Chapter 375

Spending two minutes getting dressed, Huang Zhaoyi rolled down the window slightly to let the scent inside dissipate for a while.

After doing all this, her mood gradually calmed down, but she didn't know what to do next.

She was quietly waiting for his decision.

If he didn't want to move, she would stay here and spend the night with him.

After a while, Li Heng, whose thoughts had wandered, looked at her and asked, "Are you familiar with my mother?"

Huang Zhaoyi slowly turned her head, looking at him, her lips moving, wanting to speak but stopping, not knowing whether she should explain.

She really wanted to explain that it wasn't her intention to get close to his family, but the words stopped at her lips; some things only get darker the more you explain them.

Moreover, she had tried to approach him several times before, so it was inevitable that he would overthink it.

As their eyes met, Li Heng asked, "Why aren't you speaking?"

Huang Zhaoyi gave a bitter smile: "It seems like the drugging; it's hard to explain clearly."

Li Heng pressed, "So you're not going to explain?"

Huang Zhaoyi was silent.

Examining her carefully from top to bottom again, Li Heng suddenly said, "Your figure is good; you must maintain it."

Huang Zhaoyi froze and looked at him.

She was secretly pondering: What does he mean by this? Does he want her to keep a good figure because he wants to use it again in the future?

She had originally thought tonight was her first and last time, but with these words, it suddenly gave her infinite hope and longing, and she felt a bit secretly happy for no reason.

Combined with his previous question, "After tonight, are you planning to run away?", Huang Zhaoyi secretly changed her mind; it seemed he didn't dislike her, and she didn't need to run away.

And it turned out that she was both pleasing to the eye and useful—truly worthy of being called a legendary rarity!

Then she worried again: what about little Liu Yue, who also took the drug? How should she resolve it?

A woman in her early thirties wouldn't be as green as a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl; she would be much more calm and composed when facing matters between men and women.

"What are you thinking about?"

Just as her thoughts drifted away, Li Heng suddenly asked.

Huang Zhaoyi, who had come back to her senses, looked at him, pursed her lips, and didn't make a sound.

Li Heng asked, "Thinking of Liu Yue?"

"Mm." Huang Zhaoyi hummed and nodded.

Li Heng asked, "What time is it now?"

Huang Zhaoyi raised her right wrist to check: "It's 21 minutes until midnight."

Li Heng asked, "How long does it take to get back to Lushan Village?"

Huang Zhaoyi said: "Around 1:30; if it's fast, maybe 10 minutes earlier."

Li Heng collected his thoughts and said to her, "Take me back."

Hearing this, Huang Zhaoyi silently opened the car door and went to the driver's seat in front. But just as she stood up, her pants were stained with a mess.

Her face burned, and she didn't dare look back at him, instead enduring it as she got into the driver's seat, started the car, turned around, drove out of the reed field, and headed back the way they came.

Li Heng was an old hand, and having fed her so much tonight, he saw through her situation at a glance. But for the sake of face, he didn't point it out, pretending he didn't know anything, closing his eyes and leaning against the back seat to doze and rest.

Buildings outside kept receding, and the car was silent.

Huang Zhaoyi peeked at him from time to time through the rearview mirror, and every time she saw him still there, still in the car, she felt an indescribable emotion in her heart—very stable.

At one moment, she had a thought: she hoped this road had no end, that the car could keep driving forever, never stopping, so she could stay with him for as long as possible.

However, the ideal is plump, but reality is skinny.

People often get the opposite of what they expect; an hour later, Fudan University arrived.

Parking the car on the side, Huang Zhaoyi sat in her seat, not turning back.

Because if she turned back, she didn't know what to do or what to say, fearing that this parting would be forever.

If it could be said that before tonight, she was infatuated with this man.

Then after tonight, she was devoted to this man.

The Huang family had an ancestral teaching: a woman must be loyal to one man from beginning to end. This was the ideology she had been instilled with since she was a child.

