novelWhy Would You Buy Me a Toy like That? Seriously, What Were You Thinking?
| ← Ch.379 | Ch.381 → |
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Ruan Danchen hastily shoved her things into her bag. She did not want to waste any time, as Qi Chenglin's presence intimidated everyone.
Qi Chenglin kept quite. His lips were curled into a secret smile and his expression, as he watched her buzz about, was soft. He took her hand into his, grabbing her attention.
"Why didn't you wait in the car?" Ruan Danchen whispered.
"You already promised to marry me, so why should I keep hiding in the car?" Qi Chenglin replied.
As he did not care for whispering, quite a number of people overheard his statement.
Ruan Danchen was utterly embarrassed. Her face burnt like hot pepper.
The couple went into the elevator and descended to the first floor, where more people saw them. Ruan Danchen felt the skin of her scalp prickle."Brother. Sister-in-law."
Before turning around to greet Qi Chengyue, Ruan Danchen shot Qi Chenglin a glare. It was obvious that the two had planned this from the beginning.
Qi Chengyue's words had officially stated Ruan Danchen's status for all members of the company to hear.
As she walked toward them, she shot Qi Chenglin a wink. Cheng Dongge glanced at her in amusement. Qi Chengyue pointed out, "You two had caused quite a stir in the company today."
Ruan Danchen thought of Yao Jingfei and asked, "Is Board Member Yao okay with what happened to Yao Jingfei today?"
"I heard from human resources that when they fired her, she caused a huge scene at the office. In the end, Board Member Yao came in and dragged her out. He must have thought her actions to be utterly humiliating. Anyhow, she's still on probation, so the company has all the right to fire her, " Qi Chengyue stated indifferently."Even if Board Member Yao is discontent, what can he do? So, don't worry about it."
The four of them headed to the car park. Suddenly, Ruan Danchen's phone rang. It was a number she was not familiar with, but the code showed that it was a landline within the city.
She suspected it to be a spam call, but she picked up anyway. Right after she said hello, she heard the all too familiar voice of Liu Ronghua."Danchen, it's me."
"What's the matter?" Ruan Danchen asked distantly. Her heart sank a little.
For the last time Liu Ronghua sought out Ruan Danchen, she had made sure that it would be the last. Qi Chenglin had made sure to silently tug some strings, ensuring that the Shen family were placed in a pickle.
Ever since, the Shen family business had not been progressing well. Though the company was not placed in a dire situation, the company's very foundations had been affected. Their losses had been substantial. They even had problems retaining clients, who had always seemed to abandon them the moment discussions began.
They knew that this was Qi Chenglin's way of warning them, without the hassle of an appearance. The message was clear: stay away from Ruan Danchen.
Consequently, Shen Jialiang and his daughter maintained their expression of displeasure when speaking to Liu Ronghua. They instantly interrogated her about her exchange with Ruan Danchen. Their goal was for Liu Ronghua to rekindle her relationship with Ruan Danchen, not to further ruin it.
Liu Ronghua was enraged by the idea. It was the Shen family's idea to force her to plead with Ruan Danchen, but when something went wrong all the blame fell onto Ruan Danchen.
When she did well, they had never praised her or expressed even a hint of gratitude. However, when she did anything that displeased them, they would condemn her and label her as an idiot.
Liu Ronghua clenched her teeth. She swallowed her wrath and asked cautiously, "Danchen, are you with Qi Chenglin?"
At that time, Qi Chengyue and Cheng Dongge had said goodbyes and got into their car.
Ruan Danchen entered the Mercedes and sat in the front passenger seat. Composedly, she inquired, "What's going on?"
"Isn't Chinese New Year just around the corner?" Liu Ronghua had slapped on a forced smile while holding the phone."So, I wanted to ask you to come home for New Year. Mom really wants to have a nice reunion dinner. Danchen, don't keep away. Please come home, so that we can have a nice and rambunctious family dinner. Wouldn't that be great? Please don't spend your New Year alone again; mom is worried about you. Didn't you also say that you don't wish to spend New Year alone again? It breaks my heart to think that you are spending New Year all by yourself!"
Liu Ronghua kept on smiling rigidly; she tried her best to maintain a loving tone."When you come home for Chinese New Year, we can watch the Spring Festival Gala together, play with firecrackers together, have a reunion dinner, and welcome the new year while eating dumplings together. Wouldn't that be great? Isn't that what you've always wanted?"
