SM Chapter 31

Chapter 31: Playing Along

“Shihao, come over and be with me, I want you to be with me…”

Remembering his birthday, Zhu Shihao secretly took out the prepared gift from the bag she had been bringing over the past few days and placed it in the bedside table on her side of the bed.

She originally thought that the two of them would be chatting idly while waiting for midnight, or perhaps even drinking wine, watching a movie, or playing a game.

But in reality, it was completely different.

After hearing the alarm on her phone, and with the shaking of her body, Zhu Shihao’s drowsy consciousness, also in the midst of ups and downs, awakened. She raised her hand to wrap around his neck, her body so weak that she needed his strength to straighten her back.

“Happy birthday, Zhi Xu.”

Almost caressing his lips, she called out his name and offered her red lips proactively.

She clearly felt the person on top of her pause for a moment. After a second of hesitation, what followed was an even more forceful and violent attack, each thrust as if impacting her soul, heavily declaring possession.

Her moans became more broken, but she still stubbornly, intermittently, asked,

“Zhi Xu, are you happy?”

Outside it was cold, but inside, their bodies were intertwined, their temperatures scorching hot. Fine beads of sweat gathered and fell, hitting her skin, scalding and ambiguous.

Tan Zhi Xu looked down at her, afraid she couldn’t handle it, and placed a large hand behind her waist, slowly lowering her down.

“What do you think? Isn’t my happiness obvious enough?”

“Shihao, look, we’ve gone from twenty-six to twenty-seven years old.”

His gaze was fixed on her, and seeing that her head was about to hit the headboard, he gripped her waist with one hand and pulled her down, but the force of his movements did not diminish in the slightest.

“What about you, Shihao, are you happy, are you blessed?”

In her dazed eyes, everything else seemed to blur except for Tan Zhi Xu. She could only see him.

Zhu Shihao endured the pleasure he gave her: “Yes, I’m happy.”

Very blessed, as long as she was with Tan Zhi Xu, she would feel blessed and happy.

The dazzling white, the tempting red, aroused Tan Zhi Xu to lower his head and pluck, his desire heavy and all-consuming.

Shihao, Shihao, my Shihao.

You have to fall in love with the pleasure I give you, and you have to fall in love with me too.

This night was even more absurd than the previous one. Even the overly clear consciousness, due to not drinking, made her seem even more wanton. As a result, Zhu Shihao felt even more ashamed when she woke up than on the first night when she had “fled in disarray.”

Seeing that she couldn’t wait to hide even her hair in the quilt, Tan Zhi Xu patted her through the blanket: “What are you hiding? What’s there to be embarrassed about?”

Muffled by the quilt, her voice was unclear and stuffy.

“If you didn’t force me to say those things and do those actions, I wouldn’t feel embarrassed.”

“Those are called positions, not actions.” Tan Zhi Xu smiled and tugged at the quilt, but it was pulled back, so he could only say helplessly, “Still not coming out? Be careful of suffocating.”

The person in the quilt moved but didn’t speak. Just as he was about to say something else, he saw her gradually let go and poke her head out.

Not expecting her to give up resisting so quickly, Tan Zhi Xu raised his eyebrows in surprise, “So agreeable today?”

She had only said a few words before coming out on her own.

“You didn’t change the sheets last night.” Wrinkling her nose, Zhu Shihao said slowly.

She didn’t know if it was psychological, but she felt like she could still smell that mingled decadent scent.

Seeming not to expect this reason, Tan Zhi Xu chuckled and scooped her out of the quilt, placing her on his lap: “Well, you worked hard last night, and I worked hard too. I was almost drained by you, so I was too lazy to move and didn’t change them.”

He could even turn the tables on her – truly shameless.

Zhu Shihao was held by him, sitting on his firm thighs, looking up at him with a face of accusation: “Stop it, you were clearly the one who wouldn’t let me go, causing me not even to have time to give you the gift.”

“Yes, I was insatiable.” He rested his chin on the top of her head, raised his hand to touch her cheek, “You’ve already given me a gift.”

There was no gift more to his liking than Shihao.

She was the flower he had carefully tended since childhood, only hoping for her health and happiness, but unexpectedly, over the years, she eventually bloomed beneath him and in his heart with incomparable beauty.

Without much expression, the arc of the refined man’s eyebrows and lips were faint. Only his eyes were the most different from usual, brazenly revealing his pampering and indulgence.