Even without this ancestral teaching to constrain her morals, she would still keep her chastity for this man because she loved him to the extreme.

Looking through the car window for a while, Li Heng asked, "Are you going back tonight?"

"Yes," Huang Zhaoyi replied.

Li Heng asked, "Oh, is it far from here?"

Huang Zhaoyi said, "I also have property in Yang Pu; I'll be there soon."

Actually, she didn't originally have property in Yang Pu, but ever since she learned he was at Fudan University, she couldn't help but buy one.

In addition, she had another idea: she wanted to open Fuchun Xiaoyuan in Yang Pu. She had been hesitant about this decision before, but after tonight, her confidence was firm.

As they were about to separate, neither of them spoke for the next few minutes. What happened tonight was absurd, rapid, and left an endless aftertaste, making it hard for them to forget for a while.

After a long time, Li Heng finally broke the deadlock, opened the car door with his right hand, and walked out on his own.

Arriving outside the car, Li Heng walked about ten steps toward Lushan Village, then stopped, but he didn't look back. A few seconds later, he stepped into the alley of Lushan Village, and before long, disappeared into the night.

It was the middle of the month, and the moon was quite round; one could vaguely see his back. Huang Zhaoyi waited for a while, and after there was no movement outside, she started the car and turned back toward the nearest home.

Surprisingly, half an hour later, when she arrived at her doorstep, the lights on the second floor were still on.

Huang Zhaoyi looked up, then guessed it might be little Liu Yue inside; in the past, this niece would come here to spend the night from time to time, so she was used to it.

Getting out of the car, she took out her keys to open the door and enter the house. She didn't rush upstairs, but found a bottle of wine and sprinkled some on herself, then drank a few mouthfuls, sniffed her nose, and felt it hadn't completely covered the scent. Then she poured some more on her pants, sniffed again, and only then was she satisfied, capping the bottle.

When she stepped onto the second floor with light steps, she stopped, actually seeing her eldest sister, Huang Xuching, sitting on the sofa with a newspaper in her hand.

Hearing the movement at the entrance, Huang Xuching looked up at the right time, and seeing it was her little sister who had returned, she immediately got up to greet her: "Zhaoyi, where did you go so late at night? Why are you back so late?"

Huang Zhaoyi was glad she had done the preparation work downstairs; otherwise, her eldest sister, who had experience with such matters, might have noticed something unusual.

Huang Zhaoyi replied calmly: "Met a friend, had dinner and chatted for a while, and drank some wine. Sister, why are you here?"

"Don't mention it, I don't know what got into Yueyue; she's been in the shower all night."

Her daughter was going abroad tomorrow, but she wasn't home tonight. As a mother, could she not be worried? So, based on her daughter's usual habits, she searched the school and the homes of her two younger sisters, finally finding her here.

Huang Zhaoyi scanned toward the shower room and asked, "How long has she been in?"

Huang Xuching whispered: "She's already out, but she stayed in the shower for over 70 minutes tonight, and during that time..."

Huang Xuching had unspeakable bitterness regarding what came after "and." But her daughter's moans lasted for a full hour!

She still remembered that scene—the scene where her daughter walked out of the shower, exhausted and listless, as if she had been seriously ill and collapsed, which made her heart ache.

Actually, even if Huang Xuching didn't say it, Huang Zhaoyi guessed what little Liu Yue was doing in the shower. As for why it took so long? One could refer to the intensity of Li Heng's madness on her own body.

And he had said that little Liu Yue drank more wine than he did, so the drug's effect was likely even stronger.

Some things were self-evident, but Huang Zhaoyi didn't point them out, instead asking, "Is she asleep?"

"She's asleep now. I waited until now just to ask you, who did Yueyue see tonight?" This was the reason Huang Xuching waited for her sister until now; without knowing the reason, she couldn't be at ease.

If it were a normal matter, Huang Zhaoyi would definitely tell the truth, but regarding drugging, she was ashamed to speak, so she shook her head: "I just got back, I don't know either."

