Chapter 27

Chapter 27

*

Jin Mo's body instantly stiffened.

She even forgot to breathe, her fingertips digging into the bedsheet beneath her. The blood in her veins seemed to freeze for a split second, then surge wildly through her limbs, burning her so badly she shook.

Yin Jihong's kiss wasn't a violent plunder—it was scorching tenderness, so gentle it was almost reverent.

His lips were scalding, carrying the heat of his fever, wrapped in his usual dominance, but laced with a cautious, cherishing care as they brushed softly against hers. He was careful, like he was testing the waters, but also letting out feelings he'd held back for way too long.

He was so scared of hurting her that his touch was impossibly light, but he couldn't bring himself to pull away—like letting go would make her disappear.

It all felt contradictory, but somehow it came together in a dangerously perfect way.

Yin Jihong tilted his head, his tongue barely grazing her lip line, with a subconscious neediness and pleading—like a lost kid who'd finally found a safe place to land.

His kiss was light, but it cut right through her, traveling from her lips straight to her heart, burning her until she went weak and numb inside.

Jin Mo knew she should shove him off.

Even if he was stronger, if she fought back hard, knowing how much he cherished her on a normal day, he'd never let her feel hurt—he'd stop right away.

But the scariest part was that she seemed... not to want to push him away.

Her instincts screamed that he was "dangerous," "unpredictable," and that this was "crossing the line," "wrong." But her heart didn't send her a single hint of resistance or reluctance.

The hand that had been braced against his shoulder lifted on its own, her fingers trembling as she grabbed the hem of his shirt.

She slowly closed her eyes, letting him kiss her, feeling the heat of his lips and his heavy, burning breath.

She could tell his kiss was a little clumsy—he had no technique, just instinct, kissing her, pressing closer, trying to get nearer.

For a second, Jin Mo even awkwardly kissed him back a few times.

She had to be out of her mind.

If she wasn't, how could she be lying in bed with her "childhood big brother," kissing him like this?

Their noses bumped, their lips and teeth tangled together.

The air in the room got thick and heavy—the fever's heat, their tangled breaths, the brush of lips and teeth—all of it mixing together, throwing her heart into chaos.

...

After what felt like forever, Yin Jihong finally pulled back.

His forehead pressed against hers, his breathing still rough, his eyes even redder. A thin film of moisture blurred his gaze—still a little dazed, but also satisfied.

Jin Mo opened her eyes, trembling, her eyes glistening. She felt like she was on fire, her heart pounding so hard it felt like it might burst.

She waited, anxious and nervous. Waited for him to say something, to whisper her name, to speak.

But after a moment, nothing came. Instead, the man on top of her let his eyelids droop, went limp, and collapsed onto her side. Within seconds, his breathing evened out, and he was asleep again.

Jin Mo, face flushed bright red, froze for a few seconds, her heart churning with a mess of emotions.

Feeling the heavy weight of the man next to her, her foggy brain slowly started to clear.

After a long pause, she pushed Yin Jihong off her with some effort, got him lying flat on his back, and pulled the blanket over him.

Finally, she scrambled off the bed, stumbled over to the coffee table at the far end of the room, turned her back to the bed, and tried desperately to calm her ragged breathing.

So, if she was reading this right, that kiss just now was a total accident?

He hadn't said a single word the whole time, and his eyes hadn't been fully clear. Plus, after kissing her, he hadn't even said her name.

Jin Mo's feelings spiraled into a complexity she'd never known.

She'd just kissed the guy she liked. Logically, she should be happy, even though she had no clue if he liked her back.

But then it hit her—the person she liked might not have wanted to kiss "Jin Mo."

Because he'd been in a fever haze, half-asleep, his mind totally out of it. He might've just wandered into some pretty woman's dream, acting on pure male instinct, looking for a little warmth.

Even if some other woman had been taking care of him in this room today, he probably would've done the exact same thing.

Jin Mo stood there for a long, long time.

The little bubbles of excitement that had nearly burst out of her when he kissed her, wrapped in his gentle tenderness and scorching breath, had now popped one by one, gone without a trace. In their place were disappointment and confusion, plus a hint of hurt and anger she couldn't quite name.

Everyone wants to kiss the person they like.

But nobody wants their first kiss taken by someone who's out of it, in some careless, half-conscious blur.

It didn't make her heart flutter like some innocent girl—it just made her feel like he was flat-out taking advantage of her.

The more Jin Mo thought about it, the angrier she got. After a while, she glanced back at the unconscious man in bed, bit her lip, and stormed out the door, fuming.

