Chapter 40: Wedding Night

The young man’s expression was really not normal, different from how she usually saw Li Zhenguan.

Like a sharp crystal dagger, cold blood flowed under the transparent texture, the blade pointing at her while also swinging towards himself.

Under Wang Zhao’s gaze, Li Zhenguan pursed his lips and smiled, slowly revealing some bitter amusement in his dark eyes. His entire demeanor changed, from cold to vulnerable.

From a glass bottle that seemed like it could shatter at any moment to the fading spring flowers in the city as described by Du Fu.

The frozen time seemed to return to its starting point.

Meeting Wang Zhao’s gaze, Li Zhenguan’s eyes turned slightly red. His hand, which was twirling two short black hairs, curled several times before clenching into a fist.

Suppressing the waves of malice rising in his heart, Li Zhenguan forced a smile and said softly, “My hair loss seems to have gotten a bit serious lately.”

As he said this, he unconsciously lowered his eyelids, as if he dared not meet Wang Zhao’s gaze, afraid of seeing some truth in her eyes that he didn’t want to or dared not see.

After speaking, he immediately raised his head to look at Wang Zhao, trying his best to cover his emotions, smiling as usual: “Turn around, I’ll give you a massage. Otherwise, you’ll have to attend some activities later tonight, and you definitely won’t recover by tomorrow.”

If Wang Zhao hadn’t turned around and caught Li Zhenguan’s expression earlier, if it weren’t for the man’s slightly reddened eyes, she might have really believed Li Zhenguan’s words.

After all, if she had first noticed the two short black hairs on her collar, she might not have realized they were Chen Fangli’s hair. However, Li Zhenguan’s hair was slightly light chestnut-colored, giving a mixed-race feeling, so upon careful observation, one would notice these two hairs weren’t his.

She stared at Li Zhenguan for a good while. Actually, if asked to describe her current feelings, Wang Zhao herself might not be able to articulate them.

Li Zhenguan’s submissive attitude in front of her seemed familiar; it appeared that in her presence, this man from a wealthy background and proud since childhood unconsciously lowered his head.

Wang Zhao felt this wasn’t normal boyfriend-girlfriend interaction, although they hadn’t exactly followed the normal couple’s process either.

She stared at the man before her for a long time. Li Zhenguan could no longer maintain his smile, and an expression close to shame appeared on his face. Then, the color almost disappeared from his carefully groomed face, turning pale.

In this hidden silence, Wang Zhao sighed and chose to compromise first.

“Why are you crying?” she said.

Li Zhenguan shook his head, somewhat stubbornly: “I’m not crying.”

This appearance, if seen by others, would probably make them think the one who did wrong wasn’t her but the man opposite, with his red eyes, as if afraid Wang Zhao would abandon him.

Sometimes Wang Zhao couldn’t understand where Li Zhenguan’s extreme insecurity came from. This person came from a wealthy family, loved by his parents, and although he had lived with his maternal grandfather for a while as a child, it shouldn’t have led to such a lack of love and sensitive personality, finding it hard to feel secure.

She smiled: “You say you’re not crying, but your eyes are red. Other men don’t have eyes that turn red so easily.”

Her words were also teasing. Due to extreme fatigue, she leaned halfway on the sofa back, saying this without thinking. Sure enough, as soon as she said it, the person in front of her eyes reddened even more, about to cry the next moment.

This made Wang Zhao panic for a second, but she still couldn’t help wanting to laugh. She reached out to wipe Li Zhenguan’s eye corners, gently opened his clenched fist, plucked out the two black hairs from Li Zhenguan’s palm, and bent down to throw them in a nearby trash can.

“I just felt stuffy after changing into the ceremonial dress earlier, so I went to the balcony for some fresh air and had a cigarette. I happened to meet him there, and we just exchanged a few words. Nothing else happened,” Wang Zhao explained gently. “Sister Zhenwei also went there later, you can ask her.”

Since Li Zhenwei hadn’t said anything now, she probably wouldn’t say anything later either. Besides, there really hadn’t been any intimate gestures between her and Chen Fangli, or at least no mutual intimate gestures.

She wasn’t stupid enough to leave herself vulnerable like that. Even a slight blemish on her reputation could affect her future career development.

“My encounter with him was purely coincidental. In fact, there were very few people there, I didn’t expect to run into him at all,” Wang Zhao glanced at Li Zhenguan, seeing his expression had softened somewhat and his emotions seemed to have calmed down, she continued, “Besides, I promised you last time that I wouldn’t see him again, and that wasn’t just empty words. I don’t make promises I don’t intend to keep.”

“Zhenguan, you know my character,” Wang Zhao said. “The past is the past, and when I make a promise, I will definitely fulfill it.”

Li Zhenguan finally nodded, seemingly believing Wang Zhao’s words, his face no longer as pale and powerless as before.

However, he still wasn’t as happy as before.

Wang Zhao pressed his eye corners again, unable to resist saying softly: “You get upset so easily, the child born will probably take after you, likes to cry, often feeling the father’s melancholy in the womb, eyes turning red at the slightest grievance.”

Li Zhenguan was finally embarrassed by Wang Zhao’s words, but still couldn’t help retorting: “If I have a girl, she’ll definitely be like you, won’t cry often. Isn’t it said that girls take after their mothers, and boys after their fathers?”

Wang Zhao’s weariness dissipated somewhat with Li Zhenguan’s antics. She pinched Li Zhenguan’s cheek: “What if it’s a boy? It’s not good if he cries often either.”

“So what if he cries? There won’t be a shortage of people to dote on him at home,” Li Zhenguan said righteously. Then, as if suddenly realizing something, he looked at Wang Zhao, frowning and muttering without much confidence, “You’re not going to dislike me, are you?”

Wang Zhao laughed.

At this moment, Li Zhenguan suddenly threw himself into her arms, embracing her entire body as if to grip her neck, hanging on Wang Zhao like a koala. His black suit draped over her cool-colored long dress, wrinkling both of their formal attire considerably.

Wang Zhao kept laughing, but remembering that Li Zhenguan was pregnant now and shouldn’t make large movements, she feared he might lose balance and fall backwards, so she kept one hand free to support Li Zhenguan’s waist.

However, when Li Zhenguan hugged Wang Zhao, with his back to her and smelling the strong unfamiliar fragrance on the back of her neck, uncontrollable violent emotions surged in his heart. His lips pressed into a straight line, his forehead buried in Wang Zhao’s neck, trying to cover up that irritating smell.