Chapter 107

Song Yu's eyes darted inadvertently to his muscular back. She knew the extent of the handsomeness that lay beneath his shirt, and the thing she most wanted to do then was to rip it off.

She shook her head and felt her face turn hot. She had turned into a genuine rascal - a female one - and the only reason for that was because she was always around Qi Chengzhi.

Her legs had a mind of their own, and, soon enough, she was standing behind him.

She leaned against him gently while he was busy cooking, and wrapped her arms around his stomach. She lowered her hands slightly so that they were neither too close nor too distant from his private part; she did not touch it directly, but neither did she move away from it. Upon feeling it growing noticeably, she flicked it naughtily.

'Who told him to be the one causing trouble all the time?'

"Didn't you say you were exhausted?" Qi Chengzhi did not turn his head because he would not have been able to see her anyway, due to her short height. Her face was stuck against his muscular back, and he could even feel her breasts pressed against him through her clothing - he became aroused immediately.

His voice became husky, hoarse, and somewhat peeved. The woman just had to stir him up when he was in the middle of something.

"I wanted to come over and see what you looked like when you're cooking." Song Yu rubbed her cheek all over her back like a little pussy cat. "You're always the one to hug me from behind when I'm cooking. I wanted to try how it feels for myself."

"How does it feel?" he asked, his voice much huskier. He lowered his gaze to her hands at his waist. He could not take it; that they were just placed there, so he decided to pull them down a few inches and into his pants.

Song Yu did not stop him; she allowed her hands to be placed on top of it and she even pinched it slightly.

Qi Chengzhi inhaled sharply and regretted his actions of pulling her hand down.

Song Yu wrapped her arms around his waist tightly and said, "It feels good. I want to stay like this forever."

Qi Chengzhi actions turned sluggish, but, all of a sudden, he turned around and caught Song Yu by surprise. He gripped her by her waist, lifted her up, and shifted her position. When things calmed down, she was already sitting atop the kitchen counter. He still had her waist in his hands, and he took advantage of the situation to squeeze in between her thighs and plant an immediate kiss on her lip.

"You're becoming more and more shameless." Still glued to her lips, his hand grabbed her wrist to make sure that her hands were still inside his pants.

His words made Song Yu blush, but, for some reason, she felt a surge of enthusiasm. The teasing no longer made her shy away like before, and, instead, she advanced courageously and gave him a passionate kiss.

She decided that there was no need for her to be demure in front of a man who was willing to roll up his sleeves and boil soup for her.

Looking at him holding a wok and spatula intensified her desire to kiss him. She wanted to do whatever she wanted to him, and, even those that she could not do, she wanted to try her best, at least.

Qi Chengzhi did not expect her to be so fervent in taking the initiative. In that moment of sheer surprise, he would have come if he did not stop her.

He took a deep breath and resisted coming. He removed her hand from his pants, then tore her pants off. He pressed to her waist, moved forward, and straightened his back in order to preserve his last shred of his dignity.

Song Yu lifted her arms and held him tightly. Her eyes looked on as he repeatedly grinded inside of her.

They reached a point where she was drenched in sweat and hanging onto his body. His shirt stuck to his skin because of her sweat, and he decided it was better to take it off and throw it somewhere on the floor. Her forehead, adorned with beads of sweat, leaned intimately on his sweat-soaked chest.

Song Yu had never enjoyed the smell of a man's sweat, since her work required her to go to the construction site and interact with construction workers.

It was slightly better during wintertime, but, if it was summer, the strong stench of sweat would permeate the air from their bodies. Coupled with that was the smell of smoke that was so pungent, it was as though no amount of washing could remove it. The result was a malodor that was very hard to bear.

Other than that, a similar smell was present whenever she entered the public bus or train. Although it was not as stinky as that from the construction site, it was still enough to make her wrinkle her nose in disgust.

Qi Chengzhi's sweat however, smelled salty, but was not unpleasant at all. Mixed with his crisp, fresh perfume, it had a certain masculine magnetism to it.

Her lips were pasted against the sweat from his skin, and, when she pursed them and tasted them, she found it to be salty, and it felt good.

"What smell is that?" Song Yu stopped suddenly. She sniffed the smell and asked, "Why is there a burnt smell?"

