Chapter 40

Finally, he fell into a deep sleep.

Xitang got up and walked out of his room. She pulled the curtains aside and glanced outside. The sky had already darkened, and the dazzling lights of the CBD district had started to shine.

Xitang quietly made a phone call in the kitchen. She needed to ask for leave from the production team for tomorrow morning.

The scene at 7 a.m. tomorrow was one she would definitely miss.

She walked around the kitchen, drank the leftover porridge Zhao Pingjin hadn’t finished, and then cooked a small pot of thicker millet porridge for him. She found some fever-reducing medicine in the living room, brought water, and returned to the bedroom. However, Zhao Pingjin had already woken up, lying in bed, looking at the door with a confused gaze, probably from the fever. He mumbled, “Don’t go.”

Xitang responded softly, “Okay.”

She finally managed to get him to drink some porridge, took the medicine, measured his temperature again, wiped the sweat from his body, and let him rest in bed.

Zhao Pingjin pulled her close to him, resting his head on her chest, silently closing his eyes.

He fell asleep, and the pain on his face was gone.

In the middle of the night, Xitang woke up. Zhao Pingjin was still deeply asleep beside her.

Xitang got up to check on him. His fever had gone down, and she finally felt relieved. She lay back down and looked at his peaceful face.

She quietly reached out and touched his handsome face.

It felt like a dream.

Xitang gazed at him, not knowing when she herself fell asleep.

Zhao Pingjin woke up at dawn. He usually didn’t sleep much, and his sleep was shallow. His biological clock made him wake up as soon as it hit a certain time. He had gone without sleep for almost a month, but today he had finally slept all the way until morning.

He realized he was lying in the bedroom, the curtains tightly drawn, and the room still dim. He felt warm and comfortable all over.

When he moved his arm, he found that someone was resting in his arms— a small figure, with pale skin, long eyelashes, and dark circles under her eyes.

He reached out and pushed her. “Hey.”

The little figure didn’t move.

She continued sleeping.

Zhao Pingjin called again, “Hey, Huang Xitang.”

Xitang buried her head in the blanket and continued sleeping.

Zhao Pingjin lowered his head, playfully kissed her face. Huang Xitang instinctively moved away, but Zhao Pingjin smiled, finding it amusing. He cupped her face and kissed her moist lips. In the next moment, Huang Xitang, in her sleep, stuck out her tongue and, with her eyes closed, licked the corner of his lips, a faint sweet smile appearing on her face. Zhao Pingjin was stirred by that smile, his desires awakening. He pressed his hand against the bed, leaned over, and deepened the kiss.

Everything suddenly spiraled out of control.

Zhao Pingjin knew that, at his age, he had already passed the stage of youthful, overwhelming desires. He didn’t lack for women and never intended to touch her. One reason was that he knew he could no longer offer her marriage, and the other reason was that he didn’t dare to touch her. Huang Xitang’s body was a huge mark, preserving all the memories of their love—those nights entwined in passion, the intense, bone-deep affection, and the love that led to the deepest indulgence.

When it came to romantic matters, though Zhao Pingjin didn’t want to admit it, he was quite late to mature. Before meeting Huang Xitang, he had always had girlfriends, but none of the relationships felt meaningful. They were all distant, each one afraid of him, obedient to him, and submissive in bed. From the time he was a teenager until his twenties, Zhao Pingjin never understood why Gao Jiyi would speak so passionately about women. He found women to be uninteresting and boring, until he met Huang Xitang. She was fresh, lively, her youthful body like a ripe apricot—slightly tart, yet often revealing a captivating charm in unintentional moments. He was completely captivated by her.

Maybe they were destined to be lovers.

In his life, when it came to relationships, she was the best woman he had ever had.

He wasn’t sure if he had the courage to touch this memory again.

But at this moment, his mouth was filled with the sweet, apricot-like scent of her, and he felt extremely comfortable, though a burning heat tormented him. His palm was pressed against her shoulder, gently caressing her collarbone, her body tightly pressed against his chest.

Xitang finally woke up, gazing at him in confusion. “What are you doing?”

Zhao Pingjin didn’t let her speak, placing one hand over her mouth. His lips had already begun kissing down her neck. Xitang pushed against his shoulder and twisted her waist to struggle, but her actions only stirred his desires even more.

Zhao Pingjin suddenly lifted her up. Huang Xitang screamed, clutching his neck, but then laughed out loud. Zhao Pingjin kissed her cheek intimately, and the two of them changed to a more comfortable position.

Like lava from a volcano, the heat flowed between their bodies, and Xitang’s body moved in his arms like a bright, soft stream.

After their passion, Zhao Pingjin lingered inside her body for a long time.

He stroked her right shoulder blade on her back, where two thick patches of medicated plaster were stuck, covering the entire bone.

Zhao Pingjin held her, his hand resting across her back, and gently asked, “Does your hand hurt?”

Xitang’s face held a look of extreme exhaustion mixed with satisfaction, and she gave a light, dazed smile. “Hmm, it’s fine, I’ve been filming a Beijing opera these past few days.”

But Zhao Pingjin was much clearer-headed than she was. “You shouldn’t have provoked me like that. Who can stand such words from a woman?”

Looking back, Xitang felt that she had indeed handled things poorly when she was younger. She lightly responded with some regret, “Hmm.”

