Chapter 25: Her Little Secret

His voice was low and husky, imbued with a deep, masculine magnetism that stirred one’s heart into a chaotic rhythm.

Ji Shuyi, still lying on his chest, shifted uncomfortably, trying to escape that intensely captivating heat. She tilted her head slightly, gazing up at the person beneath her with blurred, blinking eyes, then began to pat around on his body, seemingly searching for something.

Seeing her rummage around, Jiang Cheng lowered his voice and asked, “What are you looking for?”

“Looking… looking for my card…” Ji Shuyi’s flushed little face was puffed out as she said, “You said you wouldn’t take a loss, so I’ll give you money.”

The young woman asked with considerable bravado, “How much do you want? I’ll give you double.”

Jiang Cheng: “…”

He then said, helplessly, “You kissed me, and now you’re going to give me money?”

His gaze turned cold and somber. “Are you prostituting me?”

“Then what do you want me to do?” Ji Shuyi pouted, propping herself up on his chest with both hands. “Anyway, I’m not going to kiss you back. I want to kiss someone I like.”

Someone she likes?

Jiang Cheng’s gaze faltered slightly as he stared intently into her eyes. “You have someone you like?”

“Of course, I do ~” Ji Shuyi suddenly smiled like a child, pure and beautiful. “I have someone I like, hee… he’s always been hidden in my heart.”

Jiang Cheng’s expression froze for a moment, unsure if it was her smile or her words that caused it.

While he was distracted, Ji Shuyi crawled off him, sat back on the swing, and gently swayed back and forth, her eyes full of a young girl’s innocent laughter. It was the beautiful anticipation of someone mentioning a person they like, their heart overflowing with pink bubbles; the sweetest explanation of budding love.

The girl gently swung, smiling to herself and muttering, “It’s a boy I’ve liked since I was underage.

He’s very special, he won’t flatter me because of my family background. He’s very cheerful and sunny, and he’s super handsome too…”

At that moment, Jiang Cheng felt the night wind was unusually cold. It was only late autumn, but the wind was somewhat bone-chilling.

Unlike the irritation he felt when seeing her with Tang Yu,

Hearing her personally describe the person she liked, he felt an uncontrollable sense of panic, causing his blood to boil, and some never-before-felt emotion nearly spiraled out of control.

He stood up and stood in front of her, his voice very low: “What’s his name?”

Ji Shuyi’s brain was completely foggy, and she didn’t notice the change in his emotions at all. She was still filled with the sweetness of budding love, and couldn’t help but giggle foolishly as she answered him:

“His name is Cheng…”

Before the words were finished, the girl’s voice stopped abruptly, the smile on her face completely vanished, and like a child caught doing something wrong, she hurriedly shook her head. “I can’t say… I can’t say.”

Her gaze fell, uneasy and forlorn, and her expression was a touchingly fragile and painful: “Saying it would make him and his friends unhappy and burdened.”

The girl lowered her head in silence for a moment, and when she raised it again, a smile was back on her face, but it was a smile tinged with bitterness and restraint:

“And he already has a girlfriend. He loves that girl very, very much…”

Her lips twitched slightly, and she was about to cry, but she still smiled and said, “I’m the one who brought them together. He and the girl he liked had a misunderstanding, and I sent someone across mountains and rivers with a letter of explanation to resolve it.”

She forced a smile, looking up at the person in front of her: “Aren’t I super cool~?”

Perhaps it was the alcohol talking, amplifying the emotions that had been buried deep in her heart for so long, and her eyes were already wet. She lowered her head again, her voice somewhat choked as she repeated:

“I’m super cool…”

She pursed her lips tightly, her voice very low:

“I even said to him, ‘You must be happy’…”

In the darkness, Jiang Cheng, who had been standing all along, clearly saw a clear tear fall from the corner of her eye, as if it had fallen on his heart, scorching a patch.

He stood in the night wind, staring at Ji Shuyi, lost in thought for a long time, as if trying to restrain his collapsing heart.

He had always been accustomed to her emotions fluctuating only because of him,

Teasing her to the point of exploding, making her angry, causing her to lose control of her emotions because of him,

Now, he suddenly discovered that she had someone hidden deep in her heart,

And she could even hide her emotions for that person,

Whether it was defiance, unwillingness, or something else,

He only felt a heart-pounding panic,

His most prized self-control and composure collapsed and shattered at the moment she shed a tear, never to be healed.

This unprecedented emotion caught him off guard, and all restraint was shattered.

“Ji Shuyi,” he suddenly called her in a low, deep voice.

“Huh?” The girl heard him and looked up. Suddenly, a shadow fell over her head, and she was caught completely off guard as the man in front of her pressed his lips onto hers.

“Mmm~”

She instinctively struggled, raising her hand to push him away, but he kissed her even deeper.

Jiang Cheng leaned over, his hands braced on the back of the bamboo swing chair she was sitting on, trapping the girl between his arms and his embrace.

A gentle breeze lightly lifted the girl’s skirt, and her smooth, long hair swayed in the wind.

Sitting on the bamboo chair, trapped and kissed deeply by the impulsive boy, her heart was about to stop beating…

Whether it was the alertness in her subconscious or the effect of the hangover soup, Ji Shuyi’s drunkenness gradually diminished, and she became much more awake. As her face flushed and her heart raced from the kiss, she blinked her large eyes and clearly saw the person so close to her and the seductive scene unfolding at this moment. Completely flustered, she forcefully pushed away the person in front of her.

Ahhhhhhhh!

I’m going crazy!

After returning home, Ji Shuyi had not yet recovered from the shame and anger of that sudden kiss. She hid herself in the quilt, wriggling around like a large worm.

She didn’t remember what had happened before the kiss; her memories slowly resurfaced from the kiss itself.

She tried desperately to recall, but all she could see in her mind was him leaning over to kiss her.

“Wuwu… I’m tainted… you dog took advantage of me…”

Ji Shuyi’s tearful voice muffledly came from under the covers, annoyedly kicking around nonsensically under the covers. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became, and suddenly she threw off the covers, grabbed her phone, and dialed Jiang Cheng’s number.

Jiang Cheng, who had just finished his second shower and stepped out of the bathroom, heard his phone ring.

He picked it up and saw it was Ji Shuyi.

He was somewhat surprised. Shouldn’t she be too embarrassed to even come near him? Why would she take the initiative to call?

He immediately pressed answer, and just as he was about to speak, he heard the girl’s voice on the other end unleashing a torrent of abuse:

“Die, Jiang Cheng!

Bastard!

Shameless!

Pervert!

Beast!

You old rogue who takes advantage of people!

I curse you to die in your sleep!”

Beep beep…

After this barrage of insults, the call ended, giving Jiang Cheng absolutely no chance to breathe or speak.

“…” Jiang Cheng: “?????”

He fastened the buttons of his black pajama shirt with one hand, and held the phone in the other, immediately calling back, worried.

“Beep! The number you have dialed is temporarily unavailable…”

Jiang Cheng was silent as he listened to the prompt on his phone: “……”.

His number had been blacklisted.

Hastily, he opened WeChat and clicked on the WeChat account they had just added before dinner. He typed a few words in the chat box and sent them:

“Sober now?” Red exclamation point!

Followed by a friend verification request.

Jiang Cheng fell silent again: “…”

Nicely done!