**Chapter 31: Legal Rights**

Qin Mang pressed her fisherman hat down, turned around, and was about to leave. “Let’s go back.”

Meng Ting looked upset and showed her his phone screen. “It’s too late.”

A Tong had gone to park the car, nearly running into the paparazzi head-on.

He had also spotted a portion of them lying in wait at the entrance, waiting for Qin Mang to walk straight into their trap.

Who had leaked her schedule?

It seemed far too coincidental for her to be blocked here so clearly.

But there was no time to dwell on this now.

With the paparazzi indoors starting to notice her, Qin Mang prepared to head upstairs, hoping to slip out through the back door.

They stood by the wooden columns, mostly hidden from view, but once they passed that position, the paparazzi would spot them.

After all, she was wearing a mask and a hat.

At night, in a clubhouse, wasn’t it obvious she didn’t want to be seen?

Qin Mang exhaled lightly and scanned the private area on the third floor.

That area was for VIPs, and regular people couldn’t enter.

She took off her duckbill cap and tossed it to Meng Ting, letting her long hair fall freely. She whispered a few words in his ear.

Meng Ting nodded in agreement.

A few seconds later, the two paparazzi saw a tall, graceful woman walking from the side of the decorative columns outside, naturally and confidently heading towards the stairs to the third floor.

They exchanged glances.

But something felt off.

Typically, female celebrities appearing in public are heavily guarded.

“Miss… Miss!”

Suddenly, Gu Qiyang appeared out of nowhere, leaning over the railing and lazily calling out.

Qin Mang cursed in her mind, fearing he would shout her name.

While quickly typing on her phone, she moved faster up the stairs.

She was already on the wooden steps when she quickened her pace, and the reporters noticed something was wrong.

They exchanged looks, as if they sensed something.

They rushed up. “Is it Qin Mang?”

At that moment, the paparazzi outside rushed in, and even the doorman was caught off guard. The security guards followed behind, chasing after them.

Gu Qiyang, a tall figure, stood at the stairway entrance. Qin Mang didn’t even glance at him and brushed past him.

It was as if she didn’t know him.

Gu Qiyang wasn’t dumb.

Seeing the group of people behind her, he realized what was happening.

He pretended not to know her, casually stopping the reporters. “Who are you guys chasing?”

“Don’t you know where this is?”

The paparazzi had been following Qin Mang for a long time. They’d finally found a breakthrough. A popular young star secretly married? This was huge news.

They were willing to be kicked out if it meant securing this scoop.

Qin Mang had come here planning to hide in an empty room, and Meng Ting would get the club manager to clear out the paparazzi.

But as the saying goes, plans can’t keep up with changes.

A door to a private room suddenly opened at the end of the hall.

Qin Mang looked up, and directly locked eyes with familiar gray-blue pupils.

Her eyes lit up.

She rushed toward him.

“Husband\~!”

“Help me!”

Hearing the footsteps behind her, she quickly tugged at his suit, burying her face in it.

Her long, soft hair, which she had casually tied up, swayed in the air, covering her slender waist.

Because she had come to attend a party, Qin Mang was used to wearing a formal dress. The design of the dress was tight around the waist, and the whole upper body was enveloped by the suit.

Her delicate wrist encircled his neck, and she tiptoed, whispering in his ear, “Wrap me up in your suit.”

He Lengji’s thoughts flashed back to all those unanswered phone calls.

His cold, ink-dark eyes lowered to her weak, delicate neck, whiter than the first snow on a fragile branch.

Qin Mang didn’t notice He Lengji’s emotions. After giving her orders, she quietly shrank back into his chest, hiding herself again.

Her mind was full of thoughts.

She couldn’t be discovered.

Even if she was, it couldn’t be by Gu Qiyang, her fifth husband!

She might get so mad that she would openly reveal her marriage to He Lengji.

At that moment, the reporters behind her shouted, “She’s here!”

“Quick, is it Qin Mang?”

“Is it?!”

“I saw her assistant outside earlier. It should be her!”

Gu Qiyang lazily followed behind them, “What are you guys chasing a female celebrity for? Interview me instead. I’m getting married tomorrow.”

“You don’t want the first-hand news?”

A reporter said, “Mr. Gu, you’ve already been married four times. The netizens are no longer interested in your fifth marriage.”

Gu Qiyang: “…”

Was he being scolded?

What?

