At this moment, Shi Xing was sitting in Qi Chenyan’s embrace. With one arm wrapped around her waist in a gentle yet confining gesture, he easily held her close against him.
His breath was warm, and as he spoke, his thin lips almost brushed against Shi Xing’s, the teasing touch sending tingles through her.
Shi Xing’s breathing hitched slightly as she recognized the greed in his deep eyes.
This look was all too familiar to her.
In her past life, he had always looked at her this way during moments of intimacy—like a hunter, with her as the prey that could never escape.
But in that life, she had always been running away.
After that night, he had said he would marry her, but she had only told him to get lost.
He had left to give her space to calm down, yet somehow, a video of him carrying Shi Xing into a room had been leaked.
Just as everyone was speculating about their relationship, someone else exposed that Qi Chenyan was preparing to get engaged to the second daughter of the Su family in the capital, claiming the two families had arranged it before the new year.
Su Yuncheng, the second daughter of the Su family, even posted on Weibo, hinting with the words: “The wicked will get their due!”
Though she didn’t name anyone, everyone understood the message was directed at Shi Xing.
In the blink of an eye, Shi Xing—the vicious older sister who had bullied her poor, lonely younger sister—became, after being driven out of her home, a shameless Xiao San who seduced another woman’s fiancé.
Even though Shi Xing had heard plenty of cruel insults before, at that time, the mockery, ridicule, and vicious curses felt like blood-stained knives, each word stabbing her until she was in unbearable pain.
Even though the trending searches were quickly taken down, Su Yuncheng deleted her post and apologized, and Qi Chenyan personally posted on Weibo, stating that he was pursuing Shi Xing and had no relationship whatsoever with the Su family’s daughter, few believed it by then.
The insults and curses against Shi Xing never stopped.
Even her parents called her, hurling abuse at her, feeling that Shi Xing had brought shame upon them. They wished she had never been part of the Shi family, wished they had never given birth to her.
He Sheng was even worse. After learning that Shi Xing had been intimate with Qi Chenyan, he looked at her as if she were something filthy, calling her a “slut” every time he opened his mouth.
Back then, Shi Xing was truly in agony, with no outlet for her pain except to vent it all on Qi Chenyan, hating him to the core.
In her extreme state of mind, she believed he was the cause of all her suffering.
So whenever he tried to get close, she would hysterically push him away, lashing out at him. Yet he would let her hit and kick him, holding her tightly once she had exhausted herself, then kissing her fiercely.
In those moments, his eyes were filled with the same greed.
Back then, Shi Xing had mistaken this greed for malice, convinced he didn’t truly love her and was merely obsessed with her body.
Staring into his eyes now, it took her a long time to realize that the greed in his gaze was actually desire suppressed for many years.
He had liked her for a very, very long time.
Shi Xing suddenly drifted into a daze. Qi Chenyan’s gaze deepened as he pressed his forehead against hers and whispered, “Don’t you want to kiss anymore?”
His breath grew even hotter. Shi Xing snapped back to reality, instinctively placing her hands on his shoulders. “No…”
“Then shall we kiss?”
His voice dropped lower, his breath closer. His thumb, which had been holding her chin, now brushed lightly against her lips, caressing them slowly. “I’ll open my mouth for Xingxing to kiss. Do you want to?”
He had been calling her Shi Xingxing all day, but now, finally, he was willing to be more intimate, calling her Xingxing.
Shi Xing’s ears flushed red at his words.
She couldn’t help but bite her lip, almost seduced by him.Or perhaps, even if he didn’t tempt her, she would still want him.
But just now, Shi Xing suddenly remembered her past life and felt there were still matters to handle—they couldn’t kiss yet!
The hand she had braced against his shoulder exerted a slight pressure, gently pushing him away. When he narrowed his eyes to look at her, she asked directly, “Are you and Su Yuncheng going to get engaged?”
Qi Chenyan was taken aback, frowning inexplicably. “Who is Su Yuncheng?”
“?”
Shi Xing was speechless.
Actually, he had explained to her before, saying he had no relationship with Su Yuncheng. His family had indeed arranged for them to meet once, but he had clearly refused at the time.
However, today Shi Xing and Qi Chenyan had made it onto the trending searches, and now everyone was speculating about their relationship. Although she hadn’t drunk any spiked wine this time, the fact that she and Qi Chenyan were trending was the same as last time.
Shi Xing was now fully alert.
If things followed the same course as her past life, then tomorrow the relationship between Su Yuncheng and Qi Chenyan would be exposed and become a trending topic, and Su Yuncheng would also post on Weibo.
