Shi Sui guessed that the word “obedient” probably didn’t exist in Yan Tingli’s dictionary for this lifetime.
Because after she spoke the word “obedient.”
His gaze toward her became especially cold, as if he had suffered some great offense.
Yan Tingli remained silent for a long time, wearing an expression that looked ready to bite back at any moment, making Shi Sui’s heart flutter with anxiety.
The psychological shadow created by being dominated and oppressed by him for so long made Shi Sui almost want to retreat.
Especially with the large bed behind her, and she was still trapped in the golden cage he had carefully crafted and hidden.
When the rope is too tight, it needs to be loosened a bit.
This phrase suddenly flashed through Shi Sui’s mind.
So she tentatively moved forward, and under Yan Tingli’s cold scrutiny, wrapped her slender white arms around his neck.
She carefully pressed her whole body against him, her lips lightly touching his earlobe as she spoke carefully: “Brother Tingli, I’m just a little afraid of you.”
Shi Sui’s mind raced as she quietly added: “It’s not that I don’t love you.”
As her words fell, she felt Yan Tingli’s breathing slow down.
She stole a glance from the corner of her eye—his downcast eyelashes, long like little fans, fluttered gently up and down.
Shi Sui felt a tickling sensation in her heart, and at the same time, a strange excitement ignited in her blood.
…Had she finally figured out some rules for taming Yan Tingli?
Seeing his emotions stabilize somewhat, Shi Sui quietly steered the conversation back: “If you could listen to me, then I wouldn’t be afraid of you.”
“After I’m not afraid of you, then we could—” Shi Sui deliberately paused, not finishing her sentence, letting him fill in the blanks himself.
Then she leaned closer, meeting his gaze directly without deviation.
Shi Sui vaguely suspected that Yan Tingli liked her eyes.
Especially when they were filled with his reflection like this.
She watched as Yan Tingli’s thin lips pressed tight, his eyes pitch black as he stared at her, as if he wanted to see right through her.
His expression suppressed several parts of unwillingness, coldness, and even anger.
Sure enough, after the brief smokescreen, Yan Tingli immediately saw through her little trick again.
Shi Sui’s palms broke out in a layer of sweat, her spine stiffening slightly.
Help me.
Shi Sui maintained a calm facade on the surface, but was screaming internally.
Someone like Yan Tingli, this flawless pervert—no one could tame him, no one—huh?!
The next second.
Shi Sui’s nape was bitten by him in what seemed like venting frustration, not too hard, but leaving shallow teeth marks—a kind of unhappy complaint.
Unable to express it in words, he could only helplessly, reluctantly, express it through physical actions.
“Your little tricks are clumsy.” After Yan Tingli calmed down for a while, his voice carried deliberate coldness.
Shi Sui silently relaxed—very clumsy?
Strange, receiving such harsh criticism and evaluation from him, Shi Sui didn’t feel embarrassed. Instead, her heart felt like it had been doused with shaken soda water.
Fizzy and tingling with tiny bubbles rising.
She instinctively felt that he wasn’t dangerous at all right now.
So she mustered courage again and pressed once more: “So will you listen to me or not?”
Yan Tingli remained silent.
He bit her again as his answer.
Shi Sui sighed with slight disappointment in her heart.
Getting him to nod definitively on such matters was probably harder than reaching the sky.
After going back and forth, she felt mentally exhausted and said petulantly: “Then I’ll take that as your agreement.”
Yan Tingli glanced up at her, expressionless: “If you insist on talking to yourself.”
Stubborn as a mule.
Shi Sui’s chest heaved with annoyance as she reached up to grab his hair.
Thinking she was going to slap his face, Yan Tingli narrowed his eyes and instinctively raised his hand to grip her wrist.
Shi Sui immediately frowned: “…My shoulder hurts so much, let go.”
He immediately released her.
His expression changed, too, his blank gaze focusing on her shoulder.
Isn’t this quite good at listening to people?
After this verification, Shi Sui boldly reached out her fingers and audaciously tugged at his hair.
After receiving Yan Tingli’s dangerous and icy stare, Shi Sui softened her expression again and said quietly: “Brother Tingli, this is what an obedient boyfriend should be like.”
