Tonight was, in the truest sense, their wedding night, and Nan Chu was nervous.
She rushed through her shower and came out to find that only ten minutes had passed since she’d gone in.
Meeting Shang Lin’s gaze as he was taking off his suit jacket, Nan Chu’s face inexplicably grew warm.
“I’m done. You can shower now.”
Shang Lin glanced at her slightly flushed cheeks and gave a nod. “Mm.”
After blow-drying her hair, she lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep, her mind in a complete jumble.
She picked up her phone and sent Xu Xiaoxiao a WeChat message.
“Xiaoxiao, I have a friend who’s feeling a bit nervous on her wedding night with her husband. She doesn’t know what to do.”
Xu Xiaoxiao replied instantly—with a voice message.
Nan Chu’s hand slipped and she tapped it open, a shocked voice blasting through the entire room.
“What? You married Lu Si! But he’s such a flirt, there’s no room for you to be nervous. You…”
Startled, Nan Chu nearly sent her phone flying and immediately hit pause.
She glanced toward the bathroom, where the sound of running water could still be heard.
He probably didn’t hear that.
Nan Chu let out a breath and typed on her screen.
“It’s not Lu Si. It’s a friend of mine.”
She hadn’t figured out how to explain to Xu Xiaoxiao that seducing someone while drunk was just too embarrassing.
She’d wait until Xiaoxiao came back to the country and tell her face to face.
Xu Xiaoxiao replied with a “I see” meme and typed four words.
“Spill the details.”
Nan Chu described the gist of what had happened and ended with a summary.
“The two have no emotional foundation, but her husband is a reserved and proper man. Even if he doesn’t like her, he probably wouldn’t refuse for the sake of her dignity.”
“But she doesn’t want to put her husband in an awkward position. After all, if something happens out of a sense of obligation, it might make him uncomfortable.”
Xu Xiaoxiao was now truly certain that the one getting married wasn’t Nan Chu.
Nan Chu liked bold, unrestrained types—otherwise, she wouldn’t have chased after Lu Si for all these years.
With a type like that eternal iceberg, paired with Nan Chu’s gentle, soft personality, wouldn’t the two of them end up treating each other with icy politeness after marriage?
So, Xu Xiaoxiao sincerely offered her advice.
“That’s easy. Nothing a few glasses of wine can’t solve. Have her drink herself tipsy.”
“Then the next morning, she can say she was so nervous she drank too much. That way, she won’t embarrass her husband either.”
Nan Chu felt enlightened.
Great idea!
She sent Xu Xiaoxiao a hug emoji, exchanged a few more words to wrap up the chat, then tossed her phone aside and went downstairs to get some wine.
Shang Lin heard the noise outside go quiet. Recalling the words Xu Xiaoxiao had just said, his gaze darkened slightly.
The eight characters his friend had sent earlier inexplicably surfaced in his mind.
If a man doesn’t… tease, his position won’t hold.
He narrowed his eyes slightly.
There were still many unopened bottles of wine from the wedding banquet. Nan Chu casually grabbed two bottles of red wine and headed back up.
Seeing that the bathroom still had water running, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Nan Chu opened one of the bottles, swallowed hard, and filled a glass to the brim.
She’d barely taken a sip when she heard Shang Lin’s voice from the bathroom.
“Mrs. Shang, I forgot to bring my pajamas. Would you mind grabbing them for me?”
“Sure.”
Nan Chu set down her glass and got up to fetch the pajamas.
When she reached the bathroom door, she knocked. “Where should I put them?”
“The door isn’t locked.”
Nan Chu assumed Shang Lin had already wrapped himself in a bathrobe, so she pushed the door open.
What she saw, however, was a sight that made her blood run hot.
The bathroom was filled with steam. Shang Lin stood amid the hazy mist, water droplets dripping from the tips of his hair.
Water traced down his high-bridged nose, his sharp, cold jaw, and his prominent Adam’s apple, continuing downward over the smooth lines of his chest, then sweeping across the clearly defined ridges of his eight-pack abs…
“I-I’m sorry!”