"Sigh!" Hearing this, Huang Xuching didn't doubt it much; she had always trusted this little sister, so she sighed and said: "Go wash up quickly; you're covered in the smell of alcohol, and you must have had quite a bit."

"Okay," Huang Zhaoyi said, finding a change of clothes and entering the shower.

Closing the shower door, Huang Zhaoyi didn't rush to wash up, but faced the wall mirror, put her hair up, and then turned to look at herself from front to back and left to right.

It was indeed quite tasteful!

As a great beauty, Huang Zhaoyi had always been confident in her appearance and temperament over the years. It was only because she cared too much about Li Heng that she appeared anxious and uneasy in front of him.

Afterward, she let her hair down and admired it from various angles, secretly thinking in her heart that if there was another chance to see him next time, she must style her hair in advance, making it the same hairstyle as when they first met at the Blue Sky Hotel.

Having experienced such matters for the first time, Huang Zhaoyi felt a trace of joy in her heart, but along with the joy, there was also much that was unbearable.

For example, her pants were a mess, covered in a map of white paste.

For example, her thighs were very sore; she pretended to be fine while walking, but she was actually in agony.

Speaking of legs, Huang Zhaoyi lowered her head and stroked them, imitating his style—he seemed to like her rounded long legs very much, not only biting them with his mouth for a long time but also playing with them for half a day.

Staring at her long legs, she secretly pondered: I must maintain them even better; I'm so much older than him, if my skin shows signs of sagging one day, he definitely won't like it.

Actually, she didn't have much confidence; she didn't know if Li Heng would look for her again.

After all, there were too many accidents and too much helplessness tonight.

Moreover, he was surrounded by beauties and didn't lack bed partners.

But, for that trace of inexplicable expectation, she decided to go all out and keep herself well-groomed.

After showering and coming out of the room, Huang Zhaoyi saw her eldest sister beckoning to her.

She walked over and asked: "Why aren't you asleep yet?"

Huang Xuching asked: "Thinking about worrying matters, can't sleep. Why did you linger in the shower for so long?"

Huang Zhaoyi said: "The smell of alcohol was a bit heavy, so I washed an extra time. Are you thinking about Yueyue's matter?"

"Indeed, that dead girl is not worry-free at all." Huang Xuching rarely scolded her daughter; this level was already very serious.

Some things couldn't be poked through. At this point, the two sisters looked at each other, and after a while, Huang Zhaoyi said: "I'm quite tired, I'm going to bed first, we'll talk about anything tomorrow."

Huang Xuching nodded: "Go to sleep, I'll stay a while longer."

Hearing this, Huang Zhaoyi turned and walked toward the master bedroom.

But just as she walked halfway, she was called back by her eldest sister.

Huang Xuching pointed to the *Harvest* magazine on the coffee table and asked: "Zhaoyi, is this *Bai Luyuan* really written by Li Heng?"

"It is him," Huang Zhaoyi replied.

Huang Xuching looked puzzled: "Starting from Chapter 8, there are descriptions of sexuality. Isn't he only a freshman? How does he know so much at such a young age?"

Huang Zhaoyi turned back and looked at her eldest sister.

Huang Xuching hesitated and said: "I read the first 12 chapters here tonight, and I felt quite stirred."

Hearing this, Huang Zhaoyi smiled: "Then go back and find your husband."

After saying that, she turned again and entered the master bedroom.

Huang Xuching frowned, guessing if her daughter acted that way because she read some fragments of *Bai Luyuan*? Because she did those unbearable things?

No, no!

Even if it were caused by *Bai Luyuan*, it would be over in ten minutes at most; it's impossible to stay in the shower for over an hour.

As someone who had been through it, Huang Xuching noticed too many loopholes and too many things she couldn't understand.

Master bedroom.

Huang Zhaoyi, lying on the bed, was very tired and sleepy, but she couldn't sleep.

