The trending topics exploded from every angle.
No one cared anymore about who won Best Actress or Best Actor at the awards ceremony. Shi Xing, who had merely been tagging along on the red carpet, now dominated half of the trending searches, and major forums were completely flooded with posts.
After witnessing the Qi Family’s young master “hitting” Shi Xing with his mouth, the forums were in chaos.
Some believed Shi Xing had caught the Qi Family’s young master’s weakness and was blackmailing him. Others thought she had seduced him with her beauty. There were even those who speculated that Shi Xing might have used some kind of sorcery to bewitch Qi Chenyan.
In short, no one believed Qi Chenyan had genuinely wanted to kiss Shi Xing.
In the eyes of netizens, Qi Chenyan and Shi Xing were parallel lines that should never intersect.
One was in the heavens, the other on the ground.
Someone even made a bold declaration: “Just wait. When the young master comes to his senses, that cheap bitch Shi Xing will meet a terrible end! If she doesn’t die, I’ll stand on my head, spin 360 degrees, and eat shit!”
Amidst the online uproar, in the spacious back seat of the Silver Phantom, Shi Xing leaned against Qi Chenyan, tilting her head to gaze at him with longing eyes.
Qi Chenyan stretched his long legs lazily, leaning back against the car seat with an air of ease.
His slender fingers held his phone as he hung up what felt like the umpteenth call from someone checking in on him. Annoyed beyond measure, he simply turned it off.
Only then did he turn his head to look at the girl beside him. His tone was casual yet cool as he spoke, “Well? Have you lost your memory, or are you confused and mistaking me for someone else?”
“I’m not mistaken.”
Shi Xing hurriedly shook her head, her delicate fingers instinctively reaching for his arm as if to cling to him.
Qi Chenyan’s eyelids twitched. “No hugging. Sit still.”
He had finally managed to coax her into letting go of him, but as soon as they got into the car, she had latched onto him again, wanting to hold him.
Now that there were no outsiders watching, Qi Chenyan’s expression darkened as he forbade her from clinging to him. Only then did she obediently release her grip.
But the moment she spoke, she tried to lean against him again. What was wrong with her?
Was she like this with He Sheng too?
Qi Chenyan thought darkly, his eyes growing somber.
Shi Xing paused her movements, her fingers that had already brushed against his sleeve curling slightly. She bit her red lips, her eyes moist as she looked at him, appearing utterly pitiful.
Qi Chenyan frowned as he observed her, noticing the clarity in her eyes, the fragmented light within them like shattered starlight, looking as pitiful as if he had abandoned her.
Something was off.
This little troublemaker was definitely not acting right!
Qi Chenyan narrowed his eyes slightly, his dark gaze growing exceptionally profound. “If you’re not mistaken, then do you know who I am?”
Shi Xing’s long eyelashes fluttered like fragile butterfly wings as she whispered her reply, “You’re Qi Chenyan.”
Her voice grew even softer. “You’re my A Yan.”
Qi Chenyan’s heart skipped a beat.
His brow furrowed slightly as he suddenly raised his hand, bending his knuckles to press the back of his hand gently against her forehead, lost in thought. “Do you have a fever? Has it made you delirious?”
The back of his hand felt somewhat cool, inexplicably reminding Shi Xing of the icy chill of his embrace in that final moment.
Her fingers slowly clenched, and her voice grew even quieter. “No.”
Qi Chenyan withdrew his hand, crossing his arms as he raised an eyebrow and glanced at her. “Then have you come up with some new trick to torment me?”
At this point, Qi Chenyan suddenly remembered something, his gaze darkening. “If I recall correctly, the Shi Family is hosting a banquet tomorrow. I heard that bastard He Sheng has already bought a ring and plans to propose to Shi Yue tomorrow. The He Family and the Shi Family also seem inclined to continue their alliance through marriage.”
A month ago, Shi Xing was driven out of the Shi Family because Shi Yue was kidnapped and nearly assaulted, with all evidence pointing to Shi Xing.The Shi family parents were utterly disappointed in her and publicly announced severing ties with her, which also nullified her engagement to He Sheng.
The curve of Qi Chenyan’s lips cooled a few degrees, his gaze towards Shi Xing turning even more icy. “Shi Xingxing, you’re not trying to use me to provoke He Sheng, are you?”
Before getting out of the car, he had seen Shi Xing hitting Shi Yue. In that moment, he had felt a bit anxious.
This little troublemaker had always had a bad temper, but she had never been so reckless in public before.
At that time, he guessed that Shi Xing had lost control of her temper because of He Sheng.
Afraid she might suffer, he hurriedly got out of the car, thinking he would step in if anyone gave her trouble.
