HBWMA -Chapter 319 Sinking in Lucidity

Frost and mist covered the glass, turning the city’s neon lights into blurred patches of color.

The room temperature was 31.5°C.

The printer kept creaking nonstop as it worked.

Shen Guiling placed a stack of documents on the coffee table.

Jiang Huashan tugged at her collar to fan herself, then turned to look at the piles of documents scattered across the floor and collapsed onto the table. “Oh my god, there’s still more?”

Shen Guiling walked to the side cabinet, replaced the printing paper, and glanced at the computer. “There’s still 300GB left to print.”

“…” Jiang Huashan pushed herself up, her mind barely functioning. “So much… even if I read for a year, I still wouldn’t finish it.”

“Didn’t you say you wanted the unedited version? Everything in full detail?” Shen Guiling continued printing. “Don’t worry, you can finish it in a year. I’ll be done with it in three days.”

Jiang Huashan slapped her face, forcing herself to wake up.

Her instincts told her that Bai Zheng’s files definitely contained something she didn’t know about. She couldn’t give up just because the conditions were difficult.

She irritably tugged at her collar again.

Shen Guiling turned to look at her. “Hot?”

Jiang Huashan held back a breath. “Not hot. I’m thirsty.”

Shen Guiling thought for a moment, then stood up and walked into the kitchen.

Taking the opportunity, Jiang Huashan quickly pulled down the zipper at her neck and fanned herself frantically. The movement was too large, and a sheet of paper drifted off the table onto the floor. She casually picked it up—but froze instantly.

“File 49!”

Bai Zheng was also connected to File 49?!

Jiang Huashan’s full attention was immediately captured as she began searching along that lead.

A while later, Shen Guiling came out of the kitchen with a glass of strawberry juice. Seeing her buried in the documents, he didn’t disturb her and simply placed the drink on the coffee table within reach.

The living room floor was covered with a huge wool carpet. Jiang Huashan sat cross-legged on it, completely unrestrained.

Shen Guiling leaned sideways against the sofa, his body slightly reclined, his gaze wandering aimlessly over the girl.

He had already read Bai Zheng’s files. The information that needed filtering was already deeply ingrained in his mind. Although the documents looked like a mountain, he had actually categorized them beforehand. Whatever stack Jiang Huashan picked up, he immediately knew what she was investigating and what she cared about.

Originally, Shen Guiling thought Jiang Huashan would care most about Bai Zheng and Shen Qian’s relationship—after all, she guarded Fang Mei and Shen Qian like they were thieves. But unexpectedly, she was more interested in the power relations between the Bai family and A-country’s elite clans.

File 49 recorded all noble families, wealthy merchants, and high-ranking officials in A-country who had connections with Bai Zheng. The web of relationships and disputes within it was shocking. If this information hadn’t been accidentally obtained by him, it would have been completely beyond their current level of access.

Jiang Huashan became more and more absorbed as she read. Shen Guiling’s absent-minded observation gradually changed.

He suddenly stopped caring about what she was reading. His gaze followed her fingertips instead—those fingertips were a soft pink. They simply brushed across the paper innocently, yet for some reason, another image surfaced in his mind.

Those same hands, even more beautifully flushed, gripping a pure white bedsheet and pulling it into wrinkled folds.

Without warning, something in his chest was lightly scratched.

Shen Guiling suddenly felt a little hot. He gave a soft hum, lowered his head, quietly exhaled, and adjusted his breathing before looking up again.

Jiang Huashan, reading until her mouth was dry, noticed the strawberry juice on the table. Without thinking, she got up and took a sip. She was lazy—too lazy even to pick up the glass. As she leaned forward, the open collar revealed a glimpse of her fair, slender neck, her shoulders half-exposed, her collarbone faintly visible.

“Mmm, so sweet.”

Her originally delicate lips were now stained with strawberry juice, and she even licked her lips.

Bang—

Something in someone’s self-proclaimed fortress of rationality collapsed.

Shen Guiling abruptly stood up, his gaze tightly restrained.

“You keep reading. I’ll go back to my room to handle something.”

Without waiting for her reaction, he turned and walked toward the master bedroom.

“Hey! Make me another glass of strawberry juice!” Jiang Huashan called after him.

Bang—

The response she got was a firm, icy sound of the door closing.

“……”

Jiang Huashan was instantly speechless. She casually grabbed a piece of paper, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it at the door.

And with this attitude, it was still 99% affection value? That last 1% might as well not exist!

Back in the bedroom, Shen Guiling still felt hot. He turned off the heating, then the lights, and sat at the edge of the bed in a daze.

He rarely lost control like this. Reason told him this kind of instability was not good for his current situation, and even more so, it would become a fatal weakness for what he needed to do in the future.

It should be cut off.

【[Ding——】

【Warning: “Hidden Plot — Heartwarming Arc: ‘Saving the Pitiful One’” affection value has rebounded. Completion rate decreased by 50%】

Jiang Huashan froze, lifting her head from the documents and staring in shock and confusion at the door of the bedroom.

What did she do?

What was Shen Guiling doing?

【Warning: affection value rebound. Completion rate decreased by 20%】

【Warning: completion rate decreased by 10%】

【Warning: decreased by 9%】

……

【Warning: decreased by 5%】

【Warning: decreased by 4%】

Jiang Huashan went numb, waiting for the final collapse.

But at that moment, the system’s notification abruptly stopped.

She counted quickly on her fingers—so Shen Guiling’s affection value was down to just 1%?

After a brief silence, she took off her now-warm socks and threw them hard onto the sofa, then downed a glass of strawberry juice in one gulp.

Fine. She had originally treated this affection value as something she’d picked up by chance anyway. Taking it back now didn’t change anything. Without rewards, she could still resist the storyline.

With that decided, she returned to her work.

The hour hand passed the number 8 and half a turn brought it to 2 a.m. the next day.

Out in the harbor, half the ship lights had gone out, and the neon outside the window was dim and scattered.

The floor-to-ceiling glass reflected the scene in the living room. Jiang Huashan lay crookedly on the coffee table, fast asleep.

Click—

The door to the master bedroom opened again. Shen Guiling stepped out of the dark room. The living room light was slightly harsh, making him uncomfortable, so he dimmed it.

The lights went down, leaving only four warm orange beams illuminating the sofa area.

He looked at it for a long time, then finally walked over.

Jiang Huashan was sleeping very deeply, showing no signs of waking.

Shen Guiling approached slowly, stepping onto the carpet, then bent his knees and knelt down beside her.

【Ding——】

【Congratulations: “Hidden Plot — Heartwarming Arc: ‘Saving the Pitiful One’” triggered. Completion progress: 99%】