Chapter 74

Chapter 74

“Let me confirm one more time.”

With the solemn air of someone marching bravely to her death, Xia Wanzhi cupped Xie Qiyan’s face in both hands and planted a kiss on his cool, damp lips.

For once, Xie Qiyan indulged her.

After kissing him several more times with absolutely no technique to speak of, Xia Wanzhi’s mouth drooped, and she flopped weakly onto Xie Qiyan, wailing, “It’s over. How did I end up liking you?”

Xie Qiyan forced down the dark current in his eyes. Being pinned beneath her and teased again and again like this was honestly deadly.

His heartbeat rose and fell violently. Xie Qiyan rubbed her head. “I cast a spell on you.”

“Oh. No wonder.” Xia Wanzhi’s voice was muffled. She pressed down the corners of her mouth that were already curving into a smile, then went quiet for a long, long while.

Once her emotions settled, Xia Wanzhi slowly came back to herself. Only then did she realize that this posture-her practically throwing herself into his arms-was not exactly dignified. So she braced herself and tried to climb back onto the bed.

“Where are you going?” Xie Qiyan gripped her waist and refused to let her move.

Xia Wanzhi shivered. “I-I-I… back to bed.”

Xie Qiyan laughed, his lazy tone sounding as if he were teasing her. “At Teacher Wanzi’s pace, I thought we might be able to consummate the marriage tonight.”

First, she had fallen into his arms. Then she had lain on top of him, gazing at him with eyes full of feeling in the dim light. Finally, she had politely returned him an enthusiastic kiss.

And that still was not all.

Just based on the way she had teased him with kiss after kiss a moment ago, if his self-control were even the slightest bit worse, he would have lost it, swept her into his arms, and rolled her straight into his blanket.

Then he would have turned off the light and explored an even more thrilling, bolder, more intimate side of life with her.

Xia Wanzhi’s heartbeat, which had only just calmed down, started pounding again.

“Not… not that fast.” Xia Wanzhi stiffly tugged at the corner of her lips.

Before tonight, she had not known she had such a forward side to her.

Throwing herself into his arms, then kissing him like dry thunder striking wildfire.

Help.

She was not even drunk.

“Teacher Xia.” Xie Qiyan’s fingertips brushed along the side of her face, his movement forceful as he made her look into his eyes.

Xia Wanzhi seemed to have unconsciously grown used to his endlessly changing forms of address for her.

When he was serious, he called her Xia Wanzhi. When he was gentle and proper, he called her Teacher Xia. When he was teasing or flirting, he called her Little Sister Xia. When he was in an especially good mood, he called her Teacher Wanzi.

“What?” Xia Wanzhi said with a huff. Her breath was filled with the faint scent of fir on him. Maybe he really had cast a spell on her, because it kept making her heart flutter.

“That was my first kiss,” Xie Qiyan sighed softly, then said with a perfectly serious expression, “You took my first kiss. You have to take responsibility.”

Xia Wanzhi’s heart tightened. “…”

She understood. He was asking her for an official status.

“You’re talking as if it wasn’t my first kiss too.” Xia Wanzhi pursed her lips and gave an unconvinced little humph. “After that cruise banquet, everyone in the circle said I was yours. Clearly, I was the one who suffered a loss.”

Xie Qiyan froze from head to toe.

He did not seem to hear anything Xia Wanzhi said after that. His brain stopped working completely, stuck on the sentence that it had been her first kiss too.

The pretended grievance in his eyes vanished. In an instant, it turned into surprise, then excitement, then relief and satisfaction.

That felt good.

Secretly pressing down the smug curve of his lips, Xie Qiyan stopped restraining himself and wrapped both arms around her waist, pressing her even closer against him like he was sandwiching a biscuit. “Ah. Your first kiss.”

Xia Wanzhi hurriedly reached out and pressed her hand over his mouth just as it was about to move closer to her ear.

Through her palm, Xie Qiyan parted his lips and gave her a light bite.

Startled, Xia Wanzhi let go and stared at him with two round, shocked eyes.