Staring at the ceiling, she savored the events of tonight, savoring the image of his vigorous posture in the car, and savoring all the scenes from when they first met through letters until now.

She always felt it wasn't real enough.

She never imagined that the pillow-talk she once longed for would come so suddenly and so violently.

Huang Zhaoyi rubbed her cheeks, which were still aching, with both hands, and recalling her impulsive urge, she didn't have the face to see anyone now.

In the past, she never imagined that she, who was so high-minded, would one day be so willing for a man.

She didn't regret it, it was just...

It was just, sigh, she was silent, then pulled up the quilt, covered her head, interrupted her wild thoughts in time, and forced herself to fall asleep.

Forcing herself was always effective. She didn't know how much time had passed, but she eventually fell into a deep sleep, only to suddenly open her eyes at dawn.

Was it real?

She felt the base of her thighs; they were still sore, so it seemed it was indeed real.

Then she calculated the days again, and only after confirming it was the safe period did she relax.

She wasn't afraid of getting pregnant; she was afraid he wouldn't want it. After all, he wasn't even 19 yet, so how could he think about being a father so early?

Thinking of this, she suddenly felt a bit low and melancholy. Would he give her a chance to have children in the future?

This fate didn't come properly, and she was so much older than him; Huang Zhaoyi never thought about fighting for it, fearing that his future wife wouldn't allow him to have illegitimate children outside.

"Auntie."

Just as she was lost in thought, the master bedroom door opened quietly, and Liu Yue slipped in through the crack.

Seeing this culprit, Huang Zhaoyi was instantly furious, but thinking that Yueyue did this for her own sake, she couldn't bear to scold her.

She asked with concern: "Are you okay? I heard from your mother that you stayed in the shower for over an hour?"

"Phew! Don't mention it. Auntie, you're trying to see me make a fool of myself, aren't you? I didn't expect the drug's effect to be so strong; I was almost driven crazy." Liu Yue said with a mournful face.

Huang Zhaoyi observed her niece and asked: "You drugged it yourself, why did you take it?"

She didn't ask why Liu Yue drugged it, because the motive couldn't be clearer—she wanted to create an opportunity for her and Li Heng.

And it did indeed create an opportunity.

Liu Yue pouted: "How can you catch tiger cubs without entering the tiger's den? Do you think Li Heng is that easy to fool? If I didn't drink first, I guess he wouldn't have drunk at all."

Huang Zhaoyi felt powerless, thinking about what kind of bad impression she had left on Li Heng to result in this.

Liu Yue looked at her watch: "I'm going to the airport soon, long story short, Auntie, did you and Li Heng accomplish good things last night?"

Facing her niece's expectant gaze, Huang Zhaoyi weighed it carefully and shook her head: "No."

What happened in the car was truly hard to speak of; although she didn't resist in her heart, it wasn't that glorious either.

Liu Yue pressed: "Then how did he resolve it?"

Huang Zhaoyi said: "I don't know."

Liu Yue asked: "You didn't send him off?"

Huang Zhaoyi said: "I sent him back to Lushan Village."

Liu Yue calculated the time her own drug effect took to wear off, then calculated the driving time from Hongkou to Fudan University, smiled meaningfully, changed the subject, and said: "My situation in the shower last night... Mom found out. Auntie, you didn't reveal anything, did you?"

Huang Zhaoyi repeated the conversation with her eldest sister from last night, which counted as matching their stories.

After listening, Liu Yue felt relieved, patted her chest, and joked: "Auntie, if you hadn't come to save the day last night, I wouldn't have left; I would have atoned for my crimes by letting him vent his fire on me."

Huang Zhaoyi was stunned, not doubting the truth of little Liu Yue's words at all.

After a long time, she tentatively asked: "Do you like him?"

Liu Yue stretched and answered with a smile: "I don't have the energy to think about romance right now; I can't say I like him, but he's so excellent that if I had accidentally slept with him last night, I could accept him as my husband."

