Chapter 20: Sharing the Bed
Chapter 20: Sharing the Bed
Zhou Chenglei's hand, holding the water ladle, accidentally shook. He quickly grabbed the dry towel from the back of the chair and draped it over Jiang Xia’s neck, covering the alluring scene.
Suddenly, a large amount of water trickled down her neck. Unaware of the reason, Jiang Xia hurriedly wiped her neck with the towel. "Too fast, slow down. My clothes are all wet."
"Sorry," he said, his voice slightly hoarse.
After finally helping Jiang Xia wash her hair, Zhou Chenglei carried two large buckets of hot water into the shower room for her to bathe.
Luckily, Zhou's mother had already returned to her room. Otherwise, if she had insisted they bathe together, who knows how that would have played out.
After her shower, Jiang Xia sat in the courtyard to dry her hair.
The night breeze was pleasant, carrying a faint hint of the sea.
The fishing village's night sky was free from light pollution, with stars scattered across it.
Jiang Xia, holding a red plastic comb, was combing her hair while thinking about what to do next.
She definitely needed to take the college entrance exam, not just for the degree, but to legitimize the knowledge she had acquired in her previous life.
However, she couldn't take the exam this year; the deadline had passed, and with only a hundred yuan, she didn't have enough money. She needed to find a way to earn money and take the exam next year.
At the latest, she had to take the exam next year, as the story's setting dictated that married people could no longer take the exam after that.
But how could she earn money?
Zhou Chenglei came out after his shower and saw Jiang Xia lost in thought, gazing at the night sky. Not knowing what she was thinking, he said, "The courtyard is windy, and there are many mosquitoes. Dry your hair and go to bed early, don't catch a cold."
Jiang Xia snapped back to reality and glanced at the basin containing both their clothes. Her face flushed slightly, and she quickly responded, "Okay, I'll go to my room then."
When she finished her shower, he had taken the basin of clothes from her.
She insisted she could wash them herself, given that they were getting divorced.
He gave her a faint look. "Aren’t you the one who can’t wash them? I’ve always done it for you, a few more days won’t make a difference."
What could Jiang Xia say to that?
After Jiang Xia returned to her room, Zhou Chenglei started washing the clothes they had both changed out of.
In the room, Jiang Xia’s hair was already dry.
Lying in bed, she looked at the old, white mosquito net, listening to the sound of clothes being washed outside. She wondered, would Zhou Chenglei come back to the room after he finished washing the clothes?
Probably not! They had agreed to divorce, and last night, Zhou Chenglei hadn’t slept in the same room as her. Now that he had his own room, he would likely stay there.
Not long after, the sound of a door closing came from the living room, followed by another from the room next to hers.
Hearing this, Jiang Xia turned off the light and went to sleep.
The cicadas chirped outside, and the distant sound of the sea waves could be heard. The room was quiet, perfect for sleeping.
Exhausted from the day, Jiang Xia quickly felt drowsy.
Half asleep, she heard a faint rustling from the roof tiles, as if something was crawling.
Jiang Xia froze!
She opened her eyes wide, but in the darkness, she couldn’t see anything. Suddenly, she remembered the two snakes in the room during the day.
She recalled her great-grandmother’s words about a nest of snake eggs and a brood of snakelets.
Jiang Xia: "…"
Why was she thinking about this now?
It must be a mistake. She pulled the blanket over her head.
But the rustling from the roof tiles continued.
The room was so quiet that the sound was particularly clear!
"Zhou Chenglei!"
Her scream nearly lifted the roof tiles!
Throwing off the blanket, 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 scream. He ran out without putting his shirt back on.
A dark figure immediately pounced on him, clinging to him like a sloth.
"There are snakes! Snakes on the roof!"
Zhou’s parents were startled awake, but Zhou Zhou, being a child, slept soundly, snoring away.
The two of them, startled, quickly got out of bed and left the room to check what was happening.
