Chapter 7: Focus, Madame

Xing’er was so frightened that she started crying. Seeing her tears, I suddenly snapped back to my senses. What was wrong with me? I had become so irritable and lost my composure suddenly.

“I’m sorry, Xing’er, I’m sorry… I’ll go look elsewhere.” I stumbled out of the courtyard and searched everywhere but couldn’t find my painting.

“My painting, where did my painting go? Who took my painting? My painting…”

I was so anxious I nearly cried. Without realizing when it happened, ‘he’ had become so important to me that it felt like I would go completely mad without ‘him’.

I kept searching until dark, when it became too difficult to see clearly, then returned to my room in a daze. Xing’er and Grandma Zhao were eating dinner, and when I walked past, Xing’er softly called out to me.

“Teacher Lin, it’s… it’s time for dinner.”

“You go ahead and eat. I’m not hungry, I don’t want any dinner.”

In my terrible mood, I slammed the door shut with force and weakly moved to the bedside. As my gaze wandered, I unexpectedly saw the painting spread out on my bed.

My heart leaped with joy immediately. I reached for the painting, intending to examine it carefully, but who would have thought a snake was hidden beneath it! I was certain it was the same snake – dark red with black patterns, nearly two meters long and as thick as a baby’s wrist.

It flicked its tongue at me, lazily moving its body on the bed as if observing my reaction.

Perhaps because this had happened multiple times and I had built up some psychological resilience, I found myself not as terrified of it anymore.

“Why are you haunting me?! What exactly have I done to wrong you? Tell me, and I’ll do whatever I can to make it right. I just beg you, don’t come near me anymore. You’re driving me insane!”

I screamed at it hysterically, not knowing if it could understand me at all. I only felt that it suddenly became very sorrowful the next second, hanging its head as it slowly crawled down from my bed and disappeared under it, never coming out again.

I nearly tore the bed apart searching and finally found the snake hole beneath it. Who would have thought that snakes could dig holes?! I gathered many stones from outside and stuffed them all into the hole until I couldn’t fit any more, then collapsed exhausted onto the floor.

Looking at the man in the painting, fragile tears welled up in my eyes. I had always believed I never did things I would regret, but now I suddenly felt some regret – I shouldn’t have come here so impulsively.

Wiping away my tears, I whispered to the man in the painting: “Was I wrong? Was my initial decision wrong from the start? But can I still turn back now? How long must I wait until I can truly meet you?”

After that, I didn’t ‘dream’ of that man for a long time. Everything that happened in the forest seemed to gradually fade away from me. The days became plain and boring to the point where I felt somewhat disoriented.

One night, while looking at that painting of the handsome man, I found myself unable to sleep. All those strange incidents buried came flooding out like water released from a dam.
He wasn’t coming anymore, and I suddenly felt somewhat lonely. Ah… I let out a long sigh. This is what they call being hopeless – and now I’ve perfected it.

The long night stretched on, and I had no desire to sleep. This was a backward mountain area where they hadn’t even installed a signal tower – my phone had almost become my exclusive alarm clock! If I wanted to make a phone call, I had to go all the way to the village committee office at the head of the village.

I sat up abruptly, my mind racing as I tried to figure out what had gotten into me. Drenched in sweat, I nearly tore the bed apart before finally locating the hole beneath it.

“Aren’t you a snake? Don’t you excel at competing with rats for holes? What can this tiny hole possibly do to you? Come on, come bother me! I’m so bored!”

“Heh heh heh…”

Suddenly hearing a deep, pleasant male chuckle, I shuddered violently and sprang up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

“Who’s there? Who’s in my room?” Mustering my courage, I scanned the room but found no one. After standing there thinking for a moment, I spoke to the empty air like a madwoman: “Is it you?”

Only prolonged silence answered me.

I cleared my throat lightly. “Don’t think I don’t know you’re here just because you’re staying quiet! Why pretend to be proper? Sneaking onto my bed in the middle of the night to harass me – how can you be so shameless and vulgar! Why don’t you just…” come already?

Silence followed more silence. I suddenly felt like I was performing a one-woman show, directing and acting alone on stage, feeling rather foolish. Finally, at eleven o’clock, drowsiness set in.

After reassembling the disheveled bed, I lay down again and quickly fell asleep, probably exhausted from all my earlier antics.

Little did I know that my earlier commotion would prove effective. That mysterious man indeed crept into my bed again late at night, though tonight he seemed more intense and domineering.

I slowly opened my eyes. In the dim moonlight, I could barely make out the man’s elegant, transcendent outline. I was certain he was the one I’d been looking for.

“You came?”

His cool, comfortable lips moved from my mouth to my ear.

“Didn’t you beg me to come bother you?” he murmured huskily against my ear, his voice low and cool.

My eyes widened in shock. He… he spoke?! Then… then the laughter I heard wasn’t an illusion?!

“You can talk? Are you human, ghost, or demon? Wait, don’t… mmm…”

“You’re quite talkative tonight. Is my lady dissatisfied with my efforts?” As he spoke, he entered me with somewhat rough force.

I gasped, unsure whether from pain or pleasure, complaining even as I tightened my embrace around him.
“You’re so rough!”

“I thought you’d like it.”

“It’s you who likes it, you pervert!!”

“Hmm?” He’d been moving vigorously, but now he stopped at the worst possible moment.

I squirmed uncomfortably, staring at him resentfully. “Move, please.”

“I just remembered…”

“Huh?” What could you possibly remember at this critical moment? This is ridiculous!

His bright eyes fixed on me, lips pressed tightly together, before he finally spoke after a long pause: “You called me shameless and vulgar.”

I swallowed quietly – seems I’ve encountered a vengeful pervert! I smiled at him. “You must have misheard. Why would I ever say such things about you?”

He said with utmost seriousness: “You’re my wife, so naturally you cannot insult me. It violates the principles between husband and wife.”

Huh??

“Focus. Right now, your heart and eyes should only contain me.” He began ravaging and claiming my body again. Whether due to psychological effect or not, the pleasure with him was intense, overwhelming my mind until I could think of nothing else.

He seemed to possess boundless energy, refusing to stop until he had thoroughly drained me. I curled up in his embrace, clutching his waist tightly with both hands.

For him, it felt as though I had accumulated endless love spanning lifetimes, wishing only to stay right here, nestled in his arms until the end of time.

“Don’t leave… every time I wake up, you’re gone…”

I fought desperately to keep my eyes open, struggling to stay awake, but in the end, I couldn’t resist the onslaught of sleep. Just as I was drifting off, he whispered to me, “Chu Pei that’s my name. Don’t forget it again.”