Chen Lie was having a psychological struggle as he contemplated if he should confess honestly or not… If he confessed honestly, his butt would end up in a jail cell. If he refused to tell the truth, then he could go home for the Lunar New Year!
His heart was running little calculations when he suddenly heard a deafening boom from his phone. The sound pounded his ear drums and appeared to be the noise from a heavy object dropping.
Chen Lie was so terrified, he jumped up from the bed. His chubby body nearly collapsed the bed frame. “Nianzhi? Nianzhi? Don’t do anything rash!” But only silence greeted him. The call had already ended.
Chen Lie panicked. Could this young girl have backed herself into a corner and actually jumped off a building to commit suicide?! Recalling how Gu Nianzhi screamed and cried about “wanting nothing more than to jump down from the 24th floor,” his head began to pound hard.
Chen Lie knew that his death date wasn’t too far away. He didn’t dare play around when it came to Gu Nianzhi’s life or death, so he didn’t waste a second to overcome Huo Shaoheng’s threat and the authority of the military order. He dialed Huo Shaoheng’s number.
At that time, Huo Shaoheng had already fallen asleep but was not deeply asleep yet. When he heard the phone suddenly ring, he grabbed it to take a look and saw it was Chen Lie’s number. Sliding the screen to answer the call, he said sleepily, “Chen Lie, Happy New Year.”
Chen Lie was about to cry, so he choked as he stomped his feet inside the bedroom. “Huo Shao, where are you? Do you know where Nianzhi is? She… She seemed to have jumped off a building just now?!”
“What?!” Huo Shaoheng immediately sat up in bed. “Chen Lie, have you lost your mind? If you say anymore nonsense, be careful or I’ll execute you!”
“Huo Shao, if Nianzhi really died from jumping off a building, then I would execute myself without needing you to do it! I do as I say!” Chen Lie had already begun to cry. “It’s all my fault. When I was on the phone with her earlier, I accidentally mentioned how she had been infected with H3ab7 a year and a half ago. My tongue slipped, and I told her she had sex with someone as the antidote!”
Huo Shaoheng immediately ripped the blankets off, his face ashen as he got out of bed. Squeezing the phone, he rushed out the door while he gritted the words out to Chen Lie, “Chen Lie! Don’t you forget that you swore to a military order from me!”
“I know that! I wouldn’t have told you if the situation wasn’t a serious emergency!” Chen Lie was indignant and sly. “Also, I didn’t violate the military order! I didn’t tell her that the person was you! Nianzhi thought she slept with someone else, so she couldn’t stand it and felt guilty towards you. She immediately said she would jump down from the 24th floor! Then I heard a loud boom…”
Song Jinning’s apartment happened to be on the 24th floor. Huo Shaoheng’s ears began to buzz. He didn’t know what he was thinking about at all. His mind was a complete blank as he sprinted to the door almost mechanically and violently yanked the door open. His strength was truly too great, and because he was currently absent minded, he somehow ripped the entire door handle off.
The hallway outside was illuminated in a warm yellow light, and a young girl wearing a black long-sleeved cotton military T-shirt was walking around the hallway. When she heard the door, she slowly turned around. Her flawless skin appeared like translucent lychee jelly under the lights—milky yet rosy, lush and plump with moisture. The black long-sleeved T-shirt draped loosely on her body. It subtly revealed her beautiful curves, incredibly slim waist, as well as straight and pale legs.
Standing in the middle of the hallway, she stared at him blankly, the expression on her face appearing to be sad yet happy. Like a traveler who had traveled for a thousand years, she seemed to have finally found a crossing for the river. She was so beautiful, she didn’t appear to be real, like she could disappear with the breeze at any moment.
Could she have really jumped off the building? Could this be her soul? In that moment, Huo Shaoheng suddenly had strange thoughts cross his mind, despite typically never believing in the supernatural. He could only feel the blood in his veins suddenly race as his eardrums pounded hard, and his gaze fell on Gu Nianzhi’s body. His eyes were nearly glued onto her, and he was unable to peel them off at all.
Gu Nianzhi turned around to discover the Huo Shaoheng she had been searching for all this time was standing at the doorway of one of the rooms. His eyes were glued to her. “Huo Shao!” Gu Nianzhi cried out to him and ran until she tumbled into his arms. Hanging off his neck, she sobbed like a small child.
