Water and Fire~Chapter 100.3

 

Chapter 100.3

Two days later, she worked overtime at the company and left after ten o'clock in the evening.

As she was leaving, she saw Ren Yan still there. He was poring over a document intently, so she didn't bother him.

Leaving the company, she walked toward the bus stop.

The road was deserted.

As she reached a dark area, a figure suddenly appeared.

Chu Qianmiao stopped in her tracks, seeing that it was Xia Fengyong, looking gaunt and haggard.

She thought, "Oh no! Gu Kai must have been right. Xia Fengyong is here to see her."

She calmed herself and said to Xia Fengyong, "What's wrong with you?"

Xia Fengyong's sneer was almost sinister. "You said what's wrong with me? Then I thought, who's responsible for my misery? I figured it was you, right? If I'm down, all the benefits will be yours, right?"

With each question, he took a step closer to Chu Qianmiao.

Chu Qianmiao saw that he was holding something shiny.

It was a knife.

Chu Qianmiao backed away and said, "You're in this situation all by yourself. If you hadn't lied to Yu Lizi about being single, and if you'd been responsible for your family, no one would have been able to touch you. And don't be foolish. You'll be stuck in this area if you do anything."

Xia Fengyong yelled at her, "Shut up! Who are you to teach me how to behave? Don't worry, I won't kill you. If I did, I'd be done for. I just want to scratch your face. I want to see how you can use this face to seduce men into working for you."

Xia Feng Yong lunged at Chu Qianmiao.

Chu Qianmiao screamed, hoping to attract attention, and tried to run, but she wasn't as fast as Xia Fengyong's legs.

Just as he was about to pounce, losing all reason,

The next second, the blade tip, flashing blue, was blocked by someone's raised arm.

Chu Qianmiao saw Ren Yan standing before her like a god. His arm was scratched by the blade.

At that moment, she thought desperately, "This is over! How could he be the hero again? This is over! This is over!"

Ren Yan subdued Xia Fengyong and called the police. Xia Fengyong was taken away like a stray dog. While waiting for the police, Chu Qianmiao frantically tore off her silk scarf to bandage Ren Yan's wound.

After taking the statement, Chu Qianmiao and Ren Yan spoke almost simultaneously.

Chu Qianmiao: "Let's go to the hospital and get the wound bandaged."

Ren Yan: "Please drive me home."

Ren Yan said, shaking his injured arm.

"Aren't you going to the hospital?" Chu Qianmiao asked.

Ren Yan said, "It's a minor wound. No need to make a big deal about it."

Chu Qianmiao then drove him home.

She asked, "Boss, what's your home address?"

Ren Yan leaned over the passenger seat and said, "Just drive to the apartment you used to live in."

Chu Qianmiao's heart skipped a beat.

She started the car and took him back to the apartment, familiar with the route.

All the way there, she seemed to have so many questions she wanted to ask, but she didn't know where to begin. So she simply ignored them, letting them linger on her tongue.

When the car arrived at the apartment building, she handed him the keys.

He didn't take them, shaking his arm again, saying, "Would you like to come up and bandage it for me?"

Under the streetlight, she looked at the cuffs of his shirt, stained red with blood. She was startled. The wound wasn't as serious as he'd described it to be.

She looked around and saw a pharmacy not far away.

"Wait a minute," she said.

She ran to the pharmacy to buy disinfectant and bandage supplies.

Then she ran back and followed him upstairs.

She opened the door and entered the house. The light flicked on, and she felt a mixture of emotions.

The place was exactly as it had been when she'd moved out. Even the thin blanket and cat pillow, which she hadn't taken with her, were still placed on the sofa as before. Not even the angle had changed.

She suddenly felt a pang of sadness.

She cleaned herself up, had Ren Yan take off his coat, unbutton his shirt sleeves, and sit on the sofa. She fetched a small stool from the bathroom with familiarity and sat down in front of him.

