Chapter 45: You Mistook Me for Zhou Zhizi

Mother Zhou glanced at me without saying anything, simply negotiating, "Could you help me take him upstairs? He's completely drunk. If we leave him be, he might end up sleeping right here at the doorway, and sleeping like that all night will catch a cold."

If it were only Zhou Chenyan, I certainly wouldn't have paid him any mind.

However, I couldn't refuse Mother Zhou's request.

The two of us struggled to get him up to the bedroom. I actually wanted to steer him toward the guest room, but Mother Zhou walked straight ahead toward the master bedroom.

It wasn't easy for me to bring it up.

Zhou Chenyan lay on the bed while I stood nearby. In the past, I would have already rushed over to take off his shoes and outer jacket, and fetched a warm, damp towel to wipe his face.

Now, I stood completely motionless.

Mother Zhou had no choice but to do it herself.

She was extremely meticulous. By the time she finished tidying everything up, beads of sweat covered her forehead from the exertion. "Keep him company here for a moment. I'll go downstairs and have the kitchen prepare a sobering soup."

I watched her leave, glanced at Zhou Chenyan, and walked over to sit on the sofa by the window.

Keep him company...

It showed immense mercy on my part that I didn't take advantage of the chaos to finish him off.

"So thirsty..."

Hearing this voice, I cast a glance in his direction.

"Zhou Chenyan?"

He gave no response, merely furrowing his brow as if enduring great discomfort.

I smiled faintly and said in a gentle tone, "Just bear with it."

I walked over to the sofa and sat down, having no intention whatsoever of taking care of him.

Yet, with tenacious resilience, he managed to climb up on his own. Looking around with a dazed expression, he rolled over to get off the bed, only to trip over his own leather shoes lying on the floor.

His legs went weak, causing him to drop heavily to his knees.

A sudden, involuntary chuckle escaped my lips.

The next second, I regretted making any sound, because he tracked the noise right toward me.

I stood up to leave, but it was already too late.

He pulled me into an embrace.

I shoved hard against him, attempting to put some distance between us, but he clung tenaciously, pressing close to my ear. His hot breath sent a shiver of goosebumps all over my skin.

"Don't go..."

I scolded, "Let go!"

"No."

His stubbornness made him utterly unlike his usual self.

He felt merely like a child clutching desperately to his most cherished possession, refusing to let go.

Annoyance at his entanglement welled up in my heart.

Yet, a succession of tremors rippled through my body. My physical reaction betrayed my will first; we were far too familiar with each other. No matter how estranged we had grown emotionally, our physical compatibility had always remained absolute.

This was precisely why, despite promising Zhou Zhizi that he would never touch me, he still found himself unable to resist getting involved with me time and time again.

I had to admit that throughout the process, my body also felt a sense of pleasure.

That was in the past, however. Now, I was well aware that this was merely a physiological response, having not the slightest connection to my heart.

"Zhou Chenyan, stop putting on an act!"

"Do you really think I don't know your alcohol tolerance?"

While he might not have been able to drink a thousand cups without getting drunk, years of business banquets had conditioned his body to handle alcohol exceptionally well, preventing him from getting intoxicated easily on a whim.

Unless, of course, he was in a foul mood.

"I'm so sleepy..."

He seemed entirely deaf to my words, refusing any communication as well. His hands remained firmly locked around my waist, his scorching lips making hesitant, ghost-like contact against my skin.

A shudder ran through my body, while a fierce anger toward his behavior blazed within my heart.

"Let go!"

"Are you angry with me?"

He was blessed with remarkably striking eyes—the classic, endearing puppy eyes. It was just that during his sober hours, his gaze was usually so piercing and sharp that people rarely noticed these eyes, which contrasted so sharply with his personality.

Yet, in his drunkenness, stripped of his usual mask, he began to let his guard down completely.

I stared into his eyes, momentarily dazed, before raising my hand to cover his face and push him away. "Stop looking at me with those eyes. I won't fall for your tricks again."

