After being bought by seven rough men and taken to the deep mountains, I was pampered.

It was late at night. The north wind howled outside, as if it would tear the roof off.

Inside the main house of the Qin family, the underfloor heating was burning brightly, creating a warm and cozy atmosphere.

On the kang (heated brick bed), snores rose and fell. The third brother, Qin Meng, slept like a log, drool still hanging from the corner of his mouth; he was probably still wrestling with the wild boar king in his dreams.

The fourth brother, Qin Yue, covered his face with a tattered fan. Although his breathing was steady, his exposed ears twitched from time to time.

Only one oil lamp in the corner was still lit.

Qin Mo sat in front of the broken desk with one leg missing and bricks underneath.

He was wearing the dark blue cotton robe that Su Wan had just bought for him, and a pair of worn-out glasses wrapped with copper wire perched on his nose. Spread out in front of him were the Chengxintang paper and the finest Huizhou ink, bought for several dozen taels of silver.

The sound of pages turning was exceptionally clear in the quiet night.

"rustle……"

But Qin Mo's heart was in complete turmoil.

Even though he was holding a book of sages, all that flashed through his mind was Su Wan's rosy cheeks when she came out of the bathtub, and the sweet fragrance that lingered in his nose and wouldn't dissipate.

I can't get into this book at all!

"Second Brother?" A soft, sweet voice suddenly sounded from behind, carrying a hint of languor from just waking up.

Qin Mo's hand gripping the book tightened suddenly, his knuckles turning white. He

Taking a deep breath and suppressing the surging anger within her, she didn't turn around, but simply replied in a cool (pretended) voice, "Hmm? Sister-in-law, you're still awake?"

Wearing a thick sheepskin coat and carrying a bowl of steaming hot spring water, Su Wan walked over barefoot on the newly laid dry meadow like a cat.

"I think the lamp is a bit dim, Second Brother, and I'm worried it might hurt your eyes." Su Wan placed the water on the corner of the table, picked up the scissors next to her, and gently cut off the charred black charcoal from the wick.

"Crackling." The lamp flame exploded. The dim yellow flame instantly shot up a bit, brightening the room considerably.

Su Wan did not leave.

She looked at the unground ink block in front of Qin Mo and thought of the [Medicine Field] on the system panel, which was still in a "barren" state. This medicine field was bound to the second brother, and if she wanted to grow the life-saving century-old ginseng, she had to get this "iceberg" interested.

"Second brother, you've been studying hard. Let me grind the ink for you." Su Wan said, stretching out her small, fair hand, picking up the ink stick, and slowly turning it in the inkstone.

Grinding ink is a delicate task.

Su Wan leaned forward slightly, and the loose neckline inevitably slipped down a little. She was too close. So close that Qin Mo only needed to tilt his head slightly to smell the familiar, maddening scent of bathwater in her hair.

"Sister-in-law..." Qin Mo's Adam's apple bobbed, his gaze involuntarily falling on her fair wrist. The swirling ink was like a black vortex, threatening to suck all his reason away.

She stayed up all night to come and trim his lamp wick and grind his ink? And she was dressed so... completely unguarded? What was this woman implying?

Qin Mo's eyes, hidden behind his glasses, instantly turned deep and wolf-like, flashing with a dangerous light.

"This ink isn't ground like this." He suddenly spoke, his voice hoarse, as if it had been sanded.

"Huh?" Su Wan paused, not yet reacting.

A long, slender, slightly cool hand suddenly covered the back of her hand.

Qin Mo stood up. He was a head taller than Su Wan, and standing behind her, he was like a mountain, completely enveloping her in his shadow.

"Keep your wrist suspended in the air, and apply even pressure." Qin Mo held her hand, showing no intention of letting go.

Instead, his other hand naturally rested on the edge of the table. This posture made it seem as if he was tightly encircling her from behind!

