41. Snow in a silver bowl
Should we continue what we were just interrupted about?
"Stop! I refuse to be subjected to this public display of affection," Qiao Xi said sourly to the two of them.
The young lady immediately retorted, "Is it only the magistrate who's allowed to set fires? Have you even counted how much dog food you and my brother have been eating at home lately?"
"Oh my, so the little sister-in-law is protecting her now?" Qiao Xi stood close to Shang Xin and nudged her with her shoulder.
Shang Xinuan wasn't going to back down either, and immediately pinched him back, "You only have three or four months left before your engagement ceremony. If you don't get rid of the fat around your waist, you might not be able to fit into that custom-made dress with your perfect figure."
"Oh, you!" Qiao Xi looked at her deliberately teasing expression and immediately reached back to pinch her most voluptuous part. "I'm still your sister-in-law, how can you talk to me like that!"
Shang Xinuan was not going to stand still and let her bully her, so the two of them chased each other around Li Xiran.
Li Xiran stood with his arms crossed, letting the two argue and make noise, while he watched them with a gentle smile in his eyes.
The sound of rain outside the glass door seemed to rise in pitch because of the two of them, and under the indoor lights, the splashing raindrops looked like blooming golden fireworks.
He used to dislike rainy weather the most, but today he found a different kind of warmth and life in it.
He even hoped that such peaceful and tranquil moments could last a long time in his life, ideally for a lifetime.
"Uncle, you need to do something about her!" Qiao Xi couldn't catch up with Shang Xinuan, and she wasn't as eloquent either.
"You can't beat me, can you!" The young lady, still in high heels, grabbed Li Xiran's clothes to maintain her balance as she ran. "Even flat shoes can't catch me, Cai Xi."
Finally, just when she was about to twist her ankle, Li Xiran caught her in his arms with lightning speed.
The man's chest was broad and warm, protecting her completely.
"Xixi, don't be disrespectful to your elders." The person who had been silent for a long time suddenly spoke up.
Qiao Xi froze on the spot, "An elder?"
"Did you hear that, little Xixi!" Shang Xinuan said smugly, hugging Li Xiran's arm and shaking her head.
"One against two, I really can't win!" Qiao Xi picked up the certificates and trophies she had placed on the ground and shouted, "Li Xiran, you just wait and see, you'll be calling me sister-in-law!"
After saying that, the disrespectful person turned and ran away, saying, "My future husband is coming to pick me up soon to celebrate. Goodbye!"
The two who remained in place embraced each other affectionately.
Shang Xinuan first realized that her arms were wrapped around Li Xiran's neck, while Li Xiran's hands were firmly wrapped around her waist to protect her balance.
"Are you going to hold me the whole time?" the young lady asked coquettishly, raising an eyebrow.
Li Xiran then pretended not to understand, "If you find the high heels uncomfortable, you can just keep holding them."
"Of course, even if you don't think the shoes matter, you can keep holding them."
A man who is usually restrained and polite is now like a seductive and alluring male enchantress.
Especially those amber and jade-like eyes, full of exotic charm, allowed Shang Xinuan to easily see her own emotional reflection through those crystal-clear pupils.
"I should go home." The young lady nudged him with her elbow, panting heavily.
There was a fleeting moment when she genuinely wanted to take things further with him.
You can hug and kiss.
It can illuminate that enchanting night in her life.
"Carry you back to the car?" The man didn't hold back, his intimate breath brushing against her cheek.
"The knife wound on your chest hasn't fully healed yet; you might tear it open if you exert too much force."
"Then let's wait until the wound heals before putting pressure on it?"
These words carried a slightly wicked and improper tone, and Shang Xi's warm ears began to burn.
Li Xiran chuckled softly, raised his hand and ruffled her hair. "I'll hold the umbrella, let's go."
-
Since Chen Shaoyi committed the crime in the underground parking garage, Li Xiran's car has only been parked outside the shopping mall.
It's raining today, and he'd rather wade through the puddles and mud than remain in the darkness any longer.
Shang Xinuan was held protectively in his arms, the black umbrella fabric providing her with even greater protection.
She thought that the wounds of Li Xiran's willful childhood must have turned into thorns deeply embedded in his veins as he grew up.
It was like a seal from the gods, imprisoning his entire soul in the cold winter of his tenth year.
That's why his personality contains the trait of being afraid of ropes for ten years after being bitten by a snake once.
This trait allows him to maintain his established behavioral patterns even after he has become a powerful figure.
He will use his habitual way of thinking to remember every pitfall, and he will never fall twice for the same trouble.
His gentle and kind nature, like a spring breeze and warm rain, is a weapon he uses to protect himself.
What threw such a stubborn and self-disciplined person off balance was that she gave up loving him, put aside all her work, and followed him to the Northwest Desert.
Even after learning that she had secretly returned to Shanghai, he did not hesitate to speed after her to the Shang family home on a stormy night.
After that came all sorts of gifts, apologies, and explanations.
What was once a rigid and tranquil mountain can now erupt in a turbulent storm, triggering a massive tsunami.
"What are you standing there for? Get in the car."
Shang Xinuan finally came to her senses and was helped into the passenger seat by him, who was protecting her head.
Where is Chen Ti?
"The company still has things to do and can't do without people."
The young lady rested her chin on her hand and said, "Since you're so busy, why did you make a special trip here?"
Li Xiran, with one hand on the steering wheel, chuckled and ruffled her hair. "You tell me why I made a special trip here."
She was that answer, and of course she knew she was that answer.
Li Xiran deliberately teased her, making her admit it herself.
