Turmoil In The Heart

On the highway from the airport to Hengdian, a black Maybach drove through the night. The scenery outside changed along with the car lights shining on the green belts along the road, where tree shadows came and went, sometimes bright and sometimes dark.

“The hotel where the Madam is staying only has one standard double room left.”

In the passenger seat, Assistant Chen glanced at the hotel booking app, hesitated for a few seconds, and politely asked the man resting with his eyes closed in the back.

It was the peak tourist season in Hengdian. Slightly better hotels were almost fully booked in advance. Moreover, since they booked their tickets back to China at the last minute, they arrived at the airport in the evening, leaving no time to arrange accommodations. They could only ask domestic colleagues to help call the hotel front desk before the flight took off, and after several twists and turns, they barely managed to book this double room.

However, it was somewhat inappropriate for the boss, who was used to luxury suites, to stay in a standard double room.There was one key point that puzzled him. The boss’s wife already had a room in the hotel, so why did the boss need to book a new room? 

Zhou Qishen leaned back in his seat, legs crossed on his knees, his eyes closed tightly. He rubbed his temples with his right hand, the accumulated fatigue over the past few days making his temples throb faintly. Upon hearing this, he replied indifferently, “That one will do.”

Moonlight reflected on his profile, half of which was hidden in the darkness of the night. In the hazy moonlight, his high nose bridge, clear eyebrows and eyes seemed even more noble, like a piece of art that couldn’t be profaned.

Having received instructions, Assistant Chen immediately acted according to his wishes. When everything was arranged, his tense nerves slowly relaxed, secretly grateful that the boss didn’t blame him for his poor handling of affairs.

This trip to New Zealand was indeed intense. The originally planned two-week itinerary was compressed to one-third to the maximum extent possible without affecting work. Originally, they were supposed to attend a banquet tonight, but the boss canceled it and returned to China early.

However, the destination upon returning was not Beijing, but Hengdian.

Only now did Assistant Chen realize why the boss did this. It turned out he wanted to return to China as soon as possible to see Madam.

Facing such high-intensity back-and-forth travel, jet lag, and forced overtime, Assistant Chen felt exhausted, but he had no complaints. It was not because he empathized with the capitalists and felt that the boss was as tired as he was, nor was it because he was a humble worker and could not do anything about it.

It was because the boss not only increased his monthly salary threefold, but also promised to promote and raise his salary starting next month. With the money in place, naturally everything was negotiable.

Since entering society, he had also suffered a few rounds of beatings. Compared to vampire capitalists who only knew how to draw big pies and exploit employees, he didn’t know how much stronger his boss from a family business background was. Treating employees like humans, all the rightful benefits were in place, and occasionally there were bursts of coins and bonuses. He was indeed an excellent candidate for a boss.

Moreover, although the boss was from a wealthy family and inherited the enterprise for many generations, he didn’t have the bad habits of rich people as traditionally perceived by the public. He steered clear of wine, women, and wealth, was gentlemanly and polite, mature and stable, highly educated and capable, and crucially, he was so handsome.

Who wouldn’t want to have such an outstanding boss in all aspects? So he really didn’t want to lose this job.

Assistant Chen glanced at the man resting with his eyes closed in the rearview mirror, cleared his throat, and kindly suggested, “Mr. Zhou, it’s been so long since you’ve seen your wife. Shouldn’t you consider buying some flowers or something?”

“Flowers?” Zhou Qishen opened his eyes slightly and turned his gaze forward, seeming interested in what Assistant Chen had to say.

“Usually, when couples or lovers have been apart for a while, the man will buy flowers to make the woman happy.”

Seeing his reaction, Assistant Chen guessed that Zhou Qishen wasn’t the type to actively charm others. He probably hadn’t done things like buying flowers before, so he took the initiative: “Why don’t I pick some out?”

The car interior was dimly lit, but Zhou Qishen refused his kindness without hesitation: “No need, I’ll take a look first.”

This meant that he did want to buy flowers, but he wanted to choose the type himself and didn’t need Assistant Chen’s help.

Assistant Chen nodded in response. It made sense; when picking flowers for one’s wife, it had to be done personally to show sincerity. If everything was delegated to others, it wouldn’t mean much.

Assistant Chen waited quietly. After some time passed, Zhou Qishen’s deep voice echoed in the quiet car again: “What about this one?”

Assistant Chen turned to look and saw a slender hand reaching from the middle seat with a lit screen displaying a picture of a bouquet—mainly pink and white roses, a common choice on the market.

“It looks good,” Assistant Chen replied without hesitation.

“And this one?” Zhou Qishen swiped left to another picture.

“It’s also nice.”

