Chapter 84

Chapter 84

Over the National Day holiday, after Xia Wanzhi finished the backlog of commissions she had accumulated at the end of last month, she shifted her focus to painting Xie Qiyan’s mother.

Wanting to get it done as soon as possible, Xia Wanzhi even posted on Weibo to announce that she would be pausing commissions for the month.

For Xia Wanzhi, this was a challenge too.

But she had never been afraid of challenges.

More than that, she simply didn’t want Xie Qiyan to wait too long. Whether Xie Qiyan was her boyfriend or merely a client, she would not keep him waiting.

“Sis, you’re not going to the Studio today either?” Zhuzi, who had already been off for three days in a row, video-called her to express how unreal it all felt.

Xia Wanzhi sat cross-legged on the floor, squeezing out paint. Hearing that, she glanced at Zhuzi on the screen. “No. I won’t be going at all this month.”

Zhuzi’s eyes went wide. She had the sudden premonition that she was about to be unemployed. “Now that you’ve got another dog, you don’t want me anymore, do you?!”

Xie Qiyan, the so-called “other dog,” drifted like a ghost to Xia Wanzhi’s back and even shot a glance at Zhuzi in the phone.

Zhuzi instantly cowered. “…”

Xia Wanzhi couldn’t help laughing. She took the paintbrushes Xie Qiyan had washed for her and explained to Zhuzi, “I’m not abandoning you. The construction site at Xingyao is too noisy, and they’re going to start renovating the top floor in the middle of the month too. It’s not suitable for work. Besides, aren’t I working on President Xie’s commission right now?”

Xia Wanzhi coaxed her, “If you want to travel, you can go ahead and make plans. One month of paid leave. Go on. Have fun.”

Zhuzi sat bolt upright as if rising from her deathbed. “Really?”

Xia Wanzhi smiled gently. “Really.”

“Ahhh, I love you so much, sis! You’re the best boss in the whole world!” Zhuzi’s eyes seemed to shoot out beams of intense light. Then, spotting Xie Qiyan glued to her boss’s side, she thoughtfully added, “President Xie, while I’m not around, I’ll leave Sister Xia in your care.”

“No need to leave her to me. Your Sister Xia is my girlfriend. I will take very, very good care of her.” As soon as Xie Qiyan finished speaking, he hung up the call for Xia Wanzhi.

The words “very good care” carried a faint hint of gritted teeth.

Xia Wanzhi sensed danger. She had just prepared to make a run for it when Xie Qiyan picked her up and carried her sideways in his arms.

After flailing a few times to no avail, Xia Wanzhi blinked her big, pitiful doe eyes and begged for mercy. “I was wrong.”

To demonstrate her sincere attitude toward admitting her mistake, she squeezed out a miserable expression and slowly added a little whimper. “Wah.”

Xie Qiyan: “…”

“The floor is cold.” Xie Qiyan carried her toward the sofa, his gaze sharp and his tone full of warning. “If you don’t wear shoes again, I’ll tie you up and spank you.”

Xia Wanzhi shrank her head like a quail and nodded with a series of pitiful little hums.

Xie Qiyan sighed in exasperation.

She admitted she was wrong, but she never changed.

The night before last, she had secretly gone out to drink with Yun Li. After he found out, she repeatedly promised him she wouldn’t touch a single drop of alcohol. In the end, when she came back, he caught her red-handed: she insisted she hadn’t drunk anything while letting out a wine-scented burp, clearly quite drunk.

It wasn’t that Xie Qiyan wanted to restrict her freedom in any way.

It was that her period still hadn’t ended.

Everything he was trying to control was a bad habit that would hurt her.

The consequence of indulging after drinking was that she had spent almost all of yesterday morning in bed.

But not only did this girl fail to learn her lesson, once she felt better last night, she accepted an invitation from Jiang Baichuan’s twin sister. Who knew what she had eaten at their place, but this morning she had been sniffling and saying her stomach hurt again.

Xie Qiyan’s desire to assert his authority as a future husband grew stronger by the day.

Angry as he was, he was far more worried than furious. Xie Qiyan brewed her some brown sugar ginger tea and waited until she felt better before going to the company.

Before leaving, he told her to sleep properly and said he would be back in two hours.

Yet the moment he returned just now and opened the door, he saw her sitting barefoot on the floor, fiddling with paint while video-calling Zhuzi.

She had no idea how to rest properly and had completely forgotten her lesson.

“Does it still hurt?” He had clearly intended to scold her, but now he sounded as if he were coaxing her instead.

Xia Wanzhi blinked, then threw herself into Xie Qiyan’s chest. “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“Did you eat the breakfast I prepared for you?” Xie Qiyan was utterly helpless against her acting spoiled.