She asked him to hold out his arm. He did. She had never seen him so obedient and cooperative. He was practically docile. A thirty-three-year-old man, when he was docile, could be unnerving.

She rolled up his sleeve, revealing the wound horrifyingly.

She wrinkled her nose and lowered her head, not wanting him to see the pain in her eyes.

She lowered her head to disinfect and bandage him, meticulously and carefully, afraid to hurt him. As she bandaged him, he asked, "Did you just happen to be following me today?"

His voice echoed overhead, "It wasn't a coincidence. I've been following you every day lately."

Her nose suddenly felt sore. She only knew that lately, when she left, he hadn't left yet. It turned out he was waiting for her.

She took a deep breath and tied the white gauze bandage.

After finishing, she looked up and saw him staring deeply at her. Tonight, that look held so much, so much, so much, so explicit, that her heart beat faster and faster.

Ren Yan looked down at the girl who was concentrating on bandaging his wound.

No, she was already a woman. A charming and alluring woman.

She lowered her eyes, her eyelashes long, her nose straight, her lips soft.

Every time she applied the disinfectant to his wound, even if he didn't cry out in pain, she felt the pain for him. Her eyelashes would tremble slightly.

That tremor, and that tremor, went straight into his heart.

At that moment, he realized he couldn't wait any longer. He couldn't wait for her to complete the private placement project.

She bandaged the wound, looked up at him, and said, "The wound is bandaged. Then, then, I'm leaving."

She stood up to leave. He reached out and took her hand, pulling her back.

She sat back on the small stool, looking up at him with a look of astonishment. "Mr. Ren, Mr. Ren."

He looked at her and said, "Call me senior."

She pursed her lips, not wanting to call out.

He looked at her, his voice softening and hoarse, and said, "Do you know why I insist on you signing this project and becoming an insurance agent as soon as possible?"

Her eyes welled up, and she shook her head at him.

He rubbed her hand in his palm, smiled at her, and said, "If one day you can give me another chance, and we can still be together, I'm willing to leave, and you stay. When you become an insurance agent, you'll be able to stand on your own, even without my protection."

Looking up at him, listening to his words, tears suddenly flowed from her eyes.

His heart melted.

He rubbed her hand and apologized wholeheartedly, "Qian Miao, I'm sorry. I regret rejecting you. I regret it so much."

She looked at him, her head tilted back, silent, expressionless, but tears kept flowing.

It broke his heart.

"I regret it. Ever since you started working for me, I've regretted not pursuing you right away. I've felt so pent up for so long, like I was punishing myself. It turns out this one-sided, unrequited love is so painful and lonely. Knowing how it feels, Qian Miao, I feel even more sorry for you."

He held her face in his hands and wiped the tears from it.

She took a breath and uttered, her voice thick with nasal murmur, "But you're the cold dish on the recipe I flipped through. I don't want to eat it."

He cupped her face, his fingertips feeling a cool, soft touch that could numb his entire heart.

"Books can be reread, and so can recipes. Reheating a cold dish makes it more flavorful," he coaxed her.

She took a deep breath and accused, "You're such a mean person! You're the only one who decides whether you regret it or not. I won't agree to reread it, okay?"

"Okay, I won't. Don't cry." He cupped her face and coaxed her softly. When had he ever coaxed someone like that before?

Cupping her face, he leaned in, looked her in the eyes, and told her, "Qian Miao, I can't let you go."

As his words fell, his lips fell, touching hers.

Without time to turn, she pushed him away and glared at him.

He kissed her again, and she pushed him away again, glaring again.

Suddenly, she began to spank him, a chaotic, unstructured assault.

He let her do it.

Finally, she stopped and asked, "Don't you know how to hide?"

He pulled her up, pulled her into his arms, and sat her on his lap. He cupped one arm around her back, the other at the back of her head, and kissed her fiercely on the lips.

At first, she pushed against his shoulders, but then, with increasing force, she finally clung to him.

He held the back of her head, leaving her with nowhere to hide but toward him.