Chapter 20: Sharing a Bed

Chapter 20: Sharing a Bed

Zhou Chenglei's hand holding the water ladle slipped accidentally. He quickly grabbed the dry towel from the back of the chair and draped it over her neck, obscuring that beautiful, breathtaking view.

Suddenly, a large amount of water flowed down her neck. Unaware of what had happened, Jiang Xia hurriedly used the towel to wipe her neck. "It's too fast, slow down, my clothes are all wet."

"Sorry," he said, his voice slightly husky.

After finally helping Jiang Xia wash her hair, Zhou Chenglei carried two large buckets of hot water into the washroom for her to take a shower.

Fortunately, Mother Zhou had already returned to her room; otherwise, if she had urged them to bathe together, there would have been no way to end the situation.

After her shower, Jiang Xia sat in the courtyard to air-dry her hair.

The wind tonight was very comfortable, carrying a faint scent of the sea.

In the fishing village, there was no light pollution, and the night sky was scattered with stars.

As Jiang Xia combed her hair with a red plastic comb, she thought about what she needed to do next.

She definitely had to take the university entrance exam, not just for the diploma, but so that she could legitimately use the knowledge she had acquired in her previous life.

However, she couldn't participate in this year's exam. The time had passed, and she only had a hundred yuan on her, which certainly wouldn't be enough. She had to find a way to make money and take the exam next year.

She had to take it by next year at the latest, because according to the setting in the book, once someone was married, they could no longer participate in the college entrance exams.

But how could she make money?

Zhou Chenglei came out after his shower. Seeing Jiang Xia staring blankly at the night sky, wondering what she was thinking about, he said, "The wind is strong in the courtyard and there are many mosquitoes. Go to sleep early once your hair is dry so you don't catch a cold."

Jiang Xia snapped out of her thoughts and glanced at their clothes in the basin. Her face felt inexplicably hot, and she quickly responded, "Mm, I'll head back to my room then."

Just after she finished her shower and came out, he had taken the clothes from her basin.

She had said she would wash them herself, since they were getting a divorce after all.

He gave her a faint look. "Can't you wash them? I've always been the one helping you; a few days won't make a difference."

What else could Jiang Xia say?

Once Jiang Xia returned to her room, Zhou Chenglei began washing their changed clothes.

Inside the room, Jiang Xia's hair had already dried.

Lying on the bed, she stared at the snow-white vintage mosquito net and listened to the sound of clothes being scrubbed outside, wondering: *Will Zhou Chenglei come back to this room to sleep after he finishes the laundry?*

Probably not! They had both agreed to get a divorce. Last night, Zhou Chenglei hadn't slept in the same room as her. Now that he had moved in, he had his own room and should sleep in it.

Not long after, the sound of a door closing came from the hall, followed immediately by the sound of the adjacent room's door closing.

Hearing this, Jiang Xia turned off the light and went to sleep.

The cicadas chirped outside the window, and the sound of the waves could be heard faintly. The room was very quiet, perfect for sleeping.

After a tiring day, sleepiness soon overcame her.

In her daze, a faint, strange sound came from the roof tiles, like something crawling over them.

Jiang Xia's entire body stiffened!

She opened her eyes wide. In the darkness, she could see nothing, but she suddenly thought of the two snakes in the room earlier that day.

She thought of what Great-Grandmother had said about a nest of snake eggs hatching into a brood of snakelets.

Jiang Xia: "..."

*Why am I even thinking about this?*

*It can't be. I must have misheard.*

She pulled up the quilt and covered her head.

Just then, the strange sound came from the roof tiles again.

The room was so quiet that she could hear it very clearly!

"Zhou Chenglei!"

That scream nearly blew the roof ridge off!

Throwing off the quilt, pulling back the mosquito net, and jumping out of bed, Jiang Xia ran out like a gust of wind.

In the next room, Zhou Chenglei had just taken off his shirt and was about to sleep when he heard the screaming call. He ran out without even putting his clothes back on.

Then, a dark shadow lunged directly at him, clinging to his body like a sloth.

"There's a snake! There are snakes on the roof!"

Father Zhou and Mother Zhou were both startled awake. Only Zhou Zhou, being a child, was a heavy sleeper, still snoring away.

The two of them hurriedly got out of bed to check.

