Chapter 412: Her Face and Peach Blossom Reflected Each Other’s Glow. So You Saw Them Too!

Ruan Danchen could already imagine the little one’s bitter reaction. Her face reddened as she chuckled, “How sad he would be.”

Qi Youxuan had worked hard to help his father pursue his mother. However, soon after their marriage, his heartless father had been planning to send him off so they could have more time to themselves without a third wheel.

“Just for about two days.” Qi Chenglin sniffed in her fragrance from the side of her lips. His heart itched terribly for her. “Okay?”

“…” Ruan Danchen had difficulty rejecting him yet she could not bear to part with her son. Thus, she responded, “We’ll see.”

Qi Chenglin let out a sigh. “I wish that our relationship started off slowly. Then, we could at least have a few years to ourselves.”

He rubbed his lips continuously against Ruan Danchen’s cheeks until her face burned up with a tingling sensation. She could feel an electrical shock running through her scalps and ears. Sucking in her lower abdomen and giving Qi Chenglin’s ribs a jab, she said, “Let’s go. We’re going to be late to work.”

Qi Chenglin gazed longingly at her soft lips. He was reluctant to leave just like that. His arm, that was wrapped around Ruan Danchen, was squeezing her as he enjoyed the feeling of her waist.

His thin lips reached the side of her lips and immediately took them into his mouth. Before Ruan Danchen could react further, she was lifted to his lap and wrapped tightly in his embrace.

“Okay?” asked Qi Chenglin in a whisper as he continued to peck her.

Ruan Danchen’s mind had exploded from his passionate kiss. When she could finally breathe in some air, her face was flushed a deep red. Her lips were swollen and left opened slightly. She leaned against his chest. Her head was resting on his shoulder as she clutched onto his shirt.

Qi Chenglin lowered his head and his lips quickly found the side of her eye. They moved down her face and once again pecked her lips.

Ruan Danchen’s mind was empty. She could not think of anything apart from his overwhelming scent. Her whole body had become limp from his kiss.

Then, she caught Qi Chenglin asking again with his husky voice, “Okay?”

Ruan Danchen buried her face in his neck and pushed herself further into his arms. “Two days ago, Youxuan came home with their new schedule this term. The school has organized a winter camp at a resort next week. They will leave on Friday and return on Sunday.”

As soon as he heard that news, Qi Chenglin pulled her into another kiss, making a loud ‘pop’ as a result. Ruan Danchen felt so embarrassed that she could not move an inch.

“We need to think about what we can do then,” said Qi Chenglin in excitement. He gave her waist another squeeze. His dark eyes were slightly narrowed with joy.

Qi Chenglin was thrilled at the chance for a normal date. He scooped her face in his palms and went in for a deep long kiss.

He only let her off after taking a glance at the time. They were already late for work.

Ruan Danchen could hardly keep up with him. The impulsive yet passionate kiss in the car had emptied her mind and left her dizzy.

Knowing that, Qi Chenglin leaned over her to help her buckle the seat belt.

Just then, Ruan Danchen blinked as she came back into senses and saw his face up close. His thick brows were manly and unfurrowed. When he helped her strap on the seat belt, she could observe his deep double eyelids and thick curly lashes from his lowered eyes.

That man looked even more gorgeous up close. From afar, he had an unrivaled imposing manner. Up close, he seemed exceptionally refined.

Ruan Danchen could not help herself from inching her face forward and giving him a quick peck on his lips.

Qi Chenglin was dumbfounded. He did not expect Ruan Danchen to sneak in a kiss. He turned around to face her and found her face flushing brightly. He was unsure if the embarrassment from earlier had not faded or if she was abashed from the sneak attack.

Staring into Qi Chenglin’s amused eyes, a hint of mischievousness began to peek out from Ruan Danchen’s own. Her lips curled into a smug like a cat that ate the canary. Taking advantage of Qi Chenglin’s dumbfoundedness, she gave him another quick peck on his chin.

She caught a whiff of aftershave left on his chin. It was a very masculine and pleasant scent. It could make one tipsy and unconsciously bury oneself into his embrace.