As she spoke, she leaned closer, her lips tentatively touching his cheek: “It would be so nice if you were always like this.”
Yan Tingli’s lips curved with a trace of cold mockery.
His contemptuous expression blatantly displayed his ability to see through her “little tricks.”
But he didn’t dodge or avoid her approach, his gaze sticky, his Adam’s apple moving slowly, his body temperature rising.
His body’s reaction was far more honest than his brain.
—He was enjoying it.
Shi Sui’s anxious heart completely settled, and she concluded: Yan Tingli was even more duplicitous than she was.
That night’s conversation ended there.
Although Yan Tingli never gave her a definitive answer in the end, the next day, when Shi Sui saw that the ankle chain on her leg had been removed at some point.
She stared at it blankly for a while.
It was like a gentle cross-breeze had swept past the thick fortress around her heart.
Making Shi Sui curve her lips and smile unconsciously.
Probably because there were too many accumulated matters domestically.
The day after tomorrow, returning to the country was arranged on Yan Tingli’s schedule.
Boarding the plane, Shi Sui gazed out the window with complex thoughts swirling in her mind.
A month ago, she had so resolutely submitted her resignation letter, and now she was going back—wasn’t that too neurotic?
But her hard-won peaceful interpersonal relationships—if she changed companies again, she’d have to integrate all over again, and might even encounter even more extreme colleagues.
Shi Sui struggled between the two options.
Finally deciding to swallow her pride and shamelessly ask Zhao Sheng to approve her return.
Besides that, Shi Sui thought about the omnipresent 3.0 system at home.
She immediately became agitated again, couldn’t help but turn her head and unceremoniously tug at Yan Tingli’s sleeve: “How do you guarantee you won’t use 3.0 to monitor me again?”
Yan Tingli moved his fingers away from the keyboard.
“No way to guarantee,” probably due to not having fully returned from work mode, his tone also carried the commanding nature of a superior, “unless you meet with me every day.”
Shi Sui frowned slightly and said flatly: “Did you forget we have no relationship now? Would people with no relationship meet every day?”
Another statement that made him very unhappy.
Yan Tingli’s fingers on the computer tightened.
That oppressive aura instantly rushed toward her, like tiny thorns pricking her skin.
Shi Sui steadied her heartbeat and softened her tone: “But you can come to my house for dinner.”
“Once a week.” She held up one finger.
Yan Tingli didn’t even lift his eyelids: “Seven times.”
“…”
Shi Sui was speechless: “Three times.”
“Five times.”
Shi Sui was helpless: “Who meets that frequently?”
“Three times.”
Yan Tingli’s expression was already impatient—this was probably his limit.
Shi Sui was silent for a while, then quit while ahead: “Deal.”
Yan Tingli looked up and nodded: “I mean, three times a week.”
Shi Sui took a moment to react, then immediately got angry, throwing the blanket from her lap at him: “Are you sick?! I said meet three times a week.”
“Sui Sui, when I want to see you, you can’t stop me.” Yan Tingli put the blanket back over her, stating an undeniable fact, “I must be able to see you whenever I want to see you.”
The conversation had gone off track again.
The methods for taming Yan Tingli seemed to work sometimes and not others, apparently entirely dependent on his mood.
And he had non-negotiable boundaries.
Shi Sui felt powerless: “Can’t you just follow normal procedures to chase me, then date normally?”
Yan Tingli thought for a moment, casually: “That’s for normal people. Am I one?”
Shi Sui was completely speechless.
She took a deep breath in her chest.
Don’t get angry, don’t get mad.
If Yan Tingli could change immediately, that would be like the sun rising from the west.
His problems were deep-rooted and needed gradual transformation.
She needed more patience, more patience.
More patience—my ass!
Shi Sui couldn’t stand it anymore and reached out to punch him, cursing non-stop: “Bastard, you bastard.”
“Yan Tingli, you stubborn dog!”
Although it was first class with few people, it was correspondingly quiet.
Her outburst like this made Yan Tingli lose face, too.
Flight attendants and nearby passengers cast glances their way.
But he felt no shame.
Instead, he looked at her with pleased eyes, leaning close to whisper in her ear with a breathy voice: “Your dog.”