The second she left, Yin Jihong rolled over in bed.

Eyes still closed, he grabbed a pillow and hugged it to his chest, murmuring in a hoarse, slurred voice: "Momo..."

-

Yin Jihong didn't stay asleep for long this time.

He'd been up late the night before, fighting with the A+ team, and only got two hours of sleep before boarding the flight to Xinjiang.

Because of his fever, he had no appetite, so he didn't eat a single thing on the plane.

So he'd barely made it to the Wild Snow Park entrance when he heard rescuers yelling about an avalanche. He sprinted like crazy, throwing himself into the rescue.

In the end, his body gave out, and starving half to death, he collapsed right there.

So now, he'd been woken up by pure hunger.

When he opened his eyes, his first instinct was to look beside him, expecting to see Jin Mo there watching over him.

Because before he passed out, he clearly remembered hearing Jin Mo calling his name in a panic.

But when he sat up in bed, he found the room totally empty.

Could Jin Mo's frostbite be really bad? Was she stuck in bed?

The second that thought crossed his mind, he ignored his still-recovering body and pounding head, threw off the covers, and strode toward the bedroom door.

As soon as he opened the door, he saw a few medical staff sitting in the living room, and Chen Yuanshan was there too.

He stood there, scanning the room, but there was no sign of Jin Mo. His heart dropped.

Chen Yuanshan looked up from his computer, totally unhurried: "Sleeping beauty, finally back from the dead?"

Yin Jihong ignored him and turned to search the guest room, laundry room, and kitchen, but still found no sign of her.

His face instantly darkened. His first thought was that that little bug had snatched her away, and he immediately frowned and asked, "Where's Momo?"

Chen Yuanshan propped his chin on his hand: "She stormed off 'cause you pissed her off."

"The hell are you talking about?" He had zero patience for his crap. He walked to the dining table, picked up the porridge the hotel kitchen had kept warm for him, and knocked back half a bowl.

After getting a little something in his stomach, he set the bowl down and asked again, all pissy, "Where exactly did she go?"

"What, you wake up from a nap and can't understand plain English anymore?" Chen Yuanshan shrugged. "Didn't I just say? She stormed off 'cause you pissed her off."

Before Yin Jihong could land a kick, he pointed at the medical staff beside him: "If you don't believe me, ask them. Didn't she storm out of your room with an angry face and then throw on her coat and leave?"

The medical staff met the sharp glare the Young Master of the Yin Family swept their way, their scalps crawling—none of them dared to say a damn thing.

But they didn't dare lie either. One of the male doctors could only grit his teeth and stammer nervously, "Miss Jin... when she slammed the door and left, she was frowning, her steps were hurried... she really didn't look too happy, that's for sure."

Yin Jihong was completely stumped.

How the hell could a guy passed out with a high fever somehow manage to piss someone off?

Could it be that she'd found out the truth about why he hadn't come to Xinjiang these past few days and was planning to rake him over the coals? But even so, that still wouldn't justify her slamming the door and storming out! She had such strong empathy—she should've been able to understand why he hid it from her.

Unless... he'd been sleepwalking while he was out cold and done something to her?

The Young Master had lived all these years with a spotless record when it came to drinking and sleeping—he'd never gone on a drunken rampage, and he'd never sleepwalked. On that front, his own mom, Deng Ying, could totally vouch for him.

Yin Jihong leaned sideways against the dining table, getting more and more worked up the more he thought about it, unable to figure out why Jin Mo would suddenly be angry.

She was usually so mild-mannered and never got upset easily. Even when she did get emotional, she mostly kept it bottled up inside. To push her to the point of slamming the door in anger—what the hell could he have done that was so bad?

He quickly replayed everything from before he blacked out—risking his life to drag her out of the avalanche, carrying her all the way to the entrance of the ski resort, then collapsing in front of her.

Other than that, he'd absolutely done nothing.

The medical staff had initially wanted to step forward to take his temperature and check his condition, but seeing his face looking like a storm was about to break, they were all too scared to go near him.

In the tense atmosphere that filled the room, Chen Yuanshan leaned back in his chair, long legs crossed, and suddenly threw out, "Judging by the look of her, I'd say you probably pulled some beast move, didn't you?"

Yin Jihong: "?"

He pointed at his own still-unsteady steps, laughing despite his irritation: "In the shape I'm in, even if I had the heart of a beast, I wouldn't have the strength to back it up."

"Speaking of you," he turned and vented at Chen Yuanshan, "you watched her run off and didn't even go after her to ask what was wrong? Why she was upset?"

