Chapter 17: Forceful Kissing Lin Wan
The connection point of this carriage section was near the tail end, and since there were no seats, hardly anyone usually ca here.
The rubber seal in the gap of the door was aging, allowing a cold wind to howl in, producing a sharp whistle.
Outside the window, the snow plain gave off a cold blue light in the darkness, and the occasional withered trees flashed past like ghostly shadows flying backward.
It was very cold here.
But the distance between the two was very close, close enough that the heat radiating from each other intertwined and ward the narrow space.
Jiang Chen led Lin Wan to the corner, turning his back to the wind vent, using his own body to shield her from that bone-chilling cold.
"Are you still scared?" Jiang Chen looked down at her.
By the faint snow light filtering in from the window, he could clearly see Lin Wan's slightly pale face.
Her hair was a bit ssy, a few strands of flyaways stuck to her cheek, and her eyes were watery, like a bottomless pool.
Lin Wan shook her head, then nodded again.
"Just now... I was really scared," she said softly, her voice sounding exceptionally fragile against the sound of the wind. "I was afraid that wine bottle would hit you. People like that will do anything when they’re drunk."
"I know what I'm doing." Jiang Chen raised his hand and very naturally tucked that stray lock of hair behind her ear. His fingertip brushed against her hot cheek, causing a subtle shiver.
"You always say that," Lin Wan gave a wry smile but didn't pull away from his touch. "Last ti it was the sa, and this ti too. Xiao Jiang, do you know that in this world, people who try too hard to be strong end up suffering losses?"
"That depends on who it is for." Jiang Chen looked into her eyes, his tone lacking so of the youthful arrogance and gaining so of a man's depth. "If it's for soone worthwhile, taking a loss doesn't matter."
A worthwhile person.
Those four words were like a spark landing in Lin Wan's already dry and barren heart, instantly igniting a massive fire.
She had lived for thirty years.
The first half of her life was spent adhering strictly to rules: being the good daughter in her parents' eyes, being the virtuous wife behind her husband.
She was accustod to forbearance, accustod to being ignored, accustod to swallowing all grievances and even practicing smiling in the mirror.
No one had ever told her that she was 'worthwhile'.
In that so-called ho, she was a housekeeper, an ornant, anything but a woman who needed to be protected and cherished.
Lin Wan raised her head, looking at the young man before her.
His outline appeared exceptionally resolute in the shadows, and his eyes shone brightly like the cold stars in the sky.
The ruthlessness he displayed toward the villain earlier had vanished; now, only the tenderness that made her sink remained.
At this mont, the string of reason finally snapped completely.
All worldly morality, her status as a married woman, the age gap—all of it was tossed to the farthest reaches of the sky.
All she wanted now was to grasp this warmth, even if only for a second, even if what followed was a bottomless abyss.
"The question from before..." Lin Wan spoke, her voice sowhat hoarse, carrying a desperate resolve, "You still haven't answered ."
Jiang Chen raised an eyebrow slightly: "What question?"
"I said..." Lin Wan took a deep breath, her chest rising and falling violently, as if she needed to use all her strength to squeeze out the words, "If I want to start over now... is it still not too late?"
The air seed to freeze in that instant.
Only the clanging sound of the wheels hitting the tracks echoed, monotonous and rhythmic, like so kind of countdown.
Jiang Chen did not answer imdiately.
He looked quietly at Lin Wan, watching the precarious hope in her eyes, watching her lips tightly pursed from nervousness.
He could feel the stiffness of her body, like a prisoner awaiting a verdict.
If he didn't answer, or gave an ambiguous answer, she would probably imdiately shrink back into the shell nad 'virtuous wife' and never erge again.
The corner of Jiang Chen's mouth curved slightly upward, revealing a very faint, yet extrely certain smile.
He suddenly took a step forward.
This step completely eliminated the last bit of safe distance between them.
The tip of his shoe touched the tip of her shoe, and his knee bumped against hers.
Lin Wan was forced to retreat, her back pressed against the cold glass of the carriage door.
The penetrating chill made her shudder, but the masculine presence rushing toward her was hot enough to make her entire body go weak.
"Sister Wan," Jiang Chen reached out one hand, bracing it on the glass beside her ear, trapping her entirely between himself and the door. This was an extrely aggressive posture, and also a posture of absolute control.
"Do you want to hear the truth?"
Lin Wan felt her heart about to jump out of her throat.
She dared not look directly into Jiang Chen's eyes, only staring at his bobbing Adam's apple, and nodded softly: "Mm."
"The truth is..." Jiang Chen lowered his head, his warm breath sprinkling onto the tip of her nose. "It's never too late. Especially when you et soone willing to pull you up."
Lin Wan's eyelashes trembled violently.
"Then you..." Her voice was as thin as a wisp of smoke. "Are you willing to pull ?"
These words nearly exhausted all her courage.
As a woman raised with traditional education, this was already the most blatant confession she could make.
Jiang Chen laughed.
It wasn't the polite smile, nor was it the perfunctory small talk. It was a laugh carrying a hint of mischief and a sense of triumph.
"Pull you?" Jiang Chen shook his head, his voice deep like the strings of a cello. "Sister Wan, you underestimate ."
Lin Wan was stunned and looked up in bewildernt: "Wh-what..."
"Just pulling isn't enough?"
Before the words fell, Jiang Chen's hand had already gripped the back of her head.
When that kiss landed, Lin Wan's mind went blank.
