When their lips finally parted again, Chi Ruanli felt as though even the gaps between her bones had gone soft from the kiss.
Like a fish pulled from water, she gulped down air in large breaths.
Lowering his head, Sheng Yanqing looked at the woman leaning limply against his chest.
A mischievous smile tugged at his lips.
Leaning close to her ear, he asked in a teasing tone that carried a distinctly wicked edge,
“Don’t know how to breathe while kissing?”
At his words, embarrassment flooded Chi Ruanli’s clear doe-like eyes.
She buried her face even deeper into his chest.
Seeing her curl up like an ostrich hiding its head in the sand, Sheng Yanqing suddenly laughed.
His large hand stroked her lower back.
Still unsatisfied, he continued teasing her.
“No rush. We have plenty of time ahead of us. I’ll teach you properly little by little.”
Then he added meaningfully,
“You’d better study hard.”
As he spoke, he lightly smacked her once, determined to make her face turn completely red before letting her off.
Knowing she had become thoroughly embarrassed, Sheng Yanqing lowered his head and kissed her cheek.
Wrapping an arm around her waist, he lifted her slightly and settled them both against the headboard of the bed.
Holding her in his arms, he lay back and enjoyed the peaceful warmth of the moment.
Winter sunlight streamed through the window and spread across the bed.
The warmth made them both feel drowsy.
Only then did Sheng Yanqing continue his story.
“Do you remember getting drunk at the banquet that night?”
The woman in his arms nodded.
Of course she remembered.
He had even taken her home afterward.
Gently kissing her forehead, Sheng Yanqing continued,
“Right after I carried you into the back seat of the car, you wrapped your arms around my neck and refused to let go.”
He paused.
“And you kept calling me ‘哥哥’—’Big Brother’—right into my ear.”
As he spoke, he lightly tapped the tip of her nose.
“You little clingy thing.”
Chi Ruanli instinctively shrank her neck from his touch before cautiously asking,
“So… you recognized me because I called you ‘Big Brother’?”
“Mhm.”
Sheng Yanqing nodded.
“You sounded too sweet.”
His gaze darkened slightly.
“Like a kitten.”
“The way you called me made my heart itch.”
He looked at her deeply.
“You sounded exactly the same that night at the hotel. A voice like that isn’t something I could ever forget.”
Then he added softly,
“There were quite a few nights when I remembered your voice…”
“Ah!”
Before he could finish, the little woman punched his chest with her soft fist and immediately pulled the blanket over her head.
Sheng Yanqing laughed at her childish reaction.
Holding the back of her neck, he asked,
“That embarrassing?”
The moment their eyes met, Chi Ruanli let out a tiny whimper and buried her face in his chest.
Her cheeks burned.
It was simply too embarrassing.
How could he say such things so calmly?
Even the tips of her ears had turned pink.
Looking at her, Sheng Yanqing only found her unbearably adorable.
Unable to resist, he leaned over and kissed her again.
The kiss made her tremble lightly.
Immediately, she scrambled out of his embrace and lay down beside him instead.
By now, she had already noticed the change in President Sheng.
Naturally, Sheng Yanqing was well aware of his own physical condition.
A trace of discomfort appeared between his brows.
Even so, he stubbornly pulled Chi Ruanli back into his arms.
The action caused a thin mist to gather in her beautiful eyes.
“Actually, I wanted to tell you everything the very next day.”
His voice softened.
“But when I saw how nervous and cautious you were just from spending one night in my bedroom, how could I possibly dare to say it?”
His embrace tightened.
“I was afraid I’d scare you away.”
Then he looked at her pointedly.
“Just like now.”
His eyes cooled slightly.
“You ran all the way out here by yourself.”
“And you’re carrying my child.”
“I wasn’t…”
Chi Ruanli immediately wanted to explain that she had not been running away.
But before she could finish, Sheng Yanqing captured her lips with another kiss.
Was he a kissing monster?
In this short period alone, he had already kissed her three, four, five, six…
Maybe seven or eight times.
Chi Ruanli secretly counted on her fingers.
She nearly lost track.
Sensing her distraction, Sheng Yanqing lightly bit her lower lip in punishment.
The meaning couldn’t have been more obvious.
When he heard the little woman’s dissatisfied whimper, however, he immediately softened and rewarded her with two gentle kisses.
Only then did he release her.
After a long while, Chi Ruanli finally regained her composure.
Clearing her throat, she signaled with her eyes for him to continue.
“That day, you were gone for a long time after delivering documents.”
“I was so worried I was about to call the police.”
“Then Jing Xun checked the restaurant’s surveillance footage and discovered that you had collapsed by the roadside and were taken away in an ambulance.”
Following that lead, he had gone to the hospital.
That was how he found the doctor.
And how he learned she was pregnant with their baby.
His large hand rested gently on her abdomen.
The warmth of his palm seeped through her clothing.
Suddenly, Chi Ruanli felt guilty.
Without realizing it, she snuggled deeper into his embrace.
“That day, when I found out I was pregnant…”
Her soft voice gradually thickened with emotion.
“I panicked.”
“I didn’t know what to do.”
“I didn’t dare go back to the company.”
“I was afraid to face you.”
By now, her voice had begun to tremble.
“So I bought a plane ticket overnight.”
“I thought maybe if I got away and cleared my head, I’d figure out what to do.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“I wasn’t trying to run away.”
“And I never…”
She choked on a sob.
“I never thought about not keeping the baby.”
By the end, she was crying uncontrollably.
Sheng Yanqing’s heart ached.
He pulled her tightly into his arms and gently kissed away the tears rolling down her cheeks.
It took a long time before she finally calmed down.
Even then, she remained curled against his neck, occasionally hiccupping from lingering sobs.
Although he felt sorry for her, Sheng Yanqing still caught the key point in her explanation.
His dark eyes narrowed.
“So…”
His gaze fixed on her.
“You already knew I was the man from that night?”
“Huh?”
Chi Ruanli blinked at him blankly.
Tears still clung to her eyelashes.
They trembled pitifully.
Her lips quivered.
She looked ready to burst into tears again at any moment.
The moment Sheng Yanqing saw that expression, he panicked.
Immediately lowering his head, he kissed and coaxed her.
How could he possibly continue questioning her?
What he didn’t see was that, hidden from his view, the corners of Chi Ruanli’s lips slowly curled upward.
A sly glimmer flashed through her doe-like eyes.
And just like that—
The matter was successfully glossed over beneath Chi Ruanli’s fake tears.