Chapter 414: Honeymoon After A Break, Distance Creates Beauty.
Qi Chenglin embraced her soft body, and could not suppress his desires, and held her tighter and tighter. He squeezed and caressed her in his arms, kissing her from her earlobe to her pale neck, which was flushed crimson. He brushed her hair to the other side, revealing the nape of her neck, slender and pale.
Ruan Danchen often kept her long hair loose, and so the nape of her neck was often hidden from the kiss of the sun, and so it was exquisitely beautiful in its' paleness, the musk that secreted from her skin fragrant and irresistible. Qi Chenglin could no longer keep himself in check, and planted one kiss after another on the nape of her neck.
"Chenglin..." Ruan Danchen groaned his name weakly, the skin of her neck tingling with each brush of his lips, and she shuddered involuntarily. Her core spasmed, warmth emanating from it to her entire being.
"Hold off for now, I'm here on official business." Ruan Danchen said, her voice quivering, growing weaker and weaker.
Even though she spoke to dissuade him, she did not shy away, or struggle. She remained docile in his arms, her demure appearance stirring up such passions and desires in Qi Chenglin's heart that he could not bear it. He held her even tighter in his arms, and unable to hold himself back, kissed her on her lips twice with longing. His fingers ran over her scalp, and he took in the wonderful fragrance of her body, his heart aflutter with exuberance.
"What a coincidence. I needed to see you about something as well." Qi Chenglin whispered throatily into her ear, intending to let Ruan Danchen get drunk in desire first, and lower her guard, before slowly moving things forward.
Ruan Danchen craned her neck to look at him, her delicate face flushed red. Her luminous eyes showing an uncertain trust, her hands unconsciously grabbing him at his slender waist, and she spoke softly, "then you go first."
Qi Chenglin carefully considered his words before saying, "it's about that matter on Weibo. Promise me, don't get worried after you read it. I'm here. Leave it to me."
His whisper reduced in its hoarseness and sounded clearer than just now. His low and deep voice made her feel so safe.
After Ruan Danchen heard this, she asked in return, "didn't you say that there was this one guy on Weibo called A Cover is a Must Online, who was talking about my business with Shen Zhijing all those years ago?"
Qi Chenglin was taken aback, and his eyebrows arched slightly, "you've read about it?"
Ruan Danchen nodded, "it's the reason why I'm here right now."
Qi Chenglin looked at her intently for a while, and his gaze made Ruan Danchen fidgety, making her bounce on his lap.
Qi Chenglin felt a surge of fire in his being from the bouncing, and he took hold of her waist urgently, and he growled lowly, "stop that."
Ruan Danchen was surprised for a moment, but immediately came clean.
"You aren't panicked from seeing it?" Qi Chengling felt some degree of relief that her shy and red face did not show any signs of being troubled by what was on Weibo.
He brought up his long and slender fingers to caress the flushed alabaster skin of her cheeks, and helped her to arrange her hair.
She was so beautiful, and all he wanted to do was to protect her, and prevent her from suffering any harm. Back then her 19-year-old self was so helpless, with no one by her side to protect her. No matter what happened, she could only bear it alone.
A young woman did not have any knowledge on how to protect herself. However, now she had him by her side, and he had no intention of allowing her to be worried or hurt by such matters anymore.
Ruan Danchen was in his arms, and with such loving protection, she not only felt safe, but there was also no opportunity for any insecurities or worries to surface. There was only security that she had never felt before.
She shook her head, "in the beginning when I had just seen it I didn't know what to do, so after I finished reading it, I came straight to you. However, when I picked up your call at the door, I felt reassured as soon as I heard your voice. I felt that no matter what came my way, as long as I have you by my side, I would not be afraid of anything. Therefore, I didn't feel panicked anymore."
Hearing her put so much trust in him made Qi Chenglin's heart burst in joy. A wide smile creeping across his handsome face, and he looked extremely happy.
He gripped her by the hips, and planted a sudden and passionate kiss on her lips, before saying, "you got that right."
Ruan Danchen had no time to react, and doubt spread across her luminous eyes, but Qi Chenglin only felt joy in his heart. Her trusting nature had already seeped into her habits, and she felt that this was only natural. She did not understand how her words could make him so happy, and that only served to make him even happier.
Qi Chenglin wrapped Ruan Danchen in his arms once more, feeling as though he would not be satisfied no matter how tightly he held her in his arms.
"The latter part of your words couldn't have been said better, as long as I'm here, you don't need to be afraid of anything." Qi Chenglin's fingers caressed Ruan Danchen's delicate face, and he felt content to just do that.
