Chapter 24: Marriage Proposal

"It looks like, we're going to have to stay at this inn for another few days." Once again returning to their room, Su Shuilian looked around, and seeing the empty and dilapidated old courtyard, she couldn't help but let out a sad sigh at the unbearable sight.

When Lin Si Yao, who was untying the luggage off of the wolves, heard this, he nodded as he replied, "Tomorrow, I'll go get a mason to come and repair this place."

"Yeah, these pillars-" Su Shuilian pointed at the several badly chipped pillars in the house as she continued, "if possible, should be replaced, if not, then we should reinforce them a bit. Once we are able to, we should refurbish them later." When she finished her words, Su Shuilian walked to the side rooms placed on the east and west of the house.

Lin Si Yao lifted his brows. He smiled with obvious joy; she… she was thinking about their future?

"Ah!" Su Shuilian's panicked voice was heard from the east wing of the house. Dropping the items in his hands, Lin Si Yao quickly made his way to her.

"What happened?" He came to support Su Shuilian, anxiously waiting for her response.

"No… nothing, it's -it's just a large mouse!" Su Shuilian blushed as she fanned her face. So embarra.s.sing, to be scared by a measly mouse… He'll definitely think that she must be a scaredy-cat and completely useless now.

Su Shuilian secretly glanced at him. She was surprised to see his worried eyes without any hint of ridicule.

Lin Si Yao put one hand on her shoulder to slowly calm her down. The other hand, he held onto her soft, white hands, gently pressing on a pressure point to help her relax.

"Thank you!" Su Shuilian said quietly, as she lowered her head.

When he heard her words of grat.i.tude, Lin Si Yao frowned and said to her, "You don't have to thank me in the future." Thanks are for strangers, and there was no need to thank him.

Su Shuilian nodded when she looked into his unfathomable eyes.

Lin Si Yao could not help but let his hand to stroke her cheeks. Her skin was delicate and poreless and without any flaws, being absorbed in this soft feeling… it made it hard to him to let go, nor did he want to let go.

With both of Su Shuilian's cheeks in his gentle touch, they felt like a fire that scorched the skin as her face became flushed.

"As soon as the house is repaired, let's get married." Lin Si Yao unwittingly blurted out his heart's deepest desires.

Su Shuilian quickly blinked her eyes in disbelief, he was…proposing for them to marry?

When Lin Si Yao recovered from his daze and looked at Su Shuilian's expression, he was a bit embarra.s.sed as he unnaturally turned his head to the side. He soon added, "if you do not want to, then pretend I never said it." Soon after, he moved a bit away from her. If he stayed close to her any longer, there was no guarantee that he would not try to act boldly on his impulses.

"A Yao…" Seeing his actions, Su Shuilian pulled on his sleeves as she continued, "you can't always not give me any time to reply… It's not fair." As she continued, Su Shuilian took the initiative to grab onto Lin Si Yao's hands. Her face flushed, but she continued her audacious words, "What I wanted to say was that I, I am willing to marry you… to be your wife… I…" Su Shuilian's words gradually weakened.

Lin Si Yao almost couldn't contain himself as his body undetectably trembled when he hugged her. His previously frozen eyes was covered with a bit of mist-like water before it gradually turned into joy.  

"Yah, A Yao!" Su Shuilian was frightened by his sudden movement as her hands circled around his neck. As he circled her in air, Su Shuilian let out a joyful smile.

—

"So the reason why you only order one large bed was because of this reason?" Su Shuilian asked in disbelief. The reason why he asked for her hand in marriage was to buy less of certain furnitures? Oh heavens! She was such a fool ah! To even talk about her real feelings without a hint of reservation!

Seeing Su Shuilian in a fit of anger, Lin Si Yao lead her outside under the cherry tree. With a wave of his hand, the remaining few wild cherries of the summer season fell into his hands. After cleaning them, he handed it to Su Shuilian before he explained to her, "I only said that because we are getting married, only one bed is enough. You can’t flip my words, that would not be fair."

He… He actually learn to speak the way that she did… Oh.

Su Shuilian angrily thought it through. Fine, it was her who had misunderstood him. But, why does he have to speak in such an ambiguous manner… making her guess every time.

As Su Shuilian was busy with her thoughts, she subconsciously opened her mouth to allow Lin Si Yao to fed her a cherry. Just as she finished her thoughts and was about to speak, she was fed another cherry.

"Yah!" When Su Shuilian finally realised that he was feeding her, she flushed red. Holding onto her burning cheeks, she turned to run back into the house as she said, "I'll go check if there's anything else we need to get." With that, she entered the west room and refused to come out.

Looking at his hands with the remaining cherries, Lin Si Yao said, "Since you guys helped me…" With a simple movement, the few cherries fell into the mud under the cherry tree, enriching the soil of the land around it.

—

And as for Su Shuilian, she locked herself in the west room of the house. Resting her back on the door, it took a long time before she recovered.

Oh heavens! When did he become so bold! To actually fed her wild cherries… and she even ate them…

When Su Shuilian looked back to that scene, her cheeks flushed once again.

It could be said that her previous Su House was very traditional. The head of Su House, Su Fanghua was married to the Madam Li Ruxi through an arranged marriage. This kind of thing was very common during the Republic of China. However, these kinds of couples usually shared indifferent feelings between each other.

Because Su Shuilian grew up in this kind of household, she had always thought that between a husband and wife were a degree advances and retreats as they remained polite to one another.

However, Su Shuilian thought back to yesterday evening, to Lin Si Yao's occasional acts of intimacy. She herself had also grown to like the way that he treated her. Had she become bad? Su Shuilian then thought back to the time when her sister brought her to watch some Western movies starring women who would flaunt affection in the open. Oh! Su Shuilian covered her face. If mother were to see this, how would she react?

"Shuilian…" Lin Si Yao knocked open the room's door, seeing Su Shuilian with a flash of bright red across her face as she leaned against the door at a complete loss. "What's going on?" he asked with a confused frown.   

"Eh? N…nothing!" When Su Shuilian came back from her daze, she was surprised by Lin Si Yao's hand which was reaching to feel her forehead, "A Yao?"

"Your face is burning, you didn't catch a cold did you?" Lin Si Yao asked in concern.

"No. The house is so hot, how could I have caught a cold?" Su Shuilian quickly replied. She herself knew the real reason.

"That's good. Then is it because you are shy?"

"Of course not!" When Su Shuilian looked up in denial, she saw the hint of laughter in Lin Si Yao's eyes. It was then she realised that he was teasing her. In an angered fit, she said, "You, you…"

"Shuilian…" Lin Si Yao caught her fleeing body into his embrace as he said, "Since we are already engaged, there is no need to be shy."

"Wh…When did I….." Su Shuilian looked down, her lips formed a tight line as she refused to admit.

"Haha…" It was the first time Lin Si Yao let out such unrestrained laughter. He patted Su Shuilian's head as he happily said, "Could it be, the shy one is me?"

Seeing him laugh so unrestrained for the first time, Su Shuilian was stunned. It took a while before she recovered. He was very handsome when he laughed. No wonder Lu Wan’er took the initiative to confess to him, no wonder Aunt Lao wanted him as her son-in-law… And her… to be so fortunate to be able to live with him till old.