The Disliked Shou and the Charming Gong : Chapter 23: Can Zhou Ji Make You Like This Too?

Wen Junhe’s tears fell onto He Ning’s shoulder. He froze on the spot, thinking, isn’t this the move I always use? How did the other guy turn it around on me?

He stayed silent for a long while and finally managed to squeeze out a dry “Stop crying.”

The tie was still wrapped around his wrist. He Ning moved his wrist and his voice turned cold: “If you keep crying, we’ll end this right now, immediately.”

Those words were like flipping a switch. Wen Junhe’s sobbing stopped instantly, though his shoulders still trembled uncontrollably.

He Ning really wanted to laugh coldly. What the hell did Wen Junhe want? But the answer was obvious. He was dead set on clinging to him. Calling him shameless probably wouldn’t work either. This guy had probably already thrown his pride on the ground and stomped on it eight hundred times.

“Let go of me.”

“If you don’t mention breaking up.” Wen Junhe’s voice still carried the remnants of his choked sobs.

He Ning gave a grunt that counted as agreement.

The moment the tie loosened, He Ning kicked Wen Junhe in the shin, followed by a punch to his shoulder. Wen Junhe took the hits solidly, but then suddenly pressed forward, pinning He Ning heavily into the sofa.

It was impossible to say who got angry first, or who got turned on first.

The two of them were like two trapped beasts gone mad, biting and tangling together without a single word. Only the sound of fabric rubbing and increasingly heavy breathing echoed through the room.

He Ning’s struggles gradually changed in tone, finally turning into a suppressed groan.

“Wen Junhe… you bastard…”

He Ning turned his head away, his chest heaving violently from his rapid breathing. The corners of his eyes were wet, impossible to tell if it was sweat or tears. Wen Junhe’s heart clenched, his arms tightening even more as he buried his whole face into the crook of He Ning’s neck: “Then tell me… what should I do? He Ning, tell me what I should do?”

He Ning was panting, his words coming out in fragments, his fingers weakly clutching at the bedsheets: “When you sent that text… you should have known… a relationship like ours… wouldn’t last.”

Wen Junhe’s eyes were completely red: “Then what can last? You and Zhou Ji? We were together for so many years…”

“Shut up!” He Ning suddenly started struggling again, “You’re the least qualified person to bring that up.”

He was panting hard, but every word he threw out hit Wen Junhe like a hammer: “Do you dare say there was a single day in those years when you were sincere to me? You trampled all over my feelings, and now that you’re being treated the same way, you’ve finally tasted what it feels like to hurt, and you know how awful it is?”

Wen Junhe: “Yes, I deserve it, but I really don’t know what to do anymore.”

He Ning laughed coldly, “Back when I was chasing after you, you couldn’t be bothered to give me the time of day. I wasn’t the one who never brought up marriage, but you only gave me half a perfunctory wedding. To say you felt nothing at all during those years, I don’t believe it. But how much of it was real, only you know.”

“I really… I never thought about breaking up, I know I was wrong, Ningning, I’ll make it up to you any way you want.”

He Ning was silent for a very long time. So long that Wen Junhe thought he wouldn’t answer at all, before he finally spoke: “I won’t get divorced.”

Wen Junhe’s arms stiffened for a moment, before he finally said slowly: “…Okay.”

“I won’t marry anyone else. I know I already got married five years ago. If one day I really do something that wrongs you, I’ll leave on my own.”

What happened after that gradually spiraled out of control.

The two of them were like two trapped beasts. Black spots danced before He Ning’s eyes.

Wen Junhe suddenly became talkative, and those humiliating words came pouring out one after another, things like “Can Zhou Ji make you like this too?”

The name Zhou Ji should have been an unspoken taboo between them. Once spoken aloud, it was like tearing away the last layer of cover, exposing the most unsightly side of this relationship naked under the sun.

But Wen Junhe said it anyway, every word crystal clear, with a stubbornness of someone who had nothing left to lose.

Wen Junhe knew he was playing with fire, but he just couldn’t help himself.

The two words “Zhou Ji” were like a thorn stuck in his throat for too long. He had to get them out. He regretted it the moment he said it, and started apologizing again.

He Ning raised his hand to slap him, but Wen Junhe caught his wrist in one grab.

What was worse, Wen Junhe saw his embarrassment and anger, and pressed his advantage even more, leaning right up to his ear and rattling on nonstop, like he was reciting some evil scripture.

The more He Ning struggled, the more worked up Wen Junhe got.

Wen Junhe’s fingertips brushed over the tense back of his neck, both soothing and provocative.

Finally, in the bathroom, He Ning didn’t dare look back at all, but Wen Junhe forced him to look, pinching his chin and making him open his eyes wide to see clearly who was with him right now.

He Ning kept his eyes squeezed shut and refused to look. Wen Junhe’s voice carried a bewitching tone: “Ningning, don’t you really want to look? How beautiful it is.”

Before He Ning drifted off into sleep, dazed and muddled, a vague thought flashed through his mind. He used to think Wen Junhe was so fierce in bed because of medication side effects. Now he understood that this guy was just far more driven by desire than he was deep in his bones.

He Ning had actually been really easy to coax in the past. Wen Junhe would give him a hug, say a few soft words, or kiss him gently, and He Ning would be completely satisfied.

But Wen Junhe was different. A carnivore, someone who liked chasing after more thrilling experiences. That was quite different from the image he usually presented.