Su Wan's back was pressed tightly against his warm chest. She could even feel his heart pounding violently inside his chest, each vibration traveling up his spine to her body, making her tremble all over.

"Second...Second Brother..." Su Wan tried to pull her hand back, but found that the seemingly weak hand was now as strong as an iron clamp.

"Don't move." Qin Mo lowered his head.

The cool edge of the glasses frame brushed unintentionally against Su Wan's burning earlobe. Warm breath sprayed onto her sensitive neck, raising goosebumps.

"Sister-in-law bought me such expensive paper and pens, and I haven't thanked her yet." He whispered in her ear, his tone carrying a refined yet roguish air of restrained desire. "How about... I teach you to write a character?"

Su Wan's legs went weak from the intense ambiguity, and she could only let him hold her hand, pick up the wolf-hair brush, and dip it in thick ink.

The brushstroke fell. Black ink spread across the pristine white rice paper.

Stroke by stroke. Qin Mo wrote very slowly. With each stroke, he leaned closer to her. Su Wan was practically half-embraced by him, her nose filled with the pleasant scent of ink and the suppressed masculine aura emanating from him.

"This character is pronounced 'luan'." Qin Mo held her hand and wrote the last stroke.

The handwriting is vigorous and powerful, exuding an air of arrogance.

"Luan?" Su Wan's voice trembled.

"Hmm, the 'Luan' in 'Luan and Feng sing in harmony.'" Qin Mo stopped writing, but didn't let go. He stared at the character on the Xuan paper, his eyes growing increasingly intense, his lips almost touching Su Wan's earlobe, his voice low and seductive: "Sister-in-law, do you know what it means?"

The harmonious singing of phoenixes and dragons signifies a loving and inseparable couple.

Su Wan's face flushed crimson. This wasn't teaching calligraphy; it was clearly flirting with Confucian classics! This cunning second brother, who usually seemed so proper, how come he could be even more seductive than the fourth brother when it came to flirting?

"I...I don't understand..." Su Wan frantically tried to break free. "It's too late, I want to sleep!"

She was about to run when suddenly her waist tightened. Qin Mo's hand, which had been resting on the edge of the table, had somehow gripped her waist. It wasn't very forceful, but it carried an undeniable air of control.

"It's okay if you don't understand." Qin Mo took off his glasses, revealing a pair of unobstructed, extremely aggressive phoenix eyes. He stared at Su Wan's panicked eyes, a faint yet dangerous smile playing on his lips: "Later... your second brother will teach you slowly."

"Especially...those principles that aren't written in books."

[Beep! High-IQ abstinence system detected to have collapsed!]

[Target: Qin Mo. Heart rate: 140 (The urge to hide her in the study)!]

[Congratulations, host! Your heart rate has reached the target! The seal on the herb field has been lifted!]

[Reward: Herb Garden upgraded to Lv.1! Discovered 1 "Centennial Ginseng" seedling (already automatically planted)!]

[System notification: This seedling requires continuous "high intelligence and affection points" for nourishment. Please continue to pursue Qin Mo!]

Upon hearing the system notification, Su Wan felt as if she had been granted a pardon. It worked! The ginseng was there!

"Then...then Second Brother, go to sleep early!" Like a frightened little rabbit, she took advantage of the moment Qin Mo loosened his grip, slipped out of his embrace, quickly crawled back to the innermost part of the kang (heated brick bed), covered herself with the quilt, and became a turtle hiding in its shell.

Qin Mo stood there, looking at his empty arms, and gently stroked the spot where he had just held her hand.

There seemed to be a lingering trace of her smooth touch there.

He put his glasses back on, concealing the turbulent emotions surging in his eyes. Looking at the still-wet ink on the character "鸾" (luan, meaning phoenix) on the rice paper, he chuckled softly: "You ran fast, didn't you?" "But... now that you've entered the Qin family, where can you possibly run to in this lifetime?"

He picked up the paper, carefully folded it, and tucked it into the deepest part of the Analects.