"What are you talking about?" Yu Dong, who had just returned after boiling the water to clean Chen Mi's body, felt like she was shot while playing dead. What happened? She just left for five minutes. How come she was labeled as scum in such a short period of time?
Chen Mi was lying on the bed, sniffling like a little wife who had been wronged by her husband, stiffened and slowly peeked behind him. He wasn't hallucinating. Yu Dong was indeed standing in his room with a tub filled with hot water in her hands, "You - you didn't leave me after you were finished?"
Yu Dong raised an eyebrow. She more or less understood what the 'all women are scum' comment was about. Chen Mi must have misunderstood her and thought she used and threw him aside like a tissue paper. Seriously? How hard it is for her to clean the stains from the previous owner? Wasn't she exceptionally gentle with him? So did he really have to doubt her like that? "No, I just went to boil water for you. You cannot take another bath because the weather is getting cold. So you better wipe yourself with hot water to clean your body. Or maybe you want to sleep like that, all sticky and sweaty?"
Chen Mi blushed, but Yu Dong didn't say anything as she helped him sit up. She started wiping down his body with a washcloth and the hot water, being as gentle as she could. She wasn't one to take care of people, but her husbands somehow pulled the caring woman out of her. She wanted to be the best for them.
Yu Dong cleaned Chen Mi's back, front and lower body without any complaint, her movements really slow and gentle. As she tipped his head back to wipe his face, she chuckled, "Did you think I dined and dashed, huh?"
Chen Mi wanted to bury his face in the quilt. Yu Dong was pinching his chin, so he couldn't do that. Instead, he flushed harder until his neck turned red like a duck being strangled, "No, I - I just," he couldn't say anything because he indeed had those thoughts. So he could only stutter, his eyes furtively looking here and there.
Yu Dong smiled and didn't wait for his answer. She squeezed the wet cloth that she used to wipe Chen Mi's face and softly said, "I know it's hard but at least try trusting me a little. I am not that bad."
Now Chen Mi felt guilty. He knew that Yu Dong wasn't evil, but it was just - his idea of women has never been good. Except for his mother, not everyone was kind to him, his cousin sold him, and his aunts always held him in contempt. It was frustrating and upsetting, then the previous Yu Dong also gave him a hard time, so his trust in Yu Dong wavered whenever he thought she was ditching him. First, because he couldn't wholeheartedly trust a woman, and second because he knew he wasn't good-looking enough.
"I know," whispered Chen Mi, realizing that he jumped the gun a bit too soon.
Yu Dong patted his head, understanding that it was indeed hard for them to trust her so soon. At least they were better than before, "Okay, go to sleep now. It's pretty late."
Chen Mi buried himself in the quilt, only leaving a pair of black grape-like eyes peering at her when he noticed that Yu Dong wasn't wiping herself. Chen Mi couldn't help but ask, "Are you not going to clean yourself?"
Yu Dong picked up the tub and looked at him arching her brow. She teased, "why? Have you not seen enough of me? Want to see some more?"
Chen Mi felt his ears heat up under her teasing, and he completely buried himself under the quilt as a shout came from beneath the covers. "Pervert!"
Yu Dong didn't get angry at his shout. Instead, she laughed heartily, untying her shirt as she picked up another washcloth to wipe herself down. "Don't forget that minutes ago, this pervert was making you scream in pleasure, so what does that make you?"
This time Yu Dong's teasing was met with silence. Chen Mi seemed to have given up on winning against her.
----
The following day Yu Dong woke up early. She looked at the sleeping Chen Mi beside her and didn't have the heart to jostle him awake. Let it be, he worked hard last night.
Instead, she hurried out of his room and went to take a bath. Once she got out of the bathhouse, she saw both Shen Li and Ye Liu arranging the bride price she had brought yesterday. They had reorganized everything properly and wrapped it all with bride vermillion red cloth. The firecrackers that Yu Dong bought were also kept beside the bride price. Clearly, they left them like that to dry the firecrackers. It was a custom here to light firecrackers before leaving so that everyone in the village would know about the upcoming marriage.
"Wife, you are awake?" Shen Li was the first to notice her as she walked towards the two of them.
"Yes, what are you two doing?" asked Yu Dong as she looked at the neatly organized bride price. All the items were carefully put together and didn't look like a mess as they had when she left them last night.
"We were checking if anything is missing or not," said Ye Liu, patting his hands as he stood back up. "It's no longer a matter of two families. The entire village knows about it. If the bride price is lacking, then both our and Fang Chi's family would become a joke."
Yu Dong nodded in appreciation. It was good that the two were so detailed oriented despite being jealous. It would save a lot of time for her, "Thank you, the two of you have really worked hard. It must have been hard on you."
Shen Li shook his head as he delicately strode forward and started tying her hair up for the upcoming wedding. "It's alright, it wasn't that hard to do. Just some last-minute checks."
Yu Dong parted her lips, wanting to say something, when Aunt Wang's voice came from their front door. " Oi! Dong Dong! Are you still asleep? If you are, Fang Chi is going to be so embarrassed! Wake up!"