The new plot prompt had already imprinted itself in her mind, yet Qiao Man abruptly turned her face away.
The music remained paused, but multicolored disco lights continued swirling across the walls.
Zhang Zishuai was gesticulating wildly, the microphone in his hand emitting another piercing screech of static.
“I told you to apologize, are you deaf?”
He grew increasingly aggressive, nearly shoving the microphone in Qiao Man’s face several times.
Qiao Man remained standing there with a stony expression, appearing stubborn and unyielding.
Jiang Sui watched her silently, suddenly recalling an incident from second grade when she’d been scolded by their parents for hitting her younger sister Qiao Tian.
Back then, she’d worn this same stony expression—impervious to reason, capable of infuriating people without uttering a single word.
Over all these years, he’d watched her grow from age three to twenty-seven, and now in this novel’s world, back to twenty. Yet when she resorted to passive resistance, she still behaved exactly the same.
It seemed time, that great polisher, wasn’t effective on everyone.
Zhang Zishuai had come to Night Colors specifically to see Qiao Man kneel and beg for mercy. Instead, she stood there with a cold expression, acting more entitled than him, showing no intention of apologizing.
His anger mounted, especially after noticing his cousin watching him. In a heated moment, he raised his hand.
“Qiao Man.”
Jiang Sui suddenly spoke, his voice unusually clear in the quiet private room. Everyone present turned to look at him simultaneously.
Zhang Zishuai’s raised hand froze mid-air as he turned back in confusion. “Cousin, who are you calling?”
Jiang Sui looked at Qiao Man and called her name again.
Qiao Man maintained her cold expression, pretending not to hear.
Zhang Zishuai began to comprehend, shock flashing in his eyes. “Cousin, you two… know each other?”
Ignoring him, Jiang Sui called Qiao Man’s name for the third time.
Qiao Man bit her lip and turned her face another thirty degrees away.
Jiang Sui sighed and stood up, walking toward her.
Just like during every past disagreement, he stopped before her and looked at her with eyes containing three parts helplessness.
Qiao Man glanced at him coldly from the corner of her eye and continued ignoring him.
Zhang Zishuai looked from one to the other, suddenly breaking out in a cold sweat.
The others exchanged glances, sensing something amiss in the prolonged silence, their expressions turning serious.
Disregarding everyone’s varied thoughts, Jiang Sui lowered his gaze and took Qiao Man’s hand.
She immediately tried to pull away, but he firmly enveloped her hand in his.
“Still angry?” he asked softly, ignoring the lines in his mind.
Zhang Zishuai’s suspended heart completely sank as he pale-facedly edged toward the corner.
“I thought about it after going back, I was indeed wrong,” Jiang Sui continued apologizing.
The night grew deeper, Night Colors becoming livelier. Though the private room door was tightly shut, sounds from the speakers still seeped through.
Qiao Man still appeared determined to reject the apology. After some thought, Jiang Sui suddenly resorted to shameless tactics.
“Do I really have to kneel?”
Qiao Man immediately turned her head back. “Then kneel.”
Jiang Sui bent his knees without hesitation.
Qiao Man watched him coldly.
“I’m kneeling,” he reminded her.
Qiao Man sneered.
“I’m really kneeling,” Jiang Sui emphasized again.
Qiao Man’s expression remained impassive—she knew he wouldn’t actually kneel.
“…With so many people here, could you give me some face?” Seeing her unmoved, Jiang Sui straightened his knees and conceded again. “I really know I was wrong.”
Qiao Man lifted her cold gaze. “What exactly were you wrong about?”
“I was wrong for not treating Ms. Qiao Man as an intelligent and mature adult, wrong for not believing in her ability to handle everything properly, and even more wrong for losing my temper with her arbitrarily and slamming the door in front of her.”
Jiang Sui offered a sincere apology, earnestly expressing his remorse.
While speaking, he maintained eye contact with Qiao Man.
Jiang Sui had peach blossom eyes with light-colored pupils that usually carried an air of indifference.
But when he truly looked at someone, he always appeared intensely focused, as if his eyes could hold no one else but her.
After holding his gaze for three seconds, Qiao Man added to his list of wrongdoings: “You also said you’d never care about me again.”
If it were anyone else, hearing such a question would make them think she felt wronged and abandoned.
