Having not slept well all night, coupled with getting up early to work as a makeup artist, Chai Xiaomi was so exhausted she felt like she was falling apart. Dragging her heavy body to the edge of the bed, she didn't even have the strength to lift the bed curtains. Aiming for the slightly open gap, she fell straight onto the bed.
The silk curtains were knocked open by her slender figure, rippling with soft, fine folds, the edges swaying gently like water waves.
Wu Li's breath suddenly hitched, and he instinctively flattened his bent knees.
The next moment, a warm, soft fragrance filled his arms and senses. He was violently knocked down onto the bed by that tired, forceful momentum.
Hmm?
Why had her soft bedding become rock-hard?
Chai Xiaomi lazily lifted her eyelids.
Their eyes met.
She was completely dumbfounded.
The tips of their noses were only a hair's breadth apart, their breaths silently intertwining.
It stirred the already chaotic atmosphere deeper and murkier, completely sinking them into a whirlpool of tension.
Wu Li's ears were buzzing, as if thousands of summer cicadas were screeching, making him dizzy. The young woman's face was right before his eyes, so close that he could almost see the fine, soft peach fuzz on her cheeks.
Today, for some reason, she looked exceptionally different.
Those crystal-clear, dark apricot eyes were currently covered with a layer of dazed light due to surprise, and her cheeks were rippling with a tide-like flush.
That blush was not the angry red of when she was mad, nor the flushed red of when she was hot and tired from walking. Instead, it was like a ripe peach, so plump that it seemed sweet juice would flow out at the slightest touch. It made his breathing lose its rhythm.
He stared intently at that flushed face, his Adam's apple bobbing uncontrollably.
What to do...
He seemed... to want to eat someone again.
Hovering on the edge of restraint, it was as if a bow appeared in his mind, stretching his reason taut on the string, teetering on the brink of collapse, ready to shatter.
But if he really ate her, where would he find another fool to keep by his side to amuse him anytime, anywhere?
Seeing this, Hongjiao flicked its tail and slithered out. As it slipped through the bed curtains, it didn't forget to quietly pull the gap tightly shut.
Li, Li!
The two words were spoken through gritted teeth.
Chai Xiaomi slightly raised her head and caught a glimpse of the boots on his feet. Her small face immediately hardened. She suspected he was deliberately retaliating against her for giving him the cold shoulder last night. Why are you stepping on my bed with your shoes on!?
But the young man beneath her just stared at her unblinkingly without saying a word. His eyelashes were long and slender like raven feathers, each one distinct, trembling slightly with the light in his eyes.
Light and shadow flowed deep within his heterochromatic eyes, dark and profound, like a long, boundless night, making him impossible to read.
Chai Xiaomi patted his shoulder, making a move to roll off and get up. Hey, say something? Sneaking out in the middle of the night again. If you don't want to share a room with me, just say so. At worst, I'll book another room for you—
Before she could finish speaking, the young man swept his arm around her, grasping her soft, slender waist, and suddenly rolled over, pinning her beneath him.
With his other hand, he overlapped her two slender wrists and pressed them against the pillow.
Wh-what are you doing?
Chai Xiaomi widened her eyes in astonishment. Her wrists were pinned dead in place; she couldn't struggle at all.
The corners of the young man's eyes were tinged with a faint red, and the depths of his eyes flickered, interwoven with a dark gleam she couldn't understand.
She saw his crimson lips part slightly, faintly revealing the white tips of his canine teeth beneath. Just like the person himself, hidden within his perverse and unruly nature was a subtle, imperceptible sharpness.
Wu Li looked at her silently for a moment.
He wouldn't eat her.
Taking a bite... should be fine, right?
Just one bite.
Otherwise, he felt like a dying fish washed up on the shore by the waves, being roasted under the scorching sun, unable to catch his breath, ready to suffocate at any moment.
If he was going to bite, naturally he should bite the softest place.
Like this flushed face; every time he pinched it, it felt like touching a freshly steamed glutinous rice ball.
At this moment, whether out of anger or embarrassment, her cheeks grew even redder.
This wasn't a glutinous rice ball; it was a ripe peach that would ooze sweet juice at the slightest touch.
The young man's gaze was already dazed, his thick eyelashes trembling like butterfly wings in the wind, and even his breathing was shattered into pieces.
His earrings and the silver ornaments in his hair swayed gently, the faint clinking sounds allowing Chai Xiaomi to barely recover her senses.
