60. The Moon Hides the Egret
◎End of main text [Part 1]◎
Shang Xinuan's hand was still being tightly gripped by Li Xiran under the table, especially after she uttered that arrogant remark, the grip became even stronger.
The young lady frowned, trying to struggle, "It hurts, Li Xiran."
Li Xiran looked at her with red eyes, filled with barely concealed passion, desire, and possessiveness.
Even his voice became restrained and stoic, "Who was it that just said, 'Don't pity your delicate flower'?"
Shang Xinuan pouted, lowered her eyes and pretended to be pitiful, "It's appropriate to show some tenderness."
Li Xiran reluctantly let go, but still warned, "Be good, or you'll regret it when we get back."
It sounded just like the tone of a warning from an elder when she was a child. As he turned around, the young lady secretly stuck out her tongue.
He thought to himself that he had never been so formal before, but in front of the younger generation, he was acting like a proper elder.
"Pretending," the young lady muttered under her breath.
She immediately recalled how, before the truth was revealed, Li Xiran's attitude towards her was one of doting affection mixed with a touch of elder's authority.
Thinking of this, Shang Xinuan lifted her foot and left a black shoe print on Li Xiran's white sneakers.
"?" Li Xiran remained silent, only looking at her again with a puzzled expression.
The young lady, with a serious expression, preemptively lectured Li Xiran in her tone, saying, "You're such a grown-up, don't put your feet down like that."
Li Xiran took a deep breath, raised an eyebrow, and remained silent.
But the hand holding the menu fell to the ground, and when no one was paying attention, it pinched the young lady's round and plump buttocks hard.
"I'll collect some interest first. When I get home tonight, I'll show you what I'm made of."
Shang Xinuan naturally realized that this was not a joke, so no matter how she secretly tugged at Li Xiran, he remained unmoved, simply cutting his steak in a refined and elegant manner.
After the meal, Shang Xinuan had lost all appetite.
As they left the restaurant, the car that would take the four of them to Piazzale Michelangelo to watch the sunset arrived.
The van wasn't going fast, and Shang Xinuan and Li Xiran sat in the back row.
Swaying unsteadily, the young lady's eyelids grew heavy, and she slumped into Li Xiran's arms.
After an overnight flight, everyone in the car was exhausted.
Shang Xinuan was the first to fall asleep and the first to wake up.
The car was air-conditioned, and she was covered with a thin blanket, with Li Xiran's coat over her upper body.
The warm scent of cedar and herbs surrounds the whole body, even the chest feels warm.
However, the friction on her lower back was too intense, and while protecting her, Li Xiran didn't forget to take advantage of her as well.
The argument didn't end until the car reached their destination, and her clothes were wrinkled at the lower back.
Shang Xinu tried to smooth over the ambiguous atmosphere by turning her waist to the side, but when she realized it was futile, she glared at Li Xiran resentfully and said, "You're so annoying. Go back and iron my clothes. If you don't iron them properly, you won't be able to sleep tonight."
Li Xiran showed no remorse whatsoever, but rather a hint of smugness. His hand was still around the young lady's waist, and he pinched her when no one was looking. Then he leaned down and whispered in her ear, his breath reddening, "Okay, I promise I'll iron the young lady's whole body smooth tonight."
-
That evening, the sunset first bathed Piazzale Michelangelo in a golden glow.
As soon as they entered the hotel room, before the lights were even turned on, Shang Xinuan was already carried by Li Xiran to the entryway cabinet.
The kiss was breathtaking, and Shang Xinuan pressed herself against the wooden panel of the wardrobe, feeling as if she had no bones.
After noticing the changes in Li Xiran's body, his hands began to tremble.
The lawlessness of the entire day finally gave way to a tense standoff as night fell.
Her face was held in Li Xiran's hands, and the more she tried to escape, the tighter she felt confined.
The man's other long, slender, fair hand slipped inside her clothes.
Soft and delicate, like a beautiful snow-capped mountain.
A light drizzle began to fall in her heart.
"No, not here." Because she could clearly hear the sounds outside the door.
Men and women, speaking a cacophony of languages. Just like her at this moment, caught in a web of forces.
Li Xiran's shirt collar was disheveled and spilled out from his trousers.
As he moved, the tattoo on his waist would appear and disappear randomly.
"You were pretty daring to do that in front of so many people during the day, weren't you?" Li Xiran grabbed Shang Xinuan's waist, lifted her off the entryway cabinet, turned her over, and pressed her, covered in pink fluid, against the door. "Nuan Nuan, I gave you a chance."
She herself said, "Don't pity this delicate flower."
As the young lady's loyal bodyguard, he obeyed unconditionally.
The skirt, which had been crumpled and wrinkled long ago, was now piled up around her waist.
The waves rose and fell, and just as she was about to turn around and beg for mercy, her lips were sealed again.
Later, she first tried to soften her tone and apologize, but when that didn't work, tears started streaming down her face.
"Li Xiran, you're bullying me." Her voice choked with emotion, echoing the sound of the waves.
