Surrounded by Wolves
“Why don’t you think I could have filthy thoughts? You should imagine me in the filthiest and most sordid way possible.”
Jiang Wu couldn’t bear to hear him say it. Maybe it was some impression worn too deep into her over the years, the kind that always kept him fixed in that place — disciplined, meticulous, untouchable, yet effortlessly in control. And now, he was in control of her, invading her.
“You’ve thought about it. You know I’d do this to you.”
The shadow of him bore down over her again, and her mouth was taken by that cool, soft press once more. The kiss was ungentle, almost fierce.
Jiang Wu’s shrank away, an unfamiliar heat rising through her. It melted away every last bit of resistance left in her, leaving even her fingers feeling weak. The hand still clutching at the fabric on his shoulder shifted, from pushing him back to gripping tight.
Feeling lost and unsure of what to do. She had always thought of Huo Qingzhi as dependable, but she had never once thought of him as this — this tall, this overwhelming, until she couldn’t move at all. Overwhelming enough to crowd out her breath, her space, as if he could melt her straight into his own bones and blood.
She had no strength left. The hand braced on his shoulder went limp and slipped down. Right as the last of her strength gave out, his leg, wedged between hers, pressed against her. Her inexperienced sensitivity and vulnerability sent chills down her spine, and her hands flew up instinctively to grip his shoulders.
As if she were meeting him halfway. Although the methods used were not exactly honorable, Huo Qingzhi accepted her advances.
Right at that moment, a knock sounded at the door. The sudden vibration at her back startled a thin, helpless cry out of Jiang Wu, and she curled into his chest, her nails catching on his shirt.
Through the door, Huo Yingli caught the kitten-like cries coming from inside. It sounded startled or like someone pushed too far, past the point of taking any more, only to be pushed one step further, until whatever had been holding her together finally gave way.
Huo Yingli knocked twice more. When no one answered, he reached for the handle. The fingerprint lock beeped.
A moment later, the door opened from inside.
And there stood Huo Qingzhi, fully dressed, not a thread out of place, a flicker of cold displeasure at being interrupted in his eyes, his voice rough with something close to impatience. “What?!”
Huo Yingli studied him for a moment, not that there was much to see, in a room with the lights off. “Did you bring her back?”
Huo Qingzhi had no intention of answering, and moved to shut the door.
Huo Yingli caught it with a hand. “Alright, business first. Now that Third Brother has taken his medicine, shall we talk about the Zhengda situation?”
Huo Qingzhi’s eyes lowered, pondered for a moment, and then strode out of the room. He closed the door behind him and headed for the study.
Huo Yingli lingered a moment, glancing once more toward Jiang Wu’s room. “Why didn’t you turn on the lights when you brought her back?”
“She’s asleep.”
“You put her to sleep again?”
Huo Qingzhi still carried the anger that had not been resolved by the kiss, and now, on top of it, the irritation of being interrupted, made him even more impatient. “Do the math yourself. Has it even been twenty minutes since I took her away from you two?”
Huo Yingli, hearing that answer, looked rather satisfied. “Fair enough. That is a bit long.”
~~
It had, in fact, run a bit long. Released probably right at the height of the passion, Jiang Wu curled up alone on her small bed, her chest heaving violently. It took her a long while to recover from that forceful, overwhelming siege.
As if some part of that breath still lingered inside her chest, something not her own, refusing to dissolve away no matter what. The root of her tongue felt numb, and her lips and teeth ached faintly. A physical kind of tears still welled at the corners of her eyes. Her heartbeat would not settle either.
So fierce.
Jiang Wu buried herself in the blanket. Eldest Brother kissed so fiercely. She had always thought, whatever else he was, he would be gentle about this sort of thing.
Gentle, conventional, the ordinary kind of intimacy. Maybe even boring enough that it wouldn’t hold anyone’s interest.
…Wrong. That wasn’t right.
Jiang Wu buried herself deeper in the blanket. She had never imagined it like this. Her head spun. Her whole body felt like it was burning up.
All she could think of was Huo Qingzhi saying, “You should imagine me in the filthiest and most sordid way possible…”
And then, he cruelly, at the very end, told her, “But even if you had thought of that… Every night, when I’m having filthy thoughts, you’ll still have to stay with me.”
Jiang Wu couldn’t hear anything else. All she could hear was the echo of those words in her mind, lashing at her already sensitive nerves.
Huo Qingzhi was probably tied up with Huo Yingli. He never came back. That was a relief for her.
She slept through the night in a daze and had a wonderful dream about running away. In the dream, she carefully picked out a plane ticket to Lake Como, then slipped away while no one was paying attention and escaped to an old, secluded estate in Europe.
