If only it were a dream.
Xia Qiqi gave a cold laugh as she sat up in bed.
She said she didn’t even want to see Xiao Nanchen for a single second.
She didn’t want to recall a single second of it.
Everything that had happened last night was utterly earth-shattering.
Yet it was also vividly replaying over and over in her mind, perfectly clear.
She clearly remembered that she had taken the lead the entire night before, all night it had been her.
She flung back the bed covers and got out of bed.
Her feet had barely touched the ground when–
“Bang!” Xia Qiqi suddenly crashed right down.
As it turned out, the plot lines in romance novels weren’t made up.
Being too recklessly intimate really could make one’s entire body go weak and limp.
The moment she fell to the floor,
The man who had clearly been sound asleep suddenly snapped open his eyes, and hurriedly bent over, trying to help her up.
His fingers had barely grazed Xia Qiqi’s arm when–
“Don’t touch me!” Xia Qiqi shrieked.
Just one instant was all it took to make her completely fall apart.
Xiao Nanchen’s fingers twitched slightly as he slowly drew back his hand.
Xia Qiqi glared furiously at Xiao Nanchen.
Looking at his innocent expression, and that trace of unconcealed loss deep in his eyes that he hadn’t managed to hide well enough.
She could even see that now,
As the bed sheet slipped down, his bare upper body was covered all over in markings.
It was as if he had been abused.
His fair skin was full of purplish-blue coloring everywhere.
It was all left behind on his body from her frenzy last night.
Xia Qiqi felt even more like she was falling apart.
Even if she had taken the lead last night and had been the one losing all reason, Xiao Nanchen was after all a man. Did a man’s body really need to be so delicate? Did it really bruise from the slightest touch?!
What kind of man was he?
He might as well have been a delicate uke!
It seemed Xiao Nanchen had also noticed Xia Qiqi’s gaze.
He pulled the bedsheet up to cover himself, then wrapped his body in it.
Xia Qiqi gnashed her teeth as she clambered up from the floor.
She forced herself to maintain her balance as she left the room.
Her whole body clearly had no strength at all.
Yet in the instant she closed the bedroom door, she still erupted with astounding force.
It was as if she had vented all her rage onto the door. The door slammed shut with a loud bang.
And Xiao Nanchen simply watched as Xia Qiqi departed.
Before getting into bed,
the last thing Xia Qiqi had said to him was that she hated him.
After getting out of bed,
the first thing Xia Qiqi said to him was not to touch her.
He thought,
last night’s lovemaking had caused their relationship, already fraught with tension, to deteriorate even further!
......
Xia Qiqi returned to her own bedroom.
The instant she closed the door, she completely broke down into loud sobs.
How could she have slept with Xiao Nanchen?!
She had saved herself for Nie Ziming for so long, how could she have given herself to Xiao Nanchen?!
“Ah!” Xia Qiqi let out an anguished wail.
She really wanted to bash her own brains out!
If she died, then so be it.
If she died, then she wouldn’t feel so awful.
Xia Qiqi didn’t even know how long she had vented her distress in her room.
She went into the bathroom for a shower.
It was only while showering that she discovered her own body had some marks left on it too.
Although it was nothing compared to Xiao Nanchen’s,
these traces of their passionate lovemaking were still difficult for her to accept.
She scrubbed herself madly, wanting to erase these marks.
Scenes from how these marks happened kept automatically floating up in her mind...
Xiao Nanchen had not taken any initiative at all throughout the entire process.
He had passively accepted it all.
Unless...
when he could no longer endure, he would grip her body tightly, and exert himself forcefully.
It seemed he was trying hard to restrain himself but ultimately could not
hold back.
She vaguely recalled that every time Xiao Nanchen reached this point, a trace of allure would flit across his expression...
Xia Qiqi’s motions as she scrubbed herself grew more vigorous.
She must not recall last night’s scenes again!
Please, please never let her think of it again!
She feared she really might lose her mind!
She washed every inch of herself, inside and out, many times over.
But no matter how much she washed, she could not wash herself clean.
She scrubbed countless times, but still could not scrub herself clean.
Yet she was unwilling to resign herself to this, and continued to rinse herself over and over again.
Again and again...
“Miss Xia!” The bathroom door was suddenly shoved wide open by Le Ling.
Xia Qiqi’s expression turned incomparably ugly.
She was currently absolutely livid, and Le Ling’s actions made her erupt. “Get out!”
In fact, Le Ling also felt somewhat awkward at that moment.
She knew Miss Xia was bathing.
But suddenly seeing her totally nude body still made her feel a little shy.
She was somewhat stunned.
“I told you to get the hell out, so get out!” Xia Qiqi screamed.
She almost wanted to get into a fight with Le Ling.
Le Ling quickly regained her composure. She said, “Miss Xia, you’ve been bathing for too long. If you keep bathing like this, you might faint...”
“I don’t need you to worry about me, just get out!” Xia Qiqi raged.
Le Ling also knew Miss Xia had an awful temper.
Usually she basically didn’t even dare provoke her.
Being yelled at by her like this now, her first reaction was still to turn and run.
But then she suddenly thought of something, and plucked up her courage to say, “It was Mr. Xiao who told me to come check on you.”
“I don’t need any of you checking on me!”
“Mr. Xiao said he was worried you might do something foolish, so he told me to keep an eye on you.”
“I won’t!” Xia Qiqi said loudly. “Dying for his sake isn’t worth it!”
“...Mr. Xiao is a good man,” Le Ling couldn’t help speaking up for Xiao Nanchen.
She wasn’t lying either.
Since coming from her mountain village to the city to work as a domestic helper, she had helped out in quite a few households, and Mr. Xiao really was the best employer she had encountered. Not only was he even-tempered, he treated her very well too, occasionally even teaching her things and encouraging her to enroll in adult education courses, saying she would have more choices available to her in the future.
“Are you leaving or not?!” Xia Qiqi would not listen for even one second to any good things said about Xiao Nanchen.
She had also once felt Xiao Nanchen was a good man.
Although she told everyone Xiao Nanchen and Xiao Qiang were up to no good and just wanted her family’s assets, after interacting with Xiao Nanchen for so many years, deep down she still felt that Xiao Nanchen was not that terrible.
If it weren’t for him using underhanded means this time to marry her, she would also have affirmed that he was a good man.
When Xia Qiqi was on the verge of blowing up again,
Le Ling hurriedly left and shut the bathroom door behind her.
Seeing Miss Xia fly into a rage truly was too frightening.
She called loudly towards the bathroom door, “Miss Xia, I’ll just wait out here for you. If you haven’t come out after ten minutes I’ll knock on the door, and so on...”
“Didn’t you hear me telling you to scram?!” Xia Qiqi was truly about to be angered to death.
One Xiao Nanchen was already more than enough.
And now there was also a Le Ling.
Was Xiao Nanchen deliberately trying not to let her be at ease?!
“Mr. Xiao told me to keep a close eye on you.”
Xia Qiqi retched blood.
She truly felt like she could cough up a whole bowlful of blood.
She forcefully threw open the bathroom door.
Le Ling was badly startled.
Xia Qiqi shoved Le Ling aside with great strength, then directly went to bed, bundling herself up tightly.
“Miss Xia, would you like something to eat...” Le Ling began.
“Get lost!” Xia Qiqi had an awful temper.
Le Ling looked at her, then left her room, closing the door behind her.
Xia Qiqi bundled herself tightly in the quilt.
If she could, she wanted to stay bundled up like this for the rest of her life!
