Chapter 45

This kiss was different from the last.
Before, Jin Qishan had only known how to brush lips; now, he clearly knew, more.
He must’ve been secretly practicing.
The deeper the kiss grew, the heavier their breathing became.
Su Xiaoxiao felt dizzy, her mind blank. She leaned back slightly, their lips parting at last.
In the silence of the room, only ragged breaths filled the air.
But barely a minute later, Jin Qishan’s fingers slid back to her face, his eyes dark and intense again.
Her face burned; her lips felt swollen and hot.
Just as he leaned in again, a knock sounded at the door.
He didn’t move.
Su Xiaoxiao nudged his shoulder. “Aren’t you going to answer it?”
“No,” he muttered.
A few seconds later, the knocking stopped, and didn’t return.
The mood had broken. Jin Qishan didn’t continue; instead, he rested his head lazily against her neck.
His breath hit her skin, hot and teasing. She froze, afraid to move, though the real reason was the unmistakable heat pressing against her thigh through the thin fabric of her dress.
Su Xiaoxiao might write bold love stories, but in real life she was painfully shy.
Because she did understand what was happening, she couldn’t just play dumb and ask, What’s that thing poking me?
Thankfully, Jin Qishan stayed like that only for a moment before getting up to pour himself a glass of water.
When he left the room, Su Xiaoxiao glanced around at the sea of flowers, imagining how long it must have taken him to prepare all this.
Her eyes fell on a notebook lying beside the computer, a class memory book. She recognized it instantly. It was from their elementary school graduation.
She flipped it open. Only her handwriting filled the pages.
Out of boredom, she decided to reread what she’d written to him back then. Five years had passed, she’d forgotten most of it.
As she turned to her page, something caught her eye.
In the “Relationship” section, a neat line of words read: Jin Qishan’s girlfriend.
Her whole face went red. That couldn’t be right,
There was no way she’d been shameless enough to write that back then!
Su Xiaoxiao thought for a moment. She must have written “Jin Qishan’s good friend.” That last character, “good”, had probably been crossed out by him afterward.
When Jin Qishan came back in, he saw her holding the class album and leafing through it. Without a change of expression, he walked over and casually took it from her hands.
Su Xiaoxiao tilted her head, a teasing smile tugging at her lips. “So, you liked me all along, didn’t you?”
Jin Qishan’s tone was calm, but his eyes softened. “Longer than you think.”
Her breath hitched. Something warm and sour rose in her chest, her eyes Suddenly prickling.
“Then why,” she asked softly, “did you stop talking to me last year all of a sudden?”
“Wasn’t it you who stopped talking to me?” he frowned, looking genuinely puzzled.
“I didn’t!” she protested weakly. “I thought you were mad at me,”
At that, realization dawned on him, they’d both misunderstood each other.
Su Xiaoxiao pouted. “So this whole time, I thought you didn’t even like me.”
“How could that be?” Jin Qishan pulled her gently into his arms. “I was just afraid I’d been too obvious and made you uncomfortable.”
She squirmed slightly, her tone still a bit aggrieved. “Yeah, right. Then why did you say Shen Hua was prettier than me? Doesn’t everyone say love makes you see your girl as the most beautiful?”
Jin Qishan frowned. “When did I ever say that?”
“In middle school,”
He honestly couldn’t recall such a thing, but he was certain he’d never said it.
“Impossible. I’d never say that.”
“Then what about when we first started high school? Remember that school forum poll for the prettiest girl? Between me and Shen Hua, you picked her!”
A faint memory surfaced. Right, there had been something like that. But it wasn’t what she thought; he’d meant to vote for Su Xiaoxiao, only, he’d clicked the wrong button.
He countered, half amused, “How do you even remember all that?”
“Hmph! Of course I remember,” she said, chin lifting proudly. “I was saving it for the day I could use it against you.”
Jin Qishan couldn’t help laughing, leaning over to plant a loud kiss on her cheek.
…
As senior year went on, life grew more intense. Jin Yongzhong’s construction projects expanded, and the monthly allowance he sent his son grew with them.
But Jin Qishan didn’t much care about that money, he’d begun earning his own by writing bits of code for small companies, making enough to get by.
On weekends, Su Xiaoxiao would take her new electric scooter, and the two of them would ride to the pedestrian street for milk tea.
One afternoon, Su Xiaoxiao spotted a familiar figure approaching from the opposite direction, a woman she thought looked like Dong Xiaohong.
Xiaohong’s face was tired and weathered, and she clung to the arm of a balding, heavyset old man who leaned on a cane.
Su Xiaoxiao froze, startled by how far the woman had fallen.
She glanced at Jin Qishan. He’d seen her too, his brow furrowed for just a moment before he turned away and calmly walked toward the milk tea stand.
Dong Xiaohong was smiling sweetly, her voice syrupy. “Brother, about that job we talked about, how’s it going?”
Boss Zhu, still hoping to get something out of her, wasn’t about to hand over too much too soon.
He coughed lightly. “There’s an opening in the monitoring room. What do you think?”
