Shi Xing’s fingers tightly clutched the robe at his waist, feeling somewhat nervous.
Qi Chenyan kissed her, his hand that had been holding her chin moving to the back of her head, his long fingers threading through her hair as he gently pressed her closer to him.
He softly held her lips, slowly savoring them, again and again.
Shi Xing felt that when Qi Chenyan kissed her on his own initiative, it seemed different from when she kissed him.
Before her rebirth, he had also enjoyed kissing her, but perhaps because she had been unwilling to cooperate and resisted him back then, his kisses were always fierce, biting her painfully every time.
Between them, there were few—or almost no—kisses as gentle as this.
She had even once thought that he was incapable of gentle kisses, that he was like a wild beast, only capable of tearing and biting after capturing its prey.
Until this moment.
The warmth on her lips was scorching. Shi Xing’s eyelashes fluttered as he held and savored her so gently, her entire body melting.
Fortunately, she was sitting in his embrace; no matter how weak she felt, he was there to hold her.
But just as he had been kissing her for a while, before the kiss could deepen, the cat that had been curled up beside Qi Chenyan suddenly grew restless again.
It grew particularly agitated, rubbing and scratching against Qi Chenyan’s leg with its head and paws.
Both of them paused simultaneously. Qi Chenyan frowned, released Shi Xing, and turned to look at the troublesome cat beside him.
Shi Xing also looked at it.
Unexpectedly, as soon as Shi Xing met its gaze, it instantly turned fierce, its cries terrifying, like a baby’s wail.
Shi Xing trembled slightly, shrinking further into Qi Chenyan’s embrace and tightly wrapping her arms around his neck.
Qi Chenyan’s brows furrowed deeply as he scolded in a low voice, “Yan Bao!”
The cat turned its head toward him and meowed pitifully.
Shi Xing bit her lip tightly, her heart filled with panic and fear. She buried her face in the crook of Qi Chenyan’s shoulder and whispered tremulously, “A Yan, I don’t want to stay here anymore.”
Qi Chenyan sensed her fear.
His expression darkened, and without another word, he simply picked her up and rose to his feet.
Seeing them about to leave, the cat gracefully jumped down to the floor as if to follow, but was stopped by a single glance from Qi Chenyan.
It meowed again, lying down and lifting its head to gaze at him with pitiful eyes.
It truly was Shi Xing’s cat—its expression was strikingly similar to hers. But Qi Chenyan paid it no mind, simply carrying Shi Xing away.
As the door closed, Shi Xing glanced over Qi Chenyan’s shoulder at the cat in the living room.
What frightened her was this: Was Yan Bao acting so fiercely toward her and preventing Qi Chenyan from being intimate with her because it could tell she was reborn, treating her like a ghost?
Qi Chenyan carried her back upstairs to his apartment.
Shi Xing continued to murmur in his ear, “I told you it’s fierce.”
After entering, Qi Chenyan set her down and raised an eyebrow at her words. “Then what should we do? Stop keeping it?”
As he spoke, he headed toward the kitchen.
Hearing this, Shi Xing frowned.
She had raised Yan Bao for a full four years. It had been delivered to her doorstep on her 18th birthday, and at the time, she had no idea who sent it. The accompanying card bore just four words: “Happy Birthday.”
Back then, she had asked everyone she knew, but no one knew who had sent it. At the time, Shi Xing’s friends had mocked the sender, saying that for Miss Shi’s 18th birthday gift, all they could offer was a cat? How could that be considered a proper gift?
But back then, they had all forgotten how much Shi Xing loved cats.She had kept a cat as a child, raising it for nearly five years. But later, when Shi Yue arrived and turned out to be allergic to cat fur, Shi Xing’s parents forbade her from keeping the cat any longer, and it was forcibly taken away.
She cried for a long time.
Yet in her parents’ eyes, her tears were nothing more than a sign of immaturity.
At eighteen, she finally came of age and moved out of the Shi family villa into her own small apartment.
Just as she was thinking she could finally get a cat again, someone sent one right to her door.
It was even the exact same breed as the one she had raised as a child.
Back then, Shi Xing didn’t bother asking who had sent it and simply kept the cat, raising it for another four years.
When her parents threatened to cut ties with her and took back all the properties they had given her, the only thing she brought with her when she moved out was Yan Bao.
And by then, she already knew that Yan Bao had been a gift from Qi Chenyan.
Of course, she couldn’t bear to give it up.
But given her current situation, perhaps it really wasn’t suitable for her to keep it anymore.
Yan Bao didn’t even seem to recognize her as its owner.
Lost in thought, Shi Xing followed Qi Chenyan step by step into the kitchen. Watching his back as he poured water, her eyes suddenly lit up. “How about this? I’ll stay here with you from now on, and let Song Lan live downstairs. That way, she can help me take care of Yan Bao. Once Yan Bao stops being aggressive toward me, I’ll move back.”
Qi Chenyan turned around with a full glass of water, leaning against the quartz counter as he looked down at her, his gaze meaningful. “Then why go through such a roundabout way? Why not just send the cat directly to Song Lan?”
