Shen Zhe said he wouldn’t be eating dinner with her tonight, so once Chu Li got off the subway, she picked a simple restaurant near her apartment building.
The warm orange sunset sank beyond the window, night gradually rising up to take its place. She took a walk, picked up a few packages, and hummed a tune on her way home.
The elevator in her building was slow.
It rose gradually, and after a long while, finally stopped at her floor. The motion-sensor light outside was on, as if a new neighbor had just moved in.
Curious, she peeked out.
And met Jiang Qinian’s eyes, haunting her like some persistent ghost.
Chu Li: “.”
“You looked up my address?”
No wonder she’d shaken off that car following her not long ago.
Jiang Qinian sat inside, curving his lips in a faint, distant smile toward her, as if he thought there was no escaping him.
Right now he was leaning against the wall next door, several bodyguards moving his belongings in. He turned his head slightly and said, honestly, “No need for anything that complicated. Shen Zhe told me.”
His smile carried a hint of deeper meaning: “After all, as long as you bring up a topic, he’ll tell you everything, every time.”
Chu Li felt even more certain of her theory.
He definitely had some kink for stealing his friends’ territory, that must be why he’d set his sights on her!
Before shutting the door, she made a gesture at him: “Don’t come pestering me.”
Jiang Qinian watched the door slam shut and still stood there in place.
The bodyguards standing around exchanged glances, but saw him, after getting the middle finger, curve his lips in good spirits.
“So cute.”
Chu Li seemed, as ever, unchanged. Still loved money as much as before, still carelessly casual toward every man around her.
Shen Zhe had absolutely no effect on her at all.
Thinking of Shen Zhe, Jiang Qinian’s smile faded. His dark eyes lowered, suppressing whatever stirred beneath.
Sure enough, after seeing Jiang Qinian, Chu Li had another dream related to the original plot involving him.
In the dream, it had been just a few days after her reunion with Jiang Qinian.
Without any guard up, “she” had gotten into his car, and been taken down to a basement.
【The walls were covered with photos of her from her teenage years. Every kind of clothing and hair accessory had been collected and kept.】
【Jiang Qinian walked toward her and began pouring out the memory of being abandoned back then. He used his tie to bind her wrists, and blindfolded her eyes as well……】
Chu Li: “.”
Could someone actually blindfold her, for real?
Instead of letting her see, clearly, even in the dream, these bullet comments and their fluttering descriptions.
The vision in the dream was blurred, but the sensations felt real.
She felt Jiang Qinian, with two thin, pale fingers, coldly pushing them into her mouth, forcefully stirring her lips and tongue: “Don’t you have anything to explain, about back then?”
“Why did we break up?”
“Why did you pretend not to know me, after we ran into each other again?”
Then he pulled his fingers out.
He rubbed lightly at the shine left on them: “Will it be like this with Shen Zhe too, later on?”
In the dream, Chu Li couldn’t make a sound.
“Don’t talk. Be good.”
Jiang Qinian’s fingers were slender, his whole body looking pale and sickly, yet capable of surprising force.
He kept tightening the tie binding her wrists, sometimes patting her cheek lightly, sometimes lowering his head to kiss the bruises it left on her skin.
【Huh, the ex sure knows more tricks than Big Brother Shen, given the history they had.】
【Not so many mosaics, argh! Someone write it out in full detail, what he does next with his fingers……】
When Chu Li woke, she found herself drenched in sweat.
She got up again and walked out of the bedroom.
In the moonlight, she opened the fridge, and, just like during the day, grabbed a bottle of ice water and pressed it to her cheek, trying to cool down.
Good grief.
This damned plot.
Thank goodness she’d dodged the actual plot point, turning it into nothing more than a dream. Although the Jiang Qinian next door might well have shared the exact same dream.
Chu Li felt exhausted.
She wanted to curse this world, or curse the bullet comments stirring up trouble.
In the end, she just sighed and, feeling spineless, pretended nothing had happened, turning back into her bedroom.
Ugh, she really was just a spineless, easygoing little money-grubber.
If she dreamed it, she dreamed it.
At least she wasn’t losing anything by it.
【Li Li: What’s the difference between dreams like this and actually doing it. I’m not going to slowly get used to this roller-coaster restricted-content female lead life through some slow boiling-frog process, am I?】
【But it really doesn’t cost you anything!】
Chu Li kept the ice water pressed to her cheek until the heat from that round had faded away. She felt her face might end up frozen from overcorrecting.
She drowsily settled back down to sleep.
The moonlight on the curtains swayed a little.
The bedroom door creaked open, pushed by someone smelling of alcohol, Shen Zhe was back. “Li Li, are you awake?”
He flipped on the room light.
Shen Zhe was wearing a pink shirt, collar wide open, revealing a collarbone that seemed to say something without saying it.
He walked in lazily, the smell of liquor on him. Chu Li’s eyes told him to go wash up first, not to get that smell on her.
“Didn’t you say you weren’t coming back tonight?”
She set down the ice water in her hand, the melted condensation trickling down her cheek and into her neck.
After Shen Zhe finished showering and came out, he saw she was still holding that bottle of ice water.
The flush hadn’t quite faded from her cheeks, and he reached out, wiping her forehead. “Not feeling well?”
“You’re not running a fever, are you?”
Chu Li sniffed lightly. “I’m not sick.”
Shen Zhe felt something was off, somehow.
He sat down lazily, then noticed the shirt he’d just taken off, lying crumpled on the floor.
