Jiang Hezhou smiled silently again, pressing the girl’s hand under the table, then said to Chen Zhou: “Brother may have forgotten—we’ve already been living under the same roof to build our relationship. We’ve been staying together at the apartment all this time, so there’s really no inconvenience.”
Chu Luyu looked quite surprised. She turned her head and shot the man a suspicious glance, leaning in to whisper: “Why are you lying?”
Jiang Hezhou ignored her, only tightening his grip on her hand.
Chen Zhou’s expression still seemed normal, but on closer look, the smile at the corners of his lips had clearly become strained.
He only replied with a flat “Is that so?” and said no more.
After the meal, Chu Luyu went upstairs with the household auntie to tidy the room. Since one more person would be staying, the bed would need to be remade.
Jiang Hezhou stayed in the living room, held back by a slightly drunk Chen Huanian for conversation. But as the girl left, his gaze followed her unobtrusively.
Every few seconds, his peripheral vision would flick toward her—
She was at the stairs.
She was going up.
She was on the second floor.
…She was stopped by her stepbrother.
The eyes behind Jiang Hezhou’s glasses almost instantly darkened. He muttered an “Excuse me” to Chen Huanian, saying he needed to use the restroom. Then, like a ghost, he silently made his way upstairs.
Meanwhile, Chen Zhou was still talking to Chu Luyu: “I thought you and your brother-in-law hadn’t known each other that long. Didn’t expect you’d move in together so soon.”
Ever since her stepbrother had talked behind the male lead’s back, Chu Luyu hadn’t had a good impression of him. Now, hearing him speak, her attitude was perfunctory.
“We moved in together to build our relationship. It’s normal to get closer and move a bit faster.”
Chen Zhou smiled, his face still gentle and handsome as ever.
“Have you really decided to marry him?” he asked.
Chu Luyu found the question strange. Although she knew the plot and was well aware she and the male lead wouldn’t end up together, from an outsider’s perspective, they were already engaged and living together—wasn’t marriage the natural next step?
What was her stepbrother even asking?
She paused, about to respond, when a figure suddenly appeared beside her—
The familiar scent of fir and disinfectant that clung to Jiang Hezhou reached her first. Then, she felt a large palm settle on her waist, and the man pulled her into his embrace with no room for refusal.
Up close, she could faintly smell the wine on him, carried on his breath.
“What were you two siblings talking about?” He leaned in closer to her, the scent of wine growing stronger. Lowering his head, he pressed close to her face, his posture extremely intimate. “Uncle poured me a lot of wine today. My head’s starting to ache.”
As he spoke, he leaned more of his weight onto her. Tall and large as he was, he made no effort to hold himself up, practically melting against her.
Chu Luyu thought the man must really be drunk. Otherwise, with his personality, he would never be so unrestrained in front of others.
She struggled to support him, not bothering to look at Chen Zhou anymore, and tossed out a casual “Brother, I’ll take him to the room first” before guiding Jiang Hezhou away.
Chu Luyu assumed Jiang Hezhou was genuinely drunk. Back in the room, she gave a few instructions to the auntie, had her leave, and took care of him herself.
There was an unopened bottle of water on the nightstand. She twisted it open and handed it to him, saying: “Have some water to settle your stomach. Take a shower and get some rest soon. Auntie prepared a set of my brother’s never-worn pajamas for you—you can bring them in when you shower.”
Jiang Hezhou sat on the edge of the bed, looking up at her as she spoke, his head tilted slightly.
His gaze was deep, intensely focused on her. After a long moment, he casually set aside the water she’d handed him, then with a firm tug of his hand, pulled her onto the bed with him.
The quilt on the bed was soft. Their bodies overlapped and sank into it almost instantly.
Chu Luyu was startled. She turned her head in a panic to look at him, but the man suddenly buried his face in her neck.
A cool, tingling sensation instantly shot through her neck, accompanied by damp, soft licks. Chu Luyu felt her whole body grow hypersensitive. Her hand, resting beside her, unconsciously clutched the bedsheet.
Jiang Hezhou truly couldn’t hold back anymore.
Just seeing her alone with her stepbrother moments ago had stirred an urge in him—to pull her close, bite her, crush her, swallow her into himself.
But he was afraid of scaring her. Afraid she’d run away again, like she had that night, hiding from him for days.
So he restrained himself until his teeth trembled, only managing to leave a single small bite.
“You…” The girl’s voice came out soft, as if she’d lost all strength. “What are you doing…”
“Punishing you.”
Chu Luyu was taken aback: “Punishing me?”
“Yes.” Jiang Hezhou didn’t want to talk about the dark thoughts that had just crossed his mind, so he didn’t mention Chen Zhou. Instead, he subtly brought up the past few days. “Ignoring my calls and messages for days—don’t you deserve to be punished?”
