Chapter 94: Truths Spilled After Wine
Chapter 94: Truths Spilled After Wine
A bottle of Feitian liquor was soon emptied, and Mu Long was drunk too, mumbling something face-down on the table, though it was impossible to make out what he was saying.
Li Zian wasn’t a big drinker either. But strangely, as he neared drunkenness, the Great Sluggish Cauldron inside him woke up without warning. Threads of Zhenqi spread through his body, making his drunken haze fade more and more. By the time he finished the last cup, only a faint tipsiness remained.
Li Zian intended to help Mu Long back home, but before he could get up, Yu Meilin and Mu Chuntao came downstairs.
Mu Chuntao supported Mu Long back. Facing Yu Meilin, Li Zian felt awkward offering help, so he just pretended to be drunk himself.
Yu Meilin saw Mu Chuntao and Meilin out.
A thought suddenly popped into Li Zian’s mind: I drank so much this time. This is the perfect chance to pretend I’m drunk. I wonder if Yu Meilin will say something she normally wouldn’t while I’m like this?
Thinking this, he flopped facedown onto the dining table.
Yu Meilin only walked them next door and returned very quickly.
“Drink… I’m not drunk… Let me toast you one more time…” Li Zian mumbled drunken nonsense from under his arm.
Yu Meilin walked over and complained, “You, you don’t usually drink, so why did you drink so much this time? You finished most of that bottle! Uncle Mu was clever, taking small sips. But you, you downed yours every time. No wonder you’re drunk!”
“I… I… am not drunk… heh heh heh…”
“Heh heh heh, heh your head! Uncle Mu could walk himself home. Get up and try walking.”
Li Zian: “…”
Yu Meilin sighed. “Getting drunk once is like suffering a bout of acute hepatitis. And you know medicine! Such little care for your own body. Fine, I can’t be bothered to scold you. Let me help you back to your room.”
Every married man has had this experience.
Even if you marry a Celestial Immortal, you must be prepared for her to nag.
Yu Meilin helped Li Zian up. Staggering, they entered the downstairs room. She set him down on the bed and then removed his shoes and socks.
Li Zian didn’t practice boxing or cultivate the Great Slumber Qi Refining Art, so he rarely sweated. His feet had no odor at all. Yet, he clearly saw Yu Meilin frown while taking off his sock.
My foot isn’t stinky! Why the hammer are you frowning?
After the socks, Yu Meilin started taking off Li Zian’s Tang suit jacket. It had cloth buttons and wasn’t hard to remove. She undid the buttons. Without him needing to sit up, she tugged a couple of times and it slid off.
The light shone on Li Zian’s exposed body. His chest had two hard, disc-like pectoral muscles. Below, eight distinct abs stretched across his abdomen, along with clear obliques, radiating pure masculine energy.
Yu Meilin froze for a slight moment, murmuring softly, “You don’t even go to the gym. How is your physique this good? Even I feel a bit… stirred looking at this body. No wonder Mu Chuntao is interested. You’re nothing but a trouble-making, flower-enticing disaster.”
Li Zian was speechless inside.
Flower-enticing disaster?
You’re a top graduate from Tsinghua University! Can’t you even use adjectives properly? That’s clearly for describing women!
Just then, Yu Meilin suddenly reached out. Her hand gripped the flesh on Li Zian’s thigh and gave it a half-hard twist. She nagged again, “If I hadn’t asked Kun Li to watch you, would you have climbed into her bed?”
Li Zian endured it, staying perfectly still.
Yu Meilin used that twisting hand to pull down his elastic-waist pants. The elastic made it easy; she barely used any strength. Without Li Zian needing to lift his feet, the pants were off.
Li Zian tensed up instantly.
Four years ago, he’d been drunk. Then Yu Meilin had taken advantage, leading to Xiaomei.
Now, the scene was almost identical to four years ago. Would she use the same trick again?
If it weren’t for Mu Chuntao, he might have actually hoped she would.
But his heart was full of Taozi now, leaving him slightly resistant to the idea.
Yu Meilin stared intently at a certain spot. Was she remembering that legally dubious act from four years ago?
Li Zian cracked his eyelids open just a slit, secretly observing her. He saw exactly where Yu Meilin was looking and grew even more nervous.
Taozi gave me her precious first time. Shouldn’t I save my own precious second time for her?
If she tries to ‘eat the buffet’ again, I’ll just ‘wake up’ and stop pretending. He decided firmly in his mind.
Luckily, Yu Meilin just stared. Her hand never reached for his triangular underwear. Though judging by her eyes, she seemed a little tempted, and maybe conflicted.
This reaction… She must be thinking of that Hank guy again.
Reading expressions and guessing thoughts was a skill he’d honed back in Crescent Moon Village. The Great Sluggish Cauldron had only sharpened it further.
After about ten more seconds of staring, Yu Meilin sighed. “Zian.”
Instinctively, Li Zian’s lips moved. He almost answered. He caught himself just as his mouth opened, remembering he was supposed to be drunk, and sealed it shut again.
Thankfully, Yu Meilin’s gaze wasn’t on his mouth. She didn’t catch that tiny reflex. She just continued, talking more to herself. “You’re drunk. Let me talk.”
Li Zian: “…”
“Four years ago, I needed someone to marry. I also needed someone to care for Grandma. You were perfect. Good-looking, decent Mind’s Eye, good temper. So I settled for marrying you. But… I didn’t like you at all. Not even when I brought you here to Shanghai this time. Sometimes I even thought… since I’m not the Chairperson of Dajiang Group anymore, maybe I should just divorce you. But then I’d think of Xiaomei, still little, needing her father. Grandma was used to your care too. I just couldn’t harden my heart enough to do it.”
