Jiang Yichen had left her hanging when she needed him most, and now he sends a plane ticket without a word. What was that supposed to mean?
Xing Luo turned off her phone screen.
She wasn’t going to reply, and she wasn’t going to message Jiang Yichen either.
Lu Lin saw Xing Luo smile and leaned in to whisper, “What’s got you so happy?”
Xing Luo put her phone away and looked at Lu Lin. “Can you host the show on your own next weekend?”
Lu Lin’s eyes went wide. “What? No way, no way.”
Xing Luo said, “I have something to take care of. The show is yours.”
Lu Lin’s palms were sweating. She shook her head frantically. “I definitely can’t do it. Please, sis, don’t go. Without you, I can’t even speak properly.”
Lu Lin’s face scrunched up with anxiety.
Xing Luo smiled and patted her shoulder. “It’s been two months already. Time to stand on your own. Otherwise, you’ll never grow up.”
Lu Lin tugged at Xing Luo’s sleeve, looking up at her with pleading eyes.
Xing Luo was right. She’d have to host solo eventually, and she needed to be independent. She couldn’t rely on her forever.
“Fine.” Lu Lin pouted. “Sis, where are you going?”
“Out with my boyfriend.”
Xing Luo said it with a blank expression, and Lu Lin could even hear a hint of reluctance in her voice.
“It doesn’t sound like you want to go.”
“I don’t.”
“Then why don’t you refuse?”
“I don’t have that right.”
Back when they first started dating, Jiang Yichen was always traveling for work, and Xing Luo would pester him to take her along.
But all she ever got was a cold “No” from Jiang Yichen.
Xing Luo didn’t dare to keep pushing. She didn’t dare to say anything more, and she didn’t even dare to stay angry for long.
Jiang Yichen told her to know her place.
She knew her place now. Jiang Yichen was nothing more than a tool to keep her alive.
A bed partner willing to spend money on her and serve her. That was all.
Anything more, he didn’t deserve.
The plane ticket today was something she had once longed for, but it had come too late. She no longer needed it.
Lu Lin looked at Xing Luo with confusion. She didn’t understand, but she knew Xing Luo deserved the best things in the world, including men.
“Sis, if a man makes you unhappy, just kick him to the curb.”
Xing Luo smiled and ruffled Lu Lin’s hair. “I will.”
“Now hurry up. The show is about to start,” Xing Luo said.
“Got it.”
After the show ended, Xing Luo went straight back to her rented apartment.
She boiled a pack of instant noodles, turned on her favorite drama, and ate while watching.
Days like this weren’t so bad.
That evening, she sent Jiang Yichen a message: “Good night.”
She still had to keep up appearances. She couldn’t let things go completely cold.
She went to sleep right after sending it.
She slept so deeply that she didn’t even notice when Jiang Yichen entered her apartment and lay down beside her.
Jiang Yichen had a spare key.
After receiving those two cold words—”Good night”—at the villa, he couldn’t sleep.
Good night? There was no way he could rest easy.
A whole evening had passed since he sent her the flight information, and all he got back was a “Good night”?
The girls before would send him countless messages through the night—acting cute, complaining, trying to please him.
But tonight, he waited a long time and only got a “Good night.”
Wasn’t that plane ticket something she’d been longing for? Now that he’d given it to her, why didn’t he sense even a hint of happiness from her?
Jiang Yichen lay beside Xing Luo, studying her indistinct face in the moonlight.
He couldn’t seem to read her anymore.
But he couldn’t quite put his finger on what was different.
She still got jealous, still acted cute, still tried to please him—but it all felt like it was behind a veil.
Jiang Yichen couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Was he actually feeling insecure now?
With a single gesture, countless women would throw themselves at him. Why had he inexplicably come here and lain down beside Xing Luo?
He couldn’t let a woman have a hold on him.
Coming to her place tonight would be the last time.
But in the middle of the night, he still instinctively wrapped his arm around Xing Luo’s waist.
The girl, perhaps still dreaming, shifted away slightly.
Jiang Yichen moved closer to her.
He didn’t know why he did it. Some inexplicable emotion was controlling him.
Xing Luo woke up first in the morning.
When she saw Jiang Yichen beside her, she let out a nervous breath.
She didn’t cry out. She was a little surprised—she hadn’t thrown a tantrum this time, so why had Jiang Yichen shown up in her bed in the middle of the night?
