Su Qingmiao felt utterly embarrassed. The moment she bit down on her lower lip, he pried it open with the web of his thumb.
“Be good.”
“Make a sound.”
A thin sheen of sweat covered his abdominal muscles, proclaiming his silent strength. The elegant corners of his eyes were already tinged crimson with desire.
Cold, lustful, and dangerous.
“I don’t want a block of wood.”
Trembling, Su Qingmiao closed her eyes. Her voice came out muffled. “Mm.”
As though satisfied, he smiled—and then continued.
How could she be so soft everywhere…?
Her inexperience made him unable to stop craving her.
Jin Boyan had never been a gentle man to begin with, and tonight he was especially rough.
Broken moans echoed incessantly through the quiet room.
The louder her voice became, the more excited he seemed to get…
Her soft, delicate gasps sent all the blood in his body surging toward his lower abdomen.
All night, he remained insatiable, again and again…
Su Qingmiao felt as though her soul had already drifted into midair. In the end, she passed out from exhaustion.
*
Su Qingmiao had a dream.
She dreamed of that day in the office of Jin Boyan, the General Manager at Jin Group.
The extraordinarily handsome man sat on the sofa with his long legs crossed, his entire body radiating a powerful presence. His exquisite wristwatch reflected an icy, bone-chilling gleam.
On the desk lay a stack of investigative documents concerning her family.
He looked at her with interest, his voice low and magnetic. “Stay with me for a year, and I’ll pay off your family’s debts.”
“I’ll treat your mother’s illness.”
Her Dad worked during the day and delivered takeout at night, laboring tirelessly every day. Even so, he still insisted that she and her younger brother study hard and forbade either of them from dropping out.
Mom had uremia. At last, a suitable kidney donor had been found, but the cost of the surgery was astronomical.
She and her Dad had no choice but to grit their teeth and borrow money. Again and again, their relatives drove them out, cursing them viciously.
“If you don’t have the money, why are you having surgery? You might as well die! Staying alive is only making you suffer!”
“You’re nothing but bloodsuckers. When are you going to repay the hundred thousand you owe us?!”
“You still want to borrow money? Not a chance!”
“Leave already! Having relatives like you is such bad luck!”
Bang! The door slammed shut, the sound jarring enough to make their eardrums ache.
Her Dad walked along the road in a daze, then suddenly lurched toward a black Maybach.
Fortunately, Chen Feng braked in time, and he was not injured.
Su Qingmiao ran over on trembling legs and begged Dad not to do anything foolish. They would find a way together. In the end, father and daughter embraced each other and wept bitterly.
Thinking of Mom lying on the hospital bed, emaciated from the torment of her illness, and her younger brother secretly wiping away his tears every day…
Su Qingmiao clutched her whitening dress, the corners of her eyes reddening.
That was right. How could there be so many people in this world who offered kindness for no reason?
To people like them—poor commoners at the bottom of society—they were nothing more than tiny ants in the eyes of this lofty man, ants he could crush to death at any moment.
As long as her Dad and Mom could live healthy lives, she and her younger brother would still have a complete family.
As for herself, it truly didn’t matter.
She gave a weak smile, her eyes almost shattered. “All right. I agree.”
It seemed everything had gone exactly as the man expected. He curled his lips into a smile.
He rose and walked toward her with an aristocratic bearing. Gripping her chin, he warned her, “Know your place. Don’t ask about things you shouldn’t.”
She nodded.
A little pet indeed had no business prying into its owner’s affairs. Besides, she had no interest whatsoever in anything about him.
His tall figure enveloped her. “We’re only dealing with each other’s bodies. We’re not getting involved emotionally.”
She nodded.
She understood. He was interested in her body for now, and once he grew tired of playing with her, he would throw her away.
“Be available whenever I call. Don’t act coy. I won’t indulge you.”
She nodded numbly.
Now that she had made her decision, she would obey all her owner’s demands.
She pressed her lips together, her voice barely audible. “Could I ask you for one thing?”
He raised his brows and looked at her, signaling for her to continue.
“Keep this a secret. I don’t want my Dad and Mom to worry.”
He lit a cigarette, holding it between his teeth as he smiled carelessly. “Fine.”
*
Jin Boyan was awakened by the heat of the person in his arms.
It was as if he were holding a furnace.
Frowning, he switched on the bedside lamp and lowered his eyes to the person beside him.