This was genuine.
Their marriage had been a transaction, fulfilling mutual needs. Four years ago, she was the Chairperson of Dajiang Group—what status! How could she possibly fall for a village farmer? So, she only visited Crescent Moon Village once a year, barely speaking more than a few words to him. Even at the beginning of this trip out of the mountains, she gave him the cold shoulder. Thinking deeper, the reason she brought him out? She knew she’d lose the Chairperson position. Xiaomei needed her father. Lin Shengnan needed this servant to look after her. Bringing him to Shanghai was a reluctant necessity.
Hearing her monologue, Li Zian’s mind actually calmed. His ‘affair’ with Mu Chuntao had always left a trace of guilt when facing Yu Meilin. But that guilt vanished now and would stay gone.
“Ah.” Yu Meilin sighed deeply.
Li Zian thought cynically, What’s there to sigh about? You’ve just been using me from start to finish. If it weren’t for Xiaomei, I’d have divorced you long ago too.
“How could I have guessed… that the useless husband I took in four years ago for those reasons… was actually a treasure? With such abilities, why didn’t you show some these past four years? Make me see you were capable? If I’d known earlier you were a Master, would our relationship be this awkward now?”
Li Zian inwardly laughed bitterly. The world is just this harsh.
“Looking now… maybe you’re the surprise Heaven gave me. I felt nothing for you before, but recently… I actually started to feel something. I think I’m starting to like you. And you? You want a divorce? Do I look stupid? I didn’t divorce you when you were just a farmer! Now that you’re a Master, I would?”
If this had happened earlier, Li Zian might have cried tears of joy. Four years of yearning, finally earning a tiny shred of liking from the Queen.
But now? He didn’t care.
“Do you think I don’t know what Mu Chuntao intends? If it weren’t for just signing a contract with her father, I’d have confronted her today. Give me a bit more time. Let me like you a little more. Let me truly forget him. Then… I’ll start a real married life with you. Okay?”
Li Zian swore mentally: Good my hammer! Think I’m stupid? You didn’t cherish me, but Taozi did! Give you time to forget that guy? I gave you four whole years! Back then, I dreamed every night you’d like me. And you? Barely spoke to me! Now that my heart holds someone else, you tell me you’re starting to ‘like’ me? You like the Master’s abilities. Not me.
Yu Meilin sighed again. “Getting all those bottled-up words out feels so much better. For years, I haven’t even had anyone around I could really talk to. Do you know how difficult it’s been? From now on… I’ll talk to you, okay? Just wait for me a little longer. Xiaomei, and me, and you… we will be a happy family. Okay?”
Li Zian lay perfectly still on the bed, giving no reaction.
She had spilled the truths clogging her heart this ‘drunken talk’, and felt much lighter. But his feelings? They were entirely the opposite.
From a husband and father’s viewpoint, he should give Yu Meilin time and a chance. They’d become a happy little trio – best for Li Xiaomei. But for him? It was unjust. He felt he couldn’t do it anyway.
I’m no damn Ninja Turtle! Why should I be the one holding everything in? Why should I be the one sacrificing?
Everyone has the right to pursue the life they want.
The talking ended, but Yu Meilin didn’t leave. She looked at Li Zian’s face. Then her gaze drifted down… across the defined chest muscles… over the chiseled abs… and finally… lingered somewhere specific.
Li Zian yelled internally: You finished blabbering! What else do you want?
Yu Meilin’s hand moved toward the triangular underwear.
Li Zian panicked: Oh crap! Does she plan to ‘eat the buffet’ again like four years ago?!
Her hand paused mere centimeters from the elastic band. She took a deep, visible breath. After a few seconds, she told herself, “Can’t do that again.”
Her hand changed course. She pulled the quilt over Li Zian instead, then left his room.
Li Zian sat up in bed. He pulled his phone from his pocket and messaged Mu Chuntao: Uncle Mu asleep yet?
King Kong Lolita: You’re not drunk?
Li Zian: Woke up.
King Kong Lolita: What? Craving some Peach?
Li Zian: I’m no monkey, addicted to peaches, am I? Just wanted to come over and chat.
King Kong Lolita: A man’s tongue is a deceiving ghost.
Li Zian: Seriously, is Uncle Mu asleep?
King Kong Lolita: Watching TV in the living room.
Li Zian was speechless inwardly.
Age brings cunning.
King Kong Lolita: Dared to come over? I’ll unlock the door.
Li Zian sent a sweating emoji: Your dad’s watching TV right there! He’d grab a knife!
King Kong Lolita: Want peach but scared of knives. Coward.
Li Zian: What did Yu Meilin talk to you both about upstairs?
King Kong Lolita: Casual stuff. Paris Fashion Shows, cosmetics. Chatted a bit about Iran’s situation.
Li Zian: …
King Kong Lolita: Also talked about that Qin Song… and you.
Li Zian instantly became interested: What was said? Tell me.
King Kong Lolita: Daddy asked me to make him some tea 😞 Tell you tomorrow.
Li Zian: Fine. Goodnight.
Putting the phone down, he felt a deep emptiness.
How to soothe sorrows? A stick of sandalwood incense, and sleep the Great Slumber.
The Great Slumber Qi Refining Art – sleeping is cultivation.
The Heavenly Dao rewards diligence. Those who work hard will always see the dawn.