“Mmm…”
Opening her eyes on the Bed, Lin Yiren felt her head throbbing. She kicked the blanket aside, her calves curled up, and the back of her hand pressed against her forehead as her chest rose and fell slowly.
The curtains in the room were tightly drawn, blocking out the intense afternoon sun. The air conditioner worked quietly, its blades swinging up and down, blowing out a cool breeze.
She had taken a long afternoon nap.
Lin Yiren pushed herself up from the Bed and pulled the curtains open. The long-lingering sunlight flooded in at once, dyeing the entire room golden. Lin Yiren shielded her eyes with her hand. The golden light hit the lower half of her face, making her fair skin look translucent, the fine peach fuzz clearly visible.
Her bedroom window faced the backyard. Lin Yiren looked down to see a sea of flowers blooming in the spacious backyard. The Chen Clan was immensely wealthy, managing to carve out an oasis in a place where land was worth its weight in gold. The flowers planted on this precious land were meticulously selected; every single one was of top quality, never bowing their heads during their blooming days, all bursting with the brightest colors.
However—
Lin Yiren suddenly smiled, her pink lips curving.
The person who directed the gardeners’ planting didn’t have a very high eye for layout; various flowers were mixed together. Her favorite seemed to be lavender, as the dreamy purple took up a large area of the garden.
Right next to the lavender were golden sunflowers. The eye-catching gold should have been planted in a row, but for some reason, it stopped abruptly at one point and turned into white cosmos. Now, the sunflowers were clad in golden armor under the sun, but because the cosmos had not yet bloomed, there was a bald patch.
Colors, heights, seasons—everything was scattered, like a randomly overturned palette.
Lin Yiren was leaning on the windowsill watching when she suddenly saw the chest-high sunflowers move.
“Swish,” a head popped out. The usually meticulously groomed long curly hair was a bit messy, with a small green leaf stuck between the strands before being blown away by the wind.
“Zhao Yue?!”
Chen Zhaoyue looked up at the sound. In the dazzling halo of light, the young girl leaning out of the window looked like an angel.
It took her several seconds to snap back to her senses.
“Why did you just wake up?”
“What are you doing down there?”
Both spoke almost at the same time. Hearing Chen Zhaoyue’s words, Lin Yiren scratched her head sheepishly and said, “I didn’t set the Alarm Clock.”
Chen Zhaoyue smiled and didn’t answer her question immediately, instead walking to the right.
A small path paved with gravel and grass was left in the middle of the sea of flowers. Chen Zhaoyue walked out from the sunflowers onto the path. Only then did Lin Yiren see her attire—a gray short-sleeved T-shirt paired with cooling sleeves, and she was holding a Spray Bottle in her hand.
And walking out from behind her… a bucket hat?
The hat was taken off, revealing a face flushed red from the sun.
“Mama, come down and water the flowers with us.” Lin Xingyao immediately spotted the girl by the window and waved her hand happily. Lin Yiren saw that she was also holding a Spray Bottle, though a size smaller.
“But it’s so hot outside.” Although it wasn’t the hottest time of day yet, the coolness of the room made the heat waves outside seem even more intense.
“Mama—”
“Alright, alright, I’m coming down.” Lin Yiren had no choice but to close the window and quickly change her clothes to head downstairs.
***
As soon as she opened the door, her skin, which had been pampered by the air conditioning, was immediately enveloped by the heat. Lin Yiren grabbed her hair and bunched it on top of her head, securing it with a clip to reveal her smooth neck.
“So ugly.” Chen Zhaoyue looked at her clump-like hairstyle.
“I only know how to put it up like this.” Lin Yiren’s face flushed. Compared to how Chen Zhaoyue had styled it for her last time, this could hardly be called a hairstyle.
“I’ll teach you next time. For now—work first.”
A Spray Bottle was tossed over, and Lin Yiren scrambled to catch it.
“Mama, water with us later!” Xing Yao held up her cartoon Spray Bottle, her hair tied in pigtails bouncing behind her head.
“Okay, okay,” Lin Yiren turned on the faucet. Water poured into the bottle, and as the sunlight passed through the transparent stream of water, it left a small mottled patch on the wall.
“Doesn’t this place have an automatic sprinkler system?” Lin Yiren poked Chen Zhaoyue’s shoulder.
“Didn’t you suggest watering them yourself last time?”
“It wasn’t this hot last time,” Lin Yiren muttered. “And I didn’t know there was a sprinkler system last time.”
“Mama, look over here!”
A child’s voice broke into their conversation. Xing Yao had already run into the lavender field, spinning and jumping inside as her Spray Bottle splashed water in all directions.
“Don’t fall now,” Lin Yiren couldn’t help but grin, heading over with her Spray Bottle. “That’s no way to water flowers.”
They walked through a purple fantasy. Layers of light and shadow were captured within those peach-blossom-like eyes.
Chen Zhaoyue smoothed the curve of her lips and followed.
“These are growing so well.”
Lin Yiren crouched down and touched the lavender spikes, a fuzzy sensation meeting her fingertips. The resin-like cool scent was extremely rich in the afternoon, filling her nostrils.
“Of course. Everything brought here was hand-picked.”
Suddenly, a shadow fell over her. Chen Zhaoyue leaned down, a strand of hair falling into Lin Yiren’s line of sight. Perhaps because she had been outdoors for a while, Chen Zhaoyue’s scent was mixed with a faint smell of sweat.
But she actually found it… to smell even better. Two patches of rosy clouds steamed up on Lin Yiren’s face. Was she some kind of pervert?
“Is it fragrant?”
“W-what! It’s not, not at all.” Chen Zhaoyue’s sudden whisper made Lin Yiren’s body tremble violently. The heat on her face seemed to seep into her skin, making her head spin.
“Hmm? Didn’t you just say the lavender was growing well?” Chen Zhaoyue looked puzzled.
So she wasn’t talking about… It was all because the weather was too hot, disturbing her mind!
“Even if they’re growing well—look at your layout, it’s too messy.” Lin Yiren stammered as she shifted the topic, moving a step aside and standing up abruptly.
Nothing good ever happens when she’s beneath the Eldest Miss; she had to stay away from that position.
She shook her head and pointed toward the distant cosmos. “That spot looks bald from upstairs.”
“It’ll bloom in a month. That’s how I designed it,” Chen Zhaoyue said confidently.
After watering only a small portion of the area, the Spray Bottles were empty. They weren’t in a hurry to refill them and instead sat in the shade, watching the field of flowers swaying in the wind.
***
Chen Zhaoyue pulled Xing Yao onto her lap and used a Towel to wipe her sweat.
“Mummy, I want to lie on top of the purple flowers.”
“You can’t do that. If you lie on them, they won’t be able to breathe.” Chen Zhaoyue tapped her little nose.
Lin Yiren couldn’t help but smile seeing her daughter so full of energy. She reached her hand out into the sun, feeling the warmth.
More than half the field was still unwatered. Should she just turn on the automatic sprinkler system, or—
She looked around and saw nozzles and hoses by the pool.
Or rather, let’s have some artificial rain. Lin Yiren’s pink lips curved up with delight.