But as her longtime follower and lackey, Jiang Sui immediately grasped the key point.
“Am I really that terrible?” Jiang Sui asked in surprise, leading her to sit in the corner of the sofa.
“As if I’ve ever helped you much. Since coming to this damned place, hasn’t it always been you helping me? I actually twisted things so badly, no wonder you’re angry.”
Qiao Man glanced at him. “Good that you know.”
A soft chuckle escaped Jiang Sui’s throat, but his smile faded instantly when his gaze fell on the bruise on her wrist.
“How did this happen?” he asked.
No one dared continue singing without his permission, so the private room remained quiet.
After his question, everyone immediately looked at Zhang Zishuai, who broke out in a cold sweat.
“Wh-why is everyone looking at me?” he forced a dry laugh.
Qiao Man lifted her chin, pointing out the culprit. “He grabbed me.”
Seeing Jiang Sui reminded her that Zhang Zishuai was the cousin of the original story’s male supporting character—no wonder his name had sounded familiar initially.
With her accusation, Zhang Zishuai’s heart sank completely.
The corners of Jiang Sui’s lips curled slightly. “Zhang Zishuai, you’re quite capable, aren’t you?”
Zhang Zishuai wiped the sweat from his forehead and approached Jiang Sui with a pained expression. “Brother, please let me explain. I really didn’t know she was your girlfriend… Weren’t you pursuing that girl named Bai Xingyu?”
“She’s indeed not my girlfriend.”
Jiang Sui leaned back coolly into the sofa, one arm casually resting on the backrest behind Qiao Man.
Qiao Man added, “Yes, we’re just ordinary classmates. Don’t spread rumors.”
Zhang Zishuai: “…” Talking nonsense with eyes wide open—who was it that just now threatened to kneel and held her hand?
And if they weren’t a couple, why were they sitting so close!
Of course, he didn’t dare refute. Zhang Zishuai humbly kept explaining to Jiang Sui.
Seeing Jiang Sui remain unmoved, he turned to apologize to Qiao Man, only to find her even more unyielding than Jiang Sui.
Zhang Zishuai’s sweat intensified.
Although they were cousins, their status in the family was worlds apart.
If he didn’t resolve this today, one phone call from Jiang Sui to their family would ground him for at least six months.
“Brother, I really know I was wrong. If I’d known she was your… your lady, I wouldn’t have dared force her to drink even with eight hundred times the courage.”
Zhang Zishuai was nearly in tears, his ugly face all scrunched up.
Jiang Sui chuckled. “Oh, so you forced her to drink too.”
Zhang Zishuai quickly grabbed a glass of beer and chugged it down in one go.
“I apologize to your lady,” he said, burping.
Qiao Man wrinkled her nose in disgust.
Jiang Sui: “Not enough.”
“Th-then should I drink all the alcohol on the table?” Zhang Zishuai ventured.
Jiang Sui watched him with amusement, saying nothing.
Zhang Zishuai didn’t dare to utter another unnecessary word and began chugging the beer.
Everyone else was terrified, exchanging nervous glances, with no one daring to speak.
“Were they here yesterday too?” Jiang Sui suddenly asked.
Everyone tensed up.
Qiao Man gave an affirmative hum: “They were all here.”
Jiang Sui leaned lazily against the sofa and said slowly, “Tell the manager to bring over a few more cases of alcohol.”
The person nearest the door hurriedly agreed.
As he opened the door to leave, Jiang Sui added unhurriedly, “Make it baijiu.”
The faces of those present turned ashen.
After that person left, Jiang Sui turned his gaze to the one who had been singing earlier: “Keep singing.”
Three seconds later, the private room was once again filled with howling singing.
Eyeglasses Man had been waiting outside since Qiao Man entered. Finally seeing someone come out, he quickly approached.
“Bring two cases of baijiu.”
Eyeglasses Man promptly agreed. Seeing that the person was about to return immediately after speaking, he quickly grabbed him: “Um… has Young Master Zhang calmed down?”
The person’s mouth twitched: “He’s calmed down, completely calmed down.”
Eyeglasses Man immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
It wasn’t in vain that he specifically assigned two security guards to watch Zhou Zhou, preventing her from causing trouble. Fortunately, Qiao Man was sensible and knew what to do and what not to do.
