Foolish Woman For Qingshan and Fine Wine

“After keeping me up for most of the night, are you satisfied now?” Mo Zhicheng shot her a look, then turned over and lay flat on his back to sleep. At that moment, Ye Linglan’s greatest wish was to be able to sleep as he did, but for now she could only lie prone like a little dog.

“…”

“You can’t have forgotten everything, have you?” he asked.

The night before, she had only felt her body burning with fever. In her haze, she could not remember what he had done for her. Seeing the blank look on her face, Mo Zhicheng poked her on the head. “Heartless woman. Don’t tell me you selectively forget. The good I do for you, you never remember; but if I ever seize you by force, that you hold against me and remember perfectly, is that it?”

Ye Linglan pressed her lips together and laughed softly. “Didn’t you say you would take care of me?”

Yet the moment she felt the faint upward curve of her own lips, she paused. Only after the words left her mouth did she realize she had forgotten that the man before her was Mo Zhicheng—that distant, icy Mo Zhicheng who kept everyone at arm’s length. And in front of him, she had somehow forgotten to be afraid.

She saw the clear morning light soften the hard lines of his face. His palm stroked her hair, and his expression darkened slightly as he said in quiet reproach, “And you said you could take care of yourself. If I hadn’t been home last night, you could have died and no one would even have known.”

At the mention of death, both of them fell still. She lowered her head and stopped looking at him, but Mo Zhicheng went on. “When you had a fever, I hurriedly called for a private doctor and had you put on an IV. But you kept muttering, and your forehead was covered in cold sweat. It seemed like you were having a nightmare. It was pitch-black in the middle of the night, and I was afraid you’d be frightened, so I stayed and slept beside you.”

His words were warm, but Linglan did not know how to answer. She looked at the clock on the wall. It was already late, and she asked curiously, “It’s getting late, President Mo. Aren’t you going to Heavenly City?”

“Today is the weekend. I’d like to give myself a holiday too.” He spoke lightly. “Just in time to spend it with you.”

“…” Linglan lowered her head onto the snow-white pillow. The man turned his eyes toward her and met her gaze. “Linglan,” he called softly.

“Yes?”

“You still haven’t answered my question from last time.”

“What?” she asked in confusion, not understanding what he meant.

“Why did you have the courage to take a knife for me?”

So he still cared about that question, still seizing every chance to press her for an answer.

“Is that answer really so important to you?”

Mo Zhicheng nodded, then said, “At a moment like that, when life hangs by a thread, everyone fights desperately to protect their own interests. Tell me—why did you have that kind of courage? If the blade had gone any deeper and cost you your life, then what?”

If she told him that she had feared what happened in the private room would make him suspicious, that in that critical instant all she wanted was to win his trust—what would he think?

The brightness in Linglan’s eyes gradually dimmed. Sometimes she truly did take reckless risks. In a soft voice she answered him, “I don’t know…”

The man smiled faintly. Then, unexpectedly, he leaned closer and lowered his head, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead. His lips rested against her skin as he murmured, “Foolish woman. You really are foolish—the most foolish woman I’ve ever met.”

His tone was laden with meaning as he drew her into his arms.

During Ye Linglan’s first weekend alone with Mo Zhicheng, she could not quite say what felt different. The man rested a while longer, then got out of bed; he had the habit of showering in the morning. At that moment, the sound of rushing water came from the bathroom. Linglan turned her head, and on the frosted glass she could see the blurred outline of his figure. Not long after, the sound of water ceased. The man pushed open the door and stepped out, nothing around his lower body but a white bath towel.