He looked perfectly harmless, and yet he had extraordinary strength.

When he went out, Old Liu usually drove the car, and there was never much of an entourage around him. But Shen Ruoxi knew that Mu Bai was always concealed somewhere nearby — the moment there was any sign of danger, he would appear like a ghost.

Thinking of Mu Bai’s formidable skills, Shen Ruoxi’s scalp prickled.

“Xie Yan, can you hear me? Let me go.” Unable to break free, Shen Ruoxi switched to verbal attack.

But the man seemed to be in a dead sleep — he didn’t even twitch an eyebrow.

“Xie Yan… Xie Yan…”

The sound of Shen Ruoxi’s struggling grew fainter and fainter, until she finally gave up entirely. She didn’t even know when she drifted off to sleep.

It was the magpies outside the window, calling on and on without stopping, that finally made her open her eyes. She lay there in a haze, staring at the blank ceiling, and it took some time before yesterday night’s events came back to her.

Last night… Xie Yan seemed to have shown up.

Xie Yan had come — and then what?

Shen Ruoxi quickly turned her head, and came face-to-face with a familiar countenance. That face, in sleep, had its sharp edges softened; it was without any menace, and his thin lips were lightly pressed together, like a drowsy child.

Her mind went blank for a moment. She hadn’t yet recovered from the shock of having shared a bed with Xie Yan for the entire night.

Once she came back to her senses, she moved as quietly as she could, terrified of waking the sleeping man.

As long as she left now, he would never know — as long as she wasn’t embarrassed, the embarrassment fell on someone else.

But the moment she stirred, the man woke.

Their eyes met: his were drowsy and languid, hers wide as two bells.

Xie Yan looked at the person before him, and his narrow eyes half-narrowed. “Shen Ruoxi.”

Shen Ruoxi sat up at once, flustered and desperate to flee — but in the very next second, she was pressed back down.

Xie Yan flipped over to look down at her from above.

“Mr. Xie, please don’t misunderstand.” Shen Ruoxi’s mouth had gone dry. “Last night, you suddenly barged in. You seemed to have had too much to drink. I had settled you on the sofa at first, but you got up and came to the bed on your own. When I went to cover you with the quilt, you — you —”

“I what?” The man had just woken, and his dark eyes carried a faint, playful depth.

“You grabbed me and wouldn’t let go.” Shen Ruoxi was both indignant and annoyed.

Xie Yan cast a glance around the familiar room and confirmed he had indeed come to the wrong place.

Last night, he had been drinking and had asked Old Liu to drive him home. When they passed Cujin Road, he had suddenly told Old Liu to turn around and come to this apartment building.

As for what happened after — how he had gotten upstairs and ended up in the bed — he couldn’t remember at all.

“Have you remembered?” Seeing his eyes flicker a few times, Shen Ruoxi said with some indignation: “Was I wrong?”

“Perhaps.”

“Not ‘perhaps’ — absolutely.”

Xie Yan’s gaze suddenly dropped to her lips — watching that small mouth open and close as it reasoned with him — and he almost without hesitation sealed it shut.

Shen Ruoxi’s eyes flew open wide. What met her gaze was his broad, smooth forehead and his dark hair.

Before she could struggle, he had already pinned down both her hands.

Shen Ruoxi could only shake her head trying to resist, even attempting to bite him — but her resistance meant nothing in his eyes. He handled her as though she were a small child with no strength at all.

She felt his presence spreading through her world, his plundering forceful and domineering, allowing no room for escape.

Shen Ruoxi was beginning to run short of breath, her mind unable to form a single coherent thought — until his hands started to stray, and she jolted back to full awareness.

“Mmph.”

Shen Ruoxi resisted fiercely. But her hands were pinned, her mouth stopped up — her seemingly fierce resistance achieved nothing close to its intended effect.

“Xie Yan.”

When she finally had a chance to breathe, Shen Ruoxi cried out in shock and fury: “Let me go!”

Xie Yan looked down at her, the corner of his mouth curving with a playful hint of amusement. “Something delivered right to your door — there’s no reason not to take it. Especially when it’s this appetizing.”

Sensing that he was on the verge of following through, Shen Ruoxi couldn’t help but plead: “Xie Yan, don’t — I’m begging you.”

“You don’t want this?”

Shen Ruoxi shook her head firmly. “I don’t. Not at all.”

“But I do.”

He pressed her hands down, his gaze overbearing and imperious. “Shen Ruoxi, from the first moment I laid eyes on you, I wanted this.”

He brought his lips close to her face, his breath skimming her skin as he spoke. “You, woman — you have a way of igniting a man’s desire to conquer. I pulled you out of that alley, and then arranged for you to sing at the dance hall. Did you think it was out of the goodness of my heart?”

Shen Ruoxi stared at him, struck momentarily speechless.

He gave a faint, cold smile. “It wasn’t generosity at all. It was because from the very beginning, I intended to have you.”

“Xie Yan!” Shen Ruoxi heard those words and rage flared into her eyes in an instant. “You are shameless.”

“What — is today the first day you’ve known me? Or the first day you’ve seen through me?” He pressed close to her lips, voice cold: “Did you think that because I helped you, I must be a good person?”

Perhaps he hadn’t been, at first — but he had sent Mu Bai to rescue her from Prince Wenren. That had changed her view of him.

He wasn’t an idle man. If he had arranged for someone to save her, surely it wasn’t out of malice.

If he had meant to achieve his original aim all along, why had he waited until now?

“You really are a contradictory man,” Shen Ruoxi said, suddenly ceasing her resistance. “You’re right. I had too high an opinion of you.”

She turned her face to the side. “But then, you’re not wrong either. You pulled me out of that alley, gave me work, made sure I wouldn’t starve to death in the street. When Prince Wenren had nearly beaten me to death, you sent Mu Bai to save me, then had Dr. Fan treat my injuries. And you even berated me — woke me up — made me see clearly what this world is: that the strong devour the weak, and if you don’t want to be eaten, you have to submit.”

She let out a soft, quiet breath. “Whatever your intentions, I owe you. And if this is what you want in return — this is the only thing I have to offer. If you don’t mind, go ahead and take it.”

If Shen Ruoxi’s fierce resistance had ignited something savage in Xie Yan, then these words she had suddenly spoken fell like a bucket of water, dousing the fire in him by a good seven or eight parts.

He looked at her for a moment, then finally reached out and pulled the edge of the blanket over her.

She lay completely exposed, and he had been just one step away from getting what he wanted.

“What do you want for breakfast?”

Shen Ruoxi felt the quilt settle over her, as though the humiliation were being covered over too.

Her shock in that moment was no less than what she had felt a few moments before.

“I asked what you want for breakfast.” The man’s voice came again, carrying a note of impatience.

Shen Ruoxi quickly wrapped herself up into a tight cocoon with the quilt, still not quite believing in his sudden shift.

This man could switch between faces at a terrifying speed — back and forth between angel and demon in the space of a single second.

“I asked you a question.”

Shen Ruoxi swallowed and obediently answered: “I want noodles.”

Xie Yan looked at her a moment, then suddenly smiled. It had to be said — that face of his was truly something that could bewitch the heart. A moment ago, when he had wanted to force himself on her, he had looked like some savage beast. And now, with just this one smile, he was as radiant as a young man in the sunlight.

Facing a smile like that, even Shen Ruoxi’s fear and resentment of him seemed to fade a little.

“Quite the ambition.” He flicked his finger against her forehead.

Shen Ruoxi flinched back, and for a fleeting moment had the strange illusion that they were lovers teasing each other.