"How could I possibly know how the wise and powerful Chairman Li arranges his work schedule?" Shang Xinuan raised her eyebrows, her voice sweet and charming.
“What a heartless little thing,” he said. “Then I’ll tell you again, I came here for you.”
The young lady tilted her head, her suppressed laughter finally breaking free. "I understand, I understand, I understand."
"Important things should be said three times."
Li Xiran looked ahead, but his eyes were filled with tender affection.
"Your car smells so good." Suddenly, the young lady wrinkled her nose as she smelled a fragrance.
This scent was different from the warm, herbal cedar fragrance that usually clung to Li Xiran; it was more like a natural floral scent.
“Look back.” At the right moment, the light turned red. Li Xiran rested his elbow on the car window and propped his chin on his hand to watch her reaction.
With a hint of doubt in her eyes, the young lady turned around and saw a bouquet of red roses placed on the back seat.
"I won't send any other flowers this time, just roses, which symbolize love." Because she's a wedding dress model today, and wedding dresses also represent love.
Shang Xinuan looked at Li Xiran again, and his eyes held a love even stronger than that of roses.
Upon first meeting, her heart felt like it was being suddenly thrown into a lake, startling the egrets of her youth.
So, in the endless cycle of memories, she could only see him.
Shang Xinuan leaned forward, took a rose from the bouquet, and put it into the pocket of his suit jacket. "Then I'll give you one too."
She gave him her love.
The enclosed carriage was filled with the rich scent of roses.
Their lips were inches apart; either of them only needed to move forward a millimeter to steal the other's breath.
Shang Xinuan rested her arm on the center console, looking only at Li Xiran.
His Adam's apple bobbed up and down against his shirt collar a few times, and his breathing became heavier and hotter.
His eyes were fixed on her bright red lips, circling around them several times but unable to look away.
He could almost see fairies floating in his mind, urging him to take another step forward and kiss her.
When Shang Xinuan felt the hand climbing up her waist, her eyebrows trembled involuntarily.
He seemed to be reassuring himself, letting her body accept the excessive intimacy that was about to follow.
Then the hand slowly climbed upwards, cupping her back, then her neck, and finally sinking into her cheek.
Shang Xinuan gripped the hem of her cheongsam tightly, her eyelashes blinking wildly.
I was both looking forward to what was going to happen and so nervous that my brain was starting to feel slightly tipsy.
Just as she was about to fall into Li Xiran's embrace, the red light in her peripheral vision flashed a few times, then the green light came on, and the ambiguous atmosphere was instantly broken by the honking of the car behind her.
Shang Xinuan bit her lip tightly and silently pulled the hand off her cheek.
She turned around, her face flushed with embarrassment, wishing she could disappear into Li Xiran's passenger seat.
She was raped; the next step is her downfall.
The rain outside the window was pattering down, just like the rain in her heart.
The carriage was so quiet that even breathing sounded like a hurricane.
Shang Xinuan then heard Li Xiran let out a low laugh, and then the hand that had been cupping her cheek gently rubbed the top of her head.
"What are they doing?"
Shang Xinuan gritted her teeth, thinking to herself that he could actually ask that question.
Can't you tell she's shy?
But seeing that she didn't speak, Li Xiran stopped trying to provoke her and just continued driving.
The rush hour traffic in Shanghai on rainy days is much worse than on weekdays.
On the overpass, all vehicles were moving in and out of control.
"Are you hungry?" Li Xiran asked, breaking the silence as she kept staring at the car door.
Shang Xin shook her head, indicating that she was not hungry.
"So you don't want to talk to me anymore?" The car wasn't going fast. Li Xiran reached out and forced her head to turn towards him. "Nuan Nuan, you can't be the only one who's allowed to flirt with people."
"When did I..." Shang Xinuan was about to retort when she saw Li Xiran raise an eyebrow at her.
The early summer breeze brought back her memories, and even the damp air of the rainy day perfectly replicated that drunken night.
At the welcome banquet for Qiao Xi's return to China after graduation, she took advantage of being drunk and clung to Li Xiran, insisting that he take her home.
That night, she straddled him, in a way a hundred times more intimate than before.
If Li Xiran had abandoned his gentlemanly demeanor, she would have already melted into his arms.
"I don't remember!" She was completely blacked out that night; otherwise, even if she had the courage again, she wouldn't have dared to be so reckless and provocative.
"Want me to help you remember?" Li Xiran asked with a mischievous grin.
"I won't listen!" The young lady immediately covered her ears tightly, as if afraid of witnessing the second personality brought out by alcohol.
Fortunately, Li Xiran didn't continue speaking, but just looked at her with affection and smiled.
The drive, which was less than an hour long, felt like an eternity for Shang Xinuan.
She finally breathed a sigh of relief when the Maybach finally stopped in front of the Shang Mansion.
"I'm home now."
"You were very good that night."
The two people who spoke at the same time both stopped in their tracks as Shang Xinuan reached for the car door.
"Taking advantage of a drunk young girl is not the behavior of a gentleman," Li Xiran said.
The answer that had been troubling Shang Xi was finally revealed, but her first reaction, hidden beneath her calm exterior, was: "I've been through all that, and you haven't done anything. Are you even a man?"
Li Xiran, are you even capable?!
“Nuan Nuan, neither of us drank alcohol today, so our minds are clear.” Li Xiran rested one hand on the steering wheel, staring at her with that alluring smile. His voice was deep and gentle as he asked, “So, shall we continue what we were just interrupted about?”
A note from the author:
Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 2023-05-24 23:06:26 and 2023-05-25 23:44:15!
Thank you to the little angel who watered the nutrient solution: Jinsheng (2 bottles);
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
