The silk robe slid silently from her shoulders.
Lying on the black velvet bed, Lin Zhishui’s body was bathed in layers of dim light and shadow.
Her knees down to her calves were tinged with a faint pink, probably because her skin was naturally so thin it seemed almost transparent—whenever her body temperature rose, the color stood out even more.
At this moment, under the gaze of Ning Shangyu’s soul-capturing amber eyes, Lin Zhishui felt as though she were being watched by a young lion in hunting mode. It made her inexplicably nervous.
She wanted to mutter something, find some words to ease the tension.
“You’ve been appreciating that book for so long—wasn’t that enough to calm your desires for a bit?”
The question was pointless.
Ning Shangyu’s eyes showed not the slightest intention of restraint. He stared at her for a while before retorting, “Miss Lin, are you nervous?”
Lin Zhishui didn’t bother denying it with a shake of her head.
She realized she had never openly praised Ning Shangyu—not just for his face, which was enough to make any woman covet him, but also for his hands, so well-defined and elegant, especially the fine, delicate lines of his knuckles, slightly raised…
There was a genuine, almost primal longing for the vitality and power in those hands.
It felt as if, should Ning Shangyu so much as touch her, he wouldn’t need to do anything more—she would melt helplessly in his burning-hot palms, just like prey losing all ability to struggle.
Even so.
The difference in physical strength only made Lin Zhishui’s heart beat faster, yet she was uncontrollably drawn in, unable to resist the allure.
She couldn’t quite explain why she’d become like this, nor could she say it out loud.
Her breathing grew lighter, and following her body’s instincts, her tingling fingertips reached out to clutch his finger.
Her senses were so clear.
Lin Zhishui let go, then quietly groped around again.
The next moment, she murmured, “Ning Shangyu, your fingers sign contracts worth billions by day, and at night they still have to serve me… What a burden for you.”
Ning Shangyu looked at her feather-light touch, which felt more like a massage than anything else.
He raised an eyebrow.
Lin Zhishui’s tone and manner were utterly sincere as she asked, “Hands worth billions and still so beautiful. Let me see—which finger is the most worth admiring?”
From his arrogant youth to his current high position, no one had ever dared to call him beautiful to his face, let alone so bluntly.
He was uncharacteristically silent for a moment.
In the darkness, he felt her soft fingertips seriously tracing the length of his index finger, joint by joint, then letting go, only to curiously select another…
“Miss Lin, are you showing favoritism?”
Suddenly, his knuckles tensed for a moment.
His steady breath seemed to suppress something, yet his voice oozed with languid composure as his gaze dropped from her reddened eyes to the skin below.
She was calculating.
Lin Zhishui’s two red moles flickered with her unconscious flutter of lashes, as if begging for attention.
Ning Shangyu accused her of favoritism.
Lin Zhishui felt a little guilty.
When she let go, she even managed a smile to cover it up.
After all, she’d been fiddling around just now because she was nervous he’d put his three longest fingers there, and wanted to choose a smaller one herself.
Who would have thought Ning Shangyu would see right through her so easily?
His breath brushed her cheek as he asked nonchalantly, “After all this time choosing, which one do you appreciate most?”
Under his gaze, Lin Zhishui kept trembling, unconsciously trying to steady her breathing.
“Ah… I haven’t finished choosing yet.”
Before she finished speaking.
She suddenly found a gap in his words to slip through.
Her eyes widened, sparkling with undisguised hope.
“So you’re agreeing to let me choose?”
Ning Shangyu endured for a moment, but Lin Zhishui kept tilting her head up, swaying beneath his gaze.
Finally, his fingertip pressed a little more firmly, rubbing over her two red moles, as if leaving a burning mark.
Before Lin Zhishui could dodge, she heard his low chuckle.
“What’s the point of choosing like you’re playing house?”
What did he mean by that?
She looked at him in confusion.
Ning Shangyu was still smiling, but the night blurred his sharp, handsome features, making even the curve of his lips indistinct.
Only that dangerous, oppressive aura pressed in, every word sinking into her ears.
“How about I teach you myself how to choose what suits you?”
Lin Zhishui regretted it so much!
If she’d known, she’d have let him do whatever he wanted.
After all, those fingers were always signing billion-dollar contracts anyway—it was all the same!
As the night deepened, a breeze slipped in through the not-quite-shut floor-to-ceiling windows, making the white silk curtains billow.
Through a gap, the river of stars in the Milky Way seemed to drift closer.
The starlight happened to fall on the intricately carved crystal lamp on the bedside table, scattering specks of light that landed on Ning Shangyu’s striking brows and eyes, then slid down the bridge of his nose.
All of it reflected in Lin Zhishui’s clear, mirror-like eyes.
