Chapter 43: Fermentation

Wen Lan Sheng tightly gripped the bed sheets beneath him, his delicate fingers crushing the iris flowers and squeezing out deep purple juice that fell onto the festive bedding. He clenched his teeth, tilting his head back to reveal the graceful curve of his long neck. His gaze fixed on the blurry red double happiness character illuminated by the soft light. Continuous waves of warm wetness enveloped him as he kissed her chest lightly, the corners of his eyes tinged with a hint of alluring color.

Fan Xia hadn’t expected Wen Lan Sheng to do something so bold and inappropriate. In the past, no matter how much he craved novelty, he would always do it behind closed doors, playing by himself. But now, it seemed he had developed a fetish for being watched.

Fortunately, her phone was facing away from Rong Xiu, otherwise he would have seen everything clearly.

However, as clever and perceptive as Rong Xiu was, he had already keenly guessed something from the slight surprise in her eyes.

Hugging one eyebrow, his face, which had just been slightly flushed with shyness, suddenly turned deathly pale, like a patient who had lost too much blood and lacked any warmth.

His pupils trembled slightly, as if a surge of blood rushed straight to his brain. His eyes revealed a dangerous and deadly deep red, sinking to the extreme.

To prevent the situation from worsening, Fan Xia quickly said, “If there’s nothing else, I’ll hang up now.”

Wen Lan Sheng’s arms had already encircled her waist, his weak breaths blowing against her skin.

Rong Xiu wasn’t wearing his glasses, so she could easily see the anger surging in his eyes.

With fury stuck in his chest, he said: “Fine.”

Fan Xia immediately hung up the phone and rolled over, suddenly changing their positions.

She looked down at Wen Lan Sheng, whose eyes were clearly filled with desire, her gaze displeased.

Wen Lan Sheng raised her hand adoringly, his red lips engulfing her fingertips as he mumbled indistinctly, “Xia Xia… I didn’t disturb you… I didn’t say a word.”

His clingy gaze seemed to be seeking her favor.

“Didn’t disturb? Then why did you deliberately do this while we were talking?” Fan Xia didn’t pull her fingers out, instead following his lead and pushing them in deeper. Wen Lan Sheng’s eyes immediately lost focus, his Adam’s apple bobbing. Though his face was flushed red with discomfort and he couldn’t utter a word, he was reluctant to let her withdraw her hand.

Throughout the entire process, his teeth never once touched her fingers, afraid of biting her. Instead, he tried his best to accommodate her malicious behavior.

“Don’t pull these little tricks again in the future. You and Rong Xiu are both men, you understand these little moves, and so does he. Don’t let him know again.” After saying this, Fan Xia was stunned for a moment, realizing she had subconsciously considered Rong Xiu’s feelings.

“Mmm—” Wen Lan Sheng’s cheeks flushed red as he hummed around her fingers, his beautiful eyes filled with weak tears. Whether psychological or physiological, tears flowed from the corners of his eyes, silently expressing his grievance and resentment.

Fan Xia looked at his pained yet pleasured expression, a flash of impatience crossing her eyes. She withdrew her hand, retied her clothes, and turned to lie on her side, facing away from him. “Let’s sleep.”

Unsatisfied, Wen Lan Sheng crawled under the covers, his snow-white arms encircling her from behind. “Xia Xia, today is our—”

“You’ve ruined my mood now,” Fan Xia cut him off directly.

Wen Lan Sheng’s hand noticeably trembled, his face pressed against her back. “…I’m sorry.”

“Don’t say sorry to me. Just thinking about how Rong Xiu might think we were deliberately doing that while talking to him, I don’t know how I’ll go to work tomorrow, how I’ll face him.” Her tone of voice was like that of an ordinary subordinate worried about embarrassing herself in front of her superior.

But for Wen Lan Sheng, it was like a row of poisonous thorns piercing his heart.

No matter when or where, the person Fan Xia cared about most, the one she wanted to protect most, was always Rong Xiu.

There was a time when he was the number one person in Fan Xia’s heart, but now, he had been reduced to a troublesome husband in the way of the mistress.

