Sweet Gardenia - Chapter 6.1

Moonlight spilled over the windowsill, casting a faint glow on the cold silver handcuffs.

In the dim light, the man’s expression was complex and hard to decipher.

She was lifted by the handcuffs, her body not fully awake yet, propping herself up on the mattress in a daze. “…You promised you wouldn’t look.”

“You tossed and turned in your sleep, and something hit my waist,” he said. “I didn’t know what it was, so I looked.”

The room fell silent for a moment.

His tone was eerily calm, matching the absurdity of the scene: “If you like this kind of thing, you can tell me. No need to play with it secretly by yourself.  It’s dangerous.”

His voice was so composed that Lu Zhi thought she must have misheard.

She blurted out without thinking, “Your tolerance is this high??”

“…”

“Wait, I didn’t mean I wanted to play this with you,” she said, almost instantly kneeling upright on the bed. “I was just trying it out, but I couldn’t get it open. Really.”

Fu Yanshang: “Didn’t the set you bought come with a key?”

“I didn’t buy it!” She pulled open the drawer to prove her innocence. “It was already in the drawer. I only tried it because I saw there was a key…”

He leaned over, turned on the bedside lamp, and took the key from the drawer, comparing it to the lock for a moment.

Lu Zhi asked at an inopportune moment, “Does every room in Grandpa’s villa have these…?”

“Probably only ours does.”

A different kind of honor, she supposed.

Not knowing what else to say, she casually remarked, “Then he bought quite a lot.”

“You’re quite the enthusiast.”

“…”

She pursed her lips and said nothing more.

Half-kneeling on the mattress, she slipped her other hand into the silver handcuff to make it easier for him to adjust the lock.

The reflection in the window was blurry, ambiguous and hazy.

She uncomfortably averted her gaze.

Soon, Fu Yanshang got off the bed.

Lu Zhi: “Where are you going? It’s not open yet.”

“Looking for something to lubricate it,” he said. “It’s stuck.”

He bent over to rummage through the drawer. Remembering there were things inside she hadn’t seen, she leaned over as well, but before she could get a clear look, his large hand covered her head and turned it away.

Lu Zhi: “What is it that I can’t see?”

“None of it.”

“…”

She pretended to comply and stayed still, but when he let his guard down, she slowly turned her head, trying to catch a glimpse out of the corner of her eye.

The drawer was filled with an array of items. She froze for a couple of seconds, deciding it was best not to look after all.

He fiddled with it for a while but still couldn’t get it open. She suddenly spoke up: “I have lip balm. Want to try that?”

He hummed in agreement. “Where is it?”

“On the organizer on the desk.”

She heard him searching in the distance. When he still hadn’t returned after a minute or so, she hopped off the bed barefoot, the handcuffs jingling on her wrists, and went over to check. “Can’t find it?”

..And indeed, it wasn’t there.

She tried to recall the last place she’d used it. “I applied it before bed, then probably left it here. How is it gone?” She struggled to sift through the items with both hands cuffed together. “Lipstick, foundation, brushes…”

Suddenly, someone wiped her lips.

The last layer of lip balm she had applied before bed became her only tool now. She lifted her eyes, unable to discern his expression clearly in the dim light, only feeling the textured pad of his finger press down with slight force, creating a snug indentation in her lower lip as he meticulously wiped it clean, then moved to her upper lip.

By the time the remaining balm had been smeared onto the key and the handcuffs smoothly unlocked, she still hadn’t fully processed what had happened.

“Done,” he said. “Go to sleep.”

“Next time you want to play games like this, remember to tell me.”

“…”

She scrambled back onto the bed with a series of soft thuds, pulling the covers over herself. For a while, sleep eluded her. She noticed that the person beside her, after washing his hands, didn’t lie down but instead leaned against the headboard and opened his laptop.

The bedside lamp was off, and his notebook cast a faint blue glow in the darkness.

Lu Zhi asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Can’t sleep. Reading some documents.”

She lay on her back for a while, crossing her legs, and asked, “Do you have that much to do every day?”

“Work is never-ending,” he replied. “There are always projects to manage and signatures to sign.”

“True,” she nodded. “Then let’s head back tomorrow.”

“I’m just doing this to pass the time,” he said, his gaze fixed on the screen. “It doesn’t matter whether I handle it here or there.”

“No, it’s mainly because I need to get back to work too.”