Ruan Danchen was no idiot. She knew that the home Liu Ronghua kept on mentioning was the Shen family's home. She suggested, "It's true that I don't want to spend Chinese New Year alone, so why don't we go out? Let's not spend New Year in that house. The two of us can spend New Year together. Even if it's at a restaurant, I'll still be happy to have a reunion dinner with you."
"Danchen..." Liu Ronghua hesitated.
Ruan Danchen turned to Qi Chenglin, who was opening the car door. Time had flown by so quickly, without her realizing, Chinese New Year was already around the corner. She was not mentally prepared at all.
She had been living a comfortable and blissful life with Qi Chenglin and Qi Youxaun for so long that she had grown accustomed to this perfect life. She had completely forgotten about her own family and New Year.
She was not part of the Qi family yet. On New Year's Eve, Qi Chenglin and Qi Youxan would surely leave for the old mansion and she would be left alone, again. Only this time, it just might be even more depressing for her.
As she pondered her answer, her phone was suddenly snatched away. Startled, Ruan Danchen turned to see Qi Chenglin's elegantly long fingers wrap around her phone.
Her phone, like many other popular phones, had a large display. The phone was huge but in Qi Chenglin's hands, it appeared rather lightweight.
"On New Year's Eve, Danchen is coming to the Qi family's home with me, " Qi Chenglin announced coldly.
Liu Ronghua was shocked by the sudden change in speaker. It took her a long while to finally realize that it was Qi Chenglin's voice. Her lips trembled.
"Qi—" she stuttered, lips trembling. Qi Chenglin did not want to hear it; he hung up immediately.
He tossed the phone aside and grabbed Ruan Danchen's hand."What was she thinking? Has she forgotten about me? Why did she think you'll spend New Year's Eve alone?"
Ruan Danchen was stunned too. She must have been crazy to think that. There was no way Qi Chenglin would abandon her on New Year's Eve.
Ruan Danchen was utterly touched. She turned to look at Qi Chenglin as he drove. From the side, he still looked gruff. Even from the side, his features looked exceedingly attractive. Ruan Danchen thought that she had never seen such a perfect side-profile; it was utterly unique and devastatingly debonair.
"If you keep seducing me with your eyes, we'll end up in an accident, " Qi Chenglin teased. He squeezed her hand tightly; his sizzling hot palm pressed against the back of her hand. His fingers slid through hers and rubbed against her palm.
His rubbing was ticklish for Ruan Danchen; she wanted to pull her hand away but he held on tight, refusing to let go. With her fingers entangled between his long, slender fingers, she had no way of shaking his hand off.
...
...
At night, when Ruan Danchen come out from a shower, she saw Qi Chenglin sitting cross-legged on the bed. On the rug beside the bed, there was a box.
Ruan Danchen was flabbergasted. With all that happened that day, she had completely forgotten about this.
Qi Chenglin turned to her with a faint smile. His gaze was ridiculing, but she held her ground, maintaining her innocence.
Qi Chenglin did not bring it up in the afternoon either, so she had forgotten about it.
"Come here, " Qi Chenglin ordered composedly.
However, the calmer Qi Chenglin was, the more distressed Ruan Danchen became. She gazed into his deep, dark eyes, which did not exhibit much emotion, yet it carried the weight of authority found in the head of households.
Ruan Danchen swallowed nervously. Tugging on her pajamas, she slowly shuffled toward him.
Just as she placed one knee onto the bed, Qi Chenglin grabbed her wrist and pulled her onto his lap. His muscular arms wrapped around her, pulling her into his tight embrace."Why would you buy me a toy like that? Seriously, what were you thinking?"
Ruan Danchen shuffled around and made herself at home in his embrace; her arms encircling his waist while she rubbed her face against his lower abdomen. A fierce flame burnt in Qi Chenglin's stomach. He was so close to giving in to his urges and losing to her.
He realized that Ruan Danchen's seduction skills had improved drastically. She had become an expert at teasing him. Noticing this, Qi Chenglin raised his hand and slapped her butt with his huge palm."Stop messing around."
Ruan Danchen merely twitched and then lay flat on his abdomen again. She mumbled, "Urgh, I don't know what came over me either. When Youxuan asked for a Christmas present, I thought I should get you one too."
