Chapter 17 The Most Heartless of All

• I fought with Xi Qingchuan the entire journey. He kept pushing my head off his shoulder while I kept leaning against it.
• I wasn’t interested in taking advantage of him. I simply felt weak and couldn’t prop my body up.
• My mother-in-law and sisters-in-law got off the car when we reached the Xi residence. Xi Qingchuan was the last person left in the car with me.
• I held onto the car door, swaying. Xi Qingchuan brushed past my shoulder and almost knocked me off my feet.
• I clenched my jaw furiously. I would rather suffer in sickness than ask for his help.
• I staggered into the house, entered my room, then fell headfirst into my bed.
• Qiao Yi called me then. She said that she had given Xi Qingchuan my mobile phone when she hadn’t been able to find me. She asked where I had gone.
• I told her I had been enjoying the freezing breeze in the garden. She asked if there was anything wrong with my head.
• My head felt okay. I had fallen sick though.
• My head spun as I moaned, “let’s talk another day. I’m sleepy.”
• I pulled the sheets over my head, ready to sleep. But my throat was parched.
• There was no refrigerator in my bedroom. There was one in Xi Qingchuan’s room, and it was a long way downstairs just for a bottle of water.
• Xi Qingchuan’s room was just right next to mine. I fumbled my way to his room and tried his doorknob. He hadn’t locked it. What great habits he had.
• I sneaked in, located the refrigerator, opened it, and pulled a bottle of soda water out.
• I twisted open the bottle cap and emptied half a bottle of water. The iced water flowed down and soothed my dry and heated throat.
• I leaned against the open refrigerator, enjoying the cool air. After releasing a satisfied burp, I pulled another bottle out and turned around, prepared to leave.
• I walked straight into someone’s chest.
• I knew who it was even before I lifted my head off his chest. Why wasn’t Xi Qingchuan asleep?
• I lifted my head to Xi Qingchuan staring down at me in his pajamas.
• “I’m borrowing a bottle of water,” I said, raising the bottle in my hand. “I don’t have any in my room.”
• He didn’t say anything. He caught me by my wrist when I tried to make my way around him.
• “Xiao Sheng.”
• He said my name coldly.
• I sighed.
• “What are you up to, exactly, with all your tricks?”
• “I’m just here to grab a bottle of water. I was thirsty.”
• “Isn’t there water downstairs?”
• “Too far.”
• “How far?”
• “Erm.” I wanted to tell him that I was sick. So sick that I wouldn’t have been able to make it.
• He leaned in, looked down and eyed me.
• “You’ve not changed out of your gown.”
• I had felt so dreadful earlier that I had fallen straight into bed. Who could’ve expected that I would wake up a short while later feeling thirsty?
• I could feel the fever getting worse. I stumbled and fell limply into his arms.
• He probably wasn’t interested in holding onto me, but I wrapped my limbs around him like a tenacious vine.
• His body was cool, his sleepwear silky and soothing to the touch. His fingers, too, were cold. It felt great, holding onto him.
• I hugged him tightly without releasing him. His laugh sounded cold above my head.
• “I see. You’ve put in a lot of thought just to sneak into my room and seduce me.”
• Let him say whatever he wanted. I was feeling terrible at the moment. He pulled me off him, lifted me off the floor and pushed me out of his room.
• The door slammed with a loud thud, barely an inch from my face.
• My bottled water was still in his room.
• I sighed dejectedly. Someone behind me snorted.
• “Hah, here I was wondering what was going to happen after someone had stolen the limelight tonight. Didn’t seem to change anything. Still thrown out of the room, I see.”
• That would be my second eldest sister-in-law. She had been fuming with jealousy after my first dance with Xi Qingchuan earlier this evening. Her eyes would turn red whenever she glared at me. She had looked just like a rabbit.
• I didn’t know the reason for her jealousy. It wasn’t as if we were sharing the same husband.
• I had no choice but to go downstairs for some water. My sister-in-law leaned against the door to her room and continued her mocking.
• “Xiao Sheng, where are you going in the middle of the night? Are you and Qingchuan still sleeping in separate rooms? Hahaha, were you thinking that you might have a chance tonight, after dancing so well during the ball?”
• I had grown up listening to such scornful words. You get used to them after a while.
• I headed downstairs, my steps heavy. The door behind me suddenly swung open. Someone walked out and pulled me straight into his arms.
• It was Xi Qingchuan. Perchance, he had suddenly discovered he had a heart after all?
• I looked up. He suddenly leaned down and kissed me.
• I had half a mind to push him away, but his lips were so cool. I was like a leech that had not drunk blood for the longest time. I pressed my lips to his, unwilling to let go.
• I heard my sister-in-law gasp.
• “Dear heavens, can’t you take this elsewhere?”
• I couldn’t be bothered at all. My entire body was burning up. The only thing I wanted to do now was to wrap myself around Xi Qingchuan’s cool body. Besides, the sight of me doing that would likely give my sister-in-law such a shock. So, why not?
• We continued our long, passionate kiss in the corridor, hugging and kissing as we walked back into his room.
• He kicked the door shut. Then, he carried me and placed me on the bed. I lay on the bed and watched as he unbuttoned his pajamas top. My hand pushed at his as I panted.
• “Hey, I’m having a fever.”
• The hand on his buttons stopped moving. It reached out and touched my forehead.
• “Seems like it,” he muttered. Then he laughed. “Still trying to seduce me even when you’re sick. How professional.”
• I didn’t care what he said. His silk sheets felt cool and comfortable against my skin. I couldn’t conjure a single thought as I lay on his bed.
• I shut my eyes. He started tugging my arm.
• “I’m not going to just watch and not do anything. Go back to your room.”
• “I feel awful.” I flipped over. “Just let me stay over for one night.”
• I had no idea what sort of expression he had on his face at that moment. I felt like dying. There was nothing I could do to stop him if he really tried to throw me out of his room.
• But he didn’t, in the end.
• I lay on his huge bed, dizzy and confused. I started thinking of my mother, like I always did every time I fell sick.
• My mother had never allowed me to feel even the slightest discomfort since I had been a child. Even the slightest cough would send her into a terrible frenzy.
• Whenever I had a fever, my mother would sit by my bedside and gently wipe my forehead and the rest of my body with a lukewarm towel. The towel would feel cool against my skin.
• In a feverish daze, I opened my eyes slightly just to take a look. There was someone sitting at my bedside. His silhouette was a blur under the light.
• He wasn’t wiping down my body though. There was a pair of scissors in his hand. Snip! Snip! It went as it sliced my gown open.
• Creep! I wanted to scream, out loud. But my body was so weak, I hardly had any strength to yell anything.
• If someone were to ask whom the most heartless of all men were, there was no doubt Xi Qingchuan would clinch the top prize. Look at the state I was in now. To think that he was still aroused by what he saw.
• I tried to glare at him with my unfocused eyes. Then I felt something cool against my skin. It felt just like when my mother had wiped me down with a towel when I had been sick.
• My brain must be fried from all that heat. Why would a monster like Xi Qingchuan be making such a kind gesture?
• I really missed my mother. I missed having someone who loved me so openly and freely.
• My father loved me too. I knew that. He wouldn’t have brought me back to the Xiao residence if he didn’t love me. He would haven’t told my stepmother to treat me like her own. My stepmother did what he said when he was around. But she was a different person when my father wasn’t there.
• My father was bogged down by work every day. Every single member of the Xiao family was a bloodsucker, draining his wealth. I didn’t want him to be burdened with my problems.
• I held onto my mother’s hand and pressed her palm onto my face. It felt soft and comfortable.
• “Mom,” I said, “I miss you so much.”