So this time, she had to deal with this matter first and couldn’t wait for the Weibo trending topic to explode before trying to resolve it.
Nowadays, few people are willing to believe clarifications made after the fact.
Shi Xing snorted lightly, reminding him, “Su Yuncheng, the eldest daughter of the Su family, returned from abroad before the New Year. Didn’t you two go on a blind date? And now you’re saying you don’t know her?”
Speaking of which, Shi Xing had actually run into Qi Chenyan and Su Yuncheng during that blind date, seeing the two of them walk out side by side from a private dining room in a restaurant.
Back then, Shi Xing had only glared at Qi Chenyan from a distance, thinking she could run into him anywhere, and with a beautiful woman at that—how unlucky.
Only now did she belatedly feel a pang of jealousy. So he was on a blind date back then?
And now he’s pretending not to know who she is.
Angrily, she tried to get up from his embrace.
Qi Chenyan furrowed his brows, tightening his arm around her waist to keep her from moving, before saying, “Are you talking about Su Er?”
“Su Er?”
Shi Xing felt even more jealous. “You call her so intimately—Su Er—while you call me by my full name!”
Qi Chenyan: “…”
He sighed helplessly. “Everyone calls her that. I don’t know her name, so what else should I call her?”
Su Yuncheng had gone abroad since childhood and had only returned a few months ago, so she wasn’t familiar with the young masters and ladies of the wealthy circles in the capital. Moreover, Qi Chenyan had only met her once and genuinely hadn’t remembered her name, only knowing that everyone called her Su Er.
As he spoke, Qi Chenyan gently brushed his fingertips past Shi Xing’s ear, tucking a stray strand of hair behind it to fully reveal her beautiful face. He lowered his voice with a hint of laughter, “Besides, if calling her Su Er is considered intimate, would you prefer I call you Shi Da from now on, hmm?”
“?”
Shi Xing was left speechless by his retort.
After all, Shi Da really didn’t sound very pleasant.
She didn’t want to dwell on this issue anymore and asked him, “So what did you say during that blind date with her?”
Qi Chenyan raised an eyebrow. “Does meeting once count as a blind date?”
He sighed softly. “My grandmother did ask me to meet her once, but I didn’t know it was her before going to the restaurant. After I arrived, I refused.”
This explanation was similar to what he had told her in her past life.
Shi Xing frowned slightly. “What about your family?”
If he refused, would his family agree with him?
Qi Chenyan said, “They naturally respect my wishes.”
After all, the Qi Family didn’t need any arranged marriage.
His parents prioritized his wishes above all else.Moreover, this matter was arranged by his grandmother at the time. His grandmother and Su Yuncheng’s grandmother were friends in their youth. Although they later drifted apart, when Su Yuncheng’s grandmother contacted his grandmother, she still agreed to let them meet.
It was by no means an intentional matchmaking.
“Is that so?”
Shi Xing lowered her eyes, lost in thought.
They truly had no relationship, which was a relief to Shi Xing.
However, Shi Yue had used Su Yuncheng to post such a Weibo message, and this matter must be avoided.
But how should she go about it?
As she struggled with this, Qi Chenyan also narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at her.
Shi Xing gave him an increasingly strange feeling. Although he was certain it was Shi Xing, something always felt off.
He tilted his head to glance at the cat still curled up beside him. The cat’s round eyes were fixed intently on him and Shi Xing, or rather, on Shi Xing, its gaze never particularly friendly.
Qi Chenyan lowered his eyes for two seconds before looking back at Shi Xing. “That was so long ago. Back then, didn’t you glare at me and pretend not to see me? Why are you suddenly remembering it now?”
He raised an eyebrow lightly, his eyes darkening. “Is it because you don’t want to kiss me, so you came up with this excuse to brush me off?”
Qi Chenyan hooked her chin again, lifting her face to meet his gaze, his lips curving into a cool smile. “Can’t keep up the act anymore?”
Shi Xing frowned. “What act? I’m not acting.”
“Then prove it.”
Qi Chenyan leaned closer, his voice low and coaxing. “Let me kiss you.”
If she didn’t want to kiss him, then he would kiss her.
He couldn’t bear it anymore, nor did he want to.
After all, she was the one who insisted on provoking him.
Shi Xing’s eyelashes trembled faintly. As he drew near, his breath fell on her lips, unusually warm.
She wanted to say something, but just as she opened her mouth, the man’s lips pressed down, accurately capturing hers.
Warm and soft, gently enveloping her lips.