Chapter 163 - I Love Being Your Anchor So You Can Brandish My Name as Your Shield (1/2)
Song Yu stared blankly at the phone, knowing full well that Qi Chengzhi was acting weirdly.
At the beginning of their relationship, misunderstandings would sometimes occur when he responded similarly out of habit while with her on the phone. As their relationship progressed, those incidents began lessening gradually.
At present, however, Song Yu was certain that she heard a coldness in his voice.
She placed her cellphone down, knowing full well that he was angry but clueless as to the reason behind that anger.
Less than an hour later, Qi Chengzhi came home.
Song Yu stared at him in surprise as he entered the house. “Why are you back so early?”
She took his slippers and laid them beside his feet, watching as he changed his shoes.
His handsome face attracted her attention, and she could not stop her mind from recalling the things he wrote in his diary. Indifferent though he seemed, beneath his surface lay a man whose love was unimaginably vast.
A surge of warmth appeared in her heart when she looked at him. He stood up, giving her time to put away his shoes.
These things used to be Aunt Yang’s job, but ever since Song Yu was around, the latter was the one who did those tasks. She quite liked doing them in fact, since it made her feel like she was centering her life around him.
His face was stern and intimidating, and she still had no idea what made him angry.
Song Yu stood up and was about to leave, but he remained rooted to the ground.
She extended her hand out to him but was met with his frostiness. “I should be asking you the same thing. Why are you back so early?”
Song Yu dragged him into the bedroom and took out some home wear.
Qi Chengzhi’s lips were pursed tightly. He wore his clothes only after staring at her for some time.
“What’s really going on?” he came over and asked after changing into something more comfortable.
Song Yu remained silent. He was standing in front of her; she was sitting. Her line of sight focused directly on his abdomen, and the presence of a layer of clothes did not prevent her from imagining the strength that lay underneath his shirt.
She adored the chunks of muscle on his stomach. Whenever he entered her and became one with her, her hands took on a mind of their own—they went in search of the area where both their bodies connected. From his chest, she slid down to his abdomen and went through his black bush, stopping only when she found the place where they joined into one.
Song Yu wrapped her arms lovingly across his thighs, pressing her face onto his stomach. A slight pressure was all it took for her to bury her entire face into him, immersing herself in his delicious scent.
“Qi Chengzhi, how about we register our marriage now?” Song Yu then continued while her face was still pressed on his abdomen. “We don’t have to choose any special date like one-three-one-four, five-two-zero 1 or whatever. I don’t really mind it. I just want us to register as soon as possible. Is that okay?”
She feared that Jian Yi would do something to her if he found out that she continued her relationship with Qi Chengzhi.
Preventing unintended things from happening was best done by getting their marriage registered. Once that was done, those wanting to break them up would realize that it was too late to do so—the only option left was getting them to divorce each other.
By virtue of their marriage, it would make it doubly difficult for anyone to try and break them up.
Qi Chengzhi lowered his gaze and observed her nuzzling into his abdomen. Only the top of her head was visible to him, and it was a heartwarming sight.
He softened his glare and placed his palm on top of her head, gently caressing her hair.
However, the second his hands came into contact with her, she flinched. It was so minute that it could easily be overlooked, but it would never slip past his attention.
He frowned. “What’s going on?”
“What do you mean ‘what’s going on’? Don’t you want us to register our marriage earlier?” Song Yu wrapped herself more tightly around his thighs, as if that was the only thing that could provide her with solace.
Qi Chengzhi’s eyes sank. His hands continued to massage her hindbrain, albeit with increased intensity compared to before.
Oftentimes she would close her eyes contentedly, like a kitty whose lower jaw was being scratched.
On that occasion, however, the extra pressure produced shockwaves of pain, making her shudder severely. The pain nearly made her cry, and although she attempted to hold it in, her slight tearing-up still stained his clothes.
Qi Chengzhi’s hands were touching the exact spot that was subjected to Liang Lihua’s attack. The burning sensation was still present even without any form of contact, and she dreaded having to lay her head on the pillow when she slept later that night.
Feeling the sudden warmth, he knit his brows even more tensely. With a firm grip on her shoulders, he removed her from him and he tilted her head up slightly, forcing her to look up at him.
