An Yanqing
She fell silent for a moment and calmly closed the door.
With a heavy thud, the bedroom door shut tight. Outside, Zhong Chu—who had finally managed to build up her psychological defenses—was stunned.
Before she could stop her, An Yanqing’s face had completely vanished behind the door.
“Hey! An Yanqing! What kind of reaction is that?!”
She stood up straight in disbelief, scrutinizing herself carefully from head to toe. Her deliberately loosened collar was pressed low against her chest, revealing dazzling, flawless snowy skin that looked smooth enough to be addictive to the touch.
The calves exposed beneath were slender and straight, their curves soft and graceful. Then there was that bewitching smile she had practiced countless times in front of the mirror, a method that had never failed her. With a flicker of her gaze, every frown and every smile was breathtakingly beautiful.
So flirtatious, so full of desire.
Relying on her proud family background and her glamorous, atmospheric beauty, the eldest Miss Zhong had always been invincible in various social circles. An Yanqing’s cold reaction tonight truly bruised Miss Zhong’s arrogant self-esteem.
“Am I dreaming?” An Yanqing leaned her back against the door and pressed her brow firmly. She frowned as she surveyed the slightly unfamiliar surroundings, the more she looked, the more it felt like she was in a dream.
Otherwise, why would the eldest Miss Zhong—who usually wanted nothing more than to disregard her dignity and kick her into a ditch every time they met—suddenly act as if she were possessed and deliver herself to the door?
How could Zhong Chu possibly make such a move, something akin to seduction, toward her?
And “fulfilling marital obligations”?
As expected, she hadn’t woken up yet.
An Yanqing lay back on the bed, trying to stay calm. Just as she pulled the quilt over her face again, the knocking resumed.
The force was much greater than before, reflecting the fury of the person outside.
“An Yanqing! Get your ass up!”
“Give me a proper explanation! What was that reaction just now!”
“Is my face really that loathsome to you? So loathsome that you can’t even bear to look at it one more time!”
An Yanqing pulled the quilt up further, thinking she must truly be going crazy to have such a vivid dream.
She closed her eyes to feign sleep, but the knocking grew increasingly violent.
Zhong Chu appeared to be a delicate and frail young lady, but her strength in a fit of rage was not small. An Yanqing was lying on the floor with only a thin mattress beneath her; she could feel the door, the walls, and the floor vibrating in unison.
…Is the dream this realistic?
“An Yanqing! You bastard! You really are the most annoying person!”
“I definitely won’t be able to sleep tonight! If I can’t sleep, you won’t either!”
“You had the nerve to shut the door, now have the nerve to come out and battle me! Don’t play dead, explain yourself clearly!”
An Yanqing could no longer remain calm. She picked up her phone again to check the time.
1:23 AM.
The light was a bit bright; her eyes, suddenly exposed to light in the darkness, suffered a slight sting, and tears were instantly irritated out.
The pain was far more real than any other sensation. She suddenly jolted into realization, threw off the quilt, got up to turn on the light, and stood in the empty room looking around. The previous hazy barrier seemed to break all at once, and the knocking at her ear became abruptly sharp.
The sense of confusion between the real world and the dream world faded rapidly. An Yanqing blinked and stood dazed for a few seconds, realizing that none of this was a dream.
This thought was like a basin of ice water poured over her head; a piercing chill spread through her body, and all sleepiness vanished instantly.
Without even putting on shoes, she went over to open the door. “Zhong Chu…”
The eldest Miss Zhong was both angry and anxious, her heart full of rage mixed with a hint of indefinable grievance.
Before An Yanqing opened the door, she had been cycling through thousands of words to scold her. But when the tightly shut door swung open, the words that rushed to her lips couldn’t find their way out.
The fatigue on An Yanqing’s face was obvious, but compared to the haziness from before, her eyes were exceptionally clear now.
She opened the door wide and stood barefoot on the spot. Her gaze lingered on Zhong Chu’s face for a moment, looking a bit awkward. She lowered her eyes and said softly, “Zhong Chu, just now… I thought I was dreaming.”
Zhong Chu’s hand was still raised, her slender fingers curled into a fist, maintaining the posture of smashing the door. Her face still bore the marks of anger, a faint redness spreading from the corners of her eyes to her cheeks—a flush brought on by rage.
She shot a sideways glance, wanting to scream, but her lack of vocabulary left her unable to organize suitable words. In the end, she could only vent by swiping at the air and turning to leave.
Though it was fleeting, An Yanqing saw the crystalline teardrops at the corners of her eyes.
Did she cry from anger?
An Yanqing paused for two seconds, her mind slightly blank. She quickly reacted and immediately chased after her, reaching for her wrist.
Zhong Chu shook her hand off without hesitation, but An Yanqing caught it again with persistence. “Zhong Chu, I didn’t do it on purpose. I really thought it was a dream.”
As soon as these words came out, they completely poked Zhong Chu’s sore spot.
She slapped An Yanqing’s hand away hard, turned around, and pointed at her, exploding in fury: “An Yanqing, you actually dare to have such a lewd dream!”
The beauty’s face burned with a vast expanse of crimson clouds, appearing incomparably gorgeous.
