When Will My Childhood Sweetheart Marry Me?-Chapter 229: Finally Giving In

The private room was dimly lighted, tranquil and serene, with only a thin stream of water flowing from an inlet near the corner.

She stood by the pool, scanning her surroundings, finding herself alone.

Had she arrived too early?

Jiang Shuyao pondered for a moment and decided to head to the changing room to fetch her phone and call Pei Yan.

Just as she turned around, the water surface unexpectedly rippled. Acting on instinct, she lowered her head, but before her gaze could settle, a force yanked her into the hot spring.

She shut her eyes in fright.

The warm spring water flooded in, engulfing every pore of her body in an instant.

Her body didn’t sink; a large hand steadied itself at her waist, slowly lifting her out of the water.

Beauty struck her vision: the girl’s tightly closed eyelashes trembled slightly, and her chest rose and fell faintly due to the brief lack of oxygen.

Pei Yan chuckled softly in his throat and tenderly brushed away the wet hair sticking to her cheeks, revealing her exquisitely pale face.

"Princess, what were you dawdling on the way here?" His lips were against her ear, his voice surrounding her in this quiet space, as if in surround sound.

Still shaken, Jiang Shuyao hadn’t caught her breath yet when she suddenly heard his voice tinged with reproach, and her irritation soared to its peak.

She opened her eyes and slapped him lightly on the face. The force wasn’t strong, but the emotions behind it were unmistakable.

Pei Yan stared at her, his expression slightly taken aback.

"What am I dawdling for, can’t you tell?" Jiang Shuyao met his eyes fearlessly, her tone cold, clearly indicating her current displeasure.

As she finished speaking, Pei Yan slowly shifted his gaze down into the water.

The black skirt floated gently beneath the surface, like a flower blooming at night, indescribably beautiful.

She had put on light makeup today, her hair elegantly done up, her new high heels lying by the pool, and her dress, from head to toe, had all been carefully chosen to his liking.

Pei Yan’s look grew solemn, his fingers tenderly stroking her soft fingertips underwater: "For that outfit, the slap was worth it."

After a silent exchange of glances, Jiang Shuyao suddenly became aware of their ambiguous proximity; they were too close, their skin gradually warming up under the soaking of the hot spring.

"Are you still soaking?" she pushed him slightly, "I want to get up, it’s too hot."

Pei Yan didn’t budge, his hand securely around her waist. With a slight effort, he reduced the gap between them to zero again.

"Why don’t you ask about Lin Yan?" he murmured closer.

He whispered by her ear: "From the moment you stepped through this door, you knew what was on my mind, didn’t you?"

There were things she didn’t want to admit, but indeed, he had guessed correctly.

Jiang Shuyao lowered her eyes, her cheeks slowly flushing an abnormal shade.

Pei Yan also felt very warm; he stopped talking, his hands slowly resting on her skirt.

That was when Jiang Shuyao suddenly came to her senses, grasping his wrist.

Pei Yan spoke quietly.

"No?"

She wordlessly looked at him.

After a moment, she asked with a flushed face. "Just here?"

Pei Yan’s hand moved to her back.

He looked down, speaking faintly: "The water can cushion some of the force, you’re not familiar with these, just follow my lead."

Jiang Shuyao was terribly nervous.

Strangely, things she could never comprehend before, after this visit to the Capital, they had tacitly reached a consensus.

From last night until today, he had contrived this elaborate scheme just to provoke her into completely opening her heart to him.

The water rippled, their bodies slowly feeling lighter.

The soft lighting fell on his shoulders, creating a porcelain-like texture, warm yet cool.

He had been patient for a long time and couldn’t wait to proceed any further with preliminaries.

Jiang Shuyao’s mind suddenly flooded with memories of the moments and interactions they had shared from childhood to adulthood.

She didn’t know how long it had passed.

The night scattered its darkness, the water returned to calm, and he fiercely kissed her neck.

"...Princess," he said in a satisfied, hoarse voice, as if venting, "I finally waited for you to give in."

She buried her face against him, her body limp and devoid of strength.

Inside it was pitch black, while outside, the moon had risen over the willow tops.

Jiang Shuyao slept straight through to noon the next day, waking groggily to find Pei Yan smoking by the window.

She frowned, wanting to ask what time it was, but before she could speak, his phone rang.

Whatever was said on the phone, Pei Yan slightly turned towards her, looked at her intently for a few seconds, then precisely reported a size to the caller: "34C."

?

Jiang Shuyao slowly retracted her head and pulled the blanket over her face.

His low laughter soon echoed above her head.

Pei Yan wrapped her in the blanket, lifted her up, and rubbed her disheveled hair. "Eat something first; after that, you can sleep more."

Jiang Shuyao shook her head, "No more sleep, let’s get ready and head back quickly. Teacher Jiang must be going crazy not finding us."

"Teacher Jiang already led the team back to Chengdu yesterday afternoon. What’s there to freak out about?"

Her mind paused.

Slowly, it dawned on her, could it already be the next day?

As she pondered, a ring from the doorbell echoed from outside.

Pei Yan went to open the door, and when he returned, he was holding a paper bag.

He walked around the foot of the bed and casually picked up the clothes from the rack, looking at her with a teasing smile. "Put them on yourself, or shall I help?"

Jiang Shuyao gave him a look that said she knew the answer already.

Inside the paper bag was a set of black lace lingerie, exuding a strong sense of innocence.

From yesterday to today, it seemed she’d picked a fight with the color black. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Jiang Shuyao couldn’t help but smile and gestured for someone to turn around.

He obediently did so, vastly different from his impassioned self earlier, bending over to pick up a shirt from the couch before lazily stepping into the bathroom with his slippers.

Only when the sound of the shower started did Jiang Shuyao begin to get up slowly to tidy herself.

After changing clothes, finding her suitcase in a corner of the room unexpectedly revealed his cunning plan, incredibly audacious.

Later, heading downstairs to eat, the manager’s overly respectful attitude also clued her in to some of the reasons.

Indeed, as much as that guy blended in with the crowd, his inherently superior aura couldn’t be hidden whenever he had an agenda in mind.

Compared with last night’s bizarre Prince Zhi Zhen, she preferred the image of Boss Pei sprawled on a chair coding without care.

At least, in those precise and sacred lines of code, no hint of filth could ever surface.

After packing up, a car from the villa transported them back to the city.

Jiang Shuyao looked at the unfamiliar buildings outside the window and asked Pei Yan, "Where are we going next? Aren’t we going back to Rong City today?"

The sedan slowly entered the parking garage of a private kitchen.

In the dim light, Pei Yan pulled out a cigarette and lit it, the pale blue flame from the lighter casting a stark light on his face, making him look particularly severe.

"Lin Zhen is in the Capital, she wants us to join her for a meal."

Jiang Shuyao was stunned for a few seconds, then slowly came to her senses.

She had heard from her mother that her godmother’s surgery had been successfully completed abroad and that she’d be able to return to the country for recovery within six months.

She thought her godmother would return to Rong City, but it turned out she had settled in the Capital instead.

The car fell silent for a while.

She turned her head, placed her palm over his hand resting on his knee, and asked softly, "Am I coming too?"