Was getting married five times not newsworthy anymore?

Was he no longer the most popular playboy in the entertainment industry?

…

The next second.

Everyone suddenly stopped.

They all stared at the man standing at the end of the hallway, surrounded by people, and at the woman in a red ink wash dress they had just been chasing.

Ruan Qizhuo and the others were also confused.

They all looked at the man standing in the front, calm and indifferent.

“He… He… He… President He?!”

He Lengji’s cold, merciless gaze swept over them, his voice flat. “My person.”

“Want to take pictures?”

The paparazzi, who hadn’t even lowered their cameras in front of Gu Qiyang, silently lowered them now.

Who dared take pictures of him?

They wouldn’t even dare.

The media still spread legends about him.

The paparazzi quickly shook their heads.

Then, they saw him leisurely unbutton his cufflinks. In front of everyone, he directly picked up the woman buried in his chest and carried her horizontally.

He let her hold onto his suit without letting go, walking towards the fourth floor.

It was as if he didn’t see them.

The woman’s slender, beautiful legs swayed in the air.

The curve of her legs seemed to dance gracefully.

They didn’t dare take pictures.

They didn’t even dare to look.

Someone behind Ruan Qizhuo broke the silence, “Is that… his wife?”

“Otherwise?”

Someone else rolled their eyes.

His wife?

Anyone who could be called “wife” by such important people must be the legendary Mrs. He.

The paparazzi exchanged glances.

But what about Qin Mang?

Wasn’t it confirmed she was coming here tonight?

They were all from the same circle and had seen Gu Qiyang, so naturally, they knew each other.

Gu Qiyang’s eyes swept across them, and he smiled, inviting, “I’m having my pre-wedding party today. Interested in joining?”

“Wow.”

“Mr. Gu is lucky. Which big star did he marry this time?”

As everyone knew, Gu Qiyang loved giving small celebrities a home.

His four previous wives were all actresses.

Naturally, they assumed the fifth one was as well.

The paparazzi suddenly realized something.

The woman He Lengji just carried away couldn’t possibly be Qin Mang. She was already said to be Mrs. He, well-protected by him.

So…

Had Qin Mang already arrived?

Was she actually Gu Qiyang’s fifth wife?

But Gu Qiyang waved his hand. “This time, she’s an outsider. You guys want to come to the wedding tomorrow?”

His words carried a hint of mockery.

He was asking the paparazzi.

Before they could answer, the manager arrived with the security guards.

“Sorry, sorry for disturbing your enjoyment—”

The manager hadn’t expected that his few minutes outside would cause such a big mess.

They had disturbed President He!

Ruan Qizhuo, who had just been smiling, immediately turned serious when the security arrived. “Take them to the police station. Let the police teach them a lesson on morality.”

The paparazzi, who had planned to leave, were left confused.

What?

How did their faces change so suddenly?

As He Lengji’s “little cotton-padded jacket,” Ruan Qizhuo was also the “little cotton-padded jacket” of his wife, so of course, he was going to get revenge!

He wasn’t planning to take credit tomorrow with He Lengji or try to get any investment!

The fourth floor had He Lengji’s private lounge.

Qin Mang emerged from He Lingji’s arms, revealing a pair of beautiful, glistening eyes. “That scared me to death.”

“Luckily, I ran into you.”

“Mm.”

“If I hadn’t, Mrs. He might have forgotten she still has a… husband.”

He Lingji casually tossed his suit jacket onto the sofa.

He approached Qin Mang step by step.

The room lights weren’t on.

Even so, Qin Mang could vaguely make out the man’s grey-blue eyes, chilling and cold as if steeped in frost.

No matter what, they had been “bedmates” for some time now. She could tell something was definitely off with He Lingji tonight.

Danger alert.

Her mental CPU was about to crash from overdrive, and she still couldn’t figure out how she had offended him.

Cornered to the edge of the sofa, her knees gave out and she sat down.

Which made things easier for He Lingji.

His thin lips slowly parted: “Important people tend to forget things. I understand.”

Qin Mang: “…”

You don’t look like you understand.

She opened her mouth and couldn’t help but ask innocently, “What did I do to offend you?”

“Why are you being so fierce?”

Fierce?

He Lingji let out a cold laugh.

This little liar was always good at flipping the blame.

His gaze fell on the vermillion mole at the tip of her pale nose.

It made her pretty, annoying face look all the more innocent—and all the better at deceiving.

