Falling After Marriage - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: On My Bed, Pleasing Me

That dark room had only one bed, and all four walls, connected to the ceiling, were mirrored.

Lin Jin pinched Cheng Sangluo’s jaw, forcing her to see the entangled scene of them both.

“You are clearly so resistant, yet you want me… so explicitly?”

“The caged bird prays for freedom, the Antarctic ice dreams of spring. My dear, I just want to possess you.“

The summer night in Zhouhai was like an airtight film, wrapping the moonlight in agitation.

On the top floor of a private club, a pool party was filled with steamy mist, set to loud, jarring music with a strong beat.

Lin Jin languidly held a crystal glass on a floating bed surrounded by people, imprisoning the figure not far away in her drink, seemingly toying with an object in her palm.

She took a shallow sip of wine and let out a light, barbed laugh: “Hiring a parolee as a bodyguard, aren’t you worried about looking cheap?”

“CEO Lin~” the beauty accompanying her in her arms cooed, wrapping herself around Lin Jin’s neck like a snake. “Am I not entertaining enough for you to look at someone else?”

Lin Jin offered a perfunctory silence, stroking the beauty’s hair like teasing a cat, her gaze fixed on that stern face.

She sighed internally, It’s a hot night, but that little dog is cold as ice. Her canine teeth grated against the rim of the glass, as if pondering how to turn that ice into a pool of spring water.

In front of the gilt-patterned bronze door.

Cheng Sangluo stood upright, her trim figure lending a sophisticated air to the light gray suit.

She wore a neat ponytail and was patrolling the surroundings with a single earpiece.

“Newbie, keep a good eye on the place and don’t mess up.” The manager’s warning suddenly sounded in the earphone.

Cheng Sangluo answered “Understood,” her expression slightly dim.

She had a criminal record and was despised everywhere she went to make a living. Fortunately, she was a retired special forces soldier and secured a security job at the club through a friend’s recommendation.

For someone at the end of their rope, this well-paying job required her to be cautious.

Suddenly, a gaze triggered her vigilance, and she quickly locked onto the person’s location.

That bright and beautiful face smiled nonchalantly, raising a wine glass as if making small talk: What a coincidence, we meet again.

The most dangerous thing was that pair of deep eyes. The moment their gazes intertwined, it dragged Cheng Sangluo back to that night of passion and confusion.

‘You look quite delicious. It makes me want to taste what you’re like…’ The crazy woman’s sexual provocation had not faded with time.

Cheng Sangluo uncomfortably pressed the back of her neck, where the location of the bite/kiss was assailed by an obscure ache and itch.

She was adept at concealing emotions, her expression so detached that it seemed as if nothing had happened, yet she couldn’t withstand the naked gaze.

The crazy woman’s eyes were silken and seductive, easily stripping away her pretense, mocking her self-deceptive tricks as too amateurish.

Fortunately, a waiter carrying red wine walked towards the floating bed, shielding Cheng Sangluo from this silent teasing.

‘Smash—’

The expensive wine shattered unexpectedly.

The crimson liquid stained Lin Jin’s skirt, splashing a beautiful danger onto her velvet high heels.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry… I… I didn’t mean it…” The waiter knelt amidst the fragments, frantically wiping the expensive shoes with his sleeve.

More than ruining a bottle of wine, Lin Jin detested having her feet touched.

She used her heel to press against the waiter’s shoulder, mocking slowly, “You can’t even pour wine without messing up. What else can you do?”

“Daring to break the wine CEO Lin ordered? Can he afford to pay for it?”

“Tell the manager to come and fire him immediately.”

“Just firing him is too easy, isn’t it?”

People standing on the clouds loved the drama of stepping on ants. A few casual remarks could shatter the waiter’s rice bowl.

Cheng Sangluo quickly rushed over and gently draped her jacket over Lin Jin’s legs, “Please leave this to me.”

Her reluctance was too obvious. She refused to look at the crazy woman more than necessary, and her wording was extremely concise.

She crouched down, stopping the waiter from picking up the fragments with his bare hands, “Be careful not to cut your hands.”

No one would have thought that this insignificant concern would be the source of the impending storm tonight.

Lin Jin retracted her smile. The fingers that were enjoying the residual warmth of the jacket slowly clenched. Her displeasure stemmed from that unprecedented tenderness being given to an irrelevant person.

She extended her foot and hooked Cheng Sangluo’s chin, looking down with an air of superiority, “You seem to enjoy poking your nose into other people’s business.”

In a setting where everyone was watching and sighing, Cheng Sangluo’s dignity was crushed by a foot.

