Su Qingning snorted coldly but didn't speak again. Lin Xiao knew she had tacitly agreed.

With an incredibly practiced touch, he began the massage. To put it bluntly, Lin Xiao's skills were exceptional. After all, he had been honing this craft since he was seven. That's right, he started giving massages to those old codgers at the age of seven, and after more than a decade of practice, his technique was masterful.

Initially, Su Qingning was skeptical of his intentions. She assumed the scoundrel was just using the massage as an excuse to take liberties with her. But after he worked on her for just a short while, Su Qingning realized how wrong she was.

This scoundrel's technique wasn't just good; it was in a class of its own. Though he had only been massaging her for a moment, she already felt so comfortable she wanted to cry out in pleasure. Honestly, Su Qingning had never experienced such a blissful massage. The perfectly applied force and the gentle yet firm strokes quickly sent her into a state of deep relaxation. Her eyes, which had been open just moments before, slowly fluttered shut as she began to thoroughly enjoy this rare opportunity to unwind.

"How does that feel? Comfortable?" Lin Xiao asked softly.

Su Qingning replied with a touch of arrogance, "Hmph, it's merely passable!"

Lin Xiao simply smiled without saying a word. Of course, he knew she meant the opposite. After all, he was more confident in his massage skills than in his own cultivation.

"My mom called," Su Qingning said suddenly. "She said my uncle wants to treat us to dinner tonight."

Lin Xiao was about to agree when he remembered his promise to Pei Yanzi to have dinner with her at the school.

"Honey, I'm sorry, but I have plans tonight. I don't think I can make it."

Su Qingning opened her beautiful, peach-blossom eyes and asked in a low voice, "Are you still angry about what my aunt said yesterday?"

"Don't be silly, I'm not that petty. I really do have something I need to do. How about this? You take your uncle's family to Chunyu Pavilion for dinner, and I'll hurry over as soon as I'm finished."

"Chunyu Pavilion is too expensive. Let's choose somewhere else."

"It's fine. We have a card."

Su Qingning's expression instantly dimmed.

"Let's just forget it. Shao Mei'er gave you that card, and I already owe her enough."

"What's the big deal? Don't think of it as us taking advantage of Shao Mei'er. In fact, my presence at Chunyu Pavilion is doing the Shao Family a favor!"

Su Qingning shot him a glare. The scoundrel was bragging again.

"You scoundrel! The Shao Family is the most powerful family in Jinling City. How can you say something so audacious?"

"The Shao Family is certainly impressive in Jinling City, but they're nothing in the grand scheme of Jiuzhou. As for me, Lin Xiao... forget Jiuzhou. Even on a global scale, I'm an existence that defies the heavens."

Su Qingning was left speechless, completely and utterly speechless. This guy was truly addicted to boasting. If it weren't for his exceptional massage skills, she definitely would have given him a piece of her mind. And while she didn't scold him, she did give him a charmingly exasperated roll of her eyes.

"You scoundrel, if you keep spouting such nonsense, I'm really going to ignore you!"

Watching her pout, Lin Xiao's gaze fell upon her devastatingly beautiful face. It seemed especially tender, perhaps from a recent skincare routine, making her red lips look even more inviting. So inviting, in fact, that Lin Xiao felt an overwhelming urge to kiss her fiercely.

"Wife, have you given any more thought to letting me sleep on the bed?" Lin Xiao asked suddenly with a mischievous grin.

Su Qingning's pretty face flushed. "You scoundrel, we agreed on three days!"

"I know, but today is the second day!"

"Well, that still means there's one day left!"

The thought that she was just one day away from having to fulfill their bet sent a wave of panic through her.

"But there's only one day left. How about this? I'll take a small loss. You let me kiss you twice right now, and I'll call off the bet."

Her snow-white cheeks instantly turned a deep crimson. She finally understood. The scoundrel had only brought up the bet about sleeping in the bed as a ploy to kiss her. Overcome with a mix of shame and anger, she pushed him away, stopping the massage.

Lin Xiao just chuckled wickedly. He wasn't sure when it started, but he had grown especially fond of teasing her. He found it incredibly amusing every time he managed to make her blush.

Already agitated, Su Qingning grew even more furious when she saw him looking at her with that cheeky grin. Without another word, she started drumming her fists against his chest, protesting, "You scoundrel! You're... you're infuriating!"

Though her words were angry, the petulant tone and her alluring expression made Lin Xiao's heart flutter. He could no longer restrain himself and swiftly pulled her into his arms.

Holding her delicate body close, the thrill intensified. Su Qingning's figure was on the slender side, but she was perfectly proportioned—full-figured where it counted and elegantly slim everywhere else. While he had felt a spark of excitement when Shao Mei'er had forcefully hugged him, it was nothing compared to the intense thrill of holding Su Qingning himself.

Su Qingning was terrified. Her pretty face went deathly pale, and her body instantly stiffened.

"You scoundrel, let me go!" she protested, but both her voice and tone were remarkably weak.

What truly puzzled her was that while she was supposed to detest this man, her first feeling upon being held in his arms wasn't aversion, but security. Yes, that's what it is... a sense of security. An inexplicable feeling of safety, as if his arms were the most reliable place in the entire world.

Su Qingning was shocked by her own thoughts and immediately began to struggle.

But just then, Lin Xiao spoke softly, "Wife, don't move. Let me hold you for a bit. Don't worry, I'll just hold you. I won't kiss you or do anything else, I promise."

The word "wife" hit her with such force that her mind went blank.

It wasn't the first time Lin Xiao had called her that, but she had always treated it as just a label, no different from him using her name. She had never felt anything strange about it before.

This time, however, was different. Her mood was like a sky full of dark clouds suddenly pierced by the sun, or like seeing a rainbow after a storm. Not only that, but she could hear her own heart pounding—a deafening rhythm in her ears.

But in that instant, her body trembled.

She violently shoved Lin Xiao away.

The next second, with a mixture of shame and rage, Su Qingning shrieked, "You scoundrel! Who said you could touch my butt?!"

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