Her arms wrapped around his waist; she nipped at his clothes from behind with her gentle fingers. She pinched and poked at the small of his back, and, when she got bored of doing that, she proceeded to draw circles with her finger. Qi Chenglin tensed. He looked down to see a muddled expression on her face.
"I really don't know why, but, for some reason, I recalled the night I went online to look for a blowup doll for you and the more I thought about it, the more excited I became to see the look on your face when you receive it. I did it in the heat of the moment and immediately after, I regretted it. Nonetheless, I can't just let my money go to waste right? So, just keep it — there's always going to be a few days in a month when I can't do it, so if you're horny, you don't have to compromise by having to use your hand."
Qi Chenglin could not take it any longer, he never realized that she could think of something like that!
Evidently, she had adopted some of Qi Youxuan's cheekiness.
"So, you think using this is not compromising?" Qi Chenglin scoffed. His eyes darted to the cardboard box and he pouted.
At that moment, an image of Qi Chenglin using that toy appeared in Ruan Danchen's mind — it was truly compromising.
It even triggered a hint of jealousy in her for some reason.
Although that thing was not an actual human, she still could not come to terms with him holding it in his embrace.
The second she thought about that image, she declared, "I'll throw it out first thing in the morning."
"You're not bothered about wasting your money anymore?" Qi Chenglin questioned, raising an eyebrow at her. He recalled the day she was browsing the web searching for it — he had caught a glance of the screen and thought, 'Those look very well made. The cheapest would still be a few thousand yuan. '
He reckoned that she was genuinely trying to find something close to a real human being so it would not feel like a compromise.
The thought of that made Qi Chenglin's lips twitch.
"No, not anymore, " Ruan Danchen sighed and tightened her grip around his waist."Even though it's just a doll, it still has the face of another woman — I can't accept that."
Qi Chenglin burst out laughing. He had never expected her to be such a jealous woman.
"I can't get hard for anyone else anyway, " Qi Chenglin stated, smirking.
Ruan Danchen did not look up. She thought that he was just joking, yet suddenly, she felt something pushing against her face which was pressed against his thigh. Her face turned completely red. Moreover, Qi Chenglin reached down and placed his hands on the back of her head, holding her head down.
"Qi Chenglin!" Ruan Danchen yelled weakly. Her face was so hot that she felt she was going to explode.
Qi Chenglin picked her up and flipped her onto the bed with him on top of her."During those few days each month, you'll just have to use your hands."
"No one would do that for you, " Ruan Danchen grunted. Hearing that, Qi Chenglin grabbed her hand and placed it on his crotch.
She inhaled deeply. Suddenly, the savage on top of her said, "I can teach you if you don't know how to do it. From tomorrow afternoon onward, you should practice diligently so you can gain more experience."
Ruan Danchen was utterly speechless.
Just as she opened her mouth, Qi Chenglin pushed his lips against hers. With her voice muffled, she could not even get a proper sentence out.
...
...
The next morning, Ruan Danchen was looking for tape to seal the box and toss it out. Although as hard as she tried, she could not locate the tape..
Just then, Aunt Zheng walked into the living room yawning. Seeing Ruan Danchen rummaging through the TV cabinet drawers, she inquired, "What are you looking for?"
"Tape. Is there none in the house?" Ruan Danchen asked as she turned to Aunt Zheng, tucking her loose hair behind her ears.
"Let me see. I could have sworn I kept it in the TV cabinet. If it's not there then we must've ran out. We don't use tape much — it takes years to finish a single roll, " Aunt Zheng mumbled to herself as she approached Ruan Danchen. Suddenly, she slapped her thighs and said, "Ah, now I remember! Youxuan needs it for his arts and crafts class but he keeps forgetting to bring it, so I let him keep it at school instead."
Aunt Zheng turned to Ruan Danchen and asked, "What do you need the tape for?"
Obviously, Ruan Danchen did not tell her the truth, she merely stated, "I just need it to seal a box. If we don't have it then never mind."
The box was not small. She would need one of those big black garbage bags to fit it in. However, there was none at home. She looked at the time; it was half past six. It was still early. There were not many people outside, so if she moved cautiously, she should be able to dispose of it without anyone noticing. Thus, she asked Aunt Zheng to prepare breakfast and she rushed back to the bedroom.
Qi Chenglin was awake. Even so, he was too lazy to get up, so he kept lying on the bed, drifting in and out of sleep. When she ran back into the room, he opened his eyes and mumbled, "Why are you running around so early in the morning?"
