Chapter 106 Starting Over

On a summer night, cicadas chirped, and the leaves of the plane trees in the villa area rustled.

Zhou Chong carried Jiang Wan on his back, walking slowly along the pebbly path.

The person on his back seemed to be asleep, but also seemed not to be asleep; their eyes were closed, but they kept muttering to themselves.

He was talking, but it was unclear whether he was talking in his sleep or drunkenly.

Zhou Chong patiently kept talking to the little drunkard.

"Zhou Chong, I'm so hot. I want to take a cold shower in a bit."

"No, you're drunk. Taking a cold shower will make you catch a cold, and then you'll have a headache the next day."

"I'm not drunk." Jiang Wan stubbornly tried to prove herself. "I'm really not drunk. Look how clearly I'm speaking. I can answer any question you ask me, really."

Zhou Chong paused, turning his head to look at her. "Can I ask you anything?"

"Yes, you can ask me anything." Jiang Wan narrowed her eyes, tilted her head and leaned on his shoulder, rubbing against his neck like a kitten.

Zhou Chong's Adam's apple bobbed as he forced down the agitation in his heart. "Do you know how old I am?"

"Such a simple question, you underestimate me." Jiang Wan snorted and answered with her eyes closed, "You're twenty-eight years old."

She quickly corrected herself, "Oh no, no, you're eighteen, you're only eighteen!"

Zhou Chong chuckled to himself, "Just as I suspected."

She didn't know he had returned here. If it weren't for her drunkenness and confused memory, she would have always thought of him as an eighteen-year-old boy.

If that's the case, Zhou Chong thought for a moment, then what was the purpose of all her previous care and closeness towards him?

He had a vague answer in his heart, but he wasn't sure.

Zhou Chong turned his head to the side and gazed quietly at Jiang Wan, whose eyes were still closed and whose long eyelashes trembled slightly.

Perhaps we'll get the answer tonight.

"Wanwan," Zhou Chong said softly, "the person you like... is it me?"

Jiang Wan made a nasal sound, "Mmm..."

The words were a little blurry, and Zhou Chong worried that he had misheard. "Could you say it again? Do you like me?"

"I like you." Jiang Wan's answer was clear this time.

Zhou Chong stopped in his tracks.

All the sounds around me seemed to disappear—the chirping of cicadas, the sound of the wind, the rustling of leaves—everything was still.

All that could be heard was the rapid pounding of my heart inside my chest.

"You're my husband, who else would I like if I didn't like you?" Jiang Wan pouted and muttered softly, "Why are you asking such a question?"

Zhou Chong's heart skipped a beat, disrupting the increasingly fast-paced rhythm.

He looked at her with a calm gaze, his eyes seemingly swirling with unseen emotions. "Which version of me do you like?"

"Strange question." Jiang Wan opened her eyes groggily, gently raised her arms from around Zhou Chong's neck, and cupped his face in her hands. "Of course, I'll always love you."

After saying that, she smiled, leaned closer, looked into his bright black eyes, and asked softly, "Zhou Chong, do you like me?"

Zhou Chong's heart softened completely.

Those eyes, shimmering with moisture, were now only looking at him.

"I like it," he said.

I really like it.

As if she had received a satisfying answer, Jiang Wan smiled, cupped his face, closed her eyes, and kissed his lips.

A warm, soft sensation came from my slightly cool lips.

As the faint aroma of alcohol reached his lips, Zhou Chong tasted a flavor that didn't belong to him.

Unlike the passionate kisses that couples shared at night in their past lives, this was just a simple, awkward, yet tender kiss.

The restless heartbeat in my chest quieted down in an instant.

The moonlight shone down on the two of them, casting long, intertwined shadows.

On this ordinary summer night, his little moon finally descended for him.

Zhou Chong closed his eyes, and a tear, seemingly out of nowhere, slid down his cheek.

"Wanwan, let's start over."

-

The first light of dawn.

Perhaps due to the effects of alcohol, Jiang Wan slept very soundly and comfortably.

She felt so comfortable that even though she could clearly sense the light coming from outside the window, she couldn't open her eyes no matter what she did.

It felt like she had traveled all night and was finally nearing her destination. The physical exhaustion and the joy in her heart coexisted, making her want to stay in a dream, yet also wanting to wake up quickly.

After struggling for a while, a familiar yet unfamiliar feeling of falling suddenly came over her, and she opened her eyes abruptly.

The heavy curtains were still drawn, with only a small gap allowing a ray of sunlight to filter through, enough to tell the weather.

It was a bright and sunny day outside.

Jiang Wan narrowed her eyes and subconsciously reached for her phone on the bedside table, wanting to check the time.

He reached his hand toward the side of the bed, but instead of finding his phone, he unexpectedly touched a patch of smooth, plump skin.

!

What happened?

There's someone lying in her bed?!

Jiang Wan abruptly withdrew her hand, turned over, and stared wide-eyed at the person beside her.

The room was dimly lit, with only a beam of light filtering through the curtains, illuminating the man's high, straight nose and making his already sharp jawline appear even more defined in the shadows.

Jiang Wan was dumbfounded.

This is Zhou Chong.

She scratched her head in frustration, trying to recall what had happened last night.

All she remembered was that she and Sun Qianyu had a blast singing and drinking at the karaoke bar last night, and she was so drunk that she couldn't even walk straight. Zhou Chong had to help her out of the private room.

After leaving the KTV, Zhou Chong apparently hailed a car, picked her up, and put her in the back seat, saying he would take her home.

She couldn't remember anything after that.

It was just a few bottles of beer, how could it have made her so drunk that she blacked out?

To make matters worse, she has now woken up in the same bed as Zhou Chong.

Could it be that last night, after she got drunk, she dragged Zhou Chong to the hotel and then forced herself on him?

The thought of this possibility almost made Jiang Wan scream in panic.

That's not right. In a flash, Jiang Wan suddenly remembered something very important.

If she doesn't come home all night, wouldn't her parents be worried?

Is her phone full of missed calls?

Regardless of the current situation, she still had to call Ms. Shan Tong back first, otherwise her parents would probably go crazy with worry.

Thinking of this, she sat up and tiptoed over Zhou Chong, reaching out to grab her phone on the bedside table. But when her eyes fell on the photo frame on the bedside table, she froze.

That was her wedding photo with Zhou Chong.

She didn't want to hang a large wedding photo above her bed in the past, so she only placed this small photo frame on the bedside table.

How did her wedding photo with Zhou Chong end up here?

Could this be...?

Jiang Wan belatedly realized something was wrong. She slowly withdrew her gaze and looked around in the dim light.

Even though she hadn't been back for a while, she recognized him at a glance.

This is the master bedroom in Yunxi Bay, her and Zhou Chong's marital home, the place where they shared a bed every night.

She slowly lowered her eyes and turned to look at Zhou Chong lying beside her.

I don't know when, but he had already opened his eyes, his deep gaze meeting mine in the darkness.

Jiang Wan's heart skipped a beat.

The man's face before me was clear, deep, and three-dimensional.

She was still a little dizzy when she woke up, so she didn't realize it at first.

Such sharp and deep-set eyes do not belong to eighteen-year-old Xiao Zhou.

Instead, it was Zhou Chong, who later turned twenty-eight.