Chapter 6 Restless Night
After he heard my breathing settle into a steady rhythm, Shen Zhiye slowly propped himself up.
Warm amber lamplight spilled across his sharp brows and deep-set eyes, laying soft shadows over his features. He stared at my sleeping face, something unspeakable surging and sinking in his gaze.
His fingertips brushed my lips—careful, as if he were touching a dream that might shatter.
His voice was so low it was almost inaudible.
“Still… haven’t recognized me?”
A quiet chuckle escaped him. His thumb lingered, stroking my lip with a helpless kind of tenderness.
“It’s fine,” he murmured. “I have a lifetime to wait for you to remember.”
Unaware of it all, I turned over in my sleep. My collar slipped, exposing a stretch of pale skin.
Shen Zhiye’s throat bobbed once.
His fingers tightened into a fist. Veins stood out on the back of his hand, as if he were forcing himself to hold back something fierce.
But in the end, he still bent down.
And pressed the lightest kiss to my lips.
The moment our lips met, his touch was gentle—almost reverent—like he was afraid to disturb the sweetness of this illusion. And yet that kiss carried years of suppressed longing and hunger, the kind that could burn a man from the inside out.
It lasted only a heartbeat.
Then he tore himself away—nearly stumbling—before turning and rushing into the bathroom.
—
On the other side, Gu Qingqing cried until her eyes were swollen red, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep no matter what she tried.
She couldn’t understand it.
Shen Zhiye, the infamous playboy heir—everyone said he was spoiled, reckless, good-for-nothing.
He’d never taken anything seriously. He’d even enraged Father Shen to the point where the old man had nearly severed ties with him.
But after Shen Zhiye married Gu Jiao, it was like everything changed.
He became someone else entirely.
A man whose world narrowed to just one person—his wife. The kind of husband who couldn’t stand to see her wronged in the slightest.
Even Father Shen, who had always been cold and hard to please, had warmed by association. He’d handed Gu Jiao a black card—no spending limit, and a symbol of the highest authority within Shen Group.
Gu Qingqing’s chest tightened.
Those things… should have been hers.
She conveniently forgot that it was she who had once despised Shen Zhiye for being useless—forgot how she’d cried and begged her parents to let Gu Jiao take her place in the marriage.
Now, all she remembered was this:
Ever since Gu Jiao returned, she was no longer the Gu Qingqing everyone chased after, praised, and placed on a pedestal.
After thinking it over again and again, she finally got up, wiped her tears, and knocked on her parents’ door.
“Dad,” she asked softly, voice gentle—yet every word pierced like a needle. “Do you know what the card Father Shen gave my sister actually means?”
Her mother and father looked up.
Gu Qingqing lowered her lashes and continued, sounding almost worried.
“That card is basically… half of Shen Group’s decision-making power. But Sister grew up in the countryside—she probably can’t even read a financial statement. She’ll only embarrass our family…”
Her father’s brow furrowed deeper and deeper. Of course he understood what she was implying.
“Our family may have been close to the Shens once,” he said slowly, “but we haven’t kept in contact the way we used to. If we change the marriage arrangement now, I’m afraid…”
The hesitation in his tone was the opening Gu Qingqing had been waiting for.
She immediately promised, eyes still wet, voice earnest.
“Dad, don’t worry. I won’t damage the relationship between the two families. I’ll start with Xiao Ye-gege. I just… need you to help me a little.”
Gu Father stared at her for a long moment.
Then he nodded.
He decided to gamble.
After all… how could a girl raised in the countryside possibly compare to a proper young lady who’d been given the best education and resources money could buy?