Addiction to Temptation: His Mischievous Sweetheart Captivates Him-Chapter 213: I Like You No Matter What

When the two entered the house again, the table was already full of dishes. The two elderly people usually didn’t eat much, and these dishes were made by rummaging through the fridge.

Natalie Vaughn rarely saw such home-cooked meals and her eyes sparkled with curiosity and excitement.

She pointed at the table, showing off to Zane Thorne.

"I contributed to these dishes too."

The room was brightly lit, and Zane finally saw Natalie’s current appearance clearly. Not only was her face covered in gray dust, but her white down jacket was also stained with soot.

Uncle Sheffield brought out a bucket of liquor and placed it down with a thud.

"You made yourself look like a mess while burning the fire and you’re proud of it?"

Natalie: ...Mess?

Baffled, she raised her hand to cover her face.

"What’s wrong with me?"

At this, Zane noticed the injury on Natalie’s hand. Her originally fair and slender fingers were now bruised and swollen.

Zane’s eyes darkened as he grabbed Natalie’s hand to prevent her from moving.

Natalie was still asking.

"What’s on my face?"

She glanced around looking for a mirror for a long time but couldn’t find one. She finally caught a blurry glimpse of herself in a large stainless steel cup, seeing the condition of her face.

Suddenly, Natalie let out a short scream. She always cared about her image, and just now did she go to meet Zane looking like that? And they kissed for so long?

Seeing Aunt Sheffield come out, Natalie immediately spoke up.

"Aunt, where’s the place to wash my face?"

Zane asked at the same time.

"Aunt, where’s the ointment?"

Aunt Sheffield turned to find the ointment and handed it to Zane.

"Let Zane take you to the place to wash your face."

Natalie immediately tugged at the man’s clothes.

Zane took her into the inner room, found a clean basin, rinsed it with water, then poured half a thermos of hot water, added a little cold water, confirmed the temperature with his hand, and then pulled Natalie’s hand over.

"I want to wash my face first!."

Just thinking about her face, which had patches of gray and black, made Natalie uncomfortable, desperately uneasy.

Zane held Natalie’s wrist, furrowing his brow.

"Medicine first."

"I won’t, if I don’t wash my face, I won’t put on medicine."

Natalie’s brow furrowed tightly, her little face scrunched up, her whole body rejecting her dirty self at the moment.

Zane had no choice but to sigh and wash her face first.

"Lower your head."

Natalie had never used such a basin before, had never washed her face this way, found it novel and didn’t mind it, adapting quickly.

Zane’s movements were gentle, carefully cleaning the soot from Natalie’s face. After washing, he gave her a brand new towel to wipe her face.

The towel was a bit rough, and Natalie’s skin was tender, so by the time she finished wiping, her little face was all red.

But Natalie was too focused on the gray water in the basin to care about the slight tingling pain on her face. Seeing the once-clear water turn gray, her face darkened.

Her face had never been this dirty since childhood!

Natalie pointed at the dirty water in the basin, her fingers trembling slightly, her eyes wide with disbelief.

"Was my face this dirty?"

Seeing her like this, Zane couldn’t help but burst out laughing, gently taking her hand and applying medicine.

Natalie’s attention remained on the dirty water in the basin, unable to stop herself from yelping once more.

Zane had just finished applying the medicine and then leaned forward to playfully peck the tip of her nose.

"Surprised?"

Natalie instantly glared at Zane, raising her hand to cover her mouth.

"Even with that ghastly look, you still dared to kiss me?"

Zane chuckled lowly, pulling her hand down to steal another kiss on her lips.

"I’d kiss you no matter what you looked like."

Natalie: !!!!!!!!

"You pervert!"

Zane: ... Did I do wrong?

Natalie couldn’t fathom that she had just enacted a long-lost reunion scene with Zane, with her face covered in soot, and even shared a lingering kiss.

Zane knew the little girl always cared about her image, so he hugged her onto his lap.

"I wouldn’t mind, I like you no matter how you look."

Natalie glared at him again.

"You like that messy look too?"

Hearing this, the man finally couldn’t hold back his laughter. How could there be someone so adorable using a term others said about her to describe herself?

Upon hearing his laughter, Natalie nearly exploded, slapping the man’s shoulder.

"And you laugh!"

Zane bit his lip, stopped laughing, but his chest still trembled, his voice tinged with amusement.

"Yes, I do, the dusty look is especially cute."

Natalie: ...

Another whimper emerged from Natalie’s throat.

Zane smiled, tilted his head to give her a kiss on the chin, lifted Natalie’s hands, and looked at her swollen fingers, his eyes darkening.

"What happened to your hand?"

Upon hearing this, Natalie looked down at her hand, which lay small in Zane’s palm, playfully wiggling it.

"I got pinched by the door."

She said lightly, but Zane understood it wasn’t that simple behind the words.

Thinking about Uncle Sheffield’s attitude towards Natalie, Zane’s heart sank, guessing what had caused this injury.

Thinking about it, Zane felt even more sorry for Natalie, couldn’t help but hold her tighter.

This face washing had taken so long that Uncle Sheffield raised his voice.

"Did you fall into a well while washing your face?"

Natalie didn’t understand the meaning of this sentence, weren’t they washing their face with a basin? How could they fall into a well?

Zane got up, emptied the basin, rinsed it with cold water, put it back on the rack, and then explained to Natalie.

"It’s a phrase they commonly use; they used to fetch water directly from the well, so it became a saying."

Natalie nodded, half-understood.

"You know a lot."

The man just curled his lips slightly.

Natalie suddenly thought of how Zane had helped build this house before and knowing these things seemed reasonable.

By the time the two went out, the elders were already seated with the food served.

Natalie keenly noticed that only two bowls had rice in them while the other two were empty bowls, and there was an item as large as a bowl beside them.

Once seated, Natalie realized it was for storing liquor.

Uncle Sheffield said nothing, poured two big bowls full of liquor, placed one in front of himself and one in front of Zane.

Zane held it with both hands, didn’t speak, toasted to Uncle Sheffield, then lowered his head and drank the entire bowl of liquor directly.

Natalie looked on, stunned. Though she had never tasted white liquor, she had heard its alcohol content wasn’t low, and the smell reached her from afar.

How could he drink high-proof alcohol like this? He had been hospitalized due to a drink-related incident before; how could his stomach handle this now?!

Natalie wanted to protest but saw Uncle Sheffield down his bowl of liquor too.

"..."

Did these two drink alike?

Natalie suddenly glanced at the nearby barrel of liquor, wouldn’t they... finish this entire barrel tonight?