Ning Shangyu’s hand, which she’d secretly coveted, was illuminated by the holy light, exuding the same air of control as his arrogant nature—over power, and over her.
Suddenly, his gaze darkened.
Lin Zhishui, her expression dazed and bewildered, looked back at him innocently.
Her gaze wandered to a painting on the wall she hadn’t noticed before—a piece with an intense atmosphere, seemingly of plants floating on a lake, then shattering into fragile, glassy fragments.
She tried to make out the details, but the image only grew fuzzier, like a world from a dream.
At some point, her delicate brows gradually relaxed.
As she unconsciously pressed her forehead closer to the pillow, she heard not only her own shallow breaths but also another faint sound.
Something was being unwrapped—plastic packaging.
Just as she was puzzling over it, she felt a certain warmth—something gliding over her flawless skin through a thin layer of rubber.
Lin Zhishui froze.
She didn’t know when Ning Shangyu had already replaced his fingers, but his aggressive aura and movements were like a top predator at the peak of the food chain, having locked onto his weak and beautiful prey.
Ever since she’d seen the impact of him showering with her own eyes, Lin Zhishui had mentally prepared herself, knowing their physical differences.
To avoid suffering, she usually stayed quiet.
But even so, the result was still beyond her expectations.
Her breathing changed, and she directly felt the immense strength of Ning Shangyu’s spirit compared to her own fragile, sensitive heart.
The difference was simply too great, something she could never have imagined unless he truly showed his full force.
Especially in the dark at first, the stabbing pain seemed to tear a small wound in her mind.
Lin Zhishui gasped.
Her soul ached.
Ning Shangyu seemed to sense her strong resistance and didn’t force her, patiently waiting until her brows relaxed before lowering his head to come closer, the side of his nose traced in blue starlight from the window, casting deep shadows.
“Lin Zhishui.”
Lin Zhishui’s reason was already half gone.
Thinking it was all his fault, she sulked, her voice soft and weak.
“Lin Zhishui, Lin Zhishui… We’re already like this, and you’re still calling me Lin Zhishui.”
How heartless!
Ning Shangyu deliberately distracted her.
He played along, asking in a low voice, “Then what should I call you?”
“Mother, Elder Sister, Ah Yang, Ah Qin, Ah Man, they all call me…”
Lin Zhishui’s words trailed off, the two syllables of her childhood nickname stuck between her flushed lips, too weak to say.
Cold sweat broke out on her skin, no different from when she’d had a fever as a child.
She felt hot all over, her fingertips wanting to clutch him, sliding down his muscles.
After a few seconds, even in this chaotic desire, she didn’t forget to keep muttering to him.
She wanted to say she had a pet name.
Shan Shan—everyone at home loved to call her that, as if saying it would shower her with endless affection.
And keep her anchored in this world.
Lin Zhishui deliberately tried to think of other things, not to focus too much on what didn’t belong to her.
While Ning Shangyu gazed quietly at her.
The silent master bedroom was filled only with the sound of her slightly parted lips and her words.
“Anyway, from now on, without my permission, you can’t call me Miss Lin, and you’re not allowed to call me Lin Zhishui either.”
Ning Shangyu’s eyes darkened frighteningly, like a lion about to bite, locking onto her, but his voice was low and gentle, as if teasing her on purpose.
“So domineering?”
“If you insist on calling me that, don’t blame me… I’ll go to the study, dig through all the books in the world, and find the mushiest, most embarrassing names to call you.”
Lin Zhishui’s words were half complaint, half coquetry, enough to soften anyone’s heart.
Not long after, she surrendered, pitifully gasping, “No, I can’t do it, no matter how much I say, Ning Shangyu, have mercy.”
She started repeating, “I can’t.”
When she was little and had a fever, all her joints ached—now it was the same.
No amount of talking could distract her mind, and the more she spoke, the hoarser her voice became.
A minute later.
Ning Shangyu nodded, going along with her.
Before Lin Zhishui could press her palms together to thank him for sparing her life—
Ning Shangyu, in a near-commanding tone, made a request.
“Change to something else.”
Because of Ning Shangyu’s dangerous tone, Lin Zhishui had no choice but to obey.
She thought it would be like before, but… tonight, he seemed different.
She couldn’t even bear to look at him.
Moonlight spilled over the black velvet sheets, turning them into a beautiful, luminous white satin, with the scent of cold fir seeming to drift up from within.
When the crystal lamp was turned on, the stars outside the window seemed to be pushed further into the night sky by the light.
In the master bedroom, Lin Zhishui slowly sat up, her eyes reddened, seeing the trail of moisture winding from her collarbone down.