With the heavy weight lifted from his heart, Eyeglasses Man personally carried two cases of alcohol inside.
“Young Master Zhang, my apologies. It’s all my fault for not managing the staff properly. These two cases are my personal gift. Today we must have Qiao Man accompany you in drinking to your heart’s… content.”
Eyeglasses Man stared dumbfounded at Qiao Man sitting beside Jiang Sui and Zhang Zishuai chugging beer.
“Who is this?” Jiang Sui asked.
Qiao Man: “My manager.”
Jiang Sui made an understanding sound and looked at Eyeglasses Man with a smile: “Was it you who made Qiao Man come to apologize?”
What kind of person was Eyeglasses Man? A seasoned social veteran who had been through the mill in the bar scene for years!
Although he didn’t know Jiang Sui’s background, that didn’t stop him from immediately apologizing: “It was my fault, all my mistake.”
“And you made her accompany drinking,” Jiang Sui’s smile deepened.
Eyeglasses Man shuddered, swiftly opened the alcohol case, pulled out a bottle of baijiu and started chugging.
Seeing this, the others also grabbed alcohol bottles. The room instantly filled with the smell of alcohol.
“Three days of drunken haze, seven days relying on pancakes, only then can I understand~”
The singer, afraid of being called over to drink, sang with increasing vigor. The others, with bitter expressions, chugged baijiu and soon a bunch of them collapsed.
After downing five bottles of beer and half a bottle of baijiu, Zhang Zishuai retched twice before collapsing onto the coffee table.
“I can’t do it, I really can’t, bro… If I keep drinking like this, I’ll die.”
He cried with snot and tears, covering his face and begging for mercy.
Jiang Sui looked at him coldly: “It would be just as well if you drank yourself to death. That would save you from using the Jiang family name to bully men and women.”
“I was wrong, bro, I was really wrong. I’ll never dare do it again.”
Zhang Zishuai wept bitterly, sliding from the table onto the floor.
The room full of drunks howled and wailed. Qiao Man frowned and kicked Zhang Zishuai, who had collapsed at her feet, aside.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve thrown my weight around like this. The last time I did this was when I first interned at the company, dealing with those old lechers who loved calling female colleagues to banquets.”
Jiang Sui briefly reminisced about his youthful days, then asked Qiao Man: “Ventilated enough? If not, we can have them keep drinking.”
“Any more and they’ll really die,” Qiao Man said tonelessly.
Jiang Sui: “No problem. In novels, money can solve anything.”
Qiao Man looked at him.
Jiang Sui smiled: “I happen to be a nouveau riche with lots and lots of money.”
Qiao Man: “…”
“I can’t do it anymore, really can’t…”
Zhang Zishuai lay sprawled on the ground muttering, his face flushed crimson like pig’s liver.
Although Jiang Sui had claimed everything in the novel could be solved with money, having someone drink themselves to death would still be troublesome. Qiao Man didn’t want to carry the weight of a human life at such a young age.
Even if it was just a fictional character’s life.
She lowered her head, carefully observing Zhang Zishuai’s condition. After confirming it was just ordinary drunkenness, she sighed in relief, only to immediately meet Jiang Sui’s gaze.
“…Why are you looking at me?” She frowned again.
The private room was filled with the smell of alcohol. Jiang Sui leaned against the sofa with a lifted corner of his mouth, his lazy demeanor making him appear drunk as well.
“Didn’t you say you weren’t angry anymore?” he asked.
Qiao Man shot him a sidelong glance and elegantly raised her chin.
Jiang Sui laughed even harder. The ambiguous lighting reflected in his eyes, shattering into countless starlight fragments.
“What are you laughing at?” Qiao Man asked with a frown.
The corner of Jiang Sui’s mouth never dropped: “Remember when you beat up Qiao Tian until she cried in second grade?”
Qiao Man had an excellent memory and immediately recalled the incident.
“After your parents scolded you back then, you practically wrote ‘unconvinced’ all over your face.”
“Qiao Tian stole my toy, but my mom came to scold me instead. Of course I was unconvinced,” Qiao Man retorted.
Jiang Sui: “Be reasonable, Miss Qiao Man. Qiao Tian was only two years old at the time.”
“Exactly the age when she could understand human speech and know why she was getting beaten up,” Qiao Man declared with aristocratic pride.