“And this one?” Another picture was shown.

“That one seems good too.”

His conflicted expression made Zhou Qishen doubt his answers. Frowning in silence for a while, he sat up straight and slowly asked the decisive question, “Which one do you think looks the best?”

Recalling the different colored flowers he had seen earlier, Assistant Chen suddenly found himself indecisive. After hesitating for a long time, he could only respond vaguely, “I think they all look good… Maybe you should choose one yourself, and we can save the others for later? Send them gradually?”

In fact, he had little experience choosing flowers for girls. According to his straight male perspective, he preferred classic combinations like red roses with black wrapping paper—timeless and never wrong when giving them as gifts.

He had originally thought that Mr. Zhou’s preferences would be similar to his own, but he hadn’t expected that all the choices were gentle and light-colored. From the perspective of a girl, she would probably like this type.

Zhou Qishen lowered his head and searched “boyfriend flower guide” in the search bar, finding a dizzying array of bouquet varieties that made it difficult to choose. He carefully looked through the feedback in the comments section and saved a few images with the highest likes and praise.

He rarely gave flowers to others. The only two times he had been in a flower shop were for birthdays of female relatives at home. The feedback he received was that he didn’t understand women or romance, and his taste in flowers was extremely poor, which was why he sought Assistant Chen’s opinion.

But evidently, Assistant Chen didn’t understand women either.

To ensure the first flower delivery was not a mistake, Zhou Qishen hesitated for a long time before sending Assistant Chen the highest-rated option: “Let’s go with this one. You can order it.”

Assistant Chen was somewhat right—there were too many flowers. They could gradually send them in the future.

If she didn’t like this bouquet, they could try another next time. With more deliveries, she would eventually like one.

*

At first sight of the text message, Jiang Xiao was shocked, then ecstatic. It really fulfilled the saying: “Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.”

When the doorbell rang for the second time, she struggled to get up and hurried to open the door.

As soon as the door opened, instead of Zhou Qishen’s face, she was greeted with a large bouquet of Verena hydrangeas fading from powder blue to white, interspersed with white lisianthus flowers, elegantly surrounded by silver wrapping paper—looking sophisticated and elegant.

Her gaze lifted, and a handsome face almost buried in flowers suddenly burst into her eyes.

In that moment, her breath seemed to pause, and her heart skipped a beat.

Zhou Qishen seemed to have cleaned up before coming. He was dressed casually in a simple white t-shirt tucked into black suit pants with elastic fabric that highlighted the muscles on his chest, his slender waist sharp and perfect, making it hard to look away.

Perhaps he hadn’t dried his hair properly; the ends were still somewhat damp. His neatly combed bangs lay flat against his forehead, looking soft and appealing. Yet, his beautiful eyes showed maturity and composure tempered by years, overshadowing the youthful charm of his hairstyle.

It had been so long, and Zhou Qishen was also looking at her. But as he looked, his expression gradually became obscure and profound.

She seemed to have just rested, wearing only a thin, silky camisole silk nightgown, the fabric smooth and snug, short to the root of her thighs, nearly transparent in lotus pink, revealing her jade-like skin shimmering in the light, revealing every contour.

As she walked, the skirt swayed elegantly, as if the hidden spring colors under the skirt could be seen in the next moment.

Zhou Qishen frowned immediately. She was dressed so intimately, coming to open the door without any precautions. If it hadn’t been him but someone else…

He didn’t want to think further and quickly glanced around. Seeing no one else in the entire corridor except him, he relaxed slightly.

“You…”

Just as he was about to remind her of her inappropriate attire, she suddenly reached out, grabbed his collar and shoulder blades, and without a word, pulled him into the room.

Zhou Qishen was caught off guard for a moment and stumbled. At a critical moment, he reached out and braced himself against the cold, hard wall, barely stabilizing himself. However, before he could react…

A soft, boneless body pressed tightly against him.

In a daze, a faint, sweet fragrance rushed into his nostrils. With their proximity so close, he couldn’t tell if it was the scent of flowers or her body fragrance.

She cornered him against the wall near the entrance, her elbow propped against his chest. Extending a finger, she lightly touched the center of his soft lips, her beautiful eyes shifting with a coquettish charm. “Don’t move,” she murmured.

Frozen stiff, Zhou Qishen felt as if bound by an invisible rope, unable to move or struggle. His hands hung in the air, uncertain whether to push her away or not.

Soon, the sound of the door closing disrupted his thoughts.

Everything before him was maddening.

Clatter!

The bouquet of flowers fell to the ground at some point.

Under Jiang Xiao’s non-threatening warning, Zhou Qishen unnaturally quieted down. His entire back pressed tightly against the wall, his eyes lowered, staring blankly at the woman just a fist’s distance away.

