He knew she was beautiful.
Especially when there was a reflection of him in her eyes, she was truly captivating.
Suddenly, Pei Xia lowered his head, one hand gripping her chin, and he kissed her forcefully.
Qi Jiao was startled by his aggressive move. Pei Xia's eyes were as deep as the sea and as burning as a raging fire. Qi Jiao felt as if all the air in her mouth was being sucked out, yet she couldn't bear to push him away.
She tilted her head back and let him kiss her.
His cold and slender fingers lingered on her body, stroking down to her collarbone, then gently opening her collar. When he touched her delicate skin, the bright - green corset outlined her perfect figure, a beauty that was truly astonishing.
His breathing hitched for a moment. Through the clothes, he took the softness into his mouth.
It grew firmer.
She didn't know when the blanket had slipped off. Qi Jiao felt as if she had fallen into a gorgeous dream, every part of her body was in a state of bliss. She gradually sank deeper and deeper, unable to extricate herself.
The cold surface was against her back, while in front of her, there was a searing heat.
Pei Xia left one restrained yet passionate kiss after another on her fair skin. His arousal was already too obvious to ignore. Even with her eyes closed, Qi Jiao could feel it deeply. She reached out and held it.
It was difficult for her delicate hand to fully encircle it. She pressed it gently.
Pei Xia raised his head, sucking in a sharp breath. The lust in his eyes grew even stronger.
Qi Jiao gave a soft laugh and teased him with her tongue.
Pei Xia kissed her almost frantically, deeply.
The wick in the oil lamp crackled and burst open. Pei Xia was suddenly jolted awake.
After a long while, he sighed and buried his head in the crook of her neck. He whispered softly, "No. We can't do this here."
This cramped and narrow cabin was not the right place.
He had already made Jiao Niang suffer so much.
Pei Xia silently picked up the blanket on the ground, dusted it off, and wrapped it around her again.
Qi Jiao stroked his thick, black sideburns with one hand. Her face was flushed with passion, her almond - shaped eyes were filled with moisture, and she stared at him tenderly.
She was only surprised for a moment, and then she understood Pei Xia's thoughts.
A sweet and indescribable feeling welled up in her heart. He cherished her.
So he stopped at the crucial moment.
Actually, with her modern - era mindset, Qi Jiao didn't really care about these ritual details. But it was obvious that Pei Xia did.
In that case, she would wait for him.
"Go to sleep." Qi Jiao rolled over to the inside, leaving a space for Pei Xia.
After waiting for a while, the man didn't move.
Suddenly, something cold slid down her neck to her chest.
Qi Jiao looked down and picked it up. It was a pinkish - flesh - colored coral, about the size of a thumb, carved into a teardrop shape, with a thin silver chain attached. It was quite delicate and cute.
Pei Xia knelt behind Qi Jiao, tidied up her hair, and whispered, "Do you like it?"
Qi Jiao turned her head, smiling, "It's so beautiful! I love it!"
"When did you prepare it secretly? It must have been hard for you to hide it for so long."
Pei Xia hugged her from behind and said with a smile, "It was really hard to hide. I got this baby - face coral while diving a few days ago. The moment I saw it, I thought it would look great on you."
Qi Jiao stroked the smooth coral, leaned over slightly, and gently kissed Pei Xia on the cheek.
The soft pink of the coral and the faint glow of the silver chain made Jiao Niang's skin look even fairer.
Pei Xia was filled with a sweet kind of distress. He knew this night would be a long one for him.
Time passed slowly on the sea. Qi Jiao felt as if she and Pei Xia were on a vacation.
Thankfully, they had quite a good harvest in the past few days.
On their way back, they even encountered two schools of fish. Fish of all sizes and colors swam and jumped around the fishing boat, a spectacular and lively sight.
Qi Jiao was extremely excited. She threw out pieces of bread while shouting for Pei Xia to cast the net.
Surprisingly, the fish didn't scramble for the food. Instead, they seemed to be competing to jump towards Qi Jiao, gradually forming a small circular current.
