After a Flash Marriage with a Professor - Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Choice

Yan Mingshu came forward to kiss her. Shen Junlan didn’t feel any self-reproach, only the roar of her blood, as if it was about to burst through her veins.

Shen Junlan didn’t move. She waited for Mingshu to come and kiss her. As she got closer and closer, Shen Junlan lowered her eyes, her gaze fixed on Mingshu’s delicate and sweet lips.

With less than a centimeter left, Shen Junlan couldn’t hold back anymore and was about to meet her, when she suddenly saw a drop of blood appear on Mingshu’s blood-red lips. Like stopping at the edge of a cliff, she pulled her head back.

Mingshu, who hadn’t kissed her target before closing her eyes, opened them in confusion and saw that Professor Shen had moved away from her.

So Professor Shen didn’t want her to kiss her.

Her heart was pounding wildly. Yan Mingshu bit her lip tightly. She lowered her head. At that moment, Professor Shen’s warm fingertips touched her lips, gently stroking them. Her teeth involuntarily loosened their grip on her lower lip, which she had bitten until it bled.

“Does kissing me cause you this much pain, Mingshu?” Professor Shen’s voice was gentle even when she asked such a question.

Yan Mingshu’s conscience was heavily condemned. She felt that Professor Shen must have better choices than her. With those better choices, Professor Shen’s needs would surely be better satisfied, unlike with her, who, even if she wanted to cooperate, was like an inexperienced, emotionless block of wood, only disappointing Professor Shen.

“I’m sorry, Professor Shen.” Yan Mingshu couldn’t even raise her head.

Shen Junlan gently wiped the bead of blood from Mingshu’s lip with her fingertip and made a decision that was difficult to convince even herself of.

“Mingshu, I’m giving you a chance to change your mind.”

Shen Junlan retracted her hand, which was still stained with the bead of blood from Mingshu’s lip. She gently rubbed her thumb and forefinger together, with a feeling as if she was still caressing Mingshu’s tempting red lips.

Yan Mingshu looked up in surprise, her eyes misty with tears. She suspected she was hallucinating and wanted to ask Professor Shen to say it again, but she was too guilty and afraid to speak. She just looked timidly at Professor Shen, who was neatly dressed in her bathrobe and sitting upright against the headboard.

She had a very strong feeling that even though they were sleeping in the same bed, she and Professor Shen were not from the same world.

“Mingshu, I’m only giving you one chance to change your mind.” Shen Junlan looked into Mingshu’s eyes. It was a very difficult thing to give up the beauty she had just gained. Beauty was always hard to let go of.

Mingshu never considered herself to be beautiful. She grew up in a poor and chaotic family, and she had suffered too much slander and abuse. She had gradually lost her self-confidence and carefully hid herself, only wanting to be an invisible person. Even this small wish was not granted. It was as if her life was never meant to be peaceful.

Sometimes, Mingshu would comfort herself by thinking that she had committed some great sin in her past life, and this life was for her to suffer and atone for it.

Professor Shen was a rare ray of light in her dark life. It was as if she had appeared at this time to briefly illuminate her and tell her that she hadn’t been completely abandoned by the world.

“Mingshu, there’s one thing I haven’t told you. When you were taking a shower, I contacted Jiang Lingyu. She asked me if I could truly accept you and your family. If I couldn’t, she was willing to pay me back the million yuan for you.”

“What? Lingyu… How could she have that much money?”

“I don’t know, Mingshu. I only know that the problem between us now is not whether I can accept you, but whether you can accept me and if you are truly willing to be my wife.”

“Professor Shen, I…” Yan Mingshu was extremely confused.

She didn’t know.

“Mingshu, you don’t have to answer me in a hurry. Think carefully and then tell me. I don’t want the million yuan back. If you don’t want to owe Jiang Lingyu, you can consider it a loan from me. You don’t have to be in a hurry to pay it back. I’m not short on money.”

