Xia Qiaoxi watched the hand suspended in mid-air tremble slightly, its slender fingers stretching languidly.
She slowly lowered her head, meeting Tang Yushen’s drowsy yet profound gaze as he just woke up.
With a flex of his arm, he draped it around her waist.
Xia Qiaoxi’s half-propped-up body collapsed back onto the bed.
Tang Yushen held her tightly, burying his face in the nape of her neck as he took a deep breath.
Xia Qiaoxi even found herself breathing cautiously.
Tang Yushen’s hand grew restless, restrained yet urgent as it gripped her waist, fighting the urge to slip beneath the hem of her nightgown and indulge recklessly.
Just holding her and kissing the back of her neck was enough to push him to the brink of losing control.
“Little Xi’er…”
Tang Yushen’s voice was hoarse, as if he had downed a pound of baijiu, “Sleep with me a while longer…”
“I think I’ve already slept with you for quite some time…” Xia Qiaoxi replied in a soft, delicate voice, “I don’t even know when you came in?”
“A little after three.”
After three?
Xia Qiaoxi stared at the sunset glow outside—it must be five or six o’clock now.
Xia Qiaoxi was used to sleeping alone. Suddenly being held and embraced like this, even though it was summer and the central air conditioning blew cool air from above, the white curtains fluttering gently, she felt overwhelmingly hot.
Tang Yushen’s body was far too warm!
Was it… feverish heat?
“Little Xi’er…” Tang Yushen murmured her name, his voice muffled.
Xia Qiaoxi’s ears tingled. If this continued, things were bound to escalate.
Better to…
“I’m hungry!” Xia Qiaoxi whispered.
“Let me feel…”
Feel?
How was he going to feel?
Tang Yushen’s hand slid over her nightgown, resting on her lower abdomen, then began to rub in slow circles across her flat stomach.
He chuckled lowly, “Little Xi’er, eat well tonight.”
“Can I?”
“Of course.” Tang Yushen reluctantly released her and sat up.
Xia Qiaoxi immediately sat up as well.
The two of them sat on the bed, Xia Qiaoxi cautiously pulling the thin blanket closer, eyeing him warily.
It seemed she would have to lock her door from now on.
Otherwise, this Tang Yushen might sneak in at any moment and climb into her bed.
“You seem to have slept well. You look much better.” Tang Yushen leaned closer to her, “Little Xi’er, but I haven’t had enough sleep. What should I do?”
“You can have my bed. Keep sleeping.” Xia Qiaoxi leaned her head back.
“How can I sleep without my fragrant, soft delicate darling to hold?”
“Then how did you sleep before? Did you find a woman to sleep with you every night?” Xia Qiaoxi blinked her beautiful amber eyes, “If that’s the case, you’re so dirty…”
“Disgusted by me?”
“Mhm.” Xia Qiaoxi nodded honestly.
“Then I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you. I’ve always been very chaste. My body will be yours from now on.” Tang Yushen leaned in with a mischievous glint in his eyes, “When will you come to claim it?”
Claim what?
Claim his male chastity?
Do men even have chastity?
It’s not like you can tell.
“Don’t want it?” Tang Yushen wrapped an arm around her slender waist, “Less thinking, more doing. I’m better than you imagine.”
What kind of good man has a white moonlight!
“But… I’m not good.” Xia Qiaoxi smiled bitterly, “I have nothing…”
“You have me.” Tang Yushen breathed heavily, “Little Xi’er, having me is enough.”
He lowered his head, burying his face in the curve of her neck.
Little Xi’er smells so good!
The scents of these shower gels were all personally selected by him.
Scents she used to love dearly.
He wanted her!
So badly!
So badly it felt like he was about to explode.
“Little Xi’er…”
Tang Yushen loosened his grip slightly, staring into her dazed eyes as he slowly tilted his head, his thin lips kissing her neck.
Xia Qiaoxi took a deep breath, holding it in fear.
Whenever she lowered her head or breathed, the scene before her would overwhelm her mind into a blank state.
The Xia family had raised her to become a qualified young madam of the He family in the future.
But they never taught her about matters like this.
Perhaps they thought He Luyi was a sick man, and sharing a bed would be difficult to begin with.
Asking her to seduce a sick man might have been considered too much.
She was excessively inexperienced in this regard, yet she knew how dangerous Tang Yushen’s current state was.
He might pounce on her at any moment.
Xia Qiaoxi pressed against his shoulders, “No, don’t… A’Yu…”
“A’Yu…”
Her voice was moist and breathless as she called out to him, “Don’t… I can’t…”
She couldn’t.
She couldn’t accept it.
She was unable to.
Tang Yushen kissed her cheek, “You cry so beautifully, it makes me want to tease you even more.”
“Ah?”
Xia Qiaoxi had only shed a few clear tears.
Why did that make him want to tease her more?
Xia Qiaoxi wiped the corner of her eye, “I won’t cry, so don’t tease me.”
Tang Yushen forced himself to calm down, “Little Xi’er, only after being teased will you know how wonderful it is…”
What was so wonderful?
Him? Or that kind of intimate pleasure?
Xia Qiaoxi had never experienced it, so she couldn’t say whether it was good or not.
But right now…
She didn’t dare to touch Tang Yushen.
Nor did she want to be touched by him.
Just kissing was almost more than she could bear.
Her bones felt weak, her body limp, her breath uneven, her heart racing, and her mind completely blank.
“I can endure it, but I won’t last much longer.” Tang Yushen lowered his head, burying it in her shoulder, speaking in a muffled voice.
He had endured a century of loneliness and longing.
The moment he encountered her, those accumulated feelings of yearning surged like a storm, filling his mind and controlling his body.
His desires were amplified.
As long as she was before him, she could easily make him fantasize.
His thoughts were completely dominated by Little Xi’er.
Tang Yushen gently bit her shoulder.
It was real.
Not an illusion.
His Little Xi’er…
“Mmph!”
Xia Qiaoxi was suddenly held tighter, and she instinctively straightened her back.
In the quiet bedroom, the central air conditioner blew out cold air with a whirring sound.
Tang Yushen showed signs of falling asleep again.
Xia Qiaoxi pushed him, “Hungry…”
Tang Yushen released her and collapsed straight onto the bed, “You get up first.”
He lifted his arm and covered his eyes.
He couldn’t get up now—it would scare her.
Xia Qiaoxi got out of bed. Was he deliberately covering his eyes?
The walk-in closet wasn’t even here.
Xia Qiaoxi put on her slippers and left.
Tang Yushen listened to the fading footsteps and let out a heavy sigh, “Ah…”
What was the use?
Huh?
Even after finding Little Xi’er, he still had to endure!
It was agony!
So unfair to his little brother!
When would this torment end?
Couldn’t Little Xi’er just fall in love with him at first sight or something?
Tang Yushen touched his face. The stubble on his chin was prickly. Had he been too unkempt lately?
He was still handsome even with a beard!
Did Little Xi’er prefer him without one?
Tang Yushen lay on the bed that carried Xia Qiaoxi’s scent, his wandering thoughts only barely settling down.
Seizing the moment before she emerged, he fled the room as if making an escape.
By the time the two made their way downstairs, darkness had completely fallen outside.
Entering the dining room, they found an elegantly wrapped box adorned with a ribbon bow on the table.
“Little Xi’er, this gift is for you,” Tang Yushen raised an eyebrow playfully. “Open it and see.”