Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Ying Xuhui didn’t speak to me for ages.

When the driver dropped us off at the company, he didn’t even look back. He handed me off to his assistant and went into the president’s office by himself.

Through the transparent glass wall, I saw him laughing and chatting with a female secretary with chestnut curls, the two of them getting along splendidly.

I stood there in the office full of fluorescent lights and zoned out for a few seconds.

“You’ll get used to it.”

I turned toward the voice. It was the ordinary-looking man who had interrogated me every which way in the car last time.

He pushed his glasses up. “My name is Li Qu. I’m President Ying’s life assistant. If there’s anything you don’t understand, you can ask me.”

I really did have a question. “Is he usually like this?”

Li Qu looked at me with something close to pity. “What do you think? Someone like him was born a favored son of heaven, destined to be loved.”

Li Qu took me to have two well-fitted suits custom-made.

Before we left, I looked back without thinking.

In the spacious office flooded with sunlight, the female secretary sat against the desk with a smile, leaning slightly toward Ying Xuhui to whisper to him.

Her long hair swayed over her chest, brushing again and again against Ying Xuhui’s tie and chest.

Ying Xuhui’s eyes were half-lidded, like a beast lazily sunning itself, with a languid, sated air about him.

A faint, cynical smile hung at the corner of his mouth.

Unfortunately, he was simply too good-looking. A pointed chin, peach-blossom eyes, a high nose bridge. So even when he was flirting with someone, there wasn’t the slightest trace of sleaziness to it.

Instead, he was even more tempting than the giant celebrity posters I’d seen at the supermarket on my first day in the city.

He noticed my gaze. Very slowly, he slid his eyes over to stare at me, tilted his head a little, and raised a brow.

What do you want?

Those four words were written all over his face.

I turned around in a panic.

When I came out of the fitting room in my new suit, Li Qu couldn’t help giving me a few extra looks.

His gaze lingered on me with distinct meaning. “I underestimated you. Didn’t think you were hiding all this.”

Me: “Huh?”

“With a face this handsome-”

Li Qu lifted my bangs.

“But who cut your hair? It looks like someone slapped a shoe insert onto your forehead.”

“Ergou from the village entrance. He said this is the fashionable hairstyle these days, that Korean oppas all cut it like this,” I confessed honestly.

Li Qu clicked his tongue and frowned. “This hairstyle makes you look like you were just born naturally, then licked by a cow.”

I shut my mouth, feeling a little wronged.

I let Li Qu take me to a salon, where they combed my bangs back and exposed my forehead.

When everything was finished, I looked at myself in the mirror and couldn’t help scratching my nose, feeling inexplicably embarrassed.

The person in the mirror no longer had that simple, rustic air. My hair was combed all the way back, revealing a pale scar above my brow, with a few strands falling between my eyebrows.

The sharply tailored suit fit cleanly. My chest strained against the shirt beneath it.

Broad shoulders, narrow waist, long legs. It was just that I was tall, so I hunched slightly, like a wolfhound ready to pounce.

I stared blankly at the mirror. Wheat-colored skin, rugged features, and a pair of brown eyes that somehow still looked clear no matter how hard I tried to seem fierce.

I looked just like a dark-skinned hunk. Or a suited enforcer who had fought through life and death with his boss.

Was this really me?

Was I really this handsome?

Confused, I returned to the office.

Just before I went in, Li Qu suddenly patted my shoulder with great seriousness. “I have high hopes for you. When you strike it rich, don’t forget me.”

I didn’t understand, but I still nodded solemnly.

I pushed the door open.

“President Ying,” I called softly.

Ying Xuhui, who was working with his head lowered, gave a careless “Mm.” He lifted his eyes without much interest-

Then his entire body froze. The signing pen hovered over the contract as he stared at me, dazed.

From top to bottom.

And somehow… from the inside out.

I nervously pinched the hem of my jacket.

His Adam’s apple bobbed, and his grip tightened around the fountain pen in his hand.

His eyes, which had been a little stunned at first, seemed to give rise to some inexplicable whirlpool. Ripples like aged wine slowly deepened into a darker desire.

I asked, “President Ying, is there anything you need me to do?”

Ying Xuhui blinked very slowly, as if waking from a dream. “What?”

I repeated, “Is there anything you need me to do?”

He coughed and adjusted his roughened voice. It was as if even his vocal cords had burned hot, making him flustered and tongue-tied.

After a few seconds, Ying Xuhui seemed to realize he had lost his composure, and in front of me, no less.

A faint flush rose over his cheekbones.

Instead, it made that fair face look even gentler and more lustrous.

Like satin.

Suddenly, a strange thought came to me-

Was that part of him as pampered, delicate, and fragile as his appearance?

It had been too dark last night, and my heart had been beating too fast. I hadn’t noticed.

My mind wandered.

I wondered if the calluses on the hands of someone like me, used to farmwork, would hurt him. If I squeezed hard, would he cry?

Or would he fly into a rage, his whole face red as he cursed me nonstop?

I took a deep breath.

“Yes.”

I suddenly heard Ying Xuhui speak.

“President Ying, what is-mmph!”

At some point, he had stood up. In just a few strides, he was right in front of me, grabbing my tie and forcing me to lift my head as he kissed me.

I pushed at him on instinct.

But he caught both my wrists.

Hard enough that it hurt.

Was he really a city person?

I let out a muffled grunt.

City people didn’t do farmwork, so why was he stronger than me?

Ying Xuhui kissed me until his breathing turned ragged, his pupils shrinking with pleasure. His right hand released my wrist and clasped the back of my neck instead.

The feeling of suffocation made me open my mouth, and he took advantage, invading with domineering, savage force.

He gripped my throat, not hard, just enough to make my brain go faintly numb, as if electric currents were shooting everywhere.

Then he pushed me back. I stumbled a few steps, my legs going weak, and nearly fell.

Ying Xuhui caught me by the waist and pushed me against the wall.

His left hand reached past me.

The space behind me suddenly gave way.

Only then did I realize I hadn’t been leaning against a wall. It was a hidden door.

Ying Xuhui had opened it.

Trembling, I turned my head. For once, I wasn’t startled by the luxurious decor. The first thing I saw was that enormous bed.

Ying Xuhui’s voice was hoarse. “You seduced me. You have to take responsibility.”