Wife, Protect Me! - Chapter 18 - Twins

Being told by a six- or seven-year-old girl that she would protect him made Li Nuo feel rather strange inside.

Yet thinking of how she had stepped forward earlier, Li Nuo felt somewhat moved.

Children’s thoughts are often the purest—this adorable little girl truly regarded him as a friend.

He smiled to show he didn’t mind and said, “Let’s keep playing.”

“Okay!”

Song Mu’er nodded and tossed the shuttlecock over. Li Nuo kicked it back with a mid-air spinning strike. Song Mu’er leaped up lightly, her little skirt twirling along. Before Li Nuo could clearly see her movements, the shuttlecock was already flying back.

Soon, Li Nuo realized this little girl was also a shuttlecock expert.

Not only did she kick with speed and precision, her movements were extremely graceful, and she learned quickly. Techniques Li Nuo unconsciously demonstrated were soon replicated by her—and executed even more skillfully and elegantly.

If Li Nuo guessed correctly, she likely had a foundation in Martial Arts, as many of her moves were impossible for ordinary people to perform.

Tonight, Song Mu’er was genuinely happy.

At home, aside from a few young maidservants, no one was willing to play with her. But those maidservants’ skills were too poor—they couldn’t even catch the shuttlecock she kicked over. Unlike this big brother, with whom she had played for so long without the shuttlecock ever touching the ground.

“No more, no more…”

After a little while longer, Li Nuo stopped the shuttlecock on his foot, bending over panting heavily as he said, “I can’t kick anymore…”

This body’s weakness exceeded his expectations. Moreover, his shoulder was still injured—after just this short while of kicking, the wound began to ache faintly. In contrast, the little girl only had disheveled hair, without even a trace of sweat on her forehead, making Li Nuo feel embarrassed.

“Alright…”

Though Song Mu’er still wanted to play a bit longer, seeing how exhausted Li Nuo was, she obediently nodded, retrieved the shuttlecock, and put it back into her small bag.

While playing shuttlecock, her hair ribbon had come loose, and she couldn’t tie it herself no matter how she tried. She had no choice but to look at Li Nuo with pleading eyes.

Li Nuo took the ribbon from her and was about to help her tie her bun when, upon touching her hair, countless methods of braiding and styling buns suddenly surfaced in his mind.

These certainly weren’t Li Nuo’s own memories. He looked again at Zhang Xiaoyun’s portrait in the Law Codex.

He had originally thought the Codex would only grant him one skill from each criminal—like the female assassin’s calligraphy or the thief’s stealing techniques. But reality seemed different from his assumption. Kicking shuttlecock, braiding hair—he had already mastered two skills from Zheng Yuanwai’s concubine. Skills valued by the Law Codex are never ordinary.

The female assassin’s calligraphy was praised by the Magistrate of Chang’an as “rarely matched.”

As for the goateed man’s thieving skills, they went completely unnoticed by Steward Wu and Niangzi, both at the fourth realm of Martial Arts, indicating he must be among the best of thieves.

As for that adulterer named Cui Ze, he was too mediocre to even qualify for the Law Codex to illuminate his portrait.

But Zheng Yuanwai had two skills recognized by the Law Codex, proving that whether in shuttlecock kicking or hair braiding, she had reached the pinnacle of craftsmanship.

However, no matter the skill, it would become ineffective by this time tomorrow. Not wanting to waste the craftsmanship, Li Nuo said to Song Mu’er, “How about I re-braid your hair into a bun, one prettier than before…”

What girl doesn’t wish to become more beautiful, even if she’s only six years old?

Song Mu’er didn’t doubt Li Nuo in the slightest, not even hesitating as she nodded repeatedly, “Okay, okay…”

Li Nuo set aside the hair ribbon, his hands moving swiftly through her hair. He didn’t need to look, nor even think—it was as if thousands of repetitions had ingrained it into muscle memory. Before long, an elegant “flying immortal bun” appeared on Song Mu’er’s head.

It must be said that hairstyles greatly influence one’s appearance and aura.

Earlier, Song Mu’er had merely looked like a slightly pretty young lady from a wealthy family, but with this new hairstyle, she immediately gained an air of nobility and ethereal grace. The two hair loops trembled slightly with her subtle movements; had some hair ornaments been added, she would truly have resembled a little fairy.

Song Mu’er abandoned Li Nuo and eagerly ran back to her room to admire her new hairstyle.

At that moment, Li Nuo saw Song Jiaren approaching with an elegant woman.

The woman was beautiful, appearing to be in her early thirties, though the crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes suggested her true age was somewhat older.

Song Jiaren brought the woman to Li Nuo and said, “This is Auntie. You’ve met her before.”

Li Nuo bowed respectfully to the woman and said, “Greetings, Auntie.”

Old Lady Song had four sons and one daughter. Her only daughter, named Song Zhen, was her third child.