“…”

As she lay there, she felt a slight ache in her wrist. Using the faint light from his laptop, she raised her hand to examine it. The area where the handcuff had been was slightly reddened, probably from being fastened too tightly.

And so, he focused on his work while she studied the red mark on her wrist in the dim light, a crescent-shaped line resting just below the bone. Suddenly, the person typing on the keyboard reached out and touched the spot, asking, “Does it hurt?”

“A little,” she admitted, somewhat embarrassed. “But there’s no actual injury. It’s just that my skin is delicate and I’m more sensitive to pain.”

“…”

–

The next day, when Lu Zhi woke up, it was only 8:30 a.m.

Whenever she slept late, she found it hard to sleep deeply and would wake up early.

But as she sat up, she noticed the desk lamp was on not far away. Fu Yanshang was sitting on the sofa, his laptop plugged in, a nearly finished latte beside him. It seemed he had been awake for quite some time.

After he finished his meeting, she finally asked, “Don’t you need to sleep?”

“I don’t need much sleep.”

“Is that natural?”

“Not exactly,” he thought for a moment. “I evolved out of it.”

“…”

In the morning, they went for a spa treatment to relax and unwind. Having experienced almost everything they had planned, they set off for home in the afternoon.

Lu Zhi had just settled into the back seat when the left door suddenly opened and Fu Cheng squeezed in from outside.

There had originally been a seat between her and Fu Yanshang, leaving plenty of space. But with the old man squeezing in, the distance between them narrowed drastically. Fu Yanshang shifted toward the middle, the fabric of his trousers brushing against her skirt.

She tilted her head.

Fu Yanshang also turned to Fu Cheng and gestured, “We saved a seat for you in the front.”

The old man lifted his chin defiantly. “I prefer sitting here!”It was a spacious business vehicle, and by all accounts, there should have been plenty of room.” But because the grandfather was squeezing in so forcefully, the two of them ended up almost pressed together. She heard Fu Yanshang turn to the old man and say, “If you squeeze in any further, should I just have her sit on my lap?”

Lu Zhi: “…”

Sure enough, after that remark, the old man snorted and moved aside slightly, finally allowing her some breathing room.

The car moved smoothly. She hadn’t slept well the night before, and drowsiness gradually crept in. She only heard Fu Cheng speak, talking to Uncle Zong, who was driving in the front seat.

Fu Cheng: “Zong Huai, from now on, you’ll be the one driving this car. After work every day, pick both of them up together. No more taking separate cars.  It creates too much distance.”

Uncle Zong agreed.

Lu Zhi thought to herself, So from now on, we’ll have to ride back together after work…

In the car, Fu Yanshang’s voice slowly sounded.

“Many things, if you force them, won’t yield any results.”

“Stop meddling in my business!!”

Lu Zhi’s body was resting, but her hearing was still active. Whenever the topic involved her, her ears would accurately pick up and process the conversation.

Fu Cheng’s voice softened: “Xiao Zhi has fallen asleep… Look at how her head keeps swaying. Don’t you know to let her rest her head on your shoulder?”

“How thoughtless would I have to be?” The sound of typing on a membrane keyboard mixed with his reply. “If she’s leaning to the right and I force her to the left, who’s going to take responsibility if she gets a stiff neck?”

“Isn’t that simple? If she gets a stiff neck, just let her sleep with her head on your arm at night. Understand?”

“What a brilliant idea,” he replied flatly. “If you hadn’t mentioned it, I’d never have known my arm could serve that purpose.”

Lu Zhi quietly turned her head away, taking a while to suppress her laughter.

After over two hours of driving, they finally entered the city. After dropping Fu Cheng off at the ancestral home, the car circled back to Zhenyue Bay.

She slowly opened her eyes, sensing Fu Yanshang retreating to his original position on the left. Light seeped back between them, casting golden reflections on the silver-gray interior of the car.

Fu Yanshang: “Done pretending to sleep?”

She froze: “How did you know?”

As soon as she asked, she realized it was obvious, so she added, “I’ve been trying to sleep the whole time, but I just couldn’t.”

He closed his laptop, having worked throughout the journey, and stretched his neck muscles before asking, “Do you need to? Rest your head on my shoulder.”

His tone made it impossible for her to tell if he was being sarcastic, as before, or genuinely asking. Still, she immediately shook her head like a rattle-drum:

“No, no, it’s fine. I’ll just lean against the window.”