She had anticipated many possibilities. Perhaps he would politely refuse, perhaps he would say so ambiguous comforting words, maybe he would even be scared away.
She never expected him to be so direct, so domineering.
Jiang Chen's lips were slightly cool, carrying the scent of the wind and snow outside, but they quickly turned scorching hot.
He gave her no chance to escape; the hand gripping the back of her head was as strong as iron pincers, forcing her to tilt her head back to endure this sudden offensive.
Lin Wan's hands were originally pressed against his chest, intending to push him away—that was instinctual reserve.
But as the kiss deepened, as that scent carrying intense male hormones brazenly pried open her lips, the hands that resisted gradually lost their strength and turned into a tight grip.
She clutched the lapel of Jiang Chen's coat, her knuckles turning white from the force, as if grasping the last piece of driftwood.
This was not the hesitant testing of a young man.
This was the plunder belonging only to an adult man.
He was demanding, confirming, telling her in this most primitive way: You are mine.
The surrounding world seed to disappear.
The clanging sound of the rails, the howling wind outside the window, the occasional footsteps from the corridor—everything beca blurred.
In her world, only the man before her remained, only the dizzying entanglent between their lips.
Lin Wan felt like a piece of wax thrown into a furnace, slowly lting.
That long-lost feeling of being intensely needed surged from her spine straight to the top of her head, causing her entire body to tremble minutely.
Five years.
That damned marriage was like a dry well, draining away her vitality, her passion, her desire.
She thought she had long since achieved a placid heart, long accustod to that stagnant life.
Until this mont.
Until this man, almost ten years younger than her, smashed the well cover in a manner bordering on brutality, allowing sunlight and fierce fire to pour in simultaneously.
"Mmm..."
A broken whimper escaped her throat, unsure if it was due to lack of oxygen or the release of long-suppressed emotions.
Jiang Chen finally pulled back slightly.
But he didn't create distance; their foreheads were still pressed together, their noses brushing.
Lin Wan gasped heavily, her chest rising and falling violently.
Her face was flushed as if it could bleed, her eyes hazy like a drunken cat.
The lipstick on her lips was smudged, bleeding around the corners of her mouth, carrying a ssy, decadent beauty.
"Do you still need to ask that question?" Jiang Chen's voice was hoarse, the unique timbre after intense emotion.
His fingers caressed her swollen lips, his gaze frighteningly dark.
Lin Wan shook her head. She couldn't even speak now.
Was there still a need to ask?
This kiss was the best answer.
"Sister Wan," Jiang Chen looked at her, his tone softening, but his hand still held the back of her neck with a firm, gentle pressure. "Rember this feeling. If anyone dares to make you suffer again in the future, just think of today."
"No matter where you are, no matter what your status is," Jiang Chen paused, speaking word by word, "As long as you want to start over, I am here anyti."
Lin Wan's eyes instantly reddened.
Tears welled up without warning, sliding down the corners of her eyes. This ti, they were not tears of sadness, but of relief.
"You..." She sniffled, her voice thick with nasal congestion. "How can you be so wicked? You're clearly younger, but you talk like an old man."
"Wicked?" Jiang Chen chuckled softly, lowering his head to peck lightly at the corner of her wet eye. "That's because you haven't seen when I'm worse."
This suggestive remark made Lin Wan's face, which had just cooled slightly, burn up again.
She playfully punched him with a hint of shyness: "Don't talk nonsense!"
This punch was soft, more like flirting.
Jiang Chen took the opportunity to grab her hand and kissed it at his lips.
The large diamond ring originally worn on her ring finger looked so ironic and dazzling at this mont.
But he said nothing.
He knew so things couldn't be rushed.
Lin Wan's heart, frozen for too long, needed to be slowly ward, not shattered imdiately.
Today's step was already a big one.
"Let's go," Jiang Chen straightened her collar and ticulously wiped away the lipstick stain at the corner of her mouth with his fingertip. "It's too cold; if we stay longer, we'll catch a cold. Sister Su and the others will worry."
ntioning Su Qingge and Chen Man, Lin Wan seed to fall back into reality from a dream.
She nervously touched her face, then looked at her reflection in the window glass, trying to make herself look more normal.
"Am I... Do I look too obvious right now?" she asked with so apprehension.
Jiang Chen looked at her sparkling eyes and her lips that were clearly loved fiercely, and nodded honestly: "Yes, very obvious."
"Then what do we do?" Lin Wan panicked. "If they see..."
"If they see, they see," Jiang Chen looked unconcerned, even carrying a touch of righteous indignation. "An unmarried man and an unmarried woman, what is there to hide? Besides, I think Sister Chen Man has been wishing for sothing to happen for a long ti."
"You stop it!" Lin Wan glared at him, but there was no hint of deterrence left in her gaze.
The two walked back, one in front of the other.
As they neared the door of Private Room 8, Lin Wan suddenly stopped and tugged on Jiang Chen's sleeve.
"Xiao Jiang."
"Mm?"
"Thank you," she looked at him, her gaze very serious and clean. "Thank you for giving ... the courage to make a mistake."
Jiang Chen turned back, looking at the woman who finally possessed a bit of liveliness, and a smile curved his lips.
"This isn't called making a mistake," he said softly. "This is called cutting your losses."
Just then, the door to Private Room 8 was suddenly pulled open from the inside.
Chen Man poked her ssy head out, still holding a bag of sunflower seeds. Seeing the two standing at the door, her eyes instantly beca ambiguous, as if trying to see right through them.
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