Chapter 65 Turn off the lights, collect the payment
Qu He was filled with curiosity, her mind swirling with how Zhuang Bieyan had managed to do it.
She was completely unaware of how intimate their position was; she was practically pressed against him.
Zhuang Bieyan lowered his eyes to look at the person so close to him, and the color in his eyes behind his glasses darkened slightly.
He pondered for a moment, feigning mystery, then asked with a slightly seductive tone, "Want to know?"
Quhe nodded like a chick pecking at rice.
He grasped her wrist and led her to sit down on the bed. "What will you offer in exchange, madam?"
"Exchange?" Qu He was dumbfounded.
She looked up at the cunning glint in his eyes and silently sighed that Zhuang Bieyan was still quite scheming; when did he learn to bargain?
"What do you want?" she asked warily, narrowing her eyes.
Zhuang Bieyan's gaze casually swept over the bedroom. The basic layout, from the curtains to the table decorations, was very cozy. The room was clean and dust-free, clearly indicating that it was cleaned regularly.
He looked away and gently tapped the back of her hand with his finger. "For example... the little secret that your wife has kept hidden for more than ten years."
Qu He crossed her arms and shrank back a little.
Zhuang Bieyan was amused by her appearance and poked her thigh. "What are you thinking about! Mom just told me some things about you when you were little, and she said you have a photo album here? I want to see it."
"That's it?" Qu He raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing he could be so easily dismissed.
"Or... let's try something else?" He deliberately dragged out his words.
"No!" Qu He quickly grabbed his hand, turned around and ran towards the bookshelf, "The photo album is fine, I'll get it for you!"
Watching her bend over and rummage through the closet, Zhuang Bieyan's eyes were overflowing with tenderness.
Qu He quickly found the photo album, which was well protected by a transparent hard case.
"Actually, there aren't many. They were all taken by my dad with his old camera."
Zhuang Bieyan took the photo album, his fingers gently stroking the cover as if touching some precious treasure.
He turned to the first page and began to read slowly.
Qu He looked at the photos with him, and when she saw the picture of her grandmother holding her under the bayberry tree, she felt embarrassed and covered it with her hand.
In the photo, she has two pigtails and her face is tanned dark.
"Well, when I was little... I was quite mischievous and used to being wild in Yujia Ferry. I often ran around in the sun... so I got a little tanned."
Zhuang Bieyan removed her hand from her hand, saying, "She's quite cute."
"She's only three years old, what can she possibly know?" Qu He muttered, her face flushed, but the corners of her mouth couldn't help but turn up in a smile.
Zhuang Bieyan flipped through the pages one by one.
The photo below is of her at age five.
She lay on an old rattan chair under a bayberry tree, a sliced ​​watermelon on a small stool in front of her. She held a spoon and stuffed watermelon into her mouth, laughing carefree.
At five years old, her features had developed, her face wasn't as dark, and you could see some of her current facial contours.
Zhuang Bieyan's fingertip lingered on the photograph for a long time, and his Adam's apple bobbed slightly.
"I don't have many photos from when I was five years old. My mom said that my dad's camera broke at that time, and many photos were lost."
"Huh?"
Qu He pointed to a photo in the album with a puzzled expression.
This is an instant photo; the edges of the film are yellowed, but it's much clearer than other photos.
The little girl in the photo is fast asleep on a wooden table, with a stack of math test papers under her arm.
Qu He picked up the photo, full of surprise, "Polaroids were so expensive back then, who took this photo for me?"
She laughed at the photo for a long time, "Look at my sleeping posture, it's so embarrassing... It must have been taken by one of the neighbors, I used to go to the neighbors' house all the time."
Zhuang Bieyan gave a low, hoarse "hmm".
His heart pounded as he looked at the photo of the little girl sleeping with a furrowed brow.
The following photos were mostly Qu He's graduation photos from kindergarten, elementary school, and junior high school, or photos of her performing on stage. She felt that her dark history was almost completely exposed, but Zhuang Bieyan looked at them with great interest.
After quickly flipping through the photo album, Qu He finally couldn't contain herself any longer and leaned closer to him, "Now you can tell me, right?"
Zhuang Bieyan had just pulled himself out of his memories when he looked at her with a gaze as deep as a whirlpool. He struggled to suppress the turmoil in his heart.
He flipped through the photo album and pulled out a Polaroid photo of her sleeping face down on the table: "Want to trade this?"
Although Qu He didn't understand why he chose this particular photo, she still nodded and said, "Okay."
Zhuang Bieyan glanced at the photo, then suddenly leaned in and whispered in her ear, "I donated a library to Yujia Ferry Primary School."
Qu He: "..."
She was stunned.
She had considered countless possibilities, but this was the one reason she never imagined.
Is it really that simple, direct, and brutal?
So this is the power of money? Can you really do it by just throwing money at it?
But it is a library after all, so it's understandable.
Qu He was still slowly digesting the information when, by chance, she looked up and saw a mischievous smile in Zhuang Bieyan's eyes.
She instantly realized what he meant and pointed at him, saying, "You're lying to me!"
Zhuang Bieyan chuckled and took her hand. "I will never lie to you. The library is real, but there's more than one reason why Mom and Dad agreed."
"What else?" Qu He pressed, her face full of curiosity.
Zhuang Bieyan pulled her into his arms and squeezed her fingers. "An equal exchange, we need to exchange for something else."
Qu He pursed her lips. "What else do you want? I have some photos from university here, would you like to see them? Or..."
As she was speaking, she felt the hand around her waist suddenly tighten.
Zhuang Bieyan's voice was low and hoarse: "I'm going to raise the stakes this round."
His warm breath brushed against my ear as he leaned closer.
Upon hearing his words, Qu He's face instantly turned red, and she stammered, "You...you shouldn't do anything rash..."
Looking at her flushed face, Zhuang Bieyan said in a serious tone, "Then tonight, I'll have to trouble you to do everything yourself."
Qu He: "...."
Sure enough, you capitalists are all cunning by nature.
Yujia Ferry is far from the city center, so they had agreed before setting off to stay overnight in their hometown.
That evening, Qu He had just finished showering when she saw Zhuang Bieyan sitting at his desk sending messages. He was wearing matching couple pajamas and gold-rimmed glasses, looking both abstinent and aristocratic.
Hearing the noise, he looked up, casually took off his glasses, and couldn't hide the smile in his eyes.
Qu He didn't dare look at him. She lowered her head, lifted the covers, got into bed, and lay down with her back to him to start scrolling through her phone.
Zhuang Bieyan chuckled, and a moment later he also lifted the covers and got into bed.
He leaned against the headboard without moving, continuing to look at his phone, seemingly not in a hurry at all.
The sound of fingers tapping on the keyboard was exceptionally clear in the quiet room.
Time ticked by, and the little rabbit, its curiosity finally ignited, couldn't contain itself any longer. It quietly turned around, stretched out its restless finger, and gently poked his arm, its voice barely audible: "Turn off the light..."
With a "click," the light went out.
Darkness enveloped the room.
Zhuang Bieyan grabbed the hand that hadn't yet retracted, a triumphant laugh in his voice, "Now, it's my turn to collect my reward..."
The darkness could not conceal the growing warmth and heat in the air.
No one knows who approached first, but the moment their lips touched, a spark ignited a prairie fire.
"Um... Ah He..."
A few restrained calls could be heard intermittently in the room.
Outside the window, clusters of osmanthus blossoms quietly bloomed under the moonlight.
The fragrance of flowers seeped through the window cracks, mingling with my breath and lingering around my nose.
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