Xia Wanzhi nodded, unbelievably obedient now. “I did. I drank the milk too.”
Xie Qiyan said nothing. Xia Wanzhi lifted her head and asked tentatively, “Are you mad?”

Xie Qiyan still said nothing.

Xia Wanzhi reached out and poked him in the chest. Then she hooked two knuckles around his tie and followed it upward, lightly pressing against his prominent Adam’s apple.

Xie Qiyan’s breathing deepened. He caught her troublesome hand. “I am mad.”

“I drank with Yun Li because she had a fight with Liang Jing. I wanted to take a knife and go find Liang Jing, but you stopped me, so all I could do was keep Yun Li company and let her vent.”

Xia Wanzhi explained seriously, “I promised you I wouldn’t touch a drop and then failed to keep it. And when I came back, I even tried to muddle through and hide it from you. That part was my fault. But wasn’t it because you were too scary? I was afraid.”

“You? Afraid? Since when have you ever been afraid of me?” Xie Qiyan was so angry he laughed. He pinched the soft flesh of her cheeks until her lips puckered, then couldn’t resist the temptation and leaned down to kiss her. “Such a little rebel. Xia Wanzhi, you’re really my ancestor.”

He couldn’t even describe how he felt right now.

Whatever he told her not to do, she insisted on doing. He was clearly furious, yet the moment he saw her pretending to be innocent, and the moment she coaxed him with a couple of words, all his anger dissolved in his stomach.

What was there to be angry about? He barely had enough time to feel sorry for her.

Xia Wanzhi tugged on his tie and offered up her lips again, giving him two affectionate smacks before continuing, “Jiang Yourong came to me because of Jiang Baichuan. I promise I didn’t drink. I just couldn’t help eating a piece of ice cream cake.”

She was weak, but she loved to eat.

She knew she was wrong, but she never learned.

In the past, Xia Wanzhi had been scolded plenty of times by Ms. Ross for it.

When someone was spoiled without limits, they inevitably developed a bit of princess syndrome.

Xia Wanzhi also felt that she had become a little more willful lately.

Xie Qiyan was coaxed out of his anger at once. His broad palm rested against Xia Wanzhi’s lower abdomen, rubbing it gently. As if he had grown addicted to it, the warmth of their bodies passed back and forth through that thin layer of fabric.

Xia Wanzhi could clearly feel his breathing growing heavier and heavier, just like when they kissed and almost lost control.

“Y-you’re not allowed to think dirty thoughts.” Xia Wanzhi moved his hand away, a blush spreading across her cheeks.

Xie Qiyan laughed in exasperation. His free hand supported the back of her neck as he bent down, his lips brushing and grinding against the side of her neck. “Why don’t you tell me, Teacher Xia? What am I thinking?”

“Filthy.” Xia Wanzhi managed to squeeze out an insult. “I’m still on my period. You’re impure.”

Things between her and Xie Qiyan had progressed so quickly it almost felt unreal.

Their passionate daily kisses were practically becoming routine.

“From the sound of that, it would be fine when you’re not on your period?” A light kiss landed at the corner of Xia Wanzhi’s lips. Xie Qiyan’s palm settled over her lower abdomen again, rubbing it slowly and gently, his voice low. “If I really were a beast, I would’ve done something filthy to you long ago.”

Xia Wanzhi’s cheeks grew warm.

That was true.

This man was strangely good at holding back.

“I’ll work from home this afternoon and stay here with you.” Xie Qiyan had gone to the office for those two hours only to take care of the most important matters first. The remaining meetings had almost all been changed to video conferences so he could take care of Xia Wanzhi at home.

But at two in the afternoon, Xia Wanzhi was called out again by a phone call from Yun Li.

It seemed to be urgent.

When Xie Qiyan saw Xia Wanzhi hurry off to change, he paused his work. After giving Yu Fei a few instructions, he went across the hall to get the car keys.

After two people spent enough time together, a tacit understanding naturally formed. They changed their shoes and headed out. Before he could even ask, Xia Wanzhi explained on her own, “Yun Li’s mother is missing.”

“Yun Li and Liang Jing fought because Liang Jing saw Jiang Baichuan show up at the flower shop. He sensed Jiang Baichuan’s hostility but didn’t dare stake his claim. That man is just a hypocrite. All that refined politeness from before was an act. After he went back, he took all his anger out on Yun Li. That’s also why I drank that day even though I’d promised you I wouldn’t.”

With a man like that and something like that happening to her best friend, how could Xia Wanzhi not be angry?

“Liang Jing probably twisted the story behind her back and told Yun Li’s mother. And now look, she’s disappeared.” As Xia Wanzhi said this, she gave a sarcastic laugh, but her heart ached terribly.

She found it tragic.

Tragic for Yun Li.