Ruan Danchen smiled widely before leaning forward to kiss him, "then I won't worry myself over this anymore. I'll let you handle it."
Qi Chenglin was overjoyed at her reaction. His woman should be this carefree when facing trouble, and just let him handle it. If not, what would he be good for?
Therefore, in front of Ruan Danchen, he began to resolve the matter. He could not let his wife think that he was all talk.
Qi Chenglin immediate called Jiang Yuan, but did not call him up. He had Ruan Danchen in his arms, and since he had no intention of letting her go, it would not be appropriate for Jiang Yuan to come in.
"Take note of everybody who has been spreading that article on Weibo, especially those who have been doing so a lot, and pass their names on to Lawyer Song. Those who have shared it more than 500 times qualifies as libel, and can be sued. Those verified accounts are easy to locate, you can just instruct Lawyer Song to serve the letter of demands to them. As for the original poster who started this entire thing, do your best to find them." Qi Chenglin said over the speaker phone.
That account called A Cover is a Must Online, there was a chance that the person behind the pseudonym was experienced, and had predicted that this would blow up. They would not let themselves be easily found out.
"One more thing, contact Shen Jialiang." Qi Chenglin told Jiang Yuan his plans, but did not personally seek out Shen Jialiang.
The other side must think that they had successfully smeared Ruan Danchen, but they had made a misstep. They had also unintentionally besmeared Shen Zhijing. They had implicated both Shen Zhijing and Ruan Danchen, and for the sake of Shen Zhijing's future, the Shen Family would have to cooperate with him.
As long as Shen Zhijing and Ruan Danchen sang from the same book, no one could make any more comments about what happened in the past.
However, Chang Jingqiu held a grudge herself, and she promised Liu Ronghua to deal with Shen Zhijing, deceiving Liu Ronghua to reveal what happened. Therefore, it was inevitable that She Zhijing would suffer some degree of loss to her reputation, but she had not thought thing through as much as Qi Chenglin had.
After conveying his instructions, Qi Chenglin hung up.
Ruan Danchen had been by his side, listening to his every word, but she kept silent. Qi Chenglin spoke, "about that incident in the past, only you, me, the Shen Family and Liu Ronghua know about it. The Shen Family would never speak of it to others, and the servant of the Shen Family, Aunt Li had been with them for decades. The Shen Family trust her enough to involve her in these matters. Anybody who can stay with a family for decades is a trustworthy person."
Ruan Danchen thoughts turned to Aunt Liu at the old mansion, and nodded.
"You suspect-" Ruan Danchen did not get a chance to finish her sentence.
Qi Chenglin nodded, "lately Liu Ronghua has been discontent at the Shen Family, it very well may be that she resents Shen Jialiang and his daughter."
Ruan Danchen was aware of the fact that Qi Chengling had given Liu Ronghua a sizeable sum of money after the Spring Festival. However, she did not ask about the amount, and assumed that it was Qi Chenglin repaying Liu Ronghua for the expenses of fostering Ruan Danchen.
However, she did not realize that Qi Chenglin had another purpose, and that was to allow Liu Ronghua to have some confidence based on that sum of money. Naturally, it would make her discontent fester, and feel like she could sustain herself without the Shen Family, and slowly she would consider betraying the Shen Family. This way, the Shen Family would not be gracious towards Liu Ronghua, and Qi Chenglin could use them as a weapon to avenge Ruan Danchen.
However, Qi Chenglin felt personally responsible for his oversight in not foreseeing Liu Ronghua taking this step.
At that, a thought suddenly came to Qi Chenglin, and he made another call to Jiang Yuan, "go and find out, who has Liu Ronghua been associating with recently."
"Are you saying that she intended to take on Shen Zhijing?" Ruan Danchen asked in awe.
"I assume that must have been her intentions, however the content of what is on Weibo was clearly targeting you. I fear she may have been used." Qi Chenglin furrowed his brows slightly, trying to figure out who would want to undermine Ruan Danchen, given how she had not offended anybody.
He thought of what happened during Grandmother Chang's birthday banquet, as Ruan Danchen said, "there can't possibly be more to this affair than meets the eye?"
"Who knows. It will be wise to take precautions." Qi Chenglin said as he pinched her tender cheeks.
"Will Youxuan have any problems?" Ruan Danchen was the most concerned about the little boy.
Qi Chenglin smiled reassuringly, combing her hair and giving her a massage, making Ruan Danchen feel comfortable. Her scalp was massaged by his fingers, making her relax. It made her feel numb, and tiny jolts of electricity shot across her scalp, and Ruan Danchen could not help but close her eyes.