The tears in her eyes tugged on his heartstrings.
“What’s going on really?” his hoarse voice asked, penetrating deep into the abyss of Song Yu’s heart.
She grasped the back of his shirt and fired back a question. “You don’t want to marry me?”
A sigh from Qi Chengzhi. “Are you really going to do this right now?”
He sat beside her and carried her up onto his lap. His hands locked her waist in place.
“When I went to the company to look for you this afternoon, I saw Liang Lihua.” Qi Chengzhi answered rather curtly. “I don’t think she went to the café at your company building lobby just to get a cup of coffee.”
Song Yu kept quiet, finally realizing that the unhappiness she heard through the phone was because he was unhappy at her for keeping it from him.
“Are you planning not to tell me?” Qi Chengzhi whispered. His husky voice entered her ear and made her feel warm.
Fed up with the world, Song Yu buried her head into his neck, hugging him tightly. His embrace seemed to be the only place in the world where she could relieve herself of her stresses.
“I’ve had enough with them! Everyone’s coming to me, thinking that what they’re doing to me is right, trying to control and manipulate me. How could they be so unashamed of themselves?”
Qi Chengzhi tested the waters by touching her head again. Song Yu did not attempt to conceal her trembling because the pain was akin to having her entire head split open.
When Liang Lihua initially pulled on her head, the pain was intolerable, but not by much. As the day progressed, the pain came in waves, becoming more and more unbearable.
Qi Chengzhi parted her hair as fast as he could but making sure to be extremely careful when doing so. He saw red streaks on her scalp.
His expression and voice turned cold. “Did Liang Lihua do this?”
Song Yu wanted to hide it because she knew he would be worried, and he was.
Although there was no concealing it anymore, she was still a bit hesitant.
“Do you want me to check the CCTV footage from the café?” He stopped touching her hindbrain but instead hugged her tightly.
“I think she’s crazy,” Song Yu finally blurted out. It was rather traumatizing to recall Liang Lihua’s dementedness. “Yu Zixiu was the first to come to look for me this afternoon. He heard the news that we were going to get married, and he wanted to make amends with me so he could get to you.”
Song Yu told him everything that transpired earlier that afternoon, including the fact that Jian Yi helped her.
A good heart-to-heart talk would be pointless without honesty.
“So, were you in his car when I called you this afternoon?” Qi Chengzhi cocked a brow rather mockingly.
“I didn’t want you to get worried. If I told you the truth, you’d want to know every single detail from the very beginning.” Song Yu then continued weakly, “To be honest, I didn’t want to tell you about everything that happened in the afternoon. You already have enough to think about, and ever since we got together, you’ve always been the one who endured all the bad things, whether it was from the Qi family, the Song family, or someone else.”
Neither weariness nor annoyance was present in his expression. Song Yu looked up at him and noticed how he did not look irritated at all. His handsome face seemed to be reassuring her.
Song Yu gave him a peck on his lower jaw. His stubble was nearly unnoticeable because his jaw looked smooth to the naked eye. When kissed, however, she could feel how prickly and masculine it was.
“I don’t want you to be burdened by the useless Yu family. It’s not something you should be thinking about at all.” Song Yu loved the man dearly and hugged him even tighter. “If possible, I want to shoulder some burdens for you too, so you have one less thing to worry about. There’s plenty of things I can’t help you with, and most of the time all I can do is just stare at you while you do everything for me. I’m just worried that you’ll get tired of always fighting my battles. If there’s anything I can help with, I too, want to stand in front of you and let you feel the feeling of being protected.
“That’s why I didn’t tell you the truth this afternoon. Liang Lihua was pulling me so badly that I got really angry and my mind just went blank. I didn’t think much because Jian Yi just pulled me away. At that time, I really couldn’t think. It was like my soul just left my body. If you didn’t call me, I wouldn’t have realized that I was in Jian Yi’s car.” During the course of recounting the day’s events to him, she finally managed to relax under his warm gaze. She continued nestling in his embrace, feeling very much at peace.
She also released her tense grip on him, moving upward to the back of his neck, brushing gently against his neat short hair. They seemed to be resisting her touches.