Xie Fangzhu’s voice barely fluctuated, sounding almost like casual conversation.
But in Shen Yingying’s ears, it sounded like the summons of the King of Hell coming to claim her life.
As she watched him pry away her fingers one by one, her heart pounded wildly, as though it might explode. Not only were her lips trembling, even her chin shook uncontrollably.
The instant he turned around, she made a split-second decision.
She lunged forward suddenly.
Her slender hand seized his collar and yanked downward hard. Rising onto her toes, she pressed herself against him with the determination of someone charging bravely to her death.
The move was so unexpected that Xie Fangzhu had no time to react.
By the time he came back to his senses, he felt a cool, soft touch suddenly against his lips.
His pupils contracted sharply.
It felt as though all the blood in his body had forgotten how to flow. His entire body froze stiff.
With a loud clatter, the carrying pole slipped from his hand and crashed onto the floor.
Hearing the crisp sound of the pole hitting the ground, Shen Yingying felt deeply encouraged.
She pressed her advantage.
The hand gripping his collar slid upward, wrapping around his neck.
The soft contact finally jolted Xie Fangzhu awake.
Bang—
It was as if something exploded inside his mind.
In an instant, his heart, which had nearly stopped beating, began pounding frantically again—so hard and so fast it felt ready to burst out of his chest.
He shoved Shen Yingying away abruptly, breathing raggedly. He even forgot to pick up the carrying pole.
For the first time, the eyes that were always calm lost their composure, stormy waves surging within them. His handsome face flushed bright red.
He stared at Shen Yingying fiercely, countless emotions crashing violently inside him.
Grinding his molars together, he wanted to scold her harshly.
But unfortunately, he hadn’t read much, and his mind came up blank. He simply couldn’t think of any cutting words.
In the end, all he managed to blurt out in furious embarrassment was:
“Shen Yingying, you shameless woman!”
Hearing that, Shen Yingying froze briefly, genuinely surprised.
Xie Dog was already twenty-six years old, yet he was still this innocent?
It was only a kiss, and he reacted like this.
Her gaze secretly flicked toward the carrying pole at his feet, and regret immediately filled her heart.
Why hadn’t she just pinned him down and kissed him back in the woods?
If she had, would she really have suffered so much afterward?
Being carried over his shoulder like a sack all the way back had been absolutely miserable.
But Shen Yingying didn’t relax her guard because of this. Instead, she pressed on, adjusting her emotions again.
The next second, actress-level tears flooded her eyes once more, pouring down uncontrollably.
She raised a hand to wipe away her tears and met his gaze directly.
In a tearful voice, she questioned him word by word:
“Shameless? How am I shameless? You’re my husband. How is kissing you shameless?”
As though suddenly thinking of something, she abruptly went still. Her eyes reddened even more.
Then she suddenly let out a low laugh.
“Xie Fangzhu… so you finally said what’s really in your heart…”
“I finally understand why you could keep enduring it without ever touching me…”
As if her soul had left her body, her knees gave way and she collapsed onto the floor.
A dazed smile hung at the corners of her lips, but sorrow spread through her eyes as tears streamed endlessly down her face, as though her entire world had collapsed.
“I kept wondering why other men get angry when their wives won’t let them touch them, but you never did.”
“I could never feel that you had me in your heart, and I was always afraid because of that. So I kept crazily provoking you, trying to make you angry, trying to feel some sense of existence. But no matter how excessive I became, you never lost your temper…”
“…I even made excuses for you. I thought maybe you were different from other men. I thought the reason you never got angry no matter how badly I cursed you was because you loved me too much.”
“But today I finally realized how ridiculous those excuses were! That wasn’t love. You were just brushing me off… too lazy to deal with me… You thought I was dirty. You thought I was disgusting, so you refused to touch me…”
She muttered to herself absentmindedly. Then suddenly, as if realizing something, she struggled to her feet.
Looking at Xie Fangzhu, determination unlike anything before appeared in her eyes.
