“It’s a little cold—”
Before Li Tangli could finish, Ji Jiayu had already yanked the jacket off her shoulders and tossed it carelessly aside.
That was the new jacket she’d bought at the start of spring. Li Tangli’s gaze drifted after it, clearly wanting to go pick it up.
But the moment she shifted, as if to move, her waist was pinched hard, almost punishingly.
Ji Jiayu said impatiently, “Why are you making such a scene in front of everyone?”
Li Tangli flushed red, lowering her voice to protest. “I wasn’t! I just wanted to grab my jacket.”
Ji Jiayu, cigarette between his lips, pinched her cheek lightly and warned, “Don’t you dare pick it up. Dressed like some country bumpkin fresh off the bus—you’d be embarrassing me. Understand?”
“…Mm.”
Li Tangli lowered her head and nodded under the pressure.
Ever since the senior he’d secretly liked had gone abroad and cut him off without a word, Ji Jiayu had been sullen and out of sorts. At the adult birthday party his friends threw for him, he got drunk and, in a haze, ended up in bed with Li Tangli.
Li Tangli didn’t actually look much like her. But from a certain angle, in profile, she bore an uncanny resemblance to his unrequited moonlight.
He glanced at her now, his eyes still brimming with distaste—an utterly plain, unremarkable face. If he hadn’t been so drunk that night, even as a substitute, tangling himself up with a woman like this would have been beneath him.
Still, mediocre as she was, she was unexpectedly low-maintenance. He’d meant to toss her some money and cut her loose the day after his birthday, but somehow it had dragged on until now.
One reason he still hadn’t said anything was that Li Tangli genuinely liked him.
That much was agreed upon by everyone in his circle of friends.
Girls liking Ji Jiayu wasn’t news. But putting in this much effort was rare.
She messaged him every day—good mornings and good nights went without saying—and the moment he so much as had a headache, Li Tangli fussed over him more than anyone.
He mentioned once he had no appetite, and she braved the rain to bring him food, her skirt soaked halfway through, holding it out to him eagerly.
Ji Jiayu had a temper nasty enough that even his childhood friends gave him a wide berth when it flared. But in three months, Li Tangli had never once shown any sign of resentment.
Like now—even after he’d cruelly stripped her jacket off, she only hugged her arms and let herself be pulled obediently into his embrace.
Wearing the clothes he liked, standing at his side, entirely his—thinking this secret, possessive thought sent a sudden warmth surging through Ji Jiayu’s chest.
Officially she was his girlfriend, but in practice she wasn’t so different from a woman he was keeping. And given how much she liked him, why bother holding back?
He quickly rationalized this small flicker of feeling and, following the impulse, lowered his head to claim her unsuspecting lips.
But Li Tangli instinctively leaned back, dodging his descending mouth.
“What are you dodging for?” Displeasure crossed Ji Jiayu’s face instantly. He straightened, his expression turning cold in a flash.
Didn’t she like him so much?
In almost the same instant, the heat of the party around them cooled into stillness. — BLACK LOTUS NOVEL Novel Translations · Black Lotus
People turned to look at them. Li Tangli became, in a heartbeat, an ant roasting on a spit.
The gazes crawling over her—over the bare skin of her chest and back—settled, bright and dim by turns, on her bewildered, dazed face.
Li Tangli hadn’t caught up with what had happened.
Despite how long they’d been together, they hadn’t kissed much at all. As for the number of times they’d slept together, she could count it on one hand. So she still wasn’t quite used to this kind of closeness. Flinching back instinctively was only natural.
But under the weight of countless watching eyes, pressing down on her like something solid, she managed, with difficulty, “I wasn’t trying to dodge you—I just wasn’t expecting it. I’m sorry.”
The pale words did nothing. Ji Jiayu kept staring at her coldly, saying nothing.
She had no other choice. Swallowing her shame in front of everyone, she carefully rose onto her toes and tilted her head up to kiss him first.
Ji Jiayu’s expression stayed foul, but he didn’t move away. Not until her eyes fell shut and she pressed her trembling lips to his—the instant their mouths met, he suddenly moved, pressing a hard hand to the small of her back and biting down viciously on her lower lip.
Li Tangli let out a cry of pain. This time, of course, she didn’t dare pull back. She braced her hands against his chest but didn’t dare push.
Tears welled up at once, but the pitiful few were quickly swallowed by the wet, ambiguous sounds between them.
Her yielding manner was just enough to placate him. He half-carried her, and the two of them soon vanished at the far end of the staircase.
At midnight, Gu Zhi pushed open the door to his house.
These past few days he’d been buried in finalizing a cross-border acquisition, shuttling constantly between headquarters and branch offices, pushing negotiations forward without pause. Even accustomed as he was to grueling work, exhaustion showed on his face now.
He didn’t turn on the lights, walking straight to the sofa, tipping his head back and closing his eyes to rest for a moment. The darkness made him feel more at ease.
His temples throbbed. Gu Zhi opened his eyes and caught sight of a pack of cigarettes and a lighter tossed on the coffee table.
He smoked, but rarely. Gu Zhi disliked any hobby that carried a risk of addiction.
