Tan Mo’s tears were kissed away by the man’s scattered kisses at the corner of her eyes. She opened her eyes and met Xie Qichen’s gaze, feeling as though her heart and vision were filled only with him.
The kisses gradually moved from her eyebrows to the tip of her nose, and finally landed on her lips again, at which point Tan Mo willingly wrapped her arms around him.
Her lips were coaxed open, allowing a warm yet crisp breath to enter.
Xie Qichen held her close, his eyes fixed on the young girl in his arms. Sweat rolled down from his jawline, drop by drop landing on Tan Mo’s pale pink shoulders like jasmine blossoms touched by dew.
Gradually, Tan Mo lost track of time and place, vaguely remembering only that later, Xie Qichen whispered hoarsely in her ear again and again:
“Now do you understand how much I love you, huh?”
Tan Mo’s eyes sparkled with tears: “Mm… I know now…”
Eventually, the night deepened.
In the room, Tan Mo’s long lashes were adorned with tears as she lay in Xie Qichen’s arms, receiving the man’s extremely tender kisses.
After a while, the kisses slowly stopped. Xie Qichen opened his eyes, his affectionate gaze locked on the girl’s face, his breath uneven. He spoke in a hoarse voice:
“Do you like it?”
She was too shy to face him but still confessed the truth after being coaxed, “I like it…”
Xie Qichen curled his lips, satisfied, and exhaled deeply by her ear:
“Jas, you almost killed me just now.”
Who would have thought that one day such passionate words would come from the usually calm and aloof Xie Qichen.
Thinking back to what had just happened, Tan Mo’s heart still raced.
She had never dared to dream that one day she would be this close to the man she had secretly loved for so long during her youth.
Tan Mo leaned against his chest, exchanging sweet words and basking in each other’s warmth.
After a while, Xie Qichen kissed her lower lip and got up, “Wait a moment.”
“What…?”
He didn’t answer and walked out of the room. Tan Mo opened her hazy, tear-filled eyes and, after a few seconds, half-propped herself up.
The dark velvet blanket slid down from the girl’s smooth shoulders under the moonlight, casting a milky white glow, her long damp hair slightly sticking to her slender neck.
The girl blinked her lustrous eyes, so beautiful and pure. Looking further down, her bare body bore faint pink marks like sweet peaches that had just been peeled and bitten into.
Even seeing such a scene was enough to guess what the beauty had just experienced—
After all, she had been desired by Xie Qichen for days, and as soon as he returned to Licheng, she was taken.
Tan Mo pulled the blanket over her slender body, gathered it around her, and turned her gaze to find several opened and unopened small boxes scattered on the nightstand. The memories surged back, and her cheeks flushed again.
She couldn’t figure out when the man had arranged for everything to be so well-prepared. He had even deliberately teased her earlier, making her choose the type…
This guy was just too naughty…
After waiting a while, the bedroom door was pushed open, and Xie Qichen walked back in.
Tan Mo lifted her head, her gaze landing on him, “Where did you go…”
“I got something.”
He climbed onto the bed. Tan Mo, who had just experienced deep intimacy with him, felt an inexplicable shyness and tried to move aside slightly, but Xie Qichen pulled her into his arms, turning her back to him.
His firm chest pressed against her delicate, fair back as he wrapped his arms around her waist, his breath warm and low by her ear:
“Why are you running? Still shy?”
“Mm…”
Tan Mo murmured softly, her face reddening further.
The girl was completely held in his arms. Xie Qichen was tall. Though he looked slim, years of exercise had given him a well-defined, muscular physique.
Tan Mo wasn’t short, but with her slender limbs, she seemed like a small kitten in comparison.
This difference in size, especially during such intimate moments, made the atmosphere even more alluring.
Tan Mo’s back felt like it was pressed against a furnace, her heart racing, as she heard his low chuckle by her ear:
“Why are you so small? You can be lifted up so easily.”
“I was afraid I might break you apart.”
Tan Mo immediately felt shy and embarrassed, pushing him away, “Don’t say that anymore…”
Didn’t this guy know his own strength? Of course, she almost got broken apart.
He laughed, and Tan Mo mumbled as she asked:
“What did you go do just now?”
“I went to get something.”
Xie Qichen held her left hand, his head resting on her shoulder, his voice deep:
“I originally wanted to give it to you when I went to Anhui Mountain to find you a few days ago, but I thought it wasn’t urgent. It would be the same to give it to you when I came back.”
“Hmm?” She was puzzled.
“Haven’t you noticed yet? Don’t you feel like something’s missing on you?”
