What do you mean by that? You can only hold me while I sleep, nothing else...

He tasted a salty bitterness between his lips and teeth. Only then did he notice a tear seeping from the corner of her tightly closed eye, sliding down her temple and into her hair. He froze, suddenly unable to recall the last time he had seen her smile genuinely.

Perhaps it was at the fireworks festival that she held his sleeve, inviting him to watch the fireworks together.

The girl's eyes curved into crescent moons, her pupils sparkling, and the light reflected in her dark eyes, as if it had been mixed with bits of gold.

Thinking of the past, Yu Chaoxian's heart sank. He hugged her and the blanket together, placed his palm on her lower abdomen, and slept like that all night.

Yu Chaoxian used to see Yu Tang often in his study, but now Yu Tang never comes over, and doesn't even bring him fruit anymore.

So the question Yu Chaoxian asked most often in the study was: "Where is she?"

Ivan's most frequent reply was: "Miss Yu is taking online classes."

Yu Chaoxian has now taken over Yu Tang's study, and he has moved all his work to her study.

Yu Chaoxian was fiddling with her hair when Yu Tang kicked him away.

The man raised an eyebrow, not annoyed at all. Yu Tang was finally showing some emotion towards him. If Yu Tang continued to ignore him as she had before, it would be troublesome. He naturally knew that Yu Tang didn't want to talk to him, and he knew that she only wanted to leave. But it didn't matter. Whether she was crying or laughing, as long as she was still by his side, that was enough.

Ivan was confused. Tang seemed to have noticed something was off between the eldest brother and his aunt. Otherwise, why would the eldest brother have come out of Yu Tang's room this morning? And the bite marks and scratches on the eldest brother's body were too ambiguous.

That afternoon, as usual, Ivan came to the study to bring fruit to Yu Tang. He saw the eldest brother wrapping Miss Yu in a coat as he came out. Underneath the suit jacket, two slender, white legs were exposed, with red finger marks and even bite marks on her ankles.

If you were to press the boss's mouth against it, it would definitely match the bite marks on Miss Yu's leg!

Ivan was shocked to understand why the boss was so angry when Yu Tang ran off with another man: because Yu Tang was the boss's aunt and, more importantly, his woman!

After Yu Tang finished breakfast, Ivan came over with fishing gear: "Want to go fishing?" It was his boss who told him to keep Yu Tang company if she seemed bored.

Yu Tang glanced at the time and asked Ivan expectantly, "Can we wait another two hours? I have an online class later."

“Of course,” Ivan readily agreed.

This is a general education class. Speaking of general education classes, Yu Tang remembered that she used to be in this class with Vivian. But since they had dinner together in Yingzhou last time, she and Vivian have lost contact.

Yu Tang noticed that Vivian was absent from this online class.

It wasn't until the teacher told everyone a devastating story in class: Vivian and her family had been murdered on New Year's Eve.

Yu Tang was shocked to hear the news. It was too sudden. If you count the time, Vivian was being kidnapped by Gideon the night her family was murdered.

That night, Yu Chaoxian, dressed in combat gear, fearlessly jumped into the helicopter to save her, shielding her beneath his body...

She shook her head, deliberately trying to forget these memories.

The last rays of golden-red sunlight slanted across the sea, turning the shimmering ripples into a honey-like color.

The small boat swayed gently with the soft waves, like a lazy palm leaf. The setting sun gilded Yu Tang's silhouette with a soft amber hue, and seagulls skimmed across the water in the distance. She lay on the boat, drifting and swaying with it, relaxed and carefree, as if she could float away all her troubles.

Yu Tang gripped the fishing line tightly, the line digging into her fingertips, allowing her to sense the movement on the seabed—suddenly, a pulling force came from the depths, and the line taut!

A fish has taken the bait! Its silvery-blue tail and scales still bear the iridescent glow of the coral reef.

Yu Tang excitedly called Ivan over to take a look.

What kind of fish did you catch?

A deep voice pierced her from behind, and she froze abruptly. Ivan on the shore had somehow transformed into Yu Chaoxian.

The fishing line in Yu Tang's hand trembled suddenly, startling away the fish that was about to take the bait.

“They got away.” Yu Tang put away her fishing rod, her shoulders and back, which had just relaxed, tensed up again. For safety reasons, the boat Yu Tang was on was moored to the shore, so Yu Chaoxian could easily step onto the boat.

The man's shadow loomed over her from above. Yu Chaoxian's fingers traced her stiff neck, picking up a strand of hair that had fallen onto her shoulder.

The small boat swayed with the added weight of another person. Yu Tang stared at the swaying sea, where her fragmented reflection was mirrored.

