My Husband Is Not Easy To Mess With. - Chapter 16: It Must Be a Two-Way Street
Chapter 16: It Must Be a Two-Way Street
“Minister Nie, fetch those account books for me.”
Du Sui Lan finished his work at an unparalleled speed, then instructed Nie Yao to retrieve things for him.
The account books were thick.
And numerous.
“Take a look, Minister Nie,” Du Sui Lan snuggled in Nie Yao’s arms, saying lazily, “This is the empire I built for you.”
Nie Yao suspected he had read too many storybooks.
Truthfully, he really didn’t want to look at something this thick.
Du Sui Lan: “They’re all full of money.”
Nie Yao: It wouldn’t hurt to take a look.
Nie Yao casually flipped through them.
He found that they were indeed account books, meticulously recording the income and expenditure of the young man’s businesses over the past year using numbers and the accounting methods he had taught him before.
So much money.
It nearly drove Nie Yao into a state of self-isolation.
“Minister Nie, there’s no need to belittle yourself. It’s difficult to make a huge profit in business with a conscience. It was destined from birth that Minister Nie would not be as wealthy as I.”
The Emperor said, comforting him with a look of self-satisfaction.
Nie Yao was so “comforted” that his chest tightened, and he almost rolled his eyes at him.
“So, this…” Du Sui Lan held the black card with his pale pink fingertips, smiling, “Minister Nie, do you truly not want it? It can also open the treasury in my sleeping quarters~”
Only after flipping through the account books did Nie Yao realize.
That treasury was just the tip of his financial iceberg.
Nie Yao felt the sting of jealousy.
“No reward without merit.” Despite that, he couldn’t just accept this money.
Manna doesn’t fall from the sky without reason.
And Nie Yao was not one to live off just anyone’s generosity.
“Fine.” If Nie Yao didn’t want it, Du Sui Lan wouldn’t force him. He shrugged and casually placed the card into a secret compartment under the desk.
“Then what about this one, Minister Nie, do you not want it either?”
“I do.”
Nie Yao accepted the brother doll and said he would take it home. He also sincerely thanked him, “Thank you, I like it very much.”
“Hmph, as long as you like it.”
Du Sui Lan went to the adjacent bathhouse to take a bath.
When he came out, he was barefoot, perhaps deliberately.
His feet were dusty.
He sat on the couch, dangling his fair, tender feet, “Minister Nie, wash my feet.”
Such an entitled tone.
It almost made Nie Yao, who was reading documents, snap.
He looked up, asking in disbelief, “What did you say?”
“Wash my feet. My feet are dirty.”
So what? What does that have to do with me?
Nie Yao stood up, intending to leave.
Du Sui Lan: “Minister Nie, you agreed to compensate me. Are you thinking of going back on your word?”
When did he agree to anything with him?
Nie Yao denied it, making up an excuse, “The gas at home is not turned off, I should head back…”
The words were blocked before he could finish.
“Doesn’t Minister Nie feel apologetic? Running off to the border and forgetting that I was here waiting for you all this time.”
Nie Yao felt a headache coming on.
“I am very sorry, but that was over ten years ago.”
“Just because it was a long time ago means you don’t need to apologize?”
He already apologized!
You just didn’t accept it.
Nie Yao’s composure was starting to crack. He looked at the young man and asked word by word, “Do I really have to wash your feet?”
“Mhm.”
“Absolutely, positively, and definitively?”
“Yes, Minister Nie.”
The young man lifted his dazzling white feet, “As long as you wash them clean for me, I’ll forgive you. And I can make you another doll of me.”
Thank you, but he definitely didn’t need that.
One doll was already causing him this much trouble; he couldn’t even imagine what he would have to pay if he were to sew another one.
Nie Yao asked Little Douzi to bring a basin of hot water.
He reached in to test the temperature, and when he felt it was about right, he carried it to the low couch.
“Your Majesty, time to wash your feet.”
“Thank you, Minister Nie~ You’re so kind to me! Love you~”
Heh.