Upon seeing her cat-like enjoyment, Qi Chenglin smiled and continued to massage her scalp.
"He's at Jixia Elementary School, there will be no issues, security there is excellent. There may be reporters camping out at the school gates, but they will never be able to get in. He will not be disturbed, and we couldn't possibly stop sending him to school. As for the children there, they don't have any way to access the internet, so they would be unaware of what's going on. Even if their family talks about it at home, Jixia Elementary School is our territory, who would dare to run their mouth in front of Qi Youxuan?"
Qi Chenglin's eyes shone clearly, "we'll leave earlier today, and pick him up from school."
Usually the little boy would finish school before they clocked out, and Xiao Yang would pick him up and send him to the office. In that way by the time Qi Youxuan reached the office, Ruan Danchen and Qi Chenglin would have clocked out.
"It just so happens that there are reporters at the school gates. It would save us the trouble of organizing a press conference." Qi Chengling said. In one fell swoop, they would be able to handle this entire mess, and everything would be clarified appropriately.
What was originally a matter that gave Ruan Danchen a headache with no idea where to start, became a trivial matter the moment it reached Qi Chenglin.
Ruan Danchen felt like she could relax, and smiled at Qi Chenglin. Her eyes squinted behind her smile, but they still glittered as she looked at him in devotion.
Ruan Danchen exclaimed, "my hubby's so capable, nothing's too hard for him."
She always knew that Qi Chenglin was very capable, but that was always hearsay from others. She had never seen for herself every step of his work process. Obviously she knew that he was impressive, but after seeing it for herself, she felt that the rumours were all conservative, and couldn't do her husband justice.
Her husband was clearly even better than the rumours!
Qi Chenglin's heart fluttered from Ruan Danchen's adoring gaze, and felt a sense of coolness he had never felt before. At that moment he really wanted to look at himself in the mirror, and see his own amazing appearance.
It would not do to be so narcissistic in front of Ruan Danchen, but he could see his own reflection in her eyes, and looked deeply into them, as though his wife's eyes had only him. How pleasant was that!
However, he eventually noticed that Ruan Danchen's facial expression was one of unhappiness. He immediately asked in concern, "what's wrong?"
"Don't outsiders always say that you're capable? Usually when you go for banquets and things, even the elders in the marketplace praise you." Ruan Danchen said, albeit with a sigh.
What was this reaction of hers?
Qi Chenglin needed to have some dignity in front of his wife. He wasn't bragging, but it still wasn't ideal to be telling her that her man just was that good.
However, Ruan Danchen wrinkled her nose and said, "they're so despicable, lying all the time. If they want to praise you why can't they be honest about it? You're clearly so much better than how they describe you, how could they just speak of you as though it were just out of courtesy? That's just so unreasonable of them."
Qi Chenglin did not reply, but simple smiled at her. He couldn't help but hold her even tighter.
With those thoughts in his mind, he held her forcefully, and kissed her until her lips swelled.
Ruan Danchen originally came with anxiety and worry, but who knew that matters would develop to this stage.
"Then I won't interrupt your work anymore." Ruan Danchen pushed him away, and rose to leave, her face blushing.
She really had spent quite a while there, and she did not feel comfortable disturbing him any more.
But Qi Chenglin did not let her go, wrapping his arm around her waist, and looked at the time. It was past 3pm, and he said, "Youxuan finishes at 5pm, we should leave at 4. That leaves you with less than an hour left, what's the point of going back?"
Furthermore, he was worried that after what happened, Ruan Danchen would not feel comfortable when she returned to the office. "What do you have on your plate right now?" he asked.
"I'm left with a few more draft designs." Ruan Danchen said.
Qi Chenglin then told Jiang Yuan to go to the design department, pack up Ruan Danchen's things and bags, and bring them here. In a while she'll leave with him.
Even though he said nothing, Ruan Danchen could imagine his anxiety, knowing that he was worried for her. Therefore, she said nothing.
After a while, Jiang Yuan knocked on the door. Qi Chenglin only then let her go, and Ruan Danchen immediately got off his lap.
She had no idea what state Qi Chenglin had left her in after all his affections, so she could only comb her hair quickly, and straightened her outfit. She then stood next to Qi Chenglin. She did not go to the sofa, and fool herself.
Only upon seeing that Ruan Danchen was ready, Qi Chenglin let Jiang Yuan enter. He placed her bag on the sofa, and placed her documents and drafts on the coffee table.
Without waiting for Qi Chenglin to ask, he said on his own accord, "the atmosphere in the design department is pretty good, I quietly walked in, and intentionally lurked outside the door for a moment. They were discussing the Weibo affair, but no one spoke badly of the Madam. Manager Zou also told everyone to be careful of their words, and to not hurt her feelings with careless words."