Shi Xing replied seriously, “Yan Bao is particular about its bed. If it changes places, it won’t eat or sleep well and might even get sick.”
Qi Chenyan chuckled softly and handed her the glass. “So, you’re not particular about beds?”
“I’m not picky about beds.”
Shi Xing took the glass, cradling it in her palms as she looked up at Qi Chenyan with an innocent expression. “I only care about people.”
Qi Chenyan’s gaze flickered slightly, and Shi Xing’s eyes curved into a smile. “As long as A Yan is around, I can eat well and sleep well.”
She was being utterly obedient.
His Adam’s apple bobbed lightly as Qi Chenyan called her name in a low, gentle tone, “Shi Xingxing.”
“Hmm?”
She looked up to meet his gaze. Qi Chenyan’s slender fingers lightly brushed against her cheek, giving her delicate skin a gentle pinch. “Have you been possessed by some kind of spirit?”
His words sounded like teasing, but Shi Xing’s eyes suddenly flickered, and her hands holding the glass trembled involuntarily.
She tightened her grip on the glass, lowering her gaze in that moment, her tone casual. “What spirit? You’re so corny.”
Feeling inexplicably flustered, she brought the glass to her lips and took a few sips before handing it back to him. “Anyway, I don’t care. I’m staying here. If you try to kick me out, I’ll sleep right outside your door.”
With that, she turned to head back to the living room, secretly afraid he might notice something amiss.
If he found out about her rebirth, would he, like Yan Bao, see her as a monster?
Shi Xing wanted to leave, but the moment she turned, he grabbed her arm.
The girl’s arm was slender, easily held in the man’s grip. With a slight tug, he pulled her back, and she stumbled into his embrace.
The clean, refreshing scent of him after his shower enveloped her. Shi Xing looked up in surprise, but before she could see anything clearly, her lips were already captured in a kiss.
This time, he said nothing, letting his actions continue the kiss that had been interrupted earlier by Yan Bao.
One hand rested on Shi Xing’s slender back, while the other cupped the nape of her neck, gently tilting her face upward.His thin lips lightly sucked on her sweet, soft lips a few times before releasing them, then rubbed against her lips as he asked in a hoarse voice, “Will you open your mouth?”
As he spoke, the pad of his thumb resting on the back of her neck gently stroked the skin there, sending tingling shivers through her.
And his low, husky voice while speaking made her heart flutter wildly and her ears turn red.
Shi Xing’s eyelashes fluttered as she rose slightly on her toes, her slender, pale arms wrapping around his neck. She lifted her chin and directly bit his lip.
Qi Chenyan’s Adam’s apple bobbed lightly. He pinched her chin, his tongue darting out to lick her lips, then, just like her, he bit her soft, tender lips, and she obediently parted them, allowing him to explore inside.
Her heartbeat instantly leaped to her throat, and both of their breaths caught.
After just a few licks, Shi Xing felt as if her tongue was about to melt under his.
Her legs went weak, and she instinctively tightened her arms around his neck to keep from slipping down.
Qi Chenyan wasn’t faring much better.
In fact, he was even more stirred than Shi Xing.
No one knew how obediently she let him kiss her in his arms.
In the past, this was a scene he wouldn’t have dared to imagine even in his dreams.
She had always disliked him; her eyes only ever saw He Sheng.
Every time he saw her smiling brightly beside He Sheng, while He Sheng looked impatient and annoyed, Qi Chenyan wanted to ask her—ask her what exactly she liked about He Sheng.
Whatever He Sheng had, he could have too. As long as she liked it, he could become the person she wanted.
But she had never even given him a single kind glance.
Qi Chenyan still remembered when she was in her second year of high school, and he was about to graduate in his third year. One evening, he “bumped into” her on the rooftop.
She was crouched in the corner hugging her knees, lost in thought, the corners of her eyes slightly red from crying.
Qi Chenyan knew why—he had heard about it.
It was probably because Shi Xing had bought a limited-edition diamond hairpin that she really liked.
But Shi Yue liked it too. Seeing Shi Xing wearing it, Shi Yue had looked at her with envy, so their parents told Shi Xing to give the hairpin to her younger sister. Shi Xing refused, angering her parents, and her mother had snatched the hairpin from Shi Xing’s head and smashed it on the spot.
The next day at school, Shi Yue brought a jewelry box containing the repaired hairpin and apologized to Shi Xing.
Shi Xing immediately threw the box at Shi Yue’s head and sneered, “Who wants your hypocritical apology? Get lost!”
He Sheng was there at the time and instantly flew into a rage. He pulled Shi Yue, who was covering her head with teary eyes, behind him and harshly scolded Shi Xing, “Yue Yue kindly fixed your hairpin for you. What the hell are you throwing a tantrum for?”
He Sheng said to Shi Xing, “Apologize to Yue Yue.”
Of course, Shi Xing refused to apologize to Shi Yue and turned to leave.
