“I think you should just stop.” Ruan Yang pulled his hand away. “You use too much force and it hurts even if you just use a little force.”
Li Shaobin pinched himself. “Do I? I think it’s alright. It doesn’t hurt.”
Ruan Yang didn’t have much energy but when she saw his foolish appearance, she couldn’t help but laugh. “That can’t be helped; you have thick skin.”
“That’s right, men have thick and rough skin, unlike our Yangyang whose skin is so soft and delicate.” Li Shaobin saw her laughing and hugged her happily as he kissed her cheek softly. “Yangyang, if I knew you would be so afraid, I wouldn’t have taken you on the helicopter.”
“I’m not scared.” Ruan Yang didn’t want to admit she was frightened; otherwise, it would be too embarrassing. “I’ve flown everywhere for work in the past but I rarely take helicopters. Besides, your skills are bad. If you had better skills, I wouldn’t have reacted like this.”
Li Shaobin blinked. So it’s all my fault?
Why were Old Song and Old Yan fine when they got rides from me?
He pouted. However, if Ruan Yang said so, then his skills weren’t good. “Yes, yes, my skills aren’t there yet. I should’ve flown like a cloud floating in the sky. There shouldn’t have been any shaking.”
“Yeah. You insisted on taking me for a ride in the sky with your sub-par skills.” Ruan Yang glared at him lazily.
Sub-par…
Li Shaobin felt deeply hurt. He had always boasted about his good skills.
“I think you shouldn’t fly that helicopter so often,” Ruan Yang continued. “It’s so unsafe, especially since you even insist on taking selfies in the helicopter. That’s so dangerous. Helicopters aren’t like cars. One mistake and you could lose your life; there’s no chance of revival.”
Li Shaobin quickly changed the topic. If they were to go on talking about this, he wouldn’t be able to touch the helicopter anymore.”Yangyang, where else do you feel unwell? You haven’t spoken so many words to me for a very long time.”
“I feel unwell all over.” Ruan Yang frowned. “Don’t try to change the topic.”
Li Shaobin’s handsome face fell. “Yangyang, I only have very few hobbies. I won’t take selfies in the helicopter next time at most. Besides, I don’t fly often. This is the first time in three months. That means I only fly a few times a year.”
Thinking about his selfie-taking made Ruan Yang angry. However, she didn’t show it on her face. She said as she propped her palm under her head, “I can’t control you; it’s up to you. I’ve thought it through. If anything were to happen, I can always remarry. Anyway, I’m so young and pretty that I wouldn’t be afraid I wouldn’t be able to get remarried. Maybe I would also feel a different way.”
“What kind of different feelings?” Li Shaobin was annoyed. He was still there, alive and kicking, yet she was already thinking of remarrying.
Ruan Yang lifted her head to look at the ceiling. “Maybe a fresh feeling.”
Li Shaobin wanted to vomit blood. “Dream on. You should just stay by my side obediently. The fortune-teller said I can live to my nineties in this life.”
“You even believe in fortune-telling? How tacky.” Ruan Yang glanced at him.
Li Shaobin clenched his teeth. He was definitely going to make sure to cherish his life in the future so that she wouldn’t have to think about remarrying.
Ruan Yang closed her eyes and rested for a while. Li Shaobin said, “Are you feeling better? Say, if you’re already like this now, wouldn’t you faint from fright if you took a rollercoaster ride?”
“I’ve never been on a rollercoaster before. I don’t dare to.” Ruan Yang shook her head.
Li Shaobin was stunned. So after all this, this was Ruan Yang’s Achilles’ heel.
“Then Yangyang, let’s take a rollercoaster ride tomorrow,” Li Shaobin said in a manner that was asking for a beating.
Ruan Yang felt he was asking for it, so she motioned him over with her finger.
Li Shaobin could sense the danger but still moved over.
Ruan Yang pulled his ear immediately. “I think you must’ve been leading such a great life recently that you’re asking for a beating.”
“Aiyo, Yangyang, that hurts a lot.” Li Shaobin moaned and seized the chance to lean into her embrace. “It hurts too much.”
“Stop acting. I didn’t even use much force.” Ruan Yang rolled her eyes. “Don’t try to take advantage of me.”
“I’m not taking advantage of you; it’s just that it hurts, so I’m resting for a while.” Li Shaobin sat on the couch and leaned his head on her soft chest. He could smell her titillating fragrance from her neck.
Ruan Yang lifted her head to look at the huge head on her chest. She had softened a little after everything he did and since she was feeling giddy, she just allowed him to continue lying there.
When the dishes were served, Li Shaobin helped her to sit up eagerly and scooped some soup for her. Ruan Yang drank some soup while eating a few mouthfuls of spicy dishes and her stomach didn’t feel so unwell anymore.
