“Alright, I’ll do as you say.” Zhang Rong obediently let go.
Liu Fan felt a wave of relief. See? He can be trusted.
With Lin Wanshu not around, things between them were indeed much sweeter. She had truly felt it today.
Sweat mingled with sweat, bodies tangling together. Zhang Rong had a silver tongue—he knew exactly what to say, and he was highly skilled at teasing and caressing. Her entire being felt buoyant and adrift, completely lost in a daze. Her mouth felt parched, her throat dry.
“Do it like this.”
Zhang Rong had her cross her legs, and then he began rubbing the area about a fist’s width above her knee.
“Ah? This…” Liu Fan was a little dazed.
Wasn’t this getting too dangerous? Feeling nervous, she clamped her legs tightly together. After all, it was getting so close. If they weren’t careful…
“I’m feeling a bit uncomfortable…” Zhang Rong took her hand and gently pressed it down against him.
She understood.
Fine, as long as we fiercely guard that last piece of fabric, I’ll let him do whatever he wants. Thinking this way, she closed her eyes and just let herself feel.
But just as she was losing herself in the moment, that final piece of fabric was suddenly shoved aside, instantly snapping her drifting consciousness right back to reality.
“No, this won’t do!” She reached out to pull it back, anxiously keeping herself covered.
But he caught her hands and pinned them above her head.
“Don’t be afraid, I wouldn’t dare.”
“Just on the edge, really.”
“Relax, trust me.”
“Just feel it properly.”
His words seemed to carry a strange magic, soothing her frayed nerves.
Bang, bang, bang!
Bang, bang, bang!
Bang, bang, bang!
An urgent, violent pounding on the door startled the two of them, making them bolt upright in shock.
“Zhang Rong! I know you’re in there! I’m counting to three—if you don’t open this door, you better be ready for the consequences!”
Liu Yuning’s furious roar echoed from outside.
Zhang Rong’s legs turned to jelly from sheer terror. Snatching a piece of clothing to cover his waist, he rushed over to open the door.
The moment the door swung open, a long leg kicked him squarely in the stomach.
With a loud thud, he was sent flying toward the small coffee table, rolling over with the furniture all the way to the base of the wall.
Liu Yuning stepped inside and swept a glance toward the bed. His sister was frantically pulling up the bedsheet to cover herself, her face pale with panic.
“Get your clothes on right now!”
He stepped back outside and silently counted to two minutes.
When he walked back in, Liu Fan was already fully dressed. Without uttering a single word to her, Liu Yuning strode straight up to Zhang Rong.
Smack! A heavy open-handed strike slammed right into Zhang Rong’s face.
Zhang Rong’s nose twisted to one side, and two streams of dark red blood oozed from his nostrils like earthworms.
“You brat, you really haven’t given up on your foul schemes! Coaxing my sister out to a place like this—today, I am going to ruin you!”
Zhang Rong’s head was ringing so loudly he couldn’t even process what was happening. His chest throbbed with a sharp pain; a couple of ribs might very well be broken. His nasal bone felt entirely numb… He didn’t even have the presence of mind to worry about the clothing meant to cover himself, curled up stark naked in the corner of the wall, wailing in agony.
Seeing Liu Yuning lifting his foot to kick him again, Liu Fan panicked. She threw herself forward and held her brother back.
“Ge, Ge, we didn’t… not yet… you’re going to beat him to death if you keep this up!”
“Shut up!” Liu Yuning looked down at the naked dog on the floor, absolutely consumed with rage.
If he hadn’t gone searching hotel by hotel today, he really wouldn’t have caught them. The front desk staff had told him that these two were regulars here; they used to come as a trio, accompanied by another young girl of a similar age. Today, there were only two. Even though they had entered separately, anyone with eyes could see what was going on.
What kind of love potion had this bastard fed his precious sister? To think she would blindly mess around with a guy like this, and even engage in such scandalous behavior!
With Liu Fan holding her brother back, Zhang Rong finally got enough of a breather to fully collect his wits. His face deathly pale, he scrambled into a kneeling position and began begging for mercy.
“Ge, Ge, it’s my fault. I can take responsibility for Xiaofan. I can take responsibility! Whatever the bride price is, my family guarantees we’ll scrape it together.”
