Just as Di Yao was puzzled, Wei Xunzhou reached out...
When Di Yao brought a steaming bowl of hot water to Wei Xunzhou, his voice was already nasal.
He reacted indifferently to the hot water, merely saying he would let it cool before drinking. But Di Yao knew that if he said he would drink it later, he would forget about it until the water was cold, so she insisted on feeding it to him.
Wei Xunzhou had no choice but to drink it all in front of her, his tongue feeling numb afterward.
"Husband, do we only have one umbrella? I'm sure I saw another one before." Di Yao got up to search and found it in the top drawer of the shoe cabinet.
Wei Xunzhou glanced at the umbrella in Di Yao's hand, his voice sounding less nasal than before: "Is that so? I must have been in a hurry and didn't see it."
"Here, it's right here." Di Yao placed this umbrella together with the one Wei Xunzhou had taken. "Next time you encounter such a situation, you can take an extra umbrella so you won't get soaked."
Wei Xunzhou was silent for a moment before softly saying, "Alright."
Just as Di Yao was about to go to bed, Wei Xunzhou spoke again: "Will you go to Golden Rooster Mountain again?"
"Yes, I think the seeds we have now are still far from enough." Di Yao replied without hesitation.
"From now on..." Wei Xunzhou stopped mid-sentence, looking away.
Di Yao had a guess and smiled: "Could it be that husband wants to come along?"
Wei Xunzhou hadn't expected Di Yao to guess his fleeting, improper thought, and he immediately regretted it.
But seeing the anticipation in Di Yao's eyes, he finally nodded in surrender.
"That's great!" Di Yao patted her chest proudly. "Don't worry, husband, I'll take care of your safety!"
Over the next few days, Di Yao went to Meng Po's during the day and selected plump, full seeds at home for the first batch of planting.
The day before planting, she soaked the wheat seeds in a basin overnight, and early the next morning, she got up.
She eagerly changed clothes, tiptoed out of bed, grabbed the seeds, and headed to the backyard.
Just as she was about to plant some soaked wheat seeds, she had an idea. She turned east, knelt down, clasped her hands above her head, and bowed devoutly to the heavens and earth.
She kept muttering: "Heaven bless it, may these little seeds survive! May they grow tall and strong!"
When she sensed that the heavens' patience was about to run out, Di Yao lifted her head, wiped the dirt and pebbles off her forehead with her sleeve, and met Wei Xunzhou's gaze from not far away.
She knew he wouldn't understand her behavior and might even find it ridiculous, so she quickly stood up, grinning sheepishly at him.
"Good morning, husband! You're up quite early today."
Wei Xunzhou stepped closer, looked at the backyard soil, and said, "Not as early as you."
Di Yao dusted off her clothes and was about to squat down when Wei Xunzhou pulled her up.
Just as Di Yao was puzzled, Wei Xunzhou reached out and touched her forehead.
"You really went at it." He gently brushed the mark on her forehead, feeling the dent, and a strange feeling stirred within him.
Di Yao felt him touching a spot on her forehead and raised her hand to feel it. "Is it very obvious? Is it bruised or bleeding?"
Their fingers accidentally brushed, sending a strange sensation through Wei Xunzhou. He withdrew his hand.
That spot was exactly the middle of her forehead. Either way, it must have looked ridiculous. Besides, Di Yao had heard Meng Po say that the middle of the forehead is the source of the soul; when reincarnating, one needs all three souls—Heaven, Earth, and Man—to safely enter the cycle of rebirth. Otherwise, they would wander the Underworld as lonely ghosts and eventually dissipate.
The thought of not being able to reincarnate made Di Yao panic. She grabbed Wei Xunzhou's arm, stood on tiptoe, and asked anxiously, "Husband, take a good look—is there anything wrong with my forehead?"
Her sudden closeness forced Wei Xunzhou to instinctively step back, his whole body stiffening as he pressed against something.
Di Yao's delicate, sparkling face was suddenly inches away. Wei Xunzhou blinked, refocusing.
The girl's forehead was full and smooth, skin fine, with a layer of tiny fuzz at the hairline, and a barely noticeable little bump in the middle.
"No, it's fine."
Instead of backing off, Di Yao leaned in, nearly bumping her forehead against his chin. "Then husband, take a closer look—can you vaguely see the mark of the Three Souls?"
Wei Xunzhou looked into her eyes, his tone a mix of doubt and inquiry: "Mark?"
"I heard from Granny Meng that everyone has Three Souls, which converge into three lines at the middle of the forehead. If one's Three Souls are incomplete, they still cannot cross Naihe Bridge."
Wei Xunzhou knew this too, but he also knew that ordinary people couldn't see the mark of the Three Souls; it required spiritual power.
For him, however, he didn't need spiritual power to see the marks on everyone's forehead.
Could it be that Di Yao suspected something and was testing him?
His Adam's apple moved slightly as he pressed on her shoulders to create distance. "There's nothing at all."
To be honest, Di Yao hadn't held much hope, as she herself had never seen the mark. Curiosity getting the better of her, she circled around to Wei Xunzhou, wrapped her arm around his neck, and pulled his face close.
Wei Xunzhou was a head taller, so he had to bend over to let her line up with his forehead.
Her sudden move caught him off guard; he almost lost balance and instinctively reached out to steady himself on her waist.
Taking advantage of his confusion, Di Yao examined the middle of his forehead carefully, saw nothing, and quickly let go, leaving his hand hanging in midair.
"Then it's fine. I can't see any mark on husband's forehead either." Feeling guilty, she ran off to the other side of the field and busied herself planting seeds.
Wei Xunzhou cleared his throat and turned back to the house.
Since it was her first attempt, Di Yao didn't plant much and finished quickly. After watering, she left the house excitedly.
Over the next few days, every time she came home, her first task was to check on the backyard, watering from time to time, with exceptional care.