Lu Yu couldn't stop laughing at Shen Xuan's demeanor, pulling him onto her lap and wrapping an arm around his waist.
How could her little husband be so adorable? She wanted to kiss him…
Lu Yu thought it, and then she did it. Why wouldn't she be able to kiss her own husband whenever she pleased? It would be too stifling.
However, Lu Yu's kiss wasn't quite a kiss; it was more like a bite. She bit down on Shen Xuan's soft, plump cheek. It was so soft, so fragrant.
Shen Xuan, unable to dodge Lu Yu's kiss, or rather, bite, disgustedly wiped his cheek where Lu Yu had left her saliva.
Lu Yu, catching this action, refused to let him off the hook. She grabbed his raised hand and quickly bit his other cheek.
After biting, she glared at Shen Xuan, as if threatening him not to wipe away her saliva.
"Wife, I just came back from outside and haven't washed my face. There's dust on it."
While this statement seemed like a genuine concern, warning Lu Yu not to kiss him, the actual tone was one of schadenfreude, coupled with a smug expression of someone who had just done something mischievous. It was clear he was deliberately teasing her.
"You little rascal!" Lu Yu feigned fierceness, tightening her grip on Shen Xuan's waist and baring her teeth to scare him, which made Shen Xuan laugh heartily.
"But my husband isn't dirty. Nowhere is dirty. I like everywhere. Do you want to feel it now, Xuan'er?"
Shen Xuan, still caught up in Lu Yu's playful expression, didn't quite register her words. "Huh?"
But Lu Yu didn't give him time to react. She went straight for it.
"No! No…" The tingling sensation at his waist, combined with her words, finally made Shen Xuan understand. He pushed Lu Yu away frantically.
"Is my husband playing hard to get?" Lu Yu knew Shen Xuan was being shy, but she was determined to tease him a little longer.
"No! No!" Shen Xuan was on the verge of tears. If they were in their room, he wouldn't resist like this, but this was the study, such a formal place. They couldn't do this here!
"Resistance is futile!"
Lu Yu laughed like a lustful demon, channeling her former rogue spirit. She locked one arm around Shen Xuan's waist and quickly began to touch him all over.
Actually, Lu Yu hadn't intended to go this far. She just wanted to tease him. But seeing her little husband's wronged and frightened expression made her even more unwilling to stop.
"Mmm…"
Lu Yu touched him somewhere, and Shen Xuan suddenly let out a soft moan. Realizing what had happened, he quickly shut his mouth, his expression becoming even more aggrieved. He pouted, about to cry.
Tears welled up in his eyes, threatening to fall, making him look even more pitiable. This, in turn, truly ignited Lu Yu's desire.
"Wife… don't…" Shen Xuan was at his wit's end. Tears pattered onto the hand Lu Yu had around his waist, and he spoke with a tearful voice.
Alas… it seemed her husband's tendency to cry hadn't changed. But she liked it.
"Alright, alright. If you don't want me to, I won't. Don't cry…"
Hearing Lu Yu coax him like a child, he actually blushed, feeling a bit embarrassed.
He didn't want to cry. It was just a physiological reaction. Whenever Lu Yu touched him there, he couldn't help but shed a few tears. Combined with his nervousness and grievance, he would cry involuntarily.
"I didn't intend to get serious with you. I know you're shy, and I won't demand anything of you here." Lu Yu gently rubbed his tear-streaked face, comforting him.
"Mhm." Still a little shaken, Shen Xuan's voice was soft as he let out a quiet "mhm." He remained in Lu Yu's embrace, with no intention of leaving.
"Aren't you going down yet? Be careful, I might get wild. I—"
Before Lu Yu could finish her sentence, Shen Xuan only heard "get wild" and was so startled that he nimbly jumped off Lu Yu's lap, his body showing no reluctance to leave Lu Yu's warm embrace.
"Then you write here first. I'll go check on Adai." Without waiting for Lu Yu to speak again, Shen Xuan declared, "Wife, goodbye!"
He left no room for Lu Yu to regret saying that.
Exiting the study, Shen Xuan didn't immediately go to Adai's room. Instead, he stood in the courtyard, letting the wind blow away the heat from his face.
He only blushed in front of his wife. In front of others, including Afu and Adai, he maintained a dignified demeanor as the master of the household. He couldn't lose this image.
Shen Xuan had "borrowed" a bottle of excellent wound medicine made by Lu Yu from the study earlier. He knocked on the door. When he entered, only Afu and Adai were in the room. Xu Miao must have left after delivering them. Wang Tian was also nowhere to be seen.
Afu sat by Adai's bedside, his eyes filled with concern and, more so, self-blame. If he hadn't begged Adai not to tell their young master, this incident wouldn't have happened.
Shen Xuan's actions were both a punishment for Adai and a lesson for Afu. He punished Adai's body and, in a way, taught Afu a lesson.
Seeing Shen Xuan enter, Afu instinctively stood up to pay his respects.
Shen Xuan directly helped him back onto the bed, telling him to rest well.
"How is it?"
"Thank you, Master, for having Xu Miao go easy on me." When Xu Miao delivered the first blow, Adai had already felt it. He had been beaten before in his previous master's household, and he had endured many such beatings.
Back then, even being beaten by ordinary women in the household was unbearable. But today, Xu Miao was trained in martial arts, and her strength was naturally greater than theirs. Yet, the pain felt on his body was only half as intense.
"You shouldn't have been punished in the first place."
"But only through this can the household rules remain unbroken, and the Master of the Household won't be criticized. It also gives me more authority to discipline them in the future."
After all the punishments were completed, Shen Xuan had directly granted him the authority to discipline the other servants. From now on, no matter what happened in the household, he could discipline them on Shen Xuan's behalf.
"I've told you, you don't need to call yourself a slave." Shen Xuan disliked hearing that word from them.
It was one thing for the other servants, but he didn't want Adai to call himself a slave.
Adai had indeed corrected himself these past few days, only reverting to calling himself a slave when he made a mistake. But today's incident was not Adai's fault. In fact, he rather admired Adai's decisive actions today.
"This is wound medicine. I just got it from my wife. The injury is in the back, and it's inconvenient for you to apply it yourself. Afu will help you apply it."
Afu obediently took the wound medicine from Shen Xuan.
"Thank you, Master of the Household."
Adai knew that the wound medicine personally made by the family head would certainly be effective. He had heard before that the scar on Young Master Gu's forehead was removed by the family head applying medicine she made.
"Rest well and recover for these two days. You don't need to come to me frequently. I don't have much to do anyway." Shen Xuan covered Adai with the blanket, glanced at Afu, and said with a smile, "Consider it as keeping Afu company to pass the time."
"Oh, right. The wedding dress prepared by Miss Gu for you has arrived. I'll bring it to you later for you to try on." Shen Xuan walked to the door and suddenly remembered what Gu Yitong had asked him to tell Afu at the clinic that morning. He had almost forgotten.