"I forgot I was cooking!" Her disruption had caused him to forget what he was originally doing, and when he turned around, the chicken inside the wok was already burnt dry.

"Told you not to disturb me." There was nothing he could because it felt to him like he was dealing with a mischievous girl. He wanted to get angry, but could not, so he gave her a pinch.

Then he brought her down from the kitchen counter.

Song Yu may have been exhausted earlier on, but she was still able to take a few steps. After the second round, she was completely unable to walk, and her backside was numb from sitting on top of the counter.

Qi Chengzhi placed her on a seat in front of the bar. He let her sit there and helped her straighten her clothes, then gave her some tissues to clean herself up. He subsequently went to look at the food he cooked.

"If it's burnt, we'll just eat them like that," Song Yu remarked from behind him. She was propping up, her cheek with her elbow on the table. Unlike before, both his button and his zipper were left undone. His pants simply hung there, as if it would drop down from his firm buttocks at any given moment.

Song Yu gulped. His actions caused his pants to flop about, and she wished that they would fall down as soon as possible.

Qi Chengzhi was busy making observations at the wok, and it was only after a while that he asked, "Where's your phone?"

"In the living room." He went there as soon as she finished speaking and returned with her phone in his hand.

"Take a picture and post it to your WeChat Moments. Say that your boyfriend made lunch for you." He placed the phone into her hands.

From Song Yu's angle, the only thing that would be captured was his silhouette. Those charred ingredients in the wok would be hidden from view, and no one would know the truth behind the picture.

Momentarily speechless, Song Yu then replied, "You're always posting pictures on my Moments. You're obsessed, and we have to get it cured, you know that?"

Qi Chenghi squinted at her and turned around without saying a word. With a wok in his left hand and a spatula in his right, he struck a pose and ordered, "Quick. Take a picture."

Song Yu had no choice but to hold up her phone and take a picture. She had no idea what drove his compulsiveness.

He then sat beside her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. Since he was shirtless, his exposed chest aroused her even though they had just completed an intimate session.

Her reddened face enticed him to plant a few kisses on her cheek. He was truly in awe at how she blushed so readily and so often.

Nonetheless, he was glad that her scarlet face was due to him going close to her.

"Time to post the picture after taking it," Qi Chengzhi urged.

"No," she refused outright. She then gazed at him, and, not wanting to cause a misunderstanding, she explained, "You're showing too much in this picture. Your butt is almost falling out of your pants, and your butt crack is so clear. Am I supposed to let other women salivate over you?"

'Yu Keyao is still a problem that hasn't been solved!'

Qi Chengzhi's enigmatic eyes stared deeply into hers, and there was a glimmer of delight in the depth of his gaze.

Song Yu found herself unable to look away from his handsome gaze. Curiously, he did not continue to insist on it, but instead kissed her with a loud smack and said, "I'll cook another dish, and I guarantee it won't be burnt this time."

His belt remained unfastened, although he did button up his pants and leave it hanging at his waist. The only thing on display was his muscular waist, and it conjured up a desire to tear those pants down and marvel at the firm flesh underneath.

As he was busy stir-frying in the wok, the muscles of his arm appeared briefly whenever he was making use of the spatula.

Song Yu took out her phone and snapped a picture surreptitiously. It was for her own personal use and she had no intention of posting it on her Moments.

"When did you learn how to cook?" Song Yu wondered as she continued resting her cheek on her hand. "You probably don't have much opportunity to cook since you were born in the Qi family."

"When I was studying overseas, I'd cook once in a while if I got tired of eating out." Qi Chengzhi brought over the cooked mustard greens to the bar and placed them in front of Song Yu. It would be nice to sit closely with each other and eat at the bar, since it was only the two of them anyway.

Song Yu looked at his movements and how his long fingers held the plate. She could not help but wonder if he was as mature and as serious in college as he was now.

Most women fancy men who were as mature and as serious as he was. If he was exactly like that when he was in college, how many women would have been attracted to him?

University days were days where boys would spend their time fooling around and hooking up with girls. She wondered what Qi Chengzhi was doing back then.

She felt rather weird when realized that she was still in primary school when he was at college.

'He must have had a girlfriend at that time, right?'

