Chapter 52

Chapter 52

Pei Chuzhi’s heart was chaotic, and so was her breathing.

At such a critical moment, she even briefly wondered—could it be that Xing Ye found the kissing scene in the movie just now too bad and decided to personally give her acting guidance?

This absurd thought was quickly dismissed.

Because Xing Ye’s kiss, like him, was like strong liquor going down the throat, like an erupting flame.

Hot, burning, filled with fierce and aggressive intensity.

Pei Chuzhi seemed to forget to resist—in fact, she didn’t want to resist.

She felt particularly cunning, fireworks exploding in her heart, yet she half-playfully placed her hands between them to prevent them from pressing too tightly together on the sofa.

She touched the taut abs beneath Xing Ye’s white T-shirt, her fingertips tracing the slightly concave muscle lines. When she felt herself about to lose breath, she clawed at his lean waist as if begging for mercy and tilted her head back, ending the kiss.

Then she licked her lips, her eyes shining, a faint blush at the corners, unraveling the words “resist yet welcome” into scattered pieces, mingled with her sultry expression and ragged breaths.

Xing Ye released her wrist, resting his forearm on the sofa, averted his gaze, and closed his eyes, as if restraining the next move.

His breath was hot and uneven, arguably the perfect embodiment of being lost in desire.

Both of them calmed down for a moment in this interval.

The movie continued to play, but neither cared anymore how poorly it was made.

After all, their current situation wasn’t much better.

When Xing Ye opened his eyes again, his voice was hoarse: “I…”

“It’s fine, I understand.”

Pei Chuzhi didn’t actually understand, but she didn’t want to hear Xing Ye explain or justify his actions.

She shared the same intent.

So the kiss happened—and besides, kissing him was enjoyable. In her heart, it was pleasure more than surprise.

Xing Ye moved to sit beside her, a subtle undercurrent stirring in his eyes.

He looked at Pei Chuzhi deeply, feeling that she probably didn’t understand anything at all.

“I wasn’t acting just now.”

Even he found the words amusing as he said them.

Pei Chuzhi tilted her head toward the ceiling. The brief lack of oxygen left her eyelashes slightly damp.

She raised the back of her hand to wipe off the lipstick from the kiss, feigning composure: “Mm, me neither.” She paused, then added, “But let’s not continue talking about this.”

Xing Ye seemed about to speak but stopped, ultimately saying nothing.

Pei Chuzhi exhaled in relief.

Neither she nor Xing Ye were strictly logical or meticulous; there was no need to dissect “Why did you kiss me?” like children.

The atmosphere had arrived, the emotion had arrived.

It was a matter of course.

Continuing to probe would inevitably ruin this rare, enchanting moment.

Pei Chuzhi smoothed her wrinkled skirt and stood up: “Do you want a drink? Ruan Li sent a few bottles before, but I never found anyone to drink with me.”

She normally didn’t drink much, but after a kiss, having some wine with Xing Ye seemed far better than sitting silently in front of the TV.

“Sure.”

Pei Chuzhi nodded and walked to the kitchen wine cabinet. She heard Xing Ye turn off that culprit of a movie, as if destroying evidence.

She hid behind the open cabinet door, taking several deep breaths.

Xing Ye’s voice came from the living room: “Will you still meet with Ruan Li?”

“Mm, she also lives in this community, just in the building next door.”

Pei Chuzhi slowly picked a bottle of wine. There weren’t many bottles, but she deliberately slowed her movements. “But Ruan Li is pretty busy, so we don’t meet often.”

Xing Ye said, “She’s not bad, unlike some people with ill intentions.”

“Have you ever met artists with ill intentions?”

“…A few.”

Pei Chuzhi drew out an “oh,” thinking he probably meant those female celebrities from before who tried to ride his fame.

It was amusing—he went through all the trouble to find her as a contract girlfriend, yet she not only gained attention from it, she also set her sights on him.

Pei Chuzhi thought that if someday someone released a “Most Greedy Female Artist Ranking,” she would definitely vote for herself.

Choosing a bottle didn’t take long.

Finally, she picked one casually, grabbed two wine glasses, and returned to the living room.

The wine Ruan Li picked was sweet, clear amber in the glass.

Pei Chuzhi took a few sips, barely tasting the alcohol.

Perhaps it was because she had just experienced the hottest kind of intensity.

Xing Ye’s long fingers toyed with the glass, clearly not focused on drinking.

His gaze slowly dropped, scanning the wrinkles on his T-shirt caused by grabbing it, then he spoke softly: “Yesterday, during the show…”

“Mm?”

Pei Chuzhi’s heart skipped a beat and she refilled her glass.

“You let yourself be voted out to save me. What were you thinking at that moment?”

There’s a saying: what’s meant to happen will happen.

Pei Chuzhi hadn’t expected such an extreme situation. Before filming, the most dangerous scenarios she imagined were only two:

Xing Ye is the killer, and she must do everything to clear him.

Xing Ye is chased by the killer, and she must help him escape.

She never imagined the production would set up poisoning, with the “antidote only one pill” melodramatic twist.

Now Xing Ye suddenly asked about her thought process, and Pei Chuzhi didn’t know what to say.

She swirled her glass and, after drinking it all, said: “The situation was too urgent for me to think carefully. I just didn’t want to see you get killed in front of me.”

Xing Ye saw her pouring more wine: “Drink less.”

“The alcohol isn’t strong.”

Though she said this, she obediently sipped lightly and set it down. “And aren’t we a couple? You can’t always protect me on your own. There has to be give and take.”