Shi Sui was completely at her wits’ end.
Taking a deep breath, she fanned her face with her hand and turned to look out the window with an “out of sight, out of mind” attitude.
After more than ten hours of flight, she finally returned to her homeland.
Early October—Hangzhou was in its season of clear autumn skies, bright sunshine, and pleasant temperatures.
They landed in the evening, and Li Yin politely extended a dinner invitation.
Yan Tingli immediately “couldn’t refuse the gracious invitation” and followed her home step by step.
3.0: [Welcome, Mr. Yan and Sui Sui, back to the country.]
Shi Sui glared at it.
For her homecoming, Shi Yue had ceremoniously performed a purification ritual.
He swept around her body several times with mugwort, muttering incantations.
Shi Sui watched with amusement while Yan Tingli leaned against the door, looking thoughtful.
He was rational and probably didn’t believe in these things, might even find them stupid, Shi Sui thought while stealing glances at him.
But she saw his eyes filled with gentle warmth, seemingly not finding Shi Yue’s actions ridiculous at all.
“This time when your dad came back, he specially went to town and climbed the mountain to pray and make offerings for you.” Li Yin brought the last soup to the table.
Shi Sui felt a warm current in her heart.
Suddenly, Yan Tingli sat down and asked: “Which direction is that temple from the small town?”
As soon as he spoke, Li Yin and Shi Yue both froze, looking at him.
“That’s your Uncle Shi’s hometown. Little Li, do you… Know about it too?”
Seeing that old matters were about to be dredged up, Shi Sui’s cheeks reddened as she stretched her leg to step on Yan Tingli’s foot.
He avoided it without leaving a trace.
Yan Tingli immediately admitted: “A few summers ago, Sui Sui took me there.”
This embarrassing thing that she didn’t want to bring up was stated by him without any emotion.
Shi Sui was practically going crazy on the side.
Li Yin was surprised: “So the classmate Sui Sui brought a few years ago was you?”
Shi Yue continued: “No wonder when I went back this time, the old house had so many new appliances.”
Both were shocked to different degrees.
Such a run-down house, and Yan Tingli… could live in it.
“Do you remember the river in town?” Shi Yue cleared his throat lightly to ease the awkwardness, “Follow that river upstream, and the highest mountain at the end is it.”
“It’s very hard to climb. With my current legs, going up and down the mountain takes half a day.” Shi Yue said.
All her old secrets had been completely exposed by her parents, and Shi Sui buried her head eating vegetables, feeling her scalp tingle.
Yan Tingli looked down for a long time.
Then said: “I understand.”
Sensing the subtle silence, Li Yin served Yan Tingli a spoonful of spare rib soup: “Come, eat more.”
That night, Shi Sui finally lay back in this soft, big bed.
She looked up at the familiar ceiling, holding in her hand the amulet pouch she had gotten for Yan Tingli back then.
After returning the amulet to her in the hospital room, Yan Tingli never took it back.
Shi Sui looked at it for a long time before slowly putting the amulet away, placing it in the innermost layer of her card wallet.
Just then, her phone buzzed with a message.
Shi Sui looked at the string of links Yan Tingli sent, and after confirming he couldn’t possibly have been hacked, slowly clicked on it.
The phone screen switched.
A pair of big eyes appeared before her, a kitten face flashing on screen, sniffing toward the camera.
After seeing clearly what it was, Shi Sui’s heart jumped.
Her eyes immediately became slightly misty.
Her fingers unconsciously stroked the screen gently.
The next second, Ping An was picked up by a pair of well-defined hands, meowing in dissatisfaction.
The person ignored this, spread his legs, held Ping An, and sat down facing the camera.
Shi Sui was puzzled: “Is this a video call?”
Then why not just call her for a video?
His pale fingers stroked along the cat’s spine. Ping An meowed complaints at him, which he pretended not to hear.
With cats, Yan Tingli also used forceful methods.
Shi Sui watched helplessly.
After several seconds, Yan Tingli’s flat voice came from the other end: “This is 3.0’s controller, you can give simple commands to my side.”
“In other words, you can monitor me.”
