MFIMM Chapter 67

Rice Planting

Rice Planting

Lin Xi covered himself with the blanket and rolled around on the bed. After a moment, he got up again and paced around the room, fanning himself as he walked.

“It’s so hot, why is it so hot?”

The temperature here wasn’t like A City. Even on early spring evenings, you couldn’t feel the cold, so the room didn’t have the air conditioning on.

Lin Xi ran up and down to drink ice water several times. Pei Jiashu finally came out of the bathroom, and his eyes met Lin Xi’s, who was just coming in from outside.

“Where did you go?” Pei Jiashu asked.

Lin Xi awkwardly looked away, his hand reaching to touch the back of his neck. “I just… I was a little thirsty, so I went downstairs to get some water.”

“Oh,” Pei Jiashu hadn’t dried his hair yet. His slightly long hair hung down obediently, and water droplets flowed down his temples.

Lin Xi grabbed a towel from the rack and handed it to Pei Jiashu. “Hurry up and dry off. I’m going to take a shower.”

After saying that, Lin Xi quickly darted into the bathroom.

The air in the bathroom was a little cool. Lin Xi stood under the showerhead and saw the handle pointing towards the cold water. He immediately understood.

He slowly squatted down, covered his face, and warned himself not to overthink. He was tired after a long day and needed to take a shower and go to sleep.

After a quick shower, Lin Xi came out in his pajamas. Because Lin Xi’s pajamas were all the cartoonish type, he grabbed a matching long-sleeved set of pajamas that belonged to Pei Jiashu before leaving.

Pei Jiashu was sitting on the edge of the bed. When he saw Lin Xi, he waved at him. “Come here.”

Lin Xi walked over nervously. Pei Jiashu stood up from the bed and pressed Lin Xi’s shoulders down to make him sit. “I’ll dry your hair for you.”

“No need, I can dry it myself,” Lin Xi wanted to refuse.

But Pei Jiashu had already turned on the hair dryer, and his voice was drowned out by the sound. Pei Jiashu raised his voice a little and said, “What are you afraid of? It’s not like I haven’t dried your hair at home before.”

Warm air blew on his scalp, and large fingers ran through his hair, gently arranging it.

Ever since Lin Xi dyed his hair, washing, drying, and caring for it had become a difficult task. If it weren’t for his live streaming, he would probably just fall asleep.

But Pei Jiashu would take his hair dryer and gently and meticulously dry his hair. At his direction, he helped him apply hair care oil to his hair, then switched back to cool air to dry it again.

Each time, drying his hair took ten or twenty minutes, and Pei Jiashu never seemed to refuse his requests.

“Where do you keep your hair care oil?” Pei Jiashu asked Lin Xi. Lin Xi pointed, and Pei Jiashu walked over, took it, squeezed a few pumps into his palm, rubbed it to warm it up, and evenly applied it to Lin Xi’s hair.

Lin Xi looked up and watched Pei Jiashu’s actions. A thought suddenly struck him, and he asked, “Will you be this gentle with others in the future?”

“Hmm?” Pei Jiashu stopped his movements and looked at Lin Xi.

They were only a little distance apart. If he pushed Lin Xi slightly, he could push him onto the bed. Even the pajamas they were wearing were the same style.

“Do you want me to be this gentle with others?” Pei Jiashu threw the question back at him. He turned on the hair dryer again at a low setting and continued to dry his hair without any sign of annoyance.

After applying hair care oil and drying his hair again, it inexplicably became wetter.

Lin Xi would choose to give up at this point every time, letting his hair hang half-dry.

But Pei Jiashu wouldn’t. He would always make sure Lin Xi’s hair was dried.

Lin Xi pursed his lips and couldn’t help but poke Pei Jiashu’s waist with his finger. “I asked you first, why do you have to ask me back? Jerk.”

“Well, in consideration of me dutifully drying your hair for you, answer my question first.”

Lin Xi put his hand on the bed, unconsciously grabbing the sheets with his fingers. “Of course, I don’t care about you, but after all, we’ve already officially announced our marriage. You probably don’t want any scandals affecting the company, right?”

“So you don’t want me to be gentle with others.” Pei Jiashu nodded in satisfaction. “Then of course I’ll listen to you.”

The two tacitly agreed not to continue digging deeper.

When it was time to sleep, Pei Jiashu patted the spot next to him, signaling Lin Xi to come over. Usually, Lin Xi would take the initiative to lean on Pei Jiashu, but today Lin Xi stayed far away, as if another person could fit between them.

“Let’s just sleep like this,” Lin Xi said, holding Pei Jiashu’s hand, lying flat on the bed. He didn’t choose to lean on him; his heart couldn’t be calm right now.

“Okay,” Pei Jiashu turned off the light in the room, and the room immediately plunged into darkness. It was so dark you couldn’t see your fingers.

Pei Jiashu secretly turned his head to look at Lin Xi, holding Lin Xi’s hand tightly.

But Lin Xi didn’t give him any response. Instead, his hand became looser and looser, almost relying on Pei Jiashu to hold it.

The burning gaze in the darkness could still be clearly felt. Lin Xi closed his eyes, trying not to think.

When he opened his eyes again, it was the next morning. The thing under his body was soft, with an indescribable texture—it was Pei Jiashu’s chest.

Lin Xi didn’t know when he had ended up sleeping on Pei Jiashu’s side again.

He quickly got out of bed and went to the bathroom, while Pei Jiashu on the bed opened his eyes, smiling brightly.

