Chapter 28 Physiological Liking to the End…
Jiang Nuanyu felt Liang Qi pull the blanket up for her, and then she heard his footsteps gradually fading away. Faintly, she could hear the sound of flowing water, but it wasn't clear.
Her mind and body felt as if they had been emptied at the same time; her consciousness was floating and sinking, half-dreaming and half-awake, making it difficult for her to recognize anything around her.
Suddenly, she felt a warm, damp sensation on her skin. She opened her eyes groggily and found Liang Qi wiping her body.
Her mind, which was not yet fully awake, jolted instantly. She instinctively wanted to shrink back into the blanket, but as soon as she moved, Liang Qi's hand gently pressed down on her leg.
"Don't move," he said, his voice sounding particularly deep and gentle in the quiet bedroom.
Jiang Nuanyu really didn't move anymore. Besides subconsciously obeying, she also wanted to pretend that she hadn't woken up yet.
Compared to her skin, the towel felt slightly rough. When it rubbed against a certain spot, she felt a sudden pain and unconsciously pulled her leg back.
"Does it still hurt?" Liang Qi looked up at her.
Jiang Nuanyu kept her eyes closed, held her breath, and refused to answer, continuing to pretend to be asleep, even though she knew perfectly well that he already knew she was awake.
Liang Qi didn't force her to speak anymore, and continued his actions, but with a lighter touch than before.
The room was quiet. Jiang Nuanyu quietly squinted her eyes and saw Liang Qi leaning against the bed, wearing a smoky gray bathrobe with the belt loosely tied. Following her gaze down his chest, in the dim, soft light, the cleavage between his legs was faintly visible.
She immediately recalled the firm yet comforting feeling when their bodies were pressed together, and her already hot face became even hotter.
She closed her eyes, avoiding the issue, unwilling to accept reality.
After Liang Qi quickly wiped and cleaned her up, confirming that there were no serious tears, he got up and pulled the blanket over her again.
He glanced at her slightly pursed lips, but ultimately said nothing and walked away.
Jiang Nuanyu initially listened intently to the sounds, but perhaps due to exhaustion and the slight chill from the rain, she fell asleep again without realizing it.
She slept very soundly. When she woke up, her mind was unsure whether the memories she had before falling asleep were real.
She stared at the ceiling for a few seconds, then propped herself up and sat up.
Like the main hall outside, this bedroom was also ridiculously large. At this moment, only the faint light cast down the walls made it difficult to see the specific details, but one could vaguely sense that it shared the same style as the outside.
The bedroom door had two doors, one of which was half-open and not closed. Light from outside streamed in, illuminating the area in front of the doorway.
Suddenly, her gaze sharpened as she looked at a small piece of fabric on the bench at the foot of the bed. The light-colored fabric stood out starkly against the black bench—it was her underwear.
Her head buzzed, a surge of heat rushed to the top of her head, and she immediately closed her eyes to calm her trembling shame, then quickly crawled over and put it on.
As she rolled out of bed, her feet had just touched the ground when a soft light shone from under the bed. She didn't know why she felt guilty, but she was startled by the light, her heart pounding.
She walked barefoot to the bedroom door and suddenly heard Liang Qi talking on the phone outside.
For some reason, she didn't dare to go out.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the light under the bed had dimmed. She turned to look at the unfamiliar large bed; its presence, and the subtle pain she felt beneath it as she walked, were evidence that she wasn't dreaming.
Even though it had only been a short time, she felt it was so distant and unattainable.
Liang Qi hung up the phone, and it became quiet outside. Jiang Nuanyu subconsciously slowed her breathing, stood frozen for a moment, and then, like a thief, tiptoed carefully to the window.
She didn't know how long she had slept, but the rain outside had stopped. The night sky after the rain was exceptionally bright, a deep blue-black.
She slowly squatted down, hugging her knees, and rested her head against the glass window.
Feeling heavy-hearted and confused, she was extremely annoyed.
She had thought that she could take intimacy between men and women in stride, regarding it as a natural and pure way for adults to express affection, without needing to confirm any relationship beforehand.
But when intimacy actually happens, when the body and its reactions are completely exposed, things are not as simple as imagined.
The shame of falling into depravity and the shame of sobering up are two completely different feelings.
She didn't drink any alcohol, so how could she...?
She was in pain and filled with self-blame, feeling helpless and lost. For the first time, she wondered if she had made a mistake in choosing Liang Qi as her partner.
When Liang Qi entered the room, he glanced at the bed but didn't see anyone. He then turned around and saw someone squatting by the window.
Her hair covered most of her body, and she curled up in a ball, her hands covering her head, like a small landmine.
"Awake?" He casually pressed the switch on the wall.
The entire room suddenly lit up, revealing every corner. Jiang Nuanyu turned her head sharply, her eyes wide open.
Liang Qi was about to ask her why she was squatting on the ground when he saw the panic, helplessness, and even defensiveness in her eyes, and he stopped talking.
Jiang Nuanyu also looked at him intently.
She wanted reassurance from him to overturn the regret, shame, and self-blame she had just felt. She wanted confirmation that her choice was not wrong.
But Liang Qi's expression was calm, and his gaze towards her was quite indifferent.
She immediately backed down, and a strange sense of grievance welled up inside her.
The two stared at each other in silence for a moment before Liang Qi finally spoke first.
"Your phone rang twice; the caller might have something urgent."
Jiang Nuanyu paused for two seconds, stood up, but remained rooted to the spot, as if the phone in his hand would explode if she took a single step forward.
Therefore, Liang Qi did not choose to approach her. He knew that sex was irrational, and once the torrent of desire subsided, he was willing to give her space to sort things out.
