Nuptial Chamber Next Door

Ye Zhengchen opened his eyes and looked at me. Apart from when he was observing is patients or bacteria, I had never seen such a focused look on his face.

" Do you think I look like a soldier ?"

" Yes", I said, " You are neat by nature. You are very organised. This is so much like someone who is a soldier."

" Maybe because I have studied medicine for a long time  that it has inculcated a sense of organisation and discipline in me."

I remember once, in front of our apartment, a Chinese flag had fallen to the ground. No one observed it. But Ye Zhengchen picked it up, wiped off the dust and inserted it back on the railing

That particular action gave me the feeling that he was a soldier, and I had secretly worshipped him several days after that incident

"Haven't you been taught that the national flag is our nation's dignity?" he asked.

Clearly we did not remember

" But.. why are your skills so good?" I pointed to the two meter high baffle , " You managed to vault over it in three seconds."

" That baffle is not very high. People don't need five minutes to climb up!" He laughed annoyingly at me, perhaps recollecting how I repeatedly failed to jump over the baffle

I thought for a while and then asked, "Is your father a soldier then ?"

He looked up. Our eyes met. But there was no expression on his face.

" No, my father is a businessman. He wanted me to be a good doctor. Thats why he sent me to Japan."

It seems that my guess was wrong !

I was a bit disappointed.

Why should I mind? Even if he were a military doctor, so what ?

" Why did you suddenly ask me this question?" he looked at me curiously. " Are you.. attracted to soldiers?"

" I admire them", I corrected him. " They are persevering, disciplined, strong, honest, cold on the outside but warm inside, as if they have a hidden fire inside.." Secretly in my heart I added the other qualities I liked - green military uniforms, tall and straight posture; to me they were fatal temptations.

Oh, I was losing my self control!

"Soldiers aren't very intelligent. I still think doctors have more brains…" Ye Zhengchen loudly proclaimed.

I gave him a despising look

" Well at least the military men are self disciplined. They don't randomly get involved with women!"

Hearing my sarcastic comment, he was taken aback.

" If you take off their uniforms, they are basically the same normal men underneath, with the same basic needs."

" It doesn't matter that they have the same basic needs. The key is self control. Even if they have the physiological urge, if they can't control it, then what is the difference between a human and an animal?"

" Sometimes even animals behave better than humans.." his eyes seemed to be staring at a distance, his thoughts seemed to have drifted elsewhere, ".. tigers don't poison their own child, wolves mate for the rest of their lives. Some people, blinded by the desire for power don't even care who they harm.."

" Who are you talking about ?"

" A lot of people are like that."

While he said these words, his brows clenched. Suddenly, I remembered that he never spoke about his father, he never called home.

Was the relationship with his father bad?

I smoothed his eyebrows, then continued to shampoo his hair, patiently massaging his scalp, pressing his acupuncture points, his temples, so as to soothe his mood. After washing, I helped him dry his hair, then finger combed his hair to detangle them

" Ok. Now I'll go back and prepare ribs soup for you. I will come back in a while."

He suddenly pulled my wrist.

“Why are you so good to me?”

“Because you are good to me!” I wriggled out of his grasp, bowed deeply to him, and gave him a flattering smile: “Brother, I am grateful for your help to me over the past few months."

“You aren't hoping for anything more?”  he asked nastily

"Rest assured that I have no other kind of desires for you."

“Why did you ask me if I was a soldier?”

This was a bit problematic.

I scratched my head again and again but could not come up with an answer.

" So, I sincerely told him: “When I come up with an answer, I'll let you know."

After dinner, when I looked at the time on my phone, it was already half

past six.

" That's it! I am going to work"

" Are you going to the convenience store?"

" Yes, the tuition is really expensive here."

" You don't have money to pay tuition? Why didn't you tell me .."

Seeing him get up and pull out his wallet,  I was stunned. I could not bear to use all of my father's hard earned money to pay my tuition. Li Kai had introduced me to a convenience store near the stone bridge. For three hours every night, I worked there. It wasn't very hard and I could also practice my Japanese.

" Li Kai, you mean the Li Kai from the engineering department ?"

" Yes".

Li Kai was a student in the engineering department in Osaka. I had often seen him and Qin Xue eat together at the engineering faculty.

He was slender, with thick eyebrows and looked quite like the hero of a romance novel. And later, when I spoke to him several times, I found that he was a good man with a good character, not like a certain person I knew.

"Three hours. That means you work till ten", that certain person looked at his gold watch and commented. I secretly sighed.

"Yes. Its not too late"

I didn't wait for his answer and hurried towards the door to put on my shoes." I cant talk to you anymore or I will be late again."

Just when I was leaving, I thought it may rain and wanted to go home and get my umbrella.

At this point, Ye Zhengchen shouted out at me , " Girl, I want to take a bath at night. Will you help me?"

