Chapter 231 - 229: Su Qinghe’s Request?

Chapter 231: Chapter 229: Su Qinghe’s Request?

While Gu Yifan was in a daze, Su Qinghe felt like her body was burning up. Her face was flushed, and even the fair skin of her neck was tinged with pink.

As time went on, she felt her face grow even hotter, and her breathing became difficult and quickened.

Snapping out of it, Gu Yifan turned his head to look at Su Qinghe.

Their eyes met.

Looking at Su Qinghe before him, her eyes hazy with a trace of confusion, a certain verse flashed through Gu Yifan’s mind: ’The cherry blossom closes, the peach blossom opens; the butterfly dances, and the tide rushes in...’

In that instant, the floodgates opened.

...

Outside the window, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled, and the wind howled, but inside the room, it was a world of warmth.

Amid the sound of the wind, in a daze, Gu Yifan thought he could hear the frantic footsteps of a late traveler, caught in the downpour and running for cover...

...

「An hour later, the rain stopped.」

The autumn storm had arrived as quickly as it had passed.

After the squall, the dark clouds scattered, and a blood moon hung high in the night.

The red moonlight spilled through the white screen of the window, like scattered, mottled bloodstains.

With the rain gone, the croaking of frogs and the chirping of insects occasionally drifted in from the courtyard pond. The air was filled with the fresh scent of damp earth.

Gu Yifan turned his head to glance at Su Qinghe, who was lying by his side. Traces of tears still clung to the corners of her eyes and her face was still slightly flushed, but her breathing had grown steady. It was clear she had fallen asleep.

Looking at her exquisite, beautiful face and those alluring eyes, Gu Yifan couldn’t help but reach out and gently stroke her head.

As if sensing the movement, the already-sleeping Su Qinghe furrowed her brow slightly.

Not wanting to wake her, Gu Yifan withdrew his hand. He gently tucked the blanket around her before switching off the main bedroom light.

CLICK!

The light went out.

The only light left in the room was the faint glow from two small, orange nightlights on the bedside table and the mottled moonlight filtering through the window screen.

Gu Yifan gently closed his eyes. Before long, he too drifted off to sleep, carried away by the symphony of croaking frogs and chirping insects outside...

「The night passed peacefully.」

「The next morning, at half past six.」

Gu Yifan woke from his dreams to the sound of an alarm.

He slowly opened his eyes, and the first thing to greet him was Su Qinghe’s exquisitely beautiful face. Her hair was slightly disheveled, giving her a tousled kind of beauty. A sweet smile still played on her lips as she slept soundly.

’Looks like last night really wore her out,’ Gu Yifan thought with some tenderness. ’She didn’t even stir at the alarm, which has to be a first.’

His expression full of affection, he reached out and gently brushed the strands of hair from her forehead, away from her eyes.

"Mmm~"

Su Qinghe let out a soft murmur. Her eyelashes fluttered for a moment, and then she slowly opened her eyes.

She wasn’t fully awake yet, her captivating eyes filled with a sleepy haze.

She subconsciously raised a hand to rub her eyes, which seemed to clear her head a bit.

Seeing her, Gu Yifan smiled and said, "Su Hanhan, morning~"

"Huh?"

Hearing Gu Yifan’s voice, Su Qinghe finally snapped back to reality.

At the same time, the memories of last night came flooding back—along with the realization of just how wild she had been.

The moment she thought about the... *positions*... no, the *things* she had done last night, Su Qinghe’s face flushed crimson.

"Morn... morning..."

she stammered, ducking her head.

She wished she could just pull her head back under the covers and pretend to be asleep, but it was clearly too late for that.

"Heh heh~"

Gu Yifan couldn’t help but chuckle at her shy yet alluring state, and reached out to pull her into his embrace.

"Ah—"

Caught off guard, Su Qinghe let out a small cry.

"Hiss..."

The next second, she suddenly sucked in a sharp breath.

A tearing sensation shot through her entire body...

"Hm? What’s wrong?"

Gu Yifan froze for a second. He sounded confused, but mostly concerned. "Did I hurt you?"

Hearing his question, Su Qinghe didn’t know what to say for a moment.

"N-no..."

she said shyly, her voice barely a whisper. "My body just feels a little... uncomfortable."

"Hm?"

Gu Yifan paused, but seeing the shy look on Su Qinghe’s face, he quickly put two and two together.

"Er..."

He felt a pang of awkwardness, since he was, after all, the culprit.

His voice filled with concern, Gu Yifan asked, "Does it hurt a lot?"

"No... it doesn’t hurt that much. It’s just a little uncomfortable."

Seeing his expression of guilt and concern, Su Qinghe shook her head. With her face flushed, she said softly, "I’ll be fine. I just need to rest a bit."

Hearing her say that only made him feel worse.

He reached out and gently pulled her into his arms again.

His movements were much gentler this time, and Su Qinghe felt no discomfort. She snuggled closer into his embrace. Neither of them spoke, simply enjoying the warm, beautiful moment.

「After a while.」

"Yifan..."

Su Qinghe suddenly spoke in a low voice.

"Hmm?"

Hearing her suddenly call his name, Gu Yifan asked, a little puzzled, "What is it?"

Su Qinghe tilted her head up to look at him, then said weakly, a little conflicted, "Um... it’s just... can you not make me call you ’Daddy’ during... you know... anymore? Please?"

Gu Yifan: "..."

Gu Yifan had seen her serious expression and thought she was about to say something important.

But... he never expected her to bring *this* up!

Her face bright red, Su Qinghe kept her head tilted up, looking at Gu Yifan with an expectant gaze as she whispered, "C-can we?"

"Er..."

Gu Yifan felt a little awkward. He suddenly felt like the Big Bad Wolf who had just tricked Little Red Riding Hood.

Still, if Su Qinghe didn’t like that kind of roleplay, they could just stop.

It was just a little something to spice things up, after all. They could take it or leave it.

Gu Yifan looked at her and said with a straight face, "If you don’t like it, you don’t have to say it."

Hearing him say that, Su Qinghe grew even more flustered.

"N-no, it’s not that..."

She thought for a moment before whispering, "I just think... it feels strange to call you that. It’s hard to say out loud... it’s embarrassing..."

Hearing this, Gu Yifan paused.

When Gu Yifan didn’t say anything, Su Qinghe worried he was angry and quickly added in a whisper, "Or... maybe I can just... try harder to get used to it?"

Gu Yifan: "..."