Jiang Sui: “Two years old. Are you sure she could understand?”
“…So what? Are you going to settle old scores for her now?”
Jiang Sui chuckled: “She’s your most loyal servant – why would she need me to stand up for her? I just…”
Qiao Man waited for a long time but never heard what came after “just.”
She turned her head and happened to meet his gaze again.
“Just thought that after she apologized to you back then, your awkward yet wanting a way out look was exactly the same as now,” Jiang Sui finished with a smile.
Qiao Man froze for three seconds. Understanding his meaning, she immediately retorted: “I’m not awkward at all, and I definitely don’t want you to give me any way out…”
Under the rotating polka-dot lights, Jiang Sui pulled a lollipop from his pocket.
“Classmate Qiao Man, let’s make up,” he said.
Qiao Man stared blankly at the candy in his hand, suddenly remembering how they had reconciled after their big fight about puppy love.
The ages of fifteen or sixteen were peak rebellion years, and Qiao Man was no exception.
After fiercely arguing with the tattletale, she angrily returned to her room.
“Trash Jiang Sui! Whoever talks to you again is a dog!”
While cursing and grumbling, Qiao Man punched and kicked the rabbit plush toy on her bed. After thoroughly venting, she collapsed ungracefully onto the bed, silently staring at the ceiling while sulking.
That’s when the window knocking started.
When the knocking sound first occurred, Qiao Man was initially startled. After confirming she hadn’t misheard, she suddenly grew tense.
Her family lived in a three-story detached villa. Her south-facing bedroom was on the second floor, with the window four meters above ground level. Who could possibly be up there knocking?
Knock, knock, knock.
It sounded again.
Qiao Man checked the time – already past 10 PM.
She decisively pulled out her phone, about to call the police when Jiang Sui’s leisurely voice came from outside the window.
“Qiao Man, open up. It’s Qiao Yuan.”
Qiao Man: “…”
The Qiao family had three siblings: eldest brother Qiao Yuan, second child Qiao Man, and youngest Qiao Tian.
That trash Jiang Sui – he only dared impersonate her eldest brother because he knew Qiao Yuan had a gentle temper.
Seeming to realize his voice didn’t sound right either, the person outside the window paused for three seconds before switching to a gentle, unhurried baritone: “I really am Qiao Yuan.”
Qiao Man couldn’t hold back anymore: “Are you insane, Jiang Sui?”
A burst of laughter immediately erupted from outside the window.
Qiao Man rolled her eyes inelegantly and was about to go to sleep when a sudden exclamation came from outside.
Startled, she hurried to open the window: “How did you…”
Before she could finish, she met Jiang Sui’s smiling eyes.
He was perfectly fine, steadily perched on the windowsill.
Qiao Man’s expression froze as her gaze fell on the ladder beneath him.
“My dad bought this recently, and my mom scolded him for it, saying he always buys useless junk,” Jiang Sui patted the ladder’s handrail, “But now it’s come in handy.”
It was nearly September, the weather was pleasant, and the moon was particularly large.
Wearing pajamas, Jiang Sui rested his chin in his hands with a grin and asked her: “Don’t we look like Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai right now?”
“…That’s the plot of Romeo and Juliet. Instead of tattling, why don’t you read more books?” Qiao Man didn’t want to engage with him, but his literary knowledge was simply appalling.
Jiang Sui didn’t seem to mind: “Really? Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai had a similar scene too. Actually, I’ve always thought those foreign stories copied from ours.”
Qiao Man couldn’t be bothered to argue with him. With a cold laugh, she moved to close the window, but Jiang Sui was quick—pressing down on the windowsill, he flipped inside and steadied the window.
“I’ll help you.”
With that, he shut the window firmly.
Qiao Man: “…”
Once inside, Jiang Sui began wandering around as if he owned the place.
“Why has the rabbit ended up like this?” he feigned surprise, “Even if you’re upset with me, there’s no need to take it out on the rabbit. This was my gift for your tenth birthday—how many tenth birthdays does one have in a lifetime?”
He took off his shoes and lay on the bed, spotting her phone and casually picking it up, then unlocking it without hesitation.
“Why is it on the call screen? Were you about to call the police just now? Did you think I was a thief?”
Jiang Sui shook his head: “Qiao Man, you’re so timid.”
