Xie Yan thought he shouldn’t laugh, but he just couldn’t help it.
When he laughed, the teasing undertone in his words vanished completely.
Lu Yang huffed, “What are you laughing at? You scholars love using all sorts of fancy words to cover things up.”
Xie Yan wasn’t sure where he had picked that up from. He asked, “Then how do you say it, as someone who doesn’t read books?”
Lu Yang enunciated clearly, “Making babies.”
Xie Yan nodded and burrowed into Lu Yang’s warm bed.
“Alright then, let’s make some babies.”
—
Li Village.
On the first night of his marriage, Lu Liu slept soundly.
Before even opening his eyes in the morning, he felt something poking against his waist.
Half-asleep, he instinctively reached out to brush it away.
But no matter how many times he pushed it aside, it kept bouncing back—like it had taken root.
Something rooted… like a vegetable in the soil, growing.
And it was growing at an alarming rate. With just a few absentminded touches, it seemed to have thickened—so much so that he could barely wrap his hand around it.
Annoyed, Lu Liu groggily opened his eyes, wanting to see just what kind of ‘vegetable’ this was—only to meet Li Feng’s gaze.
He blinked hazily, startled for a moment.
Only then did he remember—he had just gotten married. He wasn’t used to having a grown man sleeping beside him yet.
Realizing it was Li Feng, he relaxed and snuggled back in.
Li Feng’s body was warm. He looked strong and unyielding, yet his body was surprisingly soft to the touch. Lying next to him was comfortable, no matter how he shifted.
But as soon as he moved closer—poke.
Lu Liu was reminded of what had woken him up in the first place.
With their bodies pressed together, the source of that thing was more than obvious.
Now fully awake, Lu Liu’s rationality kicked in. He looked at Li Feng and asked, “Do you sleep with a stick? Is that a hunter’s habit?”
Li Feng was speechless.
“…No.”
Li Feng had spent the previous night deep in thought. Now, he was calm.
Even though he had grievances in his heart, he kept his tone gentle, unwilling to ruin the peaceful atmosphere.
He wanted to see where Lu Liu stood.
If Lu Liu was willing to be with him, to live a good life together, then he would endure this silent loss and settle accounts with the Chen family later.
But if Lu Liu was against him, if he planned to use this as leverage to humiliate him in Li Village—then there was nothing more to say. No point in staying married at all.
Li Feng asked, “Before you got married, did your mother teach you anything?”
Lu Liu nodded. “She did.”
He believed he had done well last night, so he earnestly relayed everything to Li Feng.
When Lu Sanfeng had explained things to him before, she had omitted many key terms.
Phrases like his that and your this—what did any of it even mean? Lu Liu hadn’t understood at all back then, so how could he possibly explain it to Li Feng now?
Seeing Li Feng frown in confusion, Lu Liu suddenly recalled something.
“My mother told me I should take good care of you, but I didn’t understand what she meant.”
He figured that people were different, and everyone had their own preferences. Since they were already married and sharing a bed, he might as well ask directly.
“How do you like to be taken care of?”
Li Feng had been watching him closely, his blinks slow and deliberate, as if he were carefully committing every detail of Lu Liu’s expression to memory.
There was no sign of deception in his face, nor any reason for him to be pretending.
Li Feng decided to play along and observe.
Meanwhile, Lu Liu was still shifting around, making himself uncomfortable. But Li Feng’s firm arm around his waist left him nowhere to escape.
A thought crossed Lu Liu’s mind: Surely Li Feng doesn’t actually enjoy poking people with a stick, right?
The next moment, he realized—anything was possible.
Li Feng asked if he truly wanted to know.
Lu Liu nodded repeatedly, proving his sincerity.
Li Feng took his hand and guided it to the thing he had been trying to push away. Up until then, Lu Liu hadn’t thought much about it.
But with Li Feng’s hand leading his own, the realization hit him.
Oh. That’s… the thing used for peeing.
He had never imagined it could also be used to poke someone.
Instinctively, he tried to pull his hand away, but Li Feng urged him to continue.
Lu Liu didn’t know what to do, so Li Feng covered his hand with his own, guiding him to hold onto the entire thing properly.
