed intently on her red lips.
Xiao Changyuan's throat moved.
His dangerous, domineering demeanor was like a white wolf eyeing its prey.
Xiao Changyuan's voice was low and husky, tinged with a slight roughness.
“Wife, what does the lip rouge taste like?”
Yun Pianpian's pupils contracted, her fingers stiffened, and she was so frightened she stopped breathing.
Xiao Changyuan's deep, intense gaze remained fixed on her lips.
A pale, slender, and well, defined hand reached out, gripping her chin.
Xiao Changyuan lowered his head, his pale, thin lips drawing infinitely closer to hers.
His hoarse voice carried an almost greedy desire.
“I want a taste.”
Then, the next scene…The stone bloomed!
Xiao Shitou’s head was split open by Yun Pianpian with a carrot!
(o^0^o)/~
Yun Pianpian tightly clutched the carrot in her hand.
She lifted her moist almond, shaped eyes, her small face alert as she stared at Xiao Changyuan before her.
“Don’t come any closer.”
Xiao Changyuan covered his aching head.
His dark eyes held a trace of bewilderment as he looked at Yun Pianpian.
“Wife, why did you hit me?”
Yun Pianpian tensed her small face and asked, “What were you about to do just now?”
Xiao Changyuan replied, “I wanted to taste the lipstick on your lips.”
Yun Pianpian raised her eyes and said, “You don’t want to taste lipstick; you want to practice demonic arts.”
Xiao Changyuan instinctively retorted, “I don’t.”
Yun Pianpian insisted, “You do.”
Xiao Changyuan said in confusion, “Is tasting lipstick the same as practicing demonic arts?”
Yun Pianpian nodded like a chick pecking at rice, resolutely declaring, “If you want to practice demonic arts, tasting lipstick is the first step. Once you taste lipstick, you’ll have one foot in the demon realm, never to turn back. You must resist, husband.”
Xiao Changyuan grew dazed.
That day, when he and his wife were on the mountain and saw that shameless couple practicing demonic arts, he only saw the middle part, not the beginning. Could it really be, as his wife said, that tasting lipstick is the first step to practicing demonic arts?
Xiao Changyuan instinctively felt that something about this didn’t seem right, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
He lifted his eyelashes and looked at Yun Pianpian in confusion.
“Wife, are you really not lying to me?”
Yun Pianpian raised her face, speaking with an air of righteousness, “I am your wife. How could I lie to you?”
Xiao Changyuan took her words to heart, and his bewildered gaze gradually dimmed.
In those dark, cold, and profound eyes, it seemed as though something was slowly and painfully dying.
Xiao Changyuan slowly lowered his head, reached out to hold Yun Pianpian’s small hand, and softly made a promise to her.
“Wife, don’t worry. I will never taste your lipstick again.”
In Yun Pianpian’s heart, there were two little figures, one white, one black; one righteous, one evil.
The black, evil Pian occasionally accused the white, righteous Pian: “Aren’t you ashamed of deceiving such an innocent tyrant?”
The white, righteous Pian immediately raised its head and replied, “We righteous transmigrators are filled with noble righteousness! We have no conscience!”
Hearing this, the black, evil Pian grew fearful and immediately raised the white flag in surrender to the white, righteous Pian.
This was probably what they called “good triumphing over evil.”
Yun Pianpian waved her hand, shooing away the black and white figures in her mind.
Filled with righteousness, she went to chop carrots, slicing them into pieces, then into thin strips, placing the shredded carrots into a bowl as she busied herself preparing their dinner for the evening.
Xiao Changyuan sat slumped on a stool, dejectedly tending to the fire.
He looked utterly disheartened.
Why did everything he wanted to do seem related to practicing demonic arts?
Was he destined to fall into demonic ways?
Xiao Changyuan sank into confusion.
The night passed without dreams.
Zhao Rounyin’s injuries gradually healed.
She removed the bandages wrapped around her arm and she once again embarked on her ambitious seduction plan.
This time, her target was Yun Pianpian.
Yun Pianpian noticed that not only was Xie Yu being particularly warm toward her lately, but even the little beauty had suddenly become very enthusiastic toward her.
When she carried her laundry basin to the river to wash clothes, Zhao Rounyin stood on the bluestone slab by the riverbank and enthusiastically waved to her.
“Yun Pianpian, I'm here! I saved a good spot for you! Come quickly!”
The girls of Jiangjia Village all washed their clothes by the riverbank, but the bluestone slabs along the shore were limited. Girls who arrived late had to wash their clothes on the gravelly banks. Yun Pianpian usually went early, but today she had accidentally overslept.
She had thought she would have to wash her clothes on the gravel today, but she hadn’t expected the little beauty to save her a spot.
Yun Pianpian carried her laundry basin over and set it down on the bluestone slab.
“Yinyin, thank you for saving me a spot.”
When Zhao Rounyin met Yun Pianpian’s gentle, dewy almond, shaped eyes, she couldn’t help but feel her heart surge with excitement, a delicate blush rising on her exquisite, lovely face.
“You saved my life, this is nothing. By the way, I’m eighteen this year. How old are you?”
Yun Pianpian shamelessly replied, “I’m seventeen this year.”
Although her body was only seventeen, her soul was actually twenty, three.
