The Down and Out CEO’s Pursuit of Her Wife [GL] - Chapter 9

A flashy sports car belonging to Mu Shan was parked outside the large iron gate of the dog shelter. Seeing An Ruoning step out, Mu Shan tucked away her cigarette case, opened the car door, and walked toward her.

Whenever Mu Shan looked at someone, she had a way of making them feel guilty and flustered. Consequently, as soon as An Ruoning noticed Mu Shan outside, she turned her head away, trying to keep herself from losing her composure.

Mu Shan asked, “Are you finished with your business too?”

“No,” An Ruoning replied.

“Whatever else you need to do, I’ll go with you,” Mu Shan said.

There was nothing offensive about Mu Shan’s words or her tone, yet An Ruoning felt a sudden, inexplicable surge of anger. She raised her voice, glaring at Mu Shan. “Why are you so free?!”

Even after venting her anger, a look of resentment remained on An Ruoning’s face, but inwardly, she felt completely adrift. In reality, getting angry is often just a smoke screen used by the weak to hide their inner fear; the more furious a person is, the more it shows they are at a complete loss.

Mu Shan extended her right hand, waiting for An Ruoning to place hers in it. “You’re right, I am indeed very free. I resigned. From now on, I can be with you all the time, doing whatever you do. So, where to now?”

“Resigned?!” An Ruoning looked at Mu Shan with a furrowed brow, her face full of disbelief.

“Mhm,”

Mu Shan responded nonchalantly. She then took a step forward and gently pulled An Ruoning into a half-embrace. “Don’t worry, I can still afford to take care of you.”

With that embrace, the atmosphere shifted instantly, and everything felt stirred up. An Ruoning felt Mu Shan’s scent growing stronger, knowing that if she stayed in her arms for another second, she would lose herself completely. Therefore, her only choice was to struggle free as quickly as possible.

After breaking away, An Ruoning stood in a daze for a long while. She stared blankly at Mu Shan’s car for a good minute before finally coming up with an excuse. “I still need to go to the neighboring village to look at a new site I’ve rented. The roads in the village are all narrow alleys, it’s very inconvenient for a car. And…”

Mu Shan interrupted, “So if you don’t drive, how are you planning to get there?”

An Ruoning didn’t answer directly. She turned around and walked briskly toward the right. “It’s none of your business. You should go back, we shouldn’t see each other anymore.”

After passing the first intersection, An Ruoning turned into a corner. Less than ten meters away was a crude shed where a few bicycles and motorcycles were scattered.

An Ruoning pulled a bunch of keys from her pocket and unlocked a motorcycle. Just as she pushed the bike out a couple of steps, Mu Shan reached the entrance of the alley. This time, An Ruoning decided to strike first. “There’s only one motorcycle, and you have to know how to ride it.” Her implication was clear: she wanted the Mu Shan, who couldn’t ride and didn’t have a bike, to give up on following her to see the site.

Mu Shan stood at the alley entrance with an air of indifference, waiting for An Ruoning. As soon as An Ruoning rode up to the entrance, Mu Shan blocked her path. “I never planned on riding anyway. Isn’t there a seat behind you?”

As soon as she finished speaking, the back of the motorcycle dipped, and Mu Shan sat firmly and steadily behind An Ruoning.

An Ruoning lowered her head, pausing for a long time. Finally, she lifted her head, straightened her back, kicked the starter with her right foot, and sped off, leaving a cloud of dust behind.

The motorcycle moved quite fast, but An Ruoning controlled it with surprising skill. There was no unnerving wobbling or sudden braking. Sitting in the back, Mu Shan felt as if she were sitting on level ground, save for the humming of the engine.

Even so, Mu Shan reached out with both hands and gently held An Ruoning’s waist. This was a move Mu Shan had planned before even getting on the bike; whether An Ruoning rode shakily or steadily, Mu Shan was going to use the opportunity for this bit of physical intimacy.

However, Mu Shan’s reason for doing this now wasn’t just to flirt.

Gazing at An Ruoning’s thin, narrow back, Mu Shan should have felt a protective instinct, yet as she watched, she felt as if she were the one being carefully protected.

When occasional emergencies arose on the road, An Ruoning still swerved perfectly, avoiding even a small stone. How had An Ruoning become so decisive, mature, and sharp?

Mu Shan took a deep breath. As the air passed through her chest, her heart ached slightly. Mu Shan didn’t want An Ruoning to experience the painful carving that leads to growth; she couldn’t bear to see her suffer, nor did she want the possession that could have been simple to become difficult to control.

Mu Shan’s hands slid up and down An Ruoning’s waist, and slowly, she leaned her head against An Ruoning’s back.

An Ruoning freed her left hand to push Mu Shan back. “Sit properly!”

Yet, as soon as she was pushed away, Mu Shan clung right back. She had yearned for this softness and fragrance for far too long; there was no way she would give it up easily.

Mu Shan closed her eyes, rubbing her cheek against An Ruoning’s back while her nose continuously took in her scent. Even among unadorned, natural scents, there are superior and inferior ones, and An Ruoning’s was the finest of the fresh and natural category, because that scent was soft and mellow, without a hint of aggression.

The motorcycle came to a sudden halt. An Ruoning planted one foot firmly on the ground, not looking back. “If you move around again, get off immediately! No one will come to pick you up on this road, no matter how much you pay!”

Mu Shan gave a faint laugh behind her. “But, I need to have a place to hold onto.”

“Isn’t there a handle behind you?!” An Ruoning’s tone was irritable.