Before she could commit a grave mistake, Nan Chu spun around, set the bathrobe on the marble counter, and fled in a hurry.
Watching her retreating figure as she bolted away, Shang Lin raised an eyebrow slightly.
Nan Chu stumbled out of the bathroom, her heart feeling like it might leap out of her throat at any second.
Calm down, calm down.
She immediately grabbed the glass she had just filled with wine and downed it in one go.
Even though Nan Chu forced herself not to think about it, that breathtaking image from moments ago refused to leave her mind.
Shang Lin’s skin was a cool pale tone, and perhaps because he had just showered, there was a faint flush to his complexion.
Like the flower atop the highest peak tinged with crimson, making one unable to resist the urge to…
Defile.
Nan Chu poured another glass and drained it.
What was she thinking?
She shouldn’t be. This was truly unacceptable.
Don’t think about it, don’t think about it, but she simply couldn’t help it…
Nan Chu gritted her teeth and poured yet another glass, gulping it down.
Get drunk. If she got drunk, she wouldn’t think about it anymore.
Shang Lin waited in the bathroom for quite a while, giving Nan Chu ample time, before leisurely walking out.
His gaze landed on Nan Chu’s back as she lay on her side in bed, propped up on her right hand.
Slender and well-proportioned, with just the right curves.
Shang Lin’s eyes were dark and unfathomable as he walked over step by step.
Until he stood still at the bedside.
“Mrs. Shang?”
The man’s voice carried a slight hoarseness from the steam, carrying an inexplicably seductive quality in the silent night.
Nan Chu didn’t react. Her black hair was casually scattered over her shoulders, revealing her flushed cheeks.
Shang Lin bent down, lowering his gaze, and caught the scent of alcohol on her.
His peripheral vision caught sight of an empty bottle of red wine at the foot of the bed.
Shang Lin looked down at Nan Chu, who was breathing evenly, a trace of helplessness flashing in his eyes, but more than that, a shallow smile.
He returned to the bathroom, dampened a towel with warm water, and carefully wiped her feverish face clean.
After finishing all this, the man leaned close to her ear and said in a low voice.
“Goodnight.”
Perhaps because of the alcohol, Nan Chu dreamed all night long.
The next day, when she opened her eyes and saw the handsome face so close to hers, she nearly let out a gasp.
Her heart pounded like a drum.
Consciousness gradually returned.
Right, last night was her and Shang Lin’s wedding night. It was perfectly normal for them to sleep together.
But seeing Shang Lin, she couldn’t help but recall the beautiful sight she had witnessed last night.
Thank goodness she had gotten drunk, or she might have made a grave mistake.
Nan Chu quietly slipped out of bed, her legs giving way beneath her.
If she hadn’t grabbed the edge of the bed, she would have had a close encounter with the carpet.
Wait, why was her body so sore and weak?
Could something have happened last night…
Just as Nan Chu was letting her thoughts run wild, Shang Lin woke up.
The first thing the man saw was Nan Chu’s bright red cheeks, and his Adam’s apple moved slightly.
“You’re awake?”
His voice carried the unique hoarseness of morning, but to Nan Chu’s ears, it sounded like something else entirely.
Nan Chu opened her mouth as if to speak, then stopped.
She couldn’t very well ask Shang Lin directly whether something had happened between them last night—that would be far too awkward.
After deliberating for a long while, Nan Chu finally came up with a tactful way to ask.
“Mr. Shang, did I do anything last night?”
“No.”
Nan Chu let out a breath of relief, only to hear Shang Lin say slowly and deliberately.
“But you did say some things.”
Her heart shot back up into her throat, and she asked cautiously, “What did I say?”
“You called my name.”
Nan Chu relaxed. Calling his name wasn’t so bad.
“What else did I say?”
Then, she heard Shang Lin continue, utterly composed.
“You said, no more.”