As he had just shaved that morning, she could only see some light short facial hair at close distance. When her lips touched his chin lightly earlier, she could still feel the subtle prick that tickled her lips.

Qi Chenglin chuckled at the sight of her. She acted like a mischievous child sometimes.

In fact, with Qi Youxuan’s age, it was inevitable to overlook that she was only twenty-six years old. Unlike Ruan Danchen who was already a mother, other young ladies at her age would still be dating. Even if they were married, they would nevertheless be considered to have settled down early.

Qi Chenglin recalled the hardships that she had gone through at such a young age. As he did so, his heart ached for her and he leaned in for another deep kiss.

“Do you even need to sneak? Just let me know if you ever desire a kiss. I’ll make sure that you have your fill,” said Qi Chenglin as he rubbed his lips against hers.

“…” Feeling embarrassed, Ruan Danchen ushered, “Aren’t we heading to work now? Hurry, let’s go.”

However, Qi Chenglin did not move away from her. Ruan Danchen could only recline further into her seat. Otherwise, her lips would brush against his even when she did not speak. “Why aren’t you moving?”

“Don’t you want to kiss me? Save the sneak attack. I’m just right here. You can kiss me all you want before we go,” Qi Chenglin replied without inching away.

Feeling flustered, Ruan Danchen nudged him. “No more kissing. Let’s go.”

“Just one kiss before we go,” said Qi Chenglin as he pouted his lips. “One deep kiss.”

As Ruan Danchen was about to give in to his insistence, she heard him adding, “Make sure to have your fill so you don’t lose control later.”

Ruan Danchen, “…”

That man was truly shameless!

“I can hold myself in so get off me.” Ruan Danchen’s hands were pressing his face in an attempt to push him away but her wrists were grabbed instead.

“I’ll start the car after you’ve kissed me.” Ruan Danchen was speechless at Qi Chenglin’s ‘I’m afraid you cannot hold it in’ expression.

After their long struggle, he took her lips in a searing kiss before she could initiate it. When he released her lips, her face had become a beautiful red from the kiss. He could not stop himself from giving her a few more pecks before settling back in his seat and drove away.

…

Both of them were indeed late for work.

When Qilin employees caught them walking into the office together, their expressions turned into that of understanding.

Then, one of the employees posted on Weibo.

[Qilin’s Little Nobody:

Spending blissful nights behind warm hibiscus curtain, the emperor skipped morning court sessions thereafter

!]

The Weibo post was immediately shared by another colleague.

[I Gossip in the Office:

Her face and peach blossom reflected each other’s glow

. So you saw them too!]

[Qilin’s Little Nobody: Spending blissful nights behind warm hibiscus curtain, the emperor skipped morning court sessions thereafter!]

[You on the Right, Enough of It:

Thinking deeply on the precious water-patterned bamboo mat

. I was on the spot just now!]

[I Gossip in the Office: Her face and peach blossom reflected each other’s glow. So you saw them too!] [Qilin’s Little Nobody: Spending blissful nights behind warm hibiscus curtain, the emperor skipped morning court sessions thereafter!]

[You Don’t Know Who I Am, ‘I was right beside you this morning. Gazing at the emperor from the

immortal pavilion

!]

[You on the Right, Enough of It: Thinking deeply on the precious water-patterned bamboo mat. I was on the spot just now!] [I Gossip in the Office: Her face and peach blossom reflected each other’s glow. So you saw them too!] [Qilin’s Little Nobody: Spending blissful nights behind warm hibiscus curtain, the emperor skipped morning court sessions thereafter!]

[A Cover is a Must Online:

I knew you came from afar and your goodwill

. I’m waiting for gossips at the front line!]

[You Don’t Know Who I Am: I was right beside you this morning. Gazing at the emperor from the immortal pavilion!] [You on the Right, Enough of It: Thinking deeply on the precious water-patterned bamboo mat. I was on the spot just now!] [I Gossip in the Office: Her face and peach blossom reflected each other’s glow. So you saw them too!] [Qilin’s Little Nobody: Spending blissful nights behind warm hibiscus curtain, the emperor skipped morning court sessions thereafter!]

