Chapter 82

Chapter 82

“Are you threatening me?” Yun Li’s eyes were faintly red, the emotions in them impossible to suppress. “I hate being threatened more than anything.”

She seemed to laugh at herself. Just as Jiang Baichuan thought she was about to get angry, she looked away and, as if all her strength had left her, loosened the arms she had looped around his neck.

She hated being threatened more than anything.

But every person who had ever threatened her had succeeded.

Besides being a thoughtless puppet on strings, she was also livestock waiting to be slaughtered at anyone’s whim.

A dark, defeated mood crept over her. Yun Li closed her eyes and leaned crookedly against the seatback, her long hair covering half her face. Jiang Baichuan couldn’t see her expression. It wasn’t until he had fastened her seat belt and couldn’t help brushing her cheek that he realized tears were streaming freely down her face.

His heart ached so badly he wanted to twist off that bastard Liang Jing’s head.

“I don’t want to go home.” Yun Li opened her eyes at some point. After recognizing the road that led back to her place, she turned to Jiang Baichuan and made her demand. “Let’s get a room.”

The words had barely left her mouth when a violent force threw her forward. Jiang Baichuan slammed on the brakes, his pupils trembling slightly as he stared at Yun Li’s utterly serious expression with a complicated look.

Yun Li wasn’t sober at all. Completely unguarded, she met Jiang Baichuan’s deep gaze. “I want to stay at a hotel. I want a big bed. And floor-to-ceiling windows.”

Jiang Baichuan’s eyes darkened little by little. Certain emotions hidden within them began to stir, slipping beyond his control.

“Do you know what you’re saying?” Jiang Baichuan pulled the car over to the side of the road. Right now, every inch of him was restless. If he didn’t clarify things, he really would mistakenly think she meant what he thought she meant.

Yun Li struggled to keep her hazy eyes open as she looked at him.

Jiang Baichuan’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “Get a room with me? What are we getting a room for?”

Her reflexes were a little slow. After a long while, Yun Li finally raised her voice in protest. “Who said I wanted to get a room with you? I want to get one by myself. I want to sleep…”

She just didn’t want to go home. She wanted to escape certain people and certain things, wanted to be alone, wanted to get a good night’s sleep.

Having understood, Jiang Baichuan slowly let out a breath and laughed in exasperation. “Fine. Got it.”

He turned the car around and drove toward a five-star hotel under Jiang Corporation. Thinking back to how jumpy he had been just now, Jiang Baichuan couldn’t help laughing.

For one instant, he had truly believed it.

If Yun Li wanted him, he would offer himself up without the slightest hesitation.

After they arrived at the hotel, he booked a top-tier suite. Yun Li was being restless by then, so Jiang Baichuan had no choice but to scoop her up in his arms right in front of the hotel staff.

“Was that just-”

“Shh, keep your voice down. This is the kind of thing you understand without saying out loud.” The staff member who had just handed over the room key signaled for the person beside them to be quiet.

This was a hotel under Jiang Corporation, and Jiang Baichuan had appeared in the media plenty of times. Most of the staff recognized him.

Whether in elite circles, among the media, or among netizens, countless people paid close attention to the romantic life of someone like Jiang Baichuan. Yet after all these years, there had never been the slightest hint of news, not even a scrap of gossip.

Now he had suddenly brought such a beautiful woman to his own hotel to get a room. There was definitely something going on.

No matter who she was, anyone Jiang Baichuan treated specially was no ordinary person.

The untouchable flower on the mountaintop had descended from his pedestal for love. A fresh serving of public displays of affection had arrived.

But none of that was something the employees could casually discuss.

After all, Jiang Baichuan had a bad temper.

Inside the suite, Jiang Baichuan carried Yun Li to the bed. The moment he stepped out, Yun Li rolled right off it.

When Jiang Baichuan came back in holding a glass of warm water, he stared at the empty bed in brief confusion.

It wasn’t until he saw Yun Li raise a hand from the floor and clutch at the edge of the bed that he slowly released the breath caught in his chest.

Jiang Baichuan set the water aside, slid an arm under the bend of her knees, and lifted her back onto the bed. Unable to hold back a laugh, he said, “I was gone for half a minute, and you already fell onto the floor. See? You can’t be without me, can you?”

He even sounded a little smug.

Yun Li didn’t understand a word he was saying. Dizzy and muddled, she slapped a hand over his mouth. “You’re so noisy!”

Jiang Baichuan: “…”

Great. Now she was angry.

