Chapter 162

Chapter 162

Before the banquet had even ended, Jiang Baichuan shamelessly used his seven-tenths drunken state to coax Yun Li up to the suite on the hotel’s top floor.

There had been far too many people coming over to toast them at the wedding banquet, and Jiang Baichuan wasn’t like Xie Qiyan, whose face practically had the words “Do Not Approach” written all over it.

He accepted every toast that came his way. Drink enough, and naturally he could drag his girlfriend into getting drunk with him.

Once a person was drunk, even the lights overhead seemed especially romantic.

Yun Li helped Jiang Baichuan onto the bed. She had just been about to cover him with the blanket when he grabbed her with one hand and yanked her down, making her fall onto him.

Jiang Baichuan let out a low laugh, taking the chance to pull the blanket over both of them. With warmth and softness in his arms, his face was full of contentment. “Sleep with me for a while.”

“You haven’t taken your shoes off.” Knowing he wasn’t feeling well, Yun Li tugged loose the tie strangling his neck, then undid two buttons to let him breathe.

Jiang Baichuan let her fuss over him. His misty eyes stayed on her as he smiled. “I want to shower.”

“Wait until you sober up.” Yun Li pressed him back down.

“I’m not drunk.” Jiang Baichuan laughed, the sound lightly vibrating in his chest. He wrapped an arm around Yun Li’s slender waist, refusing to let her leave, then nudged his head against the crook of her neck. “I’m really not drunk. I was pretending. I’m just a little tired and want you to sleep with me for a bit.”

His expression was far too serious, and his eyes far too clear. Yun Li wavered inside and let out a helpless sigh. “Then get up by yourself. I can’t hold you up anymore. You’re so heavy.”

Jiang Baichuan only smiled, then seized the opportunity to beg for a kiss.

The smell of alcohol on him was too strong, and knowing Yun Li would dislike it, he only caught her lips and kissed her lightly for a moment.

Yun Li had always been softhearted to a fault, utterly unable to resist Jiang Baichuan when he acted like this. But she still didn’t dare fully believe he wasn’t drunk at all, so she followed him into the bathroom, adjusted the water for him, and only then left at ease.

“Sure enough, men who know how to act cute have the best lives.” Jiang Baichuan withdrew his gaze, smiling rather smugly as he stripped and turned on the shower. The instant the water poured down, he jolted from the heat.

Fine. His precious girlfriend’s love was indeed scorching hot.

After he finished showering and came out, Yun Li force-fed him a bowl of hangover soup. Once he had drunk it all, Jiang Baichuan didn’t rush to lie down. Instead, he pushed Yun Li into the bathroom.

“Shower, then we’ll sleep together. I’ll wait for you in bed.” Jiang Baichuan looked at her with a half smile, deliberately emphasizing the last few words.

Yun Li: “…”

In broad daylight?

Jiang Baichuan seemed to know exactly what she was thinking. “It’ll be dark in another hour.”

Yun Li had also had a few drinks. On top of that, she had just hauled him upstairs and rolled around on the bed with him, so she smelled of alcohol too. After thinking it over for a moment, she shut the bathroom door with a click.

Jiang Baichuan smiled in victory, then returned to the bedroom in his loosely draped bathrobe, looking lazy and languid as he waited for the beauty to come back.

This was the second time the two of them had slept in the same bed.

The first time had been a few days ago, the night he drank with Xie Qiyan. He had gotten utterly wasted, and Yun Li had stayed with him at his place all night.

Although he had been drunk that night, Jiang Baichuan knew what he was doing.

There were some things he didn’t know how to say while sober. After getting drunk, he cried his heart out, and somehow coaxed Yun Li into agreeing.

A relationship was something that belonged to two people. He didn’t want Yun Li to convince Yun Meilan all by herself. He wanted to face everything together with Yun Li, and Yun Li had agreed.