Tan Mo paused, not understanding, “What…”
Xie Qichen opened his palm, revealing a diamond ring, and smiled softly as he spoke:
“What’s missing is proof that I’ve claimed you.”
The familiar pink diamond sparkled with delicate pink light under the lamp, clear and brilliant, dazzling.
Tan Mo stared at the ring, stunned:
“This ring… I remember I left it at the villa when I moved out that day…”
She remembered that day she took off the ring and placed it on the table in the room, thinking at the time that she would probably never wear it again in her life. Who would have thought it would reappear before her eyes.
“Yeah, later I kept it. Today, it’s just returning to its rightful owner,” Xie Qichen said.
Tan Mo stared blankly, thinking about how he had secretly loved her for years. Suddenly, an idea popped into her mind: “You didn’t just buy this ring randomly back then, did you…”
Xie Qichen smiled, saying gently: “This ring was specially custom-made for me when I earned my first investment profit a few years ago.”
“Custom-made?”
He smiled, “Yes, specially customized for a girl named Tan Mo.”
Xie Qichen asked her to look at the ring’s shape again. After a few seconds of careful observation, Tan Mo suddenly realized and was surprised:
“This is… jasmine?”
“Yes, the name of this pink diamond was originally JasMine at that time.”
Jasmine meant jasmine flower.
Mine had another meaning—it meant “my girl.”
“This ring is designed based on the shape of a jasmine flower. At that time, the inner part of the ring was engraved with the initials of our two names.”
Tan Mo knew.
It was TM & XQC.
“And did you see the date engraved on the inside?”
Tan Mo always remembered it was 0920, puzzled: “Isn’t that my birthday?”
Xie Qichen took off his men’s wedding ring and showed it to her, “Add the four digits from my side, and it’s complete.”
Tan Mo had never seen his ring before. After taking it, she saw the numbers on the inside were: 2013.
2013.09.20.
It was the day Tan Mo turned sixteen—the day she first met Xie Qichen.
Tan Mo was instantly stunned, her eyes immediately welling up: “Xie Qichen, how can you remember everything…”
The man smiled, pulling her closer: “On that day, I met the most beloved treasure of my life. How could I forget?”
Tan Mo had thought that the day she first met him would only be etched in her memory, never knowing he had remembered it all along. She whispered tearfully, “So you made this ring back then. Weren’t you afraid it would be wasted if you ended up marrying someone else later…”
“Where would there be someone else?”
Xie Qichen’s dark eyes, filled with emotion, stared at her: “Either I marry you, or I don’t marry at all. There’s no second person.”
Tan Mo rubbed her sore nose: “Xie Qichen, how can you be so confident? Weren’t you afraid that when you came back to China, I might have already fallen for someone else? If you had told me you liked me earlier, we might have gotten together sooner…”
The man lowered his gaze and smiled slightly: “It’s precisely because I wasn’t confident that I wanted to appear better in front of you. But if you really had someone you liked, and I saw you were happy with him… I would still be happy for you.”
In the years after going abroad, Xie Qichen felt his feelings for her growing stronger. No matter how good others were, they couldn’t change his affection for Tan Mo.
If, upon returning this time, he found that there was already someone new by her side, he would no longer approach her through an arranged marriage. Since he couldn’t be with her, he would quietly stay by her side, as long as someone could truly cherish and love her.
“But now—”
Xie Qichen picked up the ring, slowly sliding it onto Tan Mo’s left ring finger, locking eyes with her. His voice carried a dominant and assertive tone as he declared:
“Mrs. Xie, I’ve put the ring on your finger. I won’t let you take it off for the rest of your life.”
Since they loved each other, he would never let go of her hand for the rest of his life.
Tan Mo’s eyes sparkled with tears. She took his wedding ring and helped him put it on, then turned around and hugged him: “I love you.”
Then Tan Mo’s chin was lifted, her red lips met with a passionate kiss. A few seconds later, Xie Qichen leaned over, laying her down.
His breath grew heavier as it descended.
After a while, the kiss barely stopped. Tan Mo looked up at the dark eyes hovering above her, her brows gently lifting, her red lips quivering:
“Xie Qichen…”
“Hmm.”
She looked at him, her voice soft: “Happy newlywed days.”
Xie Qichen was slightly taken aback. Tan Mo curved her lips, her eyes shining like stars, sweetly shy:
“Unlike that night on the yacht, tonight we’ve officially exchanged rings. Isn’t that like a real wedding night?”
The man’s lips curled into a smile as he stared at her, asking softly:
“So, what should we do on this wedding night?”
