Chapter 56: Limping Even When Walking

That evening, after the two of them finished dinner, Auntie Wang tidied up the kitchen, grabbed the personal belongings she had packed that afternoon, went down to the second basement level, drove the BMW Gu Lanxi had arranged for her, and went straight home.

In the vast house, only the two of them remained.

Gu Lanxi felt a bit uneasy, but seeing that Lu Nanting was simply doing his own thing, she relaxed as well.

They each returned to their respective rooms, showered, changed, and then went to the study to busy themselves for a while.

By nine-thirty, seeing that Lu Nanting had no intention of going to sleep, Gu Lanxi felt too embarrassed to leave him alone to return to her room, so she asked him if he wanted to watch a movie together.

Back when they used to date, they were much like any ordinary couple; they would go out for meals and go to the cinema together.

For them, it was a pleasant way to pass the time.

Lu Nanting readily agreed.

However, he wasn't in the mood for "violent aesthetics" today, so they found a popular campus romance film from a few years ago to watch.

The female lead wore a white dress and small leather shoes paired with white socks. Riding a vintage mint-green bicycle with a brown basket, she sped down a gentle slope and through a forest. When she saw the boy waiting for her by the roadside, her eyes instantly lit up.

The plot progressed steadily—sweetness, misunderstandings, bitterness, and longing for the future...

It was enough to stir anyone's memories of their first love.

Lu Nanting’s eyes were fixed on the projection, but his mind had long since wandered back to the summer of his eighteenth year.

At that time, Gu Lanxi had just invested in a classmate's coffee shop and was quite short on cash.

To come to the music academy to see him, she had specially spent the "massive sum" of one hundred and eighty yuan to buy a second-hand bicycle.

It was pitch black and looked very unremarkable, but Gu Lanxi said that only a bike like that wouldn't get stolen easily.

She also loved wearing white dresses, and every time she changed out of one, she would scrub it clean with soap.

However, she didn't like wearing leather shoes.

For more than half the year, she preferred wearing small white sneakers that had been washed until they were slightly yellowish.

Whenever Gu Lanxi came to the school to find him, her skirt would flutter and her hair would sway. When she suddenly turned around with a faint smile, it was a breathtaking sight, like seeing a celestial beauty; one would find themselves chasing after her without even realizing it.

Those with reserved temperaments only wanted to steal extra glances at her, while the extroverts would even shout at her retreating figure, "Hey, classmate! Give me a chance! Can we add each other on WeChat?"

The scene was incredibly aesthetic. If a campus romance director had been passing by during casting, they would have certainly chased her down relentlessly.

Lu Nanting had been consumed by jealousy, unwilling to let the "piggy" students at the school have the advantage, so he eventually moved their dates to Gu Lanxi's school.

But Gu Lanxi didn't know he was jealous; she simply thought he was being considerate of her having to cycle across half the city in the middle of summer, and she happily agreed.

However, every time Lu Nanting came to her school, he would cause a stir among the female students.

Gu Lanxi would secretly feel jealous but didn't want to admit it, so she always set their meeting points halfway between their two schools.

As a result, although both were prominent figures at their respective schools, most classmates only knew vaguely that they were seeing someone; very few knew exactly who it was.

A window was cracked open, and the breeze moved the sheer curtains, carrying the scent of the essential oils from Gu Lanxi's hair to brush lightly against Lu Nanting's nose.

It was gentle, yet carried a hint of heat.

An indescribable scent of orange blossom.

It suited Gu Lanxi perfectly.

In the movie, the male and female leads were sharing a passionate kiss against a red school wall.

Lu Nanting felt a sudden surge of restlessness.

"Can I kiss you?"

Gu Lanxi had also been spacing out. Seeing Lu Nanting suddenly lean down and whisper this in her ear, her face instantly turned bright red!

She had just been thinking about that kiss from the other day, her mind wandering, and hearing this suddenly made her think he had discovered her secret little thoughts.

Feeling both shy and annoyed, she snapped, "Who asks for permission before kissing someone!!"

Wasn't it supposed to be an unspoken understanding?

Because they were so close, Lu Nanting could clearly see the fine peach fuzz on her earlobes.

He wasn't angered by her scolding; instead, he gave a light chuckle and pulled her directly into his arms.

Gu Lanxi felt her vision shift, and suddenly she was straddling his lap.

Both of them had flushed faces as they locked eyes.