On the back of it, there was a bright lipstick mark.
Chu Li saw it too.
The bullet comments scrolling across the white curtains right then were tearing into Shen Zhe for it.
【Original male lead, you absolute***】
【Not having any boundaries before was one thing, but this is pushing it. Even if you did it yourself, it’s still not okay. Someone drag him out.】
Shen Zhe couldn’t see any of these comments.
He looked at ease, gazing at her leisurely.
As if with a bit of interest, wanting to see her reaction, her mood shifting might amuse him.
Would she get angry?
She had to get angry, right?
Shen Zhe had been drunk not long ago and come up with this plan.
He’d borrowed someone’s lipstick, dabbed a little on, and pressed it onto his shirt, until the mark was clear and unmistakable.
Once he’d sobered up, he’d had a moment of panic.
What if he’d overdone it?
What if Chu Li was genuinely hurt?
He’d tried wiping it with a damp cloth, but it wouldn’t come off. He’d turned to ask Pei Mo, who was nearby, to go with him to buy a new shirt.
Pei Mo had taken a sip of his drink.
Those innocent, puppy-dog eyes had blinked, and then he’d offered advice, laden with meaning: “Cousin, I think it’s a great plan.”
“If sister-in-law sees it, she’ll definitely get angry.”
“Cousin, weren’t you always wanting to test whether sister-in-law loves the money more, or you more? This is a perfect chance to find out today.”
Shen Zhe’s expression had turned briefly awkward.
He’d only said those things while drunk, and just happened to have Pei Mo overhear them.
Pei Mo had looked innocent, as if he had no idea his words had struck a nerve, seeming genuinely well-meaning: “If sister-in-law sees it and gets angry.”
“That just means she cares about you.”
Shen Zhe’s expression had shifted slightly.
Truthfully, all his life, he’d never doubted Chu Li’s deep devotion to him. It was just that sometimes she seemed to love money more, and that bothered him a little.
【Not gonna lie. If she doesn’t like money, is she supposed to like you instead?】
【Can I get half of the original male lead’s confidence. If I had that much confidence at job interviews or arguments, life would be so much easier.】
Shen Zhe had felt, lately, a faint, gnawing unease in his chest.
Walking through the early spring night, life seemed the same as always. But somewhere, quietly, something was shifting, and he had no idea what.
Pei Mo had continued, “Cousin, this is totally normal.”
“Men who’ve been in a relationship a long time all get insecure sometimes.” He’d gently talked him into it. “Once Li Li sister sees the lipstick mark tonight.”
“Once she’s angry, you can just explain everything clearly.”
“It’ll actually bring you two closer.”
Shen Zhe had felt something was off, but couldn’t say exactly what. Pei Mo’s expression had looked so sincere, as if he really were offering advice from the heart.
In the end, he’d still come home with the lipstick mark on.
He’d deliberately, while taking off his shirt, left the mark on the collar in a spot clearly visible under the light.
Chu Li, holding her ice water, had sniffled lightly while speaking just now, her voice a little hoarse.
Had she been crying?
Shen Zhe had to admit, in that instant.
Reaching that conclusion gave him a secret sense of satisfaction.
Chu Li hadn’t changed, she was still that same girl standing outside the school gate all those years ago, wearing every emotion openly on her face, her eyes brightening whenever she looked at him.
【Wake up.】
【The reason your wife Li Li has tears in her eyes and a hoarse voice isn’t because your little escapades made her angry, it’s because she just slept with your friend, in a dream.】
【She’s crying the way you cry from a dark-room scene, not the way you’re flattering yourself into thinking.】
Chu Li: “.”
She quickly looked away, coughing lightly.
Was her voice really that noticeably hoarse?
Afraid he’d notice something off, she opened the ice water in her hand and tilted her head back to take a few gulps.
A cool wave slid down her throat. Her throat, tight and raw from before in the dream, finally found some relief.
Chu Li saw the bullet comments.
About Shen Zhe’s little trick, she had only one thought: he’d gone and acted up again.
Whether or not it was Pei Mo stirring up trouble today, it didn’t change the fact that Shen Zhe himself wasn’t exactly innocent either.
Chu Li felt a bit annoyed.
She ignored Shen Zhe, tipping her head back to finish the whole bottle of ice water.
Then she told him she had things to do tomorrow and needed him to find somewhere else to sleep tonight: “Young Master Shen, this place can’t accommodate someone as important as you.”
Her hoarse voice hadn’t fully cleared up yet.
After saying this, she lay down in her own blanket, tugging it up. She turned over, planning to ignore him completely.
Shen Zhe lifted his phoenix eyes, refusing to leave.
As if determined to test her, he knelt half on the bed, reaching to pull at her blanket: “Really mad?”
Chu Li turned over again.
Shen Zhe pulled her blanket, she yanked it back.
He laughed, cheerful and shameless about it, she used the moment of tugging the blanket to land a few punches on his face.
【Good hit, Li Li.】
【Hit harder, or he’ll think you’re just flirting and get the wrong idea, don’t let him enjoy it.】
Shen Zhe ended up with a few faint red marks on his face from her punches.
But he still kept smiling, refusing to leave her apartment.
He grabbed a throw pillow and lay down on the floor beside her bed. Whatever he was imagining in his head, he seemed to be in a great mood.
【The original male lead’s still smiling.】
【Once Li Li falls asleep, she’ll dream up another restricted-content scene, hehe.】