Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“That girl was beautiful. She had every wonderful quality a woman could have-gentleness, sensitivity…

“And at the same time, she was like a man. Brave, relentless, determined to be strong.

“Everyone liked her.”

Hearing him describe her in such glowing terms, I couldn’t help being curious.

“Including you?”

In the darkness, the man gazed at me, his damp lashes lowered, his slightly cool fingers slowly stroking my bare shoulder.

“What do you think?”

“That’s all in your imagination,” I said dismissively. “If there really were such a perfect woman in the world, how could you possibly still be with me?”

At that, Gu Yushu laughed.

A long arm hooked around me, pulling me deep into his embrace.

I took a deep breath. All I could smell was the minty scent of shampoo in his hair, mixed with the faint fragrance of his skin.

Maybe it was sweat, but how could sweat smell this good?

One breath, and it was like inhaling a burning spark.

The source of heat before me was still fanning the flames. “Wenwen…”

“Mm?”

“Let’s have a child.”

“Huh?”

At his words, I laughed so hard in his arms I couldn’t even lift my head. “Please. How could a human and a mushroom possibly have a child?”

We reproduce by spores. Ever heard of reproductive isolation?

Seeing me unable to stop giggling, he laughed too.

“A little mushroom would be fine too.

“We’ll work together and raise them.

“All right?”

Those last three words were spoken with such tender affection, so warm and lingering, his voice trembling softly. Every part of him seemed filled with longing.

For some reason, I suddenly couldn’t laugh anymore.

Then the world spun. The man’s scent came sweeping over me, overwhelming and unstoppable, soaking and washing over every pore of my body.

At the tip of my nose was that crisp, clean fragrance, mingled with his unique masculine scent.

And I clung tightly to his taut, broad shoulder blades, as if I had taken hold of the most beautiful and most dangerous beast in the world.

The next day.

By the time I woke up, Gu Yushu had already gone to work.

I lay in bed in a daze, staring blankly at the photo hanging across from me. In it, a young man and woman were smiling awkwardly at me. The photo had a bright red background and the resolution was terrible. It looked like they had taken it themselves with a camera, then casually found some printer and printed it out in color.

But anyone could tell at a glance that shy, happy air between the two of them.

For some reason, even though the person on the left was clearly me and the one on the right was him, I had absolutely no memory of this photo.

Could I have forgotten?

As I was staring at it, the alarm clock on the bedside table suddenly rang.

Oh. It was exactly nine. Time for breakfast.

If I didn’t eat, Gu Yushu would come home and see the food on the table untouched, and he would get very, very angry.

He might even ignore me for days.

So I opened a carton of milk and began dryly forcing down some bread.

I had only eaten half when someone rang the doorbell. I went over to the peephole and looked out. Standing outside was a middle-aged man, with two assistants behind him carrying dark, ominous-looking cameras.

As if sensing someone was behind the door, the middle-aged man knocked tentatively. “Hello?

“We’re from the TV station. Could we talk to you for a moment?”

I said nothing.

After waiting for a while, the middle-aged man grew impatient and started pounding on the door.

“Miss! Can you hear me?

“I’m telling you, the man you’re with is a bad person!

“He’s a liar! A complete and utter madman! You’re being controlled by him!!”

What nonsense was he spouting?

Hearing that, I was both anxious and furious. I was just about to open my mouth and curse him out when I remembered Gu Yushu’s stern warning from yesterday. In the end, I had no choice but to swallow it down.

Only a door separated us, and the people outside were still shouting, “Miss! Please, believe us!

“We’re journalists. There’s no way we’d lie to you!

“Come out quickly. We’ll help you call the police!”

???

Rage shot straight to my head. I was just about to open the door and argue with them face-to-face when, in the next instant, my vision went black.

I actually passed out on the spot.