No one knew how much time passed before the living room finally fell silent. The clothes scattered across the floor seemed to tell their own story of what had just happened.

A faint smell of blood lingered in the air, mingled with something else.

The man who had taken what he wanted found his reason slowly reassembling itself. He could not help but look down at the person in his arms. She had turned her head to the side, her hair hiding half her face. The struggle and the pain had drained her of all strength; only her chest still rose and fell in shallow breaths.

“Shen Ruoxi, were you…?” Xie Yan’s voice held a note of surprise, and with it, a fear he could not name crept over him from all sides. “Before tonight — there was no other man?”

Shen Ruoxi lay with her face turned away and her eyes closed, as if she had not heard him.

“Look at me.” Xie Yan turned her face toward him. Her skin was still damp with perspiration, a few strands of hair stuck against her cheek.

He gently pulled the strands away, and his fingers grazed her lips.

“You’re not going to speak to me?” His throat worked with a heavy swallow. “Did you hear what I said?”

Shen Ruoxi still did not move, and would not open her eyes.

“Fine.” Xie Yan sat up abruptly, his lean and bare torso uncovered, and reached for a cigarette.

Whether it was too harsh or some other reason, he had taken only one puff before he began to cough.

The room was so quiet that only his coughing could be heard. Shen Ruoxi lay still where she was, without a sound.

In the end, Xie Yan picked up a garment and draped it over her, then stood and walked out.

The moment he was gone, Shen Ruoxi pushed herself up from the sofa. She threw on her clothes as quickly as she could, and without even stopping to put on her shoes, made for the door.

“Where are you going?” Xie Yan’s hand shot out from behind and caught hold of her. “It’s the middle of the night — where do you think you’re going?”

Shen Ruoxi said nothing and kept trying to break free.

Xie Yan wrapped his arms around her, his voice shifting from threat to something like pleading. “Don’t go. Please, don’t go.”

He buried his face against the curve of her neck. “Don’t go anywhere.”

Shen Ruoxi was held so tightly she could barely breathe, but she stopped struggling.

“Stay here, and be good.” Xie Yan felt her go still, and pressed close to her ear. “Don’t make me tie you down.”

He spoke, and then lifted her off the ground in his arms.

Shen Ruoxi looked at him with something close to fear, accusation written in her eyes — but she made no more futile resistance.

“Don’t worry. I won’t do it again.” Xie Yan carried her to the bed and laid her down, pulling the blanket over her. “It’s late. Sleep.”

Shen Ruoxi found she could not read him. This man was unpredictable — one moment savage and merciless, the next tender as still water. His moods shifted without warning.

This time, he did not go to the living room. He lay down beside her, one arm drawing her close — tight, as if afraid she might slip away. So tight that Shen Ruoxi could scarcely breathe.

The night passed without words. Both lay with their own thoughts, and neither knew whether they slept.

Outside the window, magpies began their cheerful chatter. Shen Ruoxi opened her eyes out of habit.

The first thing she saw was Xie Yan’s face. He seemed to have been awake for some time, his gaze fixed on her without blinking.

His expression gave nothing away, but one thing was certain — the arm holding her had not shifted all night.

Their eyes met. Shen Ruoxi looked away.

Xie Yan suddenly said, “You grind your teeth in your sleep.”

Shen Ruoxi: “……”

“It startled me.” His voice was full of complaint. “Could you at least give some warning next time?”

Shen Ruoxi: “……”

Who in the world gave notice before grinding their teeth? — Here, I’m about to grind my teeth…

And besides, what did he mean by “next time”? Was he planning to sleep next to her again?

Seeing her wordless expression, Xie Yan leaned closer and asked, “Are you still in pain? I didn’t know you’d never… I’m apologizing to you. Last night I was too rough.”

When Shen Ruoxi heard him bring up what had happened, the memory of the pain in her body was still there. Under his gaze, she finally spoke — her first words since the previous night.

She said, “I need to go to work.”

Xie Yan looked up at once, his expression wary.

“I’m not running.” Shen Ruoxi seemed to see through him. “I need to earn a living.”

Xie Yan said nothing. Whatever he was thinking, he kept to himself.

“Xie Yan, I will not be your mistress.” She spoke with quiet resolve. “That would be worse than death for me.”

“I never said anything about making you my…” Xie Yan paused. He had wanted to say: I only like being near you — something no other woman has ever given me. But the words reached his lips and changed into: “If I’m not paying you, that doesn’t make you a mistress, does it?”

“Whatever I owe you,” Shen Ruoxi said, “consider it repayment. You gave me work. You saved my life from the Prince. All I have to give back is this body.”

Xie Yan looked at her, and silently asked himself: was repayment all he wanted from her?

No. He was greedy. He wanted far more than repayment.

“I’m addicted to you, Shen Ruoxi.” Xie Yan suddenly rolled over and looked down at her. “You want to go to work — I can agree to that. But first, you have to satisfy me.”