His reaction gave Jiang Xiao a sense of bullying a good husband and man, her eyes twitching. Nevertheless, she had to carry out the “experiment.” She gently stretched out her hand to encircle his waist, then buried half her face in his broad chest.

His body was cool and relaxed, while hers was impatient and hot.

The warm light in the room exuded a romantic atmosphere. In the silence, the ambiguous air was unscrupulously pervasive, causing them both to hold their breath.

The incessant heartbeat was particularly loud, seemingly unstoppable, like a drum beating vigorously.

Jiang Xiao couldn’t help but raise her eyes, looking at the man’s tense jaw. Arching her brows teasingly, she said, “Mr. Zhou, your heartbeat is so loud.”

Zhou Qishen’s wing-like eyelashes trembled because of his forbearance, and a trace of helpless shame and anger flashed in his usually bottomless black eyes. His breathing became warm and heavy, and he stared at the pale little face in front of him.

Her round eyes looked particularly innocent and clear, but the smirk at the corner of her mouth was too blatant, revealing that she was not at peace at the moment.

This sentence made Zhou Qishen believe that she was just trying to play a trick on him, but he couldn’t say the words of blame. His Adam’s apple kept rolling and he tried hard to suppress the surging blood.

After a while, he chuckled, “It’s obviously yours.”

“I’m not sure.” Jiang Xiao blinked, feeling the vibration in her chest, but did not deny it.

Zhou Qishen was rendered speechless by her frankness, unable to say a word. He turned his head away, avoiding her direct gaze, his ears turning red from embarrassment.

After about two minutes, Jiang Xiao felt the dizziness she had just experienced dissipate somewhat. She freed up a hand to touch her face, realizing that her unusually hot temperature seemed to be gradually lowering.

Confirming her suspicions, Jiang Xiao finally relaxed her heart.

It seems that Zhou Qishen is not only her life-saving device, but also her spiritual food, which is related to her life and physical condition.

This was really not a good thing for her. It was not her wish to depend on others.

But fate plays tricks on me, damn it.

Jiang Xiao was upset. She pressed her head heavily against his chest, poking him with her fingertips from time to time, and whispered, “Mr. Zhou, can you sacrifice yourself and be a free pendant for me? The kind that is inseparable from me?”

She sighed, her voice sounding hoarse, with a sense of helplessness and hopelessness.

“What?” Zhou Qishen didn’t understand what she said, but he could hear the sob in her voice. His eyes suddenly became turbulent. He gently pushed her away and said word by word in a flustered tone, “Are you crying?”

The tip of Jiang Xiao’s nose was red, her lips were pouting, her eyes were moist, and two tears hung on her curled eyelashes, about to fall, making people feel distressed.

Zhou Qishen couldn’t help but raise his fingers to wipe her tears. As soon as they touched, the hot tears flowed along his fingertips to his finger bones, slowly sliding into his palm, burning all the way to the bottom of his heart, causing ripples.

Jiang Xiao realized that she was crying when she heard his question. She blinked and two more tears fell. The next second, the slightly cool fingertips covered her cheek again and wiped them away quickly and neatly.

Seeing that she didn’t answer, Zhou Qishen frowned even more, and asked again in a softer voice: “Why are you crying?”

Jiang Xiao pursed her lips tightly, and her red lips moved for a moment, as if she was struggling with something inside, and she didn’t say the last word.

Perhaps he could see her embarrassment, his Adam’s apple rolled slightly, and he was considerate and didn’t ask any more questions: “If you don’t want to talk about it, then don’t talk about it.”

He had experienced her ability to make shocking statements before, and the answer she forced out would probably be hard for others to accept.

Thinking back on everything that happened after he appeared at her door, he was really confused. He pondered over what she had just said and felt even more confused. If he didn’t know clearly that Jiang Xiao had no feelings for him, he would have regarded it as a disguised confession. After all, she was expressing in her words that she couldn’t live without him, but the fact was that it was impossible.

The faint sound of a woman sobbing drifted around him. Zhou Qishen had a faint urge to comfort her, but lacked the ability to do so. After hesitating for a long time, he managed to blurt out dryly, “Alright, alright, don’t cry.”

“You just said whether you want to or not.” She grabbed his sleeve tightly, her eyes teary, her voice wavering, “We’re married, and we’re supposed to be together all the time, but why are you so busy?”

“I haven’t seen you for more than 20 days. Do you think you are being a little too much?”

They just agreed to get married, so logically they didn’t need to do everything to please each other, but she seemed to have forgotten this and accused him of not fulfilling his duties as a husband.