But that old bastard Rong Xiu was so arrogant as to deliberately humiliate him on their wedding night. Was he supposed to just sit back and take it? If he kept retreating, that old bastard might really waltz in and steal Fan Xia away right in front of his parents.

Today was just his small counterattack, yet his wife-master wouldn’t even help him.

Wen Lan Sheng leaned on her back, sobbing softly, his eyes filled with a sadness that Fan Xia couldn’t see.

“Crying again, don’t you think you’ve done anything wrong?” Fan Xia sat up, looking at his tear-filled eyes without a trace of pity or heartache, only annoyance.

They say, if a woman doesn’t love you, everything you do is wrong.

If a woman loves you, even if you ask for the stars in the sky, she’ll think you’re adorably naive.

Once upon a time, Wen Lan Sheng was the latter in Fan Xia’s eyes, cherished and protected in the palm of her hand. As soon as he shed a tear, she would become flustered and patiently comfort him for a long time.

But now, he only felt that he had become the former.

He looked at Fan Xia, as if seeing their once happy and passionate past covered by cold snow. In the vast whiteness, he could no longer see Fan Xia’s love for him.

“I thought your apology in the elevator was sincere, but now it seems you have no intention of reforming. I was planning to make time this weekend to go with you to get our marriage certificate, but now—”

Suddenly, his heart plummeted into an abyss. Something in his brain was screaming, shouting at him to hold onto her, hold her tight, or she would never come back.

“No!” Wen Lan Sheng clutched her hand tightly. At this moment, all his persistence, all his jealousy, all his resentment were gone, replaced only by despair that penetrated to his very marrow. “Xia Xia, I was wrong, I really know I was wrong. I’ll never dare to do it again. Please don’t refuse to get our marriage certificate, okay? We’re husband and wife, we’ve already had our wedding ceremony. I’m your man, please don’t reject me, okay? I’ll apologize to you, okay? I really won’t dare again… Or, I can go apologize to Senior Rong Xiu. It was all because I was too impulsive. I really know I was wrong. Can you both forgive me?”

“Go to sleep, I have to work tomorrow.” Fan Xia responded coldly to Wen Lan Sheng’s plea, which had lowered him to dust, without even the slightest basic reaction.

Wen Lan Sheng covered his mouth, crying silently and weakly in the dim light.

Why? Why had it become like this?

Everything had been fine before. He would dance for her, and she would smile at him tenderly. Until… until that video call was connected. It was him again, it was Rong Xiu again.

He was like a lingering evil spirit, wedging himself between him and Fan Xia, turning their once loving relationship into this current state, while he himself pretended to be gentle and understanding like a white lotus.

Wen Lan Sheng bit his lip with resentment and unwillingness. His Xia Xia had lost her mind because of that vicious white lotus. He didn’t blame her.

But Rong Xiu, he would definitely not let him off.

In the past, Wen Lan Sheng thought that if Rong Xiu could just behave himself a little, as long as he himself secured his position as the primary husband, he could ignore a mere third wheel, or even a fourth, fifth, or sixth.

But now, Rong Xiu was pushing his luck, pressing forward step by step. He wouldn’t show any mercy either.

He logged into the Four-Leaf Clover forum, which he hadn’t accessed for a long time, and clicked on the post he had published before. The latest comments were all congratulations to him as the primary husband and wishes for a happy marriage and early birth of a daughter with Fan Xia.

His fingertips pounded heavily on the screen, with enough force to crush Rong Xiu’s bones, updating the latest developments and recounting everything he had encountered at the wedding.

In less than an hour, the number of replies was five or six times that of before.

“Holy crap! This old bastard is too outrageous, actually seducing the poster’s wife-master in the storage room during the wedding?”

“Playing it so slutty, how else could he bewitch the poster’s wife-master to the point of not showing up at the wedding and leaving directly with the old bastard?”

“Feel sorry for the poster, hugs for the poster! The wedding is the most beautiful moment in a man’s life, yet it was ruined by this disgusting mistress.”