Zhu Shihao pinched his face: “That doesn’t count. Let me go.”

“What do you want to do?” He didn’t stop her actions, nor did he let go of the hand holding her.

“To get the gift.” She patted his arm and struggled twice.

Only then did Tan Zhi Xu let her go, watching her crawl over there.

“Why did you run over here? You were clearly sleeping over there.” She muttered to herself.

The corners of his mouth lifted even higher, because over these one or two months, someone had gotten used to being held while sleeping and would automatically track him.

Of course, he was also very used to, willing, and proactive.

Zhu Shihao handed the box to him: “Happy birthday, Zhi Xu!”

Like before, Tan Zhi Xu first touched her head before taking the gift: “Yes, you be happy too.”

However, compared to before when she sat next to him or across from him, he preferred the current state, where she subconsciously sat in his lap. Tan Zhi Xu opened the box, his arms in a posture of hugging her, and the person held in his arms didn’t feel the slightest bit awkward.

Inside was an exquisite tie, from the brand he usually used.

The style was one that she would like, belonging to the kind that you could tell was bought by the same person as his other ties at a glance.

Zhu Shihao looked at him, her eyes sparkling.

“Do you like it?”

“Yes, I like it.”

She asked him the same question she had asked at dawn.

“Zhi Xu, are you happy?”

Tan Zhi Xu closed the gift box, placed it to the side, and held her waist, covering her lips with his.

“Happy, I’m very happy.”

He had lived for twenty-seven years, been lost, wanted to be indulgent, but hadn’t lost his way because of certain reasons. He had also been unrestrained, reckless, and speeding on winding mountain roads. But later, he realized that all he wanted was a Zhu Shihao.

Regardless of the cause and effect, at least at this moment she was in his arms, allowing him to kiss and play with her as he wished.

Zhu Shihao raised her arms to hug him, her voice muffled by the kiss: “That’s good, you must always be happy.”

She couldn’t care about or want to care about others, but Tan Zhi Xu had to be happy forever.

Tan Zhi Xu took her out for lunch, and in the afternoon, as promised, they went to the amusement park. The person celebrating the birthday was having much more fun than the person whose birthday it actually was.

All day long, Tan Zhi Xu kept receiving messages of congratulations. Under normal circumstances, he would politely reply with “Thank you,” but there were also individual cases that he ignored, not even bothering to read before long-pressing to delete the chat.

Time flew by, and it was almost the New Year. Whether they were working or traveling, both sets of parents had returned.

In particular, Xu Ting and Tan Meng felt that they didn’t have much time to spend with their son throughout the year and felt guilty. They paid special attention during the New Year period and often came to Shen Yi to accompany their son. This was one of the aftereffects of the early stages of starting a business. As the year drew to a close, their maternal love exploded.

He politely declined Xu Ting’s intention to stay at Shen Yi for a while.

“Forget it. Every time you come, you’re annoyed with me after two days and want to go back. Don’t bother.”

Xu Ting seriously considered it: “There’s some truth to that. Distance creates beauty. If I don’t stay over, maybe my maternal love for you will be gentle for a longer time.”

Tan Zhi Xu scoffed: “Give it a rest. Gentle has nothing to do with you, old lady. Don’t try to mooch off it.”

Xu Ting gritted her teeth, her fists clenched. She turned around and left, not mentioning staying over again.

But even so, the couple would come to see their son. There was no fixed time; it all depended on when they felt like it.

Because of this, Zhu Shihao didn’t dare to come to Shen Yi at all and strictly ordered Tan Zhi Xu to hide her things well.

Tan Zhi Xu emitted a cold aura, his tone also cool: “What things of yours? Are you talking about the underwear next to my boxers, or your scattered condoms?”

Her eyes widened: “How can those be considered mine!”

Intimate clothing was one thing, but condoms could be counted as hers too?

“If it wasn’t for you, would I need to use those things?” His tone was calm, his voice light.

She choked on those words, unable to refute them. After thinking about it, she even felt a strangely perverse sense of a different kind of love confession.

Alright, she was even more speechless now.

She was indeed learning to be bad from Tan Zhi Xu.

After staring at each other for a long while, Zhu Shihao admitted defeat: “Anyway, you better clean up well.”

