If this were the past, the version of Jiang Lai who was already a father would never have imagined that one day he would be scuffling with someone like a child, even rolling several times across the sand until both were covered in fine, soft grit.
Though Jiang Lai had subconsciously pulled her punches, Si Yina was still left in a wretched state—her hair was a tangled mess, and her clothes were tugged loose and disheveled, with some parts even torn by Jiang Lai’s frantic pulling.
Finally, Jiang Lai gripped Si Yina’s collar tightly, hauling the woman’s upper body up to her face. For some reason, instead of anger, Si Yina wore an expression of pure ecstasy.
Seeing such an unseemly look on her face made Jiang Lai wonder: What am I even doing, weeping and carrying on like this?
In her resentment, she instinctively wanted to slap Si Yina, but in the end, she lowered the hand she had already raised.
“Why did you stop hitting me?”
Si Yina finally spoke as she looked at Jiang Lai sitting atop her. Throughout the scuffle, she had acted like a log—neither resisting nor saying a word.
Jiang Lai certainly wanted to keep going. Although her physical movements had stopped, her heart was far from calm. The thought that the peaceful life she had fought so hard for was about to be shattered made it impossible to accept reality.
“Are you mocking me right now?”
Jiang Lai stopped not because her anger was spent, but because she feared that if she truly injured Si Yina, she wouldn’t be able to leave this resort island in one piece. No matter how much she loathed the woman, Jiang Lai had to avoid making the situation irredeemable to prevent future trouble.
She knew she was being cowardly and weak, lacking any backbone. After being bullied to this extent, her only retaliation was sitting on the woman and swinging her fists like a child.
But what good would it do to truly enrage Si Yina? Would Xu Ruobing’s career suffer because of her temporary bravado? Or would her daughter be harassed? They were the most important people in her life; Jiang Lai just wanted them to be safe.
Si Yina remained silent, gazing at the tearful Jiang Lai. While Si Yina was a mess from rolling on the beach, Jiang Lai was no better. The tear tracks on her face had caught the fine sand, making her perfect little face look quite grimy.
Si Yina wasn’t angry about what had just happened. As she replayed the scene in her mind, she actually felt a strange, thrilling sense of pleasure.
“I’m not mocking you. If you haven’t had enough, you can hit me a few more times. Slap my face, choke me… or I can even turn around and give you my backside…”
Si Yina didn’t understand why she was reacting this way, but the image of Jiang Lai hitting her while crying had truly struck a chord deep within her.
The scent that wafted over when Jiang Lai’s hand swung by, the sharp intake of breath, the way those white fingertips gripped her collar so tightly—it was all intoxicating.
Si Yina had always thought Jiang Lai was breathtakingly beautiful, perfect in every way. If Jiang Lai had given her a humiliating slap, she wouldn’t have felt an ounce of annoyance. When she felt the warmth of Jiang Lai’s hand, the softness of her palm, and that overwhelming fragrance, the stinging pain transformed into a wave of pleasure.
The fragmented moonlight shone on Jiang Lai, giving her a faint white glow. The more it was like this, the more Si Yina loved her. She couldn’t suppress her imagination; she felt that if the situation arose again, she might even take the chance to lick Jiang Lai’s palm.
Seeing that Jiang Lai just sat there in a daze after her words, Si Yina reached out, wanting to take Jiang Lai’s hand. Since the other party wouldn’t move, she would.
Seeing this perverse side of Si Yina, a chill ran down Jiang Lai’s spine. Her slender shoulders shook violently, and she jerked her hand back as if she were about to touch something filthy.
“How can you be so disgusting? Why would you ask me to hit you?”
A flash of panic crossed Jiang Lai’s eyes. She didn’t understand why Si Yina was suddenly acting like this, but she found it revolting. Who in their right mind enjoys being bullied or beaten?
As a normal person, Jiang Lai couldn’t fathom such abstract, twisted logic. she felt that Si Yina’s view of “affection” was pathological—an existence she could never comprehend.
Si Yina claimed to love her, to have fallen for her at first sight, yet every single action was a violation of Jiang Lai’s will—constantly hurting her, constantly leaving painful marks on her body. Faced with this, Jiang Lai naturally wanted nothing to do with her.
“I think it feels great… don’t you think being hit by you while you’re crying is incredibly exciting?”
Even though she was the one being “bullied,” Si Yina wasn’t angry at all. Instead, her heart was full of tenderness—and thoughts of how to press Jiang Lai down later, and how to make that tear-strained voice sound even more delicate.
If it weren’t for their agreement that no “bedroom activities” were allowed during this period, Si Yina would have lost control long ago.
“Hit me a few more times, okay?”
When Si Yina said this, Jiang Lai felt a wave of nausea. She didn’t even want contact through their clothes anymore and immediately scrambled up to maintain a safe distance.
In this moment, the label “Pervert” was permanently etched onto Si Yina in Jiang Lai’s mind. “Are you trying a new way to disgust me now?”
Jiang Lai wanted no more part of this. Why would someone feel pleasure from being hit? She was completely baffled. When she had started the fight, she had prepared for the worst—being choked or a full-blown brawl. She had braced for every terrible outcome except this.
Is it because my attempts to fight back aren’t even threatening? Is my strength so weak that my anger is seen as a form of ‘foreplay’?
Jiang Lai’s mood plummeted. She felt like a kitten kept by Si Yina—her hissing and scratching were merely “cute” behaviors that carried zero danger.