Grandmother Ye looked at Ye Xuan's disappearing figure and wondered whether it was time to get him a wife. He had always been studying and sitting for exams, and so many years had passed.

He wore a suit of white, and half of his hair was bundled by a hairpin while the rest flowed down his back. He stood at 1.78 metres, and although his features were not as elegant as Ye Yang and his brothers, he could be considered handsome too.

Ye Xuan stepped out for fresh air. Along the way, the ladies would peek at him, and he responded by smiling gently and politely, as a scholar would.

He arrived at his cousins' house, where he knocked a few times before letting himself in. Ye Ling looked at him, wondering why was there.

Ye Yang and Ye Mo had gone to weed the paddy field. Liu Duo and Ye Liu had gone to inspect their new house. He was the only one at home.

"Ling, I see you are making insoles," Ye Xuan greeted Ye Ling naturally as he came to sit under the roof.

As the proverb goes, never slap the smiler!

Ye Ling looked at Ye Xuan, all smiles, and nodded, "Yes, I am."

Ye Ling wasn't familiar with this cousin, so he merely replied and said nothing else. Also, he hated the people from the Ye family courtyard!

"Where's Mo and the others? Why aren't they at home?" Ye Xuan asked after looking around and not seeing Liu Duo anywhere.

Ye Ling furrowed his brow. He didn't want to respond to him, but out of courtesy, he still replied, "Yang and Mo went to weed out the paddy field."

The paddy field? Did Liu Duo follow them?

That was what Ye Xuan thought, but he couldn't ask directly, so he rephrased it, "The weeds in the field certainly ought to be taken care of once in a while. Liu Duo must be quite helpful."

When he thought of Liu Duo's fair skin working in the paddy field and getting stained by mud, he furrowed his brow in disgust.

Ye Ling wasn't as cunning as Ye Xuan. He didn't think much of it when Liu Duo was mentioned, and so he proceeded to explain, smiling, "Liu Duo is helpful, but she didn't go to the paddy field. She's scared of the leeches there. She went to the bamboo forest to check out our new house."

He thought of the time when Liu Duo had been terribly frightened by a leech and screamed. He almost laughed at the memory, finding her quite adorable.

Ye Xuan relaxed his brows when he heard that. It was good that she hadn't gone. He had certainly heard rumors that they had built a new house in the bamboo forest. They had apparently spent a few hundred taels on it, which his grandmother often nagged about.

"I'm not going to disturb you, Ling. It's been some time since I left home. I should go back to my studies. I'll visit you all next time," he said, still smiling. He intended to visit Liu Duo in the bamboo forest.

"Sure," Ye Ling badly wanted him to leave and never visit again.

After he had exited the yard, Ye Xuan sprinted in the direction of the bamboo forest as though he were rushing for an exam.

Liu Duo inspected the house up and down - every room and every corner - and she was very pleased with how it turned out. She closed the door to the yard and was about to head home. She had long urged Ye Liu to go help his brothers weed out the paddy field.

He kept following her, wandering about, not being honest, and always looking to take advantage of her, all of which were trying her temper, and there was nothing she could do about it.

She turned around and was walking on the path towards home when she met Ye Xuan, who had rushed all the way to see her. They had not seen each other for over a month. Liu Duo felt that he was still smug and very full of himself.

On the other hand, Ye Xuan felt that, after a month, Liu Duo had grown taller and attained a much better figure. The way she dressed resembled a rich lady, and her smallish face looked prettier, even without makeup.

"Good day, sister-in-law," Ye Xuan chuckled.

Liu Duo sneered at Ye Xuan's zeal. She rolled her eyes at him and went on her way, not bothering to give him the time of day! She had not forgotten that this fellow, as knowledgeable and courteous as he seemed, was deep down an insufferable flirt!