She hid away in a vintage villa by the lake, enjoying the sunlight, the blue-green water, and the gardens. Then she went to a few classical European art exhibitions. A stroll through some antique shops. And once this whole problem disappeared, she would come back as if nothing had happened.
The more Jiang Wu dreamed about it, the more tempted she became. So much so that, waking up and realizing she was still at home, she felt a little disappointed.
Still half asleep, she rolled over and reached for her phone to book a flight. Then, completely unprepared, her hand closed around something warm. She felt around it. The moment her fingers landed on a man’s sharply defined knuckles, she snapped fully awake.
Jiang Wu’s eyes flew open, and there was Huo Qingzhi, propped against the headboard right beside her. He did not move, just watched the hand she had just grabbed, then at her newly awakened face.
Jiang Wu reflexively pulled her hand back and sat up, looking slightly stunned. “Why are you…”
“Why am I what?”
Jiang Wu stopped halfway through the sentence and could not find anything to say. After all, there was nothing strange about him being in her room.
She swallowed the rest, and as his presence in the room seemed to press in harder by the second, she tugged the blanket back up — it had started slipping as she sat — hiding herself behind it. “Aren’t you going to the office?”
Huo Qingzhi watched her and leaned forward to pull the blanket higher over her. “It’s the weekend.”
“D-Don’t come over here.” Jiang Wu nearly jumped out of bed at nothing more than the movement of him leaning closer.
Only then did she realize Huo Qingzhi had merely been helping her cover herself properly. But Jiang Wu had already jumped down from the bed. She stood there awkwardly, staring at him.
His mixed Slavic eyes met hers with a penetrating look that made it seem as though he knew exactly what she was thinking.
Jiang Wu pretended not to notice and scurried off toward the bathroom. “I was getting up anyway.”
“Put on your shoes.”
Jiang Wu shuffled back across the carpet in tiny steps, put on her slippers, then hurried away again. In any case, she absolutely could not stay on the same bed with him.
Jiang Wu deliberately took her time in the bathroom, washing her face, brushing her teeth, and doing her skincare for ages.
She figured Huo Qingzhi was so busy that even on weekends, someone would probably need him. Maybe if she stalled long enough, he would leave.
Unfortunately, after Jiang Wu dragged things out for forty minutes and finally came out, Huo Qingzhi was still there. He had even ordered breakfast for her and arranged it in the small dining area. Just like before.
But before…
Eldest Brother might have taken care of her, but he definitely would not have pinned her against a door and kissed her until she couldn’t breathe.
A phrase came to Jiang Wu’s mind: A wolf in sheep’s clothing.
With her head full of chaotic thoughts, she walked over and sat opposite the wolf. Without saying a word, she took the breakfast plate Huo Qingzhi had set out for her.
As she ate, she opened her phone and secretly started looking at plane tickets.
Her destination—Lake Como.
Jiang Wu had already planned it out. Once breakfast was over, she would make up an excuse and go out to go have fun somewhere. Then she would not have to stay in this strange atmosphere anymore.
She flicked over to her chat with Wen Ciying next, about to ask her for help covering a lie.
Across from her, without even looking up, Huo Qingzhi said. “Wasn’t it right here last time that I told you something? If you run again, there’ll be a punishment.”
Jiang Wu’s finger hovered over the chat and then quietly closed it. She bit her lip, neither defending herself nor submitting, and lowered her head to eat.
What kind of punishment could there even be?
Like last night?
…That did not exactly sound very threatening.
While Jiang Wu was thinking about it, Huo Qingzhi suddenly asked, “Any plans today?”
Jiang Wu hesitated. Instead of answering, she asked, “What are you planning?”
Huo Qingzhi picked out exactly the part of that he wanted. “If you don’t have plans, let’s go out.”
Going out. With him. That was surprisingly novel.
Only after Jiang Wu went with him did she discover they were going jewelry shopping.
To buy wedding rings.
With their kind of relationship, it wasn’t exactly suitable for them to wear wedding rings everywhere. It would be too easy for someone to notice.
But he insisted.
Jiang Wu had not even thought to change into something more discreet that would not draw recognition.
By the time they reached the jewelry store and she realized the problem, it was already too late.
Luxury jewelry stores on Hong Kong Island were used to receiving VIP guests. The staff recognized them immediately and greeted them as soon as they entered.
“Mr. Huo.” The clerk glanced at Jiang Wu. “Miss Huo.”
They were led into a VIP lounge, and a catalogue of the latest designs was handed to them. “You came at just the right time. We’ve recently received several new pieces. May I ask what kind of style you’re looking for?”
Huo Qingzhi answered simply. “Wedding rings.”
The clerk froze for a moment, glancing at Jiang Wu.
Jiang Wu immediately found an excuse, keeping her face perfectly calm and saying, “Brother, what kind does Sister-in-law like?”