She didn’t know her cheeks were flushed, nor how serious her tone sounded.

Xing Ye’s gaze darkened. He moved closer, looking into her eyes, and said softly: “Don’t ever do that again.”

He didn’t need her to repay him with “give and take” this way.

The taste of seeing her leave—he had experienced it once, and didn’t want to feel it again.

“Of course not. The show’s already over.”

A slightly tipsy smile spread across Pei Chuzhi’s eyes. Her voice, touched by the alcohol, sounded melodious: “Don’t worry about such a small thing. I just want to be nice to you, like you’ve been nice to me.”

“…”

Xing Ye stayed silent for a few seconds, then tilted his head back and drank his glass in one gulp. He drank too fast; his Adam’s apple rolled rapidly, as if venting some hidden emotion.

Pei Chuzhi’s gaze fell on his Adam’s apple, and she swallowed unconsciously a few times.

She thought aimlessly: could Xing Ye have discovered her feelings? Including her reason for inviting him to her home to take shelter from the rain?

If he really had discovered them, how would he see her?

Would he, like with those female artists he disliked, disdain her for having ill intentions?

Pei Chuzhi poured wine into the two empty glasses, thinking self-deprecatingly: yes, I do have ill intentions.

Xing Ye drank half a glass more and suddenly spoke: “Pei Chuzhi.”

“Ah?”

Pei Chuzhi hadn’t been called by her full name by him in so long that she tensed up immediately.

She lifted her eyes to meet his gaze, suspecting that Xing Ye might not handle alcohol well—otherwise his eyes shouldn’t have looked like a night sky sprinkled with countless stars.

Pitch black, yet shimmering with tiny fragments of light, dazzling her vision.

Pei Chuzhi didn’t dare look closely, lowering her lashes, trying to disperse the almost impossible-to-hide infatuation.

Xing Ye leaned forward, stopping very close to her, his breath carrying the same wine scent as hers.

He curled the corners of his lips slightly, his pupils reflecting her image.

Pei Chuzhi thought, Xing Ye really is drunk—but even drunk, he still looks stunning.

The way he smiled could captivate everyone.

And she was the luckiest among them, seeing this mesmerizing side beneath his sharp exterior by sheer chance.

“You’re drunk.” Pei Chuzhi didn’t realize her words were already slurred.

Xing Ye shook his head: “I’m not drunk.”

“Drunk people always say they’re not drunk.”

Pei Chuzhi smiled charmingly, her allure blooming like petals opening in the rainy night.

Xing Ye sighed helplessly, never having seen this unreasonable side of her.

She had clearly finished most of the bottle, yet accused him of being drunk instead.

Pei Chuzhi took the wine glass from his hand: “No more drinking.”

As she put it back, her hand slipped, leaving the glass precariously on the edge of the coffee table. Xing Ye’s quick reflexes pushed it back, saving the fate of the wine glass.

Pei Chuzhi stared blankly at his wrist, and without warning, pressed it.

She imitated how Xing Ye had done before, trying to push him to the other side of the sofa, but misjudged the force and ended up falling into his arms instead.

Xing Ye froze.

Pei Chuzhi’s warm breath spilled over his jaw: “I still want to kiss you.”

“…”

Xing Ye’s eyes darkened. In a hoarse voice he asked, “You really want to kiss me?”

Pei Chuzhi rested her head on his shoulder, laughing at herself for being timid yet reckless—only daring to fully show her greedy side when Xing Ye was drunk.

She felt ashamed of her own audacity.

Yet at the same time, she felt the most instinctive temptation from the heat of their skin touching.

Pei Chuzhi heard the rain still pouring outside.

She had never seen such a fierce storm in Yancheng, just as she had never imagined that one day, she would knowingly cross the line she shouldn’t.

It turned out that Xing Ye’s attraction to her was this deadly.

Pei Chuzhi closed her eyes, not answering his question with words, but showing him through her actions.

Her initiative was like the key that unlocked the cage, releasing all of Xing Ye’s truest feelings.

His entire body tensed like a drawn bow, every inch of his skin burning with scorching heat under her touch.

Unable to endure the narrowness of the sofa any longer, he carried her into the bedroom.

Only a dim bedside lamp was on, casting shadowy, swaying silhouettes of the two of them.

That night, the rain fell continuously.

·

Morning sunlight pierced through the curtains, illuminating everything in the room.

Pei Chuzhi slowly opened her eyes, and upon seeing who was lying beside her, froze in stunned silence for several minutes.

The absurd scenes of last night replayed vividly in her mind, not fading even after an entire night.

Yet even so, Pei Chuzhi found it hard to believe.

She still thought Xing Ye had been drunk last night.

So that means…

Did she just intentionally get him drunk and take advantage of him?

She… slept with Xing Ye?!

A loud “clang” sounded in her mind, fully waking her up.

Oh no, she thought.

She was in big trouble.

Author’s note: Yesterday’s curtain was just ordinary scenery description, no one was secretly filming (:з」∠)

Thanks to all the little angels who voted Bawang or poured nutrition from 2020-01-02 21:44:12 to 2020-01-03 21:05:31~

Thanks to the little angel who voted for the landmine: Ctrl+V 1;

Thanks to the little angels who poured nutrition: Jin Bao the Cool 20 bottles; Light Gray Space 10 bottles; Cute and Cheap 6 bottles; Book-Loving Little Witch 5 bottles; Li Zi 2 bottles; Xiao Meier, Ji Ruo, Qing Xiao 1 bottle each;

Thank you all for your support, I will continue to work hard!