Within that enclosed grasp, Lu Liu experimented with movements—up, down, left, right—trying to figure it out.
At first, he was still laughing and chatting. But gradually, he fell silent, a nervous urgency creeping in. It was as if something was clicking into place in his mind. His breathing quickened, beads of sweat forming on his nose. His eyes became misty, stealing glances at Li Feng as though he were peeking at something forbidden.
Even though his instinct was to hide, he was so obedient, so harmless. He didn’t run. He didn’t resist. He didn’t even say no.
Too embarrassed to look at Li Feng, yet unwilling to be left in the dark, he whispered, asking if he was doing it correctly.
All those vague, mysterious words he had never understood before—on this quiet morning, Li Feng taught him their meaning, step by step.
Even after washing the sticky white liquid from his hands, Lu Liu still felt an invisible weight pressing against his palm, his fingers stretched apart as though the presence of it lingered.
Li Feng took in the sight of him—dazed and shell-shocked—and compared it to the fierce, argumentative version of him from before their wedding. The contrast was almost comical.
Morning had arrived. A new day had begun.
On the first day of his marriage, Lu Liu had nothing else to do, so he followed Li Feng around the house to get familiar with his new home.
This old house had two additional rooms built onto it. Back when his younger brothers grew up and he was considering marriage, there hadn’t been enough space. After expanding the house, they had lived quite comfortably for over two years.
Whenever he had free time, Li Feng would chop firewood. One of the empty rooms was now filled to the brim with neatly stacked logs—a reassuring sight in the harsh winter.
In the backyard, he kept a hunting dog.
The dog had the same surname as Li Feng: Li. And its name was Li Erhuang.
Li Feng told him, “There used to be another one—Da Huang—but he died up in the mountains.”
Then, he introduced Li Erhuang to Lu Liu and even told the dog to call him Dad.
Li Erhuang barked at Lu Liu twice.
Li Feng translated, “He’s calling you Papa.”
Lu Liu: “……”
Li Erhuang had an enormous doghouse, almost as big as the livestock shed next to it.
Nearby, Lu Liu spotted the latrine.
The moment he saw it, his eyes practically glowed green.
He had needed to go since this morning but had been holding it in, even avoiding drinking water.
Looking at Li Feng with desperate eyes, he asked, “Can I… go use the latrine?”
Li Feng didn’t understand why he was asking for permission, but he nodded.
Lu Liu then asked, “How many times a day am I allowed to use it?”
Li Feng: …?
Seeing no response, Lu Liu started bargaining.
“Three times, okay? What about two? Not less than that…”
Li Feng: “……You can live in there if you want.”
Lu Liu: “……”
*Filthy man.*
Who wanted to live in a latrine?
……………………………
After finishing their tour of the house, Lu Liu went to the kitchen to cook.
Li Feng joined him, grabbing a small iron pot and setting it on the stove. He took a plate of leftover meat and vegetables from the wedding feast, heated it with some water, and added fresh greens. Finally, he scooped in two ladles of coarse rice.
This was for his *dog son.*
A whole pot of stew—meat, veggies, everything. Once it was ready, he set it aside to cool and even pulled out a massive bone.
It was a leg bone, still covered in raw meat.
Li Feng then added more water to the pot and started boiling the bone.
Lu Liu: “……?”
Watching this extravagant *dog meal* left Lu Liu completely stunned.
What kind of life had he been living before?
Even a dog was eating better than he used to.
He stirred the flour mixture he was working on, added some chopped scallions, but it still felt too plain. So, he cracked an egg into the batter.
One egg to make pancakes for two people—it felt a little pitiful.
The scent of the boiling bone broth was too tempting, so he gathered his courage and added a second egg to the mix.
The batter took on a beautiful golden hue, rich and inviting. The scallions speckled it with fresh green, and even before cooking, the aroma filled the air.
Lu Liu felt utterly satisfied.
*Now, this is what a good life should be like.*
But when Li Feng walked back into the kitchen, Lu Liu suddenly felt guilty, as if he’d been caught doing something sneaky. He avoided eye contact and whispered, “I… I cracked two eggs…”
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