Chapter Sixty-Six: Blood Boils in an Instant

It was well known that Shen Yanlie never had a particularly good temper. Usually, if someone truly managed to enrage him, it was akin to stirring up trouble right on the Tiger Deity’s head—a sure path to self-destruction. Furthermore, if someone dared to tug at a tiger’s whiskers while standing right next to it, the tiger would bare its fangs in an instant.

So, one could easily imagine Mai Xijun’s current predicament.

Shen Yanlie himself was keenly aware that if the brazen, arrogant woman swaggering before him now were anyone else, she would likely be ruined for life in a heartbeat. After all, he more than merely disliked women who were wild and full of themselves.

Yet all he did was curl his lips into a handsome, mocking smile. “Though I may come cheap, not just anyone can afford me.”

With those words, his tall figure suddenly dropped, lowering himself beneath Mai Xijun’s line of sight. Before she could react, she found herself slung over his shoulder. She struggled, her head rushing with blood, her feet beating against his abdomen.

“Didn’t you say you wanted my love? From now on, I’ll give it to you.” He pinned her legs in place and carried her straight into the elevator.

Inside the office—

Mai Xijun tumbled to the ground, curling her head inward and inching backward bit by bit. Shen Yanlie advanced on her, step by deliberate step, closing the distance. Her heart pounded erratically, a fear she could not hide welling up inside.

Truthfully, deep down, Mai Xijun was somewhat afraid of Shen Yanlie. He was that sort of wild, untamable man. Especially when he looked at her in silence, she couldn’t help but tremble inside.

Now she was like a frightened little rabbit with nowhere left to run, her back pressed against the wall.

But Mai Xijun reminded herself that he had once treated her with genuine tenderness. If she truly wished to see his most authentic self, she must not cower. She had to be brave, to see him as an ordinary man who, too, needed love and care, someone who longed for sweet words and gentle treatment.

Swallowing hard, she forced a smile. “Um, can we… talk things out calmly? Heh…”

Mai Xijun’s laughter was hollow, but Shen Yanlie remained impassive. He slowly crouched before her, one knee bent on the floor, the other arm resting elegantly on his knee—a posture both graceful and powerfully intimidating.

“I did say I wanted you to love me, but I never said you had to. You… you can choose not to love me. Really,” Mai Xijun said, nodding firmly even as her eyes darted around, searching for an opportunity to escape.

Shen Yanlie chuckled softly, as though patiently entertaining his prey in a game. “If you regret loving me now, I’ll let you go. But if you’ve made your choice… If you come to me, I’ll take it as if you’ll never leave; if you want to leave, I’ll act as though you never appeared at all. So, make your choice and stand your ground. Leave the rest to me.”

His voice, low and rich, slipped into her ears, stirring her thoughts.

In that moment, Shen Yanlie’s gaze was so earnest that Mai Xijun’s mind was thrown into chaos.

Suddenly, she straightened, no longer cowering on the floor. Her arms wound around his neck, her posture brimming with seductive allure. “For you, I even gave up my chance to study in France. Tell me… should I go, or should I stay, hmm?”

She deliberately drew out the last syllable, her slender fingers tracing from his brow to his hairline. Shen Yanlie laughed and lifted her from the ground, spreading her legs to wrap around his waist, pinning her back firmly against the hard wall.

“Mai Xijun, you came to the tiger’s den of your own accord. Don’t blame me for not warning you.” He pressed her beneath him, lifting her legs, his other hand gripping her chin. Their bodies were pressed close, each feeling the other’s heartbeat.

“Before you regret loving me, I’ll leave every exit open for you. But once you’ve decided, don’t shrink back.” His wickedly handsome face hovered close, his voice soft yet thrumming with a dangerous, irresistible power. Now, she had no way out, all because of those two words: “for you.”

The fierce light in Shen Yanlie’s eyes made Mai Xijun’s heart wrench in pain, almost to the point of tears.

She thought herself terrible. At least Shen Yanlie had always been sincere with her. Yet now… she still ached for the hurt he’d suffered five years ago. She had been moved by him, had wavered in her convictions, teetering on the edge of agony. And now, with Luo Youcong’s sudden visit before her departure, did that make her truly despicable?

Mai Xijun didn’t know. All she knew was that her heart hurt deeply. One was her lifelong dream, now slipping away; another was the man who had straightened her spine and entered her life; and then there was the mother she had searched for so many years, yet never found…

Three burdens, all at once, had brought her to the brink of collapse. If Shen Yanlie were a heartless man, she could have endured all this without guilt. But he was not.

Tears glimmered in her eyes, forcing her to lower her gaze to his lips, lips that seemed a touch cold and indifferent. Her lashes fluttered as she pressed her lips to his, kissing him with a tenderness that was at once clumsy and earnest—an act both of seduction and of expressing her heart.

Yet Shen Yanlie remained as composed as ever, calm and unhurried, as graceful and poised as a black panther prowling the jungle, making no move to attack.

Mai Xijun’s voice was husky as she moved to his ear. “I want you.”

Before she could say more, his lips claimed hers, seizing the initiative, his kiss burning with invitation.

For five years, apart from the women who had satisfied his physical needs, Shen Yanlie had never again touched the nerves of emotion. Yet she could always so effortlessly ignite the most primal desire in him. Even when she merely looked at him in silence during their most intimate moments, even when she simply breathed the words “I want you,” it was enough to set his blood ablaze, to make every vein in his body feel as though it might burst.

That tight closeness—every time they pressed together, he lost all control, again and again swept away by passion, only falling deeper into his yearning for her.

His long fingers deftly undid her bra, freeing skin as smooth as the finest silk, a touch he could never get enough of.