However, Li Jiao never expected that her current body would have such poor alcohol tolerance!
It had almost reached the point where a single drop would make her drunk.
After just one drink, she already had a headache; with two glasses down, her legs turned weak and her mind grew hazy.
As for the third glass… oh, the third glass never had a chance to reach her lips, as Song Li Sheng stopped her.
“Stop drinking. You’re drunk.”
He gripped her wrist just as she was tilting her neck back to pour the wine into her mouth, his voice carrying a trace of barely detectable irritation.
He had initially thought she had accepted this emotionless marriage alliance, but never expected that when it came to toasting, she still wanted to drown her sorrows in alcohol.
“Don’t talk nonsense! I, Li Jiao, have always been able to drink a thousand cups without getting drunk~ I’ve only had two glasses!”
Song Li Sheng looked at her dazed eyes, his thin lips pressed together as he decisively took the glass from her hand and drained it in one gulp.
Only then did he address the table of guests: “My apologies, we must take our leave.”
Li Jiao’s delicate brows furrowed slightly, but before her muddled mind could process what Song Li Sheng had done, he had already firmly grasped her shoulder and was half-guiding, half-dragging her stumbling toward the back door.
The cold wind hit her face, stimulating her mind enough to gradually comprehend the current situation.
Song Li Sheng had snatched her wine glass! And forcibly pulled her out here!
Realizing this, Li Jiao immediately planted her feet apart, steadied herself, and turned around unsteadily to grab the lapel of her newlywed Male Consort’s suit.
“I am your Husband-in-chief. How dare you act on your own without listening to me? Don’t do this again~”
She was practically leaning against Song Li Sheng’s chest, her words slurred as she murmured.
Song Li Sheng looked down at the crown of her head, his nostrils filled with the scent of camellia perfume mixed with alcohol from the woman.
At such close proximity, the warmth from Li Jiao’s body seemed to transmit through their clothing to his skin.
So scorching hot.
It made his face secretly grow warm as well.
He had never been this close to someone of the opposite sex before.
Therefore, it was natural that Song Li Sheng didn’t clearly hear what Li Jiao had said earlier.
Instead, the drunken, drawn-out tone at the end of her sentence sounded like coquettish complaint to him.
Misinterpreting Li Jiao’s tone, the tips of his ears reddened as well.
“You’re truly drunk. Let’s go back first.”
Song Li Sheng’s voice was gentle as he lightly pressed against Li Jiao’s shoulder to help her stand straight, maintaining a slight distance before hesitantly taking her wrist.
Li Jiao didn’t speak again. The cold wind had only been effective for a moment before she began feeling dizzy and disoriented once more.
She offered no resistance as she was helped into the back seat of the car. Song Li Sheng quickly followed, sitting on the far right side and maintaining a clearly defined boundary between them.
The car interior felt somewhat stuffy. Shortly after the driver stepped on the accelerator and sped off, Li Jiao began feeling drowsy.
Her last conscious thought before sinking into darkness was:
Finally, when I wake up tomorrow, I’ll be able to go back…
Song Li Sheng had been observing her from his peripheral vision – that body which, having lost its owner’s conscious control, began swaying precariously with the movement of the vehicle.
Several times he extended his arm, prepared for Li Jiao to fall against him.
Yet each time, she would lean toward the window instead.
Song Li Sheng could only retract his arm expressionlessly, pretending nothing had happened.
Finally, when the car made a sharp right turn, he caught Li Jiao at last.
Driven by inertia and gravity, Li Jiao landed squarely with her head pillowed on Song Li Sheng’s thigh.
Her jet-black long hair cascaded down, draping over the side of his leg and her own cheek.
Ignoring the faint tickling sensation on his inner thigh, Song Li Sheng lowered his gaze, gently gathered the hair framing her face, and tucked it behind her ear.
He then retrieved a blanket from behind and softly draped it over her exposed snow-white thighs.
Only then did he turn to look at the night scenery outside the window, pretending as if nothing had happened.
Yet his arm remained tense, his palm firmly braced against the leather seat behind Li Jiao.
The car sped along at high velocity, the nightscape outside the window shifting unpredictably.
After about forty minutes, the car came to a smooth stop in front of the three-story villa where Song Li Sheng lived alone, and he finally relaxed.
But the next moment, Li Jiao grew restless.
Perhaps because the natural cradle had abruptly ceased, she opened her eyes and suddenly propped both hands on Song Li Sheng’s thighs, struggling to sit up.
Yet she couldn’t muster any strength at all.
So, under Song Li Sheng’s flustered and breathless gaze, Li Jiao lost her balance again and tumbled against his chest.
Noticing that his boss, President Song, hadn’t gotten out of the car, the driver was about to remind him when he caught sight of their intimate posture through the rearview mirror.
He promptly sealed his lips. Having previously heard colleagues’ gossip, he had assumed President Song and this young wife were reluctantly paired—how could they be cuddling so unabashedly in the car now?
Would his presence in the car interfere with their kissing?!
After a mental whirlwind, the driver scrambled out of the car, pushing the door open with hands and feet, and didn’t stop until he was nearly 50 meters away from the front of the car. Without turning around, he stood quietly, gazing up at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle.
Being so tactful, President Song would surely give him a raise, right?
However, watching the closed car door, Song Li Sheng felt a slight twitch at his temples but had no choice but to accept his subordinate’s “consideration.” Helplessly, he wrapped an arm around his gradually sliding newlywed wife.
Li Jiao had clearly fallen asleep again; her earlier actions were less a brief awakening and more like sleepwalking.
Song Li Sheng glanced back at their current position: one of Li Jiao’s legs rested on the seat, the other already drooping to the floor.
In the moment of her fall, her left hand had instinctively wrapped around Song Li Sheng’s neck, while her right hand hung limply.
How could he safely get this drunkard back to bed?
Song Li Sheng pondered and pondered, and it seemed the only answer was to carry her.
With the driver having fled and no housekeeper or similar figure at home, who would carry Li Jiao? There was only one option.
“……”
Realizing this, Song Li Sheng fell silent.
His calm expression began to crack; everything that had happened tonight was beyond his expectations.
Although he and Li Jiao were married, in reality, they had barely exchanged more than a few words, only slightly more familiar than strangers.
Yet the truth was, tonight their social distance had far exceeded polite aloofness.
Staring at the woman who had been pressed against him for over ten minutes, Song Li Sheng let out a sigh.
Once again ignoring the inexplicable strangeness in his heart, and disregarding when he had become so kind-hearted as to maintain the gentleness of carrying someone back indoors even in an unobserved place, rather than the heartlessness of simply leaving them in the car.
In any case, following the momentum, he lifted Li Jiao out of the vehicle by the waist.
If one overlooked his ear tips—concealed by the night but revealed under the indoor lighting as crimson as dripping blood—he could almost be considered composed as he carried Li Jiao to the second-floor bedroom prepared for her.
Truly a model of exemplary expression management.