Ruan Li was no stranger to motion sickness. Frequent business travel meant her body simply had to endure it. When discomfort becomes an unavoidable routine, complaining starts to feel like a useless chore. After all, who holds a grudge against a part of their own body?
She was never short of people to take care of her. Her family hired an army of maids and doctors…enough to field several soccer teams…who constantly buzzed around her. They felt like an extra set of hands and feet: possessing a bit of their own free will, never obeying every command, but fulfilling most of her needs and desires.
Yet their care was nothing like what Xu Mengzhou gave her.
Mengzhou was rough around the edges, and her way of looking after people reflected that. She treated others the exact same way she treated herself. If it was summer, you ate huge bites of ice cream; if you worked up a sweat, you rinsed off with cold water; if there was a cool stream, you splashed through it in sandals.
Once, Ruan Li had been seduced into following Mengzhou’s lead…and ended up with both a fever and an upset stomach. Mengzhou got chewed out by her own mother for that, leaving neither of them in a good spot.
Even now, despite her amnesia, Mengzhou hadn’t changed a bit. A dry, offhand “Are you okay? Still feeling bad?” paired with a glass of lukewarm water snagged from a flight attendant was the absolute peak of tenderness she could muster.
Ruan Li figured she must be a little sick in the head. She disliked meticulous, suffocating care, yet found herself hopelessly in love with this chaotic mess.
Then again, you couldn’t really blame her. Growing up in a household like hers, who wouldn’t turn out a little flawed?
Feigning deep sleep, Ruan Li let her head slip off her seat and slide down toward Mengzhou’s shoulder.
She didn’t slide far before a hand gently caught her.
The hand reclined her seat, then adjusted its own. A light blanket was pulled over her, gently tucking her in, and she was guided to lie securely against a warm chest.
Ruan Li caught a faint scent of watermelon…the fragrance of body wash. She leaned in closer, pressing the tip of her nose into the crook of Mengzhou’s neck. Perhaps it tickled, because Mengzhou shifted slightly, but in the end, she didn’t pull away.
This time, Ruan Li actually drifted off.
When Xu Mengzhou patted her awake, Ruan Li was still a bit dazed. A chunk of her time had mysteriously vanished; in an environment this noisy, she had somehow fallen fast asleep…and without a single dream.
“We’re about to land,” Mengzhou said softly.
As she adjusted her seat back upright and slid her shoulder out from under Ruan Li, Mengzhou couldn’t help but gasp. Her arm was completely numb and aching…a sensation like being pricked by needles and then soaked in lemon juice. Her muscles and blood felt entirely alien to her, refusing to cooperate, as if someone else’s arm had been grafted onto her body and was now suffering a full-blown rejection.
Ruan Li was momentarily stunned.
She hadn’t expected to fall asleep, let alone that Mengzhou would let her lean on her the entire way.
…So how could she ever let her go?
“Still dizzy?” Mengzhou asked.
She rubbed her shoulder, wincing with a grimace as she muttered a low complaint, “You slept way too soundly! My arm is completely dead from you using it as a pillow.”
It was numb beyond belief, yet she hadn’t budged an inch.
The candy in Ruan Li’s mouth had long melted away, yet she could still taste a trace of sweetness…unhurriedly rising from the depths of her heart, seeping into every blood vessel, and flowing throughout her entire body.
“Not dizzy anymore,” she said. “Thank you, Mrs. Xu.”
Sitting up straight, Ruan Li bowed her head slightly and pressed a soft kiss onto Mengzhou’s aching shoulder.
As she raised her head, her lips…whether by accident or design…brushed against the back of Mengzhou’s hand. Mengzhou’s fingertips curled inward instantaneously, just like the sensitive leaves of a mimosa plant.
A sudden brush of moisture swept across the back of her hand, and Mengzhou caught a glimpse of the tip of Ruan Li’s red tongue slipping back between her lips.
Mengzhou’s eyebrows shot up in shock. It took everything she had to choke her voice down to a whisper.
“What are you doing?!”
“Expressing my gratitude,” Ruan Li replied in a leisurely tone.
“We’re on a plane! There are… there are people everywhere!”
The privacy curtains had already been pulled back, and the whole cabin was coming alive. Across the aisle sat two passengers…one of whom was her assistant, Zhang Qiong.
Mengzhou had no idea if anyone could see them from that angle.
What happened to arrogant, refined, elegant, and composed? Ruan Li was a total two-faced fake.
“Didn’t you used to love this kind of thing? Like that time in the car—”
“Shut up right now!” Mengzhou hurriedly clapped a hand over Ruan Li’s mouth, trying not to make her movements look too obvious for fear of attracting attention. “Don’t say another word. Please, I’m begging you.”
She was beginning to suspect that she really was some kind of absolute glutton for lust in the past. How else could she explain the stash of nightstand toys waiting back home? Unable to refute a single word, she could only try bargaining politely.
“Fine,” Ruan Li said, gently pulling Mengzhou’s hand down from her mouth. She lowered her voice and murmured, “Then once we’re in Pingcheng, you have to listen to me. You won’t leave my side for a single second.”
As for harboring ill intentions? One person was more than enough.