Chen Yuanshan wasn't scared of him in the slightest, and he knew exactly where to stick the knife in: "She's your precious treasure—you've got a mouth, why don't you ask her yourself?"

Just as Yin Jihong was about to snap back, the beep of a key card at the door rang out again.

The next second, the whole room got to witness a masterclass in dramatic transformation.

The Young Master, who'd been radiating menace just a second ago, had his eyes light up instantly, practically springing off the dining table like he'd been electrocuted.

But just as he was about to charge toward the door, as if something suddenly hit him, he sharply changed direction, stumbled over to the far edge of the sofa, and slumped down weakly. He lowered his eyes slightly, furrowed his brow, pressed a hand to his temple, and put on a face of utter misery.

The whole move was smooth as hell, without a single beat of hesitation.

Chen Yuanshan & the medical staff: "..."

So when Jin Mo walked in, the first thing she saw was Yin Jihong looking all frail and pitiful on the sofa.

Seeing that, she instinctively took a step forward to check on him.

But just as she reached the edge of the sofa, as if something had occurred to her, a flicker of hesitation crossed her face, which then gave way to a trace of faint anger, before finally settling into a mask of calm.

Yin Jihong lay there with his eyes closed, playing sick, totally missing the whole cascade of micro-expressions on her face—but Chen Yuanshan caught every bit of it.

So the CEO of Geshan Group smiled faintly, and with barely concealed glee, murmured under his breath, "Oh ho."

That one sound was enough to blow Yin Jihong's cover.

He pretended to slowly crack his eyes open just a tiny bit, and in the weakest voice of his entire life, called out to her, "...Momo."

Jin Mo was quiet for two seconds, then gave a flat, "Mm."

Yin Jihong's eyes flew wide open.

He'd known Jin Mo for years—when had she ever answered him like that? Even when she was upset, she'd always call him "Brother Ji" in a soft voice, or greet him with a gentle smile.

Even if he was the densest, most oblivious man alive, he could tell something was off with her right now.

She wouldn't even spare him a second glance. Standing by the sofa, her gaze kept deliberately drifting away to the other side.

This kind of thing should never have been possible between the two of them.

"Momo, you're back." Chen Yuanshan smiled warmly from the side and asked Jin Mo, "Where did you rush off to in such a hurry earlier?"

"Brother Yuanshan." Jin Mo seemed to have found a lifeline. She turned and left the sofa, walking over to stand before Chen Yuanshan. "Sorry, I left in such a rush earlier that I didn't even say goodbye. I realized I dropped my phone at the ski resort, so I went to find Wang Xu to help me contact the resort staff and ask if anyone had seen or picked it up."

The way she spoke to Chen Yuanshan was as warm and natural as ever, with no sign of anything unusual.

The "patient" lying on the sofa could no longer contain himself. He pushed himself up from the sofa into a half-sitting position, his gaze fixed like a hawk's on the two people conversing by the dining table.

Chen Yuanshan asked, "Did you find it?"

Jin Mo shook her head. "The avalanche buried it so deep—even a deity descending from heaven couldn't find it now."

Chen Yuanshan paused for a moment, then said with a faint, ambiguous smile, "Well, no matter. Lost is lost. What matters most is that you're safe and sound. Just have your Brother Ji buy you a new one—feel free to squeeze him dry."

At those words, Jin Mo's expression stiffened slightly, and she fell silent again.

After a moment, without so much as glancing in Yin Jihong's direction, she said softly, "No need. I'll buy it myself."

Chen Yuanshan didn't respond right away, but turned to look at the shattered Yin Jihong on the sofa and shot him a look.

That look contained only eight words:

—You definitely pulled some beast move, didn't you.

——————————

Author's note:

Red packets continue to drop randomly! Please keep hitting me with your collections, comments, and nutrient solution~ Love you all! Also, don't forget to collect my author page! And feel free to check out my next new novel, "The Crane," a Beijing circle story (might also switch to a Beijing circle ensemble piece)—either way, it's all mature men and women with plenty of spice, haha.

Yin Jihong, Yin Jihong!!! See what I told you!!! Aaaaah!!! You pulled a beast move and won't even admit it!!! I'll grab you on the spot and toss you into the pot!!!! That was her first kiss!!!

Wronged puppy: That was my first kiss too! I don't want to not remember it either aaaaah!!!

At this moment, we borrow Shanmei's catchphrase: Oh ho

Congratulations, puppy, on giving up your first kiss and ending up back at square one

At the end of the day, it's still this Sang Jie who loves stirring up trouble! This Sang Jie is too wicked! Ski section done, entering the main feature—the fierce competition chapter