The woman stared at Li Nuo, her eyes filled more with pleasant surprise than shock. She glanced at Song Jiaren and asked uncertainly, “He’s really not foolish anymore?”

Song Jiaren nodded. Judging by his behavior over the past two days, he indeed no longer seemed foolish.

Not only was he not foolish, but one could even say he was clever.

The woman couldn’t resist reaching out to pinch and pat Li Nuo here and there, remarking as she did, “I always said Li Xuanjing’s son couldn’t possibly be a fool…”

She tugged at Li Nuo’s cheek and sighed, “I must say, you do bear some resemblance to your father in his youth.”

Li Nuo felt like a toy being manhandled, yet he couldn’t protest—after all, she was his elder. He could only stand there awkwardly.

To make matters more awkward, women in Great Xia dressed rather liberally. She wore a chest-high dress with a pearl necklace, beneath which half of her fair skin was exposed. Standing so close to Li Nuo, he didn’t know where to look.

He focused on his nose and heart, though a strange thought inexplicably arose in his mind: They say nieces take after their aunts, but my wife certainly hasn’t inherited any of that…

“I don’t care, I don’t care, I want one too!”

A girl’s crying and tantrum sounds came from afar, drawing everyone’s attention and rescuing Li Nuo in the process. Seeing both the beautiful woman and his wife looking in a certain direction, Li Nuo breathed a sigh of relief, took a step back to maintain distance from the beautiful woman, and also turned to look.

The one sitting on the ground crying and making a scene over there was a little girl.

The girl appeared about six or seven years old, with delicate features as if carved from jade, utterly adorable. However, she was crying quite miserably, kicking her feet while sobbing.

When Li Nuo’s gaze shifted to the girl’s face, he froze slightly—wasn’t that Song Mu’er, who had just been kicking the shuttlecock with him? Strangely, the Feixian bun he had just styled for her had somehow reverted to twin buns…

His eyes moved again, landing on another little girl standing beside the crying one—hands on hips, expression triumphant, sporting the Feixian bun, looking both beautiful and noble…

How could there be two Mu’ers?

Li Nuo was utterly confused.

By then, the beautiful woman had already hurried toward the crying girl, complaining as she went, “Who styled Mu’er’s hair so beautifully? Don’t they know Ning Er would definitely throw a fit upon seeing it? Last time Mu’er was sick, even medicine had to be served in two identical bowls. This time, it’s going to be chaos!”

Li Nuo understood—there weren’t two Mu’ers after all. They were actually twins.

He knew all too well what twins meant.

His university mentor had twin children at home. As the mentor’s student, handyman, and occasional babysitter, Li Nuo sometimes had to take on the responsibility of picking up the children from school.

In any household with two children, fairness must be maintained—especially in families with twins. Whatever the older sister had, the younger sister must have too. Not only did their clothes need to match, but also their hair accessories, food, and toys—everything had to be prepared in identical pairs. If the older sister took a cough suppressant, the younger sister had to have a sip too, just to be fair…

The slightest difference would guarantee household chaos.

Just thinking about that experience gave Li Nuo a headache.

Had he known Mu’er had a twin sister, he would never have styled her hair…

Meanwhile, Song Zhen had approached and said to a woman beside the crying girl, “Whoever styled Mu’er’s hair, have them immediately do the exact same for Ning Er. The old madam’s birthday banquet is about to begin—we mustn’t delay…”

The woman glared at several maids nearby and demanded angrily, “Who did this?”

The Song residence maids all shook their heads. No one understood the two young ladies better than the Song family’s servants—they would never do something like this.

Song Zhen waved her hand and said, “Never mind who did it for now. Is there anyone who can replicate this hairstyle? Hurry and do Ning Er’s hair, or we’ll run out of time.”

If she hadn’t been raised as a young lady who never learned hairstyling, she would have done it herself.

The maids exchanged glances until finally, an older maid spoke up: “Young mistress, what Miss Mu’er is wearing isn’t an ordinary Feixian bun. The person who styled her hair made many complex modifications to the traditional Feixian bun. The altered version appears more dignified, elegant, and noble—none of us know how to recreate this specific styling method…”

To untie the bell requires the one who tied it. Song Zhen rubbed her temples, crouched down, and smiled at the smug little girl with the beautiful hairstyle. “Mu’er, tell your aunt, who styled your hair so beautifully?”

Song Mu’er snorted at the crying little girl and turned her head away.

Since childhood, Song Ning’er had always wanted to take everything from her—she would never share Li Nuo with her.

Only she could have Li Nuo style her hair; Song Ning’er shouldn’t even think about it!

Just then, a guest in the crowd pointed in a certain direction and said, “I saw it earlier—it was that young master who braided Miss Mu’er’s hair…”

Hearing this, the women immediately turned to look where he pointed.

At the edge of their sight, a handsome young man was desperately trying to hide himself in the shadows of a dark corner…