Qi Chenglin was given a report on his schedule that day when he entered the office. After the report, Jiang Yuan wore a strange expression on his face.

Qi Chenglin peered at Jiang Yuan and asked, “What’s with your expression? What happened?”

Jiang Yuan let out a cough. He took out his phone, tabbed into Weibo, and showed Qi Chenglin the thread. “Director Qi reported work on time this morning.”

“…” Qi Chenglin scanned through the thread and realized that it was a discussion about him and Ruan Danchen being late to work together.

“Cough!” Qi Chenglin adjusted his tie. Although the discussion was exaggerated, it was still a fact that he had immersed himself with kissing Ruan Danchen in the car that morning and was reluctant to drive away.

Qi Chenglin furrowed his brows. He took out his phone and logged in to his Weibo account.

He had a Weibo account that he seldom used. He only logged in to share Qilin promotional activities when needed. Thus, there was nothing much on his Weibo page.

Despite that, he still had numerous fans following him on Weibo. He had never shared his selfie or promotional photographs on social media. The clearest photograph of him on the Internet only showed the side of his face. Even that was secretly taken by a journalist.

Yet, the blurry side face was so dashing that they were sure he looked very attractive!

With Qi Chenglin’s identity, the unclear photograph had also added a mysterious charm to him, allowing his female fans to unleash their fantasies about him.

Consequently, every promotional activity he shared for the company would have a long thread of fans calling him their husband. That had left him speechless.

As he did not particularly follow any Qilin employee on Weibo, he simply searched for the thread about him and Ruan Danchen from the first ID that appeared on his page. When he found it, he shared the thread and added a comment: [It seems that you’re all very free to be able to log in to Weibo at work. Will get the IT department to trace your IP.]

Qi Chenglin did not use any pseudo name for his Weibo account. Therefore, seeing ‘Qi Chenglin’ sharing their thread had left those who started, shared and commented on the thread dumbfounded.

However, a bigger surprise still awaited them. Shortly after Qi Chenglin shared the thread, Qilin employees who were a part of that thread realized that General Manager Qi was not the only one who showered them with his grace. Even Director Qi had decided to join in the fun!

[Qi Chengzhi: Our General Manager Qi and his wife have contributed greatly in adding some light amusement for our employees during working hours. It is especially apparent that recently our employees have been proactive in competing to report to work early. Our General Manager Qi and his wife are definitely trying to motivate our employees’ proactiveness.]

[Qi Chenglin: It seems that you’re all very free to be able to log in to Weibo at work. Will get the IT department to trace your IP.]

Qi Chenglin had started to work on his task on hand and was unaware that Qi Chengzhi had also shared his Weibo thread.

It was an hour later that he finally recalled the thread. After stretching his stiff neck, he took out his phone and once again tabbed into Weibo. He had turned off the notification alert to avoid listening to that annoying constant beeping.

So, when he logged into his account, he was surprised to see a few at tags.

He tabbed into the first thread which was shared by Qi Chengzhi. Other than the usual husband proclaiming comments, there was also a neat stretch of comments that exclaimed: [Our wise Director Qi, thank you for your understanding!]

Those comments were obviously by Qilin employees.

Qi Chenglin, “…”

He felt as though thousands of alpacas rushed past him

after reading Qi Chengzhi’s post.

As for those husband proclaiming comments, he had chosen to ignore them because he could no longer bear to read them. That was why both he and Qi Chengzhi hated to post on Weibo.

He scrolled up further to read other shares.

[Yan Beicheng: One was caught on the news for getting a room with his wife. The other one was late to work because he had s*x with his wife. There’s no need to tease each other, unamused emoji.]

[Qi Chengzhi: Our General Manager Qi and his wife have contributed greatly in adding some light amusement for our employees during working hours. It is especially apparent that recently our employees have been proactive in competing to report to work early. Our General Manager Qi and his wife are definitely trying to motivate our employees’ proactiveness.] [Qi Chenglin: It seems that you’re all very free to be able to log in to Weibo at work. Will get the IT department to trace your IP.]

