Chapter 89

The Agreed Three Rules, Why Couldn’t You Resist First?

Recently, Zhao Xiaorou was starting to suspect that Li Ai might be sexually indifferent. 

“I’m telling you, Old Li is really strange. We sleep in the same bed every day, he hugs me to sleep, but he doesn’t react at all. 

Could he be ED (erectile dysfunction)? I, Zhao Xiaorou, have liked him for so many years, always thought of him as a real man, just with a bit of a limp, but now, there’s no reaction at all?” 

Hu Xiu felt her face turn green. “Why are you telling me this...” 

“If I don’t tell you, who am I going to tell?” Zhao Xiaorou shrieked on the phone. “I’m going crazy! I’m a woman, and in my dreams, I’ve been making love with him several times!” 

Diao Zhiyao was finally woken up by the noise. “You’re the one who made the three rules with him, remember? He agreed not to touch you.” 

Zhao Xiaorou didn’t let up. “Diao Zhiyao, shut up. Trying to show off your youth and flaunt your body? I’m telling you, if you overindulge when you’re young, you won’t be able to perform when you’re older!” 

The two of them, listening to the busy signal, were left confused. Hu Xiu still hadn’t gotten used to Zhao Xiaorou’s pace of being in love. She used to be a shrewd woman who knew how to calculate men and get exactly what she wanted at every moment, but now she was often so anxious she was about to lose it. 

The messages in the chat were all about what to do, and Hu Xiu had become numb—though, this was the first time Zhao Xiaorou had been like this. 

Lying on the bed, trying to sleep again, Hu Xiu couldn’t help but feel restless from the conversation with Zhao Xiaorou. She slid into Diao Zhiyao’s arms, lying on her side with her back to him, her body fitting perfectly into every curve of his. She gently brushed her ear against his lips. Diao Zhiyao smiled, his breath caressing her ear. “You’ve changed...” 

She didn’t speak, swaying her waist a little, and felt the key between his pants. 

Her arm, which had been resting on the pillow, now bent down, one hand on her chest, the other sliding down her body. The camel licked her ear. “You seem to really like this.” 

At this point, there was no escape. Her body was tightly wrapped by him, soft and wet, making it hard to even turn over. 

No matter whether it was sunny or cloudy outside the window, as long as the curtain was half open, she could always smell the scent of desire in the damp air, growing stronger and deeper, so stimulating. 

Occasionally, she would mischievously climb on top of him, teasing him. Diao Zhiyao liked this and would reach out to kiss her. 

She seemed to have figured out Diao Zhiyao’s preferred positions—he liked it when the girl took the initiative, liked the sudden attacks, coming and going. 

He especially liked the ambiguous entanglement and touch, even more than kissing— 

The ticklish man, every time his tongue touched her body, would drive him crazy. Her sweaty body rested on the boy’s, her breathing gradually calming down. As she touched his sweaty chest, she thought, the arrival of love seemed like a rain. 

And after the rain, the setting sun reflected off the rippling river, the moving fish-scale light reflected on the water, and the river itself seemed to discover its own gender—the glowing light in the river, perhaps the gentle folds of a woman. 

After hanging up the phone, Zhao Xiaorou changed into a long-sleeved shirt with a low neckline and wore sports shorts as she paced back and forth in the living room. 

She didn’t want to make it so obvious, but it was impossible because Li Ai paid no attention to her body. Was it because her chest was flat? 

She was still a normal woman; were her legs not beautiful enough? At least she was an internet celebrity who could carry a camera; 

Was she too pure-looking? Don’t joke, her hair was behind her ears, and her eyes were full of longing thoughts. Yet, Li Ai could sit at his computer making designs with no reaction at all? 

She grabbed a glass of water and stood by, looking out the window. “Seems like the weather is nice today, huh?” 

Li Ai finally spoke. “Aren’t you cold? The air conditioning isn’t strong enough.” 

Zhao Xiaorou thought to herself, is he weak? The central air conditioning is set to 26°C. She crossed in front of Li Ai, bent down to pick up a coaster from the floor, and sat across from him. “Still working on the design?” 

“Yeah, Pei Zhen’s renovation plan changed. One room is going to be turned into a baby room. Does Hu Xiu know about this?” 

If he’s already a father, how can you not even do the basics? 

Zhao Xiaorou sat beside him. “I think I’m about to get my period, my stomach’s uncomfortable, and my chest hurts.” 

Li Ai pulled a blanket over her legs, but his eyes stayed on the design. “Why are you wearing so little in the room? What do you want to eat? You’re going to the escape room later, right?” 

Angrily putting on her pants, Zhao Xiaorou stormed out. “I’m not hungry!” 

At the escape room, things went wrong, and Zhao Xiaorou got even angrier. She called Hu Xiu. “Bring Diao Zhiyao over! Help me cover a shift in the escape room!” 

