After a long while, Lu Chengzhou put down the cup of water, pulled her up from the chair and into his embrace, and pressed his chin over her head. She let him hug her, enjoying the faint tobacco and shower gel scent on him.
He was behaving rather weirdly today. Usually, they spent their time silently doing their own things and would occasionally exchange a word or two, but he seemed even quieter today. In the morning, he even refused to let her leave the bed and kept kissing and licking her.
And now…
“I’m sorry.”
His baritone voice rang in her ear, which made her frown in confusion. “Hm?”
Why the sudden apology?
His arms tightened slightly around her as he placed a kiss on her crown. “I have this sudden feeling that I’m a beast.”
A chortle escaped from the back of her lips. “Well, you did do a lot of inhumane things.”
Lu Chengzhou said nothing.
Gu Mang circled her arms around his strong but thin waist and asked in a wickedly teasing manner, “So which one are you referring to, Young Master Lu?”
His lips were pursed when he released her a couple of seconds later to peer into her dark, shiny eyes. “Why don’t you beat me up again? You can do it however you like.”
There it was. She finally knew the reason for his abnormality. The college’s military training had reminded him of the incident at Red Flame.
Lifting her eyelashes nonchalantly, she asked, “Are you feeling bad for me?”
He kneaded her nape, then pulled her into his arms once more. He wrapped his arms around her really tightly this time. “Yeah.”
“I’ll tell you something.”
“Go on.”
“Before I found out about your identity, I really wanted to kill the person behind Red Flame.”
Hearing that, Lu Chengzhou’s fingers twitched a little.
“You’re quite capable. That was the only time I slipped up,” Gu Mang told him with a laugh before following up with a question. “Do you feel accomplished?”
His voice sounded hoarse as he said, “No.”
Not knowing what to say in response, she cocked an eyebrow and kept mum for a moment before she finally broke the silence and said somewhat impatiently, “Stop being so wishy-washy. I meant it when I said let bygones be bygones, understand?”
He did not know what to feel after hearing her tone, but he eventually could not resist breaking into laughter. Humming in agreement, he lowered his head and buried it in the crook of her neck. “Bite me. Hard—sskkk—”
He drew in a sharp breath and his spine tensed up from the sudden painful sensation at his neck. He glanced sideways at her beautiful ear and stared at it until he relaxed.
Gu Mang, standing slightly on tiptoes, had her hands on his shoulders as she bit into his neck. It was only when his flesh started oozing blood did she release him and look up at him with teeth stained with bright, red blood.
“Do you feel better now?” She licked her lips, then smirked seductively at the man.
His gaze lingered on her for a moment before he suddenly lifted her chin and kissed her lips fiercely and roughly.
…
By the time Gu Mang finished showering, it was already half-past ten.
Lu Chengzhou was sitting in bed with a cigarette between his long, slender fingers while he used his phone with his other hand. Upon hearing some sound, he whipped his head toward Gu Mang and reached out a hand in her direction.
While drying her hair with a towel, Gu Mang walked over to him and sat down at the edge of the bed. He immediately sat up straight and handed her the glass of milk that was placed on the bedside table. “Drink some.”
She took the glass from him and sipped it while he took the towel from her and pressed it lightly on her head to help dry her hair. Licking the corners of her mouth, she picked up her phone, shifted closer toward him, and proceeded to check her unread WeChat messages.
Things were very lively in one of the WeChat groups.
[Lu Yang: I heard that Capital University’s military training is really tough and strict.]
[Shen Huan: Same. I heard that you have to pitch tents in the wild at the special operations training camp. That’s so cool!]
[Chu Yao: So they will be in contact with guns?]
[Fatty: Of course! My elder cousin, who’s an alumnus of Capital University, told me that the training is really grueling! There are activities like marching, shooting, and countersurveillance. In any case, you should know that Capital University is the top college in our country, so you’ll experience the top treatment even in their military training.]
[Chu Yao: It’s so hardcore?]
[Lu Yang: @QinYaozhi, will you be attending the military training?]
Qin Yaozhi was the sort of person who could spend all day in bed playing mobile games to the point where people around her would get worried that she would die doing so. She was blessed with a constitution that would not get fat easily, but as a homebody, she would rather die than undergo military training. Thus, Lu Yang thought she would do everything she could to get her family to apply for a leave of absence from school so that she could skip training.
[Qin Yaozhi: Yaozhi will work hard to become strong and be the most outstanding student during the military training!]
[Lu Yang: Are you high?]
[Qin Yaozhi: Piss off!]
Gu Mang read each and every one of their messages while her boyfriend dried her hair to a semi-dry state before tossing the towel aside and getting out of bed to get the hairdryer. After she finished reading the messages in the group chat, she left the chat, only to receive a private message from Qin Yaozhi.
[Qin Yaozhi: Sister Mang, are you aware that Capital University’s military training will be held at Red Scorpion’s reserve base?]