Inviting the Moon to the Farmhouse

Early in the morning, Xia Lanyue opened the door and saw Xia Yao reading a book in the yard.

"Good morning," Xia Yao greeted Xia Lanyue with a smile.

"Hmm," Xia Lanyue stretched.

Xia Yao pointed to Dai You's room, "Do you know when he came back? I didn't hear a sound."

Xia Lanyue thought for a moment, remembering how soundly he had slept the night before, "Oh, the tavern waiter brought it back."

Xia Yao looked surprised, perhaps because she found Dai You drinking too unexpected. Xia Yao didn't press further. "A-Yue, do you want to go out and have some fun?"

"I don't want to," Xia Lanyue said as she walked into the kitchen and lit the fire.

"Why? You probably haven't been to many places around here!" Xia Yao said.

"I don't want to go on such a hot day," Xia Lanyue said.

Xia Yao looked disappointed and didn't continue. He got up and walked towards Dai You's room.

Xia Lanyue quickly asked, "What are you doing?"

“Wake him up, he should get up,” Xia Yao said.

Xia Lanyue was relieved and said, "Okay."

Dai You didn't know how much he had drunk; the smell of alcohol still lingered on him. During the meal, wafts of the alcohol towards Xia Lanyue's nose.

Xia Lanyue wanted to show concern for Dai You, but seeing his gloomy face, she swallowed back the words she was about to say.

Dai You didn't say anything, he just lowered his head and ate.

Xia Yao was in a hurry to go to Village Chief Zhao's place, and left before everyone had finished eating.

Now, only Xia Lanyue and Dai You were left, and Xia Lanyue felt inexplicably nervous.

Dai You seemed to have something to say, and after hesitating for a long time, he finally spoke, "A-Yue, come back later today, don't wait for me for dinner."

Xia Lanyue sensed something was wrong. "Why? Where are you going?"

"I have something to do, I'll be back later," Dai You said, looking at Xia Lanyue.

Xia Lanyue was a little flustered, "You'll come back, won't you?"

Dai You seemed to see the concern in Xia Lanyue's eyes, smiled, and then nodded.

"Okay, then I won't lock the yard gate tonight."

Xia Lanyue watched Dai You leave, then began making molds in the courtyard.

Dai You was hiding something from her, which made her feel uneasy.

As noon approached, Xia Lanyue felt hot and got up to go back inside.

To Xia Lanyue's surprise, Li Zhuang appeared at the door.

……

As night fell, the last rays of sunlight disappeared from the sky.

The room where Xia Lanyue was located was also plunged into darkness.

As the light faded, her hope vanished, leaving only endless fear in her heart.

She never dreamed that she would be kidnapped by Li Zhuang and locked up in this dilapidated and abandoned house.

Her hands were tied behind her back, and she huddled in the corner of the abandoned house, trembling.

She didn't know where she was. She had been blindfolded when she arrived, and she only felt that Li Zhuang had led her a long way before they arrived at this place.

After abandoning her, Li Zhuang muttered a few angry words, such as "that Xia guy," and "how dare he not return my brother," before leaving.

Xia Lanyue seemed to understand that Li Zhuang had kidnapped her because of Xia Yao.

But there must be some misunderstanding. Xia Yao was just a local official who wrote documents; how could he be involved in arresting people? It must be a misunderstanding on his part.

Xia Lanyue wanted to explain to him, but Li Zhuang never came back after abandoning her.

And so she waited and waited, for half a day.

Gradually, she realized that this might be a good time to escape.

She felt that if she waited any longer, it might be even more dangerous if he came back.

So she decided to take action.

She listened carefully to the sounds outside, only hearing the chirping of insects. She felt this was a good opportunity to escape.

She tried to break free of the ropes binding her hands and feet, but they were tied too tightly, and she couldn't do it with her strength.

She looked around, searching for a sharp tool to cut the rope, but the house was now completely bare, with nothing at all.

She moved slowly toward the door, then peered through the crack to check the situation in the yard.

By the moonlight, she could see the entire courtyard clearly; it was overgrown with weeds and there was no one there.

She was relieved and continued with her plan.

She lifted her foot and used her toes to pry the door open a crack.

However, she could only open it through a small gap because the door was locked from the inside and she couldn't open it.

After several attempts, I had to give up.

Xia Lanyue moved back to the corner and began trying to untie the rope, but to no avail.

Another day passed, and her escape attempt still hadn't made any progress.

She hadn't eaten or drunk anything all day; she was both hungry and scared.

She didn't know if she would die here without anyone noticing.

Thinking about all this, she felt she couldn't delay any longer and decided to continue trying to escape, since the worst that could happen was that she would die here.

She managed to stand up and hopped toward the door.

Just as I reached the door, I heard a loud bang as the courtyard gate was kicked open, followed by the sound of many footsteps approaching the house.

Xia Lanyue was startled and immediately stopped what she was doing, moving backward, but her movements were too slow to dodge.

Hearing the footsteps approaching rapidly, Xia Lanyue panicked so much that she lost her footing.