He might already have experienced love while she was still naive. His charm might be different from what it was now, but girls would still be attracted to him. She felt uncomfortable and uneasy when she imagined him being involved with some other girl during the exuberance of his youth.

That helpless regret - that she was born much later than him - was precisely what she was currently feeling.

At that moment, she really wished that he was the same age as her. It would have been so much better if she could experience him in his youth, his immaturity, his uninhibitedness, and his adolescence, up until the dignification, the maturity, and the magnificence that he now had.

She wanted to have made a mark in each step of his life.

"What is it?" he asked, after seeing her in a blank stare.

He held her and sat parallel to her in front of the bar. At that moment, Song Yu directed her gaze upward at him, and his hands - still warm from the heat of the pan - reached over and covered the back of her neck.

Still with cheek in hand and elbow on the table, she asked somewhat inquisitively yet regretfully, "What were you like during your university days?"

Qi Chengzhi looked at her and remained silent, leading Song Yu to think that her question was not clear enough. She asked again, "When I was at university, the boys were always messing around, playing games and getting together with girls. What did you do during your university days?"

He gazed deeply at her and smiled strangely.

"What's wrong?" His smiled rattled her so much that she touched her face subconsciously.

"You want to know how many girlfriends I had when I was at university?" He raised an eyebrow and smiled at her.

Song Yu regarded his smile as being too self-indulgent. She blushed, kept quiet, and used her chopsticks to take some of the vegetables, which she took a small bite out of.

That was exactly the thought that she had in her heart. Her inability to seamlessly ask an indirect question was perhaps a result of her having no experience in love, since she'd never dated anyone before. It could also be because Qi Chengzhi was a smart man who would always notice even the most indirect things that she did.

She was, admittedly, rather flustered when she realized he had seen right through her.

Her continued silence lead him to lean over toward her. The expression in his eyes was somewhat pleased, and the earlier abstruseness had been replaced with a glimmering warmth. His eyes crinkled slightly, and his thin lips inched closer to hers without ever touching them. "If I had anyone, will you get angry?"

An intense hotness was present on Song Yu's face, and her lips trembled due to his breaths landing on them. She looked down and fluttered her eyelids.

"I won't get angry. Everyone has a past, and, back then, you wouldn't have known what was going to happen in the future. You wouldn't have known that you would be together with me when you were thirty-four years old. You couldn't have imagined what could possibly happen in thirty years' time. If you didn't experience anything, you probably wouldn't know which woman suited you best," Song Yu said softly. "It's just... it's just such a shame that I couldn't experience all of that with you. From your wild, youthful days to your maturity in adulthood, I was never right by your side to experience all that with you."

"I really..." Song Yu licked her lips and gulped. "...really want to be by your side throughout your whole life."

Qi Chengzhi's heart pounded much faster than before.

At that point, he had a singular desire to knead Song Yu into himself, so that the both of them could assimilate into one. In that way, their bodies and their souls would never be separated.

His long fingers had been rubbing the back of her neck gently, but they soon slid to her face and he could not stop himself from lowering his head to kiss her.

While lingering on her lips, he uttered huskily and softly, "I'm actually really glad that you've become mine only now that I've reached my current age. It's not entirely because you're still young, but that's part of the reason too. I don't desire you on account of your age, I'm just glad I have the chance to pamper you when you are at this age."

"If you were with me every step of the way and if we were the same age, you'd have seen me at my craziest. I was not mature enough at that time, and I might have treated you badly. In my younger days, I might not have known how to treasure you or pamper you properly, and I might have lost you due to youthful ignorance. If that had happened, I'd have missed the opportunity of a lifetime."

"I'm much more mature now, and I have the proper ability to love you, to protect you. I feel lucky too, because I can show you my mature side - this is my good side, a side that is only present today because of years and years of polishing myself. This way, you wouldn't hate me, and I will never be inferior to any other man."

"When Qi Chengji fell for Wei Ran, he was too young and did not have the capability to assume that responsibility. That was why he was sent to the US. Unlike him, even if they wanted to stop me, they can't. If I were younger, I couldn't possibly have protected you like how I'm doing now."

Song Yu listened, but among all the words he said, one word stuck in her mind.

Love.

His words 'to love you, to protect you' made her heartbeat increase drastically.