In the distance, the startled school of fish regrouped, leaving silvery trails in the deep blue.

Yu Chaoxian brought her a blanket and draped it over her, then hugged her and the blanket together in his arms as they watched the sunset over the sea.

Lost in his intimate moment with Yu Tang, he kissed the crown of her head: "Ivan said you're interested in children's medical funds?"

“Hmm.” Yu Tang has been following the news in Killarri State recently. War, violence, poverty and displacement have brought profound suffering to the children of Killarri State. About 6 million children rely on humanitarian aid. They lack food, clean drinking water and medical resources and can only live in ruins or temporary camps.

Yu Tang's eyes reddened as if she were thinking of something. She pushed away Yu Chaoxian's hand that was wrapped around her lower abdomen, looked at him, and hesitated to speak.

Just as Yu Chaoxian had said before, Yu Tang wore her heart on her sleeve. She cared about the children, but she had no money and didn't know how to ask, so she kept revealing this information to Ivan until Ivan relayed it to Yu Chaoxian.

However, Yu Tang was not sure if Yu Chaoxian would be willing to help. His weapons had been sold to the state of Killar, and asking him to donate money to Killar would be like taking money from someone else's pocket. Yu Chaoxian would definitely not be willing to do such a losing business.

"How much do you want?" Yu Chaoxian lifted Yu Tang's chin with his tiger's mouth, forcing back her tears. This was the first time Yu Tang had taken the initiative to ask him for something since the loss of their child.

"Two... million, is that okay?" Yu Tang asked tentatively.

Yu Chaoxian cupped her face in his hands: "I'll give you millions or tens of millions, just give me a smile?"

Yu Tang smiled. There was no need to be pretentious. A smile could help homeless children. She didn't even know her smile was so valuable.

Will you still argue with me in the future?

Arguing? Yu Tang realized that she could never reason with him. It seemed that in Yu Chaoxian's eyes, she and he were just a couple who had been arguing, and those bloody things that had happened before were just a point of conflict that could be resolved. If she smiled, it meant that they had made up.

There's no escaping it now, and angering him won't do her any good; he might not even be willing to give her two million.

Yu Tang's silence was interpreted by Yu Chaoxian as tacit agreement.

As dusk fell, the sea deepened, gradually changing from a dazzling gold to a dark crimson, and finally sinking into inky blue.

The setting sun was now only half-full, as if slowly being devoured by the sea. The boundary between the sky and the sea was completely blurred, and the whole world was immersed in an amber halo, even the wind carried a warm weariness.

His chest pressed against her back, and the sunset cast long shadows of the two embracing, overlapping tenderly, like an incredibly loving couple.

Behind her was Ivan, who had come to deliver a phone call. Suddenly, she couldn't bear to break the scene—in the distance, the setting sun was turning the seawater into gold, and the two were kissing in the afterglow, their silhouettes embedded in the light and shadow, like an oil painting that would never fade.

As night fell, the temperature at sea also dropped. Yu Chaoxian stretched out his arms a little, and Yu Tang understood what he meant—he wanted her to hug him.

Footsteps approached from behind, some near and some far; Ivan had been lingering for quite a while.

Yu Chaoxian and Yu Tang had just begun to show signs of improvement, so naturally he was unwilling to let go. It wasn't uncommon for him to hold Yu Tang while answering the phone, but Yu Tang found it boring and didn't want to stay in his arms.

Yu Tang hesitated to come over, so Yu Chao waited for three seconds before picking her up and carrying her ashore.

In the evenings, Yu Chaoxian would put down his work and watch TV with Yu Tang, even though Yu Tang herself didn't need him to accompany her, but he still insisted on doing so.

"Tangtang, what else do you want?" Yu Chaoxian twirled a strand of her hair and played with it, wrapping it around his fingers.

Seeing Yu Tang quickly turn to look at him, Yu Chao first met those dark, clear eyes and added, "Except for leaving."

What else is there to say? Yu Tang turned her face away and ignored him, but then remembered that she still needed to stay by his side.

“I want you,” she said, before Yu Chaoxian looked at her immediately. She looked at him coldly, “Don’t touch me again.”

The enchanting and ambiguous atmosphere came to an abrupt end. The strands of hair that had been wrapped around Yu Chaoxian's fingers loosened and fell away, and the air suddenly froze.

The man's eyes instantly turned icy as he grabbed Yu Tang's hair, which was trying to escape his grasp, with such force that Yu Tang had no choice but to move closer to him.

Yu Chaoxian leaned closer, his breath on her lips carrying a dangerous pressure: "What do you mean? We can only hold each other while sleeping, and nothing else is allowed?"