He wanted to help Yun Li overcome her fear and break free of her shadow. He wanted Yun Li to cooperate with desensitization therapy, and Yun Li had agreed to that too.

He had even proposed. Shamelessly and stubbornly, he had clung to her and begged Yun Li to marry him, and Yun Li had agreed all the same.

Thinking about it now, he had been the drunk one, but Yun Li had been sober.
So those words…

After pulling the covers over them, Jiang Baichuan leaned over her. “What you promised me that night-does it still count?”

Yun Li pressed her lips together and blinked. She had just been about to speak when he covered her mouth again.

“If it counts, then tonight we’ll start desensitization therapy.”

Yun Li’s breath caught. The instant she struggled, Jiang Baichuan pinned her shoulders down. “If it doesn’t count…”

“You were the sober one that night, Yun Li. A promise is a promise. You can’t cheat, and you definitely can’t go back on your word.”

Yun Li laughed in spite of her anger and kicked him lightly with her calf. “Get up. I didn’t say I was going back on it.”

Jiang Baichuan let out a breath of relief, then in the very next second, his excitement surged again. “Since you’re not going back on it, why should I get up?”

“I…”

“Don’t be afraid.” Jiang Baichuan gently stroked her cheek with the pad of his thumb. When his broad palm touched the skin at her neck, both of them instinctively softened their breathing. “Yun Li, relax. We’ll take it slow.”

Slowly, step by step, until she could accept his touch. Until that memory could no longer hurt her again.

A tingling itch rippled over her skin. Yun Li instinctively shrank her shoulders, feeling the warmth of his fingertips brushing back and forth along her neck.

He did not move lower. He only let her get used to this kind of touch.

His scalding breath drew closer and closer. Yun Li’s nerves were stretched taut, but she did not tell him to stop.

But when Jiang Baichuan’s lips touched the skin his fingers had just caressed, Yun Li dodged on reflex. Even with her eyes shut, that unbearable scene from years ago still rose before her.

In the end, his kiss landed on Yun Li’s faintly trembling eyelids.

“It’s all right. That’s a big improvement.” Jiang Baichuan turned over and pulled her onto his body, letting her lie on top of him. His voice was gentle and lingering. “Tell me, what were you thinking about just now?”

The corners of Yun Li’s eyes were damp. She buried her head deep against his chest and answered in a muffled voice, “The equipment room.”

“And?” Jiang Baichuan asked softly.

Yun Li was silent for a long time. “That person.”

It was the answer Jiang Baichuan had expected. That past had taken root deep inside Yun Li’s heart, forcing fear to grow there, then transforming into a nightmare she could never drive away.

Forgetting took time.

But forgetting was difficult.

What he had to do was help Yun Li face her fear.

“Yun Li, next time, can you think of me instead?”

“Close your eyes and feel me properly.” Jiang Baichuan’s nose brushed against hers, his breathing slightly heavy. “Feel that the person touching you is me. The person kissing you is me.”

Yun Li stared at him blankly. “You?”

“Mm. Me. Your boyfriend.” Jiang Baichuan curved his lips, hooked a hand behind her neck, and pressed her down, stealing her lips and tongue. “Your man.”

No one could imagine or truly understand the depth of Yun Li’s fear when she had been bullied back then. Whether she could face that past and step out of its shadow was up to Yun Li herself.

She needed so, so much courage.

Night had fallen. Yun Li’s cheeks were faintly wet, tears sliding again and again along the same tracks to the backs of her ears, dampening her neck.

Cold and cool.

“Jiang Baichuan, how can there be someone as good as you in this world?”

Even when he was drunk, the one thing on his mind had been her.

After drinking, Jiang Baichuan fell asleep quickly, but he was also at his most sincere.

Yun Li took the initiative to nestle into his arms, wrapping her arms around his waist as she slowly closed her eyes.

“I promise you.”

I promise you that from now on, when I close my eyes, I’ll only think of you.