She was curled up in a position like a baby, looking utterly devoid of a sense of security. There were still traces of dried tears at the corners of her eyes, and her snow-white shoulders and neck were covered with the deep and shallow marks of kisses he had left behind.
Her brows were tightly furrowed. Her swollen little mouth opened and closed, and her breathing was somewhat rapid.
Jin Boyan’s eyes paused.
He reached out and touched her forehead. It was burning hot. She was probably running a fever.
“Su Qingmiao?”
There was no response.
Jin Boyan glanced at his phone. Three in the morning.
He had only slept for two hours. No wonder his head hurt.
He got up, found a phone number, and dialed it.
The call rang for a long time before it was answered.
The voice on the other end was hoarse and carried a hint of exasperation. “Jin Boyan, you’d better have something urgent. It’s three in the morning—you’ve interrupted a perfectly good dream!”
“Cut the crap. Come over. She has a fever.”
Without waiting for the other person to say anything, Jin Boyan hung up.
*
Shen Siyu appeared at the door of Jin Boyan’s home in less than half an hour.
The refined yet rakish man standing before him, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, was Jin Boyan’s childhood friend—the heir to a top private hospital and a doctor himself.
He carried a silver medical case, and an air of exquisite weariness clung to him from head to toe.
“Did you get a fever?” That was the first thing he said when the door opened.
Shen Siyu’s gaze swept over Jin Boyan’s loosely belted sleep robe and the scratch marks on the side of his neck. A flicker of surprise passed through his eyes.
“Not me.” Jin Boyan held a cigarette between his teeth, his expression carrying a trace of fatigue. He reminded him coolly, “Change your shoes.”
Only then did Shen Siyu notice the pair of white women’s canvas shoes placed by the entrance. He froze for a moment.
Jin Boyan had let a woman spend the night here?
What an astonishing development.
No—Jin Boyan had found a woman?!
Shen Siyu followed Jin Boyan toward the bedroom.
When the door opened, he saw a flushed girl curled up on the disheveled bed, a damp towel resting on her forehead.
The girl’s features were exquisitely delicate. She was a rare beauty. Although she was wearing pajamas, the ambiguous marks at her collarbone were still visible, and they were somewhat shocking.
A damp towel?
That didn’t seem like something Young Master Jin—Jin Boyan—would do.
A glimmer of amusement flashed behind Shen Siyu’s gold-rimmed glasses.
He walked to the bedside, put on his stethoscope, and began his professional examination.
Jin Boyan simply leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed, his gaze fixed heavily on him.
“Her temperature is thirty-nine point two degrees Celsius. There’s slight inflammation in her respiratory tract, but it isn’t serious.” Shen Siyu put away his stethoscope, his tone calm.
He lifted the covers slightly and looked at her arm and the side of her leg.
The man behind him suddenly spoke, his voice icy cold. “Why are you lifting the covers?”
Shen Siyu was speechless. “I’m a doctor. I’m examining her.”
Could it be that he had a peeping fetish?
He had no interest in other people’s women.
Besides, a pure and innocent girl like this wasn’t his type.
“Don’t look at anything you shouldn’t,” Jin Boyan warned him displeasedly.
Shen Siyu let out a soft laugh.
He was this possessive of the girl?
Shen Siyu found it increasingly interesting.
Among people from their social circle, keeping an innocent young woman was hardly a major matter.
Shen Siyu just hadn’t expected it to happen to Jin Boyan one day.
He turned to look at the cold-faced man, the amusement behind his lenses completely undisguised.
“She has an acute fever, physical exhaustion, and, on top of that…” He paused, then drawled out four suggestive words:
“She’s overindulged in sex.”
Jin Boyan took the cigarette from his mouth and irritably blew out a ring of smoke. “Does she need an injection?”
“No. Has she taken any fever medicine?” he asked.
“Not yet.”
Shen Siyu took some medicine from the medical case and handed it to him. “Give her this with warm water. One pill of each is enough.”
“Her fever will come down soon.”
“And this.” Shen Siyu took out a tube of ointment. “Ointment for afterward. Apply some for her. It’ll make her more comfortable.”
Jin Boyan accepted it without changing expression.
“You seem to care about her quite a bit.” A cryptic smile lingered in Shen Siyu’s eyes.
Jin Boyan looked at the person on the bed. Her pointed chin was nestled in the covers, making her seem fragile and pitiful.
A strange sensation flickered through his heart.
He lifted his eyes to Shen Siyu and said indifferently, “…I just find it interesting, that’s all.”