Experience proved that one should never actively encourage or cooperate with a beast in gentleman’s clothing, because he would evolve into a complete beast. Especially one who had lived in celibacy for four years with only his right hand for company.
The endless dark night amplified all sensations. The man’s breathing was urgent and hot, his black hair damp with sweat, his slightly upturned eyes dark and deep, almost drowning out all other emotions.
Chu Zhi eventually cried until she was oxygen-deprived and dazed. Only then did he turn over and hold her in his arms.
The young woman was in complete disarray, her small body hiccuping. After a long while, she finally raised her eyes and said hoarsely between sobs: “Do you… hate me… did you… want to… kill me…”
Lu Jiaheng: “…”
He carefully held her in his arms, pulling tissues from the bedside to help clean her.
She trembled in pain at the touch of the tissue, crying and trying to shrink away.
Lu Jiaheng grabbed her ankle and pulled it apart, about to look down.
Chu Zhi’s legs were too weak to move, softly trying to pull back together.
Lu Jiaheng held her ankle, his voice hoarse after their intimacy, coaxing gently: “Let me look.”
“Look what…”
He gently pulled apart, bending down: “Seems a bit scraped.”
Chu Zhi used all her strength to kick him, crying with hiccups, “Tell me if you’re a bastard or not…”
Lu Jiaheng withdrew his hand, stood up, and lifted her into his arms, walking into the bathroom where he stepped into the bathtub filled with water.
The bathroom was much brighter than the bedroom, instantly increasing the resolution several times. Chu Zhi curled up in his arms, her head lazily resting on his shoulder as she raised her hand to pat his back: “Light…”
“Always about the light.” He grabbed a nearby bath puff, pumped some body wash onto it, and started lathering her up.
When the puff brushed her inner thighs, Chu Zhi whimpered and tried to shrink away again.
It took quite a while to wash her clean from head to toe before carrying her back to the bedroom.
The bedding had been spread underneath them earlier and was now wet with various fluids. Lu Jiaheng simply pulled off the covers and threw them on the floor, laid her on the bed, and pulled out fresh bedding from the wardrobe to cover her.
Chu Zhi was too tired to open her eyes, couldn’t even lift her arms, lying limply on the bed like a corpse as she let him tuck her in. She vaguely felt the bed dip beside her, followed by a warm arm wrapping around her.
Chu Zhi furrowed her brows and made a couple of whimpering sounds before finally raising her hand to rub her swollen eyes and opening them to look at him.
The man looked lazy and satisfied after being fully sated, looking at her with lowered eyes.
Seeing his expression, Chu Zhi felt anger rising from everywhere.
His shoulder had several bite marks from her teeth and some nail marks. Chu Zhi moved her arm around under the covers, reached out, and jabbed him hard with her index finger.
Lu Jiaheng let out a soft hiss and caught her finger: “What are you doing?”
She was still in pain and looked at him pitifully: “Lu Jiaheng, I’m never going to—” she struggled for a while before saying quietly, “never going to do this with you again.”
Lu Jiaheng chuckled softly, seeming in a good mood: “Not even giving me two more chances?”
Chu Zhi thought about it and frowned again: “Fine, once when we get married.”
Lu Jiaheng gently stroked her hair: “What about the other time?”
Chu Zhi thought about it: “When you die.”
Lu Jiaheng: “…”
She had been crying and wailing all night, her voice still hoarse and exhausted. She drooped her head on the pillow, leaning against him as she spoke softly: “Have you heard that joke – help me up and let’s try again?”
Lu Jiaheng kissed her forehead, very gently: “You still have energy to joke around.”
Chu Zhi tilted her head up to glare at him: “Where was all this gentleness earlier when you were trying to kill me?”
Lu Jiaheng pressed her head against his chest: “Stop causing trouble.”
Chu Zhi made a couple of whimpering sounds, her bottom wiggling back slightly to find a comfortable position. She rested her head against his chest, nuzzling like a small animal out of habit, sniffing a bit before going quiet.
She usually fell asleep quickly and would start expanding her territory in her sleep, trying to take over the whole bed and drive away the person beside her. But this time she slept deeply without moving for a long while.
This sleep lasted until 8:30 the next morning.
She was facing away from him, completely enveloped in his embrace from behind. Chu Zhi took a moment to gather her wits, rubbed her eyes, and tried to wiggle out.
As soon as she moved a bit, his arm around her waist tightened and pulled her back.
Chu Zhi slowly turned around to look up at him.
This wasn’t their first time waking up in the same bed.
But there was always something different.
When she turned over, he woke up, squinting his eyes slightly before opening them—
“Lu Jiaheng,” Chu Zhi said calmly, “I feel like you’ve gotten uglier.”
Lu Jiaheng paused, then chuckled with his eyes still narrowed, his voice raspy with sleep: “After sleeping with me you think I’m ugly.”
Even though she had fully experienced how his words during intimacy could make one blush the night before, Chu Zhi still easily turned red: “Can’t you be more proper when you talk?”
“No,” Lu Jiaheng looked like he hadn’t slept enough, messily ruffling her hair, “What time is it?”
“8:30.”
“Let’s sleep.”
“Work.”
