Nyoi-Bo Studio

  Nyoi-Bo Studio

  “What were you so afraid of?” Qin Shu asked.

  Fu Tingyu did not know what he should say to quell Qin Shu’s anger.

  In his desperation, he let slip the words he buried in his heart, words not meant to be said.

  Fu Tingyu pursed his lips, refusing to speak further.

  No man would willingly talk of their wife’s relationship with another man.

  “Why didn’t you say anything?” Qin Shu suddenly turned around and faced him. The lights were not lit, masking Fu Tingyu’s expression from her.

  Fu Tingyu clenched his teeth, seemingly in agony. He clutched onto Qin Shu as if she were his only lifeline left. With great reluctance, he said, “You and Han Xiao were peas in a pod; your relationship could not have been better. I feared you would remember the past and go looking for him.”


  It was a lot for her to take in. Were they a thing in the past?

  Qin Shu felt her heart flutter and could not help but ask, “Did I like Han Xiao in the past?”


  Fu Tingyu shook his head helplessly. “Babe, don’t think about the past anymore, okay?”


  Pressed against Fu Tingyu’s chest, Qin Shu squirmed uncomfortably. It was getting hard to breathe. “No. I must learn what happened on Mount Qi. My relationship with Han Xiao is great. I want to know everything that happened between us.”


  Fu Tingyu stared at Qin Shu uncertainly, his mind abuzz with a dozen different questions. “But you’re my wife now. Isn’t that enough? Why should the past hold such a grip over you?”


  Qin Shu heaved a soundless sigh and changed the question. “Were we on good terms back then?”


  “It wasn’t bad. I’d say our relationship was so-so!” Fu Tingyu’s reply was as vague as they came, ending with a short addendum, “You were always ferocious whenever I was around.”


  Ugh!

  Hearing how aggrieved he sounded, Qin Shu felt an inexplicable urge to laugh. Unfortunately, now was not the most appropriate time for her to indulge in a few laughs; thus, she held back.

  “I’m five years younger than you. How could I have been so ferocious to have wronged you in any way? Humph! You must be playing the victim to make me forgive you.”


  Fu Tingyu leaned in, whispering in her ear, “You don’t know how savage you were in the past. Your beloved husband isn’t playing the victim at all.”


  Qin Shu snorted coldly. “I don’t believe it.”


  Fu Tingyu attempted to refute her, “It’s true, Babe. You even threatened me when I told you I don’t like eating sweets!”


  He recalled the day Qin Shu handed him a piece of strawberry-flavoured candy. His instinctual reaction was to reject her – not because of her kind intentions but for the fact that he didn’t like sweets, especially sour ones.

  Her response to him had been an ultimatum. If he did not eat the piece of candy she gave him, she would never offer him any candy ever again.

  He was not the only one to receive a strawberry-flavoured candy; Han Xiao had also received one and eaten it expressionlessly.

  He had no choice but to eat the bonbon sitting innocuously in Qin Shu’s hand; he would not allow himself to be outdone. It tasted sweet…… and horribly sour.

  The corner of Qin Shu’s mouth twitched. “How could I have threatened you with a piece of candy? I would have been happy if you didn’t eat it; I would have had more to myself!”


  There was still a lot that Fu Tingyu did not say out loud.

  The Qin Shu of Mount Qi treated him very differently from the way she treated Han Xiao.

  In front of Han Xiao, she was the friendly neighbour next door, but she behaved like a wild cat while with him. Most people adored her for the loveable side she projected. Others, like him, were greeted with her vicious claws.

  She would pick fights with him at the drop of a hat.

  Every time they fought, he would lead her on a wild goose chase up and down and around the mountain, deliberately slowing his pace so that she would not lose his trail.

  Whenever she was about to catch up, he would pick up his pace and shake her off.

  In the end, when she tired from chasing him, he was the one who carried her back.

  After all, she had only been a little girl around ten years of age, then. No matter how skilled or accomplished she was, there were physical limits imposed by her body’s immaturity. There was no way she would not exhaust herself chasing him the whole day.

  What he liked most was the way she treated his grandmother in the same way. Not even his grandmother was spared from Qin Shu’s savagery.

  “What is there not to believe? I’m sure once you regain your memories, this poor husband of yours is going to be bullied to death by you……”


  “Nonsense! You are five years older than me, and your martial might is much greater than mine. There’s no way I could have bullied you.” Qin Shu was convinced that Fu Tingyu was feigning his misery. It was more likely for him to have bullied her in the past than it was for the reverse.

