Volume 1, Chapter 35: A Three-Day Romance

"An illicit affair..."

Meng Huaijin looked calmly at the girl clinging to him like a vine. "Is this the only way you can prove your madness, your need for a thrill?"

"If you think it's a thrill, then it's a thrill. If you think it's madness, then let it be madness."

Stung by the coldness in his eyes that had returned the moment he finished with her, Shu Wan fell silent for a few seconds before adding with a smile, "And yet, Uncle, didn't you indulge me in this madness?"

The man's stern expression did not soften. He said gravely, "Shu Wan, using your life as a gamble might work once, but any further attempts are just unreasonable and unfeminine."

The girl's eyelashes fluttered. She tugged at her stiff lips, staring unblinkingly at him. "So, you rushed here without a moment's rest—was it because you were afraid I’d die, or was it something else?"

Meng Huaijin gripped her fragile chin and tilted it upward. "If you died, all the energy I’ve spent on you this past year would have been for nothing."

"Is that so?" she challenged, undeterred. "But the gun was a fake. The sound of it cocking was completely wrong. At most, a shot would have caused a minor injury; it wouldn't have killed me. You’re too much of a professional not to have noticed that."

He knew, of course, but faced with her relentless questioning, he remained unruffled. "Do you realize that such stunts only serve to deplete whatever small amount of affection remains between us?"

Shu Wan couldn't understand how a mouth that was thirty-seven degrees Celsius could utter such sub-zero words.

Moreover, she was still sitting in his lap at this very moment, the two of them nearly naked against one another. To keep her from falling, his other hand was still protectively supporting her waist.

Bitterness filled her heart. She let out a laugh and met his gaze directly. "Then I don't understand, Uncle. Your way of depleting our affection seems to work in reverse."

Meng Huaijin frowned, and sure enough, that little mouth kept running. "How can affection be depleted while you're making love to me with such intensity?"

"You say I'm consuming your affection for me, yet how could you—after just finishing with me for two hours—immediately feel... a reaction, just like right now?"

Meng Huaijin remained silent, watching as she recklessly reached down toward him. His face darkened like a sky about to unleash a torrential downpour.

"Is it so hard to admit that you care about me, Uncle?"

She spoke against his Adam's apple, her faint, ethereal breath swirling around it, tickling and numbing.

Meng Huaijin grabbed her wandering hand with force, his gaze sharp as a hawk’s as he stared at her provocative actions. "Are you happy, forcing yourself and forcing me like this, just to prove your theory?"

"But I didn't force you to kiss me at my parents' gravesite, or to take me in the car," she told him without hesitation. "If these are your punishments for me, I accept them all. But if I had to choose again, I would still do it."

Stubborn as a mule, refusing to see reason. Meng Huaijin’s expression softened slightly. "How do you want me to accompany you?"

"My thanks to Director Meng for your generosity. You traveled thousands of miles to ravish me, and now you’re finally willing to accompany me voluntarily." There was a hint of poison in the girl's eyes.

Before he could say something even harsher, Shu Wan continued, "Let’s be a couple for three days."

The man raised an eyebrow.

She went on, "From now on, apart from emergency work calls, you are not allowed to answer anyone's phone, especially Jiang Jie's."

"And another thing: you cannot be fierce with me, and you cannot say anything heartbreaking or vicious. You must act like a man who loves me deeply, fulfilling every request and granting every wish."

The man frowned repeatedly at her incessant, tyrannical terms. "And after three days?"

"You'll know after three days," Shu Wan promised solemnly.

Her promises never meant anything, and Meng Huaijin didn't take them seriously at all.

"I’m hungry, boyfriend," the girl said, looking at him with a pitiful expression. "I used up too much energy just now."

The man opened his mouth to deflate her: "Someone who is bent on self-destruction..."

"Foul!" Shu Wan cried out, anxious. "According to the role you're playing, you should say, 'Did I not feed you enough just now?'"

"..."

Meng Huaijin was speechless for a long time. "Do you want me to wait for you to write a script so I can follow the lines?"

"...That wouldn't be impossible, it’s just that time doesn't permit it." A thought suddenly struck the girl. "How about I establish some game rules? Where there are rules, there must be penalties. To ensure you don't drift too far from your role over these three days, I need to set up a reward system for you."

She was still so young; he had no idea what was going on in her head.

Meng Huaijin replied indifferently, "What kind of reward system?"

She rested her head in her hands, pondering for a moment. "If you fulfill your duties as a boyfriend well, I’ll kiss you a few more times. If you don't, I’ll punish you by making you kiss me a few more times. No biting, no force—it has to be the gentle kind."

The man laughed outright, ruffling her messy hair. "Shu Wan, what exactly are you thinking about all day long?"

The girl stared at that fleeting smile, dazed for a long while, before judging, "You’re doing a good job right now, so I can reward you."

With that, she straightened her back, looped her arms around his neck, and forced him to bow his head toward her. She pressed her red lips forward and gave him a light kiss.

It was as fleeting as a dragonfly skimming the water—a touch and then away.

Her warm, sweet breath washed over him, only to fade away a moment later.

Meng Huaijin stared straight at her. Just as she was about to retreat to her original position, he reached out, took hold of the back of her neck, and pulled her slightly toward his chest.

"Only you get to make demands?"

Shu Wan processed this for a moment and replied, "Of course you can have demands for me, too. But any demand must be made within the context of us being a couple for three days. You cannot veto my premise."

She had blocked every loophole tight.

Meng Huaijin, his face impassive, lifted her from his lap and placed her in the seat beside him. He picked up his ruined, damp suit jacket from the floor, threw it on, buttoned it, and climbed into the driver's seat.

Shu Wan pulled the warm coat tighter around her and pressed, "Uncle, so what exactly is your demand for me?"

"Do not call me Uncle." The man started the car and commanded coldly.

"Then what should I call you? Director Meng? Meng Huaijin? Huaijin? Mister?"

"...Shut up."

"...Anything else? Do you have any other demands for me?"

The black SUV sped along the mountain road, heading toward the city center of Nancheng.

After a long while, the man’s deep voice finally sounded: "You will know."