Mu Shan replied, “Fine, fine, I’ll hold the back.”

An Ruoning warned, “We have a deal. If you touch anywhere else again, you can walk back by yourself!”

With the warning over, An Ruoning expertly kicked back with her right leg, and the motorcycle lunged forward again.

In the back seat, Mu Shan shook her head bitterly as she thought to herself. In all her life, she had never seriously pursued a woman. Every other time, both parties had a tacit understanding, exchanging pleasantries, getting what they needed, and parting ways.

At most, she had encountered a few “artsy” girls who didn’t understand reality and would drag things out for a while, or some women who were too calculating, trying every trick to get more material benefits. In short, Mu Shan had plenty of experience dumping people, but this was her first time actually pursuing someone, and it was going quite poorly.

The motorcycle turned into a small alley that could only fit three people walking side by side. An Ruoning slowed down, observing each house on both sides. Mu Shan followed her gaze; from the outside, most of the houses seemed uninhabited. Finally, the motorcycle stopped in front of the most dilapidated house in the alley.

Mu Shan hopped off the bike and stood beside An Ruoning, staring at her every move. An Ruoning noticed, her brow furrowed, clearly unhappy.

Mu Shan asked, “Isn’t it a bit too desolate here?”

An Ruoning walked straight toward the rusty iron gate. “It’s better that no one lives here, otherwise the neighbors would just complain again.”

The iron gate was just slightly ajar, with the lock hanging open on the bolt. As An Ruoning pushed the gate open, a loud creaking sound echoed, and dust from the door rose up, covering her. An Ruoning blocked Mu Shan for a moment. “This yard hasn’t been lived in for a long time, it’s not very clean, you don’t need to go in.”

Mu Shan didn’t respond, only meeting An Ruoning with a smile. Resigned, An Ruoning walked inside and began looking around, no longer bothering with Mu Shan.

At the very back of the yard was a single-story house. The old-fashioned patterned glass windows were either cracked or had holes in them, and the wooden door looked decayed. Just standing outside, one could tell the interior wouldn’t be any better.

Except for the house, the rest of the area was overgrown with weeds that reached past the knees. It seemed that without a proper weeding, it would be impossible to tell if this had once been a vegetable patch or something else.

An Ruoning sighed, retightened her loose bun, clapped the dust off her hands, and headed back outside.

Mu Shan asked, “Where are you going now?”

An Ruoning said, “Wait here for a bit. I’m going to the village entrance to see if anyone is willing to do some manual labor. This yard needs to be renovated before it can be used.”

Mu Shan countered, “There’s no rush, right? You just came to see the site. It would be more appropriate to do the rest once Teacher Ge and the others are all here.”

An Ruoning replied, “I’ll do what I can first.”

Mu Shan said, “Why push yourself so hard? You’re not the only person in the dog shelter.”

An Ruoning didn’t want to waste any more words with Mu Shan and kept walking with her head down. Mu Shan suddenly wrapped her arms around An Ruoning from behind, holding her firmly so she couldn’t move further. “Don’t go, alright? Just don’t go. Consider today’s work finished, and give the rest of your time to me. I’ve been back for several weeks, and I haven’t been able to have a proper talk with you once.”

Mu Shan leaned close to the side of An Ruoning’s neck, her nose lightly brushing against that tempting neckline. “Why don’t you resign too, or just take a long leave? I want to be with you 24 hours a day.”

An Ruoning tilted her head the other way, trying her best to avoid Mu Shan’s touch. She definitely wanted to break free, but first, she wanted to clarify one thing. “Why did you resign?”

Mu Shan continued to lean toward the side of An Ruoning’s neck, saying nonchalantly, “For you, of course. For us. I want to have more time to be with you.”

The moment those words were spoken, An Ruoning pushed Mu Shan away with finality. She turned to face her, her eyes cold. “You really have a way with words, don’t you?”

Mu Shan asked, “What do you mean?”

An Ruoning replied, “Is there any decision you make that isn’t the result of careful calculation and weighing pros and cons? Your resignation has absolutely nothing to do with me. You don’t need to say these pretty words in front of me.”

“How I make decisions has nothing to do with whether I’m sincere. I am sincere about you, I really want to be with you!” It was clear that Mu Shan was getting anxious.

Seeing that An Ruoning’s expression remained unchanged, Mu Shan added another sentence. “I know I did many things wrong in the past, and there’s one thing I should have said but never did.”

Mu Shan paused for a few seconds to prepare herself, then took An Ruoning’s hand and said with complete seriousness, “I like you, let’s be together.”

A significant amount of force was used on Mu Shan’s hand as An Ruoning quickly pulled it back, rejecting her flatly without a second thought. “Go find someone else to play with. I don’t have the time for this. Right now, I only care about saving the lives of these hundreds of dogs.”

Mu Shan clicked her tongue and reached up to rub her temples. “I don’t know why you’re being so stubborn! I can’t think of a single reason why we shouldn’t be together.”

An Ruoning replied, “I can find ten thousand reasons why we can’t be together.”

Mu Shan folded her arms, looking a bit angry but trying her best to suppress it. “Are you just trying to go against me? Then go ahead, tell me. I’d love to hear what these ten thousand reasons are.”

An Ruoning looked directly into Mu Shan’s eyes. “You can call me selfish. Fine, I am selfish. Those things only need to happen once in a lifetime. If they happened again, I couldn’t handle it.”

With that, An Ruoning walked to the door, leaving one final remark. “I know you all too well.”

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