Overwhelmed by shyness, Gu Lanxi immediately looked away and gave him a coquettish reproach

"I'm still watching the movie!"

Lu Nanting grabbed the remote and pressed the power button.

"How can a movie be more good-looking than me? Look at me!"

It was true.

Gu Lanxi was nearly twenty-two, and she truly hadn't seen many men more handsome than Lu Nanting.

Even with her connections in the entertainment industry.

With the movie turned off, the room suddenly fell silent.

Gu Lanxi could faintly hear the sounds of children playing and chasing each other in the garden downstairs, but Lu Nanting could only hear the "thump-thump-thump" of his own heartbeat.

A soft touch on the lips, then a separation.

Lu Nanting couldn't help but give her a kiss.

Gu Lanxi held his head and looked seriously into his eyes.

In his eyes, she saw the desire of an adult man.

When others looked at her like that, she would feel disgusted, but now, not only did she not feel disgusted, she actually felt a sensation of being ignited!

Gu Lanxi was a dominant person at her core; she wasn't as soft as she appeared.

Once she decided to do something, she was like a hunting leopard—once she had her target, she would pounce!

When she was pressed down onto the sofa, Lu Nanting simply gave an understanding smile and did not resist.

Gu Lanxi sat on his waist, leaned down, held him, and kissed him.

The first time had been too rough, so she had refined "a tiny bit" of technique; this time was much better.

Lu Nanting was being kissed until his heart was racing, and being held down by her so he couldn't move.

He simply flipped over, pinning her beneath him, and kissed her again.

There was a significant difference in their weight and strength; as long as Gu Lanxi didn't use cleverness to resist, Lu Nanting could basically get whatever he wanted.

Compared to Gu Lanxi's ferocity, he was much gentler.

He kissed her like a dragonfly skimming water—kissing her eyes one moment, her lips the next, and then leaning into her ear, sucking on her earlobe and whispering sweet nothings to her.

Time seemed to pass very slowly, yet very quickly.

The wall clock ticked softly; in the blink of an eye, it was past ten-thirty.

It was the height of summer, and listening to those numbing whispers of "Wife, you're so soft" and "Wife, you smell so good," Gu Lanxi felt that even with the air conditioning on, there was an unquenchable heat in the air.

This heat stirred an unspeakable impulse that climbed from her heels all the way to the crown of her head.

Lu Nanting tentatively lifted her nightgown and placed his hand on her waist.

Having practiced martial arts for years, Gu Lanxi's hands were faster than her brain; as soon as he reached out, she grabbed his wrist.

Lu Nanting stopped immediately.

"Wife, is it okay?"

Gu Lanxi was panting, conflicted. Ultimately, her hands moved up his arm, and she wrapped them around his neck, letting out a soft, kitten-like "Mm."

She was curious about what "that thing" was actually like, but she was also very afraid of pain.

Because she had a cousin, Gu Jiayi, who, by modern standards, was a "boss lady" and a "player." When they talked privately, the topics were incredibly spicy.

During their late-night chats, Gu Jiayi had once described the feeling of the first time.

The indescribable parts were skipped, but her cousin summarized it in one sentence: "Heart-wrenching pain; I couldn't walk straight for days."

Combined with the occasional times she was on a film set and heard others making noises during "that" which sounded like they were being slaughtered like pigs, she had concluded it was truly painful.

Gu Jiayi had only been trying to scare her because she was young and might be easily tricked by someone while away from home. She never expected that her cousin—a woman among women—would actually be frightened. Even after all these years, the fear remained.

Gu Lanxi was conflicted to the extreme, but in the end, her sense of responsibility won out.

Since they were already married and planned to build a life together, this was inevitable.

They couldn't live a Platonic life forever.

If it was truly too painful, she would just endure it...

One was suppressing excitement, trying to be gentler and gentler; the other was suppressing fear, trying to be braver and braver...

Just as the "little umbrella" was being torn open—the doorbell rang.

*Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong...*

Unaware of the situation, they thought it might be paparazzi or a sasaeng fan causing trouble and intended to wait, but the person was persistent. In the blink of an eye, the doorbell rang for the third round.

[Author's Note: A friend with the suffix 4544 sent me some flavorful Cantonese sausages from Guangzhou Restaurant. The address was fake and the phone number was invisible. I've thought about it all night and still can't figure out who this "caretaker" is. I can't ask them directly, otherwise, people will think I'm using this as an excuse to ask for them. So, who on earth is it?!]

(End of Chapter)