Yan Mingshu’s heart suddenly trembled, as if a ton of weight had been dropped.

“Professor Shen, why are you so good to me?”

Shen Junlan sighed in a resigned manner. “You call me a professor.”

After saying that, Shen Junlan looked away from Mingshu’s face, afraid that one more glance at Mingshu would break her resolve and make her regret it. She found herself ridiculous.

A professor who was willing to give a student a million yuan.

She got out of bed and left.

“Professor Shen, are you not sleeping here tonight?” Yan Mingshu asked, sitting on the bed and holding the blanket.

“Will you be able to sleep here if I do?” Shen Junlan’s hand was already on the doorknob.

“I…” Yan Mingshu found herself unable to argue and also got up. “Professor Shen, this is your room. You should sleep here. I’ll go sleep on the sofa.”

“Do you really think I’m going to sleep on the sofa?” Shen Junlan smiled silently with her back to the naive young woman. It was just a trick to get the young woman to sleep in the same bed as her. The young woman actually believed her wholeheartedly.

“…” Yan Mingshu belatedly realized what was happening. Her small hands clenched, her fingertips digging into her palms. She was too embarrassed to say anything else.

“Think carefully, Mingshu. You only have one chance to change your mind.”

I’m only giving you one chance to escape.

With those words, the door closed, and Professor Shen left.

Yan Mingshu stared blankly at the closed door. For a while, she couldn’t feel if her heart was still beating.

Regardless of whether Professor Shen had any other thoughts about her, Professor Shen had indeed helped her during her most difficult time, giving her a chance to solve her family’s problems and get rid of Boss Huang’s harassment.

Could she really accept Professor Shen’s kindness with a clear conscience without giving her what she wanted in return?

And even if she were to take a step back, she would definitely resist the fat, fleshy Boss Huang. But was she also repulsed by Professor Shen?

She moved to the edge of the bed, reached out to turn off the light, and lay down on this soft, large bed that belonged to Professor Shen. The pillow, the blanket, and every bit of air in the room carried the faint scent of orchids, which was Professor Shen’s scent.

Professor Shen had left, but Mingshu still felt as if she was surrounded by Professor Shen, a gentle yet domineering embrace.

After Shen Junlan left her room, she went downstairs to the first floor.

The heat and the jumbled thoughts in her body drove her to the bathroom. The bathroom on the first floor was very close to Auntie Zhang’s room, but she couldn’t care less at the moment.

She took off her bathrobe and washed herself with cold water under the shower, washing away the overly intense passion for Mingshu that would have scared her away. The hot water hit her sticky fingertips. She paused. The bloodstains from Mingshu’s lips that she had gently touched were being washed away by the cold water.

Shen Junlan was in a daze for a moment.

The bathroom was spacious and bright. The cold water on her body was very cool. After the excessive heat in her body subsided, she turned off the water, dried herself, put her bathrobe back on, and pulled open the bathroom door. She was suddenly startled, just like Mingshu.

“Auntie Zhang, why are you up? Did I wake you?”

Auntie Zhang shook her head, three wrinkles on her forehead forming three stacked Vs.

“Junlan, did you and your wife have a fight?”

“No, Auntie Zhang, don’t think too much. Go back to sleep.”

Auntie Zhang had many questions, but before she could ask them, Shen Junlan was pushing her back to her room again.

The door was closed from the outside. Auntie Zhang had no choice but to let out a long sigh.

This child, Junlan, was still the same as when she was little. Her habit of not talking about her troubles hadn’t changed at all.

After she had sent Auntie Zhang back to her room, Shen Junlan stood there for a moment. After some thought, she didn’t know which empty room to sleep in, so she went directly to the living room.

From a distance, she saw Mingshu’s small black purse leaning diagonally on the sofa, its long shoulder strap dangling.

Shen Junlan ultimately decided to sleep on the sofa. She didn’t move Mingshu’s bag and slept a little farther away, on the outer side. She covered herself with a thin, light blue blanket and slept on her side, with her legs slightly bent. The sofa wasn’t long enough, so this was the only way she could sleep.

