“Qin Heye!” Shi Ning’s eyes flew open. Even in the dim light, she recognized him instantly. She scrambled up excitedly, kneeling on the bed, and threw herself into his arms. Her excitement was so overwhelming that she didn’t even notice the small, cold object still clutched in her hand. She wrapped her arms tightly around his strong waist, burying her face in his freshly showered chest.
“Qin Heye, you’re finally back.”
Shi Ning, who had felt so fearless with the barrage’s spoilers, suddenly realized how truly scared she had been. She’d been terrified that everything would unravel, that Grandpa Qin would die, that Qin’s father would follow the tragic plotline, and that she and Qin Heye would be pulled back into the nightmare of the original story. But with Qin Heye finally by her side, a profound sense of security washed over her, a feeling like an unbreakable backbone has returned . She felt that even if the sky itself fell, with him, she could pull it over them like a comforting blanket.
All her pent-up grievances erupted in a rush. “Qin Heye, why did you come back so late?” Her voice trembled with unshed tears. “Do you know that I have been waiting for you to come back for a long, long time, as if I had waited for a century.” Her voice cracked. “I am alone in the old house, I am afraid, I am afraid that my grandfather will be angry to death by me, no one believes me, you don’t believe me, they will force me to divorce…”
With his sweet, soft wife clinging to him, Qin Heye’s heart swelled with tenderness. Hearing Shi Ning’s gentle voice, tinged with that note of crying, as if she had suffered some immense wrong, felt like a knife twisting in his heart, his lungs, his entire being. He was consumed by pain.
Qin Heye held Shi Ning as if she were the most precious treasure, his voice laced with distress and guilt. “I’m sorry, I came back late.” He then quickly reassured her, “No, Grandpa is in good health and won’t be angry to death. No one doesn’t believe you, and no one forces you to divorce.” His voice hardened, a dangerous edge creeping in.also “Who bullied you? Tell me, I’ll take you to bully them back.” At that moment, Qin Heye felt a murderous rage. Someone had dared to make his wife cry! He swore he would let no one who had bullied Shi Ning get away with it—not even Grandpa Qin, not even his own parents! No one could bully Shi Ning. Not even him.
Except in that particular way.
Shi Ning shook her head gently, then looked up at Qin Heye. “You are the one who bullied me!”
Qin Heye was taken aback. He frowned, searching his memory, feeling genuinely wronged. “Except for that time, I have never bullied you.” He was only willing to bully her in one specific way, and one specific place.
Shi Ning hummed in disagreement. “You are the one who bullied me! You didn’t tell me that Grandpa wanted me to go back to the old house!”
Qin Heye explained patiently, “That was when Grandpa was angry. It must not be a good thing to find you. I didn’t tell you because I was afraid that you would be bullied.” The old man had hounded him for three days, demanding he rescind his decision and divorce Shi Ning! Otherwise, he’d face the old man’s “tough measures.” Qin Heye’s entire business trip abroad had been to resolve this very matter.
Shi Ning, still feeling wronged, angrily opened her mouth and gently bit Qin Heye’s chest, refusing to let go. She continued to speak, her words muffled by his skin. “This is bullying me, hiding it from me under the banner of doing good for me, this is bullying me!”
Qin Heye’s body stiffened, his chest rising and falling with rapid breaths. He thought, fortunately, he took a shower first, so he was clean and had the fragrance of the bath.
Shi Ning saw that Qin Heye remained silent and thought she had hurt him. She pulled away from his embrace, kneeling upright on the bed, and cupped his face, playfully pinching his cheeks. She commanded him in a domineering tone, “Did you hear me? Don’t bully me like this in the future!”
Qin Heye’s dark eyes were ignited by Shi Ning’s affectionate touch. He swallowed hard, suppressing his burgeoning desires. Facing her demand, he simply replied, “Okay.”
Shi Ning hummed, then pressed on. “You didn’t tell me, that means you don’t believe me. Are you bullying me?”
Qin Heye internally disagreed, but he gently conceded to her. “Yes.”
