Xu Ying, find herself recovered quickly after her IV so she insisted on discharging from the hospital.At first Hou Chen felt skeptical because of her earlier state and afraid of the previous drug reprucession but when he saw XuYing so energtic he relently agreed still he got a list of precautions from the doctor just in case .After the discharge proedure ended XuYing came out the of the hospital where , Huo Chen waited with his bicycle for her and when he saw her approching he motioned for her to hop on instantly . As he settled onto the back seat, her hands gently gripped the edges of his shirt.
After traveling quite a distance from the hospital HouChen suddenly stop his bicycle and asked XuYing “Do you remember what happened this afternoon?” As Huo Chen asked this his voice was laced with caution. Xu Ying in response shook her head; her memory was hazy at that time , recalling only arriving at Gu Funing’s wedding banquet, having dinner with Fuying, and then waking up in the hospital. Huo Chen than glanced guiltily at her swollen lips before quickly turning his head. “Should I take you to the restaurant or home?”
“Let’s go back to the village ,” Xu Ying replied, eager to check on their small workshop’s progress. Factory Director Sun had placed another urgent order when he came to visit her earlier , meaning she’d need to hire more workers and expand her factory.
By the way “Where have you been recently?” Why haven’t you came to meet me in the few days? Don’t you miss me? As her words barely out of her moth before she nearly tumbled from the bike because of stumbling stone on the road . She instinctively clung to Huo Chen, and realizing their burgeoning relationship, didn’t let go after it . Her soft hands than start mischievously prodded his chest. He truly does hard work all the time; his chest muscles are incredibly firm due to all the heavy lifting he did on the normal days.
Huo Chen, feeling her touch on his body , was instantly remeberd the scene of the afternoon when the medicine took effect on her and she had been so utterly captivating at that time that he did something unforgivable to her without her consent. With all the guilt in his heart he still felt a burning heat flared in his lower abdomen by her touch again , As his breathing growing heavy and ragged. So with a glint of warning in his eyes, he seized her “dishonest” hands. and siad while gritting his teeth “Don’t move.”
Xu Ying pouted as she didn’t like her attitude, her pretty face now filled with indignation. “You’re my partner, why can’t I touch you huh ?”
To her it seems reasonable.
Huo Chen while stifled a groan, finally managed to say these words , “I’m still a man!”
“But we’re lovers!” Xu Ying countered, with a very rational argument .
“You’re forcing me to do this!” Huo Chen gritted his teeth as he stopped his bicycle again .
Xu Ying blinked, startled, as the bicycle came to a screeching halt, jolting her forward into the hard plane surface of Huo Chen’s back.
“Why did you stop so suddenly?” she gasped, barely catching herself from the sudden collision only to find her words trailing off as he slowly turned toward her.
Her words caught between her breath.His face was now achingly closer to his , with his dark eyes flickering with something fierce and unreadable in it something that sent a shiver racing down her spine. But before she could process the intent behind that look of his , his hands reached out to cradle her face, thumbs now brushing lightly across her burning cheeks.Then came the slow descent of his lips.First, a soft press on her forehead—tender, yet reverent.Then he moved lower, brushing his lips over her fluttering eyelids.
And finally, he grazed the tip of her nose with a warm exhale that made her tremble all over .Just as Xu Ying thought she couldn’t take it any more, his lips hovered over hers—dangerously close.And then he kissed her again.This time, it wasn’t a surprise. And it’s also wasn’t rushed as in the afternoon.
This time it was deliberate. Deep and Possessive.
A gasp escaped her lips during their breaths , turning into a soft, hum as she melted into his embrace, her hands instinctively reaching for his—fingers tangling, gripping each other . This moment was felt so alive with a mixture of unspoken sensations, as his kiss was slow but intense, coaxing her to open her heart with every flicker of his lips against hers. The air between them felt pulsed, charged with unspoken longing for each other .
Maybe because of her consious response this time , Huo Chen groaned low in his throat while kissing and slid his other hand to her waist, tugging her closer to him until there was barely any space left between them . She could feel his heartbeat thundering through his chest , pressed right up against her own druming heart ,as their bodies grew close.He kissed her like a man trying to hold back a storm—and failing in it terribely .
By the time Xu Ying pulled away from hism , her breath became sharp, which came with shallow bursts.
“I can’t… breathe,” she whispered to him , her voice now barely audible because of the intense activity just a moment ago .
Huo Chen seeing her state released her from his embrace , reluctantly, his chest was also rising and falling heavily.Still his eyes lingered on her swollen lips, which are slightly parted. The tips of her ears had turned a furious red, but he didn’t look away from her as before . He just stood there, staring her unabashedly with desires still simmering in his eyes ,As he watched her he realised that he’d just unraveled a part of himself he could never tuck back in again.
Xu Ying on the other hand after escaping from his firm hold tried to calm her racing heart, but her body felt like it was humming with electricity. She looked up at him, her cheeks were still flushed and her eyes were now bright with a mixture of wonder and confusion by the event which just unfold.
“She had always believed in reserving intimacy for marriage in her past life.”That is why With Dong Wenzhong, nothing had ever happened—her heart hadn’t stirred by him like this ever , and in the apoclypitc world romance was the last thing anyone can think as survival was the first priority everday . But this… this kiss had shattered everything she thought she knew in both of her previous lives . Her lips still felt numb, her legs now weak to even stand , and her thoughts were now unable comprehend anything .
She touched her lips unconsciously, her voice still barely above a whisper.
“Huo Chen… this was my first kiss.” Her eyes searched his, open and vulnerable. “Was it yours too?”
The question hung between them—innocent yet with a lot of weighted, crackling with a tension neither of them quite knew how to name.
