The Substitute Bride and the Cripple

Chapter 31: His, Now and Forever

Tang Qiu came back to her senses, searching for a way to one-up him. “Now you’re the one clinging onto me, dear!” she said, smiling.

Jiang Shaocheng nodded dismissively. “Kissing my wife isn’t clinginess. It’s a natural part of intimacy.”

Tang Qiu was dumbstruck. “Why is it considered intimacy when you kiss me, and clinginess when I kiss you?”

Her husband’s face was still as cool as ever. “Ah, you’ve caught me. I just wanted more of you to myself. Clever girl.”

Now he was just making fun of her. Tang Qiu steeled her expression and rose from his lap. “He Lei said you had a gift for me. Where is it?”

Jiang Shaocheng took her hand, and, like a magician performing a trick, a necklace appeared in his palm. It glittered as it caught the light, resplendent and sparkling.

Tang Qiu had never received a gift like this. “It’s beautiful!” she exclaimed, elated.

“Let me put it on you.”

When he clasped the necklace around her neck, Tang Qiu heard a ding noise. She wasn’t familiar with luxury goods, but surely no jewelry clasp would produce a sound like that?

“What’s that noise?”

“The clasp of the necklace is held together by a magnetically locked button. If it’s forcibly unfastened, the necklace will be damaged and lose its value.” Jiang Shaocheng’s eyes simmered darkly as he explained the mechanism to her. One thing he had failed to mention was that in order to remove the necklace, one would require his fingerprint.

From this day onwards, she would be his–now, and forever.

“Does it look nice?” Tang Qiu asked, blissfully unaware of his intentions.

Jiang Shaocheng ran his cool fingers over the necklace, trailing across her collarbone, the smooth, fair column of her neck… “Of course it does.” He brushed his lips against the tip of her ear, resisting the near-primal urge that bubbled up inside him.

“It must have been very expensive.”

He shook his head. “A few hundred yuan, no more. I hope you don’t dislike it.”

“Not at all! I love it.” In truth, Tang Qiu did think it was a little expensive; after all, it was still a few hundred yuan for a small piece of jewelry. But that thought was soon replaced with delight when she remembered her husband’s sweet intentions.

“If you like it, Qiu, you ought to repay the favor.” Jiang Shaocheng’s gaze stirred with unreadable depths. “Isn’t that right?”

“But I’m not prepared now. Give me some time, okay?”

Before she could finish, Jiang Shaocheng took hold of her hand. “There’s no need to wait. You have something you can give me right now, Qiu. It just depends on whether you want to.”

“What do you want?” Tang Qiu asked earnestly. “If I have it, it’s yours.”

Jiang Shaocheng didn’t respond. Instead, he curved his arm around her waist and pulled her onto his lap, drawing her into a kiss so deep and long that Tang Qiu felt like her soul was being sucked from her. She remarked silently that his lung capacity was nothing like that of an ill person. Although, come to think about it, maybe he was compensating, since he couldn’t pleasure her with his lower body. Had he been practicing?

During dinner, He Lei noticed that Tang Qiu’s lips were pink and swollen. Her cheeks, too, were flushed, and there was a charming little sparkle to her eyes that hadn’t been there before.

He looked at his young master in surprise. He’s not going to keep his facade as a cripple up for much longer… He was concerned, though. His young master hadn’t been with a woman before; should He Lei help him prepare the necessary tools, just as a reminder?

After dinner, Tang Qiu went to the study and asked to use Jiang Shaocheng’s laptop, only for him to shake his head no. She pouted, tugging at him like a spoiled child. “It won’t take long. I won’t hold you up, I promise.”

Jiang Shaocheng smiled indulgently. He turned his wheelchair towards the sofa, picked up a small box, and silently gestured for Tang Qiu to open it.

Curiously, Tang Qiu opened the box. Her eyes lit up at the sight of the sleek silver laptop staring back at her. “Is this for me?” she asked, like a child receiving a boxful of candy. 

“Of course,” her husband replied with a nod.

“Thank you, dear! But this had to be very expensive, right?”

She wouldn’t put the laptop down. She clearly loved the gift, yet she still wouldn’t stop worrying about how much it had cost. Keeping his expression neutral, he lied, “No, it wasn’t. This was my old laptop. I just fixed it up.”

“Fixed it up? You’re so capable, dear!” Tang Qiu gushed. Her thoughts drifted back to Ning Mufan. He had claimed her husband wouldn’t be able to make money to support them, but he hadn’t known Jiang Shaocheng well enough. When he had recovered, he could set up a shop to modify computers and help them earn a living. The longer she dwelled on it, the more conviction burned in her heart. I must study hard and heal him one day. Wasting no time, she switched on the laptop, and was soon engrossed in translating the documents Professor Sun had given her.

She didn’t say another word to her husband for the rest of the night. Jiang Shaocheng couldn’t help feeling that he had shot himself in the foot somehow.

One week later, Tang Qiu finished translating the documents, ahead of the deadline Professor Sun had given her. As she was preparing to submit them, however, she decided to take the opportunity to ask him about what treatments would be right for Jiang Shaocheng’s injury. But before that, she had to find out just how badly crippled Jiang Shaocheng’s legs were; what exactly was preventing him from having sex, what medicine he took on a regular basis…