Page 55

Quan Shaoqing’s car drove back to Jinxiu Garden, with Gu Xiaoxi remaining silent throughout the journey.

It was not until she was sitting on the sofa in the living room, with Quan Shaoqing disinfecting the wound on her face with a cotton swab, that Gu Xiaoxi reacted and suddenly jumped up.

“Ouch!”

“You know it hurts!

You never use your brain.

If you dare to run off again next time, I’ll let him take you away.” Quan Shaoqing, seeing her body all scraped up, was inexplicably infuriated.

Gu Xiaoxi’s already frustrated heart was viciously stabbed by him once more.

She snatched the disinfecting cotton swab from his hand, her eyes red with anger, and snapped, “Do you find me troublesome too?

You don’t plan on keeping me either?”

Indeed, she was very angry.

Her father didn’t want her, her mother was dead, and the person she thought closest to her had hurt her mercilessly.

And now, Quan Shaoqing had barged into her world, turned her life upside down, and he too seemed to not want to keep her.

Yes, she was very angry, very sad, and very frustrated!

Quan Shaoqing saw the stubborn defiance in her eyes.

She looked like she was about to cry but was holding it back with all her might, her tears welling up in her eyes, breaking his heart to see it.

He had seen the arrogant and confident Gu Xiaoxi, the cold and cunning Gu Xiaoxi, and even the mischievous Gu Xiaoxi.

But he had never seen her cry.

A single reproachful remark from him was all it took to wound her heart.

“That’s not what I meant,” Quan Shaoqing advanced toward her, extending his broad palm, cupping her head into his sturdy chest, and gave it a vigorous rub.

“I didn’t say I didn’t want you.”

Gu Xiaoxi at once began to sob, her shoulders shaking as she smeared her tears and snot all over his chest.

It took her a good while to calm her emotions.

Her hands clung to Quan Shaoqing’s shirt, not daring to lift her head.

She knew she must look terrible at the moment.

This was the first time, apart from her mother’s death, that she had cried so bitterly.

“I don’t care.

You can’t shake me off now,” Gu Xiaoxi said firmly, gritting her teeth.

“Now, hurry up and treat the wound!” Quan Shaoqing touched her delicate cheek with his hand, speaking affectionately.

He smiled, this was how a child should be, crying when they needed to, so adorable.

In the middle of the night, Quan Shaoqing could not find Gu Xiaoxi anywhere upstairs or downstairs.

Even the house servants didn’t know where she had gone.

Scared out of his wits, Quan Shaoqing thought she had run away from home.

Frantically, he had his people go out in search, only for a servant to accidentally find her in the wine cellar of the basement.

The temperature in the wine cellar was 22 degrees, much colder than outside.

Quan Shaoqing hurriedly rushed in, only to see Gu Xiaoxi hugging a bottle of red wine, asleep on the sofa in the cellar reception area.

He approached and sighed.

It appeared that tonight, Lu Xi had truly hurt her.

Quan Shaoqing went over, gently took the wine bottle from her arms, and lifted her from the sofa.

However, he had not expected Gu Xiaoxi to be so light; holding her in his arms, she hardly weighed anything.

At that moment, Gu Xiaoxi, in cute cartoon pajamas with short hair reaching her ears, exposed her lustrous earlobes.

Her pretty cheeks were flushed with a charming red from drunkenness.

In the basement, the gentle light spilled over her, making her whole being look as lazy as a cat.

Because she had bathed, her body smelled sweet, mixed with a hint of alcohol, and she looked devoid of her girlish immaturity, appearing particularly bewitching.

Quan Shaoqing’s breath grew heavy as he looked at her neck, laid bare as she tilted her head back.

Her skin, like fine porcelain, was silkier than milk.

For a moment, he found himself unable to look away.

Gu Xiaoxi, as if sensing someone holding her, instinctively opened her eyes a sliver; her brow furrowed.

In a daze with her head feeling heavy, she only saw a pair of dark phoenix eyes, within which seemed to flicker flames.

Those sexy thin lips were pursed, emitting a tender red.

Gu Xiaoxi just thought him incredibly handsome and swallowed her saliva before launching herself at him with effort.

Quan Shaoqing hadn’t realized she had woken up.

Caught off guard, he was pushed back by her counterattack and fell onto the sofa, tumbling into a heap with her.

Gu Xiaoxi’s reaction was even more exaggerated; she rolled from the sofa onto the carpet, eyebrows tightly furrowed and grimacing in pain.

Right then, her head was too foggy.

Even if she tried hard to open her eyes, she could only manage a tiny sliver of a view, and her body refused to obey her commands, feeling light and floaty.

Quan Shaoqing’s panic pressed down on an odd sensation that flashed in the depths of his heart, as he looked at Gu Xiaoxi lying on the carpet and then at the empty wine bottles on the table.

She had actually drunk two large bottles of red wine.

His face darkened—no wonder she was drunk.

Thus, with a complicated heart, he bent down to pick her up again.

But unexpectedly, Gu Xiaoxi, who was trying to turn over, caught him off guard and pushed him down onto the carpet.

Her small frame toppled over him, and Gu Xiaoxi squinted her drunken eyes, glaring at Quan Shaoqing.

The man’s handsome features were exquisite and still exuded a sense of grandeur.

Beneath his thick eyebrows, his eyes were like cold, deep pools, mysterious and profound.

Below his prominent nose lay thin lips, which, whether pursed or curving into a smile, exuded a lethal allure.

Gu Xiaoxi smiled slightly, swallowing saliva, feeling an overpowering attraction, for her drunken state made her speech slurred, “Handsome guy, wanna hook up?”

Pff!

Quan Shaoqing’s whole body stiffened.

Who could tell him.

Wanna hook up?

What did she take him for!

“Gu Xiaoxi!”

A deafening voice echoed in the basement.

Quan Shaoqing was about to lose his temper when, the next second, Gu Xiaoxi lunged at him.

Her soft lips landed unexpectedly on his face.

He tensed as if electrocuted, his muscles tight, struggling to make even the slightest movement.

Her eyes were intoxicated as she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her head in his neck and shoulder.

Her breath brushed over him, tickling and tantalizing.

Quan Shaoqing’s mind boomed, as if it were about to explode.

His back was rigid, his throat tight, his mind blank.

In an instant, something seemed to breach his inner defenses, overwhelming all his senses.

He didn’t even have time to think about what he was doing as he gripped her head with one hand and fiercely deepened the kiss.

The dazed Gu Xiaoxi could only feel her breathing cut off as her lips were forcefully claimed.

With lips and teeth colliding, she couldn’t help but cry out in pain.

This undoubtedly shattered the man’s last shred of rationality.

In the dimly lit basement.

A deep kiss made their breathing grow heavy.

“Snap!”

Just then, the sound of a wine bottle hitting the ground rang out sharply, bursting like thunder and startling them.

The sound jolted Quan Shaoqing back to his senses as if he had been struck by lightning.

He hastily pushed Gu Xiaoxi away and got up from the carpet.

There, in front of him on the carpet, lay Gu Xiaoxi, eyes tightly shut, her long lashes fluttering like feathers.

Her cheeks were flushed red, and she was breathing lightly, still completely drunk.

Suddenly, his heart felt as if it had been struck by a hammer, heavy and uncomfortable, and at the same time, a sense of guilt spread at the bottom of his heart.