“…Are you done? If you’re done, get out.” Qiao Man was thoroughly annoyed by the sight of him now.
Jiang Sui looked up: “Still mad?”
“Shouldn’t I be?” Qiao Man retorted, her cartoon pajamas—chosen with her mother’s questionable taste—doing nothing to diminish her intensity.
Jiang Sui smiled and asked: “Are you mad because I betrayed you, or because I ruined your early romance plans?”
The question caught Qiao Man off guard, and she frowned: “Is there a difference? Stop trying to confuse the issue.”
Jiang Sui’s lips curved upward as he continued poking the rabbit beside him.
After years of stagnant growth, he had finally shot up in height over the summer. Lying there now amid a bed of stuffed animals, he actually seemed all long limbs and lanky.
For a moment, Qiao Man suddenly found him unfamiliar.
“Do you really like him?” Jiang Sui asked abruptly.
Qiao Man snapped back to attention: “What do you mean?”
“Do you like him as a person, or do you like the title of ‘top student in the city’?” Jiang Sui hugged the rabbit, watching her quietly.
Qiao Man took a deep breath: “Is there a difference? Why did you come here so late anyway, always asking me these pointless questions?”
“Can’t you tell? I’m trying to persuade my dear friend not to get into an early romance just for vanity’s sake. What does ‘top student in the city’ even mean? If you hadn’t had period cramps during the high school entrance exam, you would’ve been number one for sure.”
Qiao Man let out an exasperated laugh and cut straight to the point: “Please gracefully exit my room.”
“Not taking advice, huh?” Jiang Sui raised an eyebrow. “Fine then, let’s talk about something else.”
Qiao Man’s patience was wearing thin.
Completely oblivious, Classmate Jiang Sui hopped off the bed and gave her a solemn bow.
Qiao Man watched him expressionlessly, already too tired to ask what nonsense he was up to now.
With a pained expression, Jiang Sui said, “Classmate Qiao Man, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told Uncle Qiao and Aunt Yuan about your puppy love. Can you forgive me just once, for old times’ sake?”
Qiao Man snorted coldly. “Impossible.”
“Why? I remember you weren’t this petty,” Jiang Sui feigned confusion.
Qiao Man: “Because I just swore that if I ever pay attention to you again, I’m a dog.”
Jiang Sui suddenly understood, grabbed her hand, and shook it.
Qiao Man: “?”
“Alright, the oath has now transferred from Qiao Man to Jiang Sui,” he said with complete seriousness, looking at her. “Woof, woof…”
Qiao Man couldn’t help but laugh, then quickly straightened her face. “You’re insane.”
Jiang Sui pulled a lollipop from his pocket. “Classmate Qiao Man, let’s make up.”
The memory overlapped with reality for a moment before Qiao Man snapped back to the present, realizing she was still sitting in the dimly lit, vibrant private room.
Jiang Sui had been holding out the lollipop for a while now, its wrapper color slightly distorted under the dim lighting.
“Hmm?” Jiang Sui pushed it closer.
Qiao Man reluctantly reached out, and Jiang Sui immediately unwrapped it and handed it to her.
Even the flavor was the lychee one from her memories.
Sucking on the candy, Qiao Man shot him an annoyed look. “You could at least change the flavor.”
Her comment reminded Jiang Sui of their argument during that summer break in middle school, a faint smile touching his lips.
“Speaking of that city’s top scorer—back then, your parents and I took turns trying to convince you to break up with him, but you refused. How come you split up just one week into the semester?”
Qiao Man: “He was hindering my studies.”
“Makes sense,” Jiang Sui agreed.
Qiao Man glanced at him.
She had actually lied.
Dating the city’s top scorer meant every meeting was just discussing problems—how could that possibly hinder her studies?
The real reason they broke up was that during their first walk home together, he said Jiang Sui was a slacker with nothing going for him besides his family background, and that if not for his parents paying a high school selection fee, he wouldn’t even be in the same school as them.
How ridiculous. What did Jiang Sui have to do with him?
Calling Jiang Sui a slacker? What about himself? Didn’t he still lose to her in the first exam of the semester?
Jiang Sui was right—if she hadn’t had terrible period cramps during the high school entrance exam, the title of city’s top scorer wouldn’t have gone to him.
And he had the nerve to judge Jiang Sui? Trash.