Just then, the door was kicked open, and before Xia Lanyue could dodge, she was knocked to the side by the door.

Xia Lanyue didn't have time to cry out in pain. She turned around in horror to look at the people who had come, but the light was too dim to see their faces clearly.

Several people rushed into the house, and the originally small room was suddenly filled with half of the space.

Xia Lanyue was so frightened that her mind went blank, and she stared at them blankly.

At that moment, the person at the front of the crowd saw Xia Lanyue and immediately rushed towards her.

Xia Lanyue instinctively backed away, but only when the person got closer did she recognize him – it was Xia Yao! He's here!

"Ah Yue? How are you? Are you alright?" Xia Yao asked, looking Xia Lanyue up and down.

Xia Lanyue was already full of grievances, but when she saw Xia Yao, her heart finally settled down, and tears began to fall uncontrollably.

Xia Yao tenderly removed the cloth from Xia Lanyue's mouth, then untied the ropes binding her, and gently pulled her into his arms, saying, "It's alright, don't be afraid."

At this moment, Xia Lanyue nestled in his arms, unable to control her emotions any longer, and burst into tears.

Seeing their posture, the people inside the house also wisely went to the courtyard, leaving only Xia Yao and Xia Lanyue inside.

After a long while, once Xia Lanyue had calmed down, she finally stepped out of Xia Yao's arms.

Xia Yao wiped away her tears, "He...didn't make things difficult for you, did he?"

Xia Lanyue shook her head and licked her chapped lips. "No, he just left me here and left."

"Let's go back first, we can talk about it slowly when we get back," Xia Yao helped Xia Lanyue to her feet, put his arm around her and walked out of the house, saying to the people in the courtyard, "Let's go."

The people in the courtyard walked towards the gate, mounted their horses, and rode forward.

With Xia Yao's help, Xia Lanyue also mounted a horse, and then Xia Yao mounted the same horse.

"Where are we?" Xia Lanyue asked.

"Suburban".

Xia Yao held the reins with one hand and held Xia Lanyue tightly with the other. He gently squeezed the horse's belly with his legs, and the horse carried the two of them forward.

Xia Lanyue only realized that the two of them were getting quite close after the horse had walked a long way.

At this moment, she could clearly feel Xia Yao's chest rising and falling with his breath, and his breath falling on her ear.

A series of breaths swept over her, tickling her and making her heart flutter.

She felt that she shouldn't have such messy thoughts now that she had just escaped danger, but her face still felt hot involuntarily.

Is this love at first sight? She doesn't know.

Xia Yao seemed to notice her stiffness and glanced down at her, but it was too dark to see her face clearly. "What's wrong? Yue?"

"It's alright, are we almost there?" Xia Lanyue said.

"We're almost there, just around this grove," Xia Yao said, looking ahead.

Thinking of Li Zhuang, Xia Lanyue simply asked, "Where is Li Zhuang? Was he arrested?"

"Ah."

"I heard him talk about his brother," Xia Lanyue asked tentatively, recalling Li Zhuang's words from yesterday.

"What did he say?"

"He said you arrested his brother, is that true? But you're just a clerk, how did you get involved in this?" Xia Lanyue asked, puzzled.

Xia Yao smiled and said, "Those two brothers have committed many evils, and I've wanted to teach them a lesson for a long time."

Xia Lanyue sensed from his tone that it truly concerned him. Did his "numerous misdeeds" include making her suffer the beating? "Does their 'numerous misdeeds' also include suing me?"

"Of course, it's because of you that you got a dozen or so lashes," Xia Yao said, looking at Xia Lanyue with a smile.

Xia Lanyue was stunned. He still remembered these things? And he even stood up for her?! "You did all this, not for me, right?"

"If I said yes, would you be touched? Would you marry me?" Xia Yao said with a smile.

Xia Lanyue turned her head to look at Xia Yao. She didn't know if she could believe his words, so she could only try to find the answer in his eyes.

Xia Yao seemed to sense her gaze, looked down, and when their eyes met, he couldn't help but kiss Xia Lanyue's lips.

This time, Xia Lanyue didn't dodge; to be precise, she had nowhere to hide.

This wasn't their first kiss, but unlike before, Xia Lanyue felt an indescribable nervousness and shyness welling up inside her, and her heart raced.

At first, Xia Yao's lips only lightly caressed each other, but gradually, he deepened the kiss, letting their lips merge together.

Under his guidance, Xia Lanyue's nervousness gradually disappeared in the warm kiss.

Xia Lanyue knew that she had unknowingly given her heart.

She no longer resisted and immersed herself in the feeling.

She didn't know what it felt like to kiss her chapped lips, but Xia Yao seemed to be completely absorbed in it.

His arms tightened around her, and his hand gently caressed her cheek.

They were only interrupted when the horse neighed because the reins had shifted.

The two quickly separated.

Xia Lanyue lowered her head shyly, trying to calm herself down.

Xia Yao then hugged her even tighter.