Looking down, I could see water droplets covering the floor. I couldn't tell if they were tears or water from a gushing valve.
"In our family, is it only allowed for the eldest young lady to bully me?" He finally slowed down, still unable to bear seeing the eldest young lady suffer even the slightest grievance.
"Tired, in pain..." She started trembling.
Li Xiran stopped and threw away all the clothes the two of them were wearing.
Then she picked up Shang Xinuan in her arms and carried her to the bedroom.
"How come the young lady is tired when she hasn't done anything?"
People who are delicate and pampered usually just lie in bed.
The beads of sweat on Ren Lixiran's neck pelted against her chest.
It was also thanks to Li Xiran being a person who was enthusiastic about service that he could always satisfy himself while taking the young lady through the ups and downs of life.
"It hurts..." she said, her eyes reddening, before quickly changing her words.
Li Xiran had no choice but to kneel down on the edge of the bed and hold her ankle. "Let me see."
After a whole day of wanton flirting, he had no interest in the last project after nightfall.
Everything I thought about, saw, and even the air I breathed was filled with the fragrance of Shang Xinuan's body.
Upon returning, he was so eager that there was no tender foreplay whatsoever.
Li Xiran wasn't sure if his recklessness had hurt her.
“A little bit red…” As he spoke, the burning breath from his mouth created even deeper ripples.
Shang Xinuan turned her head to look at his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. Sensing the danger in his eyes, she tried to pull her legs away, but she was already pulled over.
"Why are you running? Let me rub it for you." Li Xiran said with a mischievous smile.
When she bent down again, Shang Xinuan felt electric currents surging through her hair.
It was probably because she was ignorant that she learned about this different kind of massage for the first time.
The night in the penthouse suite becomes viscous under this honey-colored light.
The delicate girl leaned back in the swaying lamplight.
I was so tired from all the noise that I fell asleep and lost consciousness.
-
The four of them spent more than a week in Florence.
Shang Xinuan's original impression of this city was full of the beautiful Florence described in Xu Zhimo's poetry collection.
It wasn't until the following days, when she relied entirely on Li Xiran to carry her back and forth, that she realized that her Florence was the last two words in "A Night in Florence".
On the day their trip ended, Shang Dan and Qiao Xi boarded a flight back to China, while Shang Xinuan and Li Xiran flew directly to London.
Before the plane even took off, the young lady had already closed her eyes in exhaustion.
Back in Cambridgeshire, he lay in bed for two days, feeling groggy, before he could recover.
"Is it really that exaggerated?" That night, Li Xiran held the ointment, pressed one leg against Shang Xinuan's knee, and used his palm to melt the ointment and massage the young lady's lower back.
"Li Xiran, if you use any more force, my waist will be covered in bruises." She still remembers the sound of the upholstered bed board hitting the wall.
If they hadn't been living in a penthouse suite, they would have been verbally abused countless times by their neighbors.
"Okay, I promise I won't touch you again for the next few days."
At this time, there were still more than half a year before Shang Xinuan graduated with a master's degree, and Li Xiran also had to start busying himself with merging some of the London business back to Shanghai.
He went to central London during the day, and when he returned to his bedroom after a meeting in the evening, Shang Xinuan was already asleep.
"You're not allowed to torment me again this week, until next weekend." Shang Xinu buried her face in the pillow, her voice soft and gentle. "Before I go on a business trip to Sweden with the professor and my senior colleagues at the end of the month, we'll... you know..."
Li Xiran raised his hand and began to tidy up the medicated oil on the bed. "Hmm, does this count as Miss getting her salary before going on a business trip?"
"Shut up." She turned around and glared at Li Xiran, her elbow aching as she tossed down her clothes, adding, "You old scoundrel."
The old rogue could only sigh helplessly as he got up, "Sigh, in this family, it's always been the young lady who's allowed to set fires, but I'm not allowed to light a lamp."
Shang Xi is sweet and coquettish, and likes to tease people on purpose.
Afterwards, exhausted from all the commotion, they wanted to vent their anger.
However, Li Xiran repeatedly failed to control himself, and Shang Xinuan had a habit of never learning from past mistakes.
The two of them continued in this cycle.
-
In late November, the wind howled through Sweden.
As soon as Shang Xinuan got off the plane, she was suffocated by the biting cold wind.
This was the first time she had traveled alone without Li Xiran's company since coming to Cambridge to study.
My phone beeped while I was waiting to check my luggage in.
It was obvious that the message came from Li Xiran.
[Bright Moon Hidden Egret: Has it landed yet?]
Shang Xinuan dialed his number, and there was a lot of noise on the other end.
"It's so late, are you still out?" Shang Xinuan questioned, "Why don't you come home when I'm not here?"
Li Xiran's voice was tinged with weariness, "Miss, you're wronging me."
"What's wrong?" Shang Xinuan noticed the low mood in his tone.
After Li Xiran escorted Shang Xinuan to the security checkpoint, his phone began to ring incessantly, mainly about the connection issues between London and China.
