Living like a widow? My rough neighbor is coaxing me to have a baby every night.

Chapter 171 A man's mouth is a liar's mouth.

Xiao Lan paused, looked down at the defective pancake in her hand, and chuckled as she shook it. "Captain Xu, are you out of your mind? You won't eat this perfectly good pancake, you insist on eating my leftovers? It's covered in teeth marks, I even bit into it, don't you find it disgusting?"

These days, people don't really care about separate meals, but they do care about saving face.

There's no other way for grown men to eat leftovers; who would want to eat someone else's saliva if there's something better?

"Dirty?"

Xu Yuecheng scoffed.

He reached out and grabbed Xiao Lan's slender wrist.

He didn't try to snatch it; he just took her hand and leaned his body sharply to her side.

"Awoo!" One bite.

The half-eaten pancake with teeth marks, along with a drop of oil from Xiao Lan's fingertips, all went into his mouth.

The warm, even somewhat rough tongue, while rolling up the pancake, viciously licked Xiao Lan's fingertip.

Xiao Lan felt a tingling sensation in her fingertips, like an electric shock shooting straight to the top of her head.

Her hand trembled, and she almost dropped the oiled paper.

"you--!"

Xu Yuecheng sat up straight, chewing the half-eaten pancake with gusto, as if he were eating some rare delicacy.

His eyebrows and eyes exuded a thuggish air, and his dark, deep eyes were full of mockery and possessiveness.

"Where is it dirty?"

He swallowed the food in his mouth, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down, making the kind of swallowing sound that would make a woman blush and her heart race. "Last night, which part of your body didn't I kiss? We've practically swallowed each other's saliva countless times, and now you're fussing about this?"

"Xu Yuecheng!"

Xiao Lan raised her hand and slapped his stiff arm. "Can't you keep your mouth shut? Aren't you afraid of biting off more than you can chew?"

"What are you afraid of?"

Xu Yuecheng was in a great mood, his fingers tapping a rhythm on the steering wheel. "Can't I even speak the truth? Besides, this pancake only tastes good to me because it's been handled by you and has your flavor. If someone else handed it to me, it would be pig slop, and I wouldn't even glance at it."

This is the sweet talk of a rough-around-the-edges man.

They don't have many tricks up their sleeves; they're so straightforward it's almost embarrassing.

Xiao Lan wasn't fooled by his "sweet talk," and instead gave him a flirtatious glare.

That man's mouth is a lying devil.

Now that they've succeeded, sweet words are pouring out like they're free.

When I get tired of her one day, I'll want to kick her to the curb!

She unscrewed the cap of the army green water bottle, leaned forward slightly, and brought the spout to Xu Yuecheng's lips: "Drink your water, stop talking so much nonsense. Your lips have been dry and chapped all the way here, aren't you afraid of cracking and hurting yourself?"

Xu Yuecheng turned his head and took her hand, gulping down large mouthfuls of water.

The Adam's apple moves up and down with each swallow, both wild and sexy.

A little water spilled from the corner of his mouth, ran down his stubble-covered chin, and dripped onto his sweat-soaked black vest.

Xiao Lan extended her thumb and naturally wiped the water stains from the corner of his mouth, gently pressing her fingertip against his dry lips.

"Swoosh—" The jeep suddenly slid, but fortunately Xu Yuecheng held on steady and straightened it back.

"Damn it." Xu Yuecheng cursed under his breath and slammed on the brakes. The car didn't come to a complete stop, but its speed noticeably decreased.

He turned his head, his dark eyes seeming to spit fire as he stared at Xiao Lan's ambiguous smile: "Xiao Lan, did you do this on purpose?"

"I was wiping your mouth," Xiao Lan said innocently, but a sly glint lurked in her peach blossom eyes. "What? No good deed goes unpunished?"

Don't try that on me.

Xu Yuecheng's voice was terribly hoarse, "If you look at me like that again, believe me, this car won't be able to get back to the compound today. There are plenty of woods by the roadside; I'll drive in right now and make sure you submit today!"

"You wish!"

Xiao Lan chuckled, leaned back in her chair, and tidied her wind-blown curly hair. "This is nothing! In this desolate wilderness, there's not even any hot water for a bath. I'm not going to serve you."

She verbally refused, but inwardly she was quite pleased with herself.

This man has finally taken the bait completely.

Back in the team, Xu Yuecheng was like a stubborn rock, never giving face to anyone.

And now? Hasn't she turned him into an obedient wolfhound?

If you give him a little something in return, he won't go west if you make him go east.

This trip to Huai City not only yielded several sacks of gold and silver, but also completely got the man under its control.

The days ahead are now halfway to stability.

"I said."

Xu Yuecheng exhaled a smoke ring, finally unable to suppress his inner grumbling, "Are you really going to take these sacks of scraps of cloth back as treasures? Liu Quan may be a lecher, but he's been in the factory for so many years, he's a shrewd man. He's dumping these scraps on us for five cents a pound, that's basically throwing them away. Are you really planning to take them back and sew them into patchwork garments to sell?"

These days, although Dacron is in short supply, city dwellers still care about appearances.

If someone wore clothes made of scraps of cloth, they would be ridiculed and mocked for being poor.

Five cents a pound sounds cheap, but if it can't be sold, it's just a pile of junk that's too smelly to even be used as a fire starter.

Xiao Lan was wiping her hands with a handkerchief when she heard this, and her smile deepened.

"A patchwork garment? That's barely worth anything. It's a waste of effort."

Xiao Lan took a red rubber band from her small handbag, wrapped it around her finger twice, and said casually:

"Yuecheng, you don't read magazines, so you don't know what's trending these days. What are Hong Kong and Taiwanese stars like Brigitte Lin and Teresa Teng wearing on their heads now? Those are scrunchies!"

"What kind of intestine?" Xu Yuecheng frowned. "Pig intestines?"

"screw you!"

Xiao Lan laughed and pinched his arm. "That's called a scrunchie! It's made by sewing cloth into a tube, with elastic bands inside. It has lots of pleats, looks stylish, and makes your hair look thicker. The scraps of cloth Liu Quan gave us are all long and brightly colored, perfect for making this."

Xu Yuecheng was confused, but he roughly understood that it was a hair tie.

"Even if it's just a hair tie, how much can it sell for? A dime or two?"

"One cent and two taels?"

Xiao Lan scoffed, held up a hand, and waved it in front of Xu Yuecheng. "Our scraps of cloth cost five cents a pound. With the elastic and labor, the cost is at most ten cents to produce five or six. If I made them, I could put them up at the supply and marketing cooperative or in front of a movie theater, and they'd be 'new Hong Kong and Taiwan styles,' selling for at least fifty cents each!"

"squeak--"

The jeep jolted violently.

Xu Yuecheng's eyes widened, and he almost stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake.

"Five cents? One?" His voice rose eight octaves. "Are you robbing me? How much does a pound of meat cost?"

He knew the prices these days; five cents could buy a pound of good noodles, so why would a spendthrift woman spend five cents on a hair tie?