Rarely having a large chunk of time at home to review editing work, Diao Zhiyao was confused, looking at the script that had been sent over. He changed clothes and went in to cover two rounds of the escape room game. 

Former colleague Fang Qingxian was reported and sent to the police station. The handsomest role had no one to play, and Zhao Xiaorou’s first reaction was to call Diao Zhiyao to take over. The reason Fang Qingxian was sent in was because a player accused him of sexual harassment. 

And it was a man. 

Hu Xiu had heard of such things before. On the Snowpiercer, twelve men booked the whole venue for a game, one of them a gay man who fell for Ning Zechen. The money they earned wasn’t used to help Ning Zechen rise but was all spent on buying him jewelry, treating Ning Zechen as their precious little bear Zero. 

At the time, Ning Zechen was disgusted to the point of wanting to burst, but with a surveillance camera above him, he couldn’t act out. He refused to marry the male player, and the male player, in the general’s room, drew a Japanese katana and committed suicide. 

Afterward, the male player went out and complained. Ning Zechen refused to apologize. In the end, the player said, “I’ll give you a QR code to immediately tip 888 if you apologize.” Ning Zechen immediately said sorry. 

Face doesn’t matter; that’s two days of salary. 

Zhao Xiaorou stood on the ground, stamping her feet. “Damn it, I really want to cyberbully him. He touched my employee while it was dark, damn it!” 

She rushed to the control room to find Diao Zhiyao. The handsome boy was a bit lost, helping a female player with the puzzle. In the slightly brighter area, he was seen, either causing a shy crush or being groped under the pretext of something—this was indeed a dangerous industry. 

Hu Xiu asked Fang Qingxian what it felt like. Fang Qingxian, with his handsome and deep features, had a long face, and even his posture seemed to change: “I will spend my life healing these five minutes—I’m a straight man.”

What made it worse was Zhao Xiaorou next to them: “Damn, even gays know they can harass! My guy is definitely impotent!”

Fang Qingxian was a bit confused: “What’s wrong with the boss?”

Hu Xiu shook her head hard: “Nothing, she’s just in a bad mood.”

There was still an hour before Diao Zhiyu would come out, and Zhao Xiaorou glanced at the scene, asking customer service to lock the booking: “Xiao Fang, help me out. Later, we’re going to play a game. Get Li Ai to come and join us, then find a chance to sneak me and Li Ai into a task.”

After speaking, Zhao Xiaorou sat on the sofa, studying the escape room map. Hu Xiu thought that Zhao Xiaorou’s urgency probably wasn’t due to desire, but rather her concern about whether Li Ai didn’t like her, and if there was really something wrong with his ability in that regard.

When Li Ai arrived, Zhao Xiaorou, curled up on the sofa with her newly dyed red hair, looked like a fire of lust.

Diao Zhiyu came out of the venue, followed by two players asking for his phone number: “Little brother, we promise we won’t disturb your life, but we’ll see you next time...”

“I’m just here to work part-time,” Diao Zhiyu helplessly pointed at Fang Qingxian, “How about adding him on WeChat?”

Fang Qingxian’s WeChat was like a huge fishing pond, with many returning customers.

Zhao Xiaorou, who was standing at the door with Li Ai, noticed and made eye contact with Hu Xiu from afar, almost as if asking for help.

This time, Hu Xiu really couldn’t do anything.

Zhao Xiaorou had never played her escape room with all four of them together before. “Farewell Letter” appeared to be a mildly frightening escape room with four NPCs, but in reality, the venue was 200 square meters, designed to resemble narrow alleys and worn brick walls.

It was like Diao Zhiyu’s fondness for southwestern stories. The entrance was a staircase, and at the top was an iron-barred door. Pushing it open, you could immediately hear crying.

When Zhao Xiaorou and Hu Xiu first tried it when it opened, they played once, and later, the actor leader brought in a revised version, but they hadn’t played the adapted plot.

The group followed Fang Qingxian inside, and as soon as they opened the iron gate, they heard the crying of a woman and child, and immediately, a female ghost jumped out. Zhao Xiaorou dove into Li Ai’s arms: “Oh my god! So scary!”

Hu Xiu frowned quietly. This woman used to curse loudly at such moments. Li Ai didn’t let go, and Zhao Xiaorou’s heart stirred, hoping her plan would succeed.

They started solving puzzles as soon as they entered. Under a glass window, there was a six-digit lock. The group rummaged through the room, discovering that the eyes in the photos had been gouged out and covered in blood. After much trial and error, they matched three photos with numbers and tried different sequences.

Zhao Xiaorou pulled Li Ai’s hand to enter the numbers, but halfway through, a female ghost appeared suddenly at the glass window, her face lit by the lamp with black lips, horrifying. Zhao Xiaorou immediately lost her composure: “Damn it! Who are you trying to scare?!”