“This is fierce?”

“Then how about this?”

“!”

Qin Mang lay back on the sofa. Her sparkling eyes immediately welled up with tears of pain.

“Why are you crying?”

Under the brilliant light, the girl’s curled lashes were beaded with tears, glinting with reflected light.

The man’s callused fingertip slowly traced the corner of her thin, tender eye—

“All because of you—”

Just as Qin Mang thought he was going to wipe her tears,

The next second—

He suddenly leaned in.

His cool lips lightly touched her trembling lashes. A soft gesture, yet it carried a hint of reverent weight.

In an instant, a wildfire seemed to spread from that point of contact, scorching straight to her heart.

Qin Mang’s unfinished sentence was cut off, her clear black eyes clouded with a watery confusion.

She didn’t quite understand this feeling.

Instinctively, she reached out to touch her chest.

But before she could figure it out—

He Lingji gave her no time to react.

Pain—
Sharp pain.

Qin Mang’s long fingernails dug in.

“He Lingji!”

“Are you crazy?”

Soon after, Qin Mang couldn’t say another word.

In the VIP lounge of the club, there were only a few leather sofas.

He Lingji didn’t want her to get dirty.

So he specifically used his suit jacket as a cushion behind her slender waist.

The stark contrast of black and white, and that vivid red, created a scene of striking beauty in the darkness.

Qin Mang cried terribly.

It really did hurt.

Only today did she realize how much He Lingji had held back in the past.

Three hours later, the neon lights outside the floor-to-ceiling window had mostly gone out.

Only a few dim ones flickered faintly.

Qin Mang felt like a dried-up mermaid.

One that had been sun-dried with chili powder—
Spicy and painful.

She heard He Lingji’s low, cool voice: “Qin Mang.”

Qin Mang grumbled, “What?”

“We’re married.”

“If we weren’t, I’d have called the cops by now!” Qin Mang had never suffered such grievance before. Her tone was fierce, but her voice unconsciously dragged out, sounding more like a whine.

“We’re not fake spouses.”

“…”

“What are you trying to say?”

His post-intimacy voice was low and magnetic, his thin lips calmly uttering: “No separate bedrooms.”

Qin Mang’s tear-damp lashes fluttered. “When did I… say I wanted to live apart?”

He Lingji stood tall in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, the abyss-like night behind him threatening to devour everything.

But with him standing in front of her—

Qin Mang felt no fear.

He lowered his eyes calmly.

Though he was looking down from above,

Qin Mang didn’t feel the slightest pressure of being looked down on. Instead, her red lips couldn’t help but curl up.

This time, she deliberately drew out her words.

Like honey dripping in threads, her slender jade-like wrist reached out from under the thin blanket to hook his dangling fingers. She teasingly said, “What, winter’s here and now you want your little wife to warm your bed?”

He Lingji avoided her fingers.

Instead, he lightly pinched her chin.

His movement, as always, was calm—like a god bestowing grace. He leaned down and placed a restrained kiss by her lips. “Mrs. He.”

“I’m exercising my legal rights.”

Before exercising the legal right to warm the bed—

The couple left the Yunlan Club. They didn’t even go back to their lakeside villa.

Because Qin Mang kept saying she was in pain.

Not whining.

But *really* in pain.

At 4 a.m., the night in Deep City was pitch black and bitterly cold.

A stretch Pullman rolled over scattered fallen leaves by the roadside, heading straight to a private hospital under the He family.

The wound had torn.

Any more severe and she might have needed stitches.

The attending doctor was a specialist in female health. She had seen countless cases like this, but most were due to severe tearing during natural childbirth—rarely like this one.

Still, it wasn’t serious.

She nonchalantly prescribed medicine. “Young people should be more careful with marital matters.”

“If the size isn’t compatible, proper preparation is key.”

“All right, apply this three times a day.”

Facing the female doctor’s calm expression, Qin Mang buried herself completely in He Lingji’s arms, utterly defeated.

He Lingji: “Qin—”

“Don’t talk. I’m dead.”

The doctor gave a final reminder: “Until the wound heals, avoid all sexual activity—”

He Lingji calmly asked, “How long until normal marital relations can resume?”

The doctor, apparently unused to such straightforward men, replied, “At least a week.”

“Thank you.”

Qin Mang: “…”

She wanted to curse.

But didn’t know where to start.

This shameless dog!