Their first time was the night of their graduation ceremony. Wen Junhe had been drinking, and He Ning didn’t want to go home, tugging on Wen Junhe’s sleeve and insisting on getting a hotel room. He didn’t have his ID on him, so in the end Wen Junhe went to the front desk to check them in.

The moment they entered the room, He Ning collapsed into the hotel’s soft big bed, sinking into the down comforter like a contented cat. Wen Junhe lay down beside him. He Ning wrung out a hot towel and wiped the other person’s cheeks and…

He Ning burrowed into the other person’s arms in a daze, cupping Wen Junhe’s face and kissing and nuzzling him. The most they’d done before was kissing in an abandoned classroom building, and every time it would make He Ning’s face flush for half a day.

He lay on top of Wen Junhe, his head resting on the other person’s chest: “I just saw someone playing guitar to confess to the school beauty… so romantic, don’t you think?”

Wen Junhe suddenly pinched his waist and pressed him down onto the bed, his fingers slipping under the hem of He Ning’s clothes: “Want to do it?”

He Ning: “Huh?”

“Sooner or later anyway.”

When Wen Junhe pulled that square packet out of his pants pocket, the plastic wrapper reflected cold light under the lamp.

He Ning’s eyes went wide.

At the time, it gave completely inexperienced He Ning quite a shock.

So even later, when he felt that Wen Junhe had no feelings for him, He Ning never once thought that Wen Junhe wasn’t interested in him that way.

Now looking back, he had indeed been influenced by Han Qing’s provocation, thinking that Wen Junhe’s desire for him was no different from being drugged.

Saying that to his face back then had practically been a provocation.

When He Ning woke up the next day, his whole body ached like he’d been run over by a car. The result of showering three times in one night was that the next day his head was so heavy he couldn’t lift it.

He curled up under the covers, the bangs in front of his forehead soaked with sweat, sticking to his burning skin.

When Wen Junhe pressed his forehead gently against him, He Ning instinctively wanted to dodge, but the other person held his shoulder down.

Wen Junhe’s voice carried unmistakable worry: “Ningning, drink some water.”

The rim of the glass pressed against He Ning’s lips.

“You have a fever now.”

He Ning’s voice was hoarse as he laughed coldly: “…Who caused it.”

Wen Junhe admitted his fault honestly: “Me, I’m sorry.”

Wen Junhe gave He Ning his medicine, took his temperature, and wiped his burning skin with warm water. He Ning unconsciously nuzzled into his palm, and it wasn’t until evening that He Ning’s temperature finally came down, and Wen Junhe’s heart, which had been hanging in the air, finally settled back down.

He Ning hadn’t shown his face all morning. Wen Junhe kept him wrapped in his arms, sleeping.

When Meng Xuan’s call came in, Wen Junhe was tracing He Ning’s sleeping face with his fingertip. He answered the phone, keeping his voice low: “He’s sick, sleeping.”

As he spoke, Wen Junhe’s fingertips unconsciously twirled a strand of He Ning’s hair, wrapping it around his knuckle again and again.

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end. The sound of ocean waves was faintly audible in the background, before Meng Xuan’s cold laugh suddenly came through: “…Top student, I really never saw that you could be this shameless.”

Wen Junhe wasn’t annoyed at all by this. He just pulled the person in his arms even tighter. He Ning unconsciously nuzzled against his chest in his sleep, his hair brushing against his chin.

“Anything else? If not, I’m hanging up.”

Meng Xuan was fired up by Wen Junhe’s lofty tone: “You think you’re so great? If it weren’t for He Ning putting you on a pedestal back then, who the hell would have given you a second glance? Now that he’s married, you can’t keep up the act anymore, can you? Your untouchable ice prince persona has crashed and burned, so now you’re switching to the desperate clingy ex route?”

Wen Junhe lowered his eyelashes, his fingertips lingering repeatedly on He Ning’s ring finger. The cold touch of the wedding ring made him want to throw open the window and toss it out right then and there.

“So what? He’s willing to watch me act. What I want will be mine sooner or later. Compared to me, what are you even?”

Meng Xuan cursed out a string of profanity that sounded like a mad dog barking.

He Ning’s wedding ring reflected cold light under the lamp, illuminating the dark surge in Wen Junhe’s eyes. His rubbing motions grew heavier and heavier, until he left a clear red mark on He Ning’s knuckle.

With a loud crash, Meng Xuan smashed his phone to pieces, cursing out another string of profanity.

In the evening, He Ning woke up. He fiddled with his phone and managed to get down half a bowl of seafood congee. Wen Junhe took a wet tissue and carefully wiped the rice grains from his fingertips: “There was a call from an unfamiliar number this afternoon. It was a private investigator. I answered for you. Who are you looking into?”

He Ning’s eyelashes fluttered: “Looking into Han Qing. Meng Xuan said he was kept by someone back in high school. It’s strange, even Uncle Shao couldn’t find out who that person was. I want to find that person.”

Wen Junhe’s movements suddenly stopped: “I know.”

Chapter 24: Your Husband Hired Me to Seduce You

He Ning’s brows were tightly knitted: “How would you know?”

Wen Junhe calmly took the phone from his hand and scooped him up onto the bed: “I happened to see him once before. His name is He Cheng. He emigrated a long time ago. There’s no real evidence to prove this matter.”