“Sit up and drink some water.” The KTV table had been covered with empty bottles; judging from the looks of it, they were all Yun Li’s achievements. Jiang Baichuan was worried her stomach would feel awful, so he gently helped her sit up and drink.
This time, Yun Li was surprisingly obedient. After sitting up, she drank more than half a glass of water from Jiang Baichuan’s hand, gulping it down in the position he offered it. Once she was done, she opened her bleary eyes, pushed Jiang Baichuan away, and shot to her feet.

She got up too fast. Less than a second after standing, she dropped back down with a thud.

Jiang Baichuan laughed despite himself and asked, “What are you trying to do?”

“Bathroom.” Yun Li held on to Jiang Baichuan’s arm and got to her feet. She had only staggered a few steps before Jiang Baichuan scooped her up.

He had no idea whether she was sober or not. Noticing the dazed way she was looking at him, Jiang Baichuan ignored it and carried her straight to the bathroom.

When she still hadn’t come out after three minutes, Jiang Baichuan waited another six. Six minutes later, there was still no sound from inside. Frowning, he had no choice but to knock on the bathroom door. “Yun Li? Are you done?”

What answered him was the patter of running water.

It sounded like she was taking a shower.

She was this drunk, and she was still taking a shower.

Jiang Baichuan’s face darkened, the worry in his expression obvious, but he couldn’t exactly barge in and stop her at a time like this.

What if she’d already taken off her clothes?

Yun Li really was taking a shower. She stood beneath the showerhead, head tilted back, letting the water run from the top of her head all the way down to her feet.

The alcohol cleared by about thirty percent.

“Yun Li?” Hearing the water stop, Jiang Baichuan knocked on the door again.

“Yun Li wants to take a bath,” came a reply from inside.

Jiang Baichuan froze slightly.

That tone was actually kind of adorable.

But Jiang Baichuan was in agony. All he could do was stand guard by the door and worry uselessly.

Twenty minutes later, the door finally opened from the inside.

And the moment it did, it nearly killed him.

Jiang Baichuan took off his suit jacket at almost the fastest speed of his life and draped it over Yun Li, who had nothing on but a bath towel.

The towel was wrapped around her chest, its length barely covering her hips. Her skin was cool and damp, and her loose hair was still dripping water.

Yet this woman had no idea how dangerous she looked right now. She even lifted her head with an innocent expression and asked Jiang Baichuan, “Can you help me dry my hair?”

Jiang Baichuan closed his eyes.

This was going to be the death of him.

He found a bathrobe and practically forced her into it. Only after wrapping her up from head to toe was he willing to provide the requested service and blow-dry Yun Li’s hair.

Before tonight, he had never imagined he would be this close to her so soon.

He also had no idea whether, when she woke up sober tomorrow and remembered what happened tonight, she would turn hostile and pretend none of it counted.

After drying her hair, Jiang Baichuan suddenly turned Yun Li around. Holding her shoulders in his hands, he bent slightly and looked into her eyes, saying seriously, “You’re not allowed to ignore me tomorrow.”

Yun Li stared blankly for a second, then gave a very soft response. “Mm.”

It sounded fake the moment he heard it.

Jiang Baichuan had an extremely strong sense of self-preservation. With a slight arch of his brow, he took his phone from his pocket and turned on the video camera. “Repeat after me.”

“I, Yun Li, when I wake up tomorrow morning, absolutely will not ignore Jiang Baichuan.”

He said one line, and Yun Li repeated one line.

After stumbling through the whole thing, Yun Li even gave a chilly evaluation: “You’re so childish.”

She looked almost sober.

Jiang Baichuan put away his phone. As he lowered his eyes to look at her, he couldn’t help asking, “Yun Li, are you actually drunk or not?”

If she wasn’t drunk…

Then wasn’t she indulging him by acting like this?

And if she was indulging him, he would only push for more.

Yun Li shifted her gaze stiffly away. After a long while, she squeezed out two words. “Not drunk.”

Drunk people always said they weren’t drunk.

Jiang Baichuan had no way to tell.

After taking her back to the bedroom and tucking her in, Jiang Baichuan sat on the edge of the bed and watched over her for a while. Then, suddenly, he asked, “Don’t sleep yet. You still haven’t told me what makes me so casual.”

Yun Li’s eyes, which had been about to close, opened again.

He didn’t know if it was his imagination, but he felt like Yun Li glared at him.

After a long while, Yun Li closed her eyes and murmured, “Casually… flirting with me.”

Jiang Baichuan laughed softly. Hearing her breathing even out and confirming that she had fallen asleep, he raised his hand and gently brushed the corner of her eye. “I wasn’t flirting with you. I’m trying to pursue you.”

So when was she going to dump that Liang Jing she didn’t even like?