As we descended the mountain path, a car was parked at the bottom of the road—it was his Porsche, and the driver, of course, was still that mister corpse slave.
I got in the car, charged my phone, and looked at the date. I realized that five days had passed since I lost my soul. It was a long way from Jiangcheng to Thailand. I didn’t know how Tunshe Nalin found his way there in these few days. Did he drive to Bincheng and sneak out through the border?
I glanced at him and realized he was looking at me, too: “Be good, tell your parents the news.”
“……”
I protested in my heart, but I dared not say a word. I opened WeChat and clicked on the family group under his surveillance and sent a message: “Dad, Mom, I’m back, and my,”
My fingers paused, and I felt his eyes lingering on my fingertips.
“Wife.” I really couldn’t type the word husband, so I typed this word and quickly clicked send.
“Nowadays in the city, what should we call our husband?” He pulled me into his arms and asked suddenly.
My scalp tingled: “…Just calling the name ah.”
“Really?” He grabbed my hand holding the phone, slid his thumb across the screen, opened the search engine, and typed in a sentence under my astonished gaze.
“How do legal couples call each other?”
When I saw the huge word “Laogong” pop up, I was completely stunned.
He turned my face so that I had to look at him.
The sight of her red eyes made me flinch, so I had to answer obediently: “Lao-Laogong…”
But I regretted it immediately.
“Tunshe Nalin, we are about to meet my parents, stop it!”
When the car was about to arrive near my house, my eyes were swollen from crying and my voice was hoarse. The only thing that should not be said to be lucky or even more unfortunate was… Tunshe Nalin learned how to use condoms.
And there were actually three boxes in the car.
I never thought that after he wanted me on the wolf’s back last night, he would actually want me in the car as well. If the corpse slave who was driving the car hadn’t been unaware, I would have been so embarrassed that I would have killed myself.
“No more, my home is just up from here… Don’t let my parents see us!”
I cried until I could barely catch my breath, and only then did he finally stop, helping me put on my clothes, pants, and shoes. My whole body felt weak as I looked out the car window. The familiar courtyard-style villa came into view, getting closer and closer. I took a deep breath to calm my racing heart, then gathered my courage to set a boundary with him. “At my parents’ house, you’re not allowed to touch me at night. If you make any noise and they hear, I… I won’t let you off.”
“As long as you’re being good, I’ll listen to you.” He kissed the corner of my eye, then coaxed me to button his clothes and tie his hair—unlike me, always flushed afterward, he remained as cold as ice, his presence calm and composed. As long as his outfit was in place, no one would ever guess just how reckless and excessive he was with me in private.
—Be good, and I’ll listen to you, but what exactly are his standards for being good?
The car stopped, and he pressed his cold hand against my eyelids for a while to soothe them before I finally dared to open the door and get out.
As soon as my feet touched the ground, my legs went weak, and I staggered a couple of steps before Tunshe Nalin picked me up in a bridal carry.
I didn’t want him to carry me all the way to the doorstep, but my legs had no strength left. The long ride up the mountain had worn me out, and it felt like the ancient punishment of riding a wooden donkey, it was endless and exhausting.
I straightened my shirt and was about to press the doorbell when the door opened on its own.
“It’s Young Master, Master, Madam. Young Master is back!”
As soon as the old servant saw me, she excitedly shouted out. The weather in Bincheng was warm, and no one wore slippers when entering the house. I took off my shoes and signaled for Tunshe Nalin to do the same as we entered the hallway together.
“Aiya, my Ranran, you’re finally back!”
From upstairs came a familiar voice. My adoptive mother, dressed in a dark-colored qipao and still exuding grace, hurried down the stairs without paying attention to the composure she usually maintained. Behind her, my adoptive father followed with a stern expression, his gaze filled with reproach as he looked at me, then shifted to Tunshe Nalin behind me. Perhaps struck by his appearance, even my usually composed father showed a hint of surprise in his eyes.
“Dad, Mom, he is…”
I was just about to find the right words to introduce Tunshe Nalin to them when I suddenly felt a weight on my shoulder. I turned to glance at him and saw Tunshe Nalin frowning, one hand clutching his chest as he staggered toward me, about to collapse.
“Tunshe Nalin!”