He chuckled softly, his body suddenly tipping backward. With his arms still wrapped around my waist, the sheer momentum was something I had no way to resist.

He sat down on the floor, sliding flat onto the carpet, while I was forced down onto his chest.

"Accompany me to sleep for a bit..."

Deep shadows draped across the windows outside. The night was so profoundly silent that it almost induced hallucinations, lending a rare gentleness to his normally deep and composed voice.

I glanced down at him, my resistance suddenly draining away.

Perhaps sensing that I was no longer struggling, his grip around my waist slackened.

As the pressure eased somewhat, I remained still.

He let out a soft breath, his arms gently circling me once more as he lifted his head closer, his beautifully shaped lips hovering as though trying to press against my face.

I allowed him to draw near.

Just as the kiss was about to land, I suddenly struck him across the face.

The blow was light.

Yet it caused his head to snap to the side in a dazed pause.

Taking advantage of the opening, I scrambled up and delivered an unsparing kick to his leg.

"You scoundrel!"

He winced in pain, knitting his brows as he propped himself up against the floor to sit. "We are husband and wife."

"You aren't drunk?"

Zhou Chenyan stared at me, struggling visibly to recognize who I was. "You are my wife. Why shouldn't you sleep with me?"

I fixed a suspicious gaze on him. He was not the sort of person to utter such words; all his tenderness and exceptions had been reserved solely for Zhou Zhizi.

Therefore, he was still drunk.

"Don't tell me you've mistaken me for Zhou Zhizi?"

That had to be it.

From start to finish, he had never called out my name, and that gaze had even given me the illusion that it was brimming with deep affection and remorse.

He felt no remorse toward me.

His remorse was reserved exclusively for Zhou Zhizi.

Right at that moment, Mother Zhou pushed open the bedroom door, entering with a bowl of sobering soup in hand.

"Oh my, why are you sitting on the floor?"

Too dazed by alcohol to offer an explanation, Zhou Chenyan remained silent.

I offered an excuse, "He insisted on coming out to find you just now, and I simply couldn't stop him. He must be heavily intoxicated, because his legs gave out and he slid right down."

Suspecting nothing, Mother Zhou handed the sobering soup to me and bent down to help Zhou Chenyan up. This time, to my surprise, Zhou Chenyan was exceptionally compliant.

Standing nearby with the bowl of sobering soup still in hand, I watched as Mother Zhou settled him against the head of the bed, only then stepping forward to offer the bowl.

Although it was no longer scalding hot, holding it for so long had grown rather tiring.

Mother Zhou waved the soup away. "Yanyan, I ran into your father just as I was coming over, and he asked me to see him for a moment. I'll leave A-Yan in your hands."

"What?"

Seemingly afraid I might refuse and leaving me no chance to speak, she hurried out of the room at a brisk pace.

I stood rooted to the spot, speechless.

How could she possibly feel so at ease leaving her son in my care? Weren't they afraid I might poison him?

The man on the bed remained sitting obediently. I extended the bowl of sobering soup toward him.

"Drink this."

He stared at me without moving.

He seemed not to have understood my words.

"Are you going to drink it or not?" I asked, mustering my patience.

He sat there with his hands resting quietly on his thighs, his gaze fixed steadily on me, neither speaking nor moving.

I set the sobering soup down on the bedside table.

"Lie down."

This time he understood, and lay back down.

I turned to leave.

"Yanyan."

For the first time this night, he called my name.

I heard him say, "I'm sorry."

Those three words carried more impact than anything else I had heard tonight.

"What did you say?"

He lay there gazing up at the ceiling, a trace of exhaustion unexpectedly surfacing across his hazy, intoxicated features.

"I'm sorry. I only wanted to frighten you; I didn't genuinely mean to let anyone inside to hurt you... I don't know why the bodyguards walked away... I'm sorry..."

"I'm sorry..."

A cynical laugh escaped my lips. "If you commit murder and say 'I'm sorry' to the judge in a courtroom, will the judge and the victim's family forgive you?"

He fell silent once more.