Then she looked at Li Ai, her mouth trembling, not sure if she was regretful or really frightened: “There’s a ghost...”

Fang Qingxian, acting as a detective, started performing a scene with the female ghost mom behind the glass. The mother and child had been on their way home from the movies when they were robbed. The mother chose to be killed in exchange for her child’s life.

The sound effects and acting were chilling. Diao Zhiyu leaned close to Hu Xiu’s ear: “I just realized Zhao Xiaorou is cute.”

“Really...”

“She looks much cuter when she’s anxious about Li Ai than when she’s loud and bossy, swearing at people.”

The female ghost had already chased them. Zhao Xiaorou was still trying to get closer to Li Ai in the dark.

Li Ai took the flashlight and went ahead to check every dangerous corner first to protect Zhao Xiaorou.

Hu Xiu forgot about using her own flashlight, focusing on chasing Zhao Xiaorou’s legs, as if giving the spotlight to the main character of the scene.

In the dim light, they could only see her slim legs running, but they couldn’t catch up, and she was frantically bumping around in the dark.

Drama becomes a classic because it has sufficient build-up, filled with plot points, and a brilliant second half.

After climbing a small porch and descending a ladder, two more actors stood in front of them. They were ghosts.

The woman who had killed the mother was actually there for revenge. The couple in the previous room were on the run, having killed a family of three in a hit-and-run, and as ghosts, they couldn’t let the couple go, taking out their revenge on the players who came to solve the puzzle.

Before anyone could react, the couple charged at them, and the players were left scrambling in the dark, trying to run through the narrow pathways.

At this moment, Zhao Xiaorou lost track of Li Ai. Li Ai was still searching for her in the dark. She had run in the wrong direction and felt something off about the person ahead of her. She turned around and started chasing the female ghost instead.

The female ghost was startled when she heard someone behind her and stopped to turn around, scaring Zhao Xiaorou into kneeling and passing through her legs.

The female ghost grabbed her leg, and Zhao Xiaorou screamed, instinctively slapping the ghost in the face.

She had previously complained about how some players would always hit NPCs, shamelessly.

In the darkness, being grabbed, her instinctive reaction was human nature—like this moment, where Zhao Xiaorou, frightened, fought back.

Li Ai rushed back following her scream, pulling Zhao Xiaorou forward. They entered a small room, and the detective whispered: “They’re coming, hide in the cupboard, quick!”

There were two empty cupboards, each able to hide three people. Hu Xiu and Diao Zhiyu hid in one cupboard, waiting for Zhao Xiaorou to join them, but soon realized it wasn’t right. If Li Ai and Zhao Xiaorou were together, they would have to split up.

Hu Xiu climbed into the other cupboard, and Zhao Xiaorou, who had rushed through the door, also jumped into the cupboard, waiting for Li Ai.

Just then, a guy from the scene came in, noticing there wasn’t enough cupboard space. In a panic, he pushed the door with his foot, and it was too hard—the door fell off.

With both doors in hand, Zhao Xiaorou was stunned, and Hu Xiu froze in place as well.

The ghost was about to enter, and the scene guy squeezed into the cupboard, holding the cupboard door in front of him, making eye contact with the female ghost through the gap. The player urgently whispered: “Damn it, can’t you see me, can’t you see me...”

Zhao Xiaorou used all her strength to push him out: “Damn it, where’s Li Ai? You broke the door! I’ve been waiting so long, this is the last chance!”

The boy was pushed out like holding a shield. The female ghost didn’t expect such a scene, and as the door fell, she pressed close, scaring him into screaming, “I’m sorry, don’t kill me, don’t kill me, I’ll give you my bank card password, okay…”

The game ended, and the male player, pale with fear, started crying. Zhao Xiaorou, holding the two broken doors, walked out of the brightly lit escape room with a dark face.

The group looked at the boss lady, whose temper was flaring, wanting to laugh but not daring to. Hu Xiu laughed but was still annoyed: “Why take them out?”

“I’m making him pay for the damages,” Zhao Xiaorou said.

“He also got kicked by you.”

“Not only did he ruin my plan, but there’s still no reckoning!” Zhao Xiaorou lifted the doors, her patience running thin, “Hey, little brother, settle the repair cost for the doors.”

It was already 2 a.m. when they got back home. After a shower, Zhao Xiaorou, tired from all the drama, slumped on the couch, drinking in silence. Li Ai took her glass and took a sip, “You’ve been in a bad mood lately.”

“It’s nothing, just tired,” Zhao Xiaorou said, watching Li Ai massage her legs. His muscles had almost fully recovered, and his body was strong, full of vigor.

She looked up casually at him. He had very special lips, with corners curving downward but still full and inviting, a little melancholic and a little... seductive.