“Too tragic, the poster is simply the most pitiful original spouse I’ve seen on Four-Leaf Clover. Encountering such a high-level green tea, if it were me, I would have already torn that bastard’s face off!”

“Only the original spouse gets hurt in this world.”

“Ahhhh, how can there be such a cheap green tea man in this world?! My fists are clenched!”

“Exactly! Don’t just feel sorry for the poster, if you really feel for him, upvote this post so everyone can see the strongest and most arrogant mistress of the new century!”

“The person above is right, if enough people see it, we might be able to uncover who this shameless mistress really is!”

“He’s actually a rich second generation, received higher education, yet he’s even more despicable than an ordinary mistress. I’ve really opened my eyes! Poster, please tell us, who is this mistress?”

“Offering a reward for uncovering his identity, please expose him!”

“+1”

“+11111”

In less than an hour, the post was pushed to the homepage. Wen Lan Sheng watched this scene with satisfaction, the light from his phone screen reflecting on his distorted face as he clicked the send button.

“It’s a very famous big company.”

Because it was pushed to the homepage, and it was a gender and relationship forum dominated by men, the post’s views increased exponentially, hanging high in the first column.

Although Wen Lan Sheng only posted this one sentence, and the concept was very vague, only saying it was his wife-master’s male superior without specifying the position, it couldn’t stop the righteous netizens from analyzing.

Some people who enjoyed watching the drama unfold even shared it to other websites, starting a heated analysis.

A vicious mistress story enough to incite the anger of netizens, combined with a position of manager or above in a large enterprise – if this were to be exposed, it wouldn’t be just a simple scandalous news. Even the company’s image would be affected. If it were a listed group, the stock price might even drop. Once exposed, the person involved would definitely be fired to quell the incident.

But those men who hated mistresses to the bone wanted to see such a miserable end for the mistress. They began to transform into Sherlock Holmes, analyzing every word of Wen Lan Sheng’s post, trying to find the true face of this mistress!

__________

*Spotlight on Finished Novel Translations*

My Clingy Little Husband (Female-dominant)

One-line summary: The male lead is initially an arrogant, noble, love-deprived brat, later a cute, clingy, scheming little jealous one.

Introduction:

One day, Lu Yuner’s soul transmigrates into a female-dominant world. She enters the Imperial Academy and takes up the position of a doctoral instructor, teaching classes and grading schoolwork.

One day, she encounters the young prince Su Qingwan secretly skipping class from the male academy.

As a result, Su Qingwan is punished.

From then on, Su Qingwan sees Lu Yuner as a “thorn in his side”.

But before long, this “thorn” becomes the person he cherishes most, and he goes to great lengths to win Lu Yuner’s affection.

Mini scene 1:

One day, the sun is high in the sky but Su Qingwan still hasn’t gotten up for class.

Servant Xiaoyuan: “Young prince, it’s time for class. You’ll be late otherwise.”

Su Qingwan says arrogantly: “I’m not going. I am the esteemed prince, my status is so noble, why should I suffer this hardship? Besides, isn’t learning all this just to please women? Hmph, they’re not worthy!”

Mini scene 2:

After Su Qingwan falls for someone, he completely changes. He no longer skips class and diligently learns how to be a good husband and father. But he discovers that Sister Yuner is always surrounded by admirers.

Drunk and overcome with jealousy one day, he clings to Lu Yuner, crying beautifully like a pear blossom in the rain.

Su Qingwan: “Qingwan likes Sister Yuner.”

Lu Yuner: “Young prince, you’re drunk.”

Su Qingwan: “Qingwan isn’t drunk. Qingwan likes Sister Yuner, likes you so much, likes you to bits…” Before he can finish, Lu Yuner’s eyes flash with emotion and she leans in closer.

[Reading Guide]

1. The female lead is gentle, gracious, humble and polite but not weak. The male lead is initially an arrogant, noble, love-deprived brat, later a cute, clingy, scheming little jealous one.

2. 1v1, a bit torturous in the beginning but definitely sweet later on.

Link to read