Qi Chenglin nodded in satisfaction, he didn't expect that the employees in the design department were all decent people. Except for that director's daughter who was a bit of a bad apple, but that wasn't their fault.
Qi Chenglin finally felt at ease, and it won't be a big deal to let Ruan Danchen return to work.
Jiang Yuan left, and Qi Chenglin let Ruan Danchen sit opposite him. The both of them shared the desk, facing each other as they worked.
His desk was wide, and he had no engagements to meet anyone in the afternoon.
However, Ruan Danchen, who was sitting opposite him, had no way to focus on her work. She kept feeling his prickling gaze on her forehead.
This kept on for a while, until she could no longer bear it, and she lifted her head. Qi Chenglin was staring at her, meeting her gaze and staring at her openly.
Ruan Danchen blushed, and could only say, "aren't you tired of looking at me?"
Qi Chenglin just smiled in response, and kept looking at her, his dark eyes warm.
Regardless if he spoke or not, Ruan Danchen already knew his answer.
However, she still had an iota of worry in her heart, she could not help but say, "I mean, you're just sticking to me every day, we leave for work together in the morning, have lunch together, and sometimes you even call me up here for no reason other than to see me. Then we have dinner together, and we spend all night together, aren't you sick of me by now?"
She really did like Qi Chenglin a lot, and really did not mind clinging to him at every moment. However she felt that men just weren't the same. As the saying went, honeymoon after a break, distance creates beauty?
If they were always clinging to each other, what would she do if he got tired of her?
She was not a beauty of the age, and she was well aware of her own looks.
Ever since the days of old, it has always been better an affair than a marriage. She trusted that Qi Chenglin would never do that to her, but she was still afraid that Qi Chenglin would get tired of her.
Furthermore, for someone as outstanding as Qi Chenglin, even if he was married and had children, it would be impossible to prevent women from throwing themselves at him. Ruan Danchen felt threatened because of that.
Qi Chenglin arched his thick eyebrows, and half smiled at her, "we've been ceaselessly clinging to each other everyday, are you sick of me?"
"Of course not. My man is so handsome." Ruan Danchen pouted, glancing at him furtively. She honestly felt that Qi Chenglin was so much more good looking than her.
"How could I ever get enough of your face, furthermore other women don't even get a chance to see you even if they wanted to. I can't possibly be ungrateful, I must look as much as possible." Ruan Danchen said as she grinned. "I feel like it's good for the eyes to see you like this every day."
"I feel the same way." Qi Chenglin said with a smile as he looked at her, his voice magnetic.
Ruan Danchen felt that the saying that the voice that could impregnate one's ears was true of Qi Chenglin's voice.
While she was drunk on Qi Chenglin's voice, he had already gotten up, and reached over to her, lifting her chin up to kiss her greedily.
Through his lusty eyes he could see her face blush beautifully, her eyelashes closed tight, then fluttering.
This girl did not know, he could only feel this way about her. Other women did not even elicit a response from him. He could not get enough of her even as he saw her every day, how could he possibly grow tired of her?
Ever since he met Ruan Danchen, every day he felt as though he was reinvigorated. After 7 lonely years, he loved this feeling, how could he possibly be bored. Usually he was just afraid of wearing her out, or else the frequency in which they did it would increase.
Ruan Danchen's face burned as he kissed her, and she saw his glittering eyes, the fire in them especially wild, and she frantically pushed him away.
"If you're going to be like this I'm going back to the design department. In any case my coworkers there are all great, and there's nothing for us to worry about." Ruan Danchen said as her ears burned.
Qi Chenglin gently pinched her cheeks, before glancing at the time. It was almost time to go, and he wasn't rushing at this moment, so he returned to his work.
Ruan Danchen looked at him again, then returned to her sketches as well.
However, her son was always on her mind, and after a few strokes, she looked at the time. It was 5 minutes to 4, and so she got up and started to pack up.
Qi Chenglin stopped as well, and stretched his stiff neck.
Ruan Danchen had just finished packing and looked at him at that moment, and saw his fatigues appearance. She walked over and massaged his neck.
Her fingers were strong, and made Qi Chenglin feel good. His dark eyes closed in pleasure. Ruan Danchen could feel the knots in his shoulders as she massaged him, and every time she pressed down on one he would groan, making her heartache.
This man was just too tired. No matter how capable he was, he was still human. She thought that she relied on him too much, just like the affairs today, pushing everything to him to handle. Even though he was happy to do it, she still felt so useless.