Inviting the Moon to the Farmhouse

Chapter 124 Riverside Rendezvous

Xia Yao and Xia Lanyue walked one after the other out of the reed marsh.

Xia Lanyue followed behind with a limp. She wasn't walking fast to begin with, and she deliberately slowed down even more. Xia Yao seemed to be waiting for her, maintaining a distance of a few steps at a moderate pace.

Xia Lanyue recalled the woman who had just embraced Xia Yao. She had a good figure, but it was too dark to see the woman's face clearly.

It turns out that Xia Yao already had a woman he liked.

For some reason, she felt a little sad.

Xia Lanyue was lost in thought when she bumped into Xia Yao's back without realizing it. She quickly stepped back and steadied herself. "Um... I... I didn't mean to, I didn't see anything."

Xia Yao turned around and stared at her for a long time. "Why aren't you sleeping at night? Where are you going?"

Xia Lanyue didn't look up at him. "It's what you saw. Go find Dai You." She knew she couldn't hide it from him by lying, so she simply told him the truth.

“But you won’t see him even if you go,” Xia Yao said calmly. “Come back with me.”

Xia Lanyue looked at the road leading to the town beside her, lowered her eyes, and said, "I don't want to."

“It takes an hour to walk from here to the town. With your legs, it will take at least two hours. Do you think you can make it?”

Xia Lanyue was unsure about what he had said, but she really didn't want to go to the Xia family again, especially since she had stumbled upon Xia Yao's affair today and was even more afraid of being schemed against by him.

"You don't need to worry about that. I believe I can do it."

“You know there are wild animals in the woods at night,” Xia Yao said, raising an eyebrow.

Xia Lanyue swallowed hard. "You don't want me to leave because you're afraid I'll spread your secrets, right? Hmph, the girl the rumors are talking about, that must be her, right?" At this moment, Xia Lanyue looked up and stared directly at Xia Yao. "How about this, I won't tell you your secret, and you let me leave, okay?"

Xia Yao shook his head. "What secret do I have?"

“It was you having a secret rendezvous with that woman, I saw it all,” Xia Lanyue said, tilting her head back.

"That woman? Who is that woman? Don't try to label me like that," Xia Yao retorted.

"What?!" Xia Lanyue was also a little angry; he was lying through his teeth.

"Alright, you've misunderstood. I don't have that kind of relationship with her!" Xia Yao said.

"Ha," Xia Lanyue laughed in anger, "I saw it with my own eyes, you really can deny it! Your skin is really..." Xia Lanyue didn't finish her sentence. She knew that saying more would be useless, so she simply ignored him and turned to walk towards the river.

Xia Yao reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her. "Come back with me."

Xia Lanyue shook off his arm, "It's none of your business."

Xia Yao snatched the cane from her hand and threw it into the bushes.

"Sigh, you..." Xia Lanyue glared at Xia Yao, then turned around to pick it up.

Xia Yao then snatched the bundle from her shoulder and slung it over his own. Xia Lanyue reached out to take it back, but Xia Yao grabbed her arm, picked her up in his arms, and carried her towards the Xia family home, ignoring her protests.

"Put me down, or I'll call for help!" Xia Lanyue said angrily.

"If others see us like this, they'll definitely think we're flirting, and that would really confirm the rumors," Xia Yao said without any worry.

"You! Shameless. Put me down!" Xia Lanyue began to struggle.

"If you move again, I'll let go. If you fall on your butt, you'll have to rest for several days," Xia Yao said, pretending to let go. With the sudden release, Xia Lanyue reflexively hugged Xia Yao's neck.

Xia Lanyue quickly let go of her hand. Seeing that being forceful didn't work, she tried being gentle. "Xia Yao, I haven't done anything to wrong you, have I? Can you please let me go?"

"What are you talking about? I'm doing this for your own good, I don't want you to be eaten by wolves, why don't you appreciate it?" Xia Yao didn't look at her.

Seeing that gentle persuasion didn't work, he said helplessly, "Put me down, I won't run away anymore."

Xia Yao glanced at her, said nothing, and put her down.

After landing, Xia Lanyue sighed, straightened her clothes, and slowly walked towards the Xia family home. "Xia Yao, does your mother know about that rumor?"

Xia Yao nodded.

Xia Lanyue frowned. It turned out that she was the only one who found out last. "Does she know about that girl from earlier?"

Xia Yao neither nodded nor shook his head, offering her no answer.

It seems Xia Huifang doesn't know, Xia Lanyue thought to herself.

"Do you want to tell my mother about this?" Xia Yao asked.

Xia Lanyue ignored him.

Xia Yao didn't seem to care. "It's no use telling her. I won't admit it, not just to her, but to everyone."

"Wow, you're too..." Xia Lanyue wanted to say he was shameless, but she swallowed her words back. After all, she was in his hands, and she felt that she couldn't anger him to avoid causing trouble. So she thought for a moment, "Don't you want to give her a proper status? Your mother will definitely be very happy when she finds out. She has been looking forward to your marriage for a long time."

Xia Yao walked ahead without turning around, only nodding.

Seeing him nod, Xia Lanyue was overjoyed, thinking she had persuaded him, but things were not like that.

“I don’t know this girl well,” Xia Yao said.

"Ha," Xia Lanyue laughed in exasperation at his reply. Hugging someone they weren't even close to?! Did he really think she was stupid? He'd even say something like this to keep it a secret from outsiders.

Why doesn't he want people to know about this? Isn't it a good thing that he has a woman? At least Xia Huifang would be very happy. Could it be that their relationship can't be made public?!

Xia Lanyue thought about it carefully. The two were close and met secretly in the middle of the night. Xia Yao was single but refused to make it public. There could only be one possibility: the woman had a man and they were having an affair!

Xia Yao, Xia Yao, so you like this kind of thing? I never would have guessed. Xia Lanyue was secretly delighted; this time she had something on her hands.

At this moment, Xia Lanyue tried her best to keep a low profile. She didn't want to be discovered by Xia Yao. After all, she didn't know who that woman was! To catch someone in the act, you need to catch them in the act. She couldn't just rely on her words to identify the person, and no one would believe her anyway!

Soon, they arrived at the Xia family home. Xia Yao escorted Xia Lanyue back to her room, saying, "Get some rest, don't even think about running away," before turning and going back inside.

Xia Lanyue lay back on the bed, having lost all energy to run away. She was exhausted and couldn't possibly make it to town. Lying on the bed, thinking about the evening's events, she drifted off to sleep.

In the morning, Xia Huifang, as usual, ate breakfast and went to work in the fields with Acheng. Aniu had been busy with his wedding and had already gone home to live.

The Xia family is now down to just Xia Yao and her.

Xia Lanyue felt fine after finishing her meal and went back to sleep.

Just as noon approached, she vaguely heard someone calling her name at the door, "Dai Xiyue? Dai Xiyue? Are you there?"

Xia Lanyue suddenly woke up from her dream. She listened intently until she heard someone outside the door call her name again. Only then did she realize that this was not a dream, and judging from the voice, it sounded like Jiang Di!

Jiang Di came to pick her up?! Xia Lanyue was so excited she almost cried.

She quickly got up, leaned against the wall, went out the door, and called out to the gate, "I'm here, wait for me."

Just then, the door to the west room opened, and Xia Yao walked out, seemingly on purpose.

Xia Lanyue's heart jumped. Was he here to stop her? Xia Lanyue had a bad feeling.