The Engineer Falls for His Sweet-Scented Maid - Chapter 30: Hiding Under the Bed
Chapter 30: Hiding Under the Bed
Nianhe Su stopped breathing, a fine layer of sweat breaking across her back.
Huai Shen’s arm remained wrapped around her lower back. The scent of liquor mingled with soapberry, surrounding her completely.
His thin lips rested against the side of her neck, his breath scorching.
“Engineer Shen…” Nianhe’s voice shook with panic as she pushed hard at his broad shoulders.
She could not move him.
Huai was drunk and impossibly heavy. Her struggles did not push him away; instead, he tightened his embrace.
He lowered his head in search of her lips with unreasonable persistence.
Nianhe’s face went white. In desperation, she raised a hand and clapped her palm over his mouth.
His lips pressed warm and soft against her palm.
“Xiao Huai?” Hearing nothing from inside, Huizhen Liu knocked twice on the door. “Are you asleep?”
The light knocks against the wood made Nianhe’s heart pound.
She bit her lower lip, scarcely daring to breathe as she lay rigid on the bed. Soft, pale skin remained exposed above her open collar, and the sweet scent of milk grew heavier in the closed room.
With his mouth covered, Huai frowned.
His eyes opened. His gaze settled on Nianhe’s crimson face, then traveled lower to the disarray of her shirtfront.
A muffled chuckle rumbled in his chest.
The sound was unnervingly clear in the silent night.
Terrified, Nianhe hurriedly clutched his athletic undershirt with her free hand and pleaded in the faintest whisper, “Please don’t make a sound. Auntie Liu is outside.”
Huai ignored her panic.
He tilted his head slightly, his lips brushing across her palm. Then he opened his mouth and gently caught the tip of one finger between his teeth.
Pain pricked Nianhe’s finger, followed by a faint, tingling numbness that traveled straight into her heart.
Instinctively, she tried to pull away, but Huai locked one hand around her wrist.
“Xiao Huai?” Huizhen called again from outside.
A subtle itch tingled in Nianhe’s fingertip.
Now she understood completely.
Huai was too drunk to know north from south. He truly believed this was the same person who, in his own words, tormented him so badly he could not sleep.
His liquor-warm breath spilled across her palm, his thin lips pressing against it. Far from releasing her, his tall body began to bear down again as though intent on continuing that bewildering kiss.
“Xiao Huai, the door isn’t locked. I’m coming in.” Receiving no answer, Huizhen knocked again in concern.
Panic consumed Nianhe.
If Huizhen caught her on Huai’s bed now, her clothes disordered and collar open, ten mouths would not be enough to explain.
A household like the Shens, who cared so deeply about personal conduct, would skin her alive and drive her out before morning.
In her desperation, propriety and status no longer mattered.
Nianhe pulled her bitten finger free and used both hands to cover Huai’s mouth and nose tightly.
Huai had drunk heavily, and his reactions were sluggish. With his full weight sunk into the bedding, the sudden obstruction stopped his breath.
Instinctively, he tried to seize Nianhe’s wrists, but drink left his movements weak and uncoordinated.
Cold sweat slicked Nianhe’s palms, and the tendons stood out on the backs of her hands.
It did not take long. Between the alcohol and lack of air, Huai’s struggles gradually ceased.
His brows remained furrowed as his long lashes lowered. His head tipped to one side, his eyes closed, and he sank into unconscious sleep.
His heavy body slumped beside her.
Nianhe released him at once. Planting both hands against his solid chest, she pushed him toward the inside of the bed with all her strength.
Click.
The metal latch began to turn.
The wooden door opened a crack from outside, letting the corridor’s dim yellow light spill into the room.
Nianhe scrambled over the edge of the bed, ducked down, and slid across the wooden floor beneath it.
No sooner had her last foot disappeared than Huizhen pushed the door open.
The main light was off.
Huizhen entered in mid-heeled leather shoes, their heels striking the wooden floor with crisp, hollow knocks.
Hidden in the darkness beneath the bed, Nianhe covered her mouth with both hands, scarcely daring to draw breath.
There was little space beneath the frame, forcing her to press herself as flat as possible against the floor. The shirt that had already been partly unbuttoned came completely open after the struggle. Cool floorboards touched her bare skin and sent a shiver through her.
“Honestly, why didn’t he even turn on the light?” Huizhen stood beside the bed and peered at it in the corridor’s glow.
Huai lay flat atop the covers, his white shirt hanging open to expose the athletic undershirt beneath. One long leg dangled over the edge, and he had not even removed his leather shoes.
Huizhen stepped closer and sniffed.
“Why did you drink so much?” The heavy smell of baijiu drew a muttered complaint from her.
But when she breathed more carefully, her brows drew together.
Why did the room also smell of rich, sweet milk? The fragrance was alluring in a way she could not name, like some kind of dessert and yet like the scent found only on a small baby. It did not belong with Huai’s usual freshness of clean soapberry at all.
Huizhen looked around but found nothing strange. She decided her nose was mistaken, or perhaps the scent had clung to Huai from some dinner outside.
“Xiao Huai? Xiao Huai?” She bent down and pushed his shoulder.
Huai slept deeply, his breathing heavy. Even after two firm shakes, he did not make a sound.
He had always been disciplined. This was the first time Huizhen had ever seen him blind drunk.
Beneath the bed, Nianhe watched Huizhen’s mid-heeled shoes less than half a meter from her face. Her heart seemed ready to leap from her throat.
She could even feel the slight breeze stirred by Huizhen’s movements.
If Huizhen lowered her head just a little, or dropped something and bent to retrieve it, she would catch Nianhe at once.
Nianhe curled into the smallest ball she could manage, both hands clutching her shirtfront as she tried to trap the sweetness that continued to seep from her body.
It was useless. Huai’s actions on the bed had left her body burning hot, and the fragrance had long since filled the entire room.
Unable to wake her son, Huizhen sighed and reached for the leg hanging over the edge of the bed.
“A grown man, and you go to sleep without even taking off your shoes.”
Huizhen tried to lift it. But Huai was large-framed and tall, and drink had made his body as heavy as iron. A woman accustomed to comfort had no hope of moving him.
After two attempts, Huizhen released a labored breath and gave up.
“Dead weight. I certainly can’t move you.”
She straightened and turned toward the door.
Her footsteps receded, followed by her voice in the corridor.
“Wanshan! Wanshan, come here. Xiao Huai is drunk. He’s lying on the bed with his shoes on, and I can’t move him. Come give me a hand.”
Huizhen’s call echoed along the second-floor hallway.
Nianhe seized the opportunity.
Gritting her teeth, she crawled out on hands and knees.
The rough wooden floor scraped her tender arms and knees.
She ignored the pain. She had just wriggled half her body out from beneath the bed when—