Shen Junlan didn’t turn off the living room lights. In the light, her deep eyes were fixed on Mingshu’s bag. Her little finger somehow hooked the black shoulder strap of the bag. After a long time, she finally fell asleep.

It got light early in the summer. Auntie Zhang had worked at the Shen family’s house for many years and was used to waking up early. She got up and saw Junlan, whom she had cared for for so many years, sleeping in the living room. She was both confused and heartbroken. She didn’t blame the wife Junlan had brought back last night right away. She was old and had seen a lot of things. She knew she had to understand the situation before coming to a conclusion.

“Junlan, wake up.” Auntie Zhang placed her slightly wrinkled hand on Shen Junlan’s forehead, confirming that her temperature was normal.

Shen Junlan opened one blurry eye.

“Auntie Zhang?”

“It’s not comfortable to sleep here. I just cleaned up a new guest room for you. Go sleep in the room, Junlan.”

Shen Junlan closed her eyes and shook her head. “Auntie Zhang, you go do your own thing. Don’t worry about me. I’m sleeping here on purpose.”

On purpose? Auntie Zhang looked at the big child sleeping uncomfortably on the sofa in surprise. She suddenly smiled, feeling both heartbroken and amused. She remembered something that happened many years ago. At that time, Junlan was just a child. Her father and mother were arguing, and her mother was threatening to divorce. Her father didn’t agree, so her mother moved out. Little Junlan slept in the living room for a long time to keep her mother from leaving.

Was that wife from last night also going to leave?

Auntie Zhang looked sadly at Junlan, whom she had watched grow up on the sofa, before she was willing to turn away. Her footsteps were as quiet as if they were muted, covering up her deep worries.

Yan Mingshu slept soundly. It was the best night’s sleep she had had in a long time. She realized for the first time how important her surroundings were. In her old rental apartment in the old residential building, she could always hear noise at night. Her neighbors would play mahjong all night, and the residents upstairs seemed to have a special hobby. The soundproofing was poor, and she could always hear some painful, harsh sounds, which made her feel scared.

Even worse, there were the people her father had incurred debt with from gambling. When she was little, she was so scared she cried, and her father swore he would never gamble again, and he really didn’t. She never expected that he would relapse recently and get into loan shark debt. Yan Mingshu’s eyelids twitched uncontrollably. She thought about it carefully, and today was the day those people were coming to collect the debt.

Even though she had already given her brother her bank card, Yan Mingshu was not completely at ease. She looked around and didn’t see her phone. She got out of bed and went to the bathroom to get ready. After she was done, she changed into her clothes from yesterday. Yan Mingshu decided to find her phone first, contact her brother to see what was going on, and then decide whether or not to go back.

Her phone wasn’t in the room. Yan Mingshu thought about the only other place she had been yesterday: the first-floor living room. She went downstairs in the new slippers Professor Shen had given her, and she couldn’t help but think of Lingyu’s slippers she had been wearing yesterday. She wondered where Professor Shen had put them.

As she walked down the stairs, Yan Mingshu headed straight for the living room. After a few steps, she saw her bag and Professor Shen sleeping on the sofa from a distance. She was stunned.

Why was Professor Shen sleeping on the sofa?

She paused her steps. Yan Mingshu lightened her steps and slowly approached. When she reached the sofa, she bent down and held her breath, reaching out to grab the bag that was wedged between Professor Shen and the sofa.

Grabbing the bag was easy. Yan Mingshu easily grabbed the bulky bag. When she tried to pull it out, she found that the shoulder strap was wrapped around Professor Shen’s overly long little finger.

Yan Mingshu still didn’t dare to breathe. She carefully tried to unwrap the shoulder strap. Just as she was about to succeed, the hand wrapped around the strap suddenly moved. Her round and short little finger was gently pinched.

“Mingshu, have you already made your choice and decided to leave?”

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