Huo Qingzhi’s hand, flipping through the catalogue, paused for a moment. He turned to look at her.
The clerk laughed it off and praised Huo Qingzhi for being thoughtful enough to bring his younger sister along to help choose a surprise for his girlfriend.
Quickly reading the room, the clerk began introducing the rings to Jiang Wu first. “For wedding rings, we have two new designs…”
Jiang Wu’s mind, of course, wasn’t on ring-picking at all. Aside from feeling guilty, she had the bizarre sensation that she was secretly helping him cheat on someone.
She listened halfheartedly and picked out several styles. The clerk went to retrieve the rings. For a short while, only the two of them remained in the lounge.
Jiang Wu sipped her lemon soda through the straw and didn’t speak for a long time.
Huo Qingzhi closed the catalogue. “The styles they have in stock lately are pretty ordinary. If you don’t like any of them, we can have something custom-made.”
Jiang Wu pressed her lips together, looking at him, wary of saying something the people outside might overhear. “Why are you asking me? Ask your wife.”
The words came out of her mouth and struck her; even she felt that it sounded strange.
Huo Qingzhi replied, “You know her better than I do.”
“I don’t know her that well.”
Only then did Jiang Wu belatedly start settling accounts with him. “If you were coming to choose rings, why didn’t you tell her beforehand?”
Huo Qingzhi put down the catalogue and leaned back, looking steadily at her. “She’s trying to avoid me right now. If I told her, she definitely wouldn’t have come.”
“And why is she trying to avoid you? Don’t you know?”
Huo Qingzhi raised a brow. “Why?”
Jiang Wu was left speechless.
He answered for her. “Because her lawfully wedded husband got a little too close to her?”
Huo Qingzhi analyzed it calmly, his tone no different from when he spoke in meetings, cool and commanding, and said, “She’s probably just not used to it. A few more times and she’ll be fine.”
Jiang Wu couldn’t tell what he meant by a few more times — a few more times of what, exactly.
Couldn’t he just say it clearly?
She just sat there, looking at him.
Huo Qingzhi met her gaze, sat up slightly, and leaned toward her. “We’re talking about my wife. Why are you looking at me like that?”
Then he deliberately called her “Little Sister.”
Jiang Wu felt as though all the blood in her body had suddenly started burning, and turned her head away, refusing to say another word to him.
She couldn’t understand how someone who had always been so proper before marriage could become such a bastard in private once married.
Soon, the clerk knocked and came back in.
She sat across from them, opened several boxes, and introduced a few wedding ring designs for Huo Qingzhi to try on.
Holding the woman’s ring, she asked Huo Qingzhi, “And your partner’s ring size…?”
Huo Qingzhi replied, “Same as hers.”
Jiang Wu didn’t want the atmosphere to become too strange, so she hurriedly picked up the conversation. “About the same as mine. Just use mine.”
“Certainly.” The clerk placed the woman’s ring in front of Jiang Wu.
Jiang Wu tried on a few. They really were all rather ordinary. Nothing especially appealed to her. She looked toward Huo Qingzhi.
Only then did she notice that he was holding a new-arrival set of matching rings.
They gleamed brightly.
Jiang Wu didn’t look too closely, only thought they looked striking. “The one in your hand looks pretty nice.”
Huo Qingzhi’s hand, mid-examination of the ring, paused for a moment. Then handed it to her.
Jiang Wu began regretting her words almost the instant she took it. It was a serpent design, set with Type IIa white diamonds.
Something like the piece she’d seen at that jewelry exhibition before, but with a far more intricate design.
When placed together in the box, the two rings overlapped, their serpentine bodies able to coil around one another. Locked in each other’s bite. Almost like lovers entwined in mating.
Huo Qingzhi held out his hand toward Jiang Wu. “If you like it, try it on.”
Then he took the hand she had resting beside her and slipped one of the rings onto her finger.
Separated from its pair and worn alone, it looked like a tiny snake wrapped tightly around her finger. The serpent’s white diamond-studded body wound around her, its head resting against her finger as if biting down into her finger… with venom carved from emerald flowing from its fangs.
“Sir, you have excellent taste. This style became popular overseas after Paris Fashion Week. It’s an exclusive François design. He created three versions in total, and each version is limited to one pair.”
“What makes this particular design unique is that the gentleman’s wedding ring can completely coil around the lady’s.”
“Although it’s technically designed as a wedding ring, snake motifs aren’t commonly used for formal wedding occasions in East Asia, so we didn’t bring this one out at first.”
The clerk genuinely hadn’t expected a man as conventional-looking as Mr. Huo to take a liking to it.
It was certainly a very niche preference.
The clerk demonstrated how one of the rings could lock around the other.
Wrapped completely inside its own coil, the tails locked together, nearly impossible to pull apart once they were on.
