Chapter 20: Brother, You Smell So Good
Shen Xi kept her ears open, listening closely for any movement from the man beside her. Her body was tense, ready to make a strategic retreat at any moment.
But after a while, the room remained completely silent. It seemed like the man had only shifted into a more comfortable sleeping position.
In the quiet, she could clearly hear Gu Hanling’s breathing gradually becoming steady and deep.
She couldn’t help but wonder,
"Huh? He fell asleep already?"
As soon as she relaxed, drowsiness crashed over her like a tidal wave.
After an exhausting day, she was already incredibly tired. Within moments, she too drifted off into sleep.
………………………………………
The Next Morning.
"Xixi, did you miss me?"
A sweet and adorable girl, dressed in a JK uniform, ran up to Shen Xi with open arms and pulled her into a hug.
A pleasant fragrance filled her nose instantly. Shen Xi hugged her back, gently stroking the girl’s firm back. It felt a bit hard.
"Keke, you smell so good..."
Wait... why did this scent feel so familiar?
"Let go."
Shen Xi froze.
The soft, girlish voice of Su Kexin suddenly turned into a cool, deep male voice.
Her eyes snapped open.
Her brain short-circuited.
Her hands felt something firm and warm.
Instinctively, she gave it a squeeze.
Lowering her gaze, she realized. Her hand had somehow slipped through the open collar of a man’s pajama top and was grabbing onto his toned chest muscles.
Their pajamas were all crumpled, and their sleeping positions... very awkward.
Gu Hanling was still lying exactly where he had fallen asleep the night before.
Meanwhile, Shen Xi's straps had slipped off her shoulders, and she was resting awkwardly against the man's chest.
She knew her sleeping posture wasn’t great, but this? This was on a whole other level of messed up.
Her face instantly turned bright red. Not out of shyness, but pure social death embarrassment.
So she was hugging a man in her sleep and yelling, ‘you smell so good’??
"SHEN—XI—"
Gu Hanling’s cold, magnetic voice cut through the silence. He never called her by her full name, until now.
Stiffly, Shen Xi lifted her head and was met with an expression she had never seen before.
He was... furious.
Only then did Shen Xi realize what had happened. She quickly pulled her hand back, grabbed the blanket that had fallen to the floor while she slept, and wrapped it tightly around herself.
"I’ll take responsibility..."
The moment the words left her mouth, Gu Hanling’s face turned even darker.
Shen Xi immediately realized. Wait, that’s not right! She was the woman here, not the one who was supposed to say that!
Flustered, she quickly corrected herself.
"No, no, no, what I mean is, I swear I wasn’t trying to seduce you, big brother! I absolutely didn’t mean for this to happen! And please, whatever you do, don’t tell Jingyan about this!"
Gu Hanling’s face remained cold as ice. Without another word, he got up and walked straight to the wardrobe.
Shen Xi watched his retreating figure. It felt even colder than usual. She let out a small, annoyed tsk and grumbled internally,
"The original owner of this body was already a rare beauty. If anything, he's the one getting lucky here! What’s he so pissed about?!"
The room fell silent again, except for the faint rustling of fabric.
Soon, Gu Hanling emerged in a perfectly tailored suit, his tall and lean figure looking even more imposing. His sharp features and cold expression made his billionaire CEO aura absolutely unmatched.
People always said that men looked their best when they were focused on work.
Shen Xi had to admit. It was true.
Whoever wrote the original novel was definitely a sucker for good looks. Because this man? Unreasonably handsome.
Sensing her gaze, Gu Hanling turned his head slightly and glanced at her.
After a brief hesitation, he spoke in a calm, indifferent tone.
"Be careful."
The man turned around and left the room, closing the door behind him with a firm yet controlled motion.
Shen Xi blinked, then let out a long sigh of relief before collapsing onto the bed. She stared at the ceiling in rare silence, her thoughts slowly drifting away.
The funds were already in place. Once she left the Gu family’s old mansion in a few days, she could finally put her plan to start a design company into motion.
As for the nearly 200 million in payment, who knew if she’d actually receive it? Having money in her own pocket was always more reassuring.
At that moment, a name popped into her mind, Susie. It seemed to be connected to the original owner of this body.
Curious, Shen Xi pulled out her phone and searched online, but there were no related results within the country.
Then it hit her. Susie was an English name.
She quickly downloaded a foreign search engine, typed in "Susie", and used a translation tool to sift through the overwhelming amount of information.
After some effort, she finally found a few vague references that seemed connected to the original owner. However, there were no photos, and the content was limited to:
[The mysterious jewelry design genius from the East, Susie, suddenly returned to her home country and vanished without a trace.]
[Insiders reveal that Susie burned out too early, lost her creative spark, and returned home in defeat after suffering a heartbreak.]
Shen Xi recalled the crumpled drafts scattered across the floor when she first arrived at the original owner's home. The claim about her creative burnout seemed... accurate.
But stepping back and looking at this from an outsider's perspective.
A genius jewelry designer with stunning beauty and a childhood sweetheart first love.
A missing father, a remarried mother, a broken family, and a dramatic return to her homeland.
Wouldn’t this be the classic script of a domineering CEO romance novel heroine template?
At that realization, a shocking possibility dawned on her.
Maybe the original owner was supposed to be the novel’s female lead, but the author found the plot too cliché and changed direction midway, turning her into a brainless, evil supporting character instead.
"So if I reclaim the identity of Susie… does that mean I can take back the female lead's fate and stop being so passive?"
But then another issue arose. Right now, she was Shen Xi.
And she was a graphic designer, not a jewelry designer. Sure, they were both design fields, but the gap between them was like night and day.
Speaking of jewelry design, in her previous life, Shen Xi had worked on a jewelry advertisement project and had extensively researched the works of renowned jewelry designers throughout history.
Just then, two soft knocks on the door interrupted her thoughts.
"Madam, are you awake? Sir has sent breakfast and a change of clothes for you."
"One moment."
A maid's respectful voice came from outside.
Shen Xi, who had been lazily sprawled on the bed, instantly sat up with a smooth motion. She reached into the man’s wardrobe and casually pulled out a pajama robe to throw on.
The oversized fit of his sleepwear draped over her like a stylish nightgown, looking effortlessly elegant.
Sliding into her slippers, she walked into the living room and called toward the door,
"Come in."
A few maids carefully carried in trays, setting down breakfast and fresh clothes before bowing slightly and leaving.
Shen Xi glanced at the exquisite Chinese meal and immediately felt her appetite awaken.
She picked up a pair of chopsticks and took a small bite of a crab roe soup dumpling. The rich, savory broth burst in her mouth, and she closed her eyes in satisfaction.
"Big brother still has a bit of a conscience, huh? At least he didn’t starve me to death."
Just as she was enjoying her meal, the sound of quick, sharp footsteps echoed from downstairs, approaching fast.
Immediately after, the door slammed open with a loud 'bang,' pushed open forcefully without even a knock.
Of course, the intruder was none other than Feng Weiwei, who had tried to suppress her anger yesterday, only to get even more furious the more she thought about it, and had not slept all night.
"What time is it? You're still eating? Your mother-in-law told you to go over there, right now!"