Song Xintan: [It doesn't feel better. I might have to trouble you after the New Year.] "..." Shi Wenli: [No trouble.]
Song Xintan asked him: [Are you busy now?] Shi Wenli: [Not busy. Qinghe hasn't woken up yet.]
Song Xintan called him directly, saying he had tried a few sets of aerobic exercises last night and listened to some meditation music, but he was still anxious and couldn't sleep well. Actually, it was because his nicotine addiction was acting up, making him uncomfortable. Shi Wenli told him how to divert his attention at times like this. They chatted for twenty minutes. Of course, more than ten minutes of that was about Xu Qinghe.
Song Xintan sighed tactfully: "Don't you think Qinghe likes you?"
As soon as he said that, Shi Wenli heard a sharp 'smack' on the other end. The one being hit was probably Song Xintan. Then he heard a woman's voice scolding Song Xintan: "Can't you talk properly! They just got married; they're on cloud nine! How could she not like him!"
Song Xintan had been unfairly slapped by his mother. Of course, he understood his mother's intention—it was the New Year, so he should say auspicious things. Song Xintan corrected himself: "Qinghe should like you very much, especially, and she has liked you for many years." He said this into the phone, then turned to his mother and asked: "Is that good enough?" He wondered if he was mixing truth with lies or lies with truth.
Shi Wenli laughed: "Thank you."
Song Xintan took his phone and left the living room, heading to the villa's yard. Without a coat, he was shivering from the cold. "That was my mom just now. She always says I'm bad at talking." "Chief Shi, I won't bother you anymore. You must be busy with the New Year's Eve dinner." They exchanged New Year's greetings again and hung up.
Shi Wenli wasn't sure what Xu Qinghe's feelings for him had been in the past. Maybe there was some fondness. But it should have been just friendly affection.
The master bedroom made a sound; the lock clicked open. Xu Qinghe had freshened up and come out. Shi Wenli was sitting at the dining table, replying to messages, with an open laptop in front of him. Hearing the sound, he turned around: "Up? Hungry?" Xu Qinghe smiled and apologized first: "I locked you out last night." "It's fine. I can sleep anywhere." Shi Wenli asked again: "Hungry? Want something to eat?"
Xu Qinghe shook her head. She had eaten two big slices of cake last night and didn't feel hungry at all after waking up. She glanced at the open laptop: "Still working overtime?" "No overtime," Shi Wenli said. Shi Miao was about to send him photos and videos from the wedding, and he planned to save them directly to the computer. "The wedding video is only being edited now?" "Yeah. They took a lot of shots and edited a lot. There must be at least a hundred videos." But his brother-in-law didn't think it was too many.
Shi Wenli put down his phone and got up to go to the kitchen, bringing her half a glass of warm water and a glass of heated juice. Xu Qinghe sat down in the chair next to him and took the warm water first: "Thank you, hubby." Shi Wenli bent down and gave her a quick kiss before sitting down. The casual kiss made Xu Qinghe's heart beat a little faster.
On the laptop, the WeChat chat with Shi Miao kept dinging with messages. Xu Qinghe had to tilt her head to see. She was just about to say she wanted to watch from his lap. Shi Wenli pushed the laptop over to her. He put his left arm on the back of her chair and leaned in sideways.
Xu Qinghe didn't look at the screen but turned to look at him. Shi Wenli: "What's up?" Xu Qinghe said bluntly: "I want to sit in your arms to watch." Shi Wenli hadn't thought of that. He smiled and admitted: "I don't have much relationship experience. I'll need to observe and learn more." Then he sat up straight and reached out his hand: "Come over."
As soon as Xu Qinghe sat down, he wrapped his arms around her from behind. Shi Wenli sat up straight, holding her with one arm across her front, and used the other hand to open Shi Miao's chat. They were very close, and his even breathing hit her ear repeatedly.
Shi Wenli opened one of the videos named "I'm Looking for You in the Crowd." He chose it because the thumbnail showed Xu Qinghe. Seeing herself and then the video title, Xu Qinghe's heart skipped a beat. Had the photographer captured her looking around at the wedding? And had Shi Miao noticed?
In the first few seconds of the video, she was sitting at the secondary main table, occasionally turning her head as if looking for someone. Then the perspective switched to Shi Wenli, who was walking in the wedding hall, also looking around. Paired with beautiful music, it looked like a couple running toward each other.
The video wasn't long. It ended with her raising her phone, and Shi Wenli appearing on her phone screen. They had finally found each other.
After watching the video, Shi Wenli smiled wryly: "Shi Miao always makes random edits." At the time, he was looking for Jiang Yang in the hall. And in the video, Xu Qinghe kept turning her head, probably out of curiosity about the wedding hall's decorations. But Shi Miao had edited it into a different visual language.
Xu Qinghe calmed her racing heart. For a moment, she thought her secret crush had been discovered. She turned her head to look at him: "Just pretend I was looking for you. And I'll pretend you were looking for me."
They looked at each other. Shi Wenli paused, then said: "You don't need to pretend. I did look over toward you later." But not in that part of the video. Xu Qinghe asked: "Looking for me?" "Yeah." He had a habit of checking on her to make sure she wasn't too bored, and that someone was talking to her. Only then would he look away.