Huo Shaoheng easily lifted her up with one hand. Her slender body still carried the warmth of having recently crawled out from her blankets and felt unusually warm and soft when he embraced her. Huo Shaoheng lowered his head to kiss her cheek. “Nianzhi? What is it?”
Over the phone, Chen Lie first overheard Gu Nianzhi’s delicate voice call out, “Huo Shao.” Then he heard Huo Shaoheng use a gentle tone for the very first time to cry out, “Nianzhi…”
This romantic affection was dumped over his head without warning, so Chen Lie could feel his heart wrench painfully as if cut by a knife, a thousand arrows piercing through to make his heart break and his head hurt.
Gu Nianzhi was fine. She hadn’t jumped off the building, so he should sigh in relief. He didn’t need to die now. But when he thought about it, he felt that his impending fate was probably worse than death itself.
Chen Lie sat blankly on the floor, ending the call and cradling his head as he began to contemplate where he should go to flee for his life.
…
Gu Nianzhi lifted up her tearful face, standing on her tiptoes to kiss Huo Shaoheng on the lips. Her kiss was so frantic and aggressive that Huo Shaoheng felt happily surprised. Huo Shaoheng wouldn’t be himself if he didn’t take advantage of this opportunity.
Closing the door behind him, he used his left hand to carry Gu Nianzhi into his bedroom. Gu Nianzhi held him back tightly, refusing to let him leave. Huo Shaoheng kissed her deeply, over and over again while murmuring vaguely, “Darling, don’t be so eager…”
Gu Nianzhi’s heart dropped. Something in her mind seemed to break past the gates of memories. But Huo Shaoheng’s kisses had already traveled elsewhere. She panted loudly, using one hand to rub Huo Shaoheng’s injured arm while muttering, “Let me do it.”
This was more than Huo Shaoheng could ask for…
…
It was rare for Huo Shaoheng to be in a state of almost complete relaxation and blankness. When it came to this matter, he had always been aggressive and overbearing, but he would also occasionally allow Gu Nianzhi to take the initiative.
However, he had never experienced a time that felt as good as this. From head to toe, he was enveloped with the afterglow of a pleasurable explosion. He thought that he would still be able to reminisce endlessly, even if he abstained for the next three months.
Gu Nianzhi rested in Huo Shaoheng’s arms, using her hand to gently touch his injured arm. Her raspy voice asked softly, “I didn’t hurt your arm just now?”
Huo Shaoheng composed himself and leaned down to kiss her temple. “No.” Using his left hand to encircle Gu Nianzhi’s waist, he lifted his right arm and pursed his lips. He asked purposely, “What happened? Why were you crying earlier?”
Not only was she crying, but she had been extremely passionate and proactive too… As soon as Huo Shaoheng recalled her earlier charm, he couldn’t help but kiss her on the cheek again.
Gu Nianzhi nuzzled in his embrace, fingers drawing circles on his chest while she murmured, “Huo Shao, if you were even able to accept that kind of thing, then how could I give up on you?”
“What thing?” Huo Shaoheng looked down at her with a conflicted expression, discreetly sitting up from the bed and pulling the blankets higher to envelope them both.
Gu Nianzhi looked up at him and said earnestly, “I know about everything now. When I was infected by H3ab7 at Feng Yixi’s house all that time ago, did I have sex with someone else as the antidote?”
Huo Shaoheng was speechless.
“You ignored me back then, so I even thought that it was because you didn’t like me. I was very sad…” Gu Nianzhi shifted herself against Huo Shaoheng’s body and found a comfortable spot to lie down on. Her tiny face was filled with happiness.
Gu Nianzhi felt that since she experienced such an incident, Huo Shaoheng must’ve also felt disgusted about it. However, he had struggled, not given up, and finally still ended up with her. That meant he truly loved her.
Huo Shaoheng hugged Gu Nianzhi as he listened to her try to fill in the gaps about his pattern of behavior. He was quite speechless. Since she knew that he loved her so much, how could he allow another man to taint her? A woman’s logic was truly strange.
“Who did you hear this from?” Huo Shaoheng’s left hand massaged Gu Nianzhi’s back as he purposely teased her. “Why didn’t I know about you sleeping with another man?”
“You didn’t know?!” Gu Nianzhi was shocked. Propping herself up from Huo Shaoheng’s chest, her words were harsh and direct. “Why did you hide from me and refuse to see me for six months, if you didn’t know?”
Huo Shaoheng didn’t know what to say.
