Chapter 42: Kiss

The onlookers, sensing the situation’s irreversible turn, awkwardly departed, following the Lin family out in a trickle.

In the lobby on the second floor, Lin Yongke wasted no time in making the fallout official. He announced, his voice cutting through the murmurs, that the engagement ceremony was canceled. The rain outside pounded against the windows, a grim reflection of the turmoil within.

After they returned home, Bi Qiao’an stood on tiptoe and grasped Shen Yanming’s ears, her eyes twinkling with mirth and a hint of accusation. “Darling, care to explain why Miss Wei had it in for you?” Despite her playful tone, her voice carried an undertone of curiosity.

Shen Yanming chuckled at her jealous display, his heart warming with affection. “Qiao’an, do you know what I want to do right now?”

He wrapped his arms around her waist and lowered his head, capturing those lips he’d been longing for. Their breaths mingled in a dance of rising passion.

Sometime later, Bi Qiao’an, her cheeks flushed, buried her face against Shen Yanming’s chest, listening to the fast rhythm of his heartbeat.

His mood was euphoric. He whispered suggestively in her ear, “Qiao’an, can you move into my room tonight?”

She shook her head vehemently, her face burning with a mixture of excitement and apprehension. “No, I’m not ready!”

“Then I’ll move into yours!” Perhaps it was the shock of the day, the buzz of the alcohol, or simply the intoxicating closeness of her, but Shen Yanming was done with pretense, his desire for her overwhelming.

Bi Qiao’an raised her head and glared at him, but the effect was undermined by her moist lips and the lingering blush on her cheeks. He rewarded her with another deep kiss, pouring all his love and longing into the embrace.

Like the song says, your gentle touch drives me wild, building this dangerous, alluring heat.

While the Shens were aflame, the Wei family was a frozen wasteland.

Wei Guoqiang’s slap left a bloody mark on Wei Yun’s mouth as tears streamed down her face. “You unfilial daughter!” he roared, his eyes blazing with anger and disappointment. “Have you no shame?”

Madam Wei, sobbing, wrapped her arms around Wei Yun, shielding her from her father’s wrath. “Stop hitting her! Xiaoyun is already upset enough!”

Wei Yun pushed her mother away, her eyes flashing with betrayal. “Stop pretending! This is your fault for bringing that mob!”

Madam Wei’s heart shattered, her voice trembling with emotion. “Xiaoyun, how could Mom know this would happen? I was worried about you!”

Wei Guoqiang’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Explain yourself. What exactly were you trying to do?”

Wei Yun crumpled under the weight of her misery, her shoulders shaking with sobs. “What was I trying to do? I wanted Shen Yanming!”

Wei Guoqiang swayed on his feet, his face turning an alarming shade of red as his blood pressure skyrocketed. “You… foolish daughter!” he spat, his words dripping with contempt. “You thought you could scheme against Shen Yanming? Why not just kill yourself and be done with it?”

A bitter laugh escaped Wei Yun’s lips, the sound hollow and empty. “What’s left for me anyway? Might as well be dead.”

Regret consumed her, gnawing at her insides. If only she hadn’t targeted Shen Yanming, if only she hadn’t had Cai Chun move him to Room 613!

Yes, that room was her doing. She didn’t tell anyone that she had lit special aromatic candles in there. In fact, it was precisely because she was afraid of affecting others that she had Cai Chun knock Shen Yanming unconscious in another room before bringing him to 613.

Now, Wei Yun was ruined.

In a dimly lit apartment across the city, Cai Chun sat alone, drowning his sorrows in cheap liquor. He had known from the start that they would fail, that Shen Yanming was too clever to be fooled by their amateur plotting. But Wei Yun’s threats had left him no choice, so he had followed her lead, a reluctant participant in her doomed scheme.

Wei Yun, a pampered and naive young lady had never witnessed the viciousness of human hearts nor grasped the ruthlessness of power struggle. Her scheme was laughably simple. Cai Chun had foreseen its failure, but Wei Yun’s threats left him no choice.

He initially thought that Shen Yanming would definitely dodge the trap, that his own role as a mere accomplice would go unnoticed. Even if he were exposed, he had thought, the fact that he was acting under duress would mitigate the consequences. But he had underestimated the depths of Wei Yun’s desperation.

He never expected that instead of entrapping others, he would be the one ensnared!

Cai Chun knew Wei Yun must’ve put something else in that room, or they wouldn’t have ended up together. But the point was moot. The news would spread! His future, his life…they were finished.

Hatred bloomed in him. Cai Chun blamed Wei Yun. But even as he drowned in his own bitterness, he failed to see the truth: that her scheme, as flawed as it was, had saved him from a far worse fate. Compared to the life that had awaited him before, tonight was a blessing in disguise.

But Cai Chun, lost in the fog of his own anger and despair, remained blind to this truth.

Back at the Shen residence, Bi Qiao’an lay in bed, her heart racing, her cheeks flushed with the memory of their kiss. It had been her first time experiencing such intimacy with a man, in this life and the last. She had never felt so vulnerable, so exposed, and the feeling both thrilled and scared her.

She buried her face in the blanket, clutching it tightly and rolled around.

Shen Yanming opened the door to this adorable chaos. With a swoop, he caught her before she tumbled off the bed. “Look at you,” he murmured, his voice low and tender. “If I hadn’t come over, you would have fallen off the bed, right?”

Bi Qiao’an’s face burned with embarrassment. “It was an accident!” she insisted, burying her deeper into the blanket to evade his eyes.

Her soft and delicate voice seemed to have cut the string holding his restraints. He snatched away the blanket and carried her out of the room. Bi Qiao’an yelped in surprise, her arms instinctively winding around his neck as she clung to him.