An Yanqing clutched her hand which was stinging from the slap. Staring at her face and hearing those obviously thoughtless words, for some reason, she suddenly wanted to laugh.
She turned her head slightly and pursed her lips, coughing once, unsure how to respond to such a statement. Agreeing would be clearly wrong, but contradicting her would only make the willful Miss Zhong even angrier.
Zhong Chu had already reached the door of the master bedroom. She stood there fuming with her arms crossed, glaring fiercely at her.
An Yanqing had been following closely behind her, and now there was only half an arm’s length between them.
The distance was so close that An Yanqing could clearly see the moisture at the corners of her eyes and the damp mist within them, as well as the faint, subtle embarrassment hidden beneath the blazing anger.
The look of being “shamed into a rage” was very apparent.
An Yanqing gently rubbed her fingers, and the bit of unease in her heart dissipated instead. Recalling Zhong Chu’s nonsensical actions earlier, the smile at the corners of her lips finally couldn’t help but leak out: “Did you really cry from anger?”
The dialogue was vaguely familiar. Zhong Chu raised her arm and wiped her tears away harshly. She stepped forward, grabbed An Yanqing’s collar, and shouted: “Are you trying to laugh again?!”
“—You saw wrong, I didn’t cry!”
Zhong Chu used a lot of force, but to An Yanqing, it didn’t cause much pressure. Rather than being forcefully dragged over, it was more like An Yanqing proactively cooperated by leaning in slightly.
Zhong Chu’s angry and annoyed appearance was truly like a cat whose fur had been rubbed the wrong way—claws out and teeth bared in an attempt to hurt someone, only to be easily picked up by the scruff of its neck by its owner, left with nothing but powerless fury.
The corners of An Yanqing’s mouth had just begun to curve upward when she saw Zhong Chu’s rage level spike. She immediately suppressed it and expertly smoothed the cat’s fur: “Yes, you didn’t cry. I saw wrong.”
Zhong Chu was actually a bit unaccustomed to the fact that this heartless An Yanqing didn’t mock her directly like she did at the Civil Affairs Bureau.
She held her by the collar and leaned in to scrutinize her for a while. Seeing no trace of irony in her calm expression, she finally let go. She let out a proud cold snort and pulled her own collar tight: “It’s best that way.”
The snowy skin was bit by bit covered by the red fabric. An Yanqing’s gaze swayed with her movements before dutifully looking down.
Zhong Chu kept glancing at her expression from the corner of her eye. Seeing this, her movements couldn’t help but stall, feeling inexplicably annoyed. “An Yanqing, am I really someone you wish to avoid at all costs?”
Her fingertip then poked An Yanqing’s brow. The pad of her finger carried Zhong Chu’s warm body temperature and a faint scent of roses.
The hard sensation of the rounded fingernail flashed by. An Yanqing was caught off guard and tilted her head to dodge. “Why do you say that?”
Zhong Chu withdrew her hand. She rested her knuckles against her chin and furrowed her brows, looking at her for a moment.
Her gaze was very strange, as if she were trapped in a puzzle she couldn’t solve, utterly bewildered: “Anyway, it shouldn’t be my problem.”
An Yanqing felt her skin crawl under the gaze, equally baffled.
She reached up to touch the spot that had just been poked. Noticing that Zhong Chu looked slightly weary, she checked the time: “It’s already very late. Go to sleep. That precious body of yours can’t handle staying up late.”
Zhong Chu ignored her tone—which was half-caring and half-mocking—and remained entirely immersed in her own thoughts. Tonight’s failure at seduction—since it wasn’t her problem, it must be An Yanqing’s problem.
She was indeed feeling sleepy now, and her mind wasn’t entirely clear, making it difficult to process complex issues.
Zhong Chu’s thinking had always been simple and direct. A bold idea suddenly flashed through her mind. Her anger vanished instantly; she leaned over slightly with a peculiar expression and asked: “An Yanqing, you aren’t… frigid, are you?”
Her train of thought was jumping too fast. An Yanqing couldn’t quite keep up. Her brows knitted slightly as she repeated: “Why are you asking that?”
Zhong Chu let out a light snort. This time, An Yanqing clearly saw the pity in her eyes.
Before she could even think of the root cause, she heard Zhong Chu’s voice soften, showing her a hint of tenderness for the first time: “Being frigid is a sickness; it needs to be treated.”
An Yanqing froze. Before she could refute, Zhong Chu suddenly leaned forward. The rose fragrance from her hair enveloped her instantly. Between her breaths was a faint heat, causing An Yanqing’s thoughts to drift uncontrollably.
This scene felt as if she were still in a dream. In her dreams, Zhong Chu was bewitchingly beautiful and full of charm.
An Yanqing watched Zhong Chu’s face get closer and closer, her breath hitching slightly. It was as if she had once again confused the boundary between reality and dreams, forgetting to pull away.
Zhong Chu stopped two finger-widths away from her face. Her scrutinizing gaze dissected her from the inside out. She said sympathetically: “An Yanqing, don’t worry, it’s not a fatal illness. Since we are now a married couple, I will help you treat it.”