Lin Xi finished washing up and went downstairs. Li Zhijian and Sheng Yan were already awake and were frying eggs in the kitchen.

When he saw Lin Xi, Li Zhijian greeted him first. “Good morning. Did you sleep well last night?”

Lin Xi felt a little awkward when he saw Li Zhijian. “It was alright. What are you guys doing? Let me help.”

After saying that, he joined them in the kitchen to help Li Zhijian and Sheng Yan. “How come you’re the only one who came down?”

“Pei Jiashu is washing up,” Lin Xi answered Li Zhijian’s question.

Breakfast was a little simple, with sandwiches and fried eggs, which were quickly made. Pei Jiashu happened to walk down from upstairs.

“Pei Jiashu, go call Xiaobai and the others,” Lin Xi said to Pei Jiashu as he walked to the second floor.

Jiang Xubai walked downstairs, shaking his head. It was obvious that he had stayed up late last night. His hair was sticking up in different directions, and most importantly, there were faint red marks on his neck.

Anyone with eyes could tell what was on his neck.

Li Zhijian quietly reminded him, “Xiaobai, go wash up first.”

“Oh,” Jiang Xubai walked to the bathroom. They all heard a loud, unbroadcastable sound in the kitchen. Then, Jiang Xubai, who was originally in the first-floor bathroom, suddenly walked angrily up to the second floor.

Lin Xi and Li Zhijian exchanged a look, and they couldn’t help but laugh.

Pei Jiashu looked at Li Zhijian warily. He hadn’t forgotten that Li Zhijian had said he wanted to poach Lin Xi into the entertainment industry. This was his man; he had to keep a close eye on him.

Lin Xi divided the sandwich he had made in half and gave it to Pei Jiashu. “Here you go.”

“Thank you, baby.” Pei Jiashu took a bite from Lin Xi’s hand. Lin Xi grabbed Pei Jiashu’s hand, stuffed the sandwich into it, and shook the goosebumps off his body, pushing him away a little.

Li Zhijian didn’t know what he was whispering to Sheng Yan, and Sheng Yan naturally wiped Li Zhijian’s mouth.

In the morning, the production team started stirring up trouble again. They had said they could pick vegetables from the garden as they pleased, but that was only true for the first day.

From now on, if they wanted to pick vegetables from the garden, they had to pay for their labor.

“They’re not really going to make me farm, are they?” Jiang Xubai asked.

The director kept them in suspense. “Of course, we don’t need you to farm, but you have to help the owner of this vegetable garden with some farm work.”

They arrived at the place the production team had asked them to go and met the owner of the vegetable garden.

As expected, it wasn’t farming, but rice planting.

They had to step into the knee-high mud and plant a small piece of land each. Whoever finished first and was approved by the vegetable garden owner would get a night in a hot spring hotel and a fancy dinner.

Today was different from yesterday; there was competition between everyone.

Everyone was like they’d been injected with chicken blood. They changed into heavy rain boots and waterproof clothing, holding rice seedlings in their hands. After watching the vegetable garden owner’s demonstration, they all felt like they could do it again.

Pei Jiashu was a little resistant to the mud. It was too dirty, but looking at Lin Xi’s excited expression, he still went into the water.

Walking in the mud was difficult. When they lifted their feet, their shoes could even get stuck inside. Pei Jiashu moved with difficulty and said to Lin Xi, “Give me the rice seedlings.”

Lin Xi held a large bunch of rice seedlings and stood next to Pei Jiashu. Pei Jiashu took one and planted it in the ground.

The two moved to the side at the same time. Lin Xi was responsible for handing over the rice seedlings. “If you’re tired, we can switch.”

“Okay.” Planting rice seedlings required constantly bending over and straightening up, which was very harmful to the back. Even Pei Jiashu felt a little tired in his back after planting half of them, but at least he and Lin Xi were becoming more and more in sync.

But the progress of the three groups was neck and neck.

Jiang Xubai and Chi Qi tried planting rice from different directions. Li Zhijian and Sheng Yan were also in this mode. Jiang Xubai and his partner were a little faster, but they couldn’t hold that many rice seedlings in their hands, so they had to go back and forth to get more.

Lin Xi analyzed the situation and encouraged Pei Jiashu. “Come on, our speed is getting faster and faster. I think we can win at this rate. Of course, it doesn’t matter if we don’t win. Haven’t we already been to the hot spring hotel?”

Lin Xi gave Pei Jiashu a silly smile.

Pei Jiashu subconsciously wanted to touch Lin Xi’s face, but his hands were covered in mud and dirt, so he had to give up.

“We’ll definitely win.”

The two encouraged each other, and seeing that they had already planted to the last row, the others were also hurrying to catch up. Pei Jiashu was a little anxious, and his back was almost numb.

“Lin Xi, if we win, you have to massage my back.”

Sheng Yan next door heard this and looked at Li Zhijian. Li Zhijian raised his voice and said to Pei Jiashu, “President Pei, you’re just planting rice. Is your back already failing?”

The implication was that Pei Jiashu wasn’t strong enough.

Jiang Xubai next door immediately understood and looked at Pei Jiashu with excitement.

Pei Jiashu, who was being teased, didn’t react much, but Lin Xi stood up first. “Planting rice isn’t good for the back. He planted so much by himself, so his back must be tired. Even if his back isn’t tired, his arms will be.”

Li Zhijian looked at Lin Xi teasingly. “That’s true, then you must give your husband a full body massage.”