Shen Ruoxi met his gaze, feeling humiliated and resigned at once. “As long as you promise to let me go to work, the rest is up to you.”

“Agreed — but you are not to run.” Xie Yan’s lips brushed lightly over hers. “If you run, I will find you no matter how far you go — to the ends of the earth, I’ll drag you back. And if you disobey, I’ll lock you away so you can never go anywhere.”

Shen Ruoxi heard these words and felt a cold shiver of dread. She believed every word of it. If she truly dared to run, he would not be as easy to reason with as he was now.

She was practical. She would not run.

“Are you still in pain?” He stopped being content with just the corner of her lips.

Shen Ruoxi turned her head aside, and his lips fell instead on her temple. “Do as you will.”

He took her face in his hands and turned it back, forcing her to meet his eyes directly.

He was clearly wounded by her avoidance — yet he pinched her chin, a cold smile at his lips, and warned her: “Don’t lie there like a plank of wood. I don’t like making love to a plank. If I’m not satisfied, that won’t be good for you.”

As he spoke, he lowered his head and caught her lip between his teeth, and at the sound of her muffled groan, began his claiming of her.

When Shen Ruoxi next woke, it was already afternoon. She felt utterly drained, her eyelids heavy as lead.

“Shen Ruoxi, get up and eat.”

A hand pinched her cheek, and then warmth pressed against her forehead. She opened her eyes at once.

Just within her line of sight, Xie Yan’s face was retreating — that had been a light kiss he had pressed to her brow.

Shen Ruoxi felt a moment of confusion. The truth was, when he was not in a temper, he was gentle most of the time — but once provoked, no one could hold him back.

A man like this seemed safe. He was not. Because you never knew what word or what moment might make him turn on you without warning.

Just as she had never expected him to suddenly care about her relationship with Dai Jing.

The meal on the table was lavish — clearly fine food delivered by his people, both delicious and beautifully presented.

“After we eat, we’ll go skiing,” Xie Yan said. “The ski slopes at Heiling have opened — it’s a perfect time to go.”

“I have no energy. I don’t want to move.”

Xie Yan looked at her with a smile. “I forgot.”

His hand reached across the table and lightly brushed her cheek. “When you were begging just now, you looked quite adorable. For the sake of how adorable you were, we won’t go today — stay home and rest properly.”

Shen Ruoxi could not help but glare at him.

“Why are you glaring at me — weren’t you the one who kept begging me to stop…” Xie Yan’s mouth was suddenly stuffed with a small soup dumpling, accompanied by Shen Ruoxi’s fierce and irritable command: Eat your food!

That evening, Shen Ruoxi did not go to work. A certain someone had taken it upon himself to request her night off on her behalf.

She sat in the room revising song lyrics and compositions while Xie Yan lay across the bed reading the newspaper.

When he grew bored, he would call out her name.

“Shen Ruoxi, I want some water.”

“You have two hands and two feet — get it yourself.” Shen Ruoxi was softly humming a melody, and frowned when she heard him making trouble again.

“I don’t want to get up — you go.” Xie Yan looked over at her, dissatisfied.

She had been staring at that piece of paper, writing and marking, ever since evening. She had barely spoken to him — treating him as if he were air. Someone was extremely displeased.

Xie Yan leaped from the bed to behind her. “Can’t you look at me for a moment? What is so worth staring at?”

Shen Ruoxi’s eyes remained on the sheet music. “What’s so worth looking at about you?” she said, bland and unhurried.

“Am I not better looking than a few pieces of paper?” Xie Yan said, exasperated. “You won’t know unless you compare.”

Shen Ruoxi gave in and set down the sheet music. She lifted her head, glanced at him briefly, then said with complete certainty: “You’re not as good-looking as the paper.”

Xie Yan: “……”

A man who had been so thoroughly dismissed was not about to accept it. He snatched Shen Ruoxi’s sheet music away. “No more looking at this.”

“What should I look at instead?”

“Look at me.”

Shen Ruoxi held out her hand with an entirely exasperated expression. “Give me back my music.”

Xie Yan held it up and had a look. “Is this a new song you’ve written?”

“Yes — it’s not finished yet. There’s a lot still to revise.”

“Can you sing it for me?” Xie Yan thought it would be rather pleasant to be the first person to hear this composition.

“It’s not finished. How can I sing it?”

Xie Yan paid that no mind. “Just a few lines — maybe I can even help you spot what needs work.”

“You don’t know anything about music.”

“I’m a listener. It doesn’t matter if you think it sounds good — the listener has to think it sounds good too. Come on, sing it for me.”

Shen Ruoxi could not win against him, and so she took back the sheet music and began to hum it softly.

Somehow, the details she had been struggling to get right — when she hummed them gently in front of him — she found the inspiration she had been missing.

She hummed on and on, growing happier as she went, until she had hummed through the entire piece.

“It sounds perfectly fine to me — what were you fussing over?” Xie Yan let out a soft snort. “What a lot of trouble over nothing.”