Lu Jiaheng paused, finally opening his eyes to look at her: “You’re still going to work?”
Chu Zhi blinked: “Aren’t you going to work?”
Lu Jiaheng made a vague “mm” sound, lowering his head to bite her lips, his hand under the covers sliding up under her clothes to grip her slim waist: “Don’t want to go.”
Chu Zhi slapped his face away with her palm: “Brush teeth, wash face, work!”
Lu Jiaheng was like an untamed horse, taking advantage of his good physical condition to torment the less physically capable Chu Zhi. While her father and Ms. Deng were away, he would drag her into intimate activities every night, and once wasn’t enough as he kept pushing for more, until Chu Zhi kicked him off the bed.
Early the next morning, as soon as Chu Zhi arrived at the company, she saw Xiao Yi standing at the office door.
By then, the rumors had been fermenting for several days, and when the two story characters appeared in the same frame again, everyone in the marketing department was secretly glancing this way.
Chu Zhi stood at the door holding a thermos, looking very calm: “Morning.”
Xiao Yi had visibly lost weight in just a few short days.
He lowered his head, speaking softly but loud enough for everyone in the office to hear: “What I promised you before, I will do it,” he paused, his eye sockets sunken as he looked at her, suddenly bowing, “I’m sorry.”
A bombshell dropped, the office fell silent, and the spectating crowd who had been secretly watching were shocked.
Chu Zhi didn’t speak.
Xiao Yi bent over, head down: “I previously stole your core creative idea and claimed it as my own, then turned around and accused you of plagiarism, letting you be misunderstood for so long and causing you so much trouble. I’m sorry.”
Chu Zhi bit her lip, starting to feel a bit soft-hearted.
The office was silent, no one spoke, even the sound of movement had disappeared, leaving only the sound of fingers hitting keyboards.
The office was probably one of the places where any secret spread the fastest.
After a long while, Xiao Yi finally straightened up: “I’ve already resigned from Zhuosi, and I’ve realized my previous foolishness. I won’t take things that don’t belong to me anymore. After doing something like this, I don’t dare hope we can still be friends,” he looked at her deeply, “Thank you for being willing to forgive me.”
After a long time, she finally gave a soft “mm” and lowered her head.
Publicly apologizing to her was what Chu Zhi had demanded of him that day.
But she hadn’t actually meant for him to resign.
Chu Zhi wrinkled her nose and said softly: “You didn’t have to resign…”
Xiao Yi gave a bitter smile: “My leaving Zhuosi also has other reasons.”
Chu Zhi could vaguely guess it was related to what happened that day, but didn’t know the specifics.
She raised her eyes to look at the man before her.
He had heavy dark circles and bloodshot eyes, looking exhausted.
Actually, Chu Zhi wasn’t completely without impression of Xiao Yi from high school.
She had seen him a few times in the school cafeteria.
When their eyes met, Chu Zhi hadn’t paid much attention, just glancing over him like any other passerby.
It was only after their gazes crossed multiple times that she started to have a slight impression of his face.
A gentle, low-key yet proud and confident youth.
This was Chu Zhi’s initial impression of Xiao Yi.
Time and the world always change a person imperceptibly.
If Xiao Yi’s morning apology was one landmine, then Lu Jiaheng rushing into the marketing department at noon with his hands wrapped in white gauze bandages while carrying a lunch box was a deep-water torpedo.
The recently prominent Young Master Lu had both hands wrapped like an invalid, struggling to carry a lunch box to Chu Zhi’s desk. His dark almond eyes focused on her: “Baby, I’m sorry I didn’t protect you well, letting you suffer so much these past days.”
“…”
Chu Zhi shuddered again at his nauseating behavior.
She looked up at his hands wrapped so thoroughly in gauze and bandages that not a bit of skin showed through – the same hands that just this morning at home had been gripping her legs and skillfully running up them like playing piano keys.
“What happened to your hands?” Chu Zhi asked with difficulty.
The Crown Prince lifted the lunch box slightly, looking at her with impossibly gentle eyes: “I wanted to make you lunch and got a little burned by the oil.”
“…”
More like you dunked your hands in a deep fryer.
Thus, in the span of a single day, the news of the “victim” of plagiarism coming to apologize spread like ripples on water, and Chu Zhi transformed from “a vixen of questionable character who seduced a rich handsome man” to “a Cinderella who endured false accusations yet remained full of love for the world and finally found true love.”
The gossip-loving enthusiastic residents of Chaoyang District were always so fickle.
Chu Zhi felt like a daughter-in-law who had finally become the mother-in-law, experiencing treatment completely different from before. Even going to the bathroom, girls would ask to accompany her, like being back in high school.
Peeing! With the “supposed” future chairman’s wife!
How exciting!!!
Chu Zhi had never been good at handling this sort of thing. She found it extremely awkward, and the female colleagues’ enthusiastic greetings were overwhelming. They even wanted to invite Pink Shirt to go to the bathroom together.
So after several times, despite the few friendly gazes around her, she turned her head and looked eagerly at Pink Shirt: “Senior, want to go to the bathroom together?”
“…”
Pink Shirt looked at her expressionlessly: “Madam Boss, if you keep this up, I’m going to resign.”
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