Thinking of the mess strewn across the yard, he didn’t need to think hard to guess—Ji Jiayu had clearly invited that pack of spoiled friends of his over again.
After his parents died in a car accident, the household was left with only his elder sister Gu Shufeng, Gu Zhi himself, freshly of age, and their premature, frail younger sister Gu Yuqin.
When she’d learned of their parents’ deaths, Gu Shufeng—married and settled abroad—had flown back overnight, with no time to grieve, juggling both the funeral arrangements and an emergency takeover of the company’s affairs. She lost eight pounds in a month.
It wasn’t until she started bleeding that she belatedly realized she’d been pregnant with a second child. But it was too late—the miscarriage damaged her so badly it left her infertile for life. Which was why she doted so fiercely on Ji Jiayu, her only remaining child.
Gu Zhi, too, was thoroughly indulgent with his nephew.
When Ji Jiayu turned ten, he’d suddenly declared he wanted a star.
Even with all his money and power, Gu Zhi had no way to pluck one down by hand.
So he settled for the next best thing: at a charity gala hosted by a meteorite foundation in Country L, he donated two hundred thousand dollars to win the naming rights to an asteroid, and gave it to Ji Jiayu as a tenth birthday present.
Gu Zhi himself remained unmarried to this day, his romantic life scarce enough that rumors had started swirling about him being sexually indifferent. It could be said that he’d been raising his nephew to be his heir all along.
But once Ji Jiayu hit adolescence, his spoiled temperament grew steadily more rebellious, constantly butting heads with the family—only Gu Zhi could rein him in even slightly.
He thought of the day he’d hauled the boy back from a hotel, how Ji Jiayu had still stubbornly refused to admit any wrongdoing, infuriating Gu Shufeng so badly she’d had to clutch her chest to steady her breathing. In the end, there was nothing to be done with him. He was a grown man now—was it really worth beating him over this?
Gu Zhi had watched coldly as the boy refused to bow his stiff neck, and that same day had frozen the card of his hard-headed nephew.
Shut up in the old family estate for a few days, released only yesterday—and already stirring up trouble again today.
Just thinking of this exasperating nephew made Gu Zhi’s headache worse.
He simply pulled a cigarette from the pack and sat in the dark, using the nicotine to steady his thoughts.
The cigarette had burned halfway down when footsteps sounded upstairs. He turned his face without any change in expression, and the staircase light suddenly flicked on.
The person who’d turned it on stepped into view. A muscle jumped hard at Gu Zhi’s temple—that woman again. Li Tangli.
Ji Jiayu actually had the nerve to bring her home to carry on like this!
Li Tangli, who’d spent years caring for her mother, slept lightly—the smallest sound could wake her.
Half-asleep, she’d been kicked awake and sat up to find Ji Jiayu beside her already drenched in cold sweat from pain, his mind hazy, hair damp and plastered to his temples.
His stomach was acting up again.
Seeing how badly he was suffering, she grabbed one of his short-sleeved shirts from the floor and threw it on hastily, then went downstairs to get him some warm water.
The party had long since ended. In the fading light of night, the sprawling mansion felt excessively empty, an unsettling silence pressing in.
Water in hand, Li Tangli’s gaze happened to sweep across the living room opposite—and there, on the sofa, sat what looked like the blurred outline of a tall figure, hidden in the dark, staring quietly right at her.
Her heart stopped. She let out an instinctive scream, and most of the water in her hands spilled out.
With a snap, the living room light came on.
The man who’d turned it on said calmly, “Miss Li. You show up in my house in the middle of the night… shouldn’t I be the one who’s frightened?”
Li Tangli’s heart was still pounding wildly. She focused and realized it was the male lead’s uncle, Gu Zhi—the man she’d crossed paths with once before.
Compared to the composed, impeccably suited president she’d seen at the hotel that day, tonight’s Gu Zhi looked considerably more relaxed. And yet the pressure he gave off had only grown.
He wasn’t wearing a tie; the top two buttons of his shirt were undone, baring his collarbones. The white fabric hinted faintly at the contours of muscle beneath it, and a lean, narrow waist. His sleeves were carelessly rolled up, revealing a stretch of solid forearm.
The humiliation from the hotel felt as fresh as yesterday. To Li Tangli, running into Gu Zhi in the middle of the night was somehow worse than running into a ghost. — B L A C K L O T U S Translation — BLACK LOTUS NOVEL
She wanted to leave immediately, but courtesy held her back, and in the end she stood obediently where she was.
She opened her mouth, unsure how to address him, and after some hesitation, said quietly, “Mr. Gu.”
Taller and more solidly built than young Ji Jiayu. More mature and formidable than an eighteen-year-old. Harder to handle than the male lead himself.
Gu Zhi, by contrast, looked much more at ease—this was his own territory, after all. Though even elsewhere, he’d have had no reason to feel restrained in front of Li Tangli.
He settled back onto the sofa and stubbed out the half-smoked cigarette between his fingers in the ashtray.
“What are you doing here?”
The words were barely out of his mouth before he let out a short laugh, mocking himself for asking something so obvious.