Then she asked her aunt: "If I had accomplished good things with him, would you have become a nun, Auntie?"

Huang Zhaoyi looked at her, followed with a smile, got dressed, and got out of bed: "Let's go, Auntie will take you to the airport."

On the other side, Lushan Village.

At this time, the night was deep, and the vast Lushan Village was pitch black. Except for the occasional frog croak and insect chirping, there was only a black cat walking through the alleys.

It was very quiet.

Quiet to the point of being scary. Li Heng's footsteps in the alley echoed, scaring him into looking back from time to time, making him feel like someone was following him.

Yu Shuheng wasn't asleep yet, or rather, she had slept but couldn't stay asleep, so she got up again to fiddle with the astronomical telescope in the attic, staring blankly at the vast starry sky.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps in the alley, followed by the sound of keys opening a lock. She came back to her senses and looked toward the small building at No. 26 across the street, just in time to see a familiar back entering the house.

Although visibility wasn't high at night, with the faint moonlight, she still recognized that it was Li Heng returning.

Yu Shuheng subconsciously checked her watch: 1:32.

A bit late, but better than she imagined; he didn't spend the night out.

Her gaze lingered on the second floor across the street for a while, and seeing him enter the shower room, Yu Shuheng got up to go downstairs, but just as she reached the alley outside, she stopped her feet again.

Standing silently in the alley for a long time, she turned back to her house, entered the bedroom, and went to sleep in one go.

A night passed.

The next day, Li Heng got up early, first jogging to the playground as usual, playing basketball with a group of acquaintances for half an hour, and then going off-campus to buy breakfast to bring home.

He didn't meet Wei Xiaozhu today, but instead ran into Sun Manning on the road, and this girl had a man following behind her.

Sun Manning blocked him: "Hey! Did you spend the night out last night? Just got back?"

Li Heng quickly examined the man: "What are you talking about? I came back last night. If you don't believe me, go check my bedroom; the quilt hasn't even been folded."

Sun Manning took a breakfast from his hand and followed him toward Lushan Village.

The man trailing behind saw this, watched the two leave from the side of the road, and didn't follow.

Li Heng asked her: "What kind of play is this?"

"A tag-along, a junior this year, wants to pursue me, but I don't like him; he's so annoying." Sun Manning bared her teeth.

Li Heng joked: "I have experience with this kind of thing; just kick him away next time."

Sun Manning was eager to try, but finally said dejectedly: "Forget it, he's the vice principal's nephew; I can't really beat him up."

Li Heng: "..."

Returning to Lushan Village, the two knocked on the door of the small building at No. 27.

At this time, Mai Sui had just gotten up, while Zhou Shihe and Ye Ning hadn't.

"You're back." Seeing him, Mai Sui spoke softly.

"Mm, breakfast I bought for you." Li Heng picked out a breakfast she liked and handed it over.

Sun Manning pulled Mai Sui and said: "Let's go, let's go check his bedroom."

Mai Sui looked puzzled.

Sun Manning said: "I want to see if he lied."

Li Heng rolled his eyes.

Arriving at the master bedroom of the small building at No. 26, seeing the quilt was indeed unfolded and a mess, Sun Manning whispered: "Did he really not lie? Did he really sleep here last night?"

Mai Sui smiled and bent down to help him tidy up the bed.

Sun Manning stood on the side and complained: "He's not your man, why are you so good to him? Think about him hugging another woman to sleep; do you still have the heart to tidy his bed?"

Mai Sui turned a deaf ear to this, and after tidying the quilt and sheets, took two pillows to the attic outside. The weather forecast said there would be a big sun today, so it was a good day to dry things.

Sun Manning followed to the attic, saw the clothes drying from last night at a glance, reached out to touch them, and asked: "Mai Sui, you're experienced, check if these clothes were washed this morning or last night?"

Mai Sui couldn't resist her friend, touched them: "They should have been washed last night."

Sun Manning bit into a bun: "So he really came back last night?"

