Chapter 178: Chapter 178: Si Chenli’s voice was hoarse: “Not enough

Sang Qiao noticed an old, tattered book on the shelf, with a cover so damaged it was impossible to tell what it was. She reached for it, sat on the swing, and flipped it open to have a look.

She had imagined many possibilities for this book, like perhaps Chenli had read it numerous times, or it held special meaning.

But! She absolutely never expected it to be her elementary school essay!

Opening the first page, she already began to question her life choices. “My dream is to become a cool person when I grow up, I want to save the world…”

Sang Qiao quickly flipped passed it, unable to bear looking at it. “My mom is a great mom, she would carry me to the hospital through wind and storm when I had a high fever…”

Sang Qiao closed the essay book, unable to bear it.

This dark history she didn’t even remember, and Chenli had somehow found it and kept it at his home. Just the thought of those pages being seen by that man embarrassed her.

After all, the homework written back then was more or less exaggerated and made up.

When she had a fever, Mrs. Sang wouldn’t even carry her to the hospital, let alone give her a cup of water! What on earth had she written before!

Just as Sang Qiao was doubting her life and was about to confront Chenli with the essay book, a blue envelope, addressed to “Sang Qiao,” fell out.

She didn’t hesitate and opened it right away.

“Sang Qiao, hello, I am your future husband. I am very angry seeing you and your deskmate flirting. I hope you remember you are a married woman and maintain your virtue,–Your future husband, Chenli.”

“Ha ha ha.” Sang Qiao completely forgot her embarrassment and burst into laughter.

Chenli wrote this?

How old was he when he wrote this, to be so childish?

Perhaps her laughter was too extravagant, because there came a knock at the door. Sang Qiao, holding the envelope, tried to stuff it back into the notebook.

She rushed towards the bookshelf, frantically trying to shove the embarrassing items back.

However, the more hurried she was, the more likely an accident would happen; she slipped and “bang,” fell to the floor.

Chenli, who had been patiently asking “What’s wrong?” from the other side, opened the door and came in, seeing the woman kneeling on the floor. His eyes twitched upon seeing the envelope on her left and the essay book on her right.

“Um…”

“I didn’t have time to see anything.” Sang Qiao replied quickly, her lips involuntarily curling up.

Chenli: “…”

“How did my essay end up here?” Sang Qiao looked up at him.

“I found it when it fell out of the waste paper being sold.” Chenli explained calmly, thankful that he had only forgotten this one book when cleaning out his bookshelf the other day.

If she discovered that she had not only her elementary but also her middle school, high school, and university textbooks at his place, she might think he was crazy.

“You read my essay, I read your ‘warning,’ we’re even.” Sang Qiao didn’t suspect further.

After all, it was just one book. It was normal for her old textbooks to be given to a servant’s children or sold after she was done with them.

“I didn’t intend to warn you, just wrote nonsense.” The man added, only he knew it wasn’t nonsense. At that time, seeing her play that game with her little classmate, touching each other, indeed bothered him a lot.

It felt like something that belonged to him was being desecrated by others.

But then, when he planned to give her the envelope, he saw her fall while running and her face bruised badly, so he thought to give it another time and eventually forgot.

“Mhm, mhm, mhm.” Sang Qiao nodded noncommittally.

“Are your legs hurt?” The man only then noticed she was still sitting on the ground, stretching out his large palm, signaling her to get up.

“No, I’m going to wash up and go to sleep.” So you should go to sleep too. Sang Qiao got up following his hand, silently adding the sentence in her mind.

“Okay, give me this book, and I’ll have someone sell it to the recycling tomorrow.” Si Chenli saw that she moved nimbly and her knees were only slightly bruised, easing his worries. He planned to get some medicinal wine to rub on her later.

“Forget it, I’ll take it back.” Sang Qiao shook her head, reaching behind her.

It was better for her to take the essay back and destroy the evidence, as it would be embarrassing if someone else saw it again.

“Alright.” The man went along with her words, not wanting to arouse her suspicion–it was just an essay after all. “You go brush up, and I’ll get the medicinal wine to apply on your knee later.”

“Do we need to?” Sang Qiao looked down at the slight bruising, figuring it would heal on its own soon enough.

“Be good, go wash.” Si Chenli couldn’t help but stretch out his hand to touch her head.

He then turned and left to find the medical kit.

Sang Qiao knew about his stubbornness; once he said something, he wouldn’t stop until he achieved his goal. So, she let him be, grabbing a set of pajamas and two pieces of underwear from the closet before heading into the bathroom.

The size was just right which made her blush slightly. Did Si Chenli buy them a little too perfectly?

She hadn’t told him her size.

But that sort of thing, Sang Qiao couldn’t bring up. When she came out of the bathroom, she saw the man sitting on the sofa waiting for her, the medical kit beside him.

Seeing her in pajamas, he waved, “Come over, have a seat.”

Sang Qiao obediently sat down, the legs of her sleep pants were very wide, easily pulled up.

She gestured for the man to give her the medicinal wine.

“I’ll do it. The bruise will heal faster if it’s rubbed in,” Si Chenli said intensely, still holding the bottle of medicinal wine.

“It’s not that serious.” Sang Qiao looked again at the slight bruising on her knee, skeptical.

“Be good, bruising untreated will get worse–put your knee on my lap,” Si Chenli coaxed gently, his gaze lingering on her fair and delicate legs.

“Don’t be ridiculous, this will be gone in a bit.” Sang Qiao directly reached out, took the medicinal wine from his hand, and dabbed it on her knee.

Si Chenli’s hand was empty, losing his chance to apply the medicine for her.

He was silent, realizing the girl was pretty hard to fool.

“Alright, let’s go to sleep,” Sang Qiao said after she was done, screwing the cap back on tightly and returning the bottle to the medical kit.

“…Okay.” Si Chenli’s expression held a fleeting rigidity before he finally packed up the medical kit and carried it out.

Sang Qiao curled her lips, noticing his disappointment–it was quite clear to her. She reached out, her fingertips grasping the hem of his shirt. “Bend down.”

Si Chenli didn’t understand why, but still lowered his head, his hand still holding the medical kit.

His deep, endless black pupils reflected her face, and Sang Qiao tilted her head to kiss his thin lips before planning to move away, “Goodnight.”

A pair of large hands encircled her waist, holding her back and stopping her from moving away, he stared at her, “Not enough.”

Sang Qiao wrapped her arms around his broad waist, stood on her toes, and kissed his chin, which was slightly scratchy with stubble, seeing that he still wasn’t planning to let go.

Her eyes shifted, and she reminded him, “It’s time to sleep.”

“Alright, goodnight.” This time, the man obediently released his hands, his voice low and husky, knowing well that being overly greedy meant not getting treats next time.