Chapter 23: Intruder

By the time the sun began to hover above the western mountains, the first stage of preparing the plot of land was finally complete.

Lin Feng stood at the edge of the field and looked over the newly loosened earth. His body was exhausted, his clothes were dusty, and his hands were dirty. And yet his heart felt strangely satisfied.

That evening, Lin Feng sat on the balcony with his dinner and quietly watched the pink and violet sunset, a feeling of languidness overwhelming his body.

Despite the muscle strain in various parts of his body, especially in both of his arms, the quiet scenery made him feel peaceful.

The mountains were bathed in warm orange light, while the sky slowly shifted from gold to pink and then to a soft purple.

A bird flew to the table where he sat, looking at him with a curious gaze, before picking up a crumb from the plate, and flying away to go back to its nest.

Lin Feng waved at the bird unconsciously, and realized that he had acted silly

He was just happy.

He had spent the entire day learning something completely unfamiliar. He had worked until his body ached. The Madam Lin he had been in his previous life would have thought it beneath her as the matriarch of an aristocratic family.

But now, in this world, he did not dislike it.

Having a direction in life gave him peace of mind, a sense of fulfillment that put him in a very good mood.

This must be what men felt when they fulfilled their ambitions.

After finishing his light dinner and standing leisurely on the balcony for half an hour, Lin Feng took a warm bath, wrapped himself in a thick fluffy cotton robe that he liked to wear as pajamas, and went upstairs to the attic.

Lin Feng did not know why, but he inexplicably found himself wanting to sleep while looking up at the starry sky beyond the skylight tonight.

He had asked Housekeeper Yang if he could sleep there, and the elder indulged him. Housekeeper Yang even asked him if he wanted a full-body massage.

But the servants at home were mostly men, so Lin Feng still declined. He still had not reached the point of being comfortable with close contact with other men.

Well, aside from Hou Yizhen.

"Hou Yizhen," the boy whispered while looking up at the starry night sky.

Now, even when he remembered Hou Yizhen, the feeling of unwilling bitterness at being unable to be with his beloved was no longer so strong.

Still, Lin Feng indeed missed the man a lot.

Tomorrow, it would be the weekend. How would Hou Yizhen spend his time?

....

Lin Feng did not know when he fell asleep, but it felt as though he had not been asleep for long before he felt his legs being touched.

Lin Feng slowly opened his eyes, still half-asleep, and saw a tall shadow kneeling beside him.

Through his still very blurry vision, the shadow was kneeling with both legs spread apart, locking Lin Feng in between.

Intruder!

Lin Feng’s eyes widened in shock, all sleepiness instantly vanishing.

The intruder was huge and towered over him, both hands were parting Lin Feng’s robes, reaching down inside.

Lin Feng suddenly screamed and struggled, raising his leg towards the unknown person.

"Ugh!"

The person groaned in pain and quickly held the flailing legs before they hit harder.

Lin Feng felt the pair of large, strong hands pressing him down, followed by a hard and heavy weight as the man pressed against him.

Lin Feng was terrified!

He sobbed and struggled violently. "No, don’t...!"

"This brat, what’s wrong with you? Uncle Yang said you didn’t get your body massaged, so I’m doing you a favor now. Why are you being so ungrateful?"

Lin Feng suddenly froze and stopped struggling, a pair of teary amber eyes staring up at the figure in front of him.

His blurry vision finally adjusted to the dim light from behind the man.

It’s his husband! Not an intruder!

Relief washed over him, followed by a sense of grievance. Momentarily forgetting his previous promise to the man, Lin Feng immediately lunged forward toward the man, crying out, "Lord Husband!"

He hugged him tightly while sobbing. His body was still trembling. Even the boy’s voice was shaking and stumbling.

"I, I thought you were an intruder. I was so, so scared."

Hou Yizhen was initially frowning when he heard that same familiar term, "Lord Husband." But after sensing the boy’s trembling body and hearing the words that followed, his frown slowly eased.

Forget it. This boy must have been really scared.

’Just this once,’ He thought and began awkwardly patting the boy’s back.

Because of his pride, although Hou Yizhen knew that it was mostly his fault for surprising the boy, the inherently arrogant man could not bring himself to apologize and simply said, "All right, you’re a man. Stop crying every single time."

Hou Yizhen recalled the boy’s earlier reaction. He wondered if he was simply overthinking it, but the boy’s reaction had been quite unusual. Was it really normal for a man to react that way? For a moment, Hou Yizhen had even felt as though he were assaulting a woman.

However, after thinking it over, he managed to convince himself that perhaps the boy’s experience with human traffickers had traumatized him deeply.

Then, Hou Yizhen suddenly froze. He lowered his gaze and looked down at the boy thoughtfully.

’Did those bastards...?’

No, that shouldn’t be the case. They had been pursuing the group closely ever since the other party entered the forest, so they would not have had enough time to engage in debauchery. Not to mention, those men were professional human traffickers who preferred to sell intact beauties for a higher price.

Hou Yizhen had only been able to retrieve the boy from the human traffickers because he still had some contacts in the criminal underworld, having worked as a mercenary for a brief period and due to his family background.

Lin Feng managed to calm down a little.

"Hmm?"

A soft snort of surprise escaped Lin Feng when he finally realized that he had been hugging the man’s slim yet strong waist very tightly, his face pressed against the man’s broad chest.

Remembering the words he had inadvertently let out earlier, Lin Feng almost jumped out of Hou Yizhen’s arms in a panic.

"Uncle Hou, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say it. I was just... I was just momentarily shocked..."