Pei Wendu froze slightly.
He was not sure whether he had heard correctly.
But his feet were already carrying him toward the bathroom, entirely on instinct.
Shen Qingli’s crow-black eyelashes suddenly trembled.
She watched helplessly as Pei Wendu walked over and placed his slender hand on the doorknob.
He pressed down hard, and the door opened.
Pei Wendu walked inside.
The bathroom was empty. The window was cracked open, allowing fresh air to circulate. Everything inside was spotless.
His gaze swept around once, confirming that no one was there.
Only then did Pei Wendu step back out.
He turned and met Shen Qingli’s faintly mocking smile.
Pei Wendu instinctively raised his hand to sign.
But before he could finish, Shen Qingli interrupted him. “You live under the same roof as Song Mingyan, yet you suspect there’s a man in my room?”
Pei Wendu: 【Lili, you misunderstood. I was worried about your safety.】
A mocking smile tugged at the corners of Shen Qingli’s lips.
She lay down.
Pulling Xiaoye into her arms, she closed her eyes and said, “Close the door behind you when you leave.”
Pei Wendu stood there for a while.
Soon, he strode out.
He took a cigarette case from his pocket. His long fingers held a cigarette butt as he was about to pull it out.
A passing young nurse reminded him, “Hello, sir. Smoking isn’t allowed here. If you want to smoke, go to the smoking area, or you’ll be fined.”
A faint smile appeared on Pei Wendu’s handsome face. He drew out a cigarette, held it between his fingers, and rolled it idly as his smile became utterly captivating. “I’m not smoking. I’m just getting my fix by touching it.”
The young nurse’s face flushed crimson. She said softly, “That’s good, then.”
With that, she ran off.
After the nurse had left, Pei Wendu’s irritated gaze locked onto the door in front of him. He stared at it for a while before turning and leaving.
Shen Qingli stood by the window.
She watched Pei Wendu drive away with her own eyes.
Only then did she hurry back to the wardrobe and pull open the door.
The first thing she met was a pair of eyes so dark they seemed heavy with shadow.
Shen Qingli felt awkward and embarrassed.
It made sense, when she thought about it.
Mr. Cheng was usually surrounded by people whenever he went out, like the moon among countless stars, with an air as clear and bright as wind and moonlight. Yet now he was crouching with bent legs and hunched at the waist, hiding inside a tiny wardrobe. How could he not be angry?
Shen Qingli hurriedly reached out, her tone apologetic. “Mr. Cheng, you can come out now.”
But inside the cramped wardrobe, Cheng Yanli still maintained the exact same posture he had assumed when he first entered.
“Mr. Cheng?”
Shen Qingli tentatively reached out a hand. “Pei Wendu has already left. You can come out now.”
Very soon, Shen Qingli realized that something was wrong.
She keenly sensed danger rushing toward her and instinctively stepped back.
But she was a step too late.
That hand, its veins faintly protruding, struck suddenly like a beast in the night. Like an iron clamp, it seized Shen Qingli’s wrist in a death grip.
“Mr. Cheng…”
The next second, the world spun.
A tremendous force abruptly dragged Shen Qingli forward. Staggering, she was forced into the narrow wardrobe.
With a bang, the wardrobe door slammed shut in a gust of powerful air, and the last sliver of light was swallowed completely.
The cramped, constricted, sealed space was filled with the intense scent of an unfamiliar man. Shen Qingli trembled all over in fright and tried to open the wardrobe door and escape.
But her body was pressed against the wall.
A tall figure completely enveloped her.
“Mr. Cheng, what’s wrong? Are you sick? Let me out to find a doctor, all right?”
By the end, her voice had broken apart, barely forming words.
Cheng Yanli drew closer and closer. His hot breath washed over the side of Shen Qingli’s neck.
Shen Qingli instinctively tilted her head back.
Then—
Hot lips carrying a damp heat pressed fiercely against the most vulnerable patch of skin beside her neck.
It was not a kiss.
It was a bite.
