Had Xiao Wangnian been suppressing himself for too long and decided to take it all out on her at once, torturing her until she could barely take it?
The man had even repeatedly lowered his voice, coaxing her beside her ear in an especially gentle, pleasant tone.
“I promise, this is the last time.”
In the end, “the last time” had happened countless times, so many that even she had lost count…
The man’s nearly uncontrollable gasps still lingered vividly in Qin Mingzhi’s mind.
She bit her lower lip and pinched herself hard, trying to confirm that this wasn’t a dream.
Pain immediately shot through her, merging with the soreness throughout her body.
Everything was far too real to be a dream. She could even feel the man’s warm breath brushing against her neck.
No.
This was far too absurd!
Although she had wanted to deal with Qin Mengxue, she had never intended to drag anyone else into it—especially Xiao Wangnian, a man she never could have imagined getting involved.
But now, everything had already happened.
Qin Mingzhi clenched her fists as she looked at the scene before her and secretly made up her mind.
She should still run.
Otherwise, once Xiao Wangnian woke up, she genuinely wouldn’t know how to face him.
He was Xiao Xingjie’s uncle!
Qin Mingzhi took a deep breath and cautiously extended a hand. Like a thief sneaking around, she tried to move the arm lying across her waist.
But the moment her fingertips touched the man’s skin, she felt his arm suddenly tighten.
The next second, she found herself staring directly into a pair of dark, deep-set eyes.
Xiao Wangnian suddenly opened his eyes.
There was not the slightest trace of sleepiness or grogginess in his pupils. Instead, his gaze was exceptionally clear, like an unfathomably deep valley, staring straight at her.
“Cough, cough—”
Qin Mingzhi nearly choked on her own saliva when their eyes met.
Once she realized what was happening, her face instantly flushed bright red.
This man wasn’t even pretending anymore!
She had been sneaking around like a thief for so long, thinking she hadn’t been discovered.
As it turned out, he had been pretending to sleep, secretly observing her every move.
Even her attempt to escape just now had been seen by him.
Qin Mingzhi’s heart pounded wildly. She instinctively tried to look away.
But the man’s gaze locked firmly onto her, making her feel utterly uncomfortable.
Before she could say anything, Xiao Wangnian’s deep voice sounded beside her ear.
“Qin Mingzhi.”
“What? You were planning to run after sleeping with me?”
His voice was deep, yet his tone was remarkably calm, like a piece of carefully polished jade. Beneath its coolness was a hint of gentle warmth.
“Who was it that held onto me last night and refused to let go, saying she wanted to change husbands and marry me?”
Xiao Wangnian continued speaking, the corners of his lips lifting almost imperceptibly, his eyes filled with teasing amusement.
“Would you like me to help you remember?”
As he spoke, he lowered his eyes and stared directly at Qin Mingzhi’s face. His deep gaze was so intense that it felt as though he could bore a hole straight through her.
The moment those words reached her ears, the tips of Qin Mingzhi’s ears instantly turned red.
Xiao Wangnian did not loosen his arm. Instead, he tightened it even further, pulling Qin Mingzhi completely into his embrace.
The closer she was to Xiao Wangnian, the faster Qin Mingzhi’s heartbeat.
She bit her lower lip and tried to wriggle free, but the man had spent years serving in the military. She simply didn’t have enough strength to push him away.
Seeing the panic in Qin Mingzhi’s eyes, Xiao Wangnian’s smile deepened.
His fingers gently brushed over the red marks around her waist, the movement unbearably suggestive.
After being teased so relentlessly, Qin Mingzhi didn’t dare pretend she hadn’t heard him anymore. She could only turn her head away, too timid to meet his eyes.
Her voice was as soft as a mosquito’s buzz as she weakly protested, “I…I didn’t…”
She was practically sweating buckets.
How had he made her sound like some heartless woman who toyed with men?
Besides, she was the victim here.
In both her past and present lives, she had technically married Xiao Xingjie, only to end up with nothing resembling a real marriage.
Fortunately, this time it hadn’t even truly begun, so she could dump him immediately.
But—
Change husbands?
Qin Mingzhi secretly glanced at Xiao Wangnian, her heart suddenly rising into her throat.
Even if she were to change husbands, she wouldn’t dare provoke him.
Could her small, delicate frame really handle a man like him?
Qin Mingzhi vaguely remembered that in her previous life, Xiao Wangnian had never married before his death.
Moreover, he spent most of his time stationed with the military. He could barely return home a few times a year.
Occasionally, during the New Year, when she went to visit the family and pay her respects, she would see him once.
But she remembered very clearly that whenever she saw Xiao Wangnian, she never dared approach him.
She was always intimidated by the aura around him that seemed to say, Stay away.
She didn’t even have the courage to look him directly in the eye.
At the time, she had thought that perhaps he had simply spent too many years in the military. The experience had given him an imposing authority and intimidating presence that radiated from the inside out.
She couldn’t handle it, so she simply kept her distance.
Thus, whenever she saw Xiao Wangnian, she would stand far behind the elders and address him according to Xiao Xingjie’s generation, respectfully calling him, “Uncle.”
Who could have imagined that after being reborn in this life, she would accidentally wander into his room?
She didn’t even dare imagine how devastated she would have been if there had been someone else in this room last night!
Qin Mingzhi carefully arranged her words before forcing a polite, fake smile.
“Uncle…Brother Xiao?”
“No matter what happened last night, I really do want to thank you. You’re such a good person.”
“I’m not changing husbands. I don’t want to get married again.”
“If you hadn’t been there, I might have made a complete fool of myself and ended up being sent to the hospital. You’re mature, steady, kind, and loyal. Really, you’re such a great person.”
Qin Mingzhi handed him two back-to-back “Good Person” cards, timidly sandwiching her rejection between compliments.
She desperately hoped Xiao Wangnian would just treat her like a fart and let her go.
Xiao Wangnian was practically amused to death by this little girl.
Could she speak any faster?
She had rattled off so much that if she had secretly insulted him somewhere in the middle, he wouldn’t even have been able to tell.
But her rejection was obvious enough.
On the surface, she looked obedient and even a little timid, yet her eyes were extraordinarily stubborn.
Qin Mingzhi’s heart was in turmoil.
She suddenly remembered how Old Master Xiao used to worry constantly about Xiao Wangnian’s marriage.
Whenever there was a family banquet, the old man would drag him aside and lecture him for ages, saying that if he didn’t get married soon, the gossip from everyone in the residential compound would drown him.
Old Master Xiao was a very straightforward man.
One incident had left a particularly deep impression on Qin Mingzhi.
During one family gathering, the old man had openly urged Xiao Wangnian to go on a blind date.
He had said that if Xiao Wangnian didn’t find a partner soon, people would start thinking that he was destined to have no descendants and was incapable of having children.
And it got even more ridiculous.
Some auntie in the compound—apparently rather ahead of her time—had started a rumor that Xiao Wangnian liked men.
According to the gossip, the reason he hadn’t married during all those years in the military was because society wouldn’t accept it.
When Qin Mingzhi had heard that, she had nearly choked on her food.
As her thoughts drifted, memories from her previous life continued flashing through her mind.
The more Qin Mingzhi thought about it, the more a strange suspicion began to surface.
She had always felt that Xiao Wangnian didn’t particularly like his nephew, Xiao Xingjie.
But she had never really thought about the reason why.