At this moment, Shen Baizhi wished she could crawl into a crack in the ground. The scene looked exactly like she’d been caught red-handed acting like a hooligan. All those thoughts from earlier—about “controlling” him or pinning some kind of blame on Lin Cheng—vanished instantly.
She only met the man’s eyes for a second before lowering her head and turning away. Her face burned red as she stammered an explanation:
“I… I was just… just trying to help you…”
This was mortifying, beyond mortifying. She should’ve listened to Xiao Hei—if he was useless, then he was useless. What did it have to do with her?
Jiang Yanli froze. Amid the pain contorting his face, a trace of complexity appeared—along with a hint of longing…
In fact, he had already woken up when this woman fed him water. He’d secretly opened his eyes and taken a look. When he confirmed that it was the girl he had rescued from the water, he finally relaxed. It seemed his luck wasn’t bad—he’d run into a kindhearted girl who saved him.
But the drug injected into his body soon took effect, leaving him no room to care about anything else. Her closeness only made the desire surging inside him harder to suppress.
Fortunately, this girl still had some sense of boundaries. After feeding him water, she retreated and kept her distance.
To avoid being too abrupt, he restrained himself even while enduring the drug’s effects, not daring to make too much noise or draw attention.
And now, this girl had actually come over on her own, saying she was willing to help him…
Seeing that the man hadn’t reacted for a long time, Shen Baizhi awkwardly tugged hard at her hand, but no matter how many times she tried, she couldn’t pull free.
She unconsciously lifted her head and met his gaze. The look in his eyes made her feel that something was very wrong.
“Since you’re awake, then deal with it yourself…” she said.
She tried again to pull her hand back, but the grip on her wrist only tightened.
A hoarse, restrained voice echoed in the empty cave:
“My name is… Jiang Yanli… I’m twenty-six… unmarried… a soldier… currently serving as a regimental commander…”
After rattling off his basic information in one breath, Jiang Yanli took a deep breath and paused for a moment before continuing:
“If… if I do anything to you, I’ll take responsibility!”
He truly felt that he was on the verge of losing control over the drug’s effects…
When they injected him, they’d told him this was a newly developed drug. If it wasn’t relieved in time, it could have serious long-term consequences for his body—possibly even…
Although he normally had little interest in such matters, he had no desire to become a eunuch.
Actually, marrying this girl wouldn’t be bad at all. At the very least, she was kindhearted and came from a simple background—unlike his sister-in-law…
Shen Baizhi suddenly looked up. This man was actually taking the initiative to say he’d take responsibility?
It seemed that in her previous life, Shen Baiwei had missed a golden opportunity!
Pressing her lips together, she spoke softly:
“Let go…”
This time, Jiang Yanli complied. He released her hand and closed his eyes, exercising extreme restraint. He handed the choice entirely over to Shen Baizhi, lying there like a fish on a chopping block, passively awaiting her decision.
Once her right hand was free again, Shen Baizhi paused for two seconds. Then she shut her eyes tight, wearing an expression as if going to her death, and reached both hands toward the man’s waist, imitating what she’d seen in adult films—
This was so awkward she wanted to die. At this point, it would’ve been better if he’d stayed unconscious. He’d had enough strength earlier to grab her wrist—clearly his injuries weren’t that serious. Why couldn’t he just do it himself…?
Jiang Yanli was stunned. So this was what she meant by “helping” him…
That would work, but the two of them would probably suffer quite a bit…
Sure enough, an hour later, Shen Baizhi felt like she could barely lift her hands anymore.
She couldn’t help opening her eyes. Looking at Jiang Yanli, who had his eyes closed with a look of barely suppressed arousal, she complained:
“Aren’t you done yet?”
Hearing this, Jiang Yanli also opened his eyes. They looked even redder now, with a faint sheen of moisture.
What he was feeling wasn’t much better than Shen Baizhi—if anything, it was worse than before. He didn’t have much experience with this sort of thing either, so he didn’t know how to answer her.
His gaze fell on the fair, luminous stretch of her calf that had been exposed when she shifted her posture. His Adam’s apple bobbed twice involuntarily.