This was something that needed dealing with eventually, especially given it concerned Ji Jiayu. But not tonight. He was too tired, hadn’t the energy for it.
“Never mind,” Gu Zhi said, rubbing his forehead. “Miss Li, is it? Pour me a glass of water too.”
“…Okay.” She was almost grateful he hadn’t pressed the earlier question—otherwise she wouldn’t have known how to answer with any dignity. She could hardly say she’d been summoned here by his nephew to sleep with him.
Obediently she brought the water over, adding, “It might be a little hot.”
Gu Zhi’s eyes were half-lowered as he watched her set the cup down carefully with both hands.
Reasonably well brought up, at least.
The fingers wrapped around the cup were slender, the nails trimmed carefully into short, rounded arcs, unpolished, unadorned, showing only their own natural, clean pale pink.
“Thank—” Gu Zhi looked up, his gaze sweeping over her, and abruptly froze.
Earlier she’d been farther away. Now that she was closer, Gu Zhi wasn’t entirely sure—had she really come down to serve him tea and water wearing nothing but one of Ji Jiayu’s short-sleeved shirts?
Li Tangli was slightly thin, the gentle curves of her body outlined faintly beneath the thin fabric, her figure still carrying some of a girl’s youthful softness.
It belatedly occurred to Gu Zhi that she was only twenty this year.
Even the skin of her exposed neck bore several marks, bruised on roughly—to say nothing of what lay beneath the collar. At the bend of her knees, the wide imprint of a man’s fingers was unmistakably visible, her knees flushed red as well.
She seemed to be the type whose skin marked easily.
And Li Tangli herself appeared entirely unaware of any of it. Dressed so scantily, her face nonetheless carried an unconscious timidity, something almost like a quiet, ingratiating apology.
She only looked at Gu Zhi, puzzled as to why he’d gone silent.
Gu Zhi said nothing for two seconds, then snatched up the suit jacket lying beside him and threw it at her.
The heavy garment landed over her head, blotting out her vision in an instant, and before she could brace herself, a dry, heavy, woodsy fragrance seized her breath, nearly stealing it away entirely.
In the darkness behind the fabric, the man’s low voice reached her ears: “Put it on.”
“Huh?” Li Tangli finally caught up—aside from her underwear, she was wearing nothing but Ji Jiayu’s short sleeve!
Her face burned with mortification, her hands shaking badly as she pulled the man’s jacket on.
Gu Zhi was even taller than Ji Jiayu’s 184 centimeters. On her, the hem hung down past her thighs, the sleeves absurdly long, and she had to roll them up.
Seen like this, it looked as though the jacket had swallowed her whole.
“Thank you. I—” Eager to escape the awkwardness, she glanced up the stairs and, after a brief hesitation, said, “I should go back to the room. Ji Jiayu isn’t feeling well.”
Gu Zhi’s eyes lifted, mildly surprised. “What’s wrong with him?”
“His stomach hurts. I thought warm water might help, so I came down for a cup.”
Drinking and smoking on an empty stomach, never eating properly—how was his stomach supposed to be fine?
He rubbed at his aching temple, and it softened his tone toward her somewhat. “The medicine box is in the bottom drawer of the coffee table. There should be half a pack of chewable tablets left. Miss Li, would you mind getting it?”
Li Tangli followed his gesture and looked—the drawer was less than a step away from Gu Zhi. | Black Lotus Novel Translation — Black Lotus Novel
She blinked uneasily and offered a faint, reluctant protest. “Mr. Gu, you’re closer.”
Her feelings were painfully easy to read, written plainly across her face: her lower lip caught between her teeth, her lashes fluttering helplessly.
Gu Zhi looked straight at her. “My head’s a little dizzy. I’d appreciate the trouble.”
He put a touch of weight on those last few words.
“…Fine.”
Li Tangli had no choice but to give in. She walked over and crouched down to search through the drawer.
Gu Zhi watched her every movement from above.
In front of him, Li Tangli always seemed so timid, so eager to please, and he’d always doubted how genuine that really was. Judging by tonight alone, if this was an act, then her acting was frighteningly convincing.
She was crouched right at his feet now, a single step away.
The size difference between them was considerable—his jacket, far too large on her, pooled at the floor as she crouched, one corner of the fabric coming to rest lightly against the toe of his shoe.
Too close, he thought, lowering his eyes.
Close enough that he noticed, for the first time, a small mole on the side of her neck.
The kiss marks had somehow missed that one spot.
Gu Zhi stared at it, expressionless, for two seconds before he suddenly registered what he was doing. He frowned and immediately looked away.
Li Tangli had just found the medicine when Gu Zhi rose to his feet first, deliberately putting distance between them.
She looked at him, a little confused.
He merely walked over to the light switch, and with his back to her, said evenly, “Go on back up. Make sure he takes the medicine.”
Water and pills in hand, Li Tangli had just set her foot on the first step when the living room light went out behind her, right on cue.
Her steps faltered, and she couldn’t help glancing back.
The sprawling mansion sank back into quiet darkness, and she could no longer tell whether the figure was still sitting there on the sofa at all.