She broke up with him on the spot.
Even now, remembering the contemptuous look on his face when he talked about Jiang Sui still made her angry.
The lighting suddenly shifted to a more ambiguous rose hue.
The soft, indirect light smoothed the edges of Qiao Man’s expression, making her seem lost in nostalgia.
Jiang Sui poured a glass of alcohol and pressed it to her lips.
“Never thought we’d run into each other in a place like this. What a coincidence. Since fate’s brought us together, how about a drink with me?” he said lightly.
Qiao Man: “?”
“What, not willing?” Jiang Sui chuckled. “Won’t even give me that much face?”
Qiao Man: “?”
“If it were Gu Hantian asking today, would you still refuse?” Jiang Sui pressed. “Or would you rather have a drink with Zishuai?”
Zishuai lay sprawled on the floor, nearly drunk to death.
With a pop, Qiao Man pulled the lollipop from her mouth and asked, “Could you please not start acting from zero frames…”
The chilled wine glass pressed closer to her lips again.
Afraid the alcohol would spill on her clothes, Qiao Man lowered her head and took a sip.
Jiang Sui: “?”
“What are you doing?” Just one look at his expression told Qiao Man he was up to no good.
Jiang Sui: “Ms. Qiao Man, could you get into character? ‘Forcing’ means you resist whatever I tell you to do, not immediately cooperating with my demands.”
Qiao Man: “…”
Jiang Sui sighed, pulling her into his embrace with one arm while bringing the wine glass back to her lips with the other.
“…This doesn’t really feel like forcing,” Qiao Man complained.
Jiang Sui: “Oh, I’ll try harder.”
Just as Qiao Man was about to ask how he planned to do that, a trickle of wine entered her mouth.
She made a muffled sound, frowning and pushing back: “I don’t want it! Let me go!”
“Working in a place like this, why pretend to be some chaste virgin?” Jiang Sui sneered.
“Let go! Release me, this is a crime!”
“Crime?” Jiang Sui curled his lips, “Drinking with a hostess—what crime is that?”
…These lines were truly cringe-worthy.
Performing them with someone familiar doubled the embarrassment.
Heat rose to Qiao Man’s cheeks, but she continued resisting: “I don’t want it, I’m not a hostess, you can’t treat me like this…”
“I insist on treating you this way. What can you do about it?” Jiang Sui retorted.
“Let go… just let me go…”
[As Qiao Man struggled, she raised her hand and slapped Jiang Sui across the face]
The detailed scene appeared simultaneously in both their minds.
Jiang Sui immediately said: “Take it easy.”
Qiao Man scoffed, symbolically brushing her hand against his cheek.
Mission accomplished.
Jiang Sui narrowed his long eyes: “You’ve got a death wish.”
After saying this, he took a sip of wine and directly smashed the glass on the floor.
The glass shattered into pieces, residual alcohol splashing from the fragments. Zhang Zishuai, who got hit by a shard, yelped… This part wasn’t in the script—purely accidental.
The next scene was the forced kiss to pass the wine.
But Jiang Sui suddenly stopped just as he was about to kiss her.
Their eyes met, and Qiao Man suddenly realized it had been a very, very long time since they’d last kissed.
Even before they first discussed divorce, they had already stopped kissing.
Having been friends for too long, even after their relationship status changed, it was difficult to shift mentally. While other couples could kiss spontaneously anytime, they could only completely let go when in bed.
At other times, kissing was something that couldn’t happen naturally between them.
Especially after the divorce.
Like now.
Their noses were already lightly touching, close enough to feel each other’s breath, yet Jiang Sui suddenly stopped.
The singer’s voice had grown hoarse. As the only sober person in the room besides Jiang Sui and Qiao Man, he now chose a love song and began singing earnestly into the karaoke machine.
Jiang Sui quietly maintained eye contact with Qiao Man. After a long silence, his Adam’s apple bobbed violently.
“…Aren’t you going to start?” Qiao Man urged, feigning composure.
Jiang Sui sighed: “I’m thinking about how to act this out.”
“Why are you talking? Where’s your wine?” Qiao Man asked.
Jiang Sui: “…”
Qiao Man pushed him away and picked up a fresh glass from the table.
“Drink,” she commanded coldly.
Jiang Sui took the glass and took another sip.
