Farm Girl's Manor
Chapter 1111 - 356: The Rings, The Zoo

Chapter 1111: Chapter 356: The Rings, The Zoo

The heavy snow outside rustled, while the two people inside slept profoundly. By the time they woke up, it was already near the end of the Late Shen hour.

Mo Yan’s face flushed red from sleep, as if she had applied a layer of fine rouge. She climbed out of bed in a daze, pressing and massaging her swollen forehead, and it took her quite a while to completely wake up.

Seeing Xiao Ruiyuan still asleep, a smile inadvertently appeared at the corners of Mo Yan’s lips. She tiptoed out of the bed, one foot already on the floor, and just as she was about to lift the other, her wrist was suddenly caught, and with a surprised cry, she was forcefully pulled back under the covers.

"Yanyan, lie with me for a while longer," Xiao Ruiyuan murmured without opening his eyes, half-pressing his body on hers, his head buried in her neck, his voice deep and hoarse, adding a touch of sexiness.

"Get up, you’re crushing me to death," Mo Yan gasped for air under his weight, her face full of distaste as she spoke.

Xiao Ruiyuan, however, thought the body beneath him was extremely soft, and not wanting to distress his beloved woman, he reluctantly propped himself up on his arm by her side, gazing deeply into her face as if he could never get enough.

This pose was too intimate, and being looked at with such intensity, even Mo Yan, who prided herself on having thick skin, could barely withstand it. A wave of heat crept silently from the bottom of her heart, making her already flushed cheeks even more dazzling.

"Move, move away, I need to get up and prepare dinner," Mo Yan swallowed and pushed against Xiao Ruiyuan’s chest with her hands in front of her. She was afraid that if this continued, she wouldn’t be able to control herself from turning into a sensuous woman and throwing herself at him. That would mean losing face completely.

"There’s plenty of time, no rush," Xiao Ruiyuan hooked his lips into a light smile, whispering low into Mo Yan’s ear. Whether intentional or not, his voice was a few degrees deeper than usual, leaving no room for resistance.

Seeing this, Mo Yan simply gave up resisting, her fingers unconsciously poking the hard chest above her, only to touch something even harder on her second poke.

She instinctively reached out to feel it and encountered a small, square object, prompting her to ask Xiao Ruiyuan, "What are you hiding here?"

Xiao Ruiyuan paused and then reached into his garment, quickly pulling out a small wooden box. The box was indeed tiny, square, and about the size of an egg.

"What can you fit in here?" Mo Yan, curious, took the small box, truly intrigued by what was inside.

Xiao Ruiyuan smiled slightly and encouraged, "Open it and see."

Upon hearing this, Mo Yan knew that whatever was inside was meant for her. Her eyes immediately filled with anticipation, and she carefully opened the box with her right hand.

"Matching rings?" Mo Yan let out a small exclamation of surprise, truly not expecting to find a pair of rings set with rubies inside the box.

"Do you like them?" Xiao Ruiyuan asked softly.

"Mmm, I like them," Mo Yan nodded vigorously, her gaze towards Xiao Ruiyuan brimming with emotion.

In Great Chu, rings, especially matching ones, were not in vogue, nor were they exchanged as tokens between husband and wife at marriage. However, within this tradition lay a deeply touching legend.

Legend has it, a thousand years ago, there was a couple with deep affection for each other. However, to outsiders, the husband seemed far from happy because his wife was a Tiger Mother. She not only controlled her husband’s property but also kept a tight rein on him, forbidding him from taking concubines and even from glancing at other women.

If it were any other man, such a wife would have been divorced long ago. Yet, the affection between this couple was extraordinarily strong, and when other women who envied the wife asked her for the secret to keeping her husband’s fidelity, the wife said nothing and merely extended her right hand. On her ring finger was a gold band, and on her husband’s left hand ring finger, there was a similar gold ring of the same style and material.

People believed that the husband was so good to his wife because the wife had cast a spell on the gold bands, tightly binding him to her, ensuring his ever-faithful devotion. Many sought to emulate this, but in such a male-dominated era, few men were willing to accept such rings, for wearing them meant, as the legend said, submitting to a wife’s control and never being unfaithful.

The veracity of this legend is unverifiable, but the symbolism of matching rings has been passed down. The rings in Mo Yan’s hands were of the finest material, craftsmanship, and style. However, what she cared about wasn’t their actual value, but rather the sentiment behind them from Xiao Ruiyuan.