Nie Yao grabbed the wildly swinging feet and abruptly pressed them into the water.
“Hiss~ It’s hot!” The water in the basin was too hot. Du Sui Lan’s feet turned red as soon as they went in.
He suspected Nie Yao was deliberately punishing him.
In anger, both his feet stepped onto Nie Yao’s shoulder, “Nie Yao, you did that on purpose, didn’t you!”
His feet hurt so much!
“You’re not genuinely apologizing! You’re bullying me! Waaah…”
Nie Yao was utterly confused by the barrage of accusations.
He put his hand back in to test the water temperature.
It wasn’t hot!
Just as Nie Yao was about to argue, he saw that the instep of the foot on his shoulder, which should have been whiter than jade, was patchy pink.
He really was scalded.
Was the young man’s skin that delicate?
Nie Yao, who had been single for decades and had never been this physically close to someone of the opposite s3x, felt his mind go boom, exploding.
“Nie Yao! Nie Yao!! Did you hear me say my feet hurt?”
“I… I heard you…”
Nie Yao snapped back, ignoring his slightly burning heart, and got up quickly, “I’ll go get you some medicine!”
In truth, Du Sui Lan’s feet didn’t hurt much.
He was just deliberately shouting, wanting to flirt like a sweet young man.
“What are you doing? Come back!” Du Sui Lan reacted quickly, tugging on his clothes. “My feet haven’t been washed clean yet! If you’re going to leave, you have to wash them clean first!”
“Aren’t you in pain? I’ll put some burn cream on you.”
“No! I want my feet washed first!”
Du Sui Lan refused to agree.
Nie Yao looked carefully, confirming that his feet were not actually burned before agreeing to continue washing them. This basin of water couldn’t be used again, so Nie Yao asked Little Douzi for another one.
He even gave him silver and asked for help adjusting the water temperature.
“Try it, is it still hot?”
This time, Nie Yao didn’t plunge his feet in suddenly but cautiously held them and slowly lowered them into the water.
His anxious demeanor made the young man’s heart feel sweet.
It further solidified his determination to win Nie Yao over.
His love must be a two-way street!
Du Sui Lan clenched his hands, his lips opened and closed, before he managed to say in a clumsy, syrupy voice, “It’s not hot anymore, Brother Nie Yao, you’re so good to me~~~”
His tone was excessively winding and exaggerated.
It was repulsive.
Nie Yao flinched and told him off in disgust, “If you act gross again, wash them yourself!”
Hmph, an insensitive old man!
Du Sui Lan stomped his foot in a huff. The wash water splashed all over Nie Yao, some even hitting his face.
A drop of water slowly ran down his sharply defined jawline.
“Drip,”
It fell into the basin.
Then the world fell silent.
Du Sui Lan flinched. He had originally intended to blame Nie Yao for everything, but the words caught in his throat when he met Nie Yao’s calm, unwavering gaze.
“I’m… I’m sorry…”
That’s more like it.
It seemed that even without him around, the young man still remembered to apologize when he made a mistake.
Nie Yao felt his education had been quite successful, and being in a good mood, he didn’t mind the small matter of being splashed with water.
He gently placed the feet back in the basin.
He held them, preparing to wash them slowly, one by one.
The young man’s feet were beautiful.
They were not only fair and tender but also very soft to hold. Nie Yao instinctively softened his movements to avoid scratching them with the calluses on his hands.
He slowly washed and dried them, placing them back on the low couch.
“Bro… Brother Nie Yao…” The young man lowered his head, his fingers hooking onto Nie Yao’s hem. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it just now…”
His voice was softer than a mosquito’s buzz.
Nie Yao smiled and deliberately asked, “Hmm? What did you say?”
Du Sui Lan was very smart; he knew immediately that Nie Yao was doing it on purpose.
The young man was easily angered.
He kicked Nie Yao’s shin with his just-washed foot and said fiercely, “Nie Yao, are you deaf? Didn’t you hear me say I’m sorry?”