After the first slap, Cheng Yuan asked, "Feel better? If not, keep going."
Jiang Xiao didn't hold back this time. "You told me to hit you."
"Yes, I told you to," Cheng Yuan said, holding her hand and slapping himself several times. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. He coaxed her gently, "Good girl, I made breakfast. Eat before you go, okay?"
In Jiang Xiao's memory, Cheng Yuan never cooked. In all the years they'd known each other, he hadn't even set foot in the kitchen once.
"You cooked?" she asked doubtfully. "You can cook?"
"Yes." The old Cheng Yuan never touched a drop of water in the kitchen. After losing her, he learned a lot, and cooking was one of them. "I made your favorite lotus seed porridge."
"People's tastes change. Just because I liked it before doesn't mean I'll like it now," Jiang Xiao said. "I don't like it anymore."
Just like she no longer liked him.
Cheng Yuan lifted her hand and pressed it to his lips. "Then tell me what you like now, and I'll make it."
Jiang Xiao deliberately made things difficult, rattling off a long list. "Can you make all of these?"
Cheng Yuan: "If you like them, I can."
He had a servant buy the ingredients and went to the kitchen to cook millet porridge. By the time the servant returned, the porridge was ready.
Jiang Xiao came out of the bathroom after a shower. Before she could take a few steps, Cheng Yuan scooped her up. His soft voice sounded in her ear: "Why aren't you wearing slippers? Let me carry you."
Back then, let alone slippers—even if she were barefoot, he wouldn't have bothered.
Jiang Xiao looked at him sideways. "Doing this won't make me soften."
"I don't need you to soften," Cheng Yuan said. "You can keep doing whatever you want. As long as you don't leave, I'm fine with anything."
The way he begged was satisfying. Jiang Xiao poked his chest. "How many women have you said that to?"
She hadn't forgotten his playboy ways.
"None," Cheng Yuan said, setting her on the sofa and kneeling before her on one knee. He held her hand, tilted his chin up, and looked up at her. "I've only ever said this to you."
"You think I'll believe that?" Jiang Xiao put her foot on his knee, pressing and scratching. "Too many lies will bring bad karma."
His greatest karma was losing her. He leaned forward, letting her mess with him more freely. "As long as you come back, I'll bear any karma."
"So, Xiao Xiao, will you come back?"
Jiang Xiao moved her foot up, deliberately stepping on the injured spot on his side. "That depends on what you do."
"What do I need to do for you to come back?" Cheng Yuan's eyes lit up. "Tell me, and I'll do it."
"Come here. Kiss me." Jiang Xiao lifted her foot to his mouth, asking him to kiss it.
She was deliberately making it hard for him. In the three years of their marriage, whenever they were intimate, he seldom even kissed her, let alone her foot.
He said he didn't like kissing.
She used to think he simply didn't like it. Only later did she realize it was because he detested her. He hated her that much.
"What? Unwilling?" Jiang Xiao knew it would be like this. She made to pull back, but he grabbed her ankle.
He lowered his head and kissed the top of her foot, then trailed up along her ankle to her calf.
As he kissed, he looked up at her. "Xiao Xiao, do you like it?"
Jiang Xiao remained expressionless. "So-so."
"Then how about this?" He slid his hand under her skirt, touching her delicate skin, breathing heavily. "Do you like this?"
Jiang Xiao said nothing, watching his "performance." When the desire in his eyes was strongest, she kicked him away and stood up. "Okay, I'm hungry."
She brushed past his shoulder and walked out.
Cheng Yuan braced himself on the sofa, panting. His Adam's apple bobbed several times before he calmed the lust inside. When he went downstairs, he had changed into clean clothes. The previous ones were dirty.
Jiang Xiao had a weak stomach and was picky about food—a habit from childhood that couldn't be changed. In the past, Cheng Yuan couldn't stand it. Whenever she refused to eat, he'd always make cold remarks.
"You're an adult, not a child. You're past the age of being picky. You'd better watch yourself, or people will laugh."
"Don't let people say the Cheng family has no manners."
"Jiang Xiao, don't embarrass the Jiang family either."
He only scolded; he never once thought about how Jiang Xiao felt hearing those words.
Today, Jiang Xiao was still the same: no sweets, no astringent food, no hard food, no greasy food, no fishy food.
After just two spoonfuls of porridge, she put down her chopsticks.
"I'm full. You eat."
When she tried to leave, Cheng Yuan grabbed her hand and looked up. "You haven't finished the porridge."
"No appetite. Don't want it." Jiang Xiao refused.
"But you said you wanted it just now," Cheng Yuan said.
"'Just now' is just now. I don't want it now," Jiang Xiao pulled her hand away. "Cheng Yuan, you have no right to control me."
Yes, he had no right. And he couldn't bear to. "I'm not trying to control you. I just feel sorry for you."
Cheng Yuan stood up and squeezed her wrist. "You've lost weight again."