Before Yu Tang could respond, he scoffed again: "Is that possible, Yu Tang?"

Yu Tang lowered her eyelashes, the thick shadows obscuring the emotions in her eyes. She should have known he wouldn't agree, so what was the point of asking her what she wanted?

But the next second, he suddenly let go of her hair and continued to hold her waist tightly.

"Let's get down to business," Yu Chaoxian said coldly, as if he were offering his last act of patience.

However, Yu Chaoxian offered the way out too quickly, as if he was afraid that Yu Tang would lose patience. Yu Tang opened her mouth to say that she would see Mo Fei during the holidays, but then she suddenly remembered the fate of those people. She could no longer reveal anyone she cared about in front of Yu Chaoxian.

"I don't want anything." She turned to look at the TV, but there were things she didn't want.

Yu Chaoxian recalled the first time Yu Tang secretly ran away to Yingzhou; she took everything she liked with her and left behind everything she didn't want. Not wanting something meant not needing it.

He insisted on giving it away.

The man turned her chin up to look at her, forcing her: "Then you better think it over carefully. If you can't figure it out, don't even think about watching that pretty boy on TV anymore."

“Okay, then I have something I want,” Yu Tang thought he was being unreasonable and looking for a fight, so she simply pointed at the TV and said, “I want to see him in person, and I also want to take a picture with him and get his autograph.”

name. "

Yu Tang is clearly going against him. She does what she's told not to do, and she still wants to see that pretty boy. What if she sees him and then runs off with him again?

Just before he was about to explode, the man suddenly changed his mind. He figured that Yu Tang probably wouldn't want to see him even if he arranged a meeting. He raised an eyebrow and agreed, "You want to see that pretty boy, right? Fine, that's easy. I'll grant your request, so you have to grant me one too."

Yu Tang didn't know what he wanted to ask, but if she could actually meet the actor in person, it would be like successfully meeting her idol, especially since Mo Fei also liked him and had watched the idol drama he starred in. If she could get an autographed photo, she could give it to Mo Fei as the most surprising birthday gift.

Yu Tang was very confident in Yu Chaoxian's connections; as long as Yu Chaoxian wanted to make arrangements, he could definitely do so.

So Yu Tang softened her attitude: "Then tell me first, and I'll see if I can agree."

"Sure, no one but you can." Yu Chaoxian turned off the TV and carried her upstairs.

Yu Tang was suddenly lifted into the air. She didn't dare to struggle on the stairs for fear of falling. Yu Chaoxian took the opportunity to hiss and nibble at her ear.

The man's body temperature suddenly rose, and Yu Tang was startled by his burning temperature. She knew very well what Yu Chaoxian's body temperature meant. She raised her hand to block him: "Stop, stop, I haven't said I agreed yet."

"I haven't even started yet," the man coaxed her, and they quickly went back to the bedroom.

The weight of the two pressed down on the soft bed, causing them to bounce up slightly. Yu Chaoxian then thrust upwards, and Yu Tang let out a startled cry.

"Wait, wait a minute." Yu Tang thought for a moment. It wouldn't be that bad to go to such lengths just to see a celebrity.

"How are we supposed to wait?" The man pulled Yu Tang's chin down to look her over.

Yu Tang could sense it without looking down. "Can't I use my hands?" she asked, turning her face away.

The man knew how clumsy her technique was, and it couldn't compare to her taste at all: "Can't you be a little more sincere? I'm doing you a favor."

Yu Tang felt that his legs were too aggressive and immediately wanted to get down, but Yu Chaoxian had already compromised and pulled her over.

He leaned down and breathed heavily in her neck, satisfied. He didn't smoke or drink, and she still wouldn't let him touch her. It had been over three months; he wasn't trying to become a monk.

Yu Tang stared dizzily at the ceiling and realized a truth.

Whoever is in the wrong becomes even more unruly, pushing the person in the right to their limit of patience until they lose their temper. Then, the person in the right brazenly starts offering solutions, even though all they need to do is let go.

Midway through, Yu Chaoxian suddenly turned Yu Tang's face to look at her, kissed her lips, and asked, "What did you mean by what you said that day?"

It took Yu Tang a long time to realize that Yu Chaoxian was asking about the clan members urging him to continue his family line that day. Her mind was a complete blank, and she had no idea how to answer him. It was just a perfunctory response, the gist of which was that Yu Chaoxian would get married. Who knew that Yu Chaoxian would think so much about it?

The man has come to his own understanding; they will have a future together, they will get married, and she will give him a home.

