Chapter Forty-Five: You Dare Drug Me

There is a bar on the pedestrian street owned by a friend of Du Fanchuan’s. When I arrived, the manager pointed to a corner. “There, it’s been a week straight. If he keeps drinking, he’ll be lucky if he’s not dead or at least half-crippled.”

I walked over and nudged Du Fanchuan with my foot. He opened his eyes, saw me, and broke into a smile. “What took you so long to get here?”

He reeked, smelling like a stray dog, and though I wanted to scold him, not a single harsh word came out. I just sat down beside him.

Just like before, he grabbed my hand. “Wu You, I didn’t come here to drink on purpose. I just missed you. I couldn’t find you, and it was suffocating.”

I pinched his chin. “Du Fanchuan, get a grip. Yi Huayang doesn’t love you anymore. She’s left you. If you love her, go and win her back.”

He shoved me away and started gulping down the liquor on the table.

I tried to grab his glass, but he went wild, pinning me down on the couch. “You want me to hit you?”

I shoved him off hard, sat up, took all the money from my bag, and laid it on the table, ordering the waiter to bring me drinks.

After the first glass, I felt like I was freezing inside, but I forced myself to down two more, then splashed the rest of the liquor in Du Fanchuan’s face.

It was a long time before he sobered up a little, leaning on my shoulder, laughing and crying all at once.

Back at the courtyard house, I settled him in the guest room. He was dead drunk, mumbling as he fell asleep.

Drenched in sweat, parched and burning, I gulped down a glass of water, trying to quell the urge to storm in with a kitchen knife and finish him off.

The heat only grew more unbearable. I stripped off my jacket and T-shirt, left with just my tank top, but it didn’t help. I felt not just hot, but as if a thousand ants were biting me, my body slipping from my control, a multitude of voices roaring through my blood.

Strangest of all, my lower abdomen felt swollen, as if a wave of heat was about to burst out.

Ajiu, sensing my distress, circled me, tugging at my pant leg.

I realized something was wrong, but my mind was a mess—nothing made sense.

The discomfort intensified, ants streaming from every direction, crawling over my skin, biting, burrowing into my veins to drink my blood.

I staggered into the bedroom. Everything went white—I couldn’t even tell where the bed was—then collapsed headlong onto the floor.

So hot, unbearably hot. I clawed at my skin, aching to curl up inside a refrigerator.

Footsteps approached. Someone stopped before me. I opened my eyes, but the face was a blur—like Du Fanchuan, yet also somehow...

Luo Ange...

I struggled to sit up, but my body was limp. I grabbed a blanket, wrapping myself tightly, my tongue twisted and useless, unable to utter a word.

He smiled faintly. “What’s wrong—are you afraid of me?”

Clinging to a shred of sanity, I gritted out, “You pervert—how dare you drug me?”

He nodded. “That’s right. An aphrodisiac. I think you’ll enjoy it.”

How careless of me—how could I have fallen for this?

I snatched up a pillow and hurled it at him, but he caught it easily, tossing it aside.

His face wavered before me, lips moving, saying something I couldn’t make out. I lunged at him, intending to fight, but the moment I touched him, I recoiled in shock.

He felt cool—so comfortable—soothing the fever in me. I didn’t want to let go.

He wrapped one arm around me, the other pressing against my collarbone. His voice was low, intent. “You’re burning up. Do you want my help?”

A sudden shiver ran through me. I tried to push him away, but when my hand grabbed his collar, it tightened instead. “Luo Ange, what are you trying to do?”

He leaned in, pinning me to the bed, a hand slipping under my tank top. “Isn’t my intention obvious? Can you really not see it?”