The Engineer Falls for His Sweet-Scented Maid - Chapter 40: Will You Go Out with Me?

Nianhe did not take it. She wiped her face clumsily with the back of her hand.

“If you already know, why keep asking?” Her voice was thick and nasal with hurt. “I’m only a servant. You got drunk and took liberties with me, and I didn’t even dare tell anyone. Now you’re questioning me again. Will you only be happy once I’m driven out of the compound?”

Huai frowned.

“When did I say I would make you leave?”

“If Auntie Liu finds out you’re treating me like this, she’ll throw me out.” The more Nianhe spoke, the more miserable she became. At last she crouched on the ground, hugged her knees, and sobbed.

She was terrified.

In this great, unfamiliar city, she had no one to depend on. She had finally found a job that kept her fed, yet she still had to live in fear every day.

Huai looked at the young woman huddled on the ground, a weight settling in his chest.

He crouched to meet her eyes.

“Don’t cry.” His voice softened a little. “What happened the night before last was my fault. I drank too much and lost control.”

Nianhe looked at him with red eyes.

This man, so far above her, was actually apologizing?

“Then… could you stop bringing it up?” She sniffed and asked cautiously, “And stop coming to my door in the middle of the night?”

His throat moved as he looked into her still-shining eyes.

“I’ll try.” His answer was ambiguous.

Nianhe missed the implication. She took it as agreement and felt a little relief.

Using the wall for support, she rose. After crouching so long, her legs were numb, and she swayed.

Huai quickly caught her arm.

His hand touched a small patch of soft skin on its inner side.

She pulled away as though shocked.

“Thank you. I’m all right.” She hastily put space between them.

He withdrew his hand and rubbed his fingertips together.

They seemed to retain the tender feel of her inner arm.

He did not move closer again, only stood half a step away.

Against the mossy brick wall, Nianhe clutched her faded old canvas bag to her chest, guarded as a small animal sensing danger.

“You’re so eager to meet prospective husbands because you want a man with urban household registration?” His voice was level.

She nodded. There was no reason to hide that. “Yes. I want to stay in the city and settle down with a decent man.”

“A decent man.” He turned the words over, his tone cool. “So if Yi’s parents hadn’t made that scene yesterday, you would really have agreed to marry him?”

Nianhe had no ready answer.

She wanted to say that she had hesitated at the state-run restaurant yesterday. That the image in her mind had been of him draping his shirt over her shoulders in the alley.

But how could she dare say it?

“Brother Lu is a good man,” she answered honestly. “He has a permanent job, and he doesn’t look down on me for coming from the countryside. Apart from his parents’ objections, he really is a suitable choice.”

At that “Brother Lu,” Huai’s brows lowered.

He stepped forward, a dry twig snapping beneath his shoe.

“Suitable?” He stood before her. “What about what you want? Do you like Yi himself?”

She paused.

Looking up, she seemed utterly at a loss.

“Like him?” She repeated the words. The idea felt far removed from her life.

In Liuhe Village, a girl married when she reached the proper age.

Her parents sent her to whichever family offered the largest bride price.

If she found a man who did not hit her and let her eat her fill, she had been blessed beyond measure.

“I’ve never been to school. I don’t know what liking someone means.” Her hands tightened on her bag straps. “In the village, you find a man with good character and a home of his own who can keep you fed. That’s a good life. Who thinks about whether they like him?”

Every word was the simple truth.

She only wanted a shell that would keep out wind and rain, somewhere to hide so she never had to return to that village that devoured people.

Huai looked at her.

The girl had a lovely, fresh face and an intensely alluring figure, yet her thinking was bluntly simple.

Whoever could give her food and a stable home, she would faithfully share his life forever.

Huai raised his hand and braced it against the brick beside her face.

His tall body leaned over her, trapping her completely between his arms and the wall.

“Engineer Shen…” Nianhe panicked. She pressed her back hard to the bricks, her chest rising and falling quickly.

The neckline of her long-sleeved blue floral blouse was stretched full. Cloying sweetness escaped through every gap and filled his nose.

“I didn’t know what it meant to like someone either.” He lowered his head, speaking very softly, with an aggression he rarely showed.

She had no idea why he was suddenly saying this. She could only stare.

“But recently, I’ve learned.” His breath touched the tip of her nose. “Because of you.”

Nianhe’s head buzzed.

Surely she had heard him wrong.

Huai was the mayor’s son and a technical consultant at the light textile mill. Usually he was cold as ice, scarcely glancing at all the pretty young women who worked there. Now he was saying this to her?

“Seeing you at the dance in a tight dress that didn’t fit, standing with other men, irritated me.”

He gave her no chance to escape his meaning. Each word struck home. “When I heard Liping was taking you to meet Yi, I couldn’t even sit through my meeting. I lie awake at night with nothing in my head but your scent.”

Nianhe felt herself burn.

The flush spread from her cheeks down her neck. Even the small exposed stretch of her collarbone turned pink.

“When a man likes a woman, he wants to hide her away where no one else can see her.” Watching her helpless confusion, Huai grew more explicit. “Just like the night before last. I want to hold you. Kiss you. Hear you cry and beg me to stop.”

Nianhe covered her mouth in alarm.

She had never been to school. She had no idea things between men and women could be like this.

In her limited understanding, marriage meant sharing a life, having babies, and cooking meals.

His words crashed like thunder into her quiet world.

“What do you think of me?” he asked.

Enclosed by his arms, she had nowhere to hide.

She gripped the hem of her old blouse and answered honestly. “You… you’re the mayor’s son. You’re educated and important. You’re a good man. You’ve helped me several times. But…”

“But what?”

“But you’re usually frightening. So cold.” She swallowed. “And you have a bad temper. You even block people’s doors in the middle of the night.”

Her honesty exasperated Huai into laughter.

A low chuckle rumbled in his chest.

Hearing it sent an inexplicable tingle through Nianhe.

“Since you want to marry in the city and find a man to share your life…”

His amusement faded. His tone grew serious. “I’m looking for a wife. That works out nicely.”

Her eyes rounded. She could scarcely believe what she was hearing.

“That won’t do!” She shook her head anxiously. “Auntie Liu won’t agree! Sister-in-law Wang will scold me! Our families aren’t a suitable match. Please don’t make fun of me.”

“I’m not making fun of you.” His fingers brushed a loose strand beside her ear. “And I won’t make you register a marriage right away.”

She stared.

“This is the era of reform and opening up. People are free to choose whom they love.” He held her gaze, his voice low and enticing. “We can start by going out together.”

Going out together.

The words circled through her head several times.

That was something young city people talked about. In the countryside, you met and became engaged.

“Will you go out with me?” Huai asked again, looking as though he would not let her leave until she agreed.