“What are you doing?” she demanded, her voice high and breathy as he deposited her onto his own bed, the silk sheets cool against her heated skin. “Take me back!”

“No,” Shen Yanming said, his tone firm as his hand slid up her side, his touch burning through the thin fabric of her nightgown. “You’re staying here tonight.”

Bi Qiao’an’s heart raced at the implication, her body trembling with a heady mix of anticipation and fear. “Brother Yanming, I…”

“Qiao’an,” Shen Yanming interrupted, his voice rough with emotion as he nuzzled her neck, his lips ghosting over her racing pulse. “Am I just a brother to you? Do you not love me?”

Bi Qiao’an’s eyes widened, her breath hitching in her throat as she shook her head frantically. “No, that’s not it!” she insisted, the words tumbling from her lips in a desperate rush.

But even as she spoke, guilt gnawed at her insides. Before tonight’s kiss, her feelings for him had been more sisterly than romantic, a fact that filled her with shame and regret. She had wasted so much time, and now, faced with the depth of his love, she felt unworthy.

Shen Yanming, sensing her inner turmoil, cupped her face in his hands, his eyes searching hers. “Still denying it? Look at how guilty you seem.” he asked softly, his voice tinged with hurt.

Tonight, he felt inexplicably compelled to confront Bi Qiao’an about this.

Of course, attraction was natural in a relationship. Yet, after nearly a year together, a deep hug was still their most intimate contact. If not for his initiative to kiss her earlier, they might have remained purely platonic indefinitely.

“Shen Yanming, I’m not. Don’t accuse me of that.” Bi Qiao’an voice was barely a whisper. There was something different about him tonight, a vulnerability, an intensity that she had never seen before. Was it the alcohol, the events of the day, or something deeper?

“Then prove it!”

The challenge hung in the air. Bi Qiao’an’s mind raced. Was he a child, to demand proof of her love? But as she looked into his eyes, saw the raw emotion that burned there, she realized that her heart had long made its choice.

With a trembling hand, she reached up and cradled his face, her thumb tracing the line of his jaw. Slowly, hesitantly, she leaned in, her lips parting.

Shen Yanming’s eyelashes fluttered, his breath coming in short, sharp gasps. His heart raced, a wild, untamed thing that threatened to burst from his chest at any moment.

And then, their lips met, a soft, gentle brush that ignited a fire within them. They clung to each other, lost in the sensation, in the feeling of finally being where they belonged.

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Translator’s Note:

This chapter is undoubtedly one of my favorites! Character development spotted!

This chapter marks a pivotal moment in Qiao’an and Yanming’s relationship. We witness a crack in Yanming’s confident facade, revealing a man yearning for a deeper connection. This incident sparks a long-awaited shift in their dynamic. (I won’t elaborate on him, lol. It’s not his turn yet.)

Qiao’an, on the other hand, is a much more complex character.

Let me elaborate on this based on the events thus far.

Qiao’an’s feelings for Yanming have always been a tangled web. He’s her confidante, her rock, a constant presence throughout her life. He is the sole person who accepts and knows her inside out. Initially, familial love dominated her feelings for Yanming. Growing up with him, hearing about and witnessing his brilliance, she took him as her role model. As she matured, those feelings of admiration and familial love began to evolve into something more romantic, a budding crush that she may not have fully understood or acknowledged. Remember, she’s at sweet sixteen by that time. 

Then tragedy happened. It separated them and the years they spent apart added another layer of complexity to Qiao’an’s emotions. This separation and conflict had diluted that budding love, and she ended up burying these conflicted feelings.

Remember when Yanming said before leaving for Europe? “Say the word, and I’ll come back.” 

He does not require a reason; if she misses him, he would have returned, but she didn’t ask him to. It’s not just because there’s a Cai Chun who’s sabotaging them; she could have contacted him by phone, couldn’t she? 

But she never expressed a word of longing. Because she’s afraid, she doesn’t want to worry him, and she also wants to give herself time to process her conflicted feelings for him. In her mind, to him, she’s practically his little sister.

Qiao’an’s decision to accept Xiao Fei’s confession can be seen as an attempt to untangle her emotions and gain some clarity. By exploring a relationship with someone else, she was trying to understand her own heart and determine if her feelings for Yanming were truly romantic in nature, and if it is, can she let go? But this relationship ended in a disaster before it could even begin.

The apocalypse tore them apart once more, only for fate to reunite them on the precipice of death. Yanming’s anguished cry pierced through the fog of buried emotions within Qiao’an.

Fast forward to their present encounter. The overwhelming familiarity and years of unspoken longing resurface. However, the abruptness of the situation and the weight of their history made it difficult for her to fully process and acknowledge the romantic nature of her love.

But when he confessed his feelings, notice that she didn’t resist? She was deeply touched, because deep inside, all those feelings she had long denied seemed to be resurfacing. 

And we arrive at this point in time, where she realizes, ahh… it’s not that she didn’t have romantic love for him. She was just too comfortable in his love and didn’t take the time to look deep enough to realize that she had long fallen in love with him.

In short, this chapter is Qiao’an’s moment of awakening. The comfortable warmth of Yanming’s presence had masked a deeper truth – she had loved him all along. Now, she finally faces her heart and embraces the love that has blossomed beneath the surface.

One thing, I had to note. This novel’s best quality is the complexity of the characters. Even the side characters! No one really faded suddenly, a lot really stuck all the way to the end. Their importance is a driving factor to the novel or a break to the stifling situation they are in, with some even becoming truly lifelong companions. 

The author was able to show different sides of humanity with her characters. They all have desires and agenda and character development. Just different perspectives on how you view it. There are reasons for their actions and it creates a vivid portrayal of the world our main character resides in.