Staring at his lips, Zhao Xiaorou drank more, and it didn’t take long for the alcohol to hit her.

“Things were lively a few days ago, why are you suddenly so agitated?” Li Ai held her arm, “It’s not like you…”

What do you think? Zhao Xiaorou, with alcohol on her lips, looked at his gentle and concerned expression. She couldn’t help but think how bad her luck was, drawing an ED card.

The skin on her arm felt hot under his grip as she only stared at him, sending all her burning desire into his eyes.

It was difficult to pry open Li Ai’s lips.

He finally asked, “Are you trying to force me to break my vow?”

“Don’t you love me?”

He laughed, “Clearly, you’re testing me. Dressing so lightly in front of me, now you’re drunk like this, trying to break your own rules and force me into it.”

“You knew this and still asked?”

“I respect you. The rules were set by you, and unless you say to break them, how could I cross the line?”

Zhao Xiaorou didn’t speak but just looked at him. Unexpectedly, Li Ai slid his hand along her nightdress, then stopped: “I knew it...”

Her face turned red. This direct teasing felt like breaking the rules.

His hand didn’t leave. Even though Li Ai stayed still, it felt like the light and colors around them were liquid, and she, bathed in the orange glow, looked like she was ready to burst.

The real embarrassment might have been in the eye contact, even though she had always been bold. Wherever her gaze fell, every sensitive spot seemed heightened, and her hidden desires became wetter.

He finally leaned in to kiss her lips, and the embrace felt unfamiliar. He seemed tense, but still, it was as gentle and passionate as she had imagined. They both lay back on the couch, their skin heating up, the rhythm slow. How could he have this much patience?

At this moment, she really wanted to admit how desperate she was—she’d been waiting for so long. He only smiled and said, “The backrest of this sofa is uncomfortable, no matter how you lie on it.”

The man who had been celibate for three years was shy. Zhao Xiaorou laughed, thinking, “You...”

They fumbled for a while before getting into the right mood. Zhao Xiaorou chuckled, “Are you nervous?”

“A little...”

“We’re already so familiar with each other, relax a bit.” After saying this, she also grew nervous.

Li Ai looked into her eyes, her heart racing—how far had she come to reach this moment?

He kissed her ankle, and the waves of pleasure surged. Her body tensed, a sensation she had never felt before.

Zhao Xiaorou, in a daze, was surprised: Could those hands that wiped coffee cups and boiled beans hide such skill?

In her panic, she wanted to kiss him back, hiding her nervous gaze, but Li Ai held her hand: “Don’t hide, look at me.”

This caught her off guard—she trembled as her chest and arm seemed to be flooded with both cold and warm water, pushing through. The pleasure of waves crashing on the shore was something she didn’t expect.

Soon, her world was consumed by unconscious cries. Li Ai seemed to enjoy watching her, bending down to kiss her again—lips, chest, fingers…

What surprised her most was how he found the angle that made her scream. Her voice trembled uncontrollably... Only a mature man could understand the pleasure of a grown woman.

A treasure...

“Do you want some jam?”

“Yes...”

What was this trick?

The jam wasn’t delivered to her mouth. The small jar of blueberry jam by the bedside traced the curve of her body down her back and to her groin.

Each segment of her spine was traced by his tongue, almost like a male animal marking its territory.

It was terrifying. Terrifying enough to excite her. He seemed to know every angle of her already. Had he been thinking about this when he secretly watched her?

It didn’t stop there. The next day, after the shoot, Zhao Xiaorou had just entered the door when he blocked her and kissed her.

She still had makeup on: “Wait for me to shower and remove the makeup, I’m covered in dust from the shoot.”

“What does it matter?” Li Ai laughed, “Didn’t you say, true love is always messy?”

“That was a metaphor! Li Ai, I’m telling you, you can’t take everything so literally. Adults like to skirt the edges of words...” She didn’t finish her sentence—her voice was already hoarse. Forget it.

Her body brushed against the cold door. This man was anything but boring. The shadows cast by the light became a contrast of passion. She didn’t need to think; she knew she looked a mess right now, but in the arms of someone she loved, it felt so good.

Why had she set those rules of celibacy for thirty days? Li Ai, now free from those rules, was the smartest man in the world.

The partners she once thought were good now seemed boring. The angles were always just a little off—compatibility, such a magical word.

Her body exhausted, Zhao Xiaorou lowered her flag and poked Li Ai’s cheek: “Can I ask you a question?”

“Mm...”

“How did you manage to go this long?”

Li Ai smiled. “I’ve always been like this.”

“But you’re a man who hasn’t been in a serious relationship for three years! You were so quiet at my place those days...”

“Secret...” Li Ai wouldn’t tell her that, before coming out of the bathroom every day, he had already taken care of his urges.

Staying composed was hard.