Qi Chenyan only learned about this when he overheard Song Zhibo and the others gossiping. He went to the rooftop and, sure enough, found Shi Xing crouched there.
Whenever she was unhappy, she would run off alone to that spot to brood.
Back then, Qi Chenyan leaned casually against the wall with his hands in his pockets, a lollipop in his mouth, his expression indifferent as he watched the girl. As if offhandedly, he asked the question he had suppressed for so long, “So, what exactly do you like about him?”
Shi Xing ignored him.
She kept her eyes downcast, unusually quiet.
Qi Chenyan crushed the lollipop in his mouth into bits. He curled his lips in self-mockery, straightened up, and walked over to stand before her, looking down at her as he called out, “Shi Xingxing.”
Finally, Shi Xing looked up at him, her eyes moist, her small face pale.Back then, she was like a rose that had lost its soil, wilting and fading, its vibrant colors gone, on the verge of withering away.
Qi Chenyan’s heart tightened, and the hand in his pocket slowly clenched into a fist.
He leaned closer to her, gazing into her clear eyes up close, and spoke the words buried deep in his heart with a joking tone: “If you ask me, instead of liking him, you might as well like me. Aren’t I better-looking than him?”
At that time, Shi Xing looked at him for a moment before lowering her gaze again. Her voice was hoarse with tears, yet cold: “Even if there were no other men, I still wouldn’t like you!”
Qi Chenyan’s expression stiffened, and the candy stick in his mouth was bitten out of shape.
He curled his lips into a cold smile and turned to leave.
Just a few hours later, after evening self-study ended, he saw her again, smiling brightly beside He Sheng as if nothing had ever happened.
Qi Chenyan found it laughable.
Occasionally, he even thought she was asking for it!
Indeed, just as Shi Xing had said, he had never given her a friendly look before.
But to him at that time, watching her lower herself, flattering and fawning over a man who didn’t like her—or even looked down on her—he couldn’t bring himself to treat her kindly.
For so many years, Qi Chenyan often wondered: if she had given him even a fraction of the smiles she gave He Sheng, he would have been thrilled to the point of madness.
And now, it was as if a beautiful dream had suddenly come true.
She was right in front of him, smiling sweetly, saying she loved him.
Saying she wanted to be with him forever.
Saying she wanted to kiss him.
With every glance he stole, every coquettish word she uttered, the long-dormant icy volcano within him stirred more violently. The scorching magma surged, crashing against and burning through the frozen layers encasing it, threatening to melt away completely.
The palm pressed against the back of Shi Xing’s neck burned intensely. Qi Chenyan’s tongue probed deeper, touching hers, and for a few seconds, his movements in kissing her stilled.
A wave of dizziness washed over him. He truly felt the sudden boiling of his blood as the ice within him melted away.
He remained rigid, as if savoring the moment or testing the waters, giving her one last chance to refuse.
But the little troublemaker didn’t understand his good intentions. She wasn’t behaving. Sensing his stillness, she blinked her long lashes and took the initiative, gently licking him with her tongue.
In that instant, the iceberg within him completely melted, and magma surged through his body.
Qi Chenyan’s hand, which had been cradling her neck, moved forward to cup her cheek, swallowing her soft whimpers as he kissed her deeply.
But the kiss lasted only a few seconds before a sound came from the door. Someone had entered, their voice arriving before they did: “Third Brother, what’s with the late-night call? Did a dog bite you? Why are you asking someone to come give you a rabies shot…”
The voice abruptly cut off, followed by an exclamation: “Holy crap!”
At the sound, Shi Xing froze instantly, burying her face in the crook of Qi Chenyan’s neck.
Qi Chenyan’s palm rested on the back of her head, holding her tightly against him as his gaze coolly shifted toward the newcomer.
Song Zhibo stood at the entrance, staring at the two embracing by the open kitchen’s quartz countertop as if frozen in place.
Though he had only caught a glimpse, he had seen it clearly: just moments ago, his third brother had been kissing someone!
It was completely different from the brief, gentle touch in the hotel banquet hall. Even with the girl’s back to him, he could tell it had been an intensely passionate kiss.
He never expected his third brother to have such a wild side.
Song Zhibo was momentarily stunned, but when he met Qi Chenyan’s deadly glare, he snapped back to reality and forced a suggestive smile. “I didn’t see anything. Please, continue, go on, just pretend I was never here…”After speaking, he quickly turned and left, considerately closing the door behind him.
Leaning against the door, he let out a sigh.
Tsk, that was too intense.
The elevator chimed, and Liang Zeheng stepped out carrying a medical kit. He spotted Song Zhibo at a glance and asked, puzzled, “What are you doing standing here?”
Then he glanced at the door behind Song Zhibo, equally curious, “Does Third Brother really have a dog at home?”
Song Zhibo thought for a moment and nodded, “Yes.”
He said meaningfully, “Not only is there a dog, but there’s also a cat. Right now, the cat and dog are fighting. Don’t rush—we’ll go in after they’re done.”
Liang Zeheng: “…”