Chapter 4
"Yaoyao, I'm so sorry. I originally wanted to spend the weekend properly with you, but I never expected something like this to happen!" By the time Lu Yao brought me out of the police station, it was already nearly six in the evening the next day. After being held there for an entire day and night, I looked completely disheveled scruffy stubble, oily face. Every time I thought back on what had happened yesterday, guilt gnawed inside me. Driving us home, I turned to her and apologized.
"It's not your fault, dear," Lu Yao sighed with a faint smile, comforting me. "Who would've thought we'd run into a lowlife like that? Anyway, as long as you're out, it's fine. But… next time you can't act so recklessly. You're not a kid anymore, getting into fights like that. If our families find out, wouldn't we be humiliated?"
"Yaoyao, I only did it because I saw you being bullied! If even at a time like that I don't stand up, would I still be a man?" Just recalling yesterday afternoon burned my chest with anger. In all our years of marriage, we had barely ever argued, let alone had I so much as raised a finger against her. And yet, the image of Redhead dragging her by the hair and slapping her face it made me feel insane, murderous with rage!
"Okay, okay, husband, I know. You love me the most." Sitting beside me in the passenger seat, Lu Yao's lips curved into a sweet smile. She playfully pulled a cigarette from the pack and handed it to me. "Here, darling. This is your reward."
"Thank you for stepping up to protect me in the critical moment. Thank you for bravely fighting off that thug who bullied me, and even winning! But this is a one-time pass. Next time, you mustn't be so impulsive. Be steady like the man you are."
Her gentle smile, brighter than spring sunlight, melted the shadows in my chest. Steering one-handed, I lit the cigarette, drew deeply twice, and exhaled with relief. "By the way, Yaoyao, Officer Sun told me that Redhead is tough to negotiate with. How did you manage to settle it with him?"
"…Well…" Her smile faltered; a shadow passed across her face. She hesitated, then replied softly, "What else could I do? He wasn't being unreasonable because of anything real he just wanted more money. At first, when I went with Officer Sun, we offered fifty thousand to close it. He refused. Then when I went back alone in the afternoon, he straight up demanded a hundred thousand."
"You gave it to him?!" My blood boiled at the thought. That scumbag dared demand a hundred thousand?
Lu Yao nodded softly. "What else could I do? I couldn't just let you sit in jail. If you really went to prison, even our son's future might be ruined. It's not worth it, not for the sake of that money."
"Fuck! For those petty injuries, and he dares to ask for a hundred thousand? Why not a million!" I slammed the wheel in fury. My salary was barely eight or nine thousand a month what he demanded equaled nearly a year's wages, gone in an instant.
"What can we do about it? You were impulsive yesterday, and hit him too hard. Let's just think of it as spending money to avoid a bigger disaster." She pouted, sighed. "Besides, don't you have to travel for work again tomorrow? If this incident interferes with your job, it's even less worth it."
"Fine, fine. Like you say just consider it misfortune money." It still made me sick to think about, but she was right. My rage was born from the injustice that he caused trouble, yet we paid. Anyone would be angry.
But facts were facts. I had cracked his arm and given him a concussion protecting my wife. Without his signature on a settlement, I faced prison. For her sake, for my family, I had to yield.
At least it was over. Money wasted, yes, but I had defended my wife my pride as a man. For that alone, maybe the ten thousand was worth it.
After washing up and changing clothes once home, Lu Yao and I went to her parent's place. It was partly because I rarely got back from business trips and wanted to gather with them, and partly to pick up our son tomorrow was kindergarten.
"Mom, dad you finally came to get me!" As soon as Lu Yao knocked, hurried footsteps approached from inside. The door swung open, and a small figure barreled into her arms. Peeking out his head to glance at me, our son stuck out his tongue cheekily.
"Binbin, did you behave at Grandma's?" I ruffled his round head with a smile. Nestled in his mother's arms, he shook his head playfully, sticking out his tongue again. His soft child's voice piped, "Dad, I'm not a baby anymore! Don't call me Binbin. You have to call me by my real name: Li Wenbin!"
"Haha, alright, Li Wenbin. Did you behave well these last two days?" Unable to resist, I pinched his plump little cheeks and followed Lu Yao inside to join her parents for dinner. We ate, chatted lazily, and eventually carried our boy home.
"Yaoyao… did you miss me?" After coaxing our son to bed at last, I embraced the long-awaited silence with my wife. My hands moved across her soft, supple body, heat rising in my chest, my arousal surging quickly. Pressing against her from behind, I teased her breasts through her nightdress, my hardness nudging insistently against her hips. "It's been so long since we've had time together…"
"Mmm… husband… don't…" With my caresses, her breathing quickened, a blush rising to her pale cheeks, desire flickering in her eyes. Pressing down on my restless hand, she murmured with half-exasperation, half-shyness: "Go shower first…"
"I already bathed this afternoon when I came home," I whispered, lips capturing her earlobe, sucking lightly, while my hand kneaded her nipple impatiently. "Come on, just let's do it now. I'll wash after."
"No, dear… your body still smells. Wash, then we can…" With gentle strength, she turned and pushed me softly. Her weary eyes held warning. Afraid to anger her more, I sighed and rose from the bed.
"Wait for me, Yaoyao…" Grinning, I darted off to the bathroom.
When I was gone, she sighed quietly, biting her lip. Whether to tell me about Redhead it gnawed inside her. She knew my uprightness. If I learned she had agreed to "care for him," I'd never allow it.
But I was going away tomorrow for another long business trip. The thought comforted her by the time I returned, Redhead would be discharged, and the whole ordeal finished. At least… that's what she wanted to believe.
Yet she feared. What if I ever found out she had kept this secret? Worse what if Redhead tried something? She could guess his real intentions. He was fixated on her. Why else force the condition?
Still, at the time she had no choice. For me, she had bowed her head. She promised herself: the moment Redhead showed any sign of crossing the line, she'd leave at once. Under no circumstances would she let herself betray me.
Me oblivious I jumped into the shower, rinsed fast, then emerged naked. She still sat in bed, lost in thought. I climbed over her, pressing her down, kissing her lips hungrily. Urgency burned through me after a month apart.
"Yaoyao… did you miss me?" My body wedged between her silken thighs, the heat of her core pulling me in until with one muffled groan from her it enveloped me completely, hot and slick.
Her face colored with shame as I thrusted deeply. "You're already so wet, Yaoyao," I grunted, watching her flush deepen. "Were you waiting for me?"
"Mmph… naughty… don't say that…" she whimpered, fists thumping my chest half-heartedly, arms hooking around my shoulders with surrender. "Husband… harder… feels so good…"
Her words sent me wild, my pace pounding harder, faster, her thighs wrapping like vines around my waist our bodies joined desperately, straining like it was the last time.
Minutes blurred in fever. Her cries rose, scattered, pleading, lost in the flush of desire. Finally, my body seized heat erupting and I spilled everything deep inside her with a guttural shout.
Exhausted, we collapsed. She trembled in my arms as our breathing slowly stilled. I smiled faintly, though panting hard, aware of my age more than ever.
After resting a while, she was first to slip away for a shower. I wanted to follow, but instead chose to sneak a cigarette in the bathroom after she left. By the time she returned, I had put out the smoke, washed again quickly, brushed my teeth, and joined her in bed.
She was already asleep. On her side, a perfect figure outlined in the dim light, her face peaceful, her skin glowing faintly. I kissed her brow softly, slipped an arm around her, and succumbed to sleep myself.
The next morning, I rose early, packed my luggage, called a rideshare to the company, and set out once again another long business trip, an absence of a month or more.