Chu Lian looked up at the man embracing her. Although the lighting was dim, she could see his features clearly.
He Sanlang didn’t look as handsome as his usual self. Right now, he looked more like a normal man worried about his wife.
His face had an unhealthy pallor to it and he was starting to look like a panda. Even stubble had started growing on his chin. However, he didn’t look disheveled or unkempt. Instead, those marks of fatigue gave him the charisma of a mature man.
She had to mention it again; He Sanlang’s looks were really top-notch. Although his brilliant and heroic features weren’t as popular as Xiao Bojian’s in this era, He Changdi was the better-looking out of the two in Chu Lian’s heart.
As Chu Lian looked up at him with her wide eyes, the back of He Sanlang’s ears were slowly turning red and his expression was becoming a little stiff.
His icy tone resounded in the small space as he spoke, a hint of awkwardness present in his voice, “What are you looking at?”
Chu Lian replied without thinking, “Looking at you.”
He Changdi hadn’t expected such a frank statement from her. A blush immediately spread down his neck in reaction.
He turned his face away stiffly as his eyes darted to and fro until they finally landed on the roof of the pen.
When Chu Lian glanced at him and noticed that his entire neck was now red, she stared in stunned surprise. He… He Changdi was actually embarrassed… Had he always been so sensitive?
He Sanlang resisted the urge to squirm under Chu Lian’s probing gaze and reacted by covering up her inquisitive eyes with his hand. His voice was slightly husky as he said, “Stop looking, there’s nothing to see here. Go to sleep!”
Considering what she had woken up to, Chu Lian didn’t dare to actually fall asleep again!
Who knew what her lunatic husband was going to do if she fell asleep this time…
Even though Chu Lian hadn’t brought up the topic, it didn’t mean that she had really forgotten about what had just happened. She just felt that it was too awkward and she wasn’t brave enough to mention it. One side of her chest was still throbbing a little in pain!
That damned He Sanlang!
She tried her best to hold back her question, but she ended up asking anyway. “Are you going to be here as well? I’m fine now.”
The hint in her words was that she was already perfectly well and he should move along with his own business. His presence would be disturbing her rest.
He Changdi still had some smarts left in that head of his. He instantly understood the meaning behind Chu Lian’s words. His expression turned slightly stormy; any husband who had just been disdained by his wife would probably react the same.
“There aren’t enough warm pens and we have too many people in our party. Some of the other pens are packed with up to five people.”
Chu Lian bit her lip. She had no choice here, He Changdi had actually managed to corner her with his words.
He had a point. If she really threw him out at this time, wouldn’t his brothers laugh at him?
It would be hard to explain why he wanted to squeeze in with the other guys instead of staying with his wife.
Chu Lian lamented her misfortune inwardly and gave up. They were married anyway and she didn’t actually dislike He Sanlang. On the contrary, she might even have taken a liking to him somewhere deep in her heart.
There wasn’t really anything in the way of them becoming husband and wife in truth, rather than just in name.
Chu Lian showed him a faint frown, “Then you had better behave yourself.”
He Sanlang’s expression had somewhat relaxed after Chu Lian hadn’t taken him to task for his misdeeds. The moment she brought up the elephant in the room, his handsome face lit up in a spectacular blush once again.
He gulped hard. Even his fingers felt rather stiff from all the tension in him.
It was only after a long pause that he finally managed to give a response, “Sleep, I won’t move at all.”
Chu Lian shot a doubtful glance at him before grunting lightly in agreement. From the way she wrapped her clothes tightly around herself, it was clear that she didn’t trust in He Changdi’s weak self-control.
She was about to shut her eyes when she abruptly remembered Urihan and her sons.
“What about the people who were lying in the horses with me?”
He Sanlang shifted the cloaks and fleeces covering the two of them and made sure that Chu Lian’s entire body was properly shielded from the cold, “They’re in another warm pen. Don’t worry, there’s a doctor looking after them. They’ll be fine.”
Upon hearing that her companions were safe, Chu Lian sighed in relief and finally let herself relax fully.
She looked up at He Changdi. He seemed to have recovered from his blush and was now back to the normal calm and cool-headed Sanlang. However, when she looked closer at his narrow, upturned eyes, she could still detect a well-hidden trace of tenderness in their depths.
Chu Lian blinked, “He Sanlang, did you find out who did all this?”
The question made He Sanlang’s sharp brows lift a little. He didn’t like how Chu Lian had addressed him.
After a slight pause, he cast a searching gaze downwards at the woman curled up between his arms, as if trying to see through her thoughts.
“What do you think?”
The space between Chu Lian’s brows wrinkled as she thought seriously. Her face was like an open book. All of her thoughts and emotions could be read just by looking at her.
“Those kidnappers couldn’t possibly have been sent by Xiao Bojian, right?” Chu Lian’s words sent a ripple of shock through He Changdi.
His pupils constricted; he met Chu Lian’s innocent gaze with a grave expression.
“Why would you think so?”