Mai Sui didn't pay attention to her, but greeted Yu Laoshi on the opposite attic.

At this time, Li Heng also walked into the small building at No. 25 opposite, went to the second floor, first shared a breakfast with Yu Laoshi, and then said: "Teacher, I'm going to make a phone call."

He originally wanted to go off-campus to make it this morning, but there were too many people in line, and he was too lazy to wait, so he had to give up.

Yu Shuheng smiled slightly at him and took the breakfast to eat on her own.

The two were already very familiar, so Li Heng didn't avoid her presence and dialed the landline number with peace of mind.

The first call didn't go through; no one answered.

Li Heng thought for a while, not in a hurry to leave, waiting 10 minutes before calling again.

Yu Shuheng ate her breakfast in small bites and asked elegantly: "Can the teacher read your manuscript later?"

Their relationship had already reached this level, so facing this polite remark, Li Heng naturally agreed.

10 minutes later, Li Heng called Beijing again; this time it went through, and it was Tian Rune who answered.

"Mom, where did you go earlier?" he asked.

Tian Rune said: "Your dad and I went to the cake shop this morning to help your second sister make pastries."

Li Heng asked: "Is business good?"

"Good, good, your second sister and Jiao Sect can't keep up at all, often needing us to go over and help." The second daughter was clever and had a sweet mouth; the first time she opened a shop, business was booming, which made the old couple very happy.

Li Heng never doubted the second sister's ability. After simply asking about the old couple's health, he got straight to the point: "Mom, go take a photo and mail it to me."

"What do you need a photo for?" Tian Rune asked.

Things weren't even settled yet, so Li Heng didn't rush to say, instead saying: "It's useful."

"Okay, there are ready-made photos; I'll go to the post office and mail it to you later." Tian Rune thought her son missed them and agreed with a smile.

Listening to him talk on the phone with his family, Yu Shuheng was lost in thought on the side.

Last night, she had followed the car to Hongkou Fuchun Xiaoyuan, but she didn't enter the door, leaving after staying outside for a few minutes.

The whole process was quite blurry; she didn't know why she followed, nor why she withdrew early. Her heart was just inexplicably blocked.

Did he see Huang Zhaoyi last night?

Even if he did, based on past experience, there shouldn't be any major progress in a short time.

In this regard, she had quite a bit of confidence in him.

Because he didn't seem to have much interest in that *qingyi*.

Also, he came back so late last night; who sent him back?

Liu Yue? Or Huang Zhaoyi?

Through understanding, she already knew last night that Fuchun Xiaoyuan was Huang Zhaoyi's personal property, and Liu Yue's ambition was to go abroad, so she wouldn't waste time trying to please him.

Yu Shuheng guessed that it was likely Huang Zhaoyi who sent him back.

Thinking that Huang Zhaoyi had broken the threshold of zero contact in the past, met him, and had a substantial development in their relationship, she felt something was wrong; perhaps she should have picked him up herself last night.

However, these were just thoughts that flashed through the depths of her heart and weren't expressed. Yu Laoshi was still that Yu Laoshi; beneath her calm appearance, there was a sense of coldness, as if she didn't care about anything.

After hanging up the phone, Li Heng got up to say goodbye: "Teacher, I have a class in the first and second periods, I'm leaving first."

Yu Shuheng hummed and stood up: "Let's go together."

Li Heng then realized that the first and second periods on Monday were English class; it really was a case of "the water from the flood temple washing the Dragon King temple."

Everyone had full classes on Monday, and the group hurried toward the management building, chattering away.

Zhou Shihe looked unobtrusively at Yu Laoshi, who was chatting with Mai Sui in front, thought for a while, and asked Li Heng on the side in a low voice: "Did you see that *qingyi* yesterday?"

Li Heng said: "I did see her. Zhou, why are you so smart?"

Zhou Shihe smiled knowingly: "Liu Yue's intentions are not about the wine; isn't it obvious?"

PS: Update first, edit later.

(End of chapter)