Volume 1, Chapter 148: As if to punish her, he bit her lip.

He asked after all.

Hearing Xu Zhi say, "The future is so long," it was hard for him not to be moved.

Xu Zhi was stunned when she heard this. "How did you know?"

She then remembered something and wanted to slap her forehead. "Did Uncle Liang tell you?"

Liang Jinmo frowned. "My father knows too?"

"It was Uncle Liang's assistant who asked me to go over that day!" Xu Zhi felt wronged. "You aren't upset because of that, are you?"

Liang Jinmo remained silent, which she took as an admission.

Xu Zhi raised her hand, grabbed the lapel of his pajamas, and looked up at him. "I didn't intend to hide this from you... I didn't want to see Liang Muzhi at all. I only realized he was there after I was called over by Uncle Liang. I wanted to tell you, but..."

She thought of that box of condoms and felt incredibly embarrassed. "Some things happened, and I thought I would just tell you when you came back. It wasn't really a big deal. Even though I met him, Uncle Liang and Aunt Liang were both in the private room, and I didn't give him a pleasant look. Really, I made it very clear to him that he and I won't even be friends in the future."

Liang Jinmo gazed down at her.

Under the dim light of the night lamp, her features were cast in a warm glow, and the heavy stone in his heart seemed to be lifted by her quite effortlessly.

Since the topic was already out in the open, there were some things he wanted to clarify.

"Then why did Liang Muzhi tell me that you told him you used to like him?"

Xu Zhi’s eyes widened. "Liang Muzhi told you that?"

Before he could speak, Xu Zhi said angrily, "Is that man sick? I worked so hard to coax you, and now he’s popping up to cause trouble again..."

Liang Jinmo: "..."

He asked, "Did you say that to him?"

Xu Zhi broke into a cold sweat and looked at him sheepishly. "It's not what you think. I did say that, but... sigh."

She hadn't expected to be forced to confess under these circumstances. She wasn't prepared at all, her mind was a mess, and she didn't know how to explain it clearly. "I made it very clear at the time that I regretted being blind enough to like someone like him in the past. How did it turn into a confession in his mouth?"

She stared at Liang Jinmo, watching his expression. "You should have more confidence... I have you now, so how could I possibly fancy a good-for-nothing playboy like Liang Muzhi? Besides, he's not a good person. He used to bully you, and I can't stand him now."

Liang Jinmo’s face remained expressionless, his dark eyes like deep pools. She couldn't read his emotions, which only made her panic more.

"What else did Liang Muzhi tell you? Did he twist my meaning?"

The man didn't speak, and she was dying of anxiety. Suddenly, she threw off the quilt and sat up.

Liang Jinmo was baffled. Seeing her about to get out of bed, he grabbed her hand. "What are you doing?"

Xu Zhi gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. "I'm so mad! I won't be satisfied until I beat Liang Muzhi up."

She had finally made some progress in pursuing him, and Liang Muzhi had to come and stir up trouble. Did he think it was too easy for her?

Liang Jinmo’s lips pressed into a tight line. After a few seconds, he finally couldn't help but chuckle.

"Ah, you laughed!" Xu Zhi turned back, staring at him.

This time, Liang Jinmo didn't deny it. He said, "Are you sure you want to go beat him up in the middle of the night?"

Xu Zhi slumped, looking down at her fists. Recalling Zhou He’s disdain from earlier, she said with a hint of grievance, "I wish I were stronger... If I were like Arnold Schwarzenegger or The Rock..."

"Stop," Liang Jinmo didn't know what she was thinking, but he was terrified. "If you were like that, you and I probably wouldn't be in this kind of relationship."

He didn't have such peculiar tastes.

Xu Zhi pouted and looked at him again. "Are you still angry?"

Liang Jinmo pulled her back down to lie beside him.

It was hard for him to explain to her that his heart had been rising and falling all day because of her—becoming violent because of her, fearing because of her, and now, calming down because of her words.

He stroked her face. "Say what you just said one more time."

Xu Zhi was startled. "Which part?"

"You have me now, and you won't look at Liang Muzhi again."

Xu Zhi remembered. Her almond-shaped eyes widened, and she suddenly realized that although Liang Jinmo wasn't good with words, he liked hearing sweet ones.

She couldn't help but burrow into his arms and said sincerely, "Brother Jinmo, you are excellent, simply the best. Anyone who doesn't want you is blind."

Liang Jinmo: "..."

He said, "I didn't ask you to butter me up."

Xu Zhi was silent. She suddenly remembered what Yang Xue once said about the ultimate way to confess to a man...

She raised her arms, wrapped them around his neck, leaned close to his ear, and whispered, "Brother Jinmo, I... I want to have your babies."

The room was quiet for a few seconds. The man turned his face slightly and stared at her. "Monkeys?"

It was another piece of slang he didn't understand. Before Xu Zhi could feel discouraged, she was amused by his confused expression.

She pulled back a little, still unable to stop laughing.

"Hey..." Seeing her laughing until she was trembling like a flower in the wind, he guessed it was probably some internet slang. He said, "Stop laughing."

Xu Zhi couldn't help it. "Let me laugh for just a second more."

"..." He endured it silently for a few seconds. Seeing that she was still laughing, he pinched her chin and covered her mouth with his own.

The kiss she had been longing for finally came, without any warning.

She opened her eyes wide, taking a few seconds to process it.

She closed her eyes. The kiss quickly became intense, as if to punish her; he bit her lips and stole all her breath.

Xu Zhi was feeling a bit oxygen-deprived, and just as she was becoming dazed, the man suddenly stopped.

She looked at him with misty, bewildered eyes.

"Why didn't you mention meeting Liang Muzhi when you called me?" he asked.

The crux of the matter was that he had heard the news from Liang Muzhi. If she had told him sooner, he might not have overthought it at all.

It seemed she couldn't escape it after all...

Xu Zhi’s face was burning. "I... please, don't be angry."

"Tell me."

Her voice was even lower. "That day, I bought a box of... that, and then I got into an argument with Liang Muzhi. The bag was torn, and the things fell out. He saw them... I felt so embarrassed. I didn't want to be that shameful in front of you, so... I didn't tell you right away."

Liang Jinmo: "A box of what?"

Xu Zhi covered her face and gritted her teeth. "Just... that."

"Which one?"

Xu Zhi’s ears turned red, and she said in defeat, "The thing we are always missing at the critical moment!"

In her mind, she had always felt that this was something a man should buy. For her, a young girl, to go and buy it, and then have someone see it...

She wanted to crawl into a hole, but since she was on the bed, she tried to slide off while still covering her face.

However, the man reached out with a long arm and easily pulled her back into his embrace.

She heard him let out a soft chuckle.

He looked down, grabbed her hands, and with a little effort, pulled them away.

Xu Zhi had nowhere to hide. Her face was flushed, her eyes darting away beneath him, too shy to look up.

He lowered his head and kissed her forehead, the tip of her nose, her cheeks... finally, his lips landed on hers, gently rubbing against them.

He said, "You did well."

These three words left Xu Zhi completely confused, and she looked at him blankly.

He didn't explain. He finally understood why Liang Muzhi was so eager to sow discord.

The baser nature of men dictates the form of their deepest desire to possess a woman.

He began to kiss her again, his hand sliding under the hem of her shirt. She couldn't care about anything else anymore; she was swept into the man’s rhythm and couldn't help but hold him tight.