Chapter 20: The Last One
Her back was slender and fair, the butterfly bones sharp as wings, black hair cascading down like a waterfall, catching the light in a veil of golden yellow. Li Jingche immediately noticed the bruises on her waist and spine. Setting the salad on the coffee table, he hurried over, but Jian Qing, in her fluster, had already thrown on a robe, clutching it tightly to her chest.
“What are you doing?!”
“You’re hurt? What happened?”
The nightdress, which had been lifted just moments before, barely covered her upper thighs now—half concealed, half exposed, more alluring than mere nudity.
“I fell. It’s nothing.” Jian Qing pointed to the red and purple bruises on her legs from the stairs. “Probably heatstroke. I was dizzy when I left the hospital.”
“We should get an X-ray.”
“There’s no need, it’s just a little fall.” Jian Qing watched as the man sitting beside her scooped up her leg, examining from ankle to calf with meticulous care, shaking his head repeatedly.
“There are injuries on your back too. An X-ray would set my mind at ease.”
“No!” Jian Qing tried to snatch back her foot, but his grip was firm.
Li Jingche’s expression was more severe than usual; it showed in those frustrated, peach-blossom eyes. He made no move to let go. Defeated, Jian Qing raised her hands, surrendering.
“There are bruises on my back and waist. Don’t you know why?”
His brows crumbled like an old brick wall. Li Jingche tilted his head, genuinely perplexed. “Me?”
“You… the other night, you did this!”
As soon as she spoke, Jian Qing took advantage of his stunned silence to slip her foot free and darted into the shower, closing the door behind her. The soft sound of water soon drifted out.
The steam flushed Jian Qing’s cheeks even redder. She rinsed off, her tense body gradually relaxing. Before leaving the shower, she took out the first aid kit, rummaged for a box hidden at the very bottom, swallowed a pill, and stood in front of the mirror, lost in thought for a long while before emerging.
When she came out, Li Jingche was still sitting on the sofa in the bedroom, but the coffee table was now covered with small blue boxes.
They looked like cigarette packs, but Li Jingche never smoked.
“What’s this?” Jian Qing asked as she drew closer, then instantly regretted it—
They were condoms.
“Is your family running a Durex wholesale business?”
Her mind buzzed; Jian Qing stared at Li Jingche.
He looked completely innocent, slowly taking off his jacket as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “I’m short on cash, but I didn’t know how to bring it up. Since you’re offering two hundred thousand each time, I’d like to do it two more times.”
For a moment, Jian Qing was utterly bewildered, unsure who really had the upper hand—any outsider would think Li Jingche was the one buying her!
“No, you…”
The man plucked the towel from her hand, drying her hair as he spoke. “I’ll take a shower too. Wait for me.”
“…”
“If you don’t want to wait, we can just start in the bathroom.”
She whipped around, and before she could protest, Jian Qing lifted her face and kissed Li Jingche on the lips.
Like jelly, but the kind that bites.
Soft and yielding, but in the exchange of lips and teeth, there was nothing polite about it.
Entangled and inseparable, almost too much to bear.
Jian Qing pushed him twice, but lost all her strength. He carried her into the bathroom, pausing only to grab a box of Durex on the way.
She was injured; Li Jingche remembered and was especially gentle.
But that only prolonged his time.
By the end, the bathroom was thick with mist. He carried her out, her body limp as water.
At four in the morning, Li Jingche was wide awake, not at all inclined to sleep. He handled a few documents on his phone and sent them to Qin Jin, who replied first with a crying emoji, then with a tearful voice message:
“President Li, you haven’t come back these days. Your birthday banquet is next week. Madam insists it must be grand. She’s made us plan day and night—originally I wanted to take a vacation to the grasslands, but Madam said… she said…”
Li Jingche glanced at Jian Qing, then gently patted her back as he lowered his voice, “What did she say?”
Qin Jin was one of Li Jingche’s most trusted aides and always called to complain when he was feeling aggrieved. After all, this moneymaker had a cold face but a soft heart.
“Madam said I must have been a beast of burden in my previous life, otherwise I wouldn’t yearn for the grasslands so much in this one.”
Li Jingche couldn’t hold back a laugh.
He cleared his throat and immediately doubled Qin Jin’s overtime pay. “After the party next week, take a break. Hand work over to Xiao An.”
“Thank you, President Li!”
After hanging up, Li Jingche transferred four hundred thousand to Qin Jin—
Which, incidentally, came from Jian Qing.
He lowered his head and called out softly, “Jian Qing?”
She answered sleepily, “Hmm?”
“Do you want to know my name?”
“No.”
“…”
“I know who you are, Number 33.”
Jian Qing yawned, curling deeper into his arms.
Li Jingche tensed for a moment. Then, with his ear pressed to her lips, his gaze lingered on the soft flesh that had just melted in his palm, his heart pounding wildly.
“Say my name.”
He had always thought Jian Qing’s voice was beautiful—not the delicate kind, but laced with cunning and provocation, irresistible in its own way.
He wanted her to call his name.
Especially in certain moments.
To beg with his name instead of pleading words.
“You’re…” Jian Qing coughed twice. “Oreo.”
Just as he was about to lose himself, her words made Li Jingche want to bite that cheeky mouth of hers.
“What did you say?”
“Every time I see you, I want to soak you in milk. Thirty-three, don’t you dare seduce me. If you play tricks, I’ll play along.”
Taking a deep breath, Li Jingche glanced at the blue box on the bedside table. Opening it, he saw only one left.
“Jian Qing.”
“Mm?”
She was already asleep but answered out of habit.
“There’s only one left. Let’s not waste it, alright?”