24 – I’m sorrу, I соuldn’t рrоtесt you wеll еnоugh
“Тhаt’s still dirty.”
Chen Qingzhi frоwnеd slightly, her brоws arching dеliсаtеlу:
Lu Jin hаd originаllу bееn about tо take a showеr, but nоw he wаs dirесtlу аngerеd intо lаughter. Hе wаlked bеhind Chen Qingzhi and quеstionеd:
“Explаin clеarlу, whо’s dirty?”
“Of сourse it’s yоu, is thеrе а third persоn in this rооm?”
Сhen Qingzhi didn’t loоk at him, сontinuing to strаighten the еdge of thе quilt.
“Where the hеll аm I dirtу?”
Lu Jin grabbеd hеr wrist, forcing them tо faсе eaсh other:
“I’vе notiсеd thаt evеr since уou entеrеd thе entertainment industry, your morаl stаndards have gottеn highеr and higher. Bасk when you were drinking with those nouveau riche at parties, why didn’t you think they were dirty then?”
“Haven’t you seen the medical report? Where’s the disease?”
Less than a month after getting married, the two had already argued about this once.
The content was similar then too. Lu Jin was so angry that he went for a full-body checkup the next day and even sent the electronic report to Chen Qingzhi.
Chen Qingzhi didn’t really respond.
After that, both were busy, and whenever they met again, they never spent time alone in the same space.
So they simply chose to forget about it.
“Keep your voice down, my mom isn’t asleep yet.”
Chen Qingzhi reached out to cover Lu Jin’s mouth, her face flushed red, signaling a truce.
A warm, soft, and fragrant scent rushed toward him.
Exactly the same scent that had kept him restless and unable to sleep the entire night before.
So this was how it felt to be a virtuous gentleman—truly unbearable.
“Don’t worry, I have no interest in a skinny girl like you. I’m just simply inviting you to sleep.”
The biggest lie men love to say is, “Don’t worry, I won’t touch you.”
If Chen Qingzhi believed that, she’d be a fool.
She directly turned off the light and lay down on the sofa:
“Sleep.”
Lu Jin snorted coldly, full of pride as he undid his buttons in the dark and changed into his pajamas.
When he threw his belt, he made sure to knock it loudly.
As if venting his frustration and resentment.
Another unbearable night.
The clear “tick-tock” of the mechanical watch the man had tossed by the bedside was distinctly audible.
With the alcohol taking effect, Lu Jin’s mind gradually grew hazy.
Yet he could still clearly hear the faint, subtle sounds from the sofa as the woman turned over.
Closing his eyes, he remembered there was a teary-eyed little girl he hadn’t yet comforted.
Disorderly footsteps pierced through the long night.
“Hey, Chen Lala, your Snow White.”
A sliver of moonlight fell upon his picturesque brows and eyes.
The little girl pouted, looking up to question him:
“Don’t call me by my nickname, it sounds awful.”
Then she took the Snow White figurine and sat on the seesaw downstairs in the residential area, grinning foolishly.
The six-year-old her and the twenty-six-year-old her looked almost the same.
“I’m going to call you anyway, Chen Lala, Chen Lala, Chen Lala.”
His pale complexion was tinged with a flush from the alcohol.
The tall man knelt on the floor, leaning over the edge of the sofa.
Even with dark circles under his eyes and exhaustion dulling his gaze, he still tirelessly kept up his antics.
After a few seconds of emotional turmoil, Chen Qingzhi was ultimately defeated by the Snow White in her hand.
That afternoon, when Lu Jin was playing with Rong Rong, he had almost made the little girl cry.
When she comforted Rong Rong, the child complained tearfully, “Godfather took my figurine.”
Lu Jin was still on the sofa arguing, “You can’t play with that figurine,” and when Chen Qingzhi scolded him a few times, he got angry.
So this was the reason.
He had actually hidden the Snow White figurine he used to apologize to her back then inside his own coat.
So childish.
Chen Qingzhi couldn’t help but laugh.
She turned and propped herself up:
“Go to sleep.”
The tall man sat on the floor, refusing to move.
Chen Qingzhi used a tone one would use to coax a child:
“The smell of alcohol is too strong, it’s overwhelming.”He still didn’t move.
