Chu Lian stared at He Sanlang in astonishment, “Isn’t it spicy?”
He Changdi’s thin lips were slightly swollen. He licked them and continued his pretense of calm, “It was okay.”
Chu Lian’s eyes focused on his face, her almond-shaped eyes seemingly trying to discern whether he had been telling the truth.
Her gaze drifted down to his neck. He Changdi’s skin was fair and the clothes he had on now were a dark colour, making the colour of the skin on his neck even more obvious.
His originally pale skin was now completely flushed red. There was also a thin layer of sweat on his neck, indicating that He Changdi probably hadn’t been telling the truth.
Chu Lian went into a daze for a moment before she shifted her gaze away to the unassuming dark green collar on his neck.
The collar peeking out was from the undershirt he wore within. Although it was just a tiny sliver of collar, Chu Lian managed to recognise the undershirt instantly.
This was definitely the undershirt that Li Yue had embroidered that Wenqing had accidentally packed for him…
Dark green was an unassuming colour, so it shouldn’t be noticeable when worn on the inside.
However, since it was Li Yue’s first time doing embroidery, she wasn’t very good at picking a matching thread colour. Although it was a dark-coloured shirt and she had intended on doing some patterns on the collar, she should have picked something closer to the shirt’s colour. However, Li Yue had picked out some shiny thread with the colour of autumn leaves, thus making the crooked embroidery on the collar especially obvious.
It was extremely eye-catching.
Chu Lian fell into a daze and stared at the embroidery for too long, causing He Sanlang to notice that something was wrong. He looked downwards and realised that he was still wearing the undershirt that his wife had embroidered for him. His ears flushed red instantly.
The atmosphere within the tent was slowly turning a little weird.
When Chu Lian finally regained her senses, her face wrinkled up into a strange expression. She knew that He Changdi had probably assumed that that undershirt was her handiwork.
She was trapped in a dilemma now. Should she tell him the truth or not?
Once she thought of the fits of insanity that He Changdi seemed prone to from time to time, she decided to remain silent on the matter for the sake of her own safety… If the truth ever came to light, she could honestly say that she had never claimed to have any part in making that undershirt.
However, Chu Lian still felt a little guilty for now. She turned and poured a cup of warm water for him, explaining kindly, “The taste of the grilled beef is a little strong. Why don’t you have some warm water to rinse away the flavour?”
He Sanlang coughed twice to hide his struggle before nodding. When he took the cup, he immediately drained it in one gulp…
Chu Lian secretly watched from the side. Upon seeing how urgently he was drinking the water, she knew that she had guessed correctly.
She thought back to how he had been eating so fervently and she felt a little touched. If they had switched places and she had been the one served with those extremely spicy beef slices, she probably wouldn’t have been able to down a single one.
They were just like a loving couple. The husband would eat his wife’s cooking without complaint, regardless of how it tasted, because it was made by his wife. For the sake of making her happy, he would pretend to love eating the food and polish off every last bit of food on the plate.
Chu Lian realised that He Changdi had the habit of never wasting any food.
He had been like this even back at Songtao Court and even more so when eating that terrible bean paste.
Although He Sanlang’s personality was too aloof sometimes and he would have random periods of insanity from time to time, her heart softened immediately. She wanted to treat him a little better. She promised to herself never to tease him in that manner ever again, and to always cook delicious food for him.
Once He Sanlang got over the burning feeling in his mouth, he sipped a mouthful of lamb organ soup. He pressed his lips together in hesitation before finally gathering the courage to say, “Chu Lian, many thanks to you for your help.”
Chu Lian blinked in surprise and the corners of her lips curled up, “It was just a small suggestion. It’s good if it’ll be useful to you.”
She acted so casually that He Sanlang didn’t know what else to say.
The depths of his eyes were as fathomless as the night sky, dotted with the light of faraway stars, as thoughts ran through his mind. He Changdi finally let go of the unseen chains tying his mind to his past life.
Although many things were similar, there were just as many changes in this life. Everything seemed to have been reset. How could he be sure that the Chu Lian before him was the same Chu Lian from his past life?
Other than sharing the same face, their personalities were completely different!
He no longer wanted to escape reality. Despite how much he wanted to argue against it, a voice was calling out from deep within and reminding him that he had already fallen in love with the Chu Lian right in front of him.
This was an unavoidable truth that he didn’t want to admit.
Chu Lian had described how she had invented the snowboat as if it was a normal everyday thing to do, and it had indeed been as easy as drinking and eating for her. However, that wasn’t what He Sanlang thought.
After getting hurt so deeply and encasing himself in unbreakable ice, He Changdi had thought that he would never develop feelings for any woman ever again. Who could have expected that his heart would fall for his greatest sworn enemy?
It was fortunate that his personality was strong enough to withstand this turn of events, or he might have made himself go crazy for real.
There was a period of silence within the tent that made Chu Lian feel like years had passed instead of just minutes. She adjusted her skirt and wondered whether she should try to take her leave. It was only then that she suddenly heard He Changdi’s low, magnetic voice speaking. “Chu Lian, let’s get along well from now on.”
