As Li Li opened the door, Lu Ling saw that she wasn’t wearing slippers. He was just about to pick her up and carry her to the bed so she could sit down and avoid catching a chill, since the nights in the north were still rather cold at the end of September.
However, he hadn’t expected Li Li to immediately leap into his arms the moment she saw him, looking just as vibrant and wonderful as he had in her memories. Her long, slender legs wrapped around his lean waist, while her small, fair, and delicate hands rested against his long, pale neck, allowing her to feel the steady pulse of his carotid artery.
She eagerly brought her head closer to his, and the distance between them gradually narrowed until their lips were almost touching. Li Li’s soft, rosy lips quickly pressed against Lu Ling’s thin, delicate ones. Her little tongue was restless, wanting to pry open his tightly closed teeth and boldly invade his territory.
Feeling the softness of her lips and seeing how forward she was being, Lu Ling’s eyes turned slightly red at the corners. A hint of madness seeped into his originally gentle, peach-blossom eyes.
His tightly closed teeth parted wide, like the gates of a lord’s castle deliberately surrendering and opening to warmly welcome the invader.
But he still refused to lose. He was determined to conquer the castle and would never allow himself to come out at a disadvantage.
As their playful contest continued, the initially evenly matched struggle gradually turned around. The lord who had deliberately feigned surrender proved to be the stronger one and began to fight back with all his might.
Meanwhile, the one who had launched the first attack had been tricked by his false surrender and had expended too much energy inside his castle. She began to lose her strength.
Her body grew increasingly limp and weak. If Lu Ling hadn’t wrapped his strong arms around her slender waist, Li Li would have collapsed to the floor long ago.
They began at the doorway. Lu Ling carried Li Li inside, remembering to shut the front door with his foot while freeing one hand to lock it securely.
They continued kissing from the entrance to the living room, then made their way into the bedroom. As their kisses deepened, the clothes they were wearing gradually disappeared.
By the time they reached the bedroom, neither of them had a single piece of clothing left on. They collapsed together onto Li Li’s double bed and began a new game of their own. Pleasant sounds soon filled the room, while the moon outside the window grew so embarrassed by what it heard that it hid behind the clouds.
After an intensely satisfying exchange, Li Li was so exhausted that she didn’t even want to move a finger. Lu Ling carried her into the bathroom, where he washed and massaged her. Enjoying his attentive care, Li Li gradually drifted off to sleep.
Lu Ling, however, couldn’t fall asleep.
Thinking about the two years they had spent together, he felt that Xiao Li had been acting a little strangely today. She hadn’t contacted him for a whole month. A month ago, they had agreed that she would get in touch with him again five months later, claiming that she wanted to prepare a surprise for him. Yet today, she had suddenly called him, even speaking with a sob in her voice. It was rather unusual.
Lu Ling wondered whether Xiao Li had once again heard something from her parents, whose mouths spoke kindly while their hearts concealed wicked intentions. Perhaps that was why she had said those things today. Xiao Li had always been someone who lacked a sense of security, and he was certain those two had said something to make her feel uneasy again.
The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became that this was what had happened. However, since Xiao Li still cared deeply about her parents, he didn’t feel comfortable telling her that they were bad people.
Thinking of Li Li’s parents, Lu Ling couldn’t help recalling their past together.
He still remembered the first time he had met Li Li. It had been after evening self-study in his second year of high school. He was carrying his books as he walked out of the classroom when Li Li happened to rush out from behind him.
She had been in such a hurry that she accidentally bumped straight into his arms. At the time, Li Li had been tiny and frail, with a pair of dewy, watery eyes gazing up at him. In her soft, sweet voice, she had murmured, “I’m sorry.”
Then she immediately ran off.
Looking into those watery eyes, Lu Ling had found himself inexplicably captivated by her. Almost as if guided by some mysterious force, he followed after her.
He saw her arguing at the school gate with a middle-aged couple and a chubby boy. From what he could hear, the boy had pushed her over a bite of food, yet the couple had still demanded that she apologize.
“How can you fight with your younger brother over food? All the good things in the house should be given to your younger brother. You’re his older sister, so you should give way to him.”
The girl was still apologizing beside them, saying that she had been in the wrong.
Watching this farce, Lu Ling couldn’t help wondering how parents like that could even exist.
Were his own parents the same kind of people? After all, he had no idea why they had abandoned him.
In the days that followed, Lu Ling often found himself thinking about those watery eyes. He didn’t want her to be sad, and all he could think about was protecting her.
But back then, he was nothing more than an orphan who happened to be good at studying. He had nothing at all.
It wasn’t until he turned eighteen that a lawyer claiming to represent his parents came to see him. The lawyer told him that his parents had left a will before their deaths, stating that he could inherit ten billion yuan once he turned eighteen.
When Lu Ling learned that he had inherited such a fortune, his first thought wasn’t about improving his own life. Instead, he thought about how he could make that girl live a better life.
That was when he realized he had fallen in love with her.
Now that he clearly understood his feelings and finally had the means to give her a better life, he wanted to confess to her immediately. After all, during the more than a year he had spent paying attention to her, he had discovered that she seemed to have feelings for him too.
In the year he turned eighteen, after graduating from high school, he and Li Li got together.
As these memories passed through his mind, Lu Ling tightened his embrace around the girl in his arms. Holding her close, he too gradually drifted off to sleep.