Pei Xia was steady and accurate. With one smooth motion, he caught a catch that was several times more abundant than usual.
If the fishing boat hadn't been full, they could have caught even more.
Pei Xia wasn't greedy. There was joy in the corners of his eyes and eyebrows. These sea creatures would be enough for the whole family to have a good New Year.
Qi Jiao helped him sort out the different kinds of sea creatures. Looking at the fish, she said with a smile, "Thank you all."
The plump fish kept jumping towards her hand, splashing water everywhere. Pei Xia also noticed this.
A look of surprise flashed across his face, and he blurted out, "These fish... don't tell me they're here for you?"
This had never happened before when he went out to sea, and this wasn't an area where fish usually gathered.
The only difference this time was that he had Jiao Niang with him.
Qi Jiao was also taken aback for a moment, then she laughed and said, "Maybe we're just lucky."
What other explanation could there be?
Anyway, it wasn't a bad thing.
With their harvest, they were eager to get home. They felt that the journey back was smooth sailing, and before they knew it, they had reached the shore.
Qi Jiao packed her bags and got off the boat. Pei Xia walked her home first.
Qi Jiao saw that there were many boats and fishermen on the dock. She pointed to the small fishing boat beside them and looked at him with her eyes, asking what to do with the sea creatures on the boat.
Pei Xia understood and said, "It's okay. I'll come back right after I take you home."
He waved to a strong man who was moving goods across the way. "Brother Mi Sheng will help me watch it."
Mi Sheng was a strong and honest man. He put down the sack and smiled at them.
Qi Jiao felt relieved and then walked back with Pei Xia.
Pei Li and Pei Jin had gone to the duck farm. Only Tang Guiniang was at home.
She heard the puppy barking in the yard and quickly went out to check.
Qi Jiao was just picking up Huang Huang, who was barking happily, and giving it a kiss.
Huang Huang was her ochre - yellow puppy. It had grown a bit. Its ear tips were blunt and round, and it ran around the yard all day long. It was in the stage of exploring the outside world.
Strangely enough, this dog was extremely intelligent. Every time Qi Jiao came home, before she even reached the door, Huang Huang would run out to greet her.
Qi Jiao loved Huang Huang to bits, and because of this, Huang Huang had been disliked by Pei Xia countless times.
Seeing A Xia and Jiao Niang return safely, the uneasiness in Tang Guiniang's heart completely disappeared. She stepped forward with a smile and said, "I was just thinking about you two. I didn't expect you to be back so soon."
Pei Xia took off the fish basket covered with lotus leaves on his back and handed it to Tang Guiniang.
There were too many people on the way, so they had to be careful not to attract others' attention.
Tang Guiniang lifted the lotus leaves. Her eyes widened in shock immediately. Seeing that there was no one around, she still lowered her voice a bit. "These... these grouper fish. Did you catch them this time?"
There were four in total, which could be exchanged for four gold coins.
Qi Jiao said with a smile, "Of course. All of them. Mother, Pei Xia is so amazing!"
But Pei Xia said, "It's all your good luck. I've never encountered so many rare sea creatures before..."
Tang Guiniang understood as soon as she heard it. She told Pei Xia to quickly pull the cart to deal with the sea creatures on the boat.
She told Qi Jiao to rest at home and then quickly changed into her work clothes and rushed to help.
Qi Jiao thought that she had less experience in dealing with sea creatures than Tang Guiniang and even less than Pei Xia. So she put down her things and went to the duck farm.
She hadn't been there for several days, and she had always been worried about it.
The first batch of ducklings had grown up, but they were still far from being fully mature.
The main thing was that the male and female ducks bought in the same batch were all six or seven months old and had reached the stage of reproduction.
It was cold outside, so the greenhouse they had prepared came in handy.
There were dozens of nests in the greenhouse, and the female ducks were incubating eggs in them.
Since the ducks were restless and would slip out after a while of incubation, Pei Li and Pei Jin simply brought some hens from home and asked them to help incubate the eggs.
Qi Jiao looked at everything and couldn't stop laughing. She praised the two of them non - stop. "What a clever idea. Hahaha."