Time Travel: My Comfortable Life After Going to the Countryside

"Be gentle, don't pinch me with your nails." Liu Xiangyang gasped.

She immediately let go, as if startled awake.

The drawn curtains blocked out all the light, but in that darkness, he precisely found her red lips and sealed her with a kiss, silencing any words that might have been uttered as words of vulnerability or apology.

This kiss, tinged with the smells of blood, sweat, and sweetness, was undeniably real.

"Say it out." He pulled away from her lips, his breath unsteady. "It's just the two of us here. Let me know you're here."

Her breathing was shallow and her hair was wet; she didn't know if it was because the heating was on too high and she was a little hot.

"It's just a little noise. It's windy outside, it'll dissipate in a flash. Don't be silent, I need to hear you!" He looked firmly into her watery eyes.

"ah……".

……

At noon in the ice city, the sound of wind and snow stopped, and the world became quiet.

The sound of slippers slapping broke the silence.

Chen Jie staggered to the kitchen, her hands trembling as she picked up a pot to rinse the rice: "How can I make you lunch like this?" She turned to look at Liu Xiangyang behind her.

Perhaps because the room was too warm, Liu Xiangyang put an apron on her to prevent water from splashing on her while cooking. The tie at the back was haphazardly draped over her back, and her white back shone brightly in the sunlight.

Liu Xiangyang was much more selfish; he even wore a tank top.

"Why are you cooking like this? You can't just eat your fill and then ignore me. I haven't had a drop of water from morning till noon, and I've been working hard all morning."

"No matter how capable I am, I'll get hungry after working for a long time, even if I'm not tired." He rested his chin on Chen Jie's shoulder and whispered her grievances into her ear.

Liu Xiangyang's chin added another connection point between them.

Chen Jie tried to cook, but found that she couldn't cook at all. As soon as she moved, her hands lost their strength. "I have no strength left when you're like this," she said, her voice trembling.

"Then you'll have to go hungry. I can't cook anything." Chen Jie put the pot on the stove and said with a pitiful expression.

"Okay, okay, then I won't disturb you while you're cooking. I'll take pictures of you and record how beautiful you look, is that alright?" Liu Xiangyang said and stepped back.

The sound of the cork being pulled from the wine bottle filled the kitchen. Hearing the sound, Chen Jie asked, "Where did you get this wine from?"

Looking back, where was the red wine? Chen Jie turned her flushed face to look at it, then lightly patted it with her hand, "You're so naughty."

Liu Xiangyang held his Nikon camera, capturing images of beautiful cooks preparing meals, the clicks of the camera never ceasing.

After the two finished eating, they sat on the sofa and looked at the pictures on the camera. The more Chen Jie looked, the redder her face became. "You really know how to humiliate people." After saying that, she pinched the soft flesh on his waist.

Liu Xiangyang quickly grabbed her hand, "Still twisting? It's all red from being twisted." He put his arm around her shoulder and asked.

"I participated in a raid yesterday, targeting a black market boss, but I felt something was off. I heard him address a young man as 'Young Master Qian,' and the young man interrupted him with the butt of his rifle." I then recounted what happened last night to Chen Jie.

"Surname Qian? Are you quite young, with slicked-back hair and a powdered face?" Chen Jie asked.

"Do you know him?"

"I don't know him personally, but I know him. He's a leader of the martial arts faction and Zhao Si's backer. It seems there's been some trouble between them. We won't get involved. We'll just live our lives peacefully," Chen Jie said, leaning on his shoulder.

"Okay, then I'll listen to you and live our lives well."

"Where are we going this afternoon? We can't just stay home all afternoon, can we?" Liu Xiangyang raised an eyebrow at her, a smile playing on his lips.

"It's Sunday today, and I have to go to work tomorrow. Let's go ice skating this afternoon. I've never been ice skating in all the years I've lived in Harbin," Chen Jie said, looking at him expectantly.

"Then let's go, I'll do whatever you say."

The two got up from the sofa, picked up their clothes scattered around them, put them on, and headed outside.

……

The frozen surface of the Songhua River took on a hazy grayish-white hue in the afternoon.

The sounds of human voices, ice skates, and intermittent horn noises mingled together, but for the two whose identities had changed, all of this allowed them to experience each other more authentically.

When Chen Jie stepped onto the ice, the lingering soreness made her initial movements a little hesitant and cautious.

Liu Xiangyang noticed immediately, slid to her side, and naturally wrapped his arm around her lower back, supporting her steadily.

It wasn't a deliberate helping hand, but a familiar support; even through the thick cotton coat, she could still feel his body temperature and strength through his palm.

"Slow down." His voice was low, his breath brushing against her cool, slightly red earlobe. "Does it hurt?"

Chen Jie's face flushed, and she didn't answer. She just used the force to steady herself and unconsciously put her hand on his arm that was wrapped around her waist.

She tried skating a few steps, and after the initial stiffness passed and her body adapted, her movements gradually became smoother.

But with each push off the ice, a hidden soreness would emanate from the overused muscles in her waist and legs, a reminder of the intense struggle she had just endured.

The soreness wasn't unpleasant; rather, it felt like an intimate mark, allowing her to clearly perceive the changes in her body in the cold air.

Liu Xiangyang didn't let go, keeping his arm around her, and the two glided on the ice in an almost cuddling position.

The red scarf around Chen Jie's neck fluttered in the wind, brushing against Liu Xiangyang's chin several times.

He tilted his head slightly, his nose seemingly able to catch the scent of hers on the scarf, a mixture of face cream and some more intimate fragrance.

His gaze fell on the lines of her back that rose and fell slightly with her gliding movements, and on the red marks still visible on her neck at the collar of her cotton coat.

"Is it cold?" he asked, his lips almost touching her hair.

"I'm not cold." Chen Jie shook her head, her voice a little hoarse, a lingering effect of shouting loudly that morning.

She turned her head slightly, her eyelashes frosted with fine powder. When she looked at him, her eyes held a lazy, moist glow, completely different from the cold, hard surface of his eyes. "On the contrary... it's quite comfortable."

They just kept gliding like that, not like they came to ice skate, but more like a pair of conjoined twins, gliding aimlessly on the ice.

The surrounding crowds and noise seemed to automatically recede.

"Is it still itchy?" Liu Xiangyang suddenly asked in a low voice, his fingers gently pressing on a spot on her waist. He had held her there for too long that morning, leaving fingerprints.

Chen Jie's body trembled almost imperceptibly, then she leaned even softer into his arms, letting out a barely audible "Mmm," her voice carrying a hint of coquettish complaint.

Just as Liu Xiangyang was about to say something, a series of chaotic exclamations and the sound of ice skates scraping violently from his side interrupted him.

Several young men, dressed in brand-new cotton-padded coats and with their hair cut short, were chasing and laughing wildly, completely disregarding their gliding route. The direction they were charging towards was Chen Jie, who had just stopped and was facing away from them.