On the way back home after dinner, Ruan Yang leaned against the car window sleepily.
Li Shaobin silently drove towards his villa.
Ruan Yang was woken up by the sound of a dog barking. When she opened her eyes, she realized that the car had stopped at the courtyard of Li Shaobin’s villa and Charlotte was looking in through the car window.
“I have to feed her.” Li Shaobin smiled helplessly.
Ruan Yang recalled the scene when she left that night and still felt uncomfortable. She opened the car door and Charlotte started circling around her mischievously. After that, she ran to Li Shaobin and kept biting the leg of his pants. Then she barked loudly at Li Shaobin.
“No barking.” Li Shaobin shouted at her because he was annoyed by the barking.
Charlotte appeared to be frightened all of a sudden and lay on the ground obediently.
“She might be very hungry; don’t be so aggressive.” Ruan Yang saw that Charlotte looked pitiful, so she picked up Charlotte’s leash and Charlotte followed her while wagging her tail.
Li Shaobin poured some dog food out and Ruan Yang sat on the wooden steps outside while watching Charlotte eat.
Li Shaobin saw that she was only wearing a turtleneck sweater, so he quickly put his jacket over her. “Yangyang, it’s cold at night.”
Ruan Yang turned behind to look at him. His eyes were filled with gentleness and concern under the clear moonlight.
Li Shaobin sat beside her and reached his long arm over to hug her gently as he said softly, “Yangyang, I hope we can still be like this after we get married. Of course, it’d be best if there was a little baby at the side. The baby can crawl around me. During the spring, we can look at the flowers; during summer nights, we can watch the stars on swings; during the winter, we can make a snowman together; and during the autumn, we can pluck the fruit that you’ve planted. But the trees would be too tall and our baby wouldn’t be able to reach them so I’d be carrying our baby…”
Ruan Yang felt a surge of gentleness flowing inside.
She could imagine that image. If that was possible, they would definitely be very blissful.
But could she have such blissfulness?
She turned her head to look at the man beside her. Her eyes were overflowing with uncertainty.
“Yangyang, believe me. I’ve never betrayed you.” Li Shaobin cupped her little face and kissed her gently.
…
The air on a spring night was still a little chilly.
But the temperature in the bedroom was rising steadily.
Under the covers, the woman’s body was folded with a sort of incredible flexibility as she shuddered under the heavy breathing of the man.
The two of them lay intertwined for a very long time without moving. After a while, Li Shaobin lifted his head up to kiss her forehead and the tip of her nose as he said softly, “Yangyang, I love you a lot.”
Ruan Yang closed her eyes. His words were just like the spring breeze grazing past her body, seeping into every single pore of her body, giving her the impression of the softness of spring.
She thought: That’s it.
Just one more time.
She’d believe him and his feelings for her.
“If it happens again, I definitely won’t forgive you,” she said slowly and hoarsely.
Li Shaobin’s head hurt immediately. He definitely wouldn’t do such a thing, but the problem was: who was the one behind all this?
Could it be Xin Ziao?
But who was helping him?
————————————
As long as this matter wasn’t settled, Li Shaobin didn’t dare to go out. He was usually invited out by a few friends to play at a bar at night. Now, he would go home obediently after finishing work. Even if he wanted to exercise, he would also only play badminton or basketball with Old Zhan, Old Yan, and Old Song.
But basketball without Song Chuyi was a little dull.
After more than a week later, Zhou Shuyun called him as she said in an uneasy tone, “Shaobin, I have something I need your help with. I didn’t want to trouble you but you’re the only person I know who knows people in the triads. It’s like this—recently, I’ve been feeling that someone has been following me…”
Li Shaobin felt guilty the moment he heard that. It was most probably Hu Zhi. Ever since the underwear incident happened, Hu Zhi said that he was going to investigate her and he didn’t stop Hu Zhi but he didn’t think that Zhou Shuyun would detect it. “How long has it been? Could this be a misunderstanding?”
“No, there’s a skinny man in black clothes who’s been following me for several days. Every time I go to the convenience store downstairs to buy some things, he’s following me,” Zhou Shuyun said in a frightened tone. “I came back not long ago and I don’t think I’ve offended anyone. I’m just a little scared. I’ve gone to the police but they were quite patronizing about it so I had no choice but…”
“Er, sure, sure, sure. No problem. I’ll get my men to help you find out. Don’t worry about anything and go to work peacefully. I guarantee it’ll be alright in a couple of days,” Li Shaobin said with a pat on his chest.
“Shaobin, thank you so much.” Zhou Shuyun was immensely grateful.