Chapter 22: Ripe Peach
“Why should I thank you?” Nan Xiao said calmly. “Xie Huaiyu is a member of your family. When he bullied me, it was only natural for you to step in and defend me.”
“Besides, the two of us are still married in name. If he insults me, he also makes you lose face. So defending me is also for your own good.”
After she finished speaking, Nan Xiao felt a little nervous.
She thought her reasoning was sound, but people of Xie Chengyu’s standing were often “unreasonable.” For example, when he defended Xu Ruoxin, he hadn’t been very reasonable. Would he be angry at her now?
Xie Chengyu stared at Nan Xiao. After hearing her speak with such righteousness, he suddenly furrowed his brows. In his eyes flickered a hint of unease, as if he didn’t quite understand what he was feeling. All at once, he became very curious about her inner thoughts.
He lifted Nan Xiao’s chin, wanting to see clearly the look in her eyes. The intimate gesture startled them both.
The moment Xie Chengyu touched her, Nan Xiao’s body stiffened. Her watery eyes stared straight at him, as if wondering what he was trying to do—though in truth, she was simply frightened.
Xie Chengyu, on the other hand, realized almost instantly that he had lost his composure. He and Nan Xiao were only contractual spouses—why would he make such an intimate move? He quickly withdrew his hand.
“You were right just now,” Xie Chengyu said, face unreadable, voice steady. He turned his head lightly. “It was my duty to defend you.”
“Oh.”
Nan Xiao tried hard to appear calm, though her heart was thudding up into her throat. Underneath her sleeve, her fingers had curled themselves tightly into a ball.
Just one small gesture from Xie Chengyu, and she was already this flustered. Nan Xiao, how can you be so useless?
“Can I see what you really look like?”
Nan Xiao dropped her head again. Because of their height difference, Xie Chengyu could only see the crown of her hair, not her eyes, which made him even more curious about what she was thinking.
Suddenly, he remembered—he had never seen her face in all three years of marriage. So he asked.
But hearing this, Nan Xiao’s heart jumped in fright.
“Haven’t you seen photos?” she blurted.
“That was a long time ago,” Xie Chengyu replied coolly. “I’ve forgotten.”
To him, Nan Xiao was an irrelevant person. Her appearance didn’t matter. Besides, it was supposed to be a scarred face—what was there worth remembering?
Nan Xiao swallowed down the faint bitterness in her chest and said, “Sorry, no.”
Her face had already healed. But what if, after seeing it, Xie Chengyu thought she had never been disfigured at all, and that she had only married into the Xie family for money under false pretenses?
Since they were about to divorce anyway, the less trouble the better. Better he not see her face.
Hearing Nan Xiao’s refusal, Xie Chengyu felt a twinge of disappointment. He didn’t press further, but his curiosity about her only grew.
That evening, they were arranged by Xie Second Uncle and Xie Second Aunt to share the same bedroom.
After showering, Nan Xiao glanced at the large bed in the center of the room and said awkwardly, “Why don’t I sleep on the sofa?”
Xie Chengyu cast a glance at the bed. It was king-sized—three or four people could lie on it without crowding. “No need. The bed’s big enough. We’ll manage for one night.”
Since he’d said so, Nan Xiao didn’t push the matter. She quietly took the side near the window, lay down, and turned off the lamp on her nightstand.
She wore long-sleeved, long-pants cotton pajamas—modest and proper.
She lay on her side, back facing him, close to the edge of the bed but not so close that she’d risk falling off. It was so careful it seemed deliberate.
Everything about her was excessively proper—so proper that it left no room for criticism.
But the more “proper” she was, the more it made one itch to peel away her outer shell, to see what was hidden beneath.
Xie Chengyu stood by the bed and looked at Nan Xiao for a long time before lying down himself. Yet that itch only grew stronger, his body warming.
He threw the blanket down to his abdomen, still feeling stifled, and undid two buttons of his black silk pajamas. He even considered lowering the air-conditioning.
Then, a strange tingling heat spread through him. His body stiffened, and he suddenly opened his eyes wide.
He was a man—he knew very well what his body was reacting to.
With a “swish,” he flung off the blanket and sat upright, startling Nan Xiao.
“What’s wrong with you?”
Nan Xiao turned her head, looking at him with hazy eyes.
Xie Chengyu then noticed that the corners of her eyes were slightly red.
Her watery gaze shimmered, her voice soft and delicate. Under the blanket, her legs were tightly pressed together. It was obvious she was enduring the same strange reaction as him.
She was just like him, yet she hadn’t made a sound, hadn’t moved at all. This woman was too proper—like she’d been carved out of a mold.
Watching her like this, Xie Chengyu couldn’t help but laugh softly.
Under the lamp, his pale skin glowed faintly pink. The hard lines of his face were softened by the moisture in his eyes, leaving him handsome to the point of being almost dangerously alluring.
The undone buttons of his black silk pajamas revealed his sculpted collarbones and hints of his firm chest—he looked like a seductive demon straight out of a novel.
Nan Xiao clutched the blanket tightly. The unbearable tingling inside her grew worse.
She was thirsty—so thirsty she felt she’d die without water.
She was hot—so hot she wanted to tear her clothes off.
The strange sensations had begun a few minutes earlier, and seeing Xie Chengyu only made them stronger.
Even in her haze, Xie Chengyu caught the flicker in her eyes. In a sudden movement, he pounced onto the blanket, locking his gaze on hers.
“You want this too, don’t you?”
“……”
Her face flushed crimson all at once. Nan Xiao shook her head frantically. “No—I don’t! I don’t want to!”
Xie Chengyu laughed. Even through the mask, he could tell her face was scarlet—she must be terribly shy.
At this moment, she was no longer so “proper.” Instead, she revealed a timid, girlish side.
Xie Chengyu felt an itch in his heart, like claws scratching endlessly. He wanted to push further, to see how much more of this side of her he could uncover.
A strange thought even crossed his mind: even if Nan Xiao were to take off her mask right now and reveal a terrifying scar, he might still find that scar adorable.
His gaze swept up her pale, slender neck, to her wet, alluring eyes. Her faint fragrance tickled his nose.
Ordinarily, she was like a mangosteen—thick skin hiding her inner self, impossible to guess from the outside.
But right now, she was like a ripe, juicy peach—sweet fragrance spilling forth, so tempting one could hardly resist sinking their teeth in.
