Page 1056

"Phew, delicious!"

Xia Zheng wolfed down a few mouthfuls of noodles, comfortably lifting his head and exclaiming in satisfaction.

Seeing how much he was enjoying it, Lin Yuan couldn’t help but give him an amused look. As she poured him a glass of water, she chided, "The esteemed second son of the General Mansion is so easily bought by a bowl of noodles. Haven’t you had a proper meal these past couple of days?"

Xia Zheng stuffed another mouthful of noodles into his mouth and mumbled in protest, "You’re one to talk.

You have no idea. That idiot Dong Qing, he had a way to send food to me, and yet every day he brought me nothing but roast chicken or pork hocks.

How can you eat meat without wine, right?

Hey, and the fool actually forgot to bring the wine! "

With a displeased pout, Xia Zheng lowered his head and put a piece of beef into his mouth, chewing contently.

Lin Yuan pushed the cup of water towards him, looking at him askance, "What’s the matter? Are you suggesting it’s my fault for not preparing wine for you?"

Xia Zheng lifted his face from the bowl, smiling slyly, "If there were wine, that would be wonderful. If not, heh heh."

All of a sudden, thinking of something, Xia Zheng looked at the water cup in Lin Yuan’s hand with a delighted smile.

Lin Yuan held her own cup, and seeing him staring at it so intently, she suddenly remembered that she had poured herself a glass of water before going out to make noodles and hadn’t finished it. Where had it gone?

Considering Xia Zheng’s earlier behavior, Lin Yuan’s eyes darted around, and what else was there to question? Her face instantly flushed red, and she found herself awkwardly unsure whether to set the cup down or keep holding it.

Watching her embarrassed state, Xia Zheng let out a snort of laughter, nearly spraying out the noodles from his mouth.

Lin Yuan glared at him indignantly, finally resigning herself to lower her head and continue eating her noodles.

Only when she lowered her head did Lin Yuan notice a gaping tear in the back of his clothing. She couldn’t help but laugh, "Young Master Xia is quite the trendsetter, wearing beggar’s clothes now!"

As for fashion, beggar’s clothes, and such, Xia Zheng was hearing about it for the first time. He gazed at her with a puzzled look, "What thing?"

Lin Yuan pointed at the back of his clothes, amused, and instead of explaining, she inquired, "There’s a big tear in the back. Aren’t you cold?"

Reminded by her, Xia Zheng reacted and tried to look behind himself, indeed spotting a few frayed threads at the center of his back. He couldn’t really see how big the tear was, though.

With a sheepish grin and a scratch to his head, Xia Zheng said, "I was wondering why, after being shut up in the ancestral hall for a day and a night, I felt so cold the moment I stepped outside. That shouldn’t be right; we’re nearly at the fifteenth of the first month, it should be getting close to spring, shouldn’t it? "

While making goofy faces and talking about how cold it was, Xia Zheng was careful not to mention how his clothes got ripped.

Knowing he must have felt embarrassed about squeezing through the Dog Hole and was too bashful to mention it, Lin Yuan smirked, suppressing the smile tugging at her lips, and catered to his male pride, "Alright, it’s so cold outside, how could I let you go back freezing?

Take it off, and I’ll sew it up for you. "

As she spoke, she stood up to fetch her sewing kit. Although Lin Yuan’s sewing skills left much to be desired, her kit was fully equipped.

The kit was given to her by Lady Liu before coming to the Capital city.

There was no helping it; seeing as Lin Yuan was growing older and her marriage to Xia Zheng was drawing near, Lady Liu thought she should prepare some embroidery for her trousseau and insisted she practice her sewing.

Unfortunately, Lin Yuan never quite got the hang of it, and who knows where she’d discarded that sewing kit Lady Liu gave her.

If it weren’t for Shui Xian and Yin Xing cleaning up that day, she wouldn’t have found it at all.

As Lin Yuan went to get the sewing kit, Xia Zheng smirked sheepishly, "Take it off? Forget it, it’s late at night, and it’s not proper for us to be alone together—let alone taking off clothes or whatever. What if someone found out, how bad would that be?"

Lin Yuan found the sewing kit beside her vanity, which had threads of various colors. She walked back to the table, selecting the embroidery thread that would match Xia Zheng’s clothes.

Hearing Xia Zheng’s comment, she held up the thread to match it to his outfit and scoffed, her eyelids flicking dismissively, "Not proper? When did you start caring about propriety? If it was really improper, you shouldn’t have run to my room late at night, and had me make noodles for you! Come on, take it off."