The monitoring room? That was practically the same as being a security guard.
If that was the kind of job he was offering, she could’ve found it herself, she didn’t need to lower herself to this.
Forcing a smile, she said delicately, “Brother, don’t you have anything else? I do have some education, you know,”
He gave her a dismissive look. “Our company only hires people with at least a junior college degree.”
Her face went pale. As a vocational school graduate, she didn’t even meet that bar.
Leaning closer, she brushed her chest against his arm and cooed, “Oh, come on, Brother. You have me, surely I don’t need to be like those others, right?”
Boss Zhu slid his hand from the cane to pinch her through her blouse. “Then let me take another look.”
Inside, Dong Xiaohong wanted to retch, but she forced a smile. “Thank you, Brother. I’ll be counting on your help.”
As she spoke, her eyes lifted, and froze on the tall, lean young man nearby.
Her whole body went cold.
No one knew better than she how dangerous Jin Qishan really was, how that calm, quiet face hid a mind full of poison.
If not for him, how could her career and family have fallen apart?
Everyone thought she’d left Jin Yongzhong because he didn’t make enough money. But the truth was, she’d been forced out by that boy.
Jin Yongzhong wasn’t rich, but he was handsome, kind, and gentle. She couldn’t have children, why would she have left a man like that?
No, it was Jin Qishan who’d found her secrets and cornered her, who’d made her leave with nothing, then leaked the videos of her mistreating students. Parents had banded together to report her; she’d been fired in disgrace.
After that, every job she found ended the same way, fired within days, always for no reason. She knew in her gut it was his doing.
When she’d finally tried crawling back to Jin Yongzhong, Jin Qishan had slammed a stack of photos on the table, pictures of her and Zhang Hu together.
He’d even dug up her medical records, exposing her history of recurrent miscarriages.
That last shred of dignity, ripped away by him, bare and bloody.
She could never understand how someone so young could be so calculating, so cruel.
When Jin Qishan’s eyes flicked her way, their gazes met, and her stomach twisted.
She clutched Boss Zhu’s arm tighter. “Brother, let’s, go somewhere else. I know a good spot over there.”
And just like that, she turned him in the opposite direction and hurried away.
…
No.1 High School held its sports festival every three years, and Su Xiaoxiao’s class had finally caught it during their final semester.
With only forty-some days left until the college entrance exams, their homeroom teacher, Mr. Cao, encouraged everyone to join in and relax a bit.
Su Xiaoxiao wasn’t much of an athlete, so she only signed up for the 50-meter dash, because it was short and wouldn’t tire her out.
The 3000-meter race had always been the one nobody wanted to sign up for, so Su Xiaoxiao suggested, “Why don’t you run it?”
Jin Qishan lifted his eyes. “I can. But, is there a reward?”
Her cheeks instantly flamed red.
Because Jin Qishan could never seem to get enough of kissing her, and since Su Xiaoxiao worried it might distract them from studying, she’d made a rule: kisses were only allowed once a week, on sundays.
The restriction had nearly driven Jin Qishan insane. He was always scheming for ways to earn extra “rewards.”
Leaning close to his ear, Su Xiaoxiao whispered, “This week, you can add one more.”
“Deal.” Jin Qishan set down his pen and called out, “PE rep! I’m signing up for the 3000 meters!”
The entire class turned to stare at him in shock.
Zhang Dongshan couldn’t help admiring him, Brother Shan was still as awesome as ever.
With everyone still gawking, Jin Qishan threw Su Xiaoxiao a proud look. “I’m claiming my reward tonight.”
After school, he popped a piece of gum into his mouth, chewing lazily as his gaze, dark, smoldering, brushed over Su Xiaoxiao’s lips.
They had kissed many times by now, but every single one still made her heart race uncontrollably.
There was no denying it: Jin Qishan was a fast learner. When it came to kissing, he had reached the level of an expert, often leaving Su Xiaoxiao weak and breathless in his arms.
Still, his hands were always disciplined, only resting on her shoulders or her back, never wandering lower.
But tonight, Jin Qishan’s restraint was wearing thin.
By the time Su Xiaoxiao parked the scooter in the underground lot, still fumbling with the keys, he finally lost control and pressed her against the wall.
His breath came hot and heavy as it fell over her skin; she tilted her head up, meeting the hunger in his eyes.
Then he leaned down, and the world was devoured in his kiss.
Gentleness was only the mask he wore; beneath it, he was pure wolf.
His kisses were always fierce and impatient, like a starving child finally granted a feast, desperate to devour her whole.
By the time Su Xiaoxiao thought she might faint from lack of air, he finally slowed down.
After brushing a few light pecks against the corner of her mouth, he held her close, catching his breath.
“Do you want me to run well tomorrow?” he murmured.
Still dizzy, she nodded. “Mm.”
“Then if I get first place,” he said, “can I have extra rewards?”
That sobered her up fast. The cool mint taste of gum still lingered on her lips. “At most, one more time.”
He sighed, sounding almost pitiful. “Alright, deal.”