Tan Mo hesitated, her expression shyly scolding: “Didn’t we already do it just now…”
Xie Qichen’s smile deepened, his voice low and enticing:
“In ancient times, on the wedding night, the red candles had to stay lit until dawn.”
Though not literal, Tan Mo understood the meaning behind his words. Her heart raced with a mix of shyness and anticipation. Then her ear was bitten:
“You tortured me for the past few nights on purpose. Tonight, I said I’d get back at you properly—not wasting this precious wedding night worth a thousand pieces of gold.”
Tan Mo’s cheeks flushed, her red lips suddenly captured.
A few seconds later, she wrapped her arms around his neck. The blanket was pulled over both of them by Xie Qichen.
“Mm…”
The sound was muffled, becoming soft and low.
In the room, only the flickering shadows on the walls remained, the night outside dark with trees swaying gently in the breeze, slowly writing the sweet night.
–
The next day.
In the early morning, the sun rose, gradually casting gentle light into the master bedroom on the second floor of the villa, dust particles floating in the air.
In the center of the large bed in the room’s light, Tan Mo was peacefully sleeping, gently embraced by the man, her head resting on his chest.
At this moment, the man beside her naturally woke up following his biological clock. Seeing the girl was still asleep, he quietly stayed with her.
His fingers gently twirled the ends of her hair as he gazed at her peaceful sleeping face, his eyes filled with tenderness and warmth, a sense of fulfillment rising from his heart.
Tan Mo was sleeping soundly.
After a while, the phone on the bedside table vibrated. The man glanced sideways and saw it was Xie Wenzong.
He gently loosened his embrace around the girl, pulled back the blanket, picked up the robe from the floor, and walked to the large window in the distance to answer the call:
“Hello, Dad.”
At the other end, Xie Wenzong, seated in a wheelchair as someone pushed him around the garden, asked in a composed tone: “Are you with Momo now?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Nothing much. Last night I received a call from Momo’s parents. They said you two aren’t planning to cancel the arranged marriage. I didn’t expect you, this brat, to have liked that little girl for so many years and even kept it from me.”
There was a teasing undertone in Xie Wenzong’s serious tone, as he had always known Xie Qichen’s personality to be rather cold and aloof, assuming he was focused solely on his career and hadn’t taken love seriously.
Hearing this, Xie Qichen smiled helplessly, “Dad, I didn’t say anything at first because I didn’t want to scare Momo.”
“Hmph, scared? You’re just a coward. Hiding your feelings when pursuing a girl, not being straightforward at all.”
“…”
Xie Qichen pressed his temples slightly, lifting the corners of his mouth, “You’re right.”
“But Momo is indeed a good kid—obedient, considerate, and lovable. You two should get along well, and you must never bully her.”
Xie Qichen smiled, “I know. Of course, I would never hurt her.”
Xie Wenzong chuckled. Xie Qichen then steered the topic toward him: “Don’t keep asking about me. How’s your health?”
Xie Wenzong sighed, “So-so. I guess I don’t have much time left. I feel weaker these days.”
Xie Qichen chuckled, “Why talk about not having much time left? Say less of that to me. Take your medicine on time every day and take good care of your body. You still have a long life ahead.”
Xie Wenzong sighed, “Yeah, I still hope to hold my grandchild. I’m looking forward to you and Momo having one for me to take care of.”
Xie Qichen raised his eyebrows, “Then you must take good care of yourself so you’ll have the energy later.”
The father and son chatted for a while. Finally, the family doctor came to call Xie Wenzong for his medicine, and the call ended.
Xie Qichen was about to return when his phone lit up again.
It was an unknown number.
He swiped the screen, and an angry female voice came through, filled with shock and rage: “Xie Qichen! How dare you do this to me!!”
Upon hearing Tan Zhiwan’s voice, the man showed no surprise in his eyes, calmly countering: “Ms. Tan, anything I can do for you?”
“Don’t pretend! Don’t think I don’t know what you’ve done!”
On the other end, in the bedroom of Tan’s villa, Tan Zhiwan, who had just received the news, was furious:
“I spent half a year, and the cooperation with Linke Group was about to be finalized. Did you interfere and cause our cooperation to fall through? And you even intercepted my cooperation with MRS!”
Over the years, Tan Zhiwan had also engaged in investments personally, managing a portion of assets under her name, which she valued highly. Recently, she had been negotiating business deals with several groups under her own name. If successful, she would earn profits of over a hundred million annually.
The cooperation had nearly reached a conclusion, almost finalized. She was happily anticipating her fortune when, from the end of last night’s banquet until now, she received calls from both groups informing her that they had found a better partner. The condition was simply to no longer cooperate with Tan Zhiwan.
