The Side Character Who Wins by Doing Nothing

Lu Sangjiu’s heart began to pound. She stood rooted to the spot, flustered.

However, Gu Jue had followed her out at some point. Seeing her staring blankly at the clothes, he said calmly, "I went to the river this afternoon. They didn’t seem too badly damaged, so I washed them and brought them back."

"If you don’t want them, I’ll just throw them away later."

Lu Sangjiu froze. ’Huh? So it wasn’t Xie Ningyuan who came by?’

Her heart settled back into her chest, and Lu Sangjiu quickly shook her head. "No, since you’ve brought them back, let’s just keep them."

After dinner, it was already getting late.

And so came another moment that made Lu Sangjiu exceptionally uneasy... ’She and Gu Jue are husband and wife. Doesn’t that mean they have to sleep in the same bed?’

She knew she shouldn’t feel awkward about it, but the fact was, she truly did!

But she had no idea how to bring it up without hurting Gu Jue’s feelings.

But while she was stewing in anxiety, Gu Jue unexpectedly took the initiative. "Your wound hasn’t healed yet. I won’t sleep in the same bed with you, in case I accidentally touch it in the night."

Lu Sangjiu was instantly overcome with surprised delight. "Really?"

The word slipped out before she realized how hurtful it sounded.

She quickly tried to salvage the situation, changing her tone. "Ahem... I mean, we only have one room. If you don’t sleep with me, where will you sleep?"

As if he hadn’t noticed her strange reaction, Gu Jue replied nonchalantly, "I’ll make a bed on the floor."

Hearing this, Lu Sangjiu couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt. She hesitated, then said, "Um... sleeping on the floor, won’t that be too uncomfortable?"

After a moment of silence, Gu Jue suddenly looked up at her, his gaze serious. "If you’re willing, I’m of course willing to sleep on the bed."

Lu Sangjiu: "..."

In that instant, she suddenly understood.

It wasn’t that Gu Jue couldn’t tell. He had been carefully tending to her feelings the whole time, pretending not to notice.

In fact, he was well aware of her reservations. He knew that the anxiety written all over her face after dinner was because of having to sleep with him.

Upon this realization, Lu Sangjiu suddenly felt truly detestable.

But... even as guilt and self-reproach flooded her heart, Lu Sangjiu remained silent amidst the emotional pain.

She didn’t ask Gu Jue to come sleep on the bed with her.

And Gu Jue had evidently understood her answer.

He said nothing. He didn’t even show any change in expression, simply making his bed on the floor and putting out the lamp.

In the darkness, Lu Sangjiu heard him let out what was almost a sigh. "Go to sleep."

Lu Sangjiu wanted very much to sleep, but she tossed and turned, unable to drift off.

As time passed, she gradually began to feel an indescribable sense of discomfort.

It was a little hot, and there was a strange emptiness deep inside her, as if... she needed something to fill it.

The moment the word "fill" surfaced in her mind, Lu Sangjiu’s hazy thoughts suddenly snapped into focus!

At the same time, in the quiet of the night, she heard a muffled grunt escape from Gu Jue.

The sound had an indescribable, suggestive quality to it, as if he were in extreme agony...

Lu Sangjiu’s mind exploded with a BANG. ’Wait a minute... these symptoms, both of them... could they have been drugged???’

In her terror, another, even stronger wave of sensation surged through her, threatening to devour her sanity.

Just then, she heard Gu Jue turn and sit up. She instantly shot upright like a startled bird. "You..."

Gu Jue’s voice was hoarse. "Wife, I want..."

"No, you don’t!"

Lu Sangjiu nearly bit her tongue, cutting him off before he could finish.

"Gu, calm down! I know you’ve always been a man of self-restraint and propriety. You certainly won’t let a little physical anomaly control you... right?"

Her answer was a stretch of silence.

Gu Jue stood by the bed, not speaking for a long while.

Just as Lu Sangjiu’s heart grew more and more uneasy, he suddenly bent down and moved toward her.

Lu Sangjiu instinctively shrank back until her back hit the cold, hard wall.

Gu Jue closed the distance, and before she could react, she was completely enveloped by his presence.

They were so close that she could even see his eyes clearly in the darkness.

It was an expression she had never seen on Gu Jue’s face before.

Forbearance, restraint, passion... and a faint trace of sorrow.

He said, "What if... I don’t want to hold back anymore?"

He paused. The heat in his body seemed to make him uncomfortable, and he couldn’t help but gasp softly a couple of times.

Then he looked at Lu Sangjiu, his voice low and hoarse. "Little Jiu, we’re husband and wife."

Lu Sangjiu’s mind went blank with a ROAR.

The meaning of such a sentence at a time like this was self-evident. He was... asking for intimacy.

Gu Jue was right. They were husband and wife. For a married couple, there was nothing more normal than doing such things.

What’s more, the restlessness in her own body seemed to be urging her on. ’If you just give in... the pain will stop.’

And yet... as Gu Jue slowly drew closer, tears suddenly fell from Lu Sangjiu’s eyes without warning.

Gu Jue froze, taken aback.

Lu Sangjiu, with a sudden burst of strength from nowhere, shoved him away.

Tossing out an "I’m sorry," Lu Sangjiu fled from the cabin without looking back.

Gu Jue’s body remained frozen in place. In that instant, it was as if all the desire that had wracked his body just moments before had completely vanished.

After a long time, a soft, self-deprecating laugh echoed in the dark room before it quickly fell silent again.

After running outside, Lu Sangjiu didn’t know where to go in the pitch-black darkness. The strange feeling in her body suddenly made her think of the river.

’If I jump in for a dip... it probably won’t be so unbearable, right?’

That was her thought, and that was what she did.

Without even taking off her clothes, she jumped into the river.

The icy water finally made the strange sensation in her body subside. She let out a sigh of relief, but at the same time, couldn’t help but shiver.

’It’s so cold.’

She looked blankly in the direction of the cabin. ’So... I’d rather take a cold bath than do *that* with Gu Jue?’

’Is this... what I truly want?’

Just then, she suddenly heard a voice. "I say, if you’ve soaked enough, you should get out. How would it look if someone saw a man and a woman bathing alone in a river in the middle of the night?"

Lu Sangjiu snapped back to her senses with a jolt. Turning to look upstream where the voice had come from, she saw Xie Ningyuan in the moonlight, soaking in the river with only his shoulders and head above the water.

Not expecting to see him here, Lu Sangjiu immediately scrambled toward the bank.

Then she heard Xie Ningyuan chuckle. "Coming out at a time like this... so, you really don’t like Gu Jue, do you?"

This time, he wisely didn’t ask if she liked *him*, so Lu Sangjiu was clearly less resistant to the question.

She paused, looking a bit dazed. After a moment’s hesitation, she still nodded.

Xie Ningyuan smiled again, his voice filled with unconcealed pleasure. "So... aren’t you curious then?"

"For what reason would someone like you be willing to marry a man you don’t love?"

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