Zhao Pingjin was momentarily stunned, then muttered gruffly, “I didn’t mean to say that. I just—”

He stopped mid-sentence.

His palm rested on the scar on her shoulder, gently stroking it again and again.

After a long silence, Zhao Pingjin quietly said, “I shouldn’t have let you suffer like this.”

Xitang comforted him with a kiss on his ear. “It’s fine now, I’m doing well.”

His voice choked with emotion. “I can’t bear it.”

Zhao Pingjin buried his head in her chest, unwilling to move, holding her like a precious treasure.

Xitang hugged him, feeling as though she were holding a child.

In the afternoon, the driver came to pick Xitang up to return to the production team.

Zhao Pingjin walked with her, and Xitang was a bit worried about his health. “Aren’t you going to rest for another day?”

Zhao Pingjin had already regained his energy. He had shaved in the morning, and his clean chin showed a slight stubble. He wore a black suit with a white shirt and a dark red striped tie. His sharp, handsome features held an air of cold authority. When he wasn’t smiling, the lines of his lips were stern, like sharp rocks frozen beneath the ice of a river. The snow outside made his face look slightly pale, but it didn’t diminish his handsomeness in the least.

Zhao Pingjin responded indifferently to her, “I’m fine.”

He sent her to the production team, then said casually, “I’ll call you later.”

Xitang, grabbing her bag to get out of the car, placed her hand on the car door and turned to say, “Go home and rest for a few days. Your body isn’t easy to recover. Don’t be careless, watch out for the ulcers to relapse.”

Zhao Pingjin nodded, responding with rare warmth, “I know.”

Xitang said, “I’m leaving.”

“Wait a moment.” Zhao Pingjin stopped her. “Give me a kiss.”

Xitang turned around and lightly kissed him on the cheek.

The next afternoon, Zhao Pingjin’s driver arrived.

Xitang happened to be on set, and when she answered the phone and walked outside, the driver was startled. He hurriedly ran out of the car. “Miss Huang…”

Xitang was filming a scene where Song Jiashi was pregnant with her second child. She looked at her slightly rounded abdomen and quickly patted it, saying, “It’s fake, we’re filming.”

The driver, Liu, was an honest man. When he snapped out of his surprise, he couldn’t help but laugh.

This morning, Zhao Pingjin had told her secretary to ask the cleaning staff to search her earrings at home. Xitang smiled and asked, “Did you find them?”

Liu scratched his head and answered, “No.”

Xitang was a bit surprised. Although she wasn’t extremely meticulous, she usually kept her things organized. She hadn’t found the earrings in the hotel and had thought they must have been left at Zhao Pingjin’s place. She guessed they had probably fallen at the set.

Liu came back to the car and brought out several luxury brand bags. “Miss Huang, these are for you.”

Xitang opened one of the bags, revealing a jewelry box with pearl earrings inside. They were small, rounded pearls, giving off a faint glow.

Each pair was similar, with slight differences in size.

Xitang tried them on, and when she looked in the mirror, she couldn’t tell the difference between these and her original pair.

It was impressive of Zhao Pingjin, who had only seen her wear that pair of earrings once or twice, to remember and buy the same style from memory.

Surprised in her heart, but maintaining a composed exterior, she looked up at Liu, still smiling gently.

Liu spoke, exhaling a puff of white mist. “The secretary bought them this morning.”

Xitang suddenly remembered to ask, “Has Mr. Zhao been staying at home these past couple of days?”

Liu replied honestly, “He went home for a day. Mr. Zhao is in the military district, and Teacher Zhou went to Shanghai.”

Xitang waved her hand and said, “Wait for a moment.”

She ran to the production team’s resting room and soon returned with a thermos. “Please take this to Mr. Zhao.”

Liu happily accepted it, smiling broadly. “Okay, Miss Huang. It’s cold outside, you should go inside quickly.”

For the past few days, Xitang had been returning directly to the hotel after finishing filming.

Yin Nan was walking down the corridor with the director when Director Feng sniffed and said, “Hmm, century egg and lean pork porridge, smells good.”

Yin Nan knocked on the door: “Xitang, what are you doing? The smell is wafting down the corridor.”

Xitang popped her head out, smiling cheerfully. “Director Feng, Brother Nan, I’m making porridge.”

Director Feng shook his head. “The health regimen of female stars these days really takes a lot of effort.”

Around 6 p.m., Driver Liu arrived on time. Xitang was filming in the production team, and her assistant Xiao Ning went out to meet him.

After finishing a meeting, Zhao Pingjin was drinking porridge in his office.

Li Ming finished work and casually wandered into his office, where Shen Min was also having tea.

Li Ming sat with his legs crossed on the sofa, watching Zhao Pingjin drink porridge by the coffee table, and sighed. “Ah, I envy you, really envy you.”

Zhao Pingjin ignored him.

Li Ming leaned in and exaggeratedly sniffed. “Hey, Zhou Zhou, can you ask Tang Tang to cook a little more tomorrow? Let me and Xiao Min also enjoy some.”

Li Ming poked Shen Min’s elbow. “Xiao Min, don’t you think so?”

Shen Min didn’t dare to respond.

Without looking up, Zhao Pingjin replied, “Ask your secretary to buy some for you.”