" You scram!" I put on my shoes and walked out." Tell your girlfriend to help you."

I have seen shameless people but he really took the cake.

Angrily I stalked off. In all this confusion, unfortunately, I forgot to get my umbrella

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It was my first day of work. There was a little rush , and sometimes while engaging with people , I was unable to understand what they wanted.

Fortunately, the customers and the boss were tolerant and did not care about how long it was taking. They just said, " No problem, no problem."

I was so busy that three hours passed in a flash.

At 9:50 PM, Li Kai came over. I saw him put his dripping umbrella in the stand and tiptoed to look out of the window.

The rain was heavy and there was no sign of it stopping.

Secretly, in my heart, I cursed Ye Zhengchen a thousand times.

Li Kai saw my face and asked me, "Haven't you brought an umbrella?"

" No. It looks like it will rain all night."

" You can take mine"

I said, " You live so far, I cant leave you without an umbrella. My apartment is very close, its just a few steps from here."

Li Kai and I finished talking and I walked towards the door. I bit my lip, then rushed out in the rain. The rain was heavier than I had realised. The cold rain dripped down my hair and cheeks and into my clothes.

I couldn't help but shiver

" Xiao Bing", Li Kai  brought out his umbrella from inside and yanked my hand so quickly that my foot almost slipped. Immediately, he reached out to grab my waist to prevent me from falling down.

" I….", I pushed the umbrella back , trying to tell him I didn't need it.

A beam of light was focussed on us. I immediately raised my hand to cover my eyes. As my eyes adjusted, I saw a man standing in the heavy rain, a black car by his side. Fine water droplets streamed down his face in rivulets and my heart stung.

With the fastest speed possible, I yanked off Li Kai's hand on my waist and ran towards Ye Zhengchen with a feeling of guilt.

" Why are you here?"

" I was a bit bored in the apartment so I thought of taking in some fresh air."

As a medical student, I really did not think it was great idea for someone who couldn't move his right arm to be out driving around on a rainy night for some fresh air.

But as a woman I was really touched by the sight of a handsome man with an injured arm braving the rain to drive me home from work.

If this was anyone but Ye Zhengchen, I would have flown into his arms and told him , I am yours for the rest of my life.

Even if you are not a soldier, I am ok.

He glanced at Li Kai still standing in front of the convenience store. Then he opened the door for me , " Get in the car."

I smiled and waved goodbye to Li Kai

" Xiao Li, I am leaving now"

In the car, my wet dress stuck to my body. I shivered and sneezed constantly in the car as the warm air in the car tried to warm my cold body.

With his left hand, he clumsily took off his coat, draped it over my body. He even carefully lifted my hair and put it outside the coat.

" If the bandage gets wet, your wound will get infected."

I touched his arm, but the bandage was thankfully dry because he was wearing the coat when he was outside

" If you kept loitering outside with the kid, then it would have got wet", he said coldly.

" Could you not wait in the car a little bit more so I could loiter with him some more?" I asked sweetly with a smile.

" If you think I came at the wrong time, I will go in the shop. He can come in the car and give you company!"

Huh ?

In such a cold day, why could I smell a whiff of jealousy?

To ease the atmosphere, I said, " I won't bother you, we can continue tomorrow!"

He stepped on the throttle and the car suddenly started speeding through the heavy rain.

I hastily fastened my seat belt.

Along the way, he didn't say a single word but he put on the music.

I could hear the words..

I loved the intriguing lyrics. The more I heard it, the more I liked it.

" What song is this?"

" Li Kai is interested in you"

" Oh!" I had noticed, but I didn't have any serious feelings towards him

" Did you know? Why haven't you turned him down?"

If he hadn't asked me directly, how was I supposed to tell him, I am not interested in you, please don't pursue me?

" Why would I want to turn him down?" I answered, still immersed in the song.

" Be careful my sweet fragrance doesn't drown your senses.."

"Like the fragrant plum, I will pierce your tongue.."

" Like water, I will seep in your heart.."

He suddenly braked. Thanks to my seat belt, I didn't get thrown through the windshield.

I turned around and looked at him.

The steering wheel had hit his arm, and his face was clenched in pain..

I was both angry and anxious.

" Why are you driving like this? Are you trying to injure yourself again?"

He did not speak and just stared at me. In his dark pupil, I could see my reflection, my wet hair stuck to my forehead, my face, my pink lips slightly open, my eyes…

His gaze moved down gradually and then stopped.

I looked down. My wet dress was stuck to my body. It had turned almost completely transparent, clearly outlining my curves, my waist, my slender thighs.

The most embarrassing thing was that today I had worn a bra that was a  size smaller. From his view, he could see my twins spilling over the bra.

He leaned over me and whispered in my ears, "Can I take off the belt?"