"You just said you'll love me, pamper me, and protect me." Her face was red and her ears were burning, but she mustered the courage to look at him in the eye.

Qi Chengzhi fixed his eyes on her and allowed his enigmatic gaze to pierce into her eyes. A glimmer of delight flashed across his pupils and his voice became hoarse. "Didn't you say you want to spend your whole life with me?"

Other than love, there was nothing else that could motivate her to desire spending her whole life with him.

Song Yu was so shy that she could only blush and keep quiet.

Qi Chengzhi chuckled and did not insist that she say out those words. He stood up and went to discard the burnt pieces of chicken, but Song Yu stopped him before he could do so.

He asked her, "Why are you still eating it when it's burnt?" She had already picked up a piece using her chopsticks, stuffed it into her mouth, and chewed it slowly. "It's still good! Don't throw away what you cooked."

Qi Chengzhi looked at her half-smilingly, and there was a bit of glee in his rich voice. "You're unwilling to throw it away because I cooked it?"

He did not expect Song Yu to admit it so blatantly even though her face was red. "Mm, I hate to part ways with anything that's yours."

Qi Chengzhi's expression changed abruptly, and his strong hands wrapped around her waist and pressed her into his embrace. His breaths were heavy when he asked, "Do you still want to eat?"

Song Yu threw the chopsticks, giggled, and threw herself flirtatiously over him. She placed her hands gently behind his head, looked up, and although her lips were oily because she had just eaten her meal, she gave him a fat kiss on the cheek.

"Are you sure don't want to eat anymore?" He narrowed his eyes, locked her in his arms, and hoisted her up to his thighs so he could give her a forceful kiss.

Song Yu turned away coyly, and replied red-faced, "Stop it, let me eat my lunch."

"Then why did you tease me?" His hands traveled up and grabbed her breasts through her clothes.

Having done it twice earlier, Song Yu's bra had been taken off. The shirt she was wearing was extremely thin, so the fabric aligned itself with the curves on her body, accentuating the luxuriant outline of her breasts. His stimulation made her nipples hard, forming a pair of small, bean-like protrusions on her top.

Song Yu's cheeks were flushed scarlet and she buried her head under his neck. Her voice was soft and pleading, "Three times is too much. I can't take it anymore. Let me have my lunch."

Her act of sticking herself onto him stirred Qi Chengzhi's heart; her obedience was something that he loved dearly.

Qi Chengzhi's face moved closer into her neck, and he inhaled her scent deeply. It was only then that he placed her back onto the barstool and allowed her to eat in peace.

...

...

"Young Miss..." As soon as Aunt He opened the door, Yu Keyao kicked the shoe cabinet with the high heels she had been wearing with a look of anguish on her face. Infuriated, she ran into the living room and then upstairs into her room, where she flung her bag forcefully onto her bed.

Her bag struck the soft bed, bounced off it, then landed down once more.

Soon after, she screamed loudly.

"What happened? What's going on?" Liang Lihua ran over hurriedly. Aunt He had already told her that Yu Keyao was not in the best of moods. Liang Lihua was just walking over when she heard Yu Keyao's scream from the walkway.

Not long after, Yu Zidong also ran out from his study room, no doubt because he heard Yu Keyao's piercing wail.

Yu Keyao looked up with a face full of tears. She threw herself dismally and unwillingly into Liang Lihua's embrace and began crying.

"Mom, we've been tricked. We've all been tricked!" Yu Keyao leaned on Liang Lihua's shoulder. Her howls and cries echoed strongly in Liang Lihua's ears.

"What actually happened?" Liang Lihua tilted her head the other way because Yu Keyao's deafening shouts had hurt her eardrums.

"Song Yu! The Song family tricked us all! Song Yu is Qi Chengzhi's girlfriend!" Yu Keyao finally let go of Liang Lihua, crying and grumbling with the utmost dissatisfaction.

"What?! Impossible! That's absurd" Liang Lihua was shocked, but she did not believe it at first.

"Why is it impossible? Qi Chengzhi brought Song Yu back to his grandparents' place today! Because of that, his dad scolded him, and Xia Wenna chased me out, saying that it's a family matter and it's inappropriate for an outsider like me to be there." She was still crying, but the anger within her compelled her to narrate the entire sequence of events.