“Is it exciting, having sex with his younger brother?”
The sudden question made Shi Yang choke.
On the phone, her best friend Lu Qingqing’s voice was thick with gossip.
She kept urging her on. “Come on, tell me. Tell me!”
Shi Yang kept her voice steady. “It’s pretty normal.”
Propped against the headboard, she hugged a fuzzy stuffed cushion and thought it over seriously.
Well, maybe it was a little exciting after all.
Anyone would find it exciting to have the groom changed on the eve of the wedding.
She still remembered the two families sitting together when Ji Jinyu had publicly broken off their engagement, refusing to marry her.
The Ji family had been furious.
This marriage alliance concerned the foundations and longstanding interests of both families. It wasn’t something they could simply call off.
Their last resort was to have someone else marry her instead.
And so the rejected marriage landed on the shoulders of Second Young Master Ji.
Everyone turned to Ji Peiheng, waiting for his answer.
As the room held its breath, the most unrestrained of the Ji brothers toyed with a lighter. His gaze skimmed carelessly over Shi Yang’s deathly pale face, and he said nonchalantly, “If that’s how it is, I’ll take what my brother doesn’t want.”
She had been so dazed that even when the marriage Ji Jinyu had rejected was handed to his younger brother, she still hadn’t grasped what was happening.
It wasn’t until they hurriedly registered their marriage and she stared at the three characters of Ji Peiheng’s name on the bright-red marriage certificate that she finally came to her senses and felt the reality of it.
She had married Ji Jinyu’s younger brother—the most arrogant and privileged man in the capital, Ji Peiheng.
Lu Qingqing clicked her tongue. “I don’t believe you.”
Then she quickly asked the next question she’d been dying to ask. “Is he good in bed?”
Her question sent Shi Yang’s thoughts back to that night.
His presence had been utterly unfamiliar to her. Her mind and body had both resisted him. But when it came down to it, the moment their bodies touched, she felt herself engulfed by a searing heat. She trembled all over, as if she were burning.
They hadn’t said much to each other, but one thing the man told her stayed clear in her mind. His voice was deep and hoarse: “Shi Yang, I have a strong sex drive. You’ll have to get used to it.”
The next time she woke, Ji Peiheng had already left on a business trip.
He was gone for three months.
And he still hadn’t come back.
When she didn’t answer for a long time, Lu Qingqing impatiently prodded her. “Hey, hey, are you even listening to me?”
Shi Yang came back to herself and deliberately held the phone farther away. “What did you say? Hello… I’ve lost signal… I can’t hear you…”
“Shi Yang, don’t pretend—”
Shi Yang had already hung up.
July was muggy and hot, so she’d opened a window before bed.
In the middle of the night, the gentle breeze suddenly strengthened, making the curtains billow and rustle.
Thunder and lightning jolted her awake.
The sky was pitch-black. The wind howled, and jagged bolts of lightning tore down as if they would split the sky in two.
Terrified, Shi Yang huddled beneath the covers.
The household staff had taken the day off.
She was alone in the enormous mansion.
The place felt cold and eerie.
Suddenly, she thought she heard a noise downstairs, as if someone had come in.
Nervously, Shi Yang gripped her phone.
Then she heard the person come upstairs with practiced ease. Water pattered in the bathroom.
Ji Peiheng was back!
The sound of the shower gradually faded.
She thought he would sleep in the master bedroom.
Suddenly, her bedroom door swung open.
She poked her head out from beneath the covers.
In the darkness, Shi Yang saw the tall, slender outline of a man.
“Is something wrong?”
She tried to keep her voice soft, not wanting him to realize she was scared.
She couldn’t see his expression in the dark. She only heard him say, “The thunder. I’m scared.”
A grown man afraid of thunder?
Shi Yang was not impressed.
Then a bolt of lightning crashed outside the window, and her heart began to race.
She scooted over and pretended to be magnanimous. “Then you can sleep with me.”
The mattress dipped beside her. A cool, clean scent reached her nose, crisp as pine after snowfall. It was Ji Peiheng’s distinctive scent.
Shi Yang felt a little calmer.
With him beside her, she was less afraid.
The storm continued to rage outside. She buried her head under the covers again, frightened tears slipping down her cheeks.
Though the man beside her gave off an unfamiliar, icy air, she still cautiously edged closer, wanting to feel a little human warmth.
As she shifted, her foot touched something hard and cool—his shin, perhaps.
Startled, she pulled back, only to bump into his foot.
“Stop moving.”
In the pitch-black room, Ji Peiheng’s voice was cool and flat.
Shi Yang pulled her foot back and shifted her whole body farther away, leaving a safe distance between them.
Lightning tore across the sky again, as if it would split it in two.
She couldn’t stop herself from shuddering. Wrapping her arms around herself, she hugged herself tightly.
Just as fear overwhelmed her, she thought she heard a sigh.
Brief and faint.
The next moment, someone caught her by the arm and pulled her into his embrace.
Warm, firm, and reassuring.
She went still, startled.
“I’m so scared. Hold me tighter,” the man said mildly.
He claimed to be scared, but if she listened closely, there was no fear in his voice at all.
Shi Yang couldn’t think about it anymore. His embrace eased her terror considerably.
She wrapped her arms around him and held on tight.
Ji Peiheng’s warm palm gently patted her back.
Slow and steady.
Before long, she drifted off to sleep.