Chapter 5

Ji Nuannuan teasingly looked at Fu Jinghan’s serious face, wanting to mess with him a little. She leaned forward and lightly pressed her lips against his, like a dragonfly skimming the water.

That brief kiss made Fu Jinghan’s breathing quicken, and his eyes reddened.

He had no idea what had gotten into Ji Nuannuan today. She was actually making moves on him like this.

But no matter the reason, her actions stirred something deep within him again.

Almost instinctively, his hand found her waist, while the other gently held her head and deepened the kiss.

Fu Jinghan kissed her fiercely.

Ji Nuannuan responded clumsily until she was breathless and begged for mercy. Only then did Fu Jinghan reluctantly pull away.

Curled up in Fu Jinghan’s arms, Ji Nuannuan felt like her lips were swollen.

She looked up at him, her eyes misty. “Fu Jinghan, can you trust me one more time?”

“I know I changed too fast. It’s normal for you not to believe me.”

“But I still want to say it—I hope you can give me another chance. Trust me once more. Give yourself a chance too. Is that okay?”

“…Okay.”

That one word echoed a thousand times in Fu Jinghan’s heart before it came out of his mouth.

He was terrified it was another trap, scared she was trying to leave him again.

But all those fears couldn’t outweigh a single sentence from her.

He couldn’t let her go. After all the time they’d spent together—she’d never taken the initiative to get close.

At the beginning, even just holding her hand was a struggle. She hated it so much she’d scrub her hands raw afterward.

Eventually, he didn’t even dare touch her. He was afraid she’d hurt herself. So he just… watched her from afar.

So for him, this moment was like a one-answer test.

In his heart, there was no other option.

Only love for her.

He could only choose to believe her.

“Yay~” Ji Nuannuan cheered happily at Fu Jinghan’s response. She jumped off his lap in a flash.

When she saw the disappointed look on his face from the sudden loss of warmth, she quickly picked up a spoonful of soup and tried to feed him.

“Stop! You evil woman!”

A sudden voice made Ji Nuannuan jump in fright, and the spoonful of soup spilled completely.

“Are you okay? Did it burn you?” Fu Jinghan grabbed her hand immediately and turned it over anxiously to check.

“I’m fine. The soup had already cooled.” Ji Nuannuan smiled warmly at how concerned he still was, feeling like her heart might melt.

As they were being all lovey-dovey, Ye Fan came running over with some documents in hand.

They finally realized it was Fu Jinghan’s assistant, Ye Fan.

As soon as he walked in, he saw the infamous “seasonal witch” trying to feed something to Fu Jinghan.

He didn’t get a clear look at what it was—but whatever it was, it had to be poisoned!

“You evil woman! How dare you try to poison him! You’re so vicious!”

“No wonder Master Fu left work early today and skipped his meetings. I knew it had to be you stirring up trouble again!”

Ji Nuannuan stared at Ye Fan, who kept calling her “evil woman,” and angrily slammed her chopsticks down. Her eyes instantly turned red.

She pointed at Ye Fan angrily and looked at Fu Jinghan with teary eyes. “Who’s he calling an evil woman?”

“Who else—he’s talking abou—”

Before Ye Fan could finish, Fu Jinghan’s cold voice cut him off:

“There’s an opening for a project lead on the NJ project. Ye Fan, you seem to have a lot of free time.”

“Nope, not free at all!”

Ye Fan immediately shut up, waving his documents as if to say he had plenty of work to do.

Watching Fu Jinghan stand up for her, Ji Nuannuan stuck out her tongue and made a funny face at Ye Fan from behind him, clearly feeling smug.

She actually understood. Ye Fan was fiercely loyal to Fu Jinghan. But she had made such a mess of things in the past—not only did Fu Jinghan lose trust in her, even his people couldn’t stand her.

“Nuannuan, go get some rest. I still have work to finish.”

“Go ahead, don’t worry about me,” Ji Nuannuan replied quickly, knowing how busy he was.

“Okay.” Fu Jinghan gently caressed her face before heading upstairs to the study with Ye Fan.

Left with nothing to do, Ji Nuannuan went back to her room.

Downstairs, the housekeepers looked at the disaster zone that used to be the kitchen and silently prayed that Miss Ji would never cook again.

Upstairs bedroom.

As soon as Ji Nuannuan returned to her room, her phone buzzed with a text message. When she looked, it was from Ji Xinxin.

“Sister, how have you been lately? Did you try the plan I taught you? Did Fu Jinghan mention when he’s divorcing you?”

Divorce your damn mother.

Scram. You’re an eyesore.

Ji Nuannuan promptly blocked and deleted her.

Right now, the only thing that mattered was Fu Jinghan. She just wanted to make things right with him. The rest of the trash—she’d deal with it slowly.

With her mood back in place, Ji Nuannuan took a long, relaxing bath.

But when she went to pick out clothes, she realized—she had nothing to wear. What had she been thinking with these outfits?

The whole closet was a dreary sea of black. No accessories, no color—like a total “Black Widow.” Not at all suitable for a sweet and cute girl like her.

Looking at the overly dramatic makeup in the mirror, Ji Nuannuan almost gagged.

How had Fu Jinghan put up with this face for so long and still liked her? Hmph—must be love-blindness.

Worse still, all these clothes had been chosen based on Ji Xinxin’s dumb suggestions. Just thinking about it made her angry. She decided right then: tomorrow, she’d toss the clothes and the wardrobe.

As for the makeup—she could just wash it off. If Fu Jinghan really liked this heavy look, she might just continue wearing it for him.

Decision made, and with nothing suitable to wear, Ji Nuannuan tiptoed into Fu Jinghan’s bedroom wearing only a big bath towel.

She rummaged around, finally putting on one of his oversized white dress shirts. Looking in the mirror, she smiled—now this looked like the Ji Nuannuan in her twenties.

It was past ten o’clock, and Fu Jinghan still hadn’t come out of the study.

Ji Nuannuan tiptoed to the door and pressed her ear against it to listen.

It was quiet, except for the occasional rustle of papers and Fu Jinghan’s low responses—either “yes” or “no.”

Not wanting to disturb him, Ji Nuannuan went back to her room.

She waited and waited, but still didn’t see Fu Jinghan return. Eventually, she fell asleep.

In her dreams, Ji Nuannuan once again saw the scene from before her rebirth. She saw Fu Jinghan die in the fire for her, and she cried and cried.

Back in the study, Fu Jinghan finally finished work. Quietly, he made his way to Ji Nuannuan’s room.

She had never allowed him into her room before. He could only sneak in after she fell asleep—just to get a look at her and then quietly leave.

But today, the door wasn’t even closed.

Peering in, he saw her tiny form curled up on the big bed, silently sobbing.

“Nuannuan, what’s wrong? Having a nightmare?”