Upon hearing this, Zhao Rounyin immediately grew excited. “I really am older than you! In that case, let’s address each other as sisters from now on. Since I’m a year older, I’ll call you little sister, and you can call me big sister. What do you think, little sister?”
If she was the older sister, then she could take the lead with Yun Pianpian in the future.
Just thinking about it made Zhao Rounyin excited.
Yun Pianpian didn’t understand why Zhao Rounyin had suddenly become so animated, her eyes seemed to be sparkling.
Yun Pianpian nodded instinctively.
“Okay.”
Zhao Rounyin’s gaze burned with intensity. “Then hurry up and call me 'big sister' a couple of times.”
Yun Pianpian said blankly, “Big sister.”
When Zhao Rounyin heard her soft, sweet voice, her eyes instantly grew even brighter.
Feeling a bit puzzled, Yun Pianpian lowered her head to wash the clothes in her basin.
Suddenly, her hand was grasped by Zhao Rounyin.
Startled, Yun Pianpian lifted her lashes and looked at Zhao Rounyin.
“Big Sister, what's wrong with you?”
Zhao Rouyin looked at Yun Pianpian's slender, delicate hands with a pained expression and said softly, “Shitou is too harsh on you, little sister. Your hands are so soft and smooth, yet he makes you wash clothes. If it were me, I would never let you suffer like this.”
Yun Pianpian: “...” Little beauty, are you okay?
It's true that my hands look soft and smooth now, but that's only because I take good care of them with hand cream. Haven't you felt the thin calluses on my palms? They're perfectly suited for washing clothes, and what does washing clothes have to do with suffering?
I've been washing my own clothes since fifth grade.
Yun Pianpian stared blankly at Zhao Rouyin.
Zhao Rouyin took the clothes from Yun Pianpian's hands. “Let me help you wash them, little sister. I truly feel for you. Your husband doesn't seem to care about you at all. You're so kind and sensible, yet he doesn't cherish you. If it were me, I would never treat you like this.”
Yun Pianpian: “...” Why do these words sound so familiar?
Zhao Rouyin looked up at Yun Pianpian's expression and put on a guilty face. “I'm sorry, little sister. Do you dislike me talking about your husband? I'm sorry, I only said it because I care about you. If you don't like it, I won't say it again.”
Yun Pianpian: “...”
She finally realized why these words sounded so familiar.
Wasn't this the kind of manipulative, hypocritical talk used by “little green teas”?
But little beauty, are you targeting the wrong person?
Shouldn't these “tea-scented words” be directed at the tyrant?
If you want to seduce the tyrant, you should go and sweet-talk him.
Yun Pianpian looked at Zhao Rouyin with a strange expression.
Zhao Rouyin continued, “How could your husband not cherish a woman as wonderful as you.”
Hearing this, Yun Pianpian suddenly felt dazed.
Could it be that little beauty is trying to save the country through a roundabout strategy?
Does she plan to drive a wedge between me and the tyrant first, and then seduce him?
But isn't this “roundabout strategy” a bit too roundabout?
Yun Pianpian's gaze at Zhao Rouyin grew even stranger.
Zhao Rouyin said sincerely, “If you lived with me, I would never let you suffer the slightest grievance. Your husband seems very popular with women, there must be many who like him. I truly feel sorry and sad for you.”
Yun Pianpian: “...” Little beauty, you really don't need such a roundabout strategy to seduce a man!
Men are actually very easy to seduce!
Yun Pianpian felt an unbearable itch in her heart.
It was like watching a poor student get a simple math problem wrong.
She really wanted to teach Zhao Rouyin, step by step, how to seduce Xiao Changyuan.
But she was afraid that teaching the apprentice would starve the master.
So she could only stand there, casting a pitying look at Zhao Rouyin, hoping this fool would one day have an epiphany and find the right answer.
Zhao Rouyin looked up and said, “Sister, there's something on your face. Let me wipe it for you.”
As she spoke, Zhao Rouyin raised her hand, intending to touch Yun Pianpian's soft, fair cheek.
But before this ambitious hand could reach Yun Pianpian's face, it was abruptly seized by a pale, slender, and well, defined hand.
Zhao Rouyin turned pale with pain. “It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!”
Xiao Changyuan appeared soundlessly behind the two, his strikingly handsome face cold as ice.
He stared at Zhao Rouyin with a chilling gaze, his voice low and dripping with menace.
“It seems the lesson I gave you last time was too lenient.”
Zhao Rouyin, pale with pain, still managed to turn her head and continue speaking to Yun Pianpian. “Little sister, Shitou is so cruel, cold, and ruthless, yet you've endured him for so long. My heart truly aches for you. If I were Shitou, I would never treat you this way!”
Yun Pianpian: “...” Little beauty, please shut up, your “tea art” skills are about to score zero!
Worry about yourself first.
Yun Pianpian found the scene before her unbearable.
She quickly spoke up, urging Xiao Changyuan to release Zhao Rouyin.
“Husband, don't hurt her.”
Upon hearing Zhao Rouyin's words, a storm of blizzards seemed to rage in Xiao Changyuan's dark, icy eyes.
A frigid, violent aura surged wildly within his gaze.
The strength in his hand tightened even more.
Zhao Rouyin felt as though her hand was about to be crushed, and she finally burst into tears.
“It hurts so much! Let go!”