“If you like lying face down, then lie face down.”
Chen Qingzhi lay down, turned over, and covered her head with the blanket.
Lu Jin felt as if heavy mountains were pressing down on his mind. He tilted his head and leaned close to hers, the corners of his lips curving upward:
“I ate a bit too much of Mom’s cooking, and it’s not sitting well.”
“How about you massage my stomach for me?”
Lu Jin’s drunken eyes gazed at her intently, his pupils like swirling vortices threatening to pull her in:
“Just two minutes, and I’ll go straight to sleep.”
Chen Qingzhi sat up again and looked at the man before her.
His bone structure was excellent. At twenty-five or twenty-six, he looked not much different from when he was eighteen or nineteen.
Over the years of navigating the business world, he hadn’t acquired the slightest hint of a merchant’s crassness. Instead, thanks to his repeated accurate predictions of the market, he had reached the pinnacle of the industry at a young age.
Vibrant and confident, arrogant enough to shake the heavens and earth.
Compared to his teenage years, he was now more self-assured and steady.
From the bridge of his nose to his bold contours, there was an air of pride.
For a moment, Chen Qingzhi felt as if she had returned to the illusion of their passionate early love.
Intense, willful, addictive, and wild.
He would carry his sketchbook and take her everywhere to paint, pouring out their hearts to each other in unnoticed scenery.
Even their arguments were tinged with joy—young lovers, every second sweet to the extreme.
Years after their breakup, she still dreamed of him from time to time.
His sharp jawline always glistening with sweat.
His amber eyes always dark and profound.
In the depths of the night, the young Lu Jin would whisper words of intense desire.
When dawn broke, he would bring his unique innocence, gently pressing an utterly pure kiss to her lips.
A young girl’s flutter felt like ripples stirring on the icy surface of a lake.
“A-Jin, the floor is cold.”
Chen Qingzhi helped him up onto the bed and sat beside him, massaging his lower abdomen through his pajamas.
Late nights always stir wild thoughts.
Lu Jin watched her intently, his gaze unfathomable.
He didn’t speak.
After a long while, his scorching palm covered the back of her hand:
“I’m drunk.”
Chen Qingzhi’s fingers involuntarily curled, and she lowered her head, not daring to look at him.
Afraid that even the slightest expression would betray her now uncontrollably frantic heartbeat.
“Chen Lala, could you massage a little lower?”
Lu Jin pleaded in a hoarse voice.
Guiding her hand downward.
As if splashed by hot water.
Chen Qingzhi quickly withdrew her right hand:
“Thinking about those things again!”
She made as if to leave.
Having just tasted a bit of sweetness, Lu Jin would never let her go so easily.
In a dizzying turn, the man had already pinned her beneath him.
“Sleep like this.”
Chen Qingzhi struggled in his embrace.
Only to be met with an even firmer grip.
Lu Jin wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her whole body closer to him:
“Don’t move, or I’ll bully you.”
His tone was strained and suppressed.
Chen Qingzhi felt her entire body pressed against his furnace-like chest.
Even his breath was buried in the crook of her neck, one wave after another, unbearably tingling.
Lu Jin’s gaze grew increasingly heated.
His drunkenness blurred the line between reality and illusion.
He closed his eyes to steady himself, and when he opened them again.
She was still beneath him.
Then the man lowered his head a little further.
His voice deeper than before:
“Chen Lala, I’m sorry.”
The hazy moonlight cast their faces in a faint, elusive glow.
The woman’s cool eyes were gentle as water, her rosy lips slightly parted.
Lu Jin suddenly curved the corners of his mouth, as if smiling faintly.
Chen Qingzhi lay quietly in his arms, her gaze intense:
“Sorry for what?”A deep shadow settled between Lu Jin’s profound brows as he reached out to stroke Chen Qingzhi’s cheek:
“It was my fault for not protecting you well enough. It will never happen again.”
His eyes held a shattered, pained tenderness she had never seen before.
Her head grew heavier and heavier until she finally lost consciousness.
His thin lips brushed past the woman’s ear, lingering at the hollow of her neck.
He slumped into the soft pillow, falling into a deep, unconscious sleep.
Chen Qingzhi felt a numbness that ran all the way down her spine.