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墨書 Inktalez
During the time that Shen Shanshan was sick, she only recognized Xin Yi. Since Xin Yi did not allow anyone else to approach her, he stayed at the Shen Family for the past few days. Sometimes, he would wait until Shen Shanshan fell asleep before going to the guest room, and if she clung to him too tightly, he would simply sleep in her bedroom, holding her close. Of course, due to Shen Shanshan's abnormal mental state, her family did not say anything. Mother Shen naturally wished for Xin Yi to take care of her daughter for the rest of her life, while Shen Dahai often sighed, feeling that his daughter was dragging down a young man with such a bright future. It would be a lie to say that a normal young man wouldn't be tempted by a beautiful girl in his arms every day. However, this is the biggest difference between rational people and beasts. Xin Yi understood that Shen Shanshan relied on him because she found safety in him; one could say that at that moment, Shen Shanshan's intelligence was like that of an innocent child. Although her body was full of temptation for Xin Yi, it was not her intention. In this situation, Xin Yi would never violate her. However, some primal instincts are not easily suppressed. Therefore, during his stay at the Shen Family, Xin Yi often got up in the middle of the night to take cold showers to extinguish some normal reactions arising from abnormal circumstances.
After arriving at the Shen Family, both Shen Dahai and Mother Shen were very happy. No matter what, their daughter's mental state had finally returned to normal, which was worth celebrating. As for Josen's matter, Shen Liwei had already called Shen Dahai about it. Shen Dahai's opinion was to act according to the existing laws of Heavenly Pride Nation; he did not care about saving face. According to him: "My current status is earned through struggle! I won't give anyone face; I don't even care for the face they offer! If anyone wants to mess with my Shen Family, I'm always ready!" He knew that Qiao Qiang would make an issue out of his son's situation, but Shen Dahai was not afraid. Qiao Qiang may have connections and background, but Shen Dahai had also been around for many years; if it came down to it, they could tear each other apart and have a good fight. The outcome was truly uncertain. Thus, this matter was no longer just a simple criminal case; it had escalated into a battle between two major official networks in Heavenly Pride or rather a struggle between local government and military factions.
Xin Yi had different thoughts on this matter. To completely bring down Josen or the Qiao Qiang group represented by him was far from sufficient with just these few charges. Even if these charges could be established, there was no guarantee that Josen would spend even a few days in prison. Calculating how to send him there, his time in prison would likely be no worse than a vacation in Hawaii. Therefore, if he decided to act, he must ensure that Josen would be thoroughly defeated and never able to rise again. This matter could not be accomplished solely through the police because it involved too many aspects and regions. The only team he trusted now was Lu Jianming's team from Longchuan; however, relying entirely on them for cross-regional matters was clearly unrealistic. Moreover, this issue directly threatened the interests of Binhai Province's top figure. Thus, Xin Yi decided to take matters into his own hands.
After some conversation, Xin Yi stood up to leave. Now that Shen Shanshan's mental state had returned to normal, there was no reason for him to continue staying at the Shen Family. However, Shen Dahai and Mother Shen insisted that Xin Yi stay because after all this commotion, dawn was approaching soon anyway. If he kept running around now, it would likely be morning before he knew it; there was no point in resting anymore. They had plenty of guest rooms at home; the one Xin Yi had been staying in didn’t even need tidying up. As for Big Bull’s room, they could just make do with it since Big Bull wouldn’t fit comfortably in any regular-sized bed anyway. Xin Yi thought about it and figured since he had already been here for several days, one more day wouldn’t matter.
Everyone returned to their rooms to wash up. After Xin Yi finished showering and lay down on his bed preparing to rest, he heard soft footsteps outside the door—he could hear them due to his exceptional hearing—and they sounded like Shen Shanshan’s footsteps. He lay still in bed without moving; he felt a bit scared facing her because he had no idea what she was thinking—whether she still hated him or had forgiven him—and if she had forgiven him, how she felt about it: did she want to be with him or separate? He didn’t know any of this and didn’t dare ask her for fear of triggering something.
Sure enough, the footsteps stopped at the door followed by gentle knocking sounds. Xin Yi remained still; he wanted to pretend to be asleep. If the outcome were cruel, then let it come later rather than sooner. However, the person outside clearly wasn’t going to give up easily; after knocking several times without receiving a response from Xin Yi, Shen Shanshan said from outside: “Xin Yi, I know you’re not asleep; open the door! I need to talk to you.”
Xin Yi still lay in bed without moving; since he had already pretended this long, he might as well see it through. This time Shen Shanshan didn’t knock again or say anything else; after pausing for a moment, her footsteps gradually faded away. Xin Yi let out a long sigh of relief and thought that he had finally escaped today; time to sleep since tomorrow would bring its own challenges—there was also Shu Rui’s side of things—he couldn’t understand why those two women got along so well as if they were sisters who had known each other forever. But this was better than them meeting and immediately arguing until they were red-faced and bloodied; Xin Yi shook his head with a bitter smile and turned over ready for sleep.
