Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Xin Nan was hitting a wall everywhere at EZ.

It was my doing, though I hadn’t said much.

I only dropped one line: “I don’t know what’s going on with my student, Xin Nan.”

“She hasn’t been very obedient lately.”

“Maybe getting an offer from a big firm has made her think she’s outgrown her nest.”

Everyone at EZ was a seasoned player; the executives understood instantly.

They began pressuring Xin Nan at every turn.

I thought she would last a week at most, but to my surprise, half a month passed.

Xin Nan never once reached out to me.

I felt a flicker of irritation. After years of pulling strings and orchestrating outcomes, this was the first time something had slipped out of my control.

I called the EZ executives directly and arranged a dinner for that evening.

Xin Nan was, naturally, part of the group accompanying them.

At the table, amidst the clinking of glasses and polite conversation, Xin Nan maintained a graceful smile.

After the meal, she looked at me with a face full of exhaustion.

“Professor, I didn’t think someone like you would stoop to such petty, underhanded tricks.”

I cornered her in the restroom.

One by one, I began undoing her buttons.

“Xin Nan, there has always been a beast trapped deep in my heart.”

“You were the one who unlocked its cage, but now you’re trying to abandon it. What is that supposed to mean?”

Just as the pale curve of her chest was about to be revealed, she suddenly pinned my hand down.

The look in her eyes was unexpectedly firm.

“Professor, don’t push me.”

“I told you, our transaction from last time was settled. Don’t try to use my job to threaten me.”

“I’m not trying to be the ant that topples the giant tree, but if I were to make our affair public-even if no one believed me, even if I had no evidence-”

“It would still tarnish your reputation, wouldn’t it?”

“You’ve always valued that above all else. You wouldn’t want your pristine image to be dragged through the mud, right?”

After she finished speaking, she put her clothes back on piece by piece under my watchful gaze.

I let out a soft scoff.

To kill a snake, you have to hit its vitals; I had been too impatient.

I asked someone to look into Xin Nan.

I couldn’t understand why she had suddenly become so resolute.

It’s never easy for a woman who has sold herself to suddenly turn virtuous.

While she wasn’t exactly a prostitute, she wasn’t far off. Once you’re used to taking shortcuts, why would you start wanting to walk the long way, step by step?

By the afternoon, the results of the investigation were sent to my phone.

It turned out Xin Nan’s fiancé had come looking for her. Interesting.

The report showed that her fiancé had worked to put her through university and even her master’s degree.

The two of them were set to be married in a month.

I sighed.

I zoomed in on a photo of Xin Nan and her boyfriend on my phone.

In the picture, her fiancé looked like he had just finished hauling bricks; he was covered in dirt.

But Xin Nan was holding a lunch box, squatting beside him, looking up at him with a face full of sweetness.

True love, apparently…

If it was true love, then why did she crawl into my bed?

What a hypocritical slut.