Xu Qinghe responded with a kiss. The deep kiss stirred feelings in both of them. Shi Miao had sent them a bunch of videos and photos of just the two of them. Shi Wenli saved them but didn't look through them all before they went back to the bedroom. They showered separately.
The large floor-to-ceiling window by the bed was only covered by a sheer curtain. The first thing Xu Qinghe did when she came out of the bathroom was to pull the blackout curtains tightly shut. But it was a bright sunny morning. No matter how tightly closed, it wouldn't be as dark as night. Xu Qinghe stopped caring whether the room was bright or dark. When Shi Wenli leaned over to kiss her, she also let go of her inhibitions and naturally wrapped her legs around his waist. Shi Wenli responded to her, not moving recklessly, and not kissing down her chest.
Xu Qinghe suddenly didn't want to hide her feelings so tightly anymore. While kissing his lips, she mentioned the video Shi Miao had edited for them: "You don't need to pretend I was looking for you." She paused. "I was looking for you then." She decided to say it all at once: "I was looking for you the whole time." "And I liked you too." "Looking back now, I probably really liked you back then." "When you were away for training... I thought about you."
Shi Wenli cradled the back of her head, pushed his tongue past her lips, and kissed her deeply. Xu Qinghe had more to say, but he kissed it all away, replaced by soft moans. Xu Qinghe didn't know how to breathe during kissing and was nearly suffocating. She pushed him. Shi Wenli pulled his mouth away from hers. Xu Qinghe's chest heaved as she gasped for air.
He let her rest her head on his arm and kissed the corner of her mouth: "If you missed me back then, why didn't you call me? Even if there was a time difference, you could have sent me a message. I would have replied as soon as I saw it." Xu Qinghe took a long time to calm down: "I thought about sending you messages, but I was afraid you might have someone you liked." Shi Wenli looked at her: "I wouldn't. Didn't I call you on your birthday? How could I have liked someone else?" Xu Qinghe still remembered that call, every word he said.
Shi Wenli kissed her lips again: "If I had known you missed me, I would have gotten together with you as soon as I came back from training." "I didn't think that much back then. I just hoped you'd come back soon so I'd have someone to talk to." Xu Qinghe kissed him back involuntarily. "After you came back, I wanted to see you every day."
Shi Wenli's throat tightened, and he was about to deepen the kiss again. Xu Qinghe turned her face away: "Hubby, I'm not finished yet." Shi Wenli said hoarsely: "Okay, go ahead." Xu Qinghe: "Maybe because we were apart for a year. After you came back, I had so much to say to you that I wanted to see you all the time."
He didn't kiss her lips but moved down, kissing her chin and then lower. Xu Qinghe was wearing his T-shirt. Worried she might be cold, he didn't push it up. He sucked gently through the fabric. Under the hem of the T-shirt, the black fabric became slightly damp. Shi Wenli bent down and kissed there.
At that moment, Xu Qinghe saw stars. Her instinct was to pull away. But his lips followed her closely.
...
It wasn't until the afternoon that Shi Wenli came out of the bedroom. Xu Qinghe was finally hungry, so he went to prepare the New Year's Eve dinner. The blackout curtains in the bedroom weren't opened, but the window was cracked to let fresh air in. The room was filled with the scent of intimacy. After freshening up, Xu Qinghe was too tired and lay back down on the bed. The sheets had been changed. She buried her face in the pillow, thinking about how she would face Shi Wenli during the New Year's Eve dinner. He had kissed her twice there.
The first time, as soon as his tongue touched her lightly, her calf cramped up. It hurt so much that he had to stop to massage her leg. Even when he was kissing through the fabric, she had felt her calf tightening. Once the fabric was removed and his mouth and tongue touched her directly, she got a cramp. She didn't know why she was so useless. Later, Shi Wenli held her in his arms and comforted her, first using his fingers to get her used to it. When she gradually got used to his fingers, he replaced them with his mouth.
At that moment, Xu Qinghe started missing the washing machine on the balcony of the rental. If there were other noises, they could cover up her own sounds. At that time, she didn't know what to do with herself. Shi Wenli freed one hand to interlace his fingers with hers.
He kissed slowly and carefully. It seemed she could feel every movement. Only when her calf showed no sign of cramping did he gradually speed up.
Miss was like a bone-eating worm. Pleasure was also like a bone-eating worm. He used his tongue to respond to all the longing she had for him during the year they were apart.
Xu Qinghe touched her ear; it was still a little hot. She tossed and turned but couldn't fall asleep. She threw off the covers and got up. She made the bed, folded his pajamas that were on the bench at the foot of the bed, and placed them together with her nightgown. She put on a new dress and wore the wedding ring, then went to the kitchen to find Shi Wenli.
Shi Wenli turned at the sound: "Not sleeping?" "Mm." Xu Qinghe met his eyes for a moment, then looked at the counter and asked casually: "What are we having for New Year's Eve dinner?" Shi Wenli: "All your favorites." He listed five or six dishes, then added: "Think about whether there's anything else you want to eat. I'll make it for you tomorrow." Xu Qinghe's favorite dishes were all in his New Year's Eve menu. She couldn't think of anything else specific she wanted. "You can take your time thinking," Shi Wenli said, turning back to his work.
She wrapped her arms around his waist from behind and pressed her cheek against his back: "Hubby, let me give you a few surgical caps." "Sure," Shi Wenli said. "I'll bring them to the OR after the New Year."