It wasn’t the first time Jiang Yichen had come over. In the past, it was always because Xing Luo was angry with him.
But this time, she didn’t understand. Still, she couldn’t be bothered to figure out what was going on in Jiang Yichen’s head.
Xing Luo quietly got out of bed. She had just slipped on her shoes when a pair of large hands pressed down on her stomach, and she tumbled back onto the bed.
Jiang Yichen immediately leaned over her, bracing his hands on either side of her, a smile curling at the corner of his lips.
“Stop it.” Xing Luo lightly tapped his chest. “It’s early in the morning.”
Jiang Yichen looked out the window. Sunlight was streaming in through the curtains, spilling little by little into the room.
“What happened this morning? I didn’t say I was going to do anything.” Jiang Yichen finished speaking, then planted a light kiss on the corner of Xing Luo’s lips. “Let me take you to breakfast.”
Xing Luo lay beneath Jiang Yichen, smiling softly. “Okay.”
The moment Jiang Yichen started to get up, Xing Luo turned the tables and straddled him.
She leaned down and whispered by his ear, “It’s your turn to put in some effort now.”
“Be serious about it. Put in some work.”
Xing Luo only treated Jiang Yichen as a bedmate, and since that was the case, a bedmate should fulfill his proper role.
Either the heart or the body ought to be satisfied.
When Jiang Yichen heard Xing Luo’s words, it felt like something had scratched at his heart.
That voice pressed against his ear, yet it truly tugged at his heartstrings.
Her hot breath spilled into his ear—seductive and tender.
The suspicions from yesterday vanished in an instant.
Just moments ago, Xing Luo had said no, and he had immediately reined himself in, but now she was straddling him again.
She really did love him.
A smile curved at the corner of Jiang Yichen’s lips as one hand slowly slipped beneath the hem of her clothes.
Xing Luo’s body trembled all over, and she gently bit the man’s earlobe.
“You little temptress.”
When the man flipped over and pressed down on her, it carried a near-frenzied release.
The curtains swayed with the wind, keeping rhythm with the sound of gasping breaths.
…
When she woke up in the morning, Xing Luo glanced at the time—it was 9 o’clock. Now she checked the time again.
11 o’clock.
Great. The bedmate had been very dutiful, except her body felt like it had been pulled apart.
“I’ll go buy food.” Jiang Yichen got up, kissed Xing Luo on the cheek, then dressed and headed out.
Xing Luo got up and took a shower.
The hot water washed away her exhaustion.
It had indeed been quite pleasurable just now—just too tiring.
After her shower, Jiang Yichen had already returned with breakfast.
Xing Luo was wrapped in a bath towel, her delicate collarbones exposed, and amid the lingering steam, her skin was so pale it almost glowed.
Even though they had just shared an intimate moment, Jiang Yichen still swallowed hard, unable to control himself.
He averted his gaze and looked at her hair. The young woman had just washed it, and droplets of water still clung to the ends, falling one by one onto her shoulders.
Jiang Yichen set the breakfast on the table, went to the bathroom to grab a towel, and helped dry Xing Luo’s hair.
His large hands rubbed over the top of her head, then worked down to the ends, drying until no more water dripped.
“Thanks.” Xing Luo smiled. She didn’t look at Jiang Yichen and walked straight toward the table.
But her arm was caught by a pair of large hands, and she stumbled, nearly falling.
Xing Luo looked at Jiang Yichen with irritation. “I’m hungry. I want to eat.”
Jiang Yichen ruffled her hair, his tone carrying a hint of complaint. “Dry it first. Don’t catch a cold and then get all upset again.”
Hearing his complaint, Xing Luo was reminded of what had happened before.
That time, she hadn’t dried her hair promptly after washing it, and she caught a cold in the dead of winter.
She had complained and gotten angry, sitting on the edge of the bed with a runny nose, but Jiang Yichen had only said coldly, “Whose fault is it if you don’t dry your hair?”
Even as he scolded her, he brought over hot water and cold medicine.
He slammed the cup down hard on the nightstand. “Eat, then go to sleep.”
His tone carried no warmth at all—only command.
“It’s summer now.” Xing Luo pulled herself out of the memory.
Jiang Yichen ignored her. He pulled her into the bathroom, plugged in the hairdryer, and hot air blew through her hair as his large hands threaded through the strands.
A rare moment of tenderness.
But Xing Luo’s heart remained utterly still. She just wanted to finish her mission as quickly as possible.