Because she was addicted

The world fell silent instantly.

Wen Jia's eyes widened. In that moment, she seemed to smell the wind of Erhai Lake—crisp and cool, carrying the sweet scent of snow-capped mountains. The white gauze curtains swayed in the breeze, brushing against the roses in the night below the windowsill. Inside, two tireless figures stood…

The area in front of the group's building was completely quiet.

Everyone stared in disbelief. The plot twist was more dramatic than any idol drama: their young, wealthy, and handsome new vice president and secretary were kissing in front of everyone.

In the lobby, Shen Yu's face was ashen as he slammed his hand heavily on the glass curtain wall.

I don't know how much time has passed.

"No need to pay it back!" Lu Chenyan moved his mouth away and said in a low voice.

"What?" Wen Jia's mind went blank for a moment due to lack of oxygen.

"I said you don't need to pay me back. I did all this willingly, Wen Jia, you don't need to pay me back. Now, can you listen to me properly?"

Lu Chenyan shook the Wenjia he was carrying.

Wen Jia shook her head, then nodded.

"First, never hurt yourself, no matter when or where."

Lu Chenyan stared at her until she nodded before continuing.

"Second, even if it weren't for you, I've wanted to beat him up for a long time. Third, Lin Zhidong is not someone to mess with, and neither am I. As for who's more troublesome, we'll have to try and see. Fourth, I'm the one who hit him; you don't need to take the blame for me. Fifth..."

Looking at Wen Jia's incredibly obedient eyes, Lu Chenyan suddenly wanted to laugh.

Fifth, you should believe me.

"How...can I trust you?"

After being betrayed and abandoned in public by Shen Yu, how can she trust him?

If you can't even trust a lover you've been with for a year, how can you trust a complete stranger you've only met once and had a one-night stand with?

Wen Jia's mind wasn't completely muddled yet; her rationality was gradually returning.

"Wen Jia, do you think I'm an idiot?" Lu Chenyan was clearly not asking for her opinion.

Wen Jia nodded and shook her head at the same time.

Lu Chenyan let out a laugh from the bottom of his throat.

"Since I'm not a fool, I won't joke around with your life and mine. Okay, let's not think about anything now. Come on, I'll take you home."

Wen Jia was very clear-headed and knew she should refuse.

But her body betrayed her as Lu Chenyan pulled her into the company building, as if his words, "I'll take you home," had some kind of magic spell on her.

In the lobby, everyone watched them walk in hand in hand. The crowd made way for them, and some even pressed the elevator button for them.

"Thanks."

Lu Chenyan pulled Wen Jia into the elevator.

Aren't you coming in?

Everyone outside the door shook their heads in unison.

Lu Chenyan pressed the close button on the elevator, and with a bang, only he and Wen Jia remained in the small, four-sided space.

Her skin was like solidified cream, fair and radiant. Her features were delicate, and two small dimples appeared on her cheeks when she smiled.

Unfortunately, since returning to Haicheng, he has never seen her smile.

"What would you like to eat?"

As Lu Chenyan spoke, he reached out to smooth Wen Jia's messy hair. Wen Jia was startled and shrank back abruptly. When she realized it was Lu Chenyan, she stopped backing away embarrassedly, but still turned her head to avoid his hand.

She smoothed her hair and straightened her clothes, which had been wrinkled from the tugging, and said gently:

"Anything is fine."

Lu Chenyan awkwardly withdrew his hand and instead gently patted her shoulder.

"Don't be afraid, it's alright now."

Tears welled up in her eyes and were instantly slapped out by Lu Chenyan, falling unceremoniously to the ground.

……

The restaurant was chosen by Lu Chenyan.

A guesthouse by the sea had a dozen tables set up on the beach, with several red and white striped parasols hanging overhead. A makeshift band was playing and singing enthusiastically on a stage in the sand. Not far away, several tables were lined up in a long row, packed with people, seemingly for a company team-building event.

The sea breeze in early summer has a slightly salty taste.

Like Wenjia's tears.

Along the way, she sat in the passenger seat and unceremoniously used up an entire pack of tissues in Lu Chenyan's car. She finally felt a little better now.

She picked up the menu and, in a fit of vengeance, ordered one dish after another.

The waitress beamed with delight at her extravagant order, and her service improved dramatically.

"Four more pitchers of beer, please. Thank you."

Wen Jia handed the menu back to the waitress, who happily turned and left.

The food was served quickly. The small white round table was stacked three layers high, like a pagoda, with skewers, seafood, and meat, all of which were extremely spicy.

Wen Jia raised his wine cup, his nose red and eyes swollen, and said in a deep, bold voice:

"Mr. Lu, thank you for today. I'll drink it all, but you can drink as you please."

Without waiting for Lu Chenyan to speak, he tilted his head back and gulped down the drink.

"You can drink a lot?"

Lu Chenyan's lips twitched, and he suddenly asked.

He stared at the white hops on Wen Jia's lips and suddenly missed the taste of her lips—soft, like maltose, with a hint of sweetness.

"I am from Quzhou."

Wen Jia finished her glass and then made herself another. She was completely unaware that Lu Chenyan was staring at her lips.

"Every household in our area brews wine. When I was little, my grandfather would hold me on his lap and feed me wine with chopsticks. You could say I started drinking wine as soon as I could drink milk."

When talking about family matters, Wen Jia's eyes lit up, and she finally showed some emotion.

"So, you weren't drunk at all that day."