“Ah…”
The pain made tears spring from Shen Qingli’s eyes. In the cramped space where she was on the verge of suffocating, she could not even cry out.
Only faint sobs remained.
He looked perfectly human.
How could he bite people like a dog?
Shen Qingli was afraid Cheng Yanli would bite her to death here.
Her sobs grew more hurried, like one tender little pear blossom after another battered by wind and rain.
Cheng Yanli froze slightly.
His movements stopped as well.
Shen Qingli sensed the restraint on her being released. She shoved Cheng Yanli away, and with the force no longer holding him in place, he crashed heavily against the wardrobe entrance.
The wardrobe door opened.
Light flooded the interior.
Shen Qingli, her face full of sorrow and tears, looked over Cheng Yanli’s shoulder in shock and disbelief at the man standing outside the wardrobe…
It was Tang Zhou.
He had brought Mr. Cheng and Xu Xiaoye there earlier, then waited downstairs.
But he had never received any instruction from his sir to leave.
Tang Zhou had begun to feel vaguely uneasy.
Unable to resist, he had come upstairs to take a look.
When he entered, he found that the empty hospital room seemed to contain only Xu Xiaoye.
He was just about to turn around and ask a nurse when Tang Zhou heard a rustling sound coming from the wardrobe not far away.
He had just reached the doorway.
The wardrobe door opened.
He saw Shen Qingli with eyes red from crying, her body still trembling faintly. The vividly red mark on the side of her neck was exceptionally conspicuous.
And there was Cheng Yanli, whose mind appeared to be in a confused state.
Tang Zhou’s pupils contracted sharply.
He hurried forward and struggled to help Cheng Yanli up. “Sir!”
Cheng Yanli did not resist, but his body remained rigid. His red eyes were filled with chaos and struggle, and his gaze was somewhat unfocused.
Tang Zhou carefully supported Cheng Yanli as they headed outside.
Given Cheng Yanli’s current condition, he had to see his psychologist.
When they reached the doorway, Tang Zhou suddenly stopped.
He looked back at Shen Qingli, who had already emerged from the wardrobe and was standing stiffly where she was, covering her neck with one hand. Her small face was unnaturally pale.
Tang Zhou said guiltily, “I’m sorry, Miss Shen. We frightened you. Please don’t be afraid. Our sir isn’t a pervert, and he didn’t hurt you on purpose.”
Shen Qingli bit her lip in silence.
Her pale lips had been bitten until they regained some color. Against her deathly white face, they resembled a red plum blooming amid snow.
She said nothing.
The apology in Tang Zhou’s voice grew even heavier as he gave a concise explanation. “Our sir has a very severe case of claustrophobia. He needs to see a doctor immediately. Tomorrow, sir will definitely come and apologize to you, Miss Shen.”
As he spoke, Tang Zhou hurriedly led Cheng Yanli out of the hospital room.
Shen Qingli slowly lowered the hand covering her neck.
She pulled a tissue from the side.
Then she gently pressed it against the faintly damp bloodstain.
Claustrophobia.
So that was what it was.
Shen Qingli could not help regretting what she had done. No wonder Cheng Yanli’s gaze had been so complicated when she opened the wardrobe and told him to go inside.
And yet he had still gone in.
Shen Qingli let out a silent sigh.
She sat down beside the bed.
Although she was somewhat angry that he had bitten someone so casually, when all was said and done, she also bore some responsibility.
Shen Qingli saw Cheng Yanli first thing the next morning.
More precisely, Xiaoye saw him first.
Lying on the hospital bed, Xiaoye pointed toward the door. “It’s Uncle.”
Shen Qingli turned around.
She saw Cheng Yanli standing silently outside the door.
His complexion was not very good.
Shen Qingli was startled.
She instinctively took half a step back, her small hand gripping the doorframe tightly, betraying her unease.
She must have been badly frightened last night.
Cheng Yanli let out an almost inaudible sigh and was the first to break the silence. “Miss Shen, I’m very sorry about what happened last night.”