Chapter 13 The Talisman’s Secret
Who would have thought that the notorious playboy was just as much a rookie as I was.
We started at the same point—clumsy, fumbling, all nerves and no finesse.
But we were both quick learners.
After only a few tries, we found our rhythm.
We moved together effortlessly, even inventing new ways as we went.
Shen Zhiye, having tasted the sweetness for the first time, turned into an inexhaustible machine.
He kept me tangled with him from the golden afternoon light all the way to a sky full of stars.
Insatiable.
I was left limp and sore, barely able to open my eyes.
The moment Shen Zhiye saw I was awake, his eyes lit up, and he came for me again without mercy.
“There’s something even more fun…”
I had no strength left to resist. I let him scoop me up and set me on the strange desk in the study.
He kissed me, then pointed at the desk with a proud grin.
“I designed this myself. The height is perfect for us, and the top is covered in soft deerskin.”
Then he pointed above my head.
“And plush padding so you don’t bump yourself.”
“Do you like it?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but my arm accidentally knocked over a stack of books beside me.
An old talisman slid down with them and landed right in my palm.
Shen Zhiye and I both stared at it at the same time.
“It looks so familiar…”
“Don’t…”
But before he could finish, I had already picked it up and was examining it closely.
Shen Zhiye watched my face intently, as if afraid to miss a single flicker of expression.
I stared at the talisman, and fragmented memories flashed through my mind.
A solemn mourning hall. A smaller version of Shen Zhiye curled up in the corner, crying quietly.
“Gu Jiao, I don’t have a mom anymore…”
The little girl looked worried, then seemed to make up her mind. She patted his shoulder generously.
“Don’t cry, Shen Zhiye. From now on, my mom will be your mom too. I’ll give you the talisman she made herself—it’ll protect both of us.”
The girl hung the talisman around the boy’s neck. He stared at it thoughtfully.
“My dad says that whoever I marry, her mom will become my mom.”
“So you can only marry me.”
The girl giggled and nodded hard.
“Okay! But then you can’t marry anyone else!”
The small face in my memory slowly overlapped with the sharp, mature one in front of me.
I couldn’t help crying out.
“You—you’re that crybaby from back then?”
Shen Zhiye ruffled my hair in mock annoyance.
“You heartless woman. You finally remember me!”
So he had loved me deeply all this time.
My heart felt sweet as honey, but my mouth refused to admit it.
“You said you’d only marry me—yet you still agreed to the marriage arrangement with the Gu family?”
His smile faded. A near-obsessive intensity filled his serious eyes.
“Because I was always going to find you.”
Then, as if remembering something, his expression turned scornful.
“The Gu parents have terrible taste. Over the years they brought back countless girls, and I could tell at a glance none of them were you—yet they kept a cheap imitation and let her occupy your place, treating her like a treasure all these years.”
“So you recognized me right away?”
He looked at me and smirked proudly.
“Of course!”
“Tell me how.”
I kept pressing like a curious child.
But Shen Zhiye impatiently sealed my lips with his again, mumbling against them.
“Wife, is this really the time to talk about that?”