Lu Chenyan suddenly said.

"Huh?" Wen Jia was caught off guard.

It took her a while to realize which day Lu Chenyan was referring to. Once she understood, her face flushed instantly.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She guiltily grabbed a string of chili peppers and stuffed them into her mouth.

The hot sensation exploded in my mouth, and all the fear, anxiety, and fatigue receded like a receding tide, finally giving me a feeling of coming back to life.

Lu Chenyan seemed to have no intention of letting her go at all; his eyes were curved as if he was still reminiscing.

"So, you did it on purpose that day, pretending to be drunk to get me into bed. You like me?"

Bang!

The chili pepper in Wen Jia's hand fell onto the table with a thud.

She quickly grabbed some tissues to wipe herself, saying, "You, you shouldn't talk nonsense."

Watching her frantically trying to pick up the string of chilies, only to drop it again each time, Lu Chenyan couldn't help but smile.

"Good taste!"

Wen Jia really wished there was a crack in the table right now so she could crawl into it.

She admitted that she was indeed attracted to the man's looks and that she had indeed seduce him into bed while drunk, but it wouldn't be good to bring this up in public.

Wen Jia silently complained, having just hurriedly thrown away the chili peppers, when she heard Lu Chenyan suddenly ask again:

"Then why did you suddenly leave without a word the next day? What, did you think my skills weren't good enough?"

He took off his suit jacket and casually draped it over the back of the chair next to him. The top three buttons of his white shirt were undone, his sexy Adam's apple bobbing as he looked down. His pale skin ran along the sharply defined collar of his shirt, down to the shadows below. His sleeves were rolled up, revealing his long, slender arms.

He picked up a string of corn, took two kernels as if to taste them, and then, finding them quite good, slurped them up in a big gulp, asking casually as he did so.

At the next table, two men and two women who had been drinking, laughing, and telling jokes had suddenly fallen silent, their expressions brightening as they strained to listen.

Wen Jia's face was burning hot.

I knew that going out to dinner with Lu Chenyan was either a matter of money or life.

I just said I didn't need to pay it back, and now they're already starting to settle accounts.

Lu Chenyan, oblivious to everyone else, had already finished a skewer of corn and started eating lamb skewers, panting heavily as he looked at Wen Jia and said:

"Just tell me. I can handle it. After all, we have a long time to spend together in the future. If you tell me, I'll correct my mistakes and strive to improve."

He wanted to know the answer to this question the morning he woke up.

He thought that although he and Wen Jia had only met by chance, they had gone through five days and nights in Dali together, so they must have developed some kind of revolutionary friendship. Not to mention, the night before they had been so passionate and spent such a wonderful and unforgettable night together.

Only a third of the fifteen-day journey has passed.

Wen Jia suppressed her urge to run away and tried to keep her voice calm.

"Mr. Lu, I thought we were all adults and should have this kind of understanding..."

"I just got back from England, and my first stop was Dali. I don't know what kind of unspoken understanding exists between men and women in China."

Lu Chenyan grabbed a wet wipe and wiped his beautiful fingers.

Wen Jia forced a smile and said, "If I had known you would be my boss, I definitely wouldn't have approached you. After all, there are so many handsome guys over there."

"But isn't this your first time?"

This was really impossible to talk about. Wen Jia could even see the four men and women at the next table moving chairs over here.

"Who said this is my first time?" Wen Jia said in a low voice, gritting her teeth.

"Still being stubborn. Who's trembling like a leaf? Oh, right, there's also the 200 yuan for the bed sheet cleaning, which I paid for in advance."

Lu Chenyan is planning to choke her to death on the beach and not be held responsible.

At first, Wen Jia only wanted to find a man better than Shen Yu so that she could forget her previous unbearable relationship.

Lu Chenyan was sunny, cheerful, unrestrained, and full of energy. He was completely different from Shen Yu. She did take a liking to him at first sight, and she did have ulterior motives, but in the five days they spent together, they were filled with tacit understanding.

Especially that time on the snow-capped mountain.

She accidentally fell into an ice hole and was so frightened that she was stunned. She thought she was going to perish in the snow mountain and that her body would not be discovered for hundreds of years.

It was Lu Chenyan who climbed the rappelling rope step by step and pulled her out of the crevice of the ice hole.

Returning from the snow-capped mountains, she felt a sense of surviving a catastrophe and being reborn, and felt that one should enjoy life to the fullest.

That night, she, who was usually able to drink a lot without getting drunk, became tipsy after just a few glasses of red wine.

She pulled Lu Chenyan into the room by his collar and forced him onto the bed.

Without exchanging a single word, almost with just a glance, the two tacitly got to work.

Did she tremble?

Perhaps, but Wen Jia doesn't remember at all.

All she remembers is that she was very happy and felt great at that moment.

As for what happened afterwards...

She couldn't bring herself to act nonchalant, so she left the money, packed her bags, and fled in a panic.

Eyes facing each other.

Wen Jia tried her best not to lose her temper, "I... transfer it to you?"

"Pfft!"

Lu Chenyan laughed out loud, then choked on the chili and coughed violently. He tried to hold his breath, and it took him a long time to recover, his face flushed red.

"It seems you haven't added me on WeChat yet."

Wen Jia's face darkened. She took out her phone and re-added Lu Chenyan in the work group chat, and he accepted the request almost instantly.

She casually transferred 200.

Lu Chenyan confiscated it.

"Wen Jia, be my girlfriend." He brought up the topic again.