And for the first time, Huo Chen looked away from her and touched the corners of his lips guiltily . They had already kissed that afternoon, so could this truly be considered his first? Seeing his prolonged silence , Xu Ying’s cheeks puffed out in annoyance. “Huo Chen, have you kissed other women before ? Didn’t you say you haven’t had a partner before me ?”
Huo Chen, seeing her flaring anger, quickly shook his head as if it’s his only way to survive and replied hastily . “No, I’ve only kissed you.”
“Really?” Xu Ying looked at him suspiciously.
“I swear, I’ve only ever kissed you,” Huo Chen said quickly, raising his three fingers towards the sky like it would somehow absolve him from this accusasion . He paused, then shifted his gaze towards the ground .
Well… there was that kiss in the afternoon. But she didn’t remember it, right? Did it count if she didn’t even realize it had happened?As these thoughts came in to his mind his ears turned red again . So he kept his fingers in the air a second longer, just in case.
“Okay,Okay ,I belive you no need to do such unlucky thing as she quickly take his hand down . let’s go back quickly!” Xu Ying urged.
But seeing her state right now Huo Chen hesitated. Xu Ying’s lips looked even more swollen now, and he was worried that her mother would notice this cahnge in her. He desperately wanted to make a good impression on his future mother-in-law so he tried to control himself but infront of XuYing, he couldn’t help himself.
“Xu Ying, please marry me!” Huo Chen blurted out in a daze, after which a look of surprise appear even on his own face.
Xu Ying felt stunned on his abrupt proposal. “We just start dating , no.”
“But I’ve already kissed you! Don’t worry, I won’t let you live a hard life with me. I’ll work hard to make money and give you a life better than your natal family . After we’re married, I won’t let you do any housework. I can cook ,wash clothes and can do all the housework around the house . If you want to work after marriage , you can. If you don’t want to, I can also support you.” Huo Chen looked so sincere while saying this . “I’ll support you in whatever you want to do in the future !” He gazed at her expectantly.He longed for her apporaval so desperately like his whole life dependent on her one word.
“Then do you mind if i spend all the money you earn?” Xu Ying teased, but in the next second, Huo Chen pulled a thick wad of cash from his bag and pressed it into her hand readily .
“This is the money I earned this time, a total two thousand yuan. I still have the money I earned before, more than nine thousand yuan at my house , all for you to spend freely ,” Huo Chen said, his eyes filled with a doting affection exclusive for her . “If you spend it all I’ll work even harder to make more money in the future guaranteed your comfort , and never let you suffer in any way possible till the day I am alive .”
Xu Ying stared blankly at the two thousand yuan, in her hand and listne to him mentionting nine thousand yuan more and thought in her mind ,Oh my god, he’s a ten thousand yuan household in this era ! It was a shame she only had a little over a thousand herself. So her eyes lit up at the sight of so much money, and Huo Chen even found her “money-crazy” look utterly adorable.
“You keep the money for now and give it to me when we get married Okay ,” Xu Ying said, quickly returning the cash to him .
Huo Chen’s eyes widened in surprise when he heard her words . “Then you agreed to marry me?”
Xu Ying hesitated for a moment than said . “I didi’nt said I don’t want to get married i just don’t want to get married yet. lets wait a year or two before we can talk about this . If you’re willing, just wait for me. If not, let’s just fall in love and break up cleanely .”
“Why don’t you speak?” Xu Ying poked him in confusion when he remained silent hearing her words .
To her surprise, Huo Chen replied coldly to her question , “Sit down and let’s go back.” Xu Ying felt utterly baffled; why was he angry now ?
All the way home, Huo Chen replayed Xu Ying’s words in his mind like a loop : break up after falling in love. She treats his feelings like they’re nothing.Is it so casual for her to fall in love with anyone.
At the entrance of the village, Huo Chen, still cold, parked his bicycle to the side in order for her to dismount it smoothely than turned his bike around but before he rode off he said . “I can wait for you however long you want , but relationships aren’t child’s play, nor are they a game where we break up after falling in love.”
“Hey, that’s not what I meant!” Xu Ying shouted at his retreating back, but he was already out of her sight in a blink . She had only been asking for his opinion on marriage , why was he so angry? She hadn’t meant that falling in love was just a game for her .
On her way home XuYing met WangLanhua who exictedly informe her “Yingying, you’re finally back! Come look!” Wang Lanhua exclaimed, her face beaming with utter excitement. “Director Sun installed a phone for our small workshop, saying it’ll be convenient for us to contact him in the future.” It was the first phone in our village, It still felt so surreal to every villager.
“Girl, what are you doing standing there cahtting with her ? Come back quickly!” Xu’s mother called out, spotting her daughter blocked by Wang Lanhua. Hearing her mother urging tone Xu Ying hurried home, and as she entered the door , her mother instantly spot her lips and asked . “What happened ? Why is your mouth so swollen?”
Xu Ying, who felt inexplicably guilty, mumbled sheepishly , “I just accidently knocked it.”
Xu’s mother, felt a little surprised by her response still she was too happy to pay any further heed to this matter as she , because of the installation of the new phone in the viallage . And after its installation the first they recived was from Director Sun and he told them to hire more worker and expand hteir factory’s premise to accomodate them because he just got a new order from the department store of their neighbouring county thanks to Third Uncle Xu . The thought of their new workshop expanding, as her daughter had predicted, and becoming a “big leader” filled Xu’s mother with so much joy that she wanted to sing and dance all over the viallage . Xu’s father, meanwhile when he recive this news , sat at home, his face now glowing red with pride. His daughter was a truly remarkable person .She not only advance herself but take her whole viallage along with her.