Closing his eyes, he forced himself to look away, but that patch of pale skin lingered in his mind. In the end, he couldn’t help asking in a dry voice:
“Can I… touch you?”
Since things had already gone this far, she would be his sooner or later. Enjoying a bit of the benefits in advance… should be fine, right?
More importantly, with both of them being complete novices, this was becoming unbearable for him. He wanted it over sooner…
Following his gaze, Shen Baizhi glanced at herself, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the urge to quit and walk away. She felt this man was really pushing his luck.
But she truly was so exhausted she could barely lift her hands anymore—and she was starving.
She hadn’t eaten anything since morning, missed lunch entirely, and now it was completely dark outside. She still wanted to hurry home and sneak some food!
Tomorrow was Fourth Uncle’s wedding day. As the youngest son dearly loved by the two elders of the Shen family, the wedding banquet couldn’t possibly be shabby. Plenty of food and wine had been prepared.
For the sake of filling her stomach as soon as possible, she compromised, silently stretching her leg forward a little.
With her permission, a strange light flashed through Jiang Yanli’s usually calm and incisive eyes. He slowly raised his hand and gently placed it on her…
The sensation beneath his palm was exactly as he’d imagined…
Shen Baizhi had inherited her mother’s good skin. Despite years of hard labor roughening her hands, the places hidden beneath her clothes were so tender they seemed as if water could be squeezed out of them…
More than ten minutes later, a suppressed groan echoed through the cave.
Forcing down the heat on her face and the embarrassment in her heart, Shen Baizhi steadied herself and said:
“I’ll go find you something to eat!”
With that, she staggered to her feet, preparing to leave.
Holding the same posture for so long had left her legs numb!
Jiang Yanli, just released, still had lingering desire in his eyes, though his voice had already returned to its usual cold composure.
“Wait…”
“Are you planning to go out like that?”
Only then did Shen Baizhi realize—her inner clothes were still drying by the fire!
She turned back to the fire, glanced at the man lying on the ground, gathered up all of his clothes first, dumped them on him in a heap, and then hugged her own clothes and rushed out of the cave.
Watching the girl flee in panic, Jiang Yanli chuckled softly. His fingers rubbed together unconsciously; it seemed that the damp warmth still lingered in his palm…
Never mind. He’d wait until she came back, then talk things through properly.
Struggling to sit up, he looked at the mess on himself and raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t imagined it earlier—this girl had wiped her hands on him, nearly making him react all over again…
Shaking his head helplessly, he cleaned himself up, hastily pulled on his clothes, and lay back down to rest. His body was far too weak right now.
After running a few steps, Shen Baizhi slipped into the space, got dressed, adjusted her emotions, and then came back out.
By now, it was completely dark. Fortunately, the weather had been good lately, and the full moon in the sky provided at least some light.
Relying on her familiarity with the route and the faint moonlight, Shen Baizhi successfully made her way back home.
The courtyard gate was locked. If she wanted food, it looked like she’d have to ask Susu to open the door for her. Perfect timing—she also wanted to see whether Susu had been bullied today.
Circling around the main gate, Shen Baizhi was about to head toward her window when she suddenly stepped on a small stone and nearly slipped.
Picking it up, she couldn’t help curling her lips into a smile. Wasn’t this the very stone Susu had picked up by the river today, intending to return to Shen Baiwei?
Since it was under her feet now, it seemed Shen Baiwei hadn’t taken it.
She tossed the stone into the space. After a brief pause, a thought suddenly occurred to her. She wasn’t sure if it would work—perfect timing to test it with this stone.
She closed her eyes and tried to enter the space with her consciousness. It actually worked—the image of the space appeared in her mind.
She thought about bringing the stone out. Suddenly, she felt a weight in her hand. Opening her eyes, she saw the stone lying right in her palm.
Glancing sideways at the Shen family courtyard, she began other experiments…
In the end, she reached a conclusion: within a two-meter range, she could remotely store and retrieve objects. This two meters had no restrictions whatsoever—even underground, or through walls!
The only prerequisite was that she had to visualize the object clearly in her mind.
Since the space had such an ability, then the Shen family had better be ready…
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