His Addiction - Chapter 18
Xu Zhi had indeed spent the night at a hotel with Liang Jinmo, but she wouldn’t tell Liang Mushi that.
Because she had blacked out, she didn’t know what she had said to him on the phone last night that led him to this conclusion. But one thing was certain: it was inappropriate to discuss such private matters between platonic friends.
Feeling uncomfortable and unwilling to continue this conversation, she tried to brush it off. “No… we didn’t stay in the same room.”
Liang Mushi stared at her intently, as if scrutinizing her.
Xu Zhi glanced at him. “When you called this morning, he happened to be coming to see me. He…”
She thought of Liang Jinmo. “He’s not the type to cross boundaries.”
Liang Mushi’s expression was complicated. “Don’t trust men so easily. You’re really naive, you know. You’re so easily tricked.”
“What’s there to trick me for?” Xu Zhi gave a weak smile. “I’m still a student.”
Liang Mushi looked at her, sighing after a long moment. “Xiao Zhi Zi, don’t you know there are men who take advantage of women?”
Xu Zhi froze, her face flushing slightly as the implication hit her.
Liang Mushi didn’t press her further on the issue, changing the subject. “Who is this man you like? Do I know him?”
It’s you, Xu Zhi thought, but she shook her head.
“Introduce him to me sometime. I’ll vet him for you, make sure he’s not a jerk,” Liang Mushi said, acting like a protective older brother.
Xu Zhi’s heart ached. She had never imagined that one day, Liang Mushi would be vetting her boyfriends.
His sincerity made her secret feelings seem even more pathetic. She clenched her fists and nodded.
She would date someone eventually, and maybe she really would introduce him to Liang Mushi, and then they would finally go their separate ways.
With the awkward topic finally over, they had a simple meal at the coffee shop. Then Xu Zhi prepared to return to school for her self-study session.
Liang Mushi walked her to the side gate of the campus.
Eager to get to the library, Xu Zhi hurried inside.
Behind her, Liang Mushi didn’t leave immediately.
He watched her retreating figure, suddenly remembering how many times he had walked her back to school.
Countless times… Most of the time, she would stop midway and look back at him.
He would wave, and she would wave back, a smile blooming on her face.
Xu Zhi’s smile was infectious. Every time he saw her smile like that, he would smile too.
But this time was different. She walked quickly, as if fleeing from something.
Liang Mushi waited until she was out of sight before turning back. He got into his car, his mind still replaying the scene at the coffee shop. When Xu Zhi had taken off her down jacket because the air conditioning was too strong, he had seen the men’s shirt she was wearing underneath.
It was a simple white shirt, much too big for her, the shoulder seams drooping halfway down her upper arms. The man must have been tall.
He didn’t fully believe Xu Zhi’s words, but he didn’t entirely disbelieve them either.
Knowing her personality, if something had happened between her and that man, she would have blushed and been flustered when he asked such a personal question. But she hadn’t.
However, as a man himself, he knew how few men could resist temptation. She had been clearly drunk last night. Could they really have gone to a hotel and stayed in separate rooms without anything happening?
He had considered pressing her further, but their relationship was already strained.
She had inexplicably started avoiding him. He had come to reconcile with her, not to make things worse. He needed to figure out what was going on with Xu Zhi from a different angle.
It seemed likely that she had fallen in with the wrong crowd. He needed to find this mysterious man.
Xu Zhi was too innocent, too trusting. He had to help her.
He drove towards the eastern suburbs. He had bought a large apartment there after graduation, and Chen Jing was currently living in it.
Chen Jing’s background was somewhat sensitive. He hadn’t wanted Xu Zhi to tell his family about their relationship because of it.
Chen Jing’s father was a high-ranking official who had been expelled from the Party and dismissed from public office two years ago.
Chen Jing had also been raised in a privileged environment. But after her father’s downfall, her family was torn apart. She lost her comfortable lifestyle and was often bullied.
Meeting Liang Mushi had been a turning point for her. Now, she lived in a luxurious apartment in the eastern suburbs, with maids taking care of the house. Her life was relatively comfortable again.
Liang Mushi entered the living room. Chen Jing was opening a package. She said to him, “One of my old friends went shopping in Hong Kong. I asked her to buy me a bag. Mu Zhi, why don’t we go to Hong Kong too? The clothes and bags here are so boring.”
Liang Mushi wasn’t really listening. He sat down on the other end of the sofa, his mind still preoccupied with Xu Zhi.
Chen Jing was absorbed in the joy of her new bag. After a while, she realized Liang Mushi hadn’t said a word. She put down the bag and came over to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. “What’s wrong? Are you unhappy? Oh, right, did you find Xu Zhi?”
“I did,” Liang Mushi replied, taking her hand and forcing a smile. “She’s fine. She’s back at school.”
He avoided her earlier question. Realizing this, Chen Jing didn’t press further. Instead, she leaned in to kiss him.
He cupped the back of her head, deepening the kiss.
But suddenly, fragmented images flashed through his mind—
Disjointed visions of a man kissing Xu Zhi, holding her…
These chaotic fantasies, which had plagued him last night, surged back.
Breaking the kiss, Liang Mushi breathed heavily.
Chen Jing, always bold and forward, reached out to touch him. He caught her wrist, his voice hoarse. “Not now.”
Few would believe it, but Liang Mushi and Chen Jing had yet to take their relationship to the next level.
He held onto an old-fashioned, romantic ideal: that love should progress naturally and with proper ceremony, rather than being a mere outlet for physical desire. He wanted their first time to be meaningful and had even started planning for it.
Chen Jing rested her head on his chest and asked softly, “What are you thinking about?”
He opened his mouth but ultimately said, “Nothing.”
Though not the most attentive man, he wasn’t foolish enough to admit that he had been thinking about Xu Zhi while kissing Chen Jing.
The lewd fantasies from the previous night had tormented him for hours. As he’d gone from bar to bar searching for Xu Zhi, a wild, irrational thought had crossed his mind: if he found the man, he would kill him.
It was madness…
Even he found it ridiculous. Xu Zhi was important to him, yes, but not to that extent.
Because he hadn’t slept the night before, Liang Mushi went to bed early that evening.
But in the middle of the night, he woke abruptly.
Chen Jing was in the guest room. Alone in the master bedroom, he lay on the bed, gasping for breath.
Moments earlier, in his dream, he had pinned a woman beneath him.
It wasn’t his first dream like this.
But for the first time, the face in his dream was Xu Zhi’s.