I was startled and quickly grabbed hold of him, but his weight caused me to stumble back a couple of steps. Luckily, the two servants standing at the sides of the hallway were quick to react and hurried over to steady us.
“What’s going on?”
“Tunshe Nalin?” I hugged his waist and held up his face. I saw that his eyes were half open and half closed, and he seemed to be about to faint.
Could it be caused by the previous injury to his hand?
I was panicking. If someone was injured, they could be sent to the hospital, but Tunshe Nalin was not a human being. What should I do with him?
“Aiya, what’s wrong with your foreign wife? I’ll call an ambulance and have the family doctor come take a look.” My adoptive mother instructed. “Mother Qin, quick, call the doctor.”
“Find a room that’s shaded, let me lie down for a while, it’ll be fine.” Tunshe Nalin’s hoarse whisper suddenly reached my ear. I was stunned for a moment, then nodded. “Mom, don’t call the doctor or ambulance. I’ll help him upstairs to my room to rest for a bit. You and Dad can sit in the living room for now, I’ll come down shortly.”
I opened the door and helped Tunshe Nalin into the room. Worried that the servants might notice something strange and realize he wasn’t human, I quickly got him onto the bed. After that, I dismissed them and locked the door.
“Are you okay, Tunshe Nalin?” I knelt beside the bed and removed his sunglasses, but my wrist was gently grabbed, pulling me to lean into his chest.
“I’m fine, just a bit tired.” He murmured softly.
He coughed twice, and I lifted my gaze to look at his face, but his complexion was already pale, making it hard to tell if there were any health issues. I grabbed his hand, disregarding everything, and started to unravel the bandage wrapped around his forearm. “I don’t believe it. Let me see… you wrapped it like this because you don’t want me to see, right?”
My hands were pinned down, and Tunshe Nalin flipped over, hovering above me. “Are you worried about me?”
I furrowed my brows and lowered my eyelids. “Mm, a little.”
His lips pressed down heavily on mine, and his cold hand gripped my waist, as if trying to pull me into him, deep into his bones.
He kissed me until I was almost suffocated, then he moved his lips away and leaned close to my ear: “Ranran, I’m very happy.”
I clenched my five fingers, grasped his shirt collar in my palms, and crumpled it into a ball.
My heart suddenly started beating very fast and loudly, just like when I met him in red clothes in the forest.
Thump, thump, thump, like the morning bell, resounding throughout the world.
“Is this your bedroom when you were young?” He looked around and asked in a low voice.
I nodded, because after I went to college, I seldom went home to live, basically only once every two or three years, and during the Chinese New Year. So the furnishings in the room were still the same as they were before I was eighteen years old. Even the unfinished portrait I painted of my first love, who ended in vain, was still hanging on the wall.
Afraid of being seen by him, I raised my hand to block his eyes, but it was too late.
“Who is that?” He squinted his eyes at the youth on the wall, who was smiling as brightly as the spring breeze.
“An, an old friend.” My voice trailed off, not daring to look him in the eye. Then I felt the big hand around my waist suddenly tighten, lifting up the hem of my shirt, and I panicked immediately.
“Tunshe Nalin, I said you can’t do that at my parents’ house!”
“When you were young, did he come to this room with you?” He asked in a low voice, his throat seemed to be burning with black fire, and his fingers reached into my waistband. I had just suffered so much, how could I withstand such stimulation? I bit my lower lip and shook my head. “No, no, that painting was painted outside…”
“You guys are still so young, and already together…”
He seemed to be driven crazy by jealousy and couldn’t hear anything I said. I was stimulated by him and was about to cry again. I was afraid that the sound would be heard by my parents, so I had to bite his collarbone.
“Knock, knock,” the door was knocked at an inopportune time.
“Ranran? How is he? Can he come down for the meal later?”
I opened my mouth and watched him shaking his head desperately. I begged him to stop with my eyes, but I was so stimulated that I bent my waist, as if I was thrown into the sky by the waves. I could only bite my lips tightly and hold back my breathing and sound.
“Ranran?”
I couldn’t answer at all. I clutched the bedsheet tightly, and my body shook violently.
My mind went blank, and my body went limp. I swallowed and was able to respond, “Mom, he’s asleep. Wait… wait until he gets better, then we’ll go downstairs to eat.”