Chu Luyu bit her lip, a hint of grievance creeping into her expression when he brought it up.
“It was you who went too far that day.”
After saying that, she turned her face away, unwilling to look at him anymore.
But she didn’t know how beautiful and alluring she looked in that moment—charmingly shy and petulant—in Jiang Hezhou’s eyes.
He felt like teasing her. Leaning in slowly, his thin lips began to wander over hers—
“I thought you were the one who initiated that night. I cooperated so well because I wanted you to be happy.”
Jiang Hezhou was like a man savoring the sweetest pastry. His damp kisses trailed downward, lingering along the girl’s neck.
There truly wasn’t a single part of her that wasn’t beautifully made—even this stretch of her neck was a thousand times more endearing than anyone else’s. His tongue tirelessly traced the pulse point beneath her skin. The blood flowing through her veins was separated from him by only a thin layer of skin. In that moment, he desperately wanted to pierce through with his teeth and taste her blood.
She was his. Every part of her body should belong to him. Every drop of her blood should merge into his. Only then would they be completely and utterly together, holding nothing back.
Chu Luyu was rendered speechless by his torment—or perhaps she simply didn’t know what to say. After all, he wasn’t wrong: she had been the one to initiate that night.
Even if it was because of a task.
But even if she stayed silent, he didn’t seem willing to let her go.
Seeing that she hadn’t responded for a while, Jiang Hezhou pressed against her and murmured in a low voice: “Baby, you enjoyed that night too, didn’t you?”
With that, he kissed her earlobe again. The damp sensation, carrying scorching heat, invaded her senses in an instant. She couldn’t help but arch her body in response.
“Jiang Hezhou, you… don’t be like this.”
“Like what?” He truly couldn’t resist her voice—soft as water. When he spoke, his own voice trembled uncontrollably. “Baby, we’re getting married sooner or later. Even something more intimate than that night is only natural. You can’t just ignore me over something like this. Do you know how I’ve been getting through these past few days?”
A drunk man was incredibly assertive. Though he didn’t seem to be using much force, Chu Luyu found herself pinned beneath him, completely unable to move.
She knew she couldn’t let this continue. While she still had her wits about her, she quickly said: “Fine, I understand. It was my fault for avoiding you. Now let go of me first…”
Jiang Hezhou paid no attention, his movements never stopping. When he spoke again, his voice was even hoarser than before: “Since you know you were wrong, you have to accept your punishment.”
With that, he propped himself up slightly and reached for her waistline.
Realizing what he was about to do, Chu Luyu immediately pressed down on his hand.
But the man simply wrapped his hand around hers, coaxing her gently: “Don’t be nervous, baby. I’m not going to do anything to you. I just want to make you feel good.”
With that, he tugged downward, and lowered his head deeply—
Later, when Jiang Hezhou carried her out of the bathroom, Chu Luyu’s mind slowly began to clear.
Whether it was guilt or something else, she noticed that his lips seemed somehow redder and more vivid than usual.
Remembering the glistening moisture that had clung to them before, she felt her face heat up again. She squirmed, trying to get down and walk on her own, but the man refused to budge.
“Didn’t you say in the bathroom just now that you’d behave from now on?”
The bathroom… The memory of being thoroughly teased moments ago came flooding back. She instinctively averted her gaze and muttered under her breath: “Shameless.”
Jiang Hezhou laughed softly. “Why do you say that? Didn’t I do well? But just now you were clearly—”
“Don’t say it!” Afraid he’d unleash some other outrageous phrase like “so wet,” she quickly covered his mouth with her hand.
The man took the opportunity to kiss her palm. He laid her down on the bed, turned off the lights, and pulled her tightly into his arms to sleep.
He didn’t wear the pajamas the auntie had prepared—because they belonged to Chen Zhou, and he instinctively rejected them.
In the darkness, the girl obediently lay in his arms, no room to move. He held her so tightly, so fiercely, as if he wanted to fuse her into his very being.
Half-asleep, she suddenly murmured vaguely: “Jiang Hezhou… you shouldn’t be like this now…”
It was unclear whether she was truly asleep or not. In the dark, he stared at the outline of her face, fixed and unwavering.
“Do you think how I am now is good or bad?”
“I… I don’t know…”
Jiang Hezhou gazed at her for a long time, then finally kissed her lips softly and whispered: “Sleep.”
Good or bad, she would never escape from him in this lifetime.
His fingers unconsciously traced the bracelet on her wrist. The small bone connecting the handcuff-like band seemed to emit a faint, barely perceptible glow in the darkness.
Unable to resist, he kissed her lips again, murmuring in a voice so soft it was almost inaudible: “Baby, don’t ever try to leave me. If you ever disappeared from my side, I would go mad—”
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