Zhou Mother had just opened the door when she hurriedly closed it again.
"What's wrong with her now?" Zhou Father, who was following her, was clearly annoyed at being woken up. This wasn't the first time she had caused a commotion in the middle of the night.
Zhou Mother pushed Zhou Father back to bed. "It's nothing, nothing. Ah Lei is here! Xia Xia probably got scared by a snake during the day and is having a nightmare."
Zhou Mother had heard from Great-Grandmother about the snake in the house earlier that day.
Zhou Father, upon hearing this, dismissed it. "It's just a snake. You see them every few days in the summer, and Ah Lei knows how to catch them. What's there to be afraid of?" He thought people from the city were just easily frightened.
The two of them lay back down and went back to sleep.
In another room, Zhou Chenglei was holding Jiang Xia, turning on the light and shining a flashlight around the room.
There was no way to get her to let go and get down from his arms.
With his right arm holding Jiang Xia and his left hand holding the flashlight, Zhou Chenglei carefully checked every corner of the room.
Even though he knew it was unlikely to be a snake and more likely a rat, he still conducted a thorough inspection.
"See, there's no snake. It was probably a rat crawling on the roof. Rats usually don't bite people." His right ear had been injured and was almost deaf, leaving him with only one ear to hear. That's why he hadn't heard the commotion, but he could guess.
Jiang Xia, still in his arms, looked around with the flashlight. There was nothing, but she was still afraid!
He might not understand, but she was genuinely terrified of snakes.
"I can't sleep alone."
Zhou Chenglei: "..."
The floor had been washed earlier and was still damp, so they couldn't set up a bed on the floor. In the end, Zhou Chenglei carried her back to the adjacent room to fetch his pillow, a thin blanket, and the clothes he had just taken off.
He usually slept shirtless, but he couldn't do that with her in the room.
Jiang Xia lay on the inner side of the bed, watching as he put on a long-sleeved shirt and buttoned it up to the top, the muscles in his arms and chest visible through the fabric...
Zhou Chenglei turned off the light, sat down on the bed, pulled the mosquito net over them, and lay down.
"Go to sleep!" His voice was deep and a bit hoarse.
There was a gap between them, with a thin blanket placed between them for separation.
Jiang Xia closed her eyes, feeling reassured.
It was mid-August, and without a fan or air conditioning, the heat from the person next to her was almost suffocating. Jiang Xia felt hot and thirsty.
At thirty, she was in her prime, and the thought of being in the same bed as this attractive man made her heart race...
What was she thinking? Jiang Xia was startled by her own thoughts, turned over to face the wall, and gently kicked off the thin blanket, replacing it with a hug. She tried to clear her mind of those inappropriate thoughts, listening to the cicadas and the sound of the waves, forcing herself to think of nothing and fall asleep.
Zhou Chenglei was also feeling the heat, especially with the thin blanket on him.
The bed was only 1.5 meters wide, and with two people lying on it, it felt a bit cramped. The blanket made it safer.
Feeling Jiang Xia kick off the blanket, he asked, "Are you hot?"
Jiang Xia's body stiffened, and she replied, "Yes, it's hot."
It was August, and the heat was normal.
Zhou Chenglei got up, took a large palm fan, and lay back down, gently fanning both of them.
The cool breeze from the palm fan was light and soothing, just enough to keep them comfortable without being too cold.
The comfortable breeze and the steady, calming presence of the person next to her soon had Jiang Xia's breathing become shallow and steady.
Zhou Chenglei felt her fall asleep, but he couldn't. He wanted to go fetch two buckets of well water to cool off, but it was too hot.
However, as soon as he moved, the person next to him turned over and draped her limbs over him.
Zhou Chenglei: "..."
It wasn't until the early hours of the morning that Zhou Chenglei finally drifted off to sleep, only to be woken up soon after by the whispers of his parents outside.
Zhou Chenglei opened his eyes: It was time to go out to sea!
(End of Chapter)
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