  “There’s no one I love more than I love you.” Although he spoke softly, his words and the sense of helplessness they conveyed were heard by Qin Shu.

  She stiffened. Fu Tingyu’s words were molten chocolate against her skin, whispering honeyed promises as they wound their way around her neck and between her ears.

  She shuddered.

  In response, Fu Tingyu cupped her chin with his slender fingers, lifting it to meet his lips. A haze of warmth sent tingles across her skin. She did not even have the time to react before their lips were locked in a passionate kiss.

  Even Fu Tingyu was confused by his actions. Why did he have the sudden urge to kiss her?

  At first, his kiss was a cautious probe, but it quickly devolved from there.

  It was at this moment that the realisation hit him.

  He missed her. He missed her warmth, the spicy taste of her lips, the balmy scent of her body; he missed everything about her.

  He could feel her skin against his, smooth and as clear as water.

  Hah…… It required no effort to love her, to keep falling in love with her. It was an enterprise he would never tire of reliving.

  Qin Shu felt every molecule of oxygen draining from her lungs, her mind slowing to a crawl.

  It was a while later before Fu Tingyu released Qin Shu. “Babe, let bygones be bygones. Let’s not talk about the past anymore. Alright?”


  Qin Shu remained silent.

  Fu Tingyu called out, anxious. “Babe.”


  Qin Shu did not meet his eyes. The room was as dark as a moonless night, and she could not make out her surroundings very well. The air was heavy with the cloying smell of his minty breath and shower foam.

  Uneasy, she asked, “With everything you have said, do I owe you a debt of gratitude?”


  Fu Tingyu nearly laughed out loud upon hearing Qin Shu’s question. However, he managed to check himself, not wanting to arouse her ire. Reigniting her anger towards him was the last thing he wished. “Even if you do owe me a debt of gratitude, it’s in the past. You are my wife. Our lives have been joined together as husband and wife – the marriage certificate is proof! There is nothing more that needs to be said.”


  Qin Shu snorted coldly. “You still have the cheek to mention our marriage certificate? You should be clear who went to collect the certificate and who was carried there against her will.”


  Every time she thought about the marriage certificate, she was reminded of how Fu Tingyu manhandled her from Bright Garden to the Civil Affairs Bureau.

  It sounded like something out of a fairy tale: The great King of the Mountain kidnapping a damsel he fancied from some rural village.

  “The process is not important. It is the result that matters most. There can be no dispute that you are not my wife.” A weighty solemnity hung about Fu Tingyu’s words. It was no different from him claiming ownership over her – as if she was merely an object.

  Qin Shu’s face darkened. She could not believe he still had the audacity to parade that piece of information around so shamelessly.

  She tried shoving him away, but he refused to let go. He was too strong. With nothing else she could do, Qin Shu chose to ignore him.

  Perhaps it was not the best course of action as Fu Tingyu tightened his hold around her.

  “Fu Tingyu, let go of me.” She hissed forlornly.

  “Babe, if I could do it all over again, I would not have employed such means. I would have done everything in my power to endear myself to you, to make you accept me. Marriage would have followed naturally, and we could have children of our own. I didn’t have the time. I needed you to stay by my side. I don’t ask for forgiveness, and I’d accept your anger and hatred with open arms. You can shun me, but I won’t let you abandon me.”


  Qin Shu’s struggle slowed, her movements coming to a standstill.

  She did not want to start all over again. She did not wish for a future she could not predict.

  But did she have a choice in the matter?

  “Babe.” Fu Tingyu growled.

  Compared to his tenderness from before, his voice now sounded deep and guttural.

  He had her coiled around her fingers, like a ball of yarn being toyed by a cat. She was powerless in front of him.

  Fu Tingyu caressed her silken black hair, dragging his fingers through its soft, cascading falls, like petals catching the tiny drops of morning dew.

  It was intoxicating.

  In her dazed state, Qin Shu could barely make out the rest of his words……

  Now that she was almost five months pregnant, she could……

  She could not think straight. Fu Tingyu was depriving her of oxygen again, slowing her reactions and masking his intent.

  It was not until he made a move that she finally understood the words he had spoken under his breath.

  “You hoodlum!” She cursed.

  Fu Tingyu laughed heartily, not caring in the least that Qin Shu apprehended his intentions. “Babe, do you know how much I’ve missed you? I’ve thought of you every single day for the past month, dreaming of having you in my arms again. There were times I thought I was going crazy without you around. I won’t let you disappear again. I won’t let things end the way they did on Mount Qi. Never again will you disappear without a trace!”
……