Yu Tang was startled awake when the sun was high in the sky. She glanced at the time and saw that there was still an hour before the online class started, so she lay back down with peace of mind.

She fell into Yu Chaoxian's arms again as soon as she lay down, and when Yu Tang looked up, she saw his sharp jawline. She didn't know if it was just her imagination, but Yu Tang felt that Yu Chaoxian had a smile on his lips, a wicked smile, as if he was hiding something bad.

The man lay on his back, his Adam's apple rising and falling slightly with his breath, his lips, which usually carried a mocking or cold tone, were now relaxed and pursed.

Even in his sleep, his presence remains strong.

His broad shoulders rested on the pillow, his muscular arms casually draped over her waist, and his well-defined fingers hung down to her lower abdomen.

Sunlight gradually crept up his chest, illuminating several faint scars, with the one just above his heart standing out prominently. Yu Tang involuntarily reached out, but just as she was about to touch him—the chat group for her classmates, logged into her computer, kept buzzing, unusually loud in the quiet bedroom.

Yu Chaoxian buried his face in her neck: "Who are you trying to wake up on purpose, to get revenge on me for not letting you sleep last night?"

"Who took revenge on you?" Yu Tang looked at him with a puzzled expression. Yu Chaoxian still had his eyes closed, as if he were fast asleep.

She's not him, honestly, he's bad himself and he thinks everyone else is bad too.

The group chat was buzzing with activity, and there were constant message notifications. Yu Tang wanted to mute them but was afraid of missing important information.

Yu Tang's pajamas were nowhere to be found; only Yu Chaoxian's robe lay on the bed. She picked it up and put it on. She got up and went to the table, opening the classmates' group chat. A forwarded gossip headline immediately caught her eye.

"A popular young male celebrity cheated on his girlfriend, had plastic surgery, evaded taxes, had casual sex with other men behind the back of a rich woman, is unhygienic, his blue eyes are fake, his mixed race is fake, and he wears colored contact lenses all the time!"

Yu Tang took a closer look and realized that this popular young actor was the male lead of the TV series she was watching!

This exposé is incredibly detailed, hitting every single point that Yu Tang dislikes. Besides the classmates' group chat, there were also messages from Mo Fei, who even forwarded the news to her.

Mo Fei really likes this actor and can't stand any criticism of him, yet he actually sent it to her on his own initiative.

It seems it's true.

Yu Tang was typing away at her keyboard replying to Mo Fei's message when she heard a noise behind her. Remembering that the man behind her was still sleeping, she picked up her laptop and prepared to go downstairs.

Just as she stood up, an arm wrapped around her from behind. Yu Chaoxian propped himself up and raised an eyebrow at her: "Where are you going?"

"We'll be taking online classes later," Yu Tang said, pointing to the computer.

What time does class start?

Tang, who was engrossed in gossip news, suddenly snapped out of it: "Right away."

"Who are you trying to fool?" Yu Chaoxian turned her face towards him. Yu Tang was clearly trying to deceive him. "You're lying through your teeth. Isn't it supposed to be an hour later?"

Afraid that he would do it again, Yu Tang quickly sat up. "I need to wash up, change clothes, eat breakfast, and prepare materials for class. This amount of time is simply not enough for me."

This amount of time was indeed not enough for him. Yu Chao first carried Yu Tang to the bathroom to wash up together.

Yu Tang didn't want to shower with him, so she quickly finished washing up and came out, only to bump into Yu Chaoxian's naked arms again.

She suspected that Yu Chaoxian was waiting here.

"Touch me wherever you want." Yu Chaoxian generously guided Yu Tang's hand to roam over his chest. "Didn't you want to touch me in bed just now?"

Yu Tang wanted to deny it as soon as she opened her mouth, but she couldn't hide the fact that her hand had almost touched him. So, before she could finish speaking, she pulled her hand away and said, "I should change my clothes and go to my online class."

Yu Chaoxian looked at her, still wearing his black bathrobe, and found it pleasing to the eye. Come to think of it, he hadn't taken Yu Tang shopping in a while, and it was time for the seasons to change. It wouldn't be good for her to stay cooped up on the island all the time; he had to take her out for a stroll.

He leaned against the bathroom door and watched her, while Yu Tang unnecessarily changed her clothes with her back to him.

Strands of hair slid across her collarbone as she tilted her head, their casual yet alluring curves shimmering like satin under the light. The ambiguous red marks on her porcelain-white skin were both obvious and seductive, making her appear both innocent and alluring.