Mother Zhou opened the room door but quickly shut it again.

"What's wrong with her now?" Father Zhou followed behind her, full of the impatience of being woken up. This wasn't the first time she had made a scene in the middle of the night.

Mother Zhou pushed Father Zhou back toward bed. "It's nothing, it's nothing. Ah-Lei is here! Xia is probably just traumatized by the snakes during the day and had a nightmare."

Mother Zhou had also heard Great-Grandmother mention the snakes in the room during the day.

Upon hearing this, Father Zhou stopped caring. They were just snakes; you see them every few days in the summer. Besides, Ah-Lei knew how to catch snakes, so what was there to fear?

People from the provincial capital were just too easily startled by everything.

The two of them lay back down and went back to sleep.

*

In the other room, Zhou Chenglei held Jiang Xia, turned on the light, and used a flashlight to search everywhere.

There was no helping it; she was clinging to him so tightly, refusing to let go of him to touch the floor.

With his right arm holding Jiang Xia, Zhou Chenglei used his left hand to hold the flashlight, inspecting the area thoroughly.

Even though he knew in his heart it couldn't be a snake and was likely a mouse, he still checked meticulously.

"Look, there are no snakes. It must have been a mouse crawling on the roof. Mice usually don't bite people." His right ear was almost deaf after being injured, leaving him with only one functioning ear, so his hearing wasn't as sharp. That was why he hadn't heard it just now, but he could guess.

Jiang Xia followed the flashlight's beam with her eyes, looking around. There were no snakes, but she was still terrified!

He probably couldn't understand, but she was afraid of snakes—very afraid.

"I don't dare sleep alone."

Zhou Chenglei: "..."

*

The floor had been washed today and wasn't fully dry, so they couldn't sleep on a floor mat. Ultimately, Zhou Chenglei carried her back to the adjacent room to retrieve his pillow, thin quilt, and the clothes he had just taken off.

He was used to sleeping shirtless, but he couldn't sleep shirtless with her.

Jiang Xia lay on the inner side of the bed, watching him put on a long-sleeved shirt and button it all the way to the top, the lines of his muscles faintly visible beneath the fabric...

Zhou Chenglei turned off the light, sat on the bed, tucked in the mosquito net, and lay down.

"Go to sleep," the man's voice was low and slightly husky.

There was a distance between them, and a thin quilt was placed between them as well.

Jiang Xia closed her eyes with peace of mind.

It was the height of summer in August. There were no fans and no air conditioning. The person beside her had a hot aura that was impossible to ignore. Jiang Xia felt a bit hot and her throat felt dry.

They say people in their thirties are like wolves and in their forties like tigers; in her previous life, she had been around that age...

*What am I thinking?* Startled by her own wandering thoughts, Jiang Xia rolled over to face the wall, gently kicked off the thin quilt, and changed to a hugging position. Casting aside the "yellow" nonsense in her mind, she listened to the cicadas and the waves, forcing herself to think of nothing and go to sleep.

Zhou Chenglei was also hot, yet he was still covered by a thin quilt.

The bed was 1.5 meters wide, so lying with two people was a bit close; having a quilt between them felt safer.

Sensing Jiang Xia kick off the quilt, he asked, "Are you hot?"

Jiang Xia's body stiffened, and she replied, "Mm, hot."

In August, being hot was normal.

Zhou Chenglei lifted the quilt, got out of bed, grabbed a large palm leaf fan, and then lay back down, gently fanning the two of them.

The wind from the large fan came in waves—gentle, soft, and cool, just enough to keep them from being too hot or too cold.

Perhaps because the wind was so comfortable, or perhaps because the person beside him had a clear and steady presence that brought peace, Jiang Xia's breathing soon became shallow and steady.

Zhou Chenglei felt that the person beside him had fallen asleep, but he couldn't sleep at all. He wanted to go fetch two buckets of well water to take a shower; it was too hot.

But as soon as he moved, the person beside him turned over, draping her arms and legs over him.

Zhou Chenglei: "..."

It wasn't until the early hours of the morning that Zhou Chenglei drifted into a hazy sleep. It felt like he hadn't slept long when the sound of his parents whispering came from outside the room.

Zhou Chenglei opened his eyes: *It's time to go to sea!*

(End of Chapter)