Tan Zhi Xu’s face was cold, but his movements were gentle. He flicked her forehead lightly with his finger: “Alright. Your Aunt Ting and Uncle Tan won’t rummage through things. Those things are all in my bedroom. They won’t go in there.”

As for the other things, wasn’t it normal that his house had Zhu Shihao’s special slippers, cups, bowls, and chopsticks? He had always prepared them. The Zhu’s also had his bowls and chopsticks, so it was all normal and natural.

However, these days were really difficult, especially since they had already gotten used to being together, and suddenly being separated made even Zhu Shihao, who was afraid of being discovered by her parents, feel very uncomfortable.

She didn’t dare go to either of their homes, let alone stay overnight. The two could only video chat every day, falling asleep while on voice calls.

After a week of living apart like this, Tan Zhi Xu’s face was several degrees colder than this winter. The coldness and frustration in his eyes were almost tangible. A Dong and the others had reached the point where they were unwilling to even enter his office and had to play rock-paper-scissors to decide.

But it wasn’t as exaggerated as the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. They were still able to leave work together to eat and have a few drinks. Zhu Shihao looked at the man in front of her and gently shook his hand.

Tan Zhi Xu finally gave up the idea of taking her to a hotel. In the dimly lit car, he hugged her and rubbed his lips against her forehead, kissing and patting her gently.

“So annoying.” His eyebrows drooped, and he looked dispirited. “Shihao, you’re also so annoying.”

Disturbing his mind.

Making him restless day and night.

Zhu Shihao laughed in his chest: “Then don’t bother with me.”

Without even thinking, Tan Zhi Xu said coldly: “That won’t do. I’ve been bothering with you for so many years. How can I give up halfway and not bother with you anymore?”

On the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhu Shihao had been home for two days.

She slept until noon. She first sent a message to Tan Zhi Xu to let him know and then got up to wash up and have lunch.

Liu Ruoyin picked up a piece of shredded pork for her with her chopsticks: “Wait a bit and pack your things. Your Aunt Ting invited us to celebrate the New Year together. We’re going to Huating tomorrow and staying there for two days.”

“Huating?” She repeated subconsciously, “Zhi Xu’s place?”

Liu Ruoyin hummed in acknowledgment, not even raising her head: “Your sister and her family are spending the New Year at your brother-in-law’s place this year. Your Aunt Ting said that with just three people in their family, they can’t even get enough for a mahjong table, so they might as well stay together.”

Zhu Shihao nodded, waiting until she swallowed the food in her mouth: “Was going to Huating Aunt Ting’s idea, or Zhi Xu’s idea?”

Liu Ruoyin glared at her impatiently: “Isn’t that obvious? If it wasn’t Zhi Xu’s idea, would your Aunt Ting and Uncle Tan have suggested it? They even said it was Zhi Xu who brought it up on his own.”

When she got to the last sentence, she was as surprised as Xu Ting had been on the phone.

But fortunately, while she was surprised, it wasn’t too strange. After all, for them, Zhi Xu was like half a son. Sometimes, he was more useful than their own two daughters.

Zhu Yingqing, who hadn’t said anything all along, chimed in: “Staying for two days is fine. His house is big and there are few people. Just consider it adding some life to the new house.”

Zhu Shihao picked up the soup bowl, her palm-sized face mostly hidden behind the bowl, also hiding her glowing eyes and curved lips, the smile on her face shining brightly.

After helping Zhu Yingqing wash the dishes, she returned to her room, closed the door, and fell onto the bed, sending a message to Tan Zhi Xu while lying on her back.

Zhu Shihao: 【You invited us to Huating?】

Perhaps because he had just eaten and was idle, she had just turned over to lie on her stomach when she heard her phone ring.

Pressing the answer button, she heard the voice she had been missing every second and every minute through the earpiece.

“Aunt Yin told you?”

“Yes, she did. She also said that it was you who brought it up.”

Tan Zhi Xu was standing by the floor-to-ceiling windows, his fingertips tapping on the glass, the corners of his lips tilting upward: “If you heard, then pack your things.”

Unconsciously writing and drawing on the blanket with her index finger, Zhu Shihao still asked him: “Zhi Xu, you brought it up?”

“Yes, I brought it up.”

Her voice was soft, carrying some unfinished intention. He knew what she wanted to express.

“Shihao, come over and be with me.”

“I want you to be with me.”