“Preferably, with yourself.”
“For a lifetime.”
Jiang Wu’s voice was soft, yet it burned fiercely into Qin Lie’s heart.
He froze completely.
In his arms was a soft, fragrant woman making the most provocative offer to him.
This woman was simply a temptress!
At twenty-six, Qin Lie was experiencing for the first time how a woman could use such words, such gestures, to snatch away a man’s very soul.
The self-control he prided himself on was as fragile as a pane of glass before her.
“Jiang Wu!”
He gritted his teeth, forcing her name from the depths of his throat, his voice so hoarse it barely sounded like his own.
He wanted to push her away, but his arms felt too heavy to lift.
He could clearly feel the softness pressed against his chest, smell the fragrance from her hair, and hear his own traitorous heart pounding wildly.
“Hmm?”
Jiang Wu nuzzled against his chest like a cat finding a comfortable spot.
She lifted her face, her misty eyes reflecting his loss of control.
“Darling, your heart is beating so fast.”
As she spoke, that restless hand of hers reached out once more to tap lightly against his chest.
“Don’t you also think we shouldn’t sleep apart?”
That touch was the final straw.
Qin Lie shuddered violently, as if struck by an electric current.
Summoning all his strength, he seized her wrist and tore her away from him.
The force was so great she couldn’t help but gasp.
“Stop messing around!”
Qin Lie roared, his chest heaving violently, his eyes churning with suppressed fury and a hint of embarrassment he refused to acknowledge.
He took two steps back, putting a safe distance between them as if she were some kind of man-eating beast.
Rubbing her reddened wrist, Jiang Wu watched his defensive posture. Instead of being angry, her eyes curved into a smile.
This man was adorably innocent.
His body’s reactions were so honest, yet he still insisted on putting on such a serious front.
“I’m not messing around.”
Jiang Wu’s tone grew solemn as she shed the seductive air from her eyes, leaving only clarity and sincerity.
“Qin Lie, every word I’ve said is true. I want to live well with you, to be a true husband and wife.”
Qin Lie breathed heavily, struggling to calm the restless fire within him.
His gaze swept across the room, finally settling on the scattered white paper fragments in the grass beneath the window.
Those were the torn pieces of the divorce report.
The discovery reignited the anger he had barely suppressed.
He strode over, bent down, and picked up the largest fragment from the grass.
The words “divorce” were still clearly visible on it.
Holding the scrap, he turned around, his dark eyes fixed intensely on Jiang Wu.
“Then what is this?”
His voice was cold enough to freeze icicles.
“Is this also part of your game of living well? Playing hard to get?”
He felt he had seen through her.
This woman was scheming, with an endless arsenal of tricks.
First, she pretended to elope, creating a scandal that made him lose face.
Now, she tore up the divorce report, putting on an act of repentance and throwing herself at him.
Wasn’t it all just to make him yield, to control him?
He, Qin Lie, was the last person to fall for such tricks!
Seeing the mockery and suspicion in his eyes, Jiang Wu sighed inwardly.
The mess left by the original host truly wasn’t easy to clean up.
This man’s wariness was heavier than she had imagined.
But it was fine—she had plenty of patience.
“Yes, this is indeed my game.”
Surprisingly, Jiang Wu admitted it.
Qin Lie was stunned, not expecting her to confess so readily.
Then, he watched as Jiang Wu walked toward him, stopping right in front of him, and gently took the torn scrap from his fingers.
Her fingertips brushed against his skin, sending another subtle shiver through him.
“But it’s not playing hard to get.”
Jiang Wu looked at the torn paper in her hand, her voice soft.
“This is a farewell.”
She lifted her gaze to Qin Lie.
“Qin Lie, the old Jiang Wu was spoiled and foolish, her head full of mud. She didn’t know how to cherish, treating your sincerity like dirt and taking your kindness for granted.”
“She made you lose face in front of your comrades, turned this home into chaos, and did many, many wrong things.”
Her voice was calm, as if recounting someone else’s story.
“But that Jiang Wu is gone now.”
In front of Qin Lie, she tore the scrap in her hand into even smaller pieces.
“From today on, the person standing before you is a brand-new Jiang Wu. A Jiang Wu who only wants to be your wife, bear your children, and live a stable life with you.”
Her words made Qin Lie’s heart pound heavily.