“I, Shen Yingying, have never slept with any man before marriage or after marriage. My body is clean and pure…”
“You can think whatever you want about me—I can’t control that. But I have to clear away the filth splashed onto me.”
She wiped her tears away and walked toward him while undoing the buttons of her shirt.
“Xie Fangzhu, today I’ll sleep with you and fulfill my duty as your wife. Then you can see clearly for yourself whether my body is truly clean or not!”
Xie Fangzhu had always known Shen Yingying was frighteningly good at twisting the situation around.
But he had never imagined she could twist things this far.
Clearly, she was the one who had refused to let him touch her ever since they got married.
Whenever he tried to test the waters even slightly, she would explode like a madwoman.
And now she was accusing him of not touching her?!
Her mouth was truly vicious.
He should have fiercely argued back.
But that kiss earlier had already thrown his heart into chaos.
Now, seeing the large expanse of pale skin exposed before him, his throat suddenly went dry.
His handsome face flushed even redder, his heart racing harder than before.
How could he possibly focus on arguing back?
He hurriedly averted his eyes, not daring to look any longer.
But Shen Yingying clearly had no intention of letting him off so easily.
She continued undoing her buttons.
Her voice, hoarse from crying so long, carried an unwavering determination.
“If my body has been touched by another man, then even if you beat me to death I won’t make a sound.”
“But if my body is clean, then we’ll divorce immediately!”
The moment the words fell, every button on her synthetic shirt had been undone.
Seeing that she was about to strip it off completely without hesitation, Xie Fangzhu gritted his teeth hard.
He shot out a hand and, using only the corner of his eye, quickly pulled her open shirt closed again.
“Shen Yingying, enough!”
He was furious and enraged, wishing he could pin her down and beat her properly.
Yet his body no longer seemed to obey him.
It felt as though flames were burning through every inch of him, making it impossible to lay a hand on her no matter what.
Not only that—
A sliver of doubt had actually begun growing inside him.
Could it be that all those cruel words she said to him were only attempts to gain his attention?
Could it be that she really had only gone with that man to look for work?
Speaking of work, she actually had asked him before, arrogantly ordering him to ask his uncle to arrange a position for her.
At the time, he had deliberately delayed things before finally refusing under the excuse that his uncle couldn’t help.
He had married her for revenge.
Why would he let her live comfortably?
So when he thought about it carefully, with Shen Yingying’s stubborn personality, getting tricked while trying desperately to obtain a job actually did seem possible…
After all, she really wasn’t very smart. Her brain often failed to think things through…
The moment he realized he was already making excuses for her, Xie Fangzhu was horrified.
Inside, he cursed bitterly at himself.
From the beginning, there had only ever been one purpose behind marrying her—and tolerating her afterward.
Revenge.
He couldn’t help remembering when they were children.
Shen Yingying sat atop a high dirt ridge, kicking her legs happily, an innocent and lively smile on her face.
Yet the words she spoke had been unbelievably cruel.
She had commanded the vicious family dog to bite him savagely. If his life hadn’t been hard enough to survive, he would already be dead.
So whether her body was pure or not—
Whether her behavior truly came from wanting attention—
None of it had anything to do with him!
He wanted revenge.
He would break her legs, lock her away, torment her, and make sure she spent the rest of her life in hell, never able to climb out again.
At last, he completely calmed down.
Only then did he realize his hands were empty, reminding him that the carrying pole had disappeared at some point.
Where was it?
Glancing aside, he spotted the pole lying quietly in the distance.
He frowned slightly.
When had it fallen that far away?
Just as he was about to retrieve it, Shen Yingying wrapped herself around him again like a snake, clingy and impossible to shake off.
The shirt he had just pulled closed had fallen open again, even slipping down her shoulders.
Though Xie Fangzhu deliberately tried not to look, his gaze still uncontrollably caught flashes of dazzling pale skin.
After all, he was still a man at an age where blood naturally ran hot.
The heart he had only just managed to calm became restless once again.