Chapter Fourteen: What Madness Is This?

Terrified, I clutched my head, bracing for the pain I thought would come next—but it never did. Instead of the cold wooden planks, my hands touched something soft, like a comforter. The air was warm and fragrant.

When I opened my eyes, I was so overjoyed I could hardly contain myself. Stroking the luxurious blanket beneath me and inhaling the aroma of coffee, I chuckled and called out to the man already sitting by the little stove in his overcoat, “Do you have any clothes?”

He took a sip from his cup and ignored me.

Wrapping the blanket tighter around myself, I shuffled closer, breathing in the scent of coffee as greedily as a fiend absorbing human energy, gazing at him with the eager look of a lapdog.

At last, he turned his face toward me and held out his cup. “Want some?”

I was just reaching for it when a tickle built in my nose. Without warning, I sneezed again and again. When I finally stopped, I stared in dismay—drips of coffee were sliding down his handsome but infuriating face and landing on his white, not-yet-dry shirt.

I gasped for breath, ready to apologize, but instead, another round of sneezes erupted from me.

He pushed me away with disgust. I dared not move. Though the blanket and the stove were warm, my underclothes were now icy as shards of frozen glass; I could feel the chill gripping my spine and tailbone.

Not wanting to freeze to death, I called out to the man, who was now seated at the prow with a fresh cup of coffee, “Please, call Zhu Bang and ask him to bring two sets of clothes.”

He didn’t look at me. “I’m not cold.”

Cursing his ancestors to the eighteenth generation in my heart, I held back my anger, knowing I had no phone and only him to rely on. After some thought, I bundled myself tightly in the blanket, wiped my nose, and shouted, “I’m going to take off my clothes now, so don’t you dare turn around.”

He turned to look at me, sizing me up. “Relax. With that underdeveloped body of yours, even if you begged me to look, I wouldn’t.”

I grabbed the coffee cup from the floor and hurled it at him, but my aim was weak, and it didn’t reach.

He fixed his gaze on me. “Hey, are you trying to seduce me?”

His voice dripped with a contempt that brooked no argument. Furious but helpless, I snapped back, “I have no interest in a creature with two nostrils and four legs. I’m not a butcher.”

“You dare insult me?” He snorted, walked over with his coffee, and looked down at me. My body and soul shivered, but I didn’t move.

If the enemy doesn’t move, neither do I. Worst case, we freeze together.

He looked down from above, then tossed his overcoat beside me. “No wonder men don’t like you, with that sharp tongue. Only a pig would find you appealing.”

He knew exactly how to hit my sore spot. I picked up the coat and threw it at him. He caught it, slipped it back on, and said, “Fine, if you don’t want it,” then snatched away my blanket and returned to his spot at the prow, utterly unbothered.

It felt as if my ribs had been torn out. After sneezing a dozen times, I finally rushed over and tried to grab his coat.

If he wouldn’t help me get clothes, then fine—he could freeze with me. Only then would I feel some sense of justice.

Coffee spilled everywhere as he grabbed my hand, his gaze suddenly dangerous. “What’s gotten into you?”

Indignant, I clutched his collar. “I’ve gone mad, that’s what! Go on, throw me into the lake again if you dare.”

He shoved me away and pointed at me with a long, elegant finger. “Believe me, I will.”

I didn’t give him the chance. I opened my mouth wide and bit down on his finger, dragging him backward.

He grunted in pain, trying to pull away, but I clung to his coat, and, foreseeing he’d try to kick me into the lake, wrapped my leg around his waist to keep my balance.

It was an awkward position; the pervert couldn’t shake me off, and I was determined to bite clean through his finger if I could.

His face darkened as he gripped my chin with his free hand, holding up his bleeding finger. “Are you a dog? You actually bit me!”