He pursed his lips, stared at her for a few seconds, then relaxed his gaze and looked away.
Another suffocating silence ensued.
Jiang Nuanyu's toes gripped the floor tightly, wishing she could teleport and immediately go home to hide.
Unfortunately, she didn't have that ability.
Thankfully, her phone rang again. She breathed a sigh of relief and quickly went to answer it. But a glance at the screen turned that relief into a new burden.
The call was from Ye Ji.
Answering Ye Ji's call at this moment was obviously inappropriate, but if she didn't answer, she had no idea how to face Liang Qi.
Ultimately, she chose worse over worse.
"Hello?" Ye Ji's voice came through the receiver as soon as the call connected, "Why did it take you so long to answer? I'm coming to your place tonight, I just left."
Jiang Nuanyu: "..."
Ye Ji hesitated for two seconds before asking, "Are you home?"
Jiang Nuanyu stammered, "I...I'm still working overtime."
Ye Ji glanced at the time in the taxi: "It's already ten o'clock."
"I'm currently busy with something."
Ye Ji then said, "Are you in your office or somewhere else? I'll come find you, and we can go back together."
"...Huh?" Jiang Nuanyu panicked for a moment. She had nowhere she could possibly send Ye Ji to find her.
Regardless of whether the lie was logically sound, she blurted out, "You don't need to come looking for me, I'm... about to go home."
After she finished speaking, she subconsciously turned around, only to find that Liang Qi was no longer there.
She said, "Go upstairs when you get there, I'll be back in a bit. You know the password anyway."
"Oh. Okay." Ye Ji vaguely sensed something was wrong, paused, and then instructed, "Send me the license plate number after you get a taxi."
Jiang Nuanyu quickly replied, "Okay."
Ye Ji said, "See you in a bit."
"...See you in a bit."
After hanging up the phone, Jiang Nuanyu held her phone and let out a long sigh of relief.
That's why lying is such an inefficient thing. It may be easy in the moment, but you'll have to use countless lies to cover it up afterwards.
She licked her lips, mentally prepared herself, and walked out of the bedroom. To the right of the door was the wall of books that served as a partition.
There was no one on the sofa, so she took a few steps forward and walked around to the wall of books. Sure enough, Liang Qi was sitting behind his desk.
Hearing the noise, he turned his gaze from the computer screen.
Unlike the bathrobe she had only glanced at earlier, Liang Qi had changed into a set of loungewear, very similar in style to hers. But perhaps because he was dealing with work, his entire aura was anything but gentle.
He stared at her, his eyes clear, as if trying to see through her inside and out.
Jiang Nuanyu's eyes darted away, momentarily forgetting what she had originally intended to say to him.
After waiting a while without her speaking, Liang Qi said, "Are you hungry? I know a place nearby at this hour—"
“My friend is at my house,” Jiang Nuanyu interrupted him quickly. “I have to go back.”
Liang Qi raised his eyebrows slightly, pursed his lips, and nodded slowly.
He nodded.
She wanted to leave, and he didn't force her to stay. She should have felt relieved, but a subtle sense of loneliness was tearing at her heart.
She hesitated for a few seconds before finally asking, "My clothes, where are they...?"
Liang Qi tapped the tabletop lightly with the hand he had placed there and said, "On the sofa."
"Thank you." She said thank you abruptly and turned to walk towards the sofa.
When she came out after changing into her own clothes, Liang Qi was already leaning against the entryway waiting for her. It was unusual for him not to be wearing a suit; he was wearing a white T-shirt and a black jacket, a look she had never seen before.
He held a car key in his hand. Hearing footsteps, he looked up and tilted his head towards the door: "I'll take you home."
Jiang Nuanyu instinctively wanted to refuse, but then she thought that with Liang Qi's manners, he would never let her leave alone.
She could only nod, turn around to get her bag, and follow him out the door with her head down.
Down in the garage, she reluctantly got into the passenger seat.
From the moment he left, Liang Qi remained silent. Although he was not a talkative person to begin with, his silence at this moment subtly encroached on her space.
After the car merged into the traffic, Jiang Nuanyu couldn't help but steal a glance at him.
Liang Qi was driving when he glanced down for a moment, then turned back to look at her. Jiang Nuanyu's heart skipped a beat, and she quickly turned her head back to look out the window.
The streetlights cast flickering light on her face, reflecting the turmoil in her mind.
At night, there weren't many cars on the road, and driving was very smooth. Midway through the journey, she looked at him again.
He looked ahead, his expression calm and focused, showing no emotion.
This time, he didn't look back.
The car finally stopped at the entrance of her residential complex, and the door unlocked automatically with a "click." Compared to the long silence along the way, the mechanical sound seemed particularly abrupt.
Liang Qi turned his head, seemingly waiting for her to speak.
Jiang Nuanyu lowered her head, and after a few seconds, she only said, "Thank you."
Liang Qi's expression remained unchanged, and he did not respond to her words.
Perhaps knowing that this wasn't what she wanted to say, or that it was more than that, he remained silent, his gaze fixed firmly on her face.
Unable to bear it any longer, Jiang Nuanyu hurriedly unbuckled her seatbelt, pushed open the car door, and practically fled.
The "goodbye" he said before leaving was probably drowned out by the sound of the car door closing and went unheard.
She walked quickly to the entrance of the residential area, and when she looked back, Liang Qi's car was driving away from the roadside.
The autumn wind, chilly and biting, swept across her face after the torrential rain in the dead of night. Her heart felt as if it were in an ice cellar, and she could no longer discern what she truly wanted.
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