“You bullied me twice, and you said you would help me bully you back.” Shi Ning stared at Qin Heye intently. “Tell me, how can I bully you back?” With Qin Heye by her side, Shi Ning’s emotions quickly stabilized.
Qin Heye thought for a moment, then looked at Shi Ning with deep, smoldering eyes. “You can biteme, bite hard, and bully me back.”
Shi Ning’s small hand grazed Qin Heye’s chest, finding the tiny tooth marks she had just made. She felt a blush creep up her face. “Where to bite?”
Qin Heye looked down at her delicate movements, his thin lips curving slightly. He said in a hoarse voice, “You can bite anywhere.”
Bite anywhere… Shi Ning’s little face flushed crimson! She was definitely not being led astray by the barrage! Her thoughts were still very pure and clean! In the darkness, Qin Heye continued to gaze intently at Shi Ning, his hoarse, sexy voice a captivating whisper. “Wife, bite whenever you want, bite wherever you want.”
The barrage glowed yellow with scandalous suggestions! One particularly vivid barrage even sent a picture with the words, [Sister, it’s raining outside, brother will hold an umbrella for you.] It shocked her eyes, making her glance at Qin Heye, then blush deeply and quickly avert her gaze.
She quickly continued listing her grievances. “You didn’t miss me on the business trip, this is also bullying me!” Qin Heye was a notoriously reserved man. During his five-day business trip, he hadn’t once initiated contact to say he missed her. He hadn’t even sent a single message. If it weren’t for the barrage spoilers, she would never have known that Qin Heye had been holding his mobile phone, waiting for her messages day and night. He constantly opened their chat box, typing, deleting, re-typing, deleting, over and over again. And he’d even brought a set of her clothes, the pillow she slept on, and the four-piece bed set from her room with him on his business trip! She couldn’t have imagined that Qin Heye was thinking about her, thinking about her in such a crazed and possessive way!
Qin Heye’s usually cold voice held a touch of genuine grievance. “I miss you.”
Shi Ning raised an eyebrow, challenging him. “Where do you miss me?”
Qin Heye’s face flushed. He looked down at the part of his waist barely covered by the bath towel. “I miss you everywhere.”
To lighten the mood, Shi Ning casually suggested, “Then write 800 words about how you think about your wife.” An 800-word essay about missing his wife? Qin Heye hadn’t written an essay since his college entrance examination. But when his wife asked, Qin Heye actually found the idea rather amusing and agreed happily. “Okay.”
Shi Ning had been too overwhelmed by excitement earlier, her attention entirely focused on Qin Heye. Now that her emotions had stabilized, she realized she was still holding something in her hand. The lamp was off, but the object felt small and cold. “Did you bring me a souvenir?”
“Yeah.”
Shi Ning happily turned on the bedside lamp. She saw the object in her hand and looked at Qin Heye with surprise and confusion. “Lipstick?”
The innocent barrages had expected a pigeon egg diamond. The “big yellow girl” barrage, well, let’s not dwell on that image.
Qin Heye hummed in affirmation, staring at the lipstick in her hand. Then he pointed to his chest. He pursed his thin lips and cautiously asked Shi Ning, “The words you wrote are gone, can you write it again?”
Shi Ning’s face was a canvas of question marks. Didn’t the lipstick words just get washed away when you took a shower the next day? Why are you asking for it now? Shi Ning keenly noticed faint red patches on Qin Heye’s abdominal muscles, already fading to a soft pink, looking rather ambiguous. She narrowed her eyes dangerously and stared at Qin Heye. “You! Had! An! Affair!”
Qin Heye quickly denied it. “No! No! I’m allergic!”
“Allergic?” Shi Ning was a little confused, then suddenly remembered. “The lipstick from that day?” The lipstick at Shi’s house must have been bought three years ago; it had to be expired, right?
“Yeah,” Qin Heye confirmed.
“Did you have an allergy that day?”
“Yeah.” Qin Heye’s gaze lingered on Shi Ning’s lips. He asked her again, “Can you write with lipstick again?”
“Stupid!” Shi Ning threw her arms around Qin Heye’s neck. “You can ask for a kiss first.” As soon as she finished speaking, she lowered her head and pressed her lips to Qin Heye’s.