Qiao Man leaned back against the sofa voluntarily. Seeing him still standing there, she proactively parted her legs.
Jiang Sui’s gaze slid from her knees before he finally placed one knee on the space she’d made on the sofa and leaned down again.
The love song had reached its climax—it was truly awful to listen to.
Qiao Man’s heart suddenly raced a bit. Seeing Jiang Sui still moving slowly, she simply grabbed his collar and forcibly pulled him down.
Jiang Sui hadn’t expected her to suddenly yank him, so he quickly raised his hands to brace against the sofa, preventing himself from crashing entirely onto her.
Before he could steady himself, Qiao Man had already kissed him.
Jiang Sui’s hands pressed against the sofa, veins bulging, leaving creases on the reddish-brown leather.
When their lips touched, Qiao Man was still a bit stiff, but she quickly got the hang of it.
She raised her hand, clasped the back of his neck, and soon pried open his teeth.
A slightly bitter taste of beer passed over. Qiao Man couldn’t swallow fast enough, and a little trickled from the corner of her mouth.
The lights changed to another color—this time a deep purple, so dark it was almost no different from turning them off.
The blaring love song drowned out all other sounds. In the alcohol-filled private room, no one noticed what was happening in the corner.
Qiao Man had taken all the beer and was about to breathe a sigh of relief when Jiang Sui suddenly chased after her.
Her lips were parted, and she protested with a muffled groan, trying to push him away.
The bitterness of the beer still lingered on her tongue. Qiao Man twisted a couple of times, causing her short-sleeved shirt to ride up, revealing a sliver of her fair waist.
Jiang Sui bit her. A sharp pain shot through her, and Qiao Man gasped. By the time she regained her senses, her clothes had already been straightened.
As for how it ended, Qiao Man was also hazy. She only knew that when her consciousness returned, she and Jiang Sui were leaning against the sofa separately, like two strangers.
“Why…” she started, only to realize her voice was terribly hoarse.
Jiang Sui’s breathing was also unsteady, but better than hers. Hearing her hoarse voice, he poured her a glass of water.
Qiao Man drank it all in one go, and her voice finally recovered somewhat: “Why is my plot prompt still there?”
“Mine is too,” Jiang Sui said absentmindedly.
Qiao Man frowned: “What’s going on?”
“Take a closer look at the plot prompt,” Jiang Sui turned his head, his gaze easily falling on her.
Qiao Man was silent for three seconds before saying, “I’ve looked. What’s the problem?”
“The plot prompt says I forced you, not you forced me,” Jiang Sui leisurely pointed out the issue.
Qiao Man: “…”
“Maybe we have to do it again.”
Qiao Man: “…”
The task wasn’t successful, so they had to try again.
When Jiang Sui took a sip of beer and kissed her, Qiao Man’s first thought was—
Ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous!
But no matter how ridiculous she felt, the plot had to be acted out.
To avoid failing again, she focused with all her might this time.
“Let go of me, let go…” she struggled desperately, like a lively fish.
Jiang Sui could barely hold her down. After reluctantly passing the beer over, he finally managed to speak: “Can you cooperate a little?”
“If I cooperate, we’ll fail again,” Qiao Man said, suddenly kicking toward him.
Jiang Sui swiftly caught her ankle: “…Are you serious?”
“You’d better be serious too,” Qiao Man said, about to slap him.
Jiang Sui had no choice but to use more force. After trapping her leg against his waist, he pressed forward, gripping her chin and kissing her forcefully.
Although they felt awkward even kissing during their marriage, they surprisingly let loose every time they were in bed.
They had played this kind of forced play a few times before, so Qiao Man quickly got into the right state. She relaxed her body while cursing him a few times between kisses.
Jiang Sui remained silent, simply persisting in his perverted behavior.
The friction of fabric produced rustling sounds, and another heart-wrenching love song began playing, masking all other noises.
Lost in the moment, by the time Qiao Man realized something was wrong, Jiang Sui’s hand had already slipped beneath her clothes, his fingertips pressing firmly into the soft flesh of her waist.
“Jiang Sui…” Qiao Man managed to regain some clarity and grabbed his wrist, “Don’t.”
Jiang Sui paused, breathing heavily, his gaze dark and intense as he looked at her: “Shall we continue somewhere else?”
Qiao Man: “…”