The London branch's conference room transformed into a battlefield filled with the smoke of battle after he took his seat.
"It's nothing, just a little problem." Although Li Xiran told Shang Xinuan to relax, his hoarse voice betrayed his distress today.
I don't believe it.
"I've already taken care of it."
Li Xiran still didn't tell her the details of the argument, nor did he want her to be distracted while on a business trip.
"Li Xiran, I can share the burden of the Li family with you." She has grown up and doesn't want to remain a sheltered and naive young lady forever.
Upon hearing this, Li Xiran chuckled, as if the gloom of the entire day had been swept away. "It's really all taken care of. Miss only needs to focus on her studies; I'll handle the rest."
Shang Xin held the phone tightly, as if trying to etch the voice on the other end into her heart, "Li Xiran, you will always have me."
"Nuan Nuan, I'm starting to miss you." He was inevitably struck in the heart; the longing was like a parasite, spreading to every part of his body.
"I'll be home in a week," Shang Xi said gently. "Hugs, sweetie."
Although she didn't know what work problems Li Xiran was facing, she knew that he needed emotional support and companionship at this time.
"Okay, I'll wait for you to come home."
After hanging up the phone, the conveyor belt began transporting the luggage.
After a bumpy journey, the group finally arrived at the hotel late at night.
Shang Xinuan sent another message to Li Xiran, but there was no reply.
She stood by the misty window, breathed on the glass, and traced Li Xiran's name with her finger.
"Aren't you going to sleep yet?" It was my senior classmate.
Shang Xinuan turned around and said, "Okay, I'll go to sleep now."
She crawled into the cold blankets and curled up her arms and legs.
As the long, cold night unfolds, my longing grows ever stronger.
The next day, as dawn broke, everyone had packed up their laptops and notebooks and set off.
In the city at dawn, silver frost covered the roadside greenery.
Shang Xinuan glanced at her phone again, but still saw no messages from Li Xiran.
However, the work that followed was rigorous, and she was only briefly distracted for a moment before her senior colleague pulled her aside to check the literature.
Before the commercial vehicle arrived at the Academy of Sciences, security personnel requested that all signal sources be blocked.
Shang Xinuan glanced at the time; it was 8:30 a.m.
When everyone finally finished their day's work and walked out of the central hall, the Swedish sky was once again shrouded in darkness.
Shang Xin slumped in the car, her hands aching and her mind exhausted.
However, she still hadn't received any messages about Li Xiran on WeChat. Instead, Qiao Xi sent several voice messages after learning that Li Xiran had arrived in Sweden.
[Qiao Xi: Studying and working are probably the only hardships our young lady can endure...]
[Qiao Xi: After graduation, why not just have my uncle set up a private studio for you? Working for capitalists is no better than being a capitalist yourself.]
Shang Xin blinked her eyes, which had been staring at the computer all day; her eyes were sore.
[Silver Bowl Filled with Snow: Thank you, kind sir.]
After replying to Qiao Xi's message, Shang Xinuan gazed at the snowflakes falling outside the window and closed her eyes tightly.
However, just as the car pulled into the hotel where they were staying, the senior student sitting next to Shang Xinuan woke her up, saying, "That person looks like your boyfriend."
Shang Xinuan was still half asleep when she hurriedly leaned over the car window.
The European-style manor hotel's water viewing platform is frozen over in winter, covered with a thin layer of white snow.
Li Xiran stood in the deep blue mist, wearing a long black wool coat.
Seeing their car arrive, Li Xiran rubbed his hands together and stepped forward.
After the car came to a complete stop, she proactively opened the door on the Shangxin side.
The young lady threw aside the backpack she was carrying and jumped directly into his arms from inside the carriage.
Li Xiran had been standing outside for an unknown amount of time, and his arms were slightly chilled by the snow.
"Why are you here?" Although she missed him, she wasn't at the point where she wanted to cling to him all the time.
"I missed you, Miss." Li Xiran's voice was slightly nasal, full of accusation, and she sounded extremely aggrieved. "I lied to you yesterday. People at the company bullied me. They didn't listen to me."
"You dare to disobey Chairman Li? That's too much." Somewhat miraculously, Shang Xinuan's fatigue from the whole day was dispelled by Li Xiran's coquettishness at this moment.
"So I came to find my wife to heal my wounds."
"Chairman Li, that's a bit naive."
The professors and students on the bus all knew Li Xiran, and they all left with big, warm smiles on their faces.
The senior sister was even more considerate, taking Shang Xinuan's backpack with her.
Li Xiran buried his head in Shang Xin's warm hair. Even though he was usually such a tall and strong person, he showed a vulnerable and childlike side in front of his lover.
“Young Miss, it was you who said you wanted to hug my sweetie that I came all this way.”
A note from the author:
I thought I could finish writing the whole plot today, but it turns out there's one last big plot point left.
The main story will end tomorrow!
Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 2023-06-19 23:31:36 and 2023-06-22 23:40:23!
Thank you to the little angels who watered my soy milk: I spilled my soy milk!!! 1 bottle;
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