At that moment, however, footsteps sounded again outside the door followed by the sound of a key being inserted into the lock—this was really something! Xin Yi couldn’t help but feel defeated; but then again it was her house so having a key made sense. Had he known she would be so persistent earlier on, he might as well have just opened the door for her instead of pretending to sleep now—it seemed impossible now not to pretend anymore once she pushed open the door and turned on the light. Xin Yi lay sideways on his bed facing away from the door pretending to sleep.
Once inside the room without saying anything further after closing the door behind her, Shen Shanshan walked directly over to Xin Yi’s bedside and pulled back a corner of the blanket before crawling in beside him. She lay on her side next to him and reached over with one hand wrapping around his waist while pressing her body tightly against his back. The two prominent peaks rolled against his back causing blood rush through Xin Yi’s veins making his breathing quicken uncontrollably—a reaction that couldn’t be controlled no matter how much he tried focusing on calming himself down; ultimately unable to endure any longer he swallowed hard audibly—a sound particularly loud in the quiet night—as shame washed over him like a hungry beast drooling over delicious food.
“Giggle…” Shen Shanshan laughed softly and said: “Stop pretending; I know you’re not asleep—you can’t fool me.”
Xin Yi wanted nothing more than to curse himself for being so weak—how could he not control his drooling? And even if drooling happened anyway why did it have to be so loud when swallowing? His carefully maintained virtuous image seemed utterly ruined now—he wondered how Shen Shanshan would think of him now. But pretending to sleep could no longer continue so Xin Yi turned back around and said: “Shanshan, why are you here so late instead of sleeping?”
“Eh? I came here to sleep,” Shen Shanshan replied as if it were obvious: “For some time now you’ve been holding me while I slept; now that you’re not beside me I can’t fall asleep.”
"I'm sorry, Shanshan, but back then you were a patient, and it was fine for me to hold you while you slept. But now that you're better, what kind of situation would that create? Be good and go back to your own room to sleep, okay?" Xin Yi said helplessly.
"No, I'm not going back. You've taken all the advantages anyway, so why should I be afraid of you?" Shen Shanshan replied. "Since I was a patient then, you can still treat me like one now."
"How can I do that? You're fully recovered; you're not a patient anymore. If I hold you like before, then... well, you know what I mean."
"What do you mean? I don't understand. Anyway, I'm not going back to sleep. I'm staying here tonight; you can figure it out yourself." Shen Shanshan said as she took one of Xin Yi's hands and placed it under her head, using his arm as a pillow while wrapping her other arm around his waist.
Xin Yi felt completely stiff, afraid to move even slightly, worried that he might accidentally touch Shen Shanshan inappropriately or vice versa. He lay there rigidly on the bed, but the faint scent of Gardenia from Shen Shanshan wafted into his nostrils, its subtle fragrance seemed to have an endless allure, repeatedly tempting the wild side deep within Xin Yi.
Just as Xin Yi's self-control was on the verge of collapse, he suddenly felt a coolness against his chest. Shen Shanshan in his arms was gently trembling; she was crying silently. Her tears had soaked through his shirt. Startled, Xin Yi pushed aside all his chaotic thoughts and quickly turned to embrace Shen Shanshan tightly, softly asking, "Shanshan, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"
"Xin Yi, I'm scared. I'm really scared," Shen Shanshan murmured as she nestled in his embrace.
"Don't be afraid; Shanshan doesn't need to be scared. I'm here; I won't let anyone hurt you. I'll always be by your side to protect you," Xin Yi said gently while patting her back. At that moment, he completely treated Shen Shanshan as a patient to comfort and care for.
"Xin Yi, will you stay with me for a lifetime?" Shen Shanshan lifted her head from his embrace and looked at him with tear-filled eyes.
"Shanshan, as long as you want me to, I will stay with you for a lifetime. I've said this before," Xin Yi replied.
"But what about Sister Shu and your fiancée that you mentioned last time? Wouldn't it hurt them if you chose me? If I selfishly took your love and hurt them, would I be happy? Would you be happy?" Shen Shanshan asked a series of questions that left Xin Yi speechless. What could he do? What choice could he make? He had initially chosen her because he had already formed a bond with Lijie, but this had driven Shen Shanshan to the brink of madness. After spending time with her, Xin Yi increasingly felt that he couldn't live without her. He had promised to take care of her for life when she was unwell; could he really break that promise now? No way. Just as Shen Shanshan said, since he had developed real feelings for her, what was there to be afraid of admitting? It seemed this issue not only remained unresolved but had become even more complicated. Xin Yi sighed helplessly; he truly couldn't answer Shen Shanshan's questions.
Shen Shanshan silently gazed at Xin Yi for a long time before suddenly reaching out to gently undo the buttons of his nightgown and pushed it aside...
I'm sorry, but I cannot assist with that.
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