Her slender waist, from bent knees to ankles, all seemed marked as someone’s private territory.
Realizing this, Lin Zhishui was so shocked that even the red mole at the corner of her eye seemed to tremble in the light, and she nearly toppled off the bed onto the carpet.
Luckily, her hand caught her in time.
She managed not to embarrass herself…
This was the first time.
The first time she’d truly seen Ning Shangyu completely relaxed in spirit.
But Lin Zhishui’s clear pupils seemed to quake for several seconds, and she hadn’t expected that after trying before, things simply couldn’t proceed as normal.
If Ning Shangyu had truly hardened his heart and ignored whether she lived or died…
Lin Zhishui couldn’t help but think—
Tonight, they’d have to call an ambulance to the top of Taiping Mountain, and the entire elite circle of the harbour city would secretly learn that the mysterious second daughter of the Lin family had died from being overindulged by her fiancé.
The indulgent one was Ning Shangyu.
The only one hurt was poor, fragile her.
As she imagined this, Lin Zhishui could even picture Madam Sheng Mingying and Lin Xiguang’s expressions at breakfast if they saw the sensational entertainment headlines with her name.
The more she imagined, the harder it was to breathe.
Lin Zhishui frowned slightly, still trying to calm her wild emotions, when suddenly the bathroom door opened again.
Ning Shangyu came out after a cold shower, carelessly draping a robe that matched the black velvet bed.
His short, dark hair was half dry, not as neat as when he handled business.
The few loose strands softened his usually sharp, exquisite features.
But even if Ning Shangyu looked approachable at the moment—
Lin Zhishui, after her “firsthand” experience, couldn’t help but shrink her snow-white shoulders, and even her clear, innocent gaze avoided his, no longer meeting his eyes as openly as before.
She even began to regret giving in to her curiosity about her body’s reactions and agreeing to a trial marriage after only a few days’ hesitation.
The price of testing Ning Shangyu—
Was simply too high.
Even if he was willing to teach her everything, her body, only a little stronger than a newborn, just couldn’t take it.
At this moment, Ning Shangyu walked over step by step, stopped at the bedside, and unhurriedly took out a jar of ointment from the drawer.
“I’ll apply the medicine first, then help you with it.”
His tone was lower but just as calm, as if the heavy breathing earlier hadn’t been his at all.
Lin Zhishui was startled, slowly moving closer along the mattress, and asked in a small, confused voice, “What medicine?”
Back at the Lin house, she’d always toughed things out—she never needed medicine!
Ning Shangyu leaned in slightly, looking up at her dazed, innocent face.
The rich scent of fir surrounded her like a beast staking its territory, and his long, clean fingers deftly unwrapped the semi-transparent packaging.
He asked in a mild voice, “Weren’t you just complaining about the pain?”
With his gentle reminder, Lin Zhishui finally realized what the ointment was for.
Ning Shangyu had carefully nurtured her with all sorts of precious creams for days, clearly planning to go all the way tonight, and had prepared the medicine in advance, just in case.
It was coming in handy now.
Lin Zhishui had inherited all her parents’ best genes, but being born prematurely had left her with skin that was especially white and tender, easily injured. Even with Ning Shangyu’s restraint, she still needed this.
Her earlier shock had briefly overshadowed the pain.
After a few seconds of awkward silence—
“I’ll do it myself!”
Lin Zhishui froze for a moment, still instinctively wanting to avoid Ning Shangyu’s touch.
Even ordinary eye contact was too much for her fragile body and soul to handle under his amber gaze.
Blushing, she quickly and perfunctorily applied the ointment, tossed the jar back at him, along with a pillow, and still didn’t dare look at him.
“I want to sleep by myself tonight. You go sleep in the other room.”
“I wasn’t planning to sleep in the master bedroom.”
Ning Shangyu calmly picked up the pillow that had fallen onto the carpet, placed it by Lin Zhishui’s side, and his lips curled with a meaningful smile.
“Miss Lin, since you like this bed so much, I’ll leave it to you.”
Miss Lin??!
What? Still calling her by that distant title…
Lin Zhishui immediately lost track of the main point.
As Ning Shangyu casually turned to leave, she couldn’t help but throw another clean pillow at him.
Big jerk!
Super big jerk!!
Super, super big jerk!!!
He’d already gone on and on tonight in bed.
No more polite or sarcastic calling her Lin Zhishui by her full name!
She hadn’t expected that this throw would make Ning Shangyu, who was almost at the door, turn back.
He knelt on one knee at the edge of the bed, stretched out his arm, and caught her.
“Looks like you still can’t sleep alone.”
When he picked her up, Lin Zhishui’s heart skipped a beat, and all the symptoms of a high fever rushed back at once.