Embarrassed, Ruan Danchen replied, "There are not many people outside; I'll quickly get rid of this without anyone noticing."
Qi Chenglin snickered."You were brave enough to buy it, yet you don't have the guts to toss it out?"
Ruan Danchen picked up the box, her fingers trying their best to keep it closed. She was already too embarrassed to look at the doll inside. Even though it was deflated, if that thing were to be exposed, Ruan Danchen would be humiliated to death.
"Well, when I bought it, I thought that I won't be seeing anyone from that shop ever again, and I won't go back to that area again anyway. But now, we're surrounded by our neighbors, who I'm guaranteed to run into them again someday. It would be horrible if they misunderstood anything." Ruan Danchen explained.
Hearing that, Qi Chenglin thought that Qi Youxuan's ability to come up with the most bizarre explanations was definitely inherited from Ruan Danchen.
"Enough talking. I'm going to throw this out while it's still early, " Ruan Danchen said as she stumbled down the stairs with the box in her arms.
Noticing that Aunt Zheng was still in the kitchen, she bolted for the door.
She took the elevator down to the first floor. She scanned the area. Luckily, there was no one. Just as she was going to throw the box into the garbage bin, a voice called out from behind."Miss Ruan, you're up early!"
Feeling like she was caught red-handed, Ruan Danchen trembled in shock. She turned to see that it was Aunt Wang, who lived in the unit below them and was good friends with Aunt Zheng.
When Ruan Danchen went to buy groceries with Aunt Zheng, they ran into her, so Ruan Danchen and her were acquainted.
"Yeah, " Ruan Danchen replied. Staggered, she accidentally loosened her fingers, allowing the box to open, revealing one-third of the content.
Aunt Wang glanced at the box instinctively. However, she could not tell what was inside.
Ruan Danchen was utterly humiliated. She did not know what to say.
"Hehehehehehe!" Aunt Wang laughed, shooting Ruan Danchen an extremely suggestive gaze. Then, she left.
Ruan Danchen could not utter a word.
She worried about how Aunt Wang would think about Qi Chenglin from now on.
When Ruan Danchen returned, Qi Chenglin had already washed up and changed. He was sitting in the dining room, waiting for breakfast. She did not dare mention the incident to him but merely looked at him with an odd expression. She turned away guiltily.
Qi Chengzhi raised his eyebrows. He wondered what was up with her now.
Aunt Wang did not keep her mouth shut for Ruan Danchen. Qi Chenglin's 'sexual interest and strong taste' had slipped out and become common knowledge.
When Qi Chenglin and Ruan Danchen came home from work, even Aunt Zheng looked at Qi Chenglin with a suspicious gaze.
Aunt Zheng could not look him in the eye for days. Qi Chenglin was perplexed for the longest time.
On the fourth day of Chinese New Year, when they met up with Yan Beicheng and the others, Ruan Danchen had a little too much to drink and was so engrossed in their conversation that in the heat of the moment, she accidentally let it slip. Only then did Qi Chenglin find out that he had been a scapegoat this whole time. His expression darkened. Naturally, Yan Beicheng and the others did not let him off the hook so easily; he was teased and mocked relentlessly.
...
...
On Saturday, Ruan Danchen had fully recovered from her cold. There was not a trace of it left. Thus, before heading to the old mansion, they went to visit Song Yu at the confinement center.
By the time Song Yu was done with her confinement and could bring Little Youjin home, New Year's Eve would already be around the corner.
According to the schedule published for the Spring Festival holiday, the seven-day holiday would start on the first day of Chinese New Year. Even so, Qilin allowed out-of-town employees to leave earlier. However, those from within the city had to keep working, including Qi Chenglin.
Both him and Ruan Danchen had to work, so Qi Youxuan was sent to the old mansion early in the morning.
At around three o'clock in the evening, Ruan Danchen's phone rang.
The phone number displayed on her screen looked quite familiar; it was from within the city.
She guessed that it was the Shen family's home phone number. She declined the call instantly. Then, she looked through her call history. It was indeed their number.
Immediately after, her phone rang again. It was a different number this time. The number was not in her contact list.
Ruan Danchen declined the call too, thinking it was Liu Ronghua trying to convince her to go back to the Shen family's home again.
| ← Ch. 379 | Ch. 381 → |