"Be good, stop moving around."
Mu Jinyu soothed in a gentle voice and at the same time applied pressure with his hands, massaging several acupoints on Gu Xiyan's delicate feet.
As Mu Jinyu massaged, Gu Xiyan's initially squirming feet gradually relaxed in the palm of his hands.
Because it felt so comfortable, Gu Xiyan felt as if her feet, which had almost given out on her, were soaking in a hot spring under Mu Jinyu's massage, sweeping away all weariness.
"All done."
Soon after finishing the massage, Mu Jinyu made sure that Gu Xiyan's feet wouldn't blister or swell the next day, and then let them go.
"Ah?"
Just as Gu Xiyan was enjoying the feeling, Mu Jinyu stopped, and she looked at him somewhat dazedly.
Then, coming back to her senses, a flush of red crept up her face. She quickly retracted her feet and put on her shoes.
Gu Xiyan felt incredibly embarrassed; fortunately, she didn't have smelly feet. Otherwise, taking off her shoes in the confined space of the car and then having the odor spread... it was simply unimaginable...
After massaging Gu Xiyan's feet, Mu Jinyu went to massage Wen Rou.
Wen Rou was initially bashful and struggled, not wanting Mu Jinyu to massage her feet in front of everyone. But she couldn't argue with Mu Jinyu and eventually obediently took off her shoes, allowing him to massage her.
After massaging Wen Rou, Mu Jinyu then went to massage Mei Yinxue. Meeting her somewhat reproachful gaze, Mu Jinyu whispered to her, "They don't know martial arts, please be understanding."
Hearing this, Mei Yinxue rolled her eyes at Mu Jinyu and said, "Then you go massage... Auntie... first."
How could celestial beings like them have smelly feet?
Mei Yinxue said this not as an excuse but because she felt that Su Zijin was likely in more discomfort due to soreness and numbness in her feet. Moreover, as her mother-in-law, it wouldn't be appropriate for her to insist on getting a foot massage from Mu Jinyu before Su Zijin did.
That would be too disrespectful to her mother-in-law.
Upon hearing this, Mu Jinyu's expression stiffened.
Although he had completely let go of his prejudice against Su Zijin and was ready to accept her, he was still accustomed to living without parents and couldn't bring himself to call her "Mom", or even know how to speak to her.
The entire day, it had been a matter of Su Zijin saying something, and him replying...
Having to take the initiative to massage Su Zijin's feet, he felt awkward and embarrassed.
"Go ahead!"
Mei Yinxue gave Mu Jinyu a light push.
Although she knew martial arts, having stood the whole day and walked several miles, she, who was usually pampered, felt quite uncomfortable in her feet and longed for Mu Jinyu's massage to ease the fatigue.
But at this moment, it was an important step toward improving the mother-son relationship between Mu Jinyu and Su Zijin, so naturally, she had to give them a push.
If they had to wait for Mu Jinyu to take the initiative, who knows how long it would be.
After being pushed by Mei Yinxue, Mu Jinyu stood in front of Su Zijin.
The car they were sitting in was a Rolls-Royce stretch limousine with six seats. The two front seats were occupied by the driver and an assistant. The other four seats in the rear were spacious enough to sit facing each other, which was convenient for conversation.
Otherwise, if the four of them had been sitting in the back, it would have been a tight fit, and there would have been no space for Mu Jinyu to massage them one by one.
However, now that Mei Yinxue had pushed Mu Jinyu in front of Su Zijin, not only was he embarrassed, but Su Zijin also felt quite awkward.
Although she had just seen Mu Jinyu tenderly massaging their feet, soothing their meridians, she couldn't help feeling envious.
But when Mu Jinyu actually came over, her heart was filled with nervous trepidation, fearing that she might disgust him.
Mu Jinyu looked at Su Zijin with an awkward expression, and after making eye contact for a while, he said, "Let me massage your feet a bit."
Upon hearing this, Su Zijin's eyes showed a hint of surprise. Even though Mu Jinyu still hadn't called her mom, at least this was the first time he had addressed her with care.
However, she quickly shook her head and said, "It's okay, mom's feet aren't sore. Go massage Little Xue instead…"
Mu Jinyu fell silent and, without wanting to say more, knelt down, took off Su Zijin's shoes, and started massaging her feet.
Su Zijin's cheeks flushed as she watched Mu Jinyu, head bowed and silent, massaging her feet. She felt both nervous and reassured, with a sense of contentment…
A long time ago, Su Zijin saw a public service advertisement on TV, where a young boy carried a basin of water to wash feet. The basin was over half-full, and the four or five-year-old boy could hardly carry it; water spilled as he walked, soaking his shorts and vest.
Then he called out, "Mom, time to wash your feet."
At the time, Su Zijin had felt very distressed watching it. She did not dare to expect Mu Jinyu to wash her feet, but she greatly hoped for him to come back to her side.
And now, not only had Mu Jinyu come back, but he was also willing to massage her weary feet. How could this not move and satisfy her?!
Mu Jinyu kept his head down as he massaged the top of Su Zijin's feet. She had taken good care of herself, and her feet were as white and smooth as jade, lacking the callouses and athlete's foot usually found on women her age.
That made the experience much more bearable for him.
If Su Zijin's feet actually had all sorts of callouses and athlete's foot, although Mu Jinyu wouldn't truly disdain her for it, he would have definitely felt more awkward about it.
As it was, it still felt quite uncomfortable, but he was able to suppress that sense of shame.
Today was the first time Mu Jinyu had ever massaged anyone's feet; he had always found it too dirty before and, no matter how clean the person was, he had never massaged anyone's feet.
But today he made an exception and massaged their feet, initially because he didn't want them to overexert themselves, and secondly, because he felt guilty…
As Mu Jinyu massaged, the pair of feet that had felt incredibly sore and uncomfortable quickly began to relax, and soon enough, Su Zijin couldn't feel any discomfort at all.
Once Mu Jinyu felt he had massaged enough, he stopped, then took a clean towel from the drawer and returned to his seat to carefully wipe his hands.
After wiping his hands, he placed the towel to one side and made no further move.
Su Zijin was putting her shoes back on.
Meanwhile, Mei Yinxue, "???"
She stared at Mu Jinyu for a long time, then shot him several disdainful glances, frantically signaling him with her eyes: What about me?
Mu Jinyu saw her but didn't attend to Mei Yinxue, instead turning his head to look out of the window.
Seeing this, Mei Yinxue felt extremely aggrieved.
Wow, you're so biased! Only massaging Face of Jade and Wen Rou and ignoring me?! Just because I pushed you a little earlier, telling you to massage your mom first, you're treating me differently?
Wuwu, I feel wronged, distressed…
Mu Jinyu glanced sideways and saw Mei Yinxue's aggrieved little expression. Where was the usual dazzling older sister figure? He couldn't help but laugh and shake his head, and then he went over and massaged her small feet as well.