Who would have thought it gave her an opportunity to cause trouble for him instead!
Thinking of those two light kisses, the sweet and soft taste still seemed to linger on his lips, but Qi Chenyan’s eyes had already turned cold: “Shi Xingxing, for He Sheng, you’re really willing to go all out.”
Just as he was considering whether to simply toss this foolish thing out of the car window, Shi Xing asked him, “Who is He Sheng?”
She said, “I don’t know him.”
Qi Chenyan fell silent for two seconds, then leaned forward, tapping the partition glass with his long fingers, and instructed Wen Zhou in the driver’s seat in a deep voice, “Go to the Tenth Hospital.”
The Tenth Hospital was a psychiatric hospital.
Wen Zhou: “…Yes, Third Young Master.”
Without hesitation, he immediately turned the steering wheel toward the Tenth Hospital.
Shi Xing lightly bit her lip and frowned.
He probably really thought she had gone mad.
She had now sobered up from the daze of her recent rebirth, certain and sure that she had returned.
Well, if pretending to have amnesia could make him trust her, it wasn’t such a bad idea.
After all, she didn’t care about any of those people; she only cared about him.
In this world, she only needed to remember him, only needed to love him.
As she was thinking this, Qi Chenyan spoke coldly, “I’ll give you one last chance. Honestly confess what you’re really trying to do. Otherwise, once you enter the Tenth Hospital, don’t even think about coming out.”
The light inside the car was dim. Shi Xing looked at his indifferent and cold features and lightly pursed her red lips.
In her previous life, before she was burned, she had always thought his gaze was cold, like eternal, unmelted ice.
Later, she learned that beneath the ice was boiling lava.
His love was so intense it could almost melt solid ice.
Her long, curled eyelashes lowered as Shi Xing softly said, “I don’t want to do anything. I just want to love you.”
Qi Chenyan’s deliberately calm gaze fractured for an instant.
Want to love him?
How did she want to love him?
His lips tightened slightly, and he suddenly sneered, “Shi Xingxing, do you think I’m stupid?”
Shi Xing looked up. The curve of his lips was cold as he said, “Should I remind you what you said when we met in the hotel lobby this morning?”
Shi Xing: “?”
The memory was too distant. She thought hard for a while before remembering.
That morning, they had indeed met in the hotel lobby. He was exiting the elevator as she was entering. As they passed each other, she said to Song Lan beside her, “Quick, take out the perfume and spray it. There’s a pretentious smell in the elevator, it’s suffocating.”
After saying that, she even glanced at him sideways and snorted lightly, “What bad luck!”
Remembering this, her gaze flickered. Qi Chenyan chuckled lightly, “That guilty look—seems like you remember now?”
The next second, Shi Xing shook her head with a confused expression in her eyes, “No, I don’t remember.”She tilted her head to look at him, her gaze so clear it seemed she truly remembered nothing, her tone exceptionally innocent. “How did I talk to you? Did I tell you that you’re especially good-looking, that your scent is especially nice, and that I especially like you, especially love you?”
“…”
Damn!
Qi Chenyan suddenly felt an itch in his hands. Pressing his tongue lightly against the roof of his mouth, he flicked her forehead with a slight force of his finger. “Shi Xingxing, don’t play dumb with me here. I’m not falling for this act of yours.”
Did that bastard He Sheng really have it this good before?
Shi Xing blinked, covering her forehead, and asked pitifully, “Then what act does A Yan fall for?”
Qi Chenyan snorted coldly. “I don’t fall for any act…”
Before he could finish, his pupils contracted slightly.
The girl’s soft lips pressed against his once again.
The two were very close, so close that her long, curled lashes brushed lightly before his eyes, tickling him so much that he instinctively closed them.
Her lips lingered on his for three seconds before she pulled back slightly, her voice soft as she asked, “Do you fall for this act?”
His sharp Adam’s apple instinctively bobbed. Qi Chenyan pressed his thin lips together. “No…”
She leaned in again, her soft, warm lips gently rubbing against his. Qi Chenyan could almost feel the delicate texture of her lips.
His breath tightened, a tingling sensation spreading from his lips all the way down his spine, as if his bones were about to melt.
Qi Chenyan suddenly snapped back to reality, instinctively pinching her cheeks to force her to pull away. He gritted his teeth lightly. “Shi Xing…”
Shi Xing interrupted what he was about to say, her gaze watery as she met his eyes. “If this still isn’t enough, then, A Yan, open your mouth and let me kiss you.”
She turned toward him, her hands already hooking around his neck. Tilting her face up slightly to look at him, her eyes sparkled like stars as she asked softly, full of anticipation, “Okay?”