But in Huo Qingzhi’s eyes, Jiang Wu caught the faintest glimmer of light. She started regretting having ever said the rings were pretty.
Because Huo Qingzhi bought the pair on the spot, without hesitation at all.
The same way he had settled their marriage in the first place — decided so fast she had never had a chance to react, let alone reconsider.
The store attendant saw them out, offering thoughtful parting wishes. “Mr. Huo, congratulations on your marriage. Wishing you a lifetime of happiness.”
“And Miss Huo, may you also meet your perfect match soon.”
After dinner outside, the two of them walked along Victoria Harbour.
As far as Jiang Wu could recall, the two of them rarely wandered around outside like this, with nowhere in particular to go. Every so often, she lowered her head and held out her hand, and looked at the little snake wrapped around her ring finger.
Coiled around her, biting into her, pumping something into her she could never shake loose. It stirred up a strange, tingling, numb sensation running through her.
She asked Huo Qingzhi, “Why the sudden urge to buy wedding rings?”
His answer was simple. “Because we didn’t have any. Actually, I want you to wear one. The ring symbolizes a bond, a sense of restraint. When you see it, you’ll think of your partner, reminding you that you’re a married person.”
Jiang Wu’s lips pressed into a thin line; the numbing feeling in her chest grew stronger.
Huo Qingzhi stopped, reached out, and caught hold of her wrist. “Pity we can’t wear them out together, yet.”
His large hand wrapped around her wrist bone, and even through the thin fabric of her sleeve, she could feel the scorching heat of his palm. When he felt her tense, his rough thumb ran soothingly over the back of her hand in reassurance.
Even as he soothed her, he was sliding the ring off her finger. “If only one of us could wear a wedding ring, I’d rather it be me.”
If he had just left it alone, she would have been fine, but the moment he started stroking her hand, all she wanted to do was pull away.
The more she wanted to pull away, the more he soothed her. Round and round, a vicious little cycle. She wondered if he was doing it on purpose.
Jiang Wu couldn’t help herself. “Would you… stop rubbing me like that?”
“You’re the one tormenting me.” Huo Qingzhi took her ring and fitted it together with his own, joining the pair into one before sliding them onto his ring finger.
Jiang Wu pulled her hand back and rubbed it lightly, trying to ease the lingering itch where his fingers had brushed over her skin. Then she noticed his pinky ring.
As if he could feel her studying it, Huo Qingzhi slid the pinky ring off. “You can keep this for me.”
He handed it over. Jiang Wu turned it over in her hand, not quite following. “I don’t need a Purity Mantra to keep my thoughts clean.”
“Neither do I anymore.”
Jiang Wu froze slightly.
The sea wind off Victoria Harbour tousled the loose strands of her hair, and her thoughts scattered right along with it. Understanding hit her a beat too late. This was a ring of restraint. Something worn by a person who had violated a serious taboo, meant for atonement and self-restraint.
And he did not need it anymore.
Huo Qingzhi drew close, brushed the hair from her ear, and swept aside the strands caught against her lips. “I don’t need to hold back anymore.”
His gaze rested on her slightly parted lips, still remembering the frustration of being interrupted at the height of the instantaneity last night.
The instant Huo Qingzhi moved closer, Jiang Wu, startled by what he had just said, instinctively took a step back. Unfortunately, the moment she retreated, a dull tugging pain came from her hair.
Only then did Jiang Wu realize that the sea breeze had blown her hair around one of Huo Qingzhi’s buttons. She couldn’t move very far away from him at all. The half-step she had taken was pulled back by the tangled strands, forcing her toward him again.
Jiang Wu stared at her trapped hair, and there, right at her forehead, was the faint warmth of his breath. Close enough that every breath he took fell against her hairline. At the edge of her vision, the sharp line of his lips. The cedar scent of him and the sea breeze off Victoria Harbour wrapped around her together.
Jiang Wu fumbled to untangle her own hair from his button.
Huo Qingzhi made no move to help. He simply lowered his head and watched her. Watching her want to leave, and yet be unable to, flustered and helpless right in front of him.
The more anxious Jiang Wu became, the worse she was at freeing herself.
Until a hand closed around the back of her neck and drew her closer. Huo Qingzhi’s fingers appeared in her line of sight, deftly lifting and loosening the strands until he solved in moments what she had struggled with for so long.
Afterward, he hooked a finger through the end of her hair and asked, ” Why aren’t you thanking Brother anymore?”
Jiang Wu had no words for that.
With his hand still at the back of her neck, he traced along her hairline and kissed the corner of her lips.
Warm.
Damp.
Burning.
His breath ragged and heavy.
And still he had to ask, “You always used to say Brother’s the best. So, is Brother still the best now?”