This familiar scene brought Zhou Qishen back to that night when she had played him as her husband. He laughed inexplicably and responded to her words, “Well, probably a little bit.”

“Can’t you just put aside the work at hand? You should have come earlier, why go to New Zealand…” Jiang Xiao sniffed, perhaps knowing that she was in the wrong, the ending of her voice became lower and lower, like a sigh and murmur.

He remembered that she said work was more important and it didn’t matter whether he came or not. It seemed like she was saying that?

But in order to stop her sudden crying, he took the blame upon himself: “It’s my fault.”

Jiang Xiao felt somewhat at a loss with his gentle and indulgent attitude. Unconsciously, her fingertips tightened. From his perspective, she seemed to be throwing tantrums for no reason at all, acting like she wanted to die. She couldn’t understand why he would let her behave willfully time and time again.

Now it could be explained that they were married, but what about before?

But before she could delve deeper into her thoughts, his clear and gentle voice brought her back: “Stop crying?”

It sounded gentle, with a hint of laughter, casually mixed with a husky tone.

Jiang Xiao stared at him blankly, and suddenly said, “If I stop crying, can you sleep with me tonight?”

This request was clearly beyond boundaries, absurd and mixed with truth and falsehood. Zhou Qishen couldn’t distinguish clearly anymore. He leaned back in silence, his deep eyes filled with scrutiny as he looked at her: “Are you serious?”

Jiang Xiao’s heart trembled slightly, a hint of hesitation flashing in her eyes. She couldn’t help but curl her fingers and with a hint of coquettishness, she assured him, “Don’t worry, I have absolutely no improper thoughts towards you.”

She admitted she had some ill intentions, but it wasn’t about taking advantage of him physically.

Her role tomorrow was very important, filming almost from morning to night. She couldn’t afford to mess up, and she didn’t want personal issues to delay the entire production. However, with her currently weakened physical condition, it would be difficult to last the whole day. So, she could only rely on him to regain her strength, at least ensuring she wouldn’t faint like she almost did earlier.

Based on Zhou Qishen’s reaction just now, he should agree to her.

But his words made Jiang Xiao’s expression freeze.

“But I have.”

What does he have? Improper thoughts?

Thinking of this possibility, Jiang Xiao’s body subtly shrank, meeting his dangerous black eyes, instinctively stepping back half a step.

A strong arm quickly wrapped around her waist, blocking her attempt to escape. The upper body of the man was as firm as a mountain, leaning towards her, forcing her waist to bend down, trying hard to create distance between them.

Unlike the slightly cool hand on her waist, his suddenly approaching breath carried an especially hot invasion, swirling around her cheeks. The desire in his eyes seemed ready to engulf her in the next moment.

At this moment, she didn’t know whether to blame his confusing display of kindness or to blame herself for lacking awareness. How could she forget he was a passionate man and foolishly put herself in danger like this?

Jiang Xiao panicked, closed her eyes, and tilted her head to avoid his approaching lips.

After a while, she only heard an untimely sneer in her ear, “Xiaoxiao, with your courage, how dare you make such an invitation?”

Jiang Xiao’s mind went blank. At this moment, she also realized the inappropriateness of her words. She bit her lip tightly, wanting to explain something, but when she turned to see his cold face, she stood motionless in place.

When he wasn’t smiling, his imposing manner was too stern, his eyes devoid of warmth, filled with a chilling indifference soaked in snowflakes.

Jiang Xiao’s earlobes turned red, her heart suddenly tightening. She said numbly, “I offended you.”

“Xiaoxiao, you don’t like me.” Zhou Qishen lowered his head, his gaze resting on her round fingertips grasping his sleeve, his expression solemnly warning, “Don’t say such things to me. I’m not a good person and might lose control.”

Seeing his unpleasant expression, Jiang Xiao remained silent, lowered her eyes slightly, and nodded lightly.

Zhou Qishen had intended to scare her, but he stopped just in time. He released her hand from his restraint and calmly moved his gaze away.

She didn’t know where she found the courage to let a man she hadn’t known for even a month stay overnight. If he harbored ill intentions or couldn’t restrain his desires, he might very well take her words as a seduction and pounce on her without hesitation.

Moreover, she was dressed like this.

After calming down, Zhou Qishen walked past her and wanted to leave first: “I’m leaving.”

However, the woman didn’t learn her lesson and held his hand: “Don’t.”

“Um, it’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other. Let’s chat.” Jiang Xiao looked at him nervously, her mind in chaos.

But the only thing she was sure of was that she couldn’t let him leave like this, afraid he would misunderstand. She emphasized in a very low voice, “It’s just a chat. I won’t do anything to you… Of course, you can’t do anything to me either.”

“…”