[Han Zhuoli: Your employees in Qilin have pretty good language~]

[Qi Chengzhi: Our General Manager Qi and his wife have contributed greatly in adding some light amusement for our employees during working hours. It is especially apparent that recently our employees have been proactive in competing to report to work early. Our General Manager Qi and his wife are definitely trying to motivate our employees’ proactiveness.] [Qi Chenglin: It seems that you’re all very free to be able to log in to Weibo at work. Will get the IT department to trace your IP.] [A Cover is a Must Online: I knew you came from afar and your goodwill. I’m waiting for gossips at the front line!] [You Don’t Know Who I Am: I was right beside you this morning. Gazing at the emperor from the immortal pavilion!] [You on the Right, Enough of It: Thinking deeply on the precious water-patterned bamboo mat. I was on the spot just now!] [I Gossip in the Office: Her face and peach blossom reflected each other’s glow. So you saw them too!] [Qilin’s Little Nobody: Spending blissful nights behind warm hibiscus curtain, the emperor skipped morning court sessions thereafter!]

[Gui Zhiqian: Qilin seems lively. I should visit more often.]

[Qi Chengzhi: Our General Manager Qi and his wife have contributed greatly in adding some light amusement for our employees during working hours. It is especially apparent that recently our employees have been proactive in competing to report to work early. Our General Manager Qi and his wife are definitely trying to motivate our employees’ proactiveness.]

[Chu Zhaoyang: Hehe.]

[Qi Chengzhi: Our General Manager Qi and his wife have contributed greatly in adding some light amusement for our employees during working hours. It is especially apparent that recently our employees have been proactive in competing to report to work early. Our General Manager Qi and his wife are definitely trying to motivate our employees’ proactiveness.] [Qi Chenglin: It seems that you’re all very free to be able to log in to Weibo at work. Will get the IT department to trace your IP.] [A Cover is a Must Online: I knew you came from afar and your goodwill. I’m waiting for gossips at the front line!]

Of course, the appearance of those big shots had once again raised the heat of the husband proclaiming comments.

[1st Comment: Honey, I’m willing to f*ck you in the car, on the horse, or any way you want.]

[2nd Comment: What’s wrong today? The gentlemen showed up one after another. My eyes are dazzled by so many choices I don’t know who should I profess my love to first. Blood tank emptied!]

[3rd Comment: 2nd Comment, it must be my Young Master Han! My Young Master Han is still single. We still stand a chance!]

[4th Comment: Honey, thank you for your hard work.]

[5th Comment: Honey, remember to keep a balance between work and rest alright? Muacks.]

Qi Chenglin was rendered speechless by those comments. He tabbed on the comments below Yan Beicheng’s post.

[1st Comment: Although there are many prince charming today, I still love you only.]

[2nd Comment: Honey, you haven’t updated your Weibo for so long. I’m so touched to see your update today.]

[3rd Comment: I’ve missed you, honey. Though we have just met this morning.]

In Qi Chenglin’s opinion, the comments in Yan Beicheng’s thread were even more disgusting. He quickly closed the thread and moved on to Gui Zhiqian’s thread.

[1st Comment: Welcoming Young Master Gui to come often!]

[2nd Comment: Young Master Gui, can you share a few photos of yourself? I want to set them as my screensaver.]

When Qi Chenglin noticed some Qilin employees’ comments in the thread, he placed his darkened face in his palms with an exasperated sigh. He did not expect to find such devoted fans in the company.

Even Chu Zhaoyang who was too lazy to type a few more words had a long stretch of comments under his post.

[1st Comment: My honey is still as restrained as usual. How cute!]

[2nd Comment: Although there are so many prince charming today, I still like Director Chu the most.]

[3rd Comment: I just like the devious character that Young Master Chu possesses.]

Qi Chenglin, “…”

Besides, their thread sharing had caused a craze among Qilin employees. Those who missed out earlier had swarmed in the Weibo thread to worship their gods.

