She Yuan gently held Ruan Bai"s earlobe in his hand. Ruan Bai felt his earlobe getting hotter, as a wave of warmth surged through him. He kept quiet with his head bowed and ate the food others put in his bowl.

Obedience by Ruan Bai towards She Yuan gave him a hint that he could go a step further. So he pinched Ruan Bai"s cheek.

Li Qingge couldn"t bear to see that, so she put some food in She Yuan"s bowl with her chopsticks and said, "Stop playing around and eat!"

She Yuan nodded. However, he didn"t eat it; instead, he gave it to Ruan Bai because there was no such a dish in Ruan Bai"s bowl.

Ruan Bai looked at She Yuan with puppy dog eyes and whispered, "I can"t eat any more..."

She Yuan put down his chopsticks and said sternly, "What about the leftover food? It"s a sin to waste food."

Ruan Bai curled his upper lip, and intended to eat up the remaining food although he was quite full. She Yuan leaned towards Ruan Bai and said, "Promise me one thing, and I"ll help you deal with the leftover food."

Ruan Bai instantly nodded. If his mother saw the leftover food in his bowl, she would nag him. Given the choice between facing his mother"s endless nagging and satisfying She Yuan"s request, Ruan Bai unhesitatingly chose the latter option.

After getting a satisfactory reply from Ruan Bai, She Yuan reached for Ruan Bai"s bowl and ate up the leftover food in it.

Ruan Bai wanted to deal with the leftover food secretly. He didn"t expect that She Yuan would expose and even eat it under the gaze of the elders.

"Help..." Ruan Bai wailed in his heart.

He felt ashamed of She Yuan"s shameless behavior. In his view, it was an indirect exchange of saliva, which meant an indirect kiss.

Ruan Bai stole a glance at his parents and Aunt Li sitting opposite him. They turned a blind eye to what happened and kept chatting as if they knew long ago that these two young men would be together.

In truth, the three elders witnessed everything and drew a conclusion that they were going to be relatives by marriage.

Different from Ruan Changhu"s restlessness, Qi Qiuyu was accustomed to see that, because She Yuan had looked after Ruan Bai like that when Ruan Bai was a little child. At that time, She Yuan invariably fed Ruan Bai before having his meal. Ruan Bai had a poor appet.i.te and couldn"t finish his meal. After feeding Ruan Bai, She Yuan always ate up the remaining food.

So, to be exact, they two had frequently exchanged their saliva indirectly after Ruan Bai had been weaned. At that time, She Yuan was just a 7-year-old boy who was not very skilful with his chopsticks. But no matter how heavily it was raining outside, he insisted on going to Ruan Bai"s home to feed him. If someone stopped him, he would be upset and refuse to eat. As time pa.s.sed, the adults set their mind at rest because She Yuan did take good care of Ruan Bai.

She Yuan had looked after Ruan Bai in every possible way and almost spoiled him. His indulgence towards Ruan Bai lasted for nine years, which led Ruan Bai to be a delicate boy who cried in front of She Yuan every time he got frustrated. Qi Qiuyu taunted him with being a crybaby but Ruan Bai didn"t take her words to heart. Anyway, She Yuan would embrace him and give him candy whenever he was sad.

However, their intimate relationship was a root of Ruan Bai"s personal tragedy. After She Yuan was forced to leave the Du City due to the family misfortune, Ruan Bai couldn"t accept his leaving and cried every day. He refused to eat or go to school. What was worse, his body system was thrown out of whack because his body was accustomed to She Yuan"s pheromones so that the sudden change of the external environment cause his extreme discomfort.

A week later, the disorder of his body system became worse and Ruan Bai began to run an extremely high temperature. His father, Ruan Changhu took him to the best children"s hospital. Doctors attempted to reduce his high fever by every possible means but they failed. For a little child, a high fever might take his life away.

At that time, Ruan Bai"s doctor in charge put forward a bold treatment plan. He wanted to seal off Ruan Bai"s glands to stop them from responding to the external pheromones. Maybe in this way Ruan Bai"s body system would return to normal.

Finally, Qi Qiuyu agreed to the treatment plan. She couldn"t bear to watch her son die in front of her. Ruan Bai was a lucky dog. After the operation, he pa.s.sed the crisis and his fever dropped. But he lost all his memory due to the constant high fever.

Ruan Changhu and Qi Qiuyu soon accepted Ruan Bai"s loss of memory. Anyway, he survived. They treated Ruan Bai as a newborn baby and taught him life skills. Without She Yuan"s indulgence, Ruan Bai gradually learned to live independently.