Chapter 39 - A Gentle Heart (2)

Chapter 39 – A Gentle Heart (2)

Translator: Lunarise

Editor: Lunarise

Proofreader: Livyuna

He was still picky about food. He wouldn’t eat fatty meats, peppercorn, or aniseed, but still used them in his cooking, in much smaller amounts than Zhao Xi, though. His cooking was much lighter than hers. Eating someone else’s cooking gave you a view of their tastes. Shen Fei hadn’t used onions or coriander, so she wouldn’t put them in his food anymore.

He also had a clear preference for vegetables, eating little in the way of meat. In fact, the only meat he served was to add flavoring. The three dishes he cooked were all vegetable, without a single meat-based dish. Two dried fish were still hanging in the kitchen. Shen Fei hadn’t touched then.

Were they too fishy, so he didn’t want to touch them, or did he just not like eating fish? If she steamed fish, he would eat it, so he didn’t dislike it. Perhaps he thought they were too disgusting to touch. The same might apply to meat. Perhaps he thought it was too oily and he didn’t want to touch it.

It seemed likely.

Zhao Xi must have been staring at him for a moment too long, because he paused his chopsticks and asked, “What’s wrong?”

She shook her head. “Nothing.”

He lowered his eyes, continuing to pick at his food. He liked the insides of the eggplants, the parts that were cooked soft. He wasn’t fond of the skin, though. The garlic added a nice flavor to the dish. But why had he cut the eggplant into long rectangles without cutting through the insides? Strange.

She ate the sides and the skin, leaving the soft parts for him. Zhao Xi was the exact opposite of Shen Fei; not remotely picky, just happy to have something, anything to eat. Strong and oily, light and clean, sour, sweet, bitter, hot: she would eat them all with gusto.

The meal consisted of three dishes, but Shen Fei didn’t eat much. He still clung to his ideals about etiquette, and wouldn’t let them go, no matter how rustic his lifestyle had become. Zhao Xi ate the rest of the food and washed it down with a bowl of tea. After washing the pots and dishes, she slid into bed next to Shen Fei, happy and satisfied.

Eating a hearty meal only seemed to remind her how tired she was. Her legs were still a little swollen from the long walk. It might be morning, but she was too tired to work, so she might as well get some sleep. The rest of the chores could wait until she woke up.

What was meant to be a short nap lasted until dusk. She slept straight through and woke up dazed. Opening her bleary eyes, Zhao Xi found herself hugging Shen Fei’s wrist. She’d been sleeping on the back of his hand. Surely, she’d only been sleeping on it for a while? But when she sat up, his whole hand flushed red, like all the blood was suddenly rushing back into it.

How long must she have been lying on it for the circulation to have cut off? Why didn’t he wake her up? She’d been asleep anywhere between six to ten hours. Had he been sitting there with his hand trapped underneath her head for that long?

“Why didn’t you wake me?”

A surge of guilt went through her. Shen Fei’s body was already so damaged. This was his only good hand. What if she’d damaged it? If something happened to this hand because of her, he would be paralyzed, trapped in bed and unable to eat or drink on his own.

“It was only a little while.” He tucked his hand under the cover where she couldn’t see it.

Too late, Zhao Xi had already seen it. He was lying. It had been much longer than just a little while. But he wasn’t willing to admit it, so she didn’t push.

Still, this little detail was worth examining. Did he not hate her as much as she thought he did? He would rather let himself down, than let her down. But he’d always been rather passive. No matter what Zhao Xi did to him, he never complained. Shaving him seemed to have hit a nerve, but he’d expressed his anger by starving himself and ignoring her. He never tried to lash out at her.

Zhao Xi was confident that beneath Shen Fei’s cold exterior, lay a gentle heart.

After being around each other for so long, it was more accurate to say that he spoiled her instead of the other way around. He let her take whatever liberties she liked, rarely getting angry. It was the same thing as indulging her. Zhao Xi was slowly being spoilt rotten by him.

Everything she did was because of his silent permission, and she was growing more and more bold. If he hadn’t gotten angry yesterday, chances where she would have done something even more out of line. It dawned on her suddenly why he would be so angry, then seem to have recovered by the time she got back.