Even though she was disgraced, she still held her neck rigid. Her white shirt stretched, revealing the distinct line of her spine—that was the last trace of her unyielding backbone.

She didn’t know where to look, because that pale, exquisite leg was an overt provocation in every inch.

The mischievous toe deliberately rubbed against her face. The resulting itch was hotter and more painful than a slap.

She swallowed the humiliation forcefully, her throat tight and raw, then suddenly gripped the ankle, applying silent pressure.

Lin Jin hissed from the pain, but curved into a secretly ecstatic smile: “Such great strength.”

God help me, what is this crazy woman getting off on? Cheng Sangluo mused, saying neither humble nor subserviently, “Miss Lin, please don’t make things difficult for me.”

Lin Jin feigned innocence: “How am I making things difficult? You’re the one who hurt me, yet you are stingy with an apology.”

It was just a matter of saying ‘sorry,’ but Cheng Sangluo was as stubborn as a mule, stubbornly keeping her lips sealed.

Receiving no response, Lin Jin leaned closer, bringing with her an irresistible danger, “I’ll show you what real difficulty is.”

Just then, the club manager rushed over, “Oh dear, who upset CEO Lin? Please calm down.”

“This bodyguard broke my wine,” Lin Jin inverted the facts, her tone filled with anticipation.

She looked forward to seeing Cheng Sangluo’s alarm. If she could put on a show of bowing and begging for mercy, how supremely satisfying would that be?

Unfortunately, this fantasy was dashed.

“The monitoring can prove who broke the wine.” Cheng Sangluo knew that self-justification was a trap, and was too lazy to even utter the phrase ‘I didn’t break the wine.’

Her calmness made her seem detached, preventing any excess emotion from showing on her face.

Lin Jin raised an eyebrow, “Manager, can the surveillance footage be retrieved?”

This rhetorical question was laden with suggestive warning.

The manager understood, rubbing his hands awkwardly, “Hiss… unfortunately, the monitoring system is being upgraded today, I’m afraid…”

This response was unexpected for Cheng Sangluo. She turned to look at the waiter, but the other party chose silence.

A bitter smile appeared at the corner of Cheng Sangluo’s mouth. How familiar and ironic this scene was.

When the powerful collude, the victim is only left with silence. She had once paid the price of a ruined life for this, and now she was repeating the same mistake.

The perjurers on the court testified confidently, the bailiffs suppressed her struggle, and the drop of the gavel meant three years of unjust imprisonment.

Memory overlapped with reality; everyone now wore the face of a perjurer.

Cheng Sangluo’s fingers trembled as she loosened her tie, but the more she tried to breathe, the more suffocated she felt. Her stomach cramped with a surge of nausea. The stress response made her fingers dig deeply into her palm.

The manager aggressively yanked her away, scolding, “Clumsy idiot, how could you handle things this way?”

Lin Jin’s brow subtly twitched, and she said coldly, “It’s not a big deal. Fire him, and I’ll pretend nothing happened.”

“CEO Lin, rest assured, I will give you a satisfactory resolution.” The manager gave a flattering smile and turned to shove Cheng Sangluo out.

In the staff rest room, the manager’s angry ranting continued.

Cheng Sangluo ignored it, focusing stubbornly on one thing: “Settle my wages for the past few days.”

“Wages? It’s enough that I’m not making you pay for the damage. Hurry up and get out.” The manager opened the door, ready to leave.

‘Bang—’ The door was pushed back by Cheng Sangluo.

She was very tall, and her approach carried a sense of pressure. “Wages.”

The manager’s momentum was crushed. He pulled out a few banknotes and threw them on the floor, “Go, go, go! Get out!”

Cheng Sangluo wouldn’t even bend down to pick up the money. She might be disgraced, but she wouldn’t lose her dignity. Only the confusion brought by unemployment weighed heavily on her shoulders.

Changing back into her worn T-shirt, she pushed open the club’s back door.

The dark, damp alley was filled with a musty odor. She laughed at herself for living like a rat; the spirited look she wore in the military barracks was long forgotten.

Passing a corner, a conversation between two dark figures caught her attention.

“The wine was broken by me after all. I’m afraid I’ll be in trouble if the manager investigates.”

“Don’t worry, you won’t be bothered. This is your reward. Good acting. Miss is very satisfied.”

A few words outlined the truth. It turned out to be a setup orchestrated by Lin Jin.

Such a framing would typically erupt in anger in anyone, but Cheng Sangluo was strangely calm.

She leaned against the wall, her gloomy face hidden in the shadows.

The person was engrossed in counting money when he was suddenly seized and violently slammed against the wall, his head ringing instantly.

