Chapter 16: Have You Ever Kissed the Little Moon at Your Waist?

Meng Zhe stared at the cracked corner of her lips, asking repeatedly until Qiao Xu grew tired of his questions and he finally left. Before leaving, he even encountered a delivery person bringing fever-reducing medicine.

Qiao Xu curled up on the sofa, her nails digging desperately into the back of her hand. She didn’t want to cry, but she couldn’t hold back. In the end, they had reached a point where they stabbed each other in the back.

Her pale lips were bitten until they bled, and she groaned in pain. In the past, Cherry would have been there to accompany her at times like this. Now, she was all alone.

Her hand gripped her own neck as she struggled to breathe, whispering softly, “A Si... it hurts so much.”

“Qiao Qiao, it hurts.”

But she could no longer hear her A Si soothing her. Her physical deterioration seemed to be worsening.

[Moonlit Villa]

After Xu Si’an returned home, he opened a bottle of wine without even taking a glass and poured it straight into his mouth. His phone rang; he answered and then tossed it onto the bar counter.

His mother’s angry voice came through: “Xu Si’an, you’re with that woman again? She actually dared to hit Weiwei!”

“What I do and who I’m with is none of your business. You said four years ago that if I didn’t listen to you, you’d disown me as your son. Now you’re trying to interfere again?”

Xu Si’an’s voice was cold, as if the person on the other end wasn’t his mother.

Indeed, Shen Zhiwei had been arranged as his fiancée four years ago, but he never married her.

His mother threatened him that if he didn’t marry Shen Zhiwei, he would have no share in the company’s inheritance. Whoever married Shen Zhiwei would inherit the company.

Xu Shiran liked Shen Zhiwei, but Shen Zhiwei liked Xu Si’an. The Shen family needed financing from the Xu family, so Shen Zhiwei had no choice but to marry Xu Shiran.

“I am your mother,” she insisted.

Xu Si’an sneered bitterly, “There’s no mother in this world who would force her son to die.”

“From the moment you used Qiao Xu to threaten me, you should have known that our relationship is only superficial—a mere formality.”

“Tell Shen Zhiwei, the matter with Cherry and Qiao Xu is far from over.”

After hanging up, Xu Si’an tilted his head back and drank half the bottle in one gulp. His hand pressed on the bar counter as tears slipped from his bloodshot eyes onto the surface.

“Qiao Qiao, how can you bear to let me lose?”

He knew his mother and Shen Zhiwei had approached Qiao Xu. He was pleased she hadn’t broken up with him after their meeting.

Yet after four years, he still couldn’t understand why she had told him to break up, why she had to leave him.

—

What began as a slight fever worsened after Qiao Xu spent a night curled up on the sofa. The next day, the fever climbed higher and refused to subside.

She took medicine and rested at home for a day, but there was no improvement. So on Monday, she submitted a sick leave request.

—

She used the company’s internal leave system to apply for sick leave, and the request was automatically forwarded to Xu Si’an.

Just as Xu Si’an arrived at the office, he received the notification. After canceling the morning meeting with a brief instruction, he turned and left the company.

Back at the apartment, Qiao Xu had just finished showering and was about to go to the hospital for an IV drip.

While drying her hair, she heard a knock at the door.

“Qiao Xu, open up.”

Approaching the door, she heard the keypad beep: “Incorrect password.”

“Incorrect password.”

“Incorrect password.”

Qiao Xu opened the door from inside. “Xu Si’an, are you crazy?”

He was so bored he canceled his meeting just to try breaking her door password. Foolish to the extreme, he failed three times.

Xu Si’an saw her hair still dripping and, after entering, picked her up and carried her to the bedroom.

He sat her down on the bed and found a hairdryer in the bathroom cabinet to dry her hair.

Her habits hadn’t changed.

Neither spoke a word. Once her hair was dry, Xu Si’an took off his suit jacket and wrapped it around her, then scooped her up and headed out.

“I haven’t put on shoes yet.”

Supporting her hips with one hand, he bent down, opened the shoe cabinet, and took out a pair of flats.

“Xu Si’an, put me down—ah…”

A sudden kiss made Qiao Xu feel a tightness in her chest, causing her to cough.

He closed the door behind them and pressed the elevator button.

When the elevator reached the underground parking lot, he opened the passenger door, set her down on the seat, crouched to help her put on her shoes, and buckled her seatbelt.

Xu Si’an’s silence made Qiao Xu uneasy.

“Where are you taking me?”

He started the car and finally spoke. “Is this how your boyfriend takes care of you?”

“Doesn’t he know it takes days for your fever to break?”

Qiao Xu pressed her lips tightly, refusing to answer.

The corners of her lips, bitten by him a few days ago, were still a little red.

“Did your boyfriend ask about your lips?”

Qiao Xu turned her face away, ignoring him, refusing to respond.

She knew the way; she knew he was taking her to the hospital.

Upon arrival, Qiao Xu refused to be carried, and Xu Si’an did not force her. He only insisted she keep the suit jacket on.

After seeing the doctor, she was prescribed medicine and an IV drip.

When the needle was inserted, Xu Si’an noticed scratch marks on the pale skin of her hand.

“What happened?”

Qiao Xu remained silent. Xu Si’an pinched her cheek. “Speak, or do you want me to kiss you?”

She pushed his hand away. “Xu Si’an, stop being pathetic. I have a boyfriend.”

“Do you think I care?”

His fingers gently stroked the back of her hand. Like old times, he circled her neck and pulled her into his embrace.

Xu Si’an lowered his head and kissed her ear.

“Have you slept with him?”

Qiao Xu was momentarily stunned. “What did you say?”

“Hiss~”

He softly bit her ear. “I’m asking if you two have done it.”

“How many times?”

Qiao Xu pushed him away with her other hand. “What’s it to you? We’re broken up.”

“Mr. Xu, please mind your manners.”

Xu Si’an’s grip on her neck tightened. “Has he kissed the little moon on your waist like I did?”

“Qiao Xu, answer me.”

“You know what I’m capable of when I go crazy.”

Of course, she knew. During college, when other male classmates gave her love letters, dragged her onto the apartment balcony...

At class reunions, when everyone rented a villa for BBQ and karaoke, she sang a duet with someone else, only to be dragged upstairs by him, crying and singing all night in the room.

Qiao Xu clenched her teeth and glared at him. “No.”

“No what?”

“No kissing you, and definitely no sleeping with you.”

She tore his arm from her throat. “No kissing.”

Xu Si’an loosened his hold, lifted her onto his lap, and covered her with his suit jacket.

His hand reached behind her back, feeling the metallic clasp.

He chuckled softly and said gently, “I’ll give you one more chance.”

Qiao Xu coughed fiercely, her heated palm pressing lightly against her skin.

His broad suit covered her completely, her back pressed against his chest.

To onlookers, it was just a girlfriend sitting in her boyfriend’s arms; nothing else was visible.

The clasp was already in his grasp. Qiao Xu snapped angrily, “Nothing happened, alright?”

“What about kissing?”

Qiao Xu almost lost her breath from anger. “A dog has kissed me.”

“Let go.”

A soft laugh escaped the man’s throat. With an “oh” of realization, the next second Qiao Xu felt her chest loosen.