In just one night, her dream of prosperity vanished completely.
After inquiring, Tan Zhiwan learned that the one who had interfered was actually Xie Qichen.
She immediately understood why the man had treated her this way, her anger rising like an exploding gas tank. Enraged, she made the call, her hand trembling as she held the phone.
Upon hearing this, the man smiled faintly:
“Ms. Tan, you should remember what I told you on New Year’s Eve.”
Tan Zhiwan was stunned, and she heard him speak slowly and composedly:
“I told you, if you dared to bully Tan Mo behind her back again, don’t be surprised if I take action myself. Have you already forgotten what you’ve done recently? Did you think I was just joking with you before?”
Upon hearing this, Tan Zhiwan was so frightened her eyes turned red: “Xie Qichen, you madman! You dare to treat me like this for Tan Mo! What is Tan Mo, and what are you? Don’t you fear telling my parents about this!!!”
“You can go ahead and tell them. It’ll also let your parents see what you’ve been up to lately.”
Xie Qichen curled his lips, “What do you think your father’s reaction will be after knowing?”
Tan Zhiwan was so angry she started cursing, swept everything off the table in front of her, and screamed in rage, bursting into tears.
A faint smile flickered in Xie Qichen’s eyes, his expression unchanged as he hung up the phone.
He turned around and saw the girl in bed blinking her water-filled eyes at him in confusion, “Xie Qichen…”
“Sorry, did I wake you up?”
Tan Mo rubbed her sleepy eyes, murmuring softly. Xie Qichen walked over, put down the phone, and lay back down, pulling her into his arms. Tan Mo looked at him in confusion:
“Who were you on the phone with just now… Was it Tan Zhiwan?”
“Yeah.”
She was stunned: “Why would she suddenly contact you? Is it something to do with me…”
Xie Qichen gently stroked her long hair and told her what he had done: “She thought we were going to divorce. I had already made it clear before—if she caused you any trouble again, I wouldn’t let it slide.”
Upon hearing this, Tan Mo felt a surge of emotion.
From the very beginning, Xie Qichen had always been like this, constantly protecting her.
But thinking of something, Tan Mo looked troubled, “What about my parents…?”
Xie Qichen noticed her concern and gently reassured her, “Don’t worry. After all, she’s your nominal older sister. I know my limits.”
He wouldn’t make Tan Zhiwan suffer unbearably, but he would definitely make her lose something so she would truly feel fear.
Tan Mo nodded. Xie Qichen pulled her into his arms and leaned closer to look at her:
“Let’s not talk about others. Did you sleep well last night?”
After such a sweet night, there was no other thought to disturb their mood. Tan Mo’s mind was filled with the beautiful moments of the previous night, her heart light and floating, shyly murmuring:
“Pretty well. How about you…”
The man’s gaze was intense, hiding a faint smile. Tan Mo, under his meaningful look, shyly lowered her eyes, which only provoked his low laughter:
“I was especially happy waking up this morning.”
Her palm pressed against his chest, she playfully scolded him, “Someone was so satisfied last night, of course you’re happy…”
He whispered hoarsely in her ear:
“Who said I was satisfied?”
“If it weren’t for you not being able to take it, do you think I would have let you go so quickly the second time?”
Tan Mo was stunned. She heard his helpless, laughing words:
“Sweetheart, after all, I’m thirty now before I’ve even touched a woman. You have to be considerate.”
Tan Mo’s face flushed red. Hearing him mention his age, she bit her lip slightly, her finger tracing circles on his chest:
“Xie Qichen, now that you’ve said that, I feel like I’m at a disadvantage.”
“Hmm?”
She looked wronged: “Look at you, you’re already thirty, but I haven’t even graduated from university yet. Girls my age usually go for younger guys. I ended up with an old man. I’m definitely at a loss here…”
Xie Qichen, who was most sensitive about being called old, had a dark look on his face. He leaned over, and before she could finish speaking, his kiss abruptly silenced her.
Tan Mo let out a soft moan. After a while, the man stopped, his dark eyes fixed on her:
“Think I’m too old for you, huh?”
“Mm…”
Tan Mo’s face flushed, and she saw Xie Qichen half-sitting up, pulling her body down slightly, then grabbing the tie beside him, clamping her delicate wrist, binding them together and firmly tying them, then lifting them above her head and pressing them down.
Tan Mo was restrained, unable to move, her face turning red as she stared blankly ahead: “Xie Qichen…”
Her face flushed red as she saw the man pick up the phone beside him, set the timer, leaned in, and his thin lips approached her ear, his voice husky:
“Let’s time it and see how long you can last in front of this old man.”
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