Cheng Sangluo’s ruthlessness lay in her lack of nonsense. Compared to making money, taking a life was too easy for her.

The waiter let out a sharp plea, “Please, please don’t hit me! The money, I’ll split half with you!”

The filthy words roused Cheng Sangluo’s killing intent, and the hand gripping his neck tightened.

The job is already gone. Do I want to end up in prison again?

Before her rationality completely broke down, Cheng Sangluo alertly fled the alley. She spared not the waiter, but herself.

In the club’s parking garage.

Lin Jin leaned against the Maybach, seemingly having no intention of leaving.

The person she was waiting for appeared without warning, her arms braced on the car door, trapping Lin Jin in her embrace.

Cheng Sangluo didn’t feel awkward, focusing only on seeking an explanation: “Miss Lin, you truly spared no expense just to destroy my livelihood. What exactly do you want?”

Lin Jin raised her chin, tracing the face she had been yearning for with her eyes. Her eyebrows slowly curved into crescent moons.

“It took so much calculating to provoke your initiative. It really wasn’t easy,” she sighed, then provocatively whispered, “Be bolder. You can even hug me.”

Cheng Sangluo was reminded of their posture and realized how ambiguous it was.

She pulled back her arms as if electrocuted, so embarrassed that her questioning lost all composure: “Is slandering me fun, or does this kind of humiliation give you an intracerebral orgasm?”

“Intracerebral orgasm? What a fresh vocabulary.” Lin Jin spoke with a drawn-out tone, her eyes clearly indicating, I’d prefer you to initiate that shudder.

She didn’t answer the question immediately, savoring the expression of the bristling little dog.

She was clearly angry, but her questions weren’t hitting the main point—a kind of clumsy cuteness.

Cheng Sangluo was intimidated by the stare, her tone softening slightly: “What… what are you staring at me for?”

“Because you’re cute~” Lin Jin tilted her head, her arm still draped with the suit jacket, looking exactly like a treasured gift she couldn’t part with.

“You still haven’t answered my question.” Cheng Sangluo raised her voice to cover the scorching heat spreading from her ears down to her neck.

“Didn’t I answer? You have too many questions,” Lin Jin teased. She had indeed responded with ‘cute.’

“You!” Cheng Sangluo was speechless, inwardly hating that her mouth couldn’t keep up.

She couldn’t understand. She was so good at holding back, so why was this crazy woman constantly provoking her emotions?

Probably exhausted from the verbal sparring, the atmosphere fell into a brief silence.

Lin Jin appraised the black T-shirt—faded from washing, several holes, loose neckline—exuding poverty everywhere.

She smiled, concluding that comparing this person to a stray puppy was entirely reasonable.

The next second, she curiously hooked open the collar, regretting, “If I had known the tooth mark would fade so quickly, I should have bitten harder that day.”

Cheng Sangluo reacted swiftly, prying away the harassing hand from her wrist, and low growled, “You know I have a record. If you push me, believe it or not…”

“Believe it or not you’ll kill me?” Lin Jin laughed, yet her brow furrowed repeatedly, indicating she was in excruciating pain.

Cheng Sangluo didn’t withdraw her hand, changing her grip to a massaging pressure, her mouth extremely stubborn: “You made me lose my job. It’s only fair that I pinch you in retaliation.”

Lin Jin scoffed. Would this stubborn person die if she just said sorry?

She pulled her arm back, took a room key card from her bag, and lightly scraped it across the little dog’s neck, inch by inch, until it pressed against her chest.

“I’m teaching you a lesson by example today to remind you not to forget how you treated me that day.”

This was the answer, and also the memory Cheng Sangluo was ashamed of.

She possessed the indelible qualities of a soldier: disciplined, restrained, enduring, and reserved, so she quickly reverted to her taciturn demeanor.

The warmth of her palm and the coldness of the room card intertwined on her chest, creating a complex sensation.

Even if she were dirt poor, Cheng Sangluo never considered making money without morals. Life could be tough, but her integrity could not be shattered.

She silently took a step back, allowing the card to fall to her feet, silently rejecting any kind of transaction.

Annoyance brewed in Lin Jin’s eyes. After all, superior people hate being rejected the most.

Soon, she raised a confident, determined smile again: “I gave you the entry pass. How about a bet? Within a week, you will actively seek me out, or rather…”

“Impossible.” Cheng Sangluo interrupted, her back straightening further.

Lin Jin ignored this certainty, getting up on her tiptoes to whisper in her ear, “Or rather… in the near future… you will be on my bed, pleasing me…”

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