After becoming a widow, I became the apple of a rough man's eye.

The door to the west room was smashed open, letting out a mournful groan as it succumbed to its strain.

Xiao Yong flung his crutch against the corner of the wall, and his entire body crashed heavily onto the wooden bed like a small mountain that had just collapsed.

Li Dongye was lying on the other side with his legs crossed. "What's wrong? Got chased by wolves?"

Xiao Yong ignored him and turned over to face the wall.

"What's wrong?" Li Dongye sat up. "Weren't you just going to forge iron? Why are you all wilted like a frostbitten eggplant now?"

"That wicked third brother."

After sulking for a long time, Xiao Yong finally squeezed out a curse from the bottom of his throat and slammed his fist on the bed board, "One day, I'll smash those glasses to pieces."

Li Dongye chuckled, rolled out of bed, dragged his shoes to Xiao Yong's bedside, and plopped down on the floor.

"He's been scheming for a long time. I told you not to go to the backyard, but you wouldn't listen. Aren't you just waiting to get your hands on him?"

"I'm going to work!" Xiao Yong turned around abruptly, his eyes wide and bloodshot. "I'm a blacksmith! What else am I supposed to do if I don't forge iron? Lie around in the house all day like a cripple? Make...make Qingqing serve me?"

When that name was mentioned, Xiao Yong's momentum suddenly weakened, and the last few words were uttered as if they were stuck in his mouth and were too hot to swallow.

Li Dongye raised an eyebrow, keenly noticing this subtle change.

He was all too familiar with that tone.

When a man is mistreated at home, it's mostly because of a woman; when a man goes crazy at home, it's definitely because he hasn't gotten the woman he wants.

"Oh—" Li Dongye drawled, his tone taking three turns, "So it was because you felt sorry for our cousin."

"Don't talk nonsense!"

Xiao Yong's face flushed red, but luckily it was dark inside and he couldn't see it clearly.

He hurriedly avoided Li Dongye's gaze, and gruffly protested, "Her hands are for cooking and embroidery, what's with her cleaning me up every day? I'm a grown man, don't I have any shame?"

"It's not like I need to clean up your excrement or urine, it's just bringing you food." Li Dongye took out a cigarette case from his pocket, pulled one out and handed it over, "Here, put some fire in your mouth."

Xiao Yong took it, but didn't light it. He just took a deep sniff of the tobacco smell, as if trying to suppress the heat in his head.

"Fourth brother."

After a long silence, Xiao Yong suddenly spoke, his voice deep and low, devoid of the previous irritability, but instead showing a rare hint of coyness.

"Put it on." Li Dongye lit himself on a fire, and the flames leaped up, illuminating half of his profile.

"You mean... Qingqing, she..." Xiao Yong stammered, almost snapping the cigarette in his hand, "Did she look down on me because I'm a rough man?"

Li Dongye almost choked to death on a puff of smoke.

He coughed twice and looked at his second brother with the eyes of someone looking at a rare animal.

There are five men in this family. The eldest is a repressed pervert, the third is an open pervert, the fifth is a secret pervert, and he himself is a flirtatious pervert.

The second son, however, was a complete simpleton.

Everyone else has already slept in that harem a few times, but this fool is still lingering at the door, worrying about whether people find him too rough.

"What do you mean?" Li Dongye suppressed a laugh, feigning ignorance. "She gave you a hard time in the backyard just now?"

"without."

Xiao Yong lowered his head, looking at his large hands covered in calluses and scars. "Just now... I almost fell, and she caught me. I just felt... she was so soft, so clean. I was covered in sweat, and if I got close to her, I was afraid I would smell her stench."

As he spoke, the scene from earlier resurfaced in his mind.

That slender, white neck, that milky scent that seemed to fill my nostrils, and that incredibly soft touch against my waist.

Xiao Yong's Adam's apple bobbed up and down, and that surge of lustful fire began to surge wildly in his lower abdomen again.

"Fourth brother, I won't lie to you." Xiao Yong suddenly raised his head, "I cherish her. Not in that kind of way, but... I want her to be my wife. I want to give her my heart."

The smile on Li Dongye's lips froze for a moment.

Looking at Xiao Yong's earnest, almost pious expression, he suddenly felt a strange, indescribable feeling welling up inside him.

In this den of wolves, who wouldn't want her as their wife?

Who wouldn't want to open their heart?

But if all these heartfelt words were to be revealed at once, that little woman might not be able to handle it and would be frightened to tears.

"Second Brother," Li Dongye's tone was unusually serious, "You can just say this to me. Don't let Eldest Brother hear it, and don't let Third Brother know either."

"Why should I?" Xiao Yong retorted, "There's no rule in our family that forbids marrying a widow. I'll just take her away and live separately!"

"Single?" Li Dongye scoffed. "Ask Lao Wu if he'll agree? Ask that big yellow dog at the door if he'll agree?"

He leaned closer, lowered his voice, and said in a seductive tone, "In this house, who isn't eyeing that piece of meat? You think you're the only one with eyes?"

Xiao Yong was stunned.

He may be reckless, but he's not stupid.

I hadn't thought about it that way before, but now, with Li Dongye's prompting, those details that I usually overlooked suddenly came to mind.

"You mean..." Xiao Yong's eyes widened, his face filled with disbelief, "You all..."

"I didn't say that." Li Dongye leaned back, put his hands behind his head, and looked like he was detached. "I'm just reminding you that we're family, and we'll always be family. It's the same with Qingqing. No one should think about living as two separate families."

Xiao Yong remained silent.

A stronger desire to possess that person grew wildly in his heart like weeds.

Since we're all wolves, don't blame him for being ruthless.

"Fourth brother," Xiao Yong kicked Li Dongye with his good foot, "get me some of those...books. The ones you hid under the bed."

Li Dongye was taken aback, then burst into suppressed laughter.

"Good for you, Second Brother." He reached out and patted Xiao Yong's hard shoulder. "You've finally figured it out? You know that strength alone isn't enough; you also need skill?"

"Stop talking nonsense." Xiao Yong's face turned as red as a hot iron. "I refuse to believe that my physique is inferior to that weakling, Lao San!"

Li Dongye laughed even harder.

He didn't tell Xiao Yong that Gu Laosan couldn't possibly be a weakling, and that Gu Qiangying definitely had far more tricks up her sleeve in this regard than was written in the book.

But that didn't stop him from watching the excitement.

"Wait here." Li Dongye rolled out of bed, stuck his butt out, and rummaged around under the bed for a while before pulling out a pictorial magazine with curled edges. He casually tossed it to Xiao Yong, "Read it carefully, don't tear the paper."

Xiao Yong took it as if it were a treasure, but instead of looking at it, he carefully tucked it under his pillow.

He lay down again, this time feeling at ease.