The moment Li Zhenmian looked up, she saw Qi Siyan standing not far away with a cold expression.
Why was he here again?
Xiao Jiying also noticed Qi Siyan, and the two of them slowly walked over to where he was.
“Commander Qi, you’ve been coming around quite frequently lately.”
“Captain Xiao, you’ve been sticking your nose into quite a lot of things lately.”
Xiao Jiying: “…”
Qi Siyan shifted his gaze to Li Zhenmian.
“Ah Mian.”
Li Zhenmian pressed her lips together and didn’t respond.
How had she become so cold toward him again after just one afternoon? Qi Siyan was puzzled.
Li Zhenmian intended to walk around him and leave, but Qi Siyan grabbed her arm.
“Let go.”
She glanced at the hand gripping her arm.
“Let’s talk.”
“I don’t want to talk to you. Move aside.”
Xiao Jiying: “Qi Siyan, let her go.”
“Scram.”
Qi Siyan growled.
Xiao Jiying wanted to help free Li Zhenmian’s arm from Qi Siyan’s grip, but Qi Siyan was holding on too tightly. He didn’t dare use force, afraid of hurting Li Zhenmian.
The three of them stood in a standoff, while Su Pei watched from the side, anxious but helpless.
This kind of love triangle battlefield was not something at his level that he could intervene in.
In the end, it was Li Zhenmian who conceded. Qi Siyan brought her to the parking lot.
“Why?”
He looked at her seriously and asked.
“Why what?”
“Why are you suddenly so cold toward me?”
Li Zhenmian countered:
“Then how should I treat you?”
“Qi Siyan, I honestly don’t understand either. Why did your attitude toward me change so drastically after just one night?”
Qi Siyan fell silent suddenly. He didn’t know how to tell her.
If he told her that she was Jiang Zhi, Li Zhenmian wouldn’t believe it at all.
“Can’t say the reason? Then let me say it for you.”
“You see me as a stand-in for Jiang Zhi, right?”
Qi Siyan said without a moment’s hesitation:
“No. No, you’re not. You’re not a stand-in.”
The sincerity in his eyes almost made Li Zhenmian believe him.
“Is that so? Qi Siyan, do you think I’d believe that?”
Her eyes were full of mockery.
Qi Siyan could hardly bear the way she looked at him. His Zhizhi shouldn’t look at him like that.
His hand reached behind Li Zhenmian and pulled her forward, causing her to collide into his chest.
Qi Siyan wrapped both arms tightly around her waist, lowered his head slightly, his thin lips brushing against her earlobe, his voice tender and lingering.
“You’re not a stand-in for anyone. You are my Zhizhi.”
Li Zhenmian: “?”
“Have you lost your mind?”
She found it utterly absurd.
“Qi Siyan, do you even know what you’re saying?”
She struggled in his embrace but found she couldn’t break free at all.
Li Zhenmian leaned back slightly, staring into Qi Siyan’s eyes.
The scorching, burning emotion in the man’s eyes seemed to brand itself onto her heart.
“I know you won’t believe me. Just wait a little longer, okay? I’ll get to the bottom of all of this.”
Qi Siyan begged humbly.
Li Zhenmian thought Qi Siyan must have gone mad. How could she possibly be Jiang Zhi?
“Qi Siyan, I know you love Jiang Zhi very much.”
“But I’m not her, and I won’t be anyone’s stand-in. Don’t lie to yourself either.”
“Let’s just not bother each other from now on, okay?”
Li Zhenmian was drawing a line between them. She didn’t believe him.
A hint of hysterical obsession and madness crept into Qi Siyan’s eyes. He stepped back with her, pressing Li Zhenmian’s body against the car door.
With one hand around her waist and the other pressed against the back of her head, he kissed her fiercely, gently biting at her lips.
“Mmph—”
Li Zhenmian’s hands pressed against his chest, her eyes filled with utter disbelief.
In the moment she was stunned, Qi Siyan had already pried open her teeth, his tongue surging straight in.
Li Zhenmian’s face flushed red, and she stomped hard on his foot.
The man remained unmoved, focused on kissing her, greedily taking in the breath that belonged to her.
This kiss carried all the mad longing of the past three years.
When Li Zhenmian was almost out of breath, he finally released her.
“Slap—”
A red five-finger mark appeared on Qi Siyan’s face.
Li Zhenmian panted heavily, her lips even redder than before.
It made Qi Siyan’s gaze darken.
One slap in exchange for Zhizhi’s kiss—totally worth it.
“Ah Mian, you’re not a stand-in for anyone.”
“…”
Li Zhenmian wiped her lips, not wanting to talk to him at all, because there was simply no reasoning with him.
Qi Siyan ruffled the top of her head. “Go home.”
He took her hand and opened the car door.
Li Zhenmian shook off his hand, her voice icy cold.
“I drove here. I’ll go back on my own.”
Qi Siyan’s hand gripped the edge of the car door tightly. He couldn’t push her too hard.
Li Zhenmian was already angry because of that kiss. If he pressed her any further, she might really turn against him.
“Fine. Drive safe.” He had no choice but to concede.
Li Zhenmian felt that everything from this morning until now had been like a dream. In just one night, Qi Siyan had become a completely different person.
He said she was Jiang Zhi—how was that possible?
Qi Siyan must have been driven mad by his longing for Jiang Zhi.
Just now, that kiss, the way Qi Siyan looked at her… Li Zhenmian’s face burned.
What was wrong with her?
She forced herself not to think about it, to forget all this absurdity.