She watched as he tilted his head and leaned in closer.
Then he opened his mouth and gently took her cheek between his teeth...
Chai Xiaomi suddenly froze.
The pressure was like holding a piece of cotton candy in his mouth, as if it would melt with the slightest force. She could feel his teeth trembling faintly, as if struggling between biting and not biting.
It was a protracted tug-of-war.
In the end, Wu Li only pressed down extremely lightly with the tips of his canines, leaving a shallow mark.
His cool lips brushed across her skin as he shifted a few inches away, landing a second light bite on her cheek.
Chai Xiaomi was made both bashful and flustered by his inexplicable actions.
Her face felt ticklish, and she couldn't help but shrink her neck, squirming as she softly scolded, What on earth are you doing! You've eaten all the powder off my face!
Wu Li was lying on top of her, the two of them pressed extremely close. The body in his arms was squirming restlessly, her outer garment slightly open, the ties of her skirt a bit loose and messy.
The soft sensation transmitting from beneath the fabric came in waves, so clear that it made his entire body suddenly tense.
Stop moving!
He stopped her with a hoarse shout, the words practically forced through his teeth.
The rampaging heat and suffocating feeling in his veins had subsided slightly after those two light bites, but with her rubbing against him like this, the fire burned even more fiercely.
The string in his mind was stretched to the breaking point.
Startled by his shout, Chai Xiaomi instantly stiffened.
In her memory, this seemed to be the first time Wu Li had raised his voice at her.
Although his words usually weren't particularly gentle, he had never used such a volume.
Thinking back to his attitude when speaking to Song Yueyao...
Her heart twisted. She glared at him in disbelief, a hint of grievance seeping into her voice. Why are you yelling at me!?
He was obviously the one who bit her first; she hadn't even scolded him yet.
I didn't, he flatly denied, though his voice was pressed even lower.
You did, you obviously did!
Furious, Chai Xiaomi kicked her legs, wanting to boot him off the bed.
But amidst her struggles, her movements suddenly halted.
It seemed... something wasn't quite right...
The courtesans' teasing words from earlier suddenly flashed through her mind—
Your husband, he's quite well-endowed, isn't he?
Chai Xiaomi blinked slowly. It did seem... quite prominent.
Wu Li suddenly drew in a sharp breath of cold air.
The torment at this moment felt thousands of times more scorching than having Gu worms drill through his limbs and bones.
He abruptly rolled off and stood up, practically stumbling as he threw open the bed curtains and rushed out.
Chai Xiaomi heard the sound of the table corner shifting and porcelain cups clinking and falling to the floor outside the curtains.
He had probably bumped into it accidentally.
She sat up and lifted the curtains to look. Fortunately, there was a thick carpet on the floor; otherwise, if the porcelain cups of Huanyin Pavilion were broken, they would have to pay a hefty sum. The items used here were all valuable.
As her gaze swept over an incense burner placed on the table, she suddenly understood something.
She had just heard the courtesans mention earlier that in order to keep their patrons in high spirits, every room in the pavilion was equipped with aphrodisiac incense, and it only worked on men.
Therefore, there was a perfectly logical explanation for Wu Li's condition just now.
Chai Xiaomi's face flushed as she hurried over to the table. She picked up the porcelain cup from the floor, poured some tea into it, and dumped it right over the top of the incense burner. The curling wisp of white smoke dissipated in an instant, vanishing into thin air.
"What are you doing?" Wu Li sat stiffly on the chaise longue, rubbing the knee he had just bumped. In his panic, he had slammed it against the corner of the table with a bit of deliberate force, desperate to use the sharp pain to alleviate the strange, uncomfortable heat building inside him.
Fortunately, it had worked a little.
"Putting out your fire," Chai Xiaomi said, holding up the teapot and pointing at the culprit, the incense burner.
Wu Li clearly didn't get it. He looked at her blankly and asked, "What fire?"
Chai Xiaomi: "..."
Her silence was deafening.
Seriously, bro, don't you know exactly where the fire on your body is burning?
Should she be a good Samaritan and remind him that he could just use his hand?
This poor guy. Spending every day mingling with snakes, birds, and venomous bugs meant he definitely wasn't as well-read as she was.
Chai Xiaomi stared at him for a moment, her expression torn.
Never mind, she decided against it. That would be way too embarrassing.