“A girl as forward as Teacher Wanzi stayed with him for that long and still never kissed him,” Xie Qiyan said in a tone thick with petty sarcasm. “Looks like he was useless.”
Xia Wanzhi: “…”

Who that “him” referred to went without saying.

“It wasn’t just him. I had my own issues too.” Xia Wanzhi lowered her lashes. Thinking back on everything that had happened, she realized there had been signs all along.

So it turned out she wasn’t always calm and quiet when it came to love.

“Slow to warm up” had become a synonym for “not interested.”

She had thought she was simply born slow to warm up in relationships.

Only today did she realize that in front of someone she liked, she could argue, make a fuss, cry, laugh, bristle, act unreasonable, and let her emotions run wild however she pleased.

She could also be like she was tonight.

Passionate, proactive, unrestrained.

But between her and Zhou Yu, it had been the complete opposite.

Zhou Yu had accommodated her in everything. He had been like that since they were young, and it had left her with countless layers of guilt and gratitude toward him.

It gave her the feeling that if they didn’t end up together, there would be no way to bring things to a close.

“He and I weren’t together for very long. After the confession, our two families settled on a verbal engagement. We didn’t even hold an engagement banquet before the Zhou Family spread the news. The second week after the engagement, my family went bankrupt. The second week after the bankruptcy, I moved into the Zhou Family’s house. What happened after that, you probably know.” Xia Wanzhi recounted it calmly.

Love was the one thing that could least withstand a test.

The Xia Family’s bankruptcy meant that for her and Zhou Yu, the beginning had already been the end.

Bringing up Zhou Yu at a time like this was such a mood killer that Xie Qiyan felt he deserved to slap himself. So, in an attempt to make up for the wicked thing he’d done, he sprang upright and kissed Xia Wanzhi on the eyes.

With the motion of him sitting up, Xia Wanzhi ended up straddling his lap.

Her breathing quickened. Everything she had just said was tossed to the back of her mind, and an empty space opened up in her head where fireworks started going off again.

Once the initiative had been taken from her, Xia Wanzhi started to panic a little.

“What does that prove?” Xie Qiyan’s fingertips rubbed the corners of her eyes, his voice dipping slightly. “It proves he wasn’t the right match for you. I am.”

Xia Wanzhi was amused into laughter by his narcissism.

“Mm…” Belated shyness washed over Xia Wanzhi. She gave a vague response and began changing the subject. “Don’t you have work tomorrow?”

Xie Qiyan raised a brow slightly. “You don’t want me to go?”

Xia Wanzhi felt wronged. “I…”

“That won’t do. Unless you’re going to support me,” Xie Qiyan said tactfully.

Xia Wanzhi: “…”

She smacked him on the shoulder and scolded him, half annoyed and half embarrassed, “Then hurry up and sleep! It’s already two or three in the morning. What are you getting so worked up for?”

After scolding him, she braced her hands on Xie Qiyan’s shoulders, stood up, and flipped back onto her own bed at lightning speed. Her right foot was still dangling over the edge, and afraid Xie Qiyan would reach out and grab her, she sheepishly tucked herself back under the covers.

Seeing her lie back down and even roll twice, all the way from this edge of the bed to the far edge, Xie Qiyan let out a laugh of exasperation.

They had been so close just now, and now the line between Chu and Han was just as far apart.

Forget it. She needed time to process.

They had all the time in the world. He couldn’t rush.

Besides, he also needed to properly calm down the heartbeat that was about to leap out of his chest.

The night was still long. After Xia Wanzhi lay flat, she slowly fell asleep. Hearing her even breathing, Xie Qiyan blinked for the one hundred and first time.

At a time like this, how could he possibly fall asleep?

At four in the morning, Xie Qiyan, still utterly sleepless after wrestling with himself for ages, finally climbed from his floor mattress into Xia Wanzhi’s bed.

Tonight’s primary mission was to sleep beside her.

As the princess’s boyfriend, he naturally had to lead by example, stay by her side at every step, and fulfill his duties to the utmost.

The faint scent of her hair drifted into his nose, and the latter half of the night was filled with sweet dreams.