Shi Sui: “…”
Her lips twitched: “I don’t have such niche hobbies.”
Yan Tingli: “But I want you to monitor me.”
Shi Sui fell silent.
She used her finger to explore the screen.
She did want to know exactly what extent Yan Tingli could monitor her through 3.0 before.
She didn’t know until she looked, and was shocked when she did.
In the image, all the furnishings on the other side were like a 3D model, detailed and precise, even zoomable, all in real-time.
The perspective could switch between the living room and the bedroom.
There was even a bathroom.
Shi Sui’s eyes widened in anger: “You can even see my family’s bathroom?”
There was silence on the other end for several seconds. Guessing what she was thinking, Yan Tingli said flatly: “I don’t have a hobby of watching people use the toilet.”
“But how do I know whether you’ve watched me, and my parents…”
Perhaps her imagination was too outrageous. Yan Tingli’s expression looked very unpleasant: “In your house, I can only see the living room and your bedroom.”
He paused, seeming to feel it was too beneath him, then mockingly added: “Do I need to peep at you bathing?”
Shi Sui didn’t respond—she would never overestimate his moral bottom line.
When she didn’t answer, Yan Tingli laughed coldly and said lightly: “If I wanted to watch, I’d watch openly.”
Shi Sui only regretted that her fist couldn’t reach through the screen. Suddenly, Yan Tingli said again: “Did you miss me?”
Shi Sui didn’t understand why he was saying this out of the blue.
So she cautiously remained silent.
“In the month since you returned,” Yan Tingli enunciated clearly, saying the following words without any shame, “you never masturbated once.”
“Why?” He was puzzled.
His shamelessness could always refresh Shi Sui’s bottom line.
She stared wide-eyed and scolded: “Do you think everyone is like you…”
Yan Tingli suddenly smiled: “So you also guessed that I would masturbate thinking of you?”
Did he need her to guess about him doing such lewd things? Shi Sui was too angry to speak.
Looking at him leaning back his head on the other side, exposing his pale, slender neck.
Eyes closed, Adam’s apple sliding slowly, speaking in an innocent tone: “I can’t see you, can’t hear your voice, so I can’t come.”
“So I must see you every day.”
He started debating about meeting again, using filthy language and sophistry.
Shi Sui spoke nonsense to provoke him: “Then just don’t come.”
Yan Tingli laughed with his chest trembling: “Fine, then I’ll save it all for you.”
As he spoke, he opened his eyes and winked at her.
As if saying, “I’m very obedient, right?”
Shi Sui was about to faint from anger.
She didn’t want to continue such vulgar topics with him, couldn’t help saying: “Let me see Ping An a few more times.”
“No.” Yan Tingli’s tone suddenly turned cold.
Shi Sui was dissatisfied: “Why not?”
Yan Tingli looked down, even very vindictively and childishly pressing Ping An’s head against his leg, not letting Shi Sui see even a bit.
“You abandoned it for three years, why should you be able to see it whenever you want now?”
Shi Sui was speechless.
“If you won’t let me see, forget it,” she immediately moved to close the link, then retaliated in kind, “Little Snail, play him a horror nursery rhyme.”
Without caring about Yan Tingli’s reaction, Shi Sui immediately turned off her phone and burrowed into the soft big bed under the covers.
Her mind was still buzzing from his words.
Seeing Ping An and the amulet pouch.
Memories from the past surged up, making her feel slightly sad.
But then she thought of his shameless words again.
Shi Sui felt somewhat flushed and couldn’t fall asleep immediately.
They were both adults, especially since she had rolled around with him early on, tasting all kinds of flavors.
During the three years apart, how could she not have any desires?
Fortunately, he hadn’t discovered this.
Shi Sui breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to herself.
This person combined pure love and lewdness.
Currently, it seemed lewdness was winning.
Shi Sui rested at home for a week, her injuries basically fully healed, then considered returning to work at Guangmei Studio.
She quietly asked Zhao Sheng online.
The result was not surprising at all: [You can come back anytime, we kept your workstation for you.]
Shi Sui was confused: […Ah?]
Zhao Sheng: [Mr. Yan called ahead and said you’d be back soon.