The man's gaze lingered on her for a moment, a barely perceptible hint of something deeper flashing in his eyes. In the year and a half that had passed, Yu Tang had grown taller. During that year, he knew her body intimately, subtly noticing every change in her. He had personally shattered Yu Tang's glassy innocence, releasing the allure hidden within little by little. What he had raised should naturally be his, and she should only have him by her side.

Yu Tang didn't notice Yu Chaoxian coming into her line of sight, nor did she know his thoughts. She ate a simple breakfast, then took her computer to the study to attend online classes.

This study belongs to Yu Tang, and she has made it very comfortable. There is a fluffy cushion and two throw pillows on the single sofa. The stationery and books on the table are neatly arranged, and the notebooks are covered with sticky notes of different colors.

A warm yellow light from the floor lamp in the corner of the study gently enveloped her silhouette. Yu Tang held a pen in her hand, quickly jotting down notes.

The rain outside the window pattered against the glass, but her world seemed to consist only of the professor's steady voice explaining medical principles.

A wisp of hair fell beside her cheek, swaying gently as Yu Tang occasionally pondered.

As if sensing something, she turned her head slightly and saw a tall figure silently leaning against the door, watching for an unknown amount of time.

Yu Tang's back stiffened, and the tip of her pen left a dot of ink on the paper. The professor's voice on the screen continued, but she could no longer hear it.

Yu Chaoxian leaned down, resting his chin on her shoulder, and casually flipped through her notebook.

Yu Tang's first reaction was to look at the computer screen to see if Yu Chaoxian was in the frame. Fortunately, Yu Chaoxian was only beside her, and there was only a shadow in the frame.

He watched her silently. Yu Tang was quite attentive in class, diligently taking notes, marking down anything she didn't understand, and circling it once she grasped it. As before, she would mark the questions she couldn't answer, and then work through similar problems repeatedly until she could solve them independently.

She hadn't given up on any of the problems she faced, yet she wanted to give up on him without even thinking about it. Ask her, and she'd leave; pressure her, and she'd say there was absolutely no way she could like him.

She seemed quite happy leaving things to her own devices, but he wasn't so happy.

This Yu Tang is heartless and somewhat vicious; she's vicious and ruthless towards him. She saves all her patience for outsiders; just now, when Ivan brought her breakfast, she smiled and thanked him.

It wasn't Ivan who made it, so the chef should be thanked instead. He hired the chef, so he should be the one smiling at him.

As soon as he arrived, well, not even a smile appeared on his face.

Yu Tang felt like she was in prison during this class, for no other reason than that Yu Chaoxian sat next to her the whole time, leaning against the sofa armrest, and even sitting on more than half of her cushion, with his legs hooked directly around her ankles.

Yu Tang didn't dare to move around during the entire class; her legs were numb. Only when the class ended did she relax and lean back on the sofa.

Yu Chaoxian rubbed her feet and casually mentioned, "Let's arrange to meet that pretty boy in the evening. You don't have classes in the evening, right?"

Yu Tang felt that Yu Chaoxian did it on purpose. The gossip news was so sensational that it would pop up on her phone even if she didn't want to see it. Yu Tang didn't believe he didn't know about it, and he even came over to ask her if she was going.

"I don't want to go." Yu Tang buried her head in her notes from the previous class.

Yu Chaoxian asked knowingly, "Why don't you want to go again?"

As soon as class ended, the classmates' group chat started buzzing with gossip again. The chat page that was opened clearly showed "cheating" and "hooking up".

Yu Tang immediately closed the page. Her idol of many years was so despicable! From shock to anger, then to disappointment, it was truly devastating. And Yu Chaoxian just had to bring up the very thing she didn't want to talk about. She turned away angrily and sadly: "I already said I wasn't going. Are you deaf?"

"Are you angry again?" Yu Chaoxian chuckled and kissed her on the corner of her mouth. This time, it wasn't him who caused the trouble; it was that pretty boy who was in the wrong.

The man pulled her close, wrapping his arm around her. "What's so great about someone like that?"

Her slender back bumped against his chest, and Yu Tang could clearly feel the vibration of his chest as he laughed. Yu Chaoxian was clearly gloating and mocking her.

The aftershocks of her idol's downfall still lingered in her chest. She said listlessly, "I want to go back to my room and rest."

Yu Chaoxian raised his hand to rub her head, but it was slapped away.

"Tsk." He stared at the red mark on the back of his hand, his laughter only widening. "You have terrible taste in idols, but your temper has certainly grown."

Now, Yu Tang would rather look at her class notes than watch TV dramas every night, which makes her husband even more satisfied.

Ivan followed the two of them and could clearly sense that Yu Tang was not in a good mood, but the boss was in a good mood.