The female employees in Qilin, especially, had caught on the fangirling flu.

[A Cover is a Must Online: So many princes charming has surprisingly showered me with their grace. Who should I accompany tonight?]

[I Gossip in the Office: Director Qi, General Manager Qi, Director Yan, Director Han, Director Chu, hoping for a mutual following~]

Qi Chenglin no longer wished to read those shameless Weibo comments. So, he shut his Weibo and went back to focus on his work.

…

In the afternoon, Ruan Danchen was surprised to receive a call from Gao Xiaoyang.

Before Ruan Danchen could make fun of her, she heard Gao Xiaoyang saying hastily, “Danchen, quick! Log in to Weibo. Read the link that I just sent you in our private chat.”

“What’s wrong?” asked Ruan Danchen in shock.

“I can’t explain well but it’s about the past incident among you, Qi Chenglin and Shen Zhijing. It seems unbelievable but the author wrote with certainty. It’s causing a wave on the Internet now though everyone is doubtful about it,” Gao Xiaoyang explained in a hurry.

Ruan Danchen could feel her heart dropping at Gao Xiaoyang’s words. Her chest turned cold and she almost lost her grip on her phone.

“I’ll… go have a look.” Ruan Danchen hung up the call listlessly. Her hands were trembling as she logged into her Weibo account.

She knew instantly which incident that Gao Xiaoyang meant. She only hoped that it was merely fake rumors, not the truth from their past.

She did not understand who could have leaked the information if the news on the Internet happened to be the truth. That incident was only known to the Qi and Shen families. Moreover, she believed that the Shen family would not destroy their own future by disclosing such information to another.

Despite wishing that the news was fake, her conversation earlier with Gao Xiaoyang made her feel that the possibility of a sham was very low.

She saw numerous notifications of private messages as soon as she had logged into her Weibo account. Tabbing into those messages, she found them to be verification requests on that news shared on Weibo.

Those private messages were from tabloid accounts with a great number of followers.

Ruan Danchen was shocked that those paparazzi were able to find her on Weibo. She did not certify her identity nor did she use her real name as her ID.

Ruan Danchen was reluctant to read those messages. It hurt her heart every time she read them. It was painful and terrifying. Nonetheless, she had no choice but to overcome her fear. Gathering her courage, she scrolled down those messages and finally found Gao Xiaoyang’s.

Spending blissful nights behind warm hibiscus curtain, the emperor skipped morning court sessions thereafter (芙蓉帐暖度春宵,从此君王不早朝啊) is a line from the Tang poem ‘Song of Eternal Sorrow (长恨歌)’. The poem tells the tragic love story of Tang Emperor Xuanzong and Imperial Consort Yang.
Her face and peach blossom reflected each other’s glow (人面桃花相映红) is a line from the Tang poem ‘At the Homestead South of the Capital City (題都城南莊). This line describes the beautiful scene of a young lady gazing shyly at the poet.
Thinking deeply on the precious water-patterned bamboo mat (水纹珍簟思悠悠) is a line from the Tang poem ‘Penning Emotions (写情)’. The poem tells the ordeal and heartbreak of a man who could not date the woman he loved.
Gazing at the emperor from the immortal pavilion (望仙楼上望君王) is a line from the Tang poem ‘A Palace Poem (宫词)’. This poem euphemistically describes the resentment of the concubines who hoped to serve the emperor but were not graced by the monarch. Immortal pavilion (望仙楼) in this context refers to the place where concubines resided in the imperial palace.
I knew you came from afar and your goodwill (知汝远来应有意) is a line from the Tang poem ‘For My Nephew (左迁至蓝关示侄孙湘)’. This poem tells the depression of the poet who was demoted to Lan County. His wife and children were nowhere to be seen when he reached the border of Lan County. Only his nephew journeyed a long distance with him.
As though thousands of alpacas rushed past him (万千草泥马奔腾而过) is the modern Chinese way of expressing anger and extreme dissatisfaction. This term is popularized in social media.