Shi Sui remained expressionless, replied casually, then threw her phone far away.
It was nearly dusk, and her parents were coming home.
Before long, Yan Tingli would also come over for dinner.
He came over every day for various reasons—even if he was busy to the point of flying, this dinner was non-negotiable for him.
The previously mentioned meeting several times a week on the plane was naturally ignored by him.
Shi Sui looked at the sky outside.
She wondered if she was being petty and willfully wasting time with Yan Tingli.
Whether wanting Yan Tingli to listen to her in everything was impossible to begin with.
Before long, the sounds of Shi Yue and his wife returning interrupted Shi Sui’s reverie.
She slowly came out of the bedroom to greet them.
Since she couldn’t cook, Shi Sui prepared ingredients while idling at home, letting Li Yin cook them directly when she returned.
Watching Lady Li cook, Shi Sui leaned to the side, chatting casually about returning to work next week.
Li Yin smiled and agreed, naturally supporting everything she did.
The mother and daughter chatted, with Li Yin occasionally having her taste dishes from the pan.
After the cooking was done, Li Yin took off her apron and checked the time: “Strange, why hasn’t Little Li come back today?”
Shi Sui also blinked, looking toward the door with slight puzzlement.
Although Yan Tingli had many terrible personality flaws, he was well-mannered and generally punctual with things he promised.
Shi Sui: “Maybe he’s not coming today.”
Li Yin shook her head: “No, I specifically asked today. Send Little Li a message to ask.”
Shi Sui had no choice but to take out her phone and slowly send a question mark over.
In the dim underground parking garage, the phone screen lit up, flashing a bright light.
It also became the only light source, illuminating half of a man’s pale chin.
Only then did he slowly stride out from the shadows.
Coming to a black luxury car crashed against the wall ahead.
He remotely opened the car window.
Yan Tingli bent down, looking extremely concerned at the person in the driver’s seat, softly enunciating: “Dad, are you alright?”
From the moment he got in the car and was repeatedly controlled to crash into the wall dozens of times, Yan Zecheng’s face was completely pale, and his stomach was churning.
This call from Yan Tingli was like a demon knocking at his door.
Yan Zecheng was weak all over, dizzy, and seeing stars.
His legs were also stuck in the driver’s seat and couldn’t get out—multiple fractures based on experience.
He pointed at him with trembling fingers: “You, you beast.”
Yan Tingli smiled gently: “I learned it all from you.”
Yan Zecheng was almost about to faint from anger. Still trying to point and curse at him, Yan Tingli suddenly said contemptuously: “You didn’t kill me—was it because your function isn’t quite working, and you were counting on me to carry on your despicable genes?”
Having his purpose so nakedly exposed, Yan Zecheng’s face changed, flushing red and white.
“What a pity,” Yan Tingli sneered, “just a little bit short of success.”
Finished speaking, he waved leisurely: “Called an ambulance for you. Have a good journey.”
After saying this, he laughed heartily and walked away in good spirits.
When Yan Tingli hadn’t returned for a long time, Shi Sui frowned, her patience exhausted, and was about to call.
The phone rang from his end first.
Shi Sui answered: “Hello? Are you coming or not?”
She was interrupted. Yan Tingli’s voice carried a strange happiness: “Coming, of course I’m coming, I’ll be right there.”
Shi Sui intuited something was wrong: “What did you go do?”
“Overtime.” He was silent for a few seconds, then said lightly.
She couldn’t get anything out of him over the phone. Though Shi Sui didn’t quite believe him, she still said: “Then hurry up, we’re just waiting for you.”
Not knowing which word got to him, he laughed again: “Coming.”
“Hang up then.”
“Sui Sui.” Yan Tingli called out to her, still not hanging up.
“We’ll talk when we meet.”
But he insisted on continuing: “I’ve changed.”
Shi Sui was speechless: “…What did you change?”
“Mm,” he was silent for a while.
Thinking of appropriate phrasing: “For example, I want to give you a bouquet now.”
Whereas before, I would share all turbulence, negativity, and panic with you.
Now I want to hide it instead.
Shi Sui couldn’t follow his train of thought at all: “What flowers? Why give flowers?”
“To chase you,” he answered slowly.