Chapter 65: Lihua trembled from her pat.
Gan Qiongying was like a skipping tape, turning her head to stare at Lihua for a long time without being able to speak.
Perhaps because she remained silent for too long, the little courage Lihua had mustered quickly dissipated with a “pop” like a bursting lamp wick, vanishing completely.
He slowly released his grip on Gan Qiongying’s clothes, withdrew his arm, then turned over in bed, continuing to face inward, closing his eyes in extreme shame.
In the world of commerce, Lihua rarely made mistakes. He knew every type of merchandise like the back of his hand, had an exceptionally sharp sense for new and novel items from various regions. No matter what item came into his hands, within two hours, he could devise the most suitable way to sell it.
He also had countless methods to sell ordinary items at high prices.
He knew so many things—he could package a mundane product to make it seem unattainable, pair useless items with high-quality goods and sell them at equal prices… He possessed far too many sales techniques.
Yet he couldn’t sell himself.
When he was young, he traveled north and south with merchant caravans. At that time, he was still very small, and the old Momo who had adopted him from the palace dared not leave him in the capital of Jinchuan.
Back then, there were no refined human skin masks like the ones available now for him to use, so Lihua often covered his face, attaching a few ugly scars to disguise himself as someone whose appearance had been ruined by burns.
Some people had been curious about his looks and pulled down his face covering. Upon seeing the ugly scars on his face, they would show expressions of shock and disgust.
As years passed, even Lihua himself began to believe he was an ugly monster.
He grew increasingly unfamiliar with his true appearance year after year, sometimes startling even himself. His confidence had been destroyed over these years by his own hands. Even now, with human skin masks that allowed him to disguise himself as anyone, the confidence buried in the past could never be recovered.
His inferiority was etched into his bones. Taking a step toward someone was a difficulty unimaginable to others.
Even if the person he was approaching was his rightful wife.
Even if the request he had made was something he had rehearsed countless times in his heart, imagining numerous possible outcomes.
He still retreated like soft flesh peeking out of a clam shell, quickly withdrawing and closing the shell tightly because of Gan Qiongying’s silence.
Lihua even began to regret why he had suddenly said such inexplicable words.
If he had just turned his back to Gan Qiongying and waited a little longer, she would have fallen asleep and then embraced him.
He could have received her embrace without saying a word.
Now, having spoken, her serious expression and silent demeanor made Lihua feel afraid.
Would she think him too forward?
Lihua was so flustered that he even forgot Princess Duanrong’s notorious reputation and the fact that she had over a hundred male consorts in her residence.
What could a mere embrace mean to her?
Perhaps it was because Gan Qiongying had shown such attentiveness toward Lihua at the birthday banquet today, in front of so many people, that Lihua felt he could rightfully stand by Gan Qiongying’s side and, naturally… be with her like a normal couple.
Lihua knew he was unwilling to accept less. His heart had already leaned toward Gan Qiongying, and the scales in his mind had long given him the answer.
He wanted to find a bit of courage from Gan Qiongying tonight before going to meet Zhongli Zhengzhen—the courage to risk being hunted down by the Jinchuan royal family, to engage with Zhongli Zhengzhen, and to provide him with false information.
In Lihua’s sleeve were two lists—one real, one fake. Standing at the crossroads of choice, facing the bed, he tightly clutched the two slips of paper in his hand, his closed eyes trembling incessantly, like a dragonfly caught in a storm.
Gan Qiongying had no idea that all it would take was a hug to pull Lihua into her camp.
She sat on the edge of the bed in a daze for a moment, scratching her head as her face slowly flushed red.
She hadn’t suspected Lihua of any impropriety at all. It never crossed her mind that Lihua was asking for a hug, because to Gan Qiongying, it sounded like he was complaining about her restless sleeping habits at night.
Gan Qiongying felt deeply ashamed, because she knew exactly how she slept. It had always been this way—she had to hold something in her arms while sleeping, and she had to clamp her legs around it too.
That’s why her bed was always filled with various plush toys, and they had to be life-sized ones at that.
After transmigrating, there were too many things to deal with. When she wasn’t sleeping with Lihua, Gan Qiongying would hug the quilt at night. Later, when they started sleeping together, she thought she was still just hugging the quilt.
And every morning, with the quilt neatly covering her, Gan Qiongying even thought that perhaps, after becoming Duan Rong, her habits had changed—just like her tastes—and that this bad habit of clamping onto something while sleeping had been corrected.
But today, she realized she hadn’t changed at all. In fact, she had gotten worse.
She had gone from clamping onto inanimate objects to hugging a living, breathing person!
Gan Qiongying still remembered how, when she first brought Lihua back, he suspected she had ulterior motives and intended to harm him. He even tried to bite off his tongue on her bed to take his own life.
After finally coaxing him into sleeping with her, Gan Qiongying never crossed the line, partly to keep her “wealth god” close and partly to avoid those so-called male consorts.
At first, she was genuinely afraid that one day a stranger might suddenly appear in her bed, and she would have to grit her teeth and go along with it to maintain her persona. That’s why she kept sleeping with Lihua.
Over time, she grew accustomed to it. Gan Qiongying even thought Lihua had excellent sleeping manners, and the bed was spacious enough. Spending day and night together made it easy to build affection.
And with affection came more money…
Who would have thought?
Some people appear gentle and refined on the surface, closing their eyes and doing nothing improper.
Yet she had been so utterly shameless!
During the day, she treated Lihua with endless tenderness, pretending to be a virtuous and gentle wife, only to unleash her wild side at night, holding him tightly all along!
Since the incident where he tried to bite off his tongue, Lihua had been sleeping with her, enduring it for so long… without ever losing his temper. Lihua truly was a good person!
Lihua had grown so accustomed to being hugged by her that he couldn’t even fall asleep without it now.
What kind of mess was this?
Gan Qiongying was overwhelmed with guilt, feeling like the scoundrel who gets drunk, does all sorts of things to someone, and then can’t remember a thing the next day.
She scratched her head again, glanced back at Lihua, climbed onto the bed, moved close behind him, and patted his shoulder.
Lihua flinched at her touch.