Deep Fog Kiss

Jiang Li didn't listen to Tang Lin's advice and immediately went to please him after hanging up the phone.

But she knew that as long as the marriage wasn't called off, she would have to continue dealing with the Tang family.

Because what she wanted was in Xiang Yaojie's hands, and only he had it.

She doesn't have the right to annul the engagement. It would be much easier if the young master of the Tang family were to annul it.

After registering her check-in information, she dragged her suitcase upstairs and went into her room.

In the clean and empty room, the air was filled with an unfamiliar scent, mixed with a faint, cool woody fragrance.

The familiarity brings a sense of peace.

She flared her nostrils, slowly raised her slender finger, and sniffed it.

There was Gu Zhishen's aura on my hands.

I only got into his car once, and I already smelled like him.

She was particularly sensitive to his scent, having noticed it during her adolescence.

Back then, in her naivety, she secretly looked it up in a book. The book said that if you like someone, you will amplify your senses about them and be able to smell scents on them that others cannot.

Commonly known as body odor.

Practice makes perfect, and eighteen-year-old Jiang Li boldly climbed into Gu Zhishen's bed.

I almost drowned in his fragrance.

Jiang Li's breathing involuntarily deepened.

The thrilling and alluring scenes of those two years of forbidden fruit made her cheeks flush and her earlobes turn red.

She rushed to the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face to try and detach herself from those memories.

Just then, Shen Nianchu's phone call broke the silence of the empty room.

"Pear, where are you now?"

Her tone was slightly urgent. Jiang Li took a tissue and wiped the water off her face. "I'm already at the hotel. What's wrong, Sister Nianchu?"

"Someone from Shile Media just contacted me, saying they need to change the contract at the last minute. Luo Hui is trying to lower the price of our script!" Shen Nianchu said, getting particularly angry. "I heard that his investment negotiations didn't go well today. That big shot from Tianze Capital only gave him ten minutes before leaving."

Jiang Li tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "How much did you press down?"

"50,000 per episode, reduced to 20,000."

That's even worse than breaking a bone!

Jiang Li frowned slightly and blurted out, "That damned old man!"

Shen Nianchu's tone was full of disdain and contempt, "He doesn't dare touch scripts from big companies, so he can only suppress the prices of scripts from our small studios. He's really heartless!"

Echo Studio, established just over a year ago, has produced many excellent scripts and can be considered a rising star in the screenwriting world.

However, in the domestic environment, it is clear that we are not standing high enough yet.

"Startups are like soft persimmons; everyone wants to squeeze them."

Jiang Li took off her high heels and stepped barefoot onto the soft carpet. "Find some time to meet with them. We're partners, not royalty. Don't spoil him!"

"Okay, I'll arrange it." Shen Nianchu's tone softened, then she asked, "Hey, didn't you go to Lin Pavilion? Did you run into anything?"

"I bumped into them." Jiang Li stood by the window, gazing at the brightly lit night view in the distance, and smiled. "A pleasant surprise."

"A surprise?" Shen Nianchu was confused. Catching her fiancé cheating was a surprise?

Jiang Li's soft laughter came through the phone, "A heart-pounding surprise."

As she spoke, the man's cold yet handsome face came to mind.

Gu Zhishen's mere presence is the greatest surprise in Jiang Li's life.

Just like twelve years ago.

......

Twelve years ago, in the late autumn of the southern part of the city, yellow leaves covered the winding cement paths.

At that time, ten-year-old Jiang Li stood at the entrance of the orphanage, waiting for someone.

On the first night, her grandmother, who had raised her for two years, tearfully told her, "Ali, Grandma is useless, Grandma can't raise you anymore... Your uncle's family is moving and can't take you with them..."

My maternal grandmother is old and ailing, and has been living with my uncle, but her life has not been very happy.

The addition of ginger and pears made Grandma's already hunched back even more.

She tried to open her eyes wide, not letting the tears fall, and obediently nodded emphatically.

She understood.

She became a homeless child after her father passed away two years ago.

"But don't worry, Ali, Grandma won't let you suffer."

Grandma's hands, as dry and withered as tree bark, lovingly stroked her tender face. "Grandma will take you to the orphanage tomorrow. Just wait at the gate, someone will come to pick you up."

She wiped away her tears and repeatedly told Jiang Li, "You must go back with that person and take good care of yourself. Their family is well-off and can afford to raise you... They will support you until you turn eighteen. After that, our Ah Li will have to walk her own path..."

"Once you leave, don't come back."

Jiang Li kept her grandmother's words firmly in mind. The next morning, she obediently stood at the entrance of the orphanage with her few pieces of luggage.

It was very windy that day, and the two little braids that Grandma had gently braided for her were all blown into disarray by the wind.

The scent of her grandmother's tears lingered in her braids.

She waited for a long time before a black car finally arrived.

Such shiny black cars are rarely seen in a small town like Nancheng.

The black car stopped at her feet, the door opened, and a handsome young man stepped out, even more handsome than the young man she had secretly seen in Xiang Xinyao's comic book.

He was tall and slender, wearing a black windbreaker jacket with the zipper zipped up to the top.

Jiang Li looked up and her eyes met his amber pupils.

As the autumn wind blew, the boy's black hair fluttered slightly in the wind, lightly obscuring his deep-set brows.

The boy, with his hands in his pockets, exuded an air of superiority and arrogance, looking down at the pitiful little girl with pigtails in front of him.

His thin lips parted slightly, his voice clear and crisp, "Jiang Li?"

Jiang Li saw a hint of indifference and disdain in his scrutinizing gaze.

But she remembered her grandmother’s words clearly—the person who came to pick her up would take care of her until she was eighteen.

She desperately tried to hold onto this hard-won sense of security, and obediently nodded.

She politely stepped forward, and as she looked up, tears welled in her clear eyes. She timidly uttered, "...Brother?"

The boy in front of her suddenly smiled, raised his hand and placed it on her head, gently rubbing it a few times, making her already messy braids even messier, like a puppy with its fur standing on end.

He laughed and said, "Are you lowering my seniority?"

Later, Jiang Li learned that his surname was Gu and his name was Gu Zhishen.

She entered the Gu family as an adopted daughter, and Gu Zhishen, who was eighteen years old at the time, became her guardian.

According to seniority, she should call him "Uncle".

For twelve years, Jiang Li has remembered the warmth of the hand that landed on her head. That hand was clean, slender, and had distinct knuckles, like a porcelain sculpture.

He touched her head, pinched her chin, and stroked her collarbone... like playing a sophisticated piano piece, brushing over every inch of her skin.

The fire that was started burned her to ashes...