If he hadn’t brought up taking responsibility, it might have been better, but hearing those words only stoked the flames of Liu Yuning’s fury.
“Take responsibility? Keep dreaming your pipe dreams!”
“So this was your little calculation all along! Trying to ‘cook the raw rice into porridge’ before getting the nod from her elders?”
“Despicable, underhanded scoundrel! Shameless rogue!”
Liu Fan had never seen her brother in such an explosive rage before, and she was terrified out of her wits. She could only use all her strength to shield Zhang Rong, crying out in explanation, “Ge, Ge, we haven’t cooked the rice yet! I—I—I’m still a virgin!”
“It’s true, Ge, believe me. Let’s just go home first. It’s almost dusk, and Grandpa is still at home waiting for us.”
Hearing his sister declare that the deed hadn’t been done, Liu Yuning was half-skeptical, but it managed to quell a fraction of his anger.
Still, he wasn’t about to let Zhang Rong off that easily. “You brat, just you wait!” He was absolutely going to make this shameless scoundrel pay dearly.
After throwing down that harsh warning, he grabbed Liu Fan and marched out. “I’ll deal with you when we get back!”
The receptionists at the front desk watched the brother and sister walk downstairs one after the other, casting subtle glances at each other. Not a word was spoken, but the gossip was practically screaming from their eyes.
‘Caught by the family this time, huh!’
‘How bizarre. When there were three of them before, how exactly did they play?’
Tsk, tsk, tsk!
Exchanging meaningful looks and winks, the two receptionists watched the siblings walk out the main doors.
Liu Yuning stuffed his sister into the backseat and slammed the door shut with a loud bang. Stepping hard on the gas, the car sped off toward the veteran cadres’ residential compound.
“Every single man Grandpa arranged for you is a hundred times better than that brat, whether in character or family background.”
“Over the next few days, I will personally pick one out for you from among them. You must break things off with that Zhang Rong.”
Liu Yuning was issuing an ultimatum, leaving absolutely no room for argument.
“Ge… I don’t want to! I can make my own decisions about my life. Zhang Rong might not be that ambitious, but he is completely devoted and good to me.”
Liu Fan refused to have her marriage arranged by her family.
Hearing this, Liu Yuning let out a cold sneer. He was a man too; did she think he didn’t understand how men worked?
“He’s completely devoted and good to you? Then let me ask you, how many years have you two been dating?”
“Not… not that many years…” Liu Fan didn’t dare admit that they had already been secretly dating for three years back in high school.
“How many is ‘not that many’?”
“From what I know, it’s been over two years.” Liu Yuning scrutinized his sister through the rearview mirror. “Three years?”
“Four years?”
Liu Fan didn’t dare answer.
“Five years?!”
Honk! Liu Yuning slammed his hand heavily onto the horn.
The two tricycles ahead of them whipped their heads around in a fright. Seeing the military license plate, they hurriedly pulled over to give way.
“Look at you! What on earth have you been doing behind the family’s back?” Liu Yuning knitted his brows, exasperated and deeply frustrated.
“If that boy truly had your best interests at heart, why hasn’t he come to our house to propose even once in all these years?”
“Both his parents are alive and well. Have they ever, even for a single time, taken the initiative to come see Grandpa?”
But at this moment, Liu Fan’s mind was entirely focused on making excuses for Zhang Rong and his family.
“That’s only because you and Grandpa wouldn’t agree anyway and look down on them! You guys are just snobs who dislike the poor and love the rich. His parents are just minor workers at the factory; they wouldn’t even dare to approach the gates of the veteran cadres’ compound, let alone come to our house.”
Liu Yuning knew his sister had backed herself into a corner and was completely set in her ways, utterly deaf to reason.
“They’re too timid to go? Did they look for a matchmaker? If there was no matchmaker, couldn’t they have asked a mutual acquaintance to help?”
“They didn’t even have the guts to knock on our door, yet he wanted to take the shortcut of making it a fait accompli. He was planning to knock you up so he could force a shotgun marriage, don’t you get it?”
“A man like that, a family like that—you absolutely cannot have them!”