The woman before him had a frank gaze and a sincere tone, without a trace of pretense or calculation.
But he still didn’t dare believe it.
How could a person change so drastically in just one day?
“You think I’d believe that?”
Qin Lie’s voice remained cold and stiff, but the doubt in it had diminished slightly.
“Whether you believe it or not is not up to you or me.”
The corners of Jiang Wu’s lips curved into a faint smile.
“Time will prove everything.”
She didn’t press him further. Instead, she changed the subject.
“Darling, when you came back earlier, did you notice the tiles on our roof? Several of them are cracked. During the wind and rain a few days ago, water leaked into the house.”
She pointed to a corner of the roof.
“And the old stove in the kitchen—the flames are always flickering, making cooking a struggle. I was thinking, tomorrow we could go to the logistics department and ask if we can get some new tiles and coal to fix up the house.”
She naturally began discussing the mundane details of their home, her tone so familiar it was as if they had been living like this for years.
It felt strange.
Qin Lie looked at her, his mind struggling to keep up.
One moment, she was a temptress setting him aflame in his arms.
The next, she had transformed into a perfectly ordinary wife, concerned about the household’s daily needs.
Which one was the real her?
“I know.”
He answered vaguely, feeling completely led by her.
He didn’t want to stay in the same space with her any longer—it felt too dangerous.
He turned and strode toward the outer room.
“I’m going to wash up.”
He grabbed his washbasin and towel, fleeing almost like a man escaping disaster.
Watching his flustered retreat, the smile on Jiang Wu’s face grew even brighter.
She walked to the bed and looked at his pillow and the neatly folded thin quilt on it.
Tonight, there would be no reason to sleep separately.
At the outdoor faucet, Qin Lie splashed his face over and over with cold well water.
But no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t shake Jiang Wu’s image from his mind.
The softness of her body when she held him, the warmth of her breath as she whispered in his ear, the soul-stealing gaze she fixed on him…
And her final words: “Time will prove everything.”
Qin Lie irritably ran a hand through his hair.
He realized he knew nothing about this wife he had been married to for a year.
Even more frighteningly, he seemed… to be developing an uncontrollable curiosity about her.
When he returned to the room, still damp with water, he found the scene inside once again beyond his expectations.
The small wooden bed in the outer room where he had slept for a year was now empty.
The bedding that had been on it was gone.
His heart dropped, and he quickly looked toward the inner room.
Jiang Wu was sitting on the edge of the bed, patting the space beside her.
On the five-foot-wide double bed, two pillows lay side by side.
His thin quilt was neatly spread over the other half of the bed.
“Darling, all washed up?”
Jiang Wu smiled at him, her eyes curved like crescent moons in the night sky.
“I’ve already made your side of the bed. Come on up and sleep—you have to wake up early for drills tomorrow.”
Her tone was so matter-of-fact.
As if they had always shared a bed like this.
Qin Lie stood at the doorway, unsure whether to enter or retreat.
He felt like a greenhorn stumbling into a spider demon’s cave.
And the most beautiful temptress was spreading an alluring net for him.
One more step forward, and he would be completely devoured.
But where could he retreat to?
The entire house was only so big.
“Jiang Wu, bring my quilt out,” he made one last attempt.
“No.”
Jiang Wu shook her head, even burrowing deeper into the covers, clearly being stubborn.
“The floor outside is too cold—sleeping there will make you sick. And you’re the regimental commander. What will the troops do if you fall ill?”
She even trotted out a grand justification.
Qin Lie was left speechless, thoroughly cornered.
He stood where he was, locked in a standoff with her.
Time ticked by, the island night growing deeper.
Outside the window, the sea wind howled like a woman’s sobs.
Inside, the lamplight was dim and warm.
The person on the bed was as lovely as a painting, smiling at him.
Finally, Qin Lie let out a resigned sigh.
He took a step forward and entered the room.
But he didn’t go straight to bed.
Instead, he stopped by the bedside and spoke to Jiang Wu in an unprecedented, serious tone.
“Alright, I’ll sleep on the bed.”
“But we must set ground rules.”
He gestured with his finger along the exact center of the bed.
“This is the ‘demarcation line.’”
“You sleep on your side, I sleep on mine. No one crosses the line.”
“If I catch you crawling over in the middle of the night…”
He paused, searching for a threatening statement.
“I’ll throw you off the bed!”