"I've made up my mind."
The girl's soft, obedient voice once again reached his ears. Zhao Linye withdrew his focus from the computer screen in front of him, the corners of his lips curving slightly upward into an arc. "Secretary Cheng will come to pick you up."
The call ended. Secretary Cheng was already waiting downstairs. Chen Zhuyue was momentarily stunned, then quickly changed her shoes and went out. Secretary Cheng had switched to a low-key black Mercedes. When he saw her, his eyes curved along with his brows: "Miss Chen, please."
As the chairman's secretary and part-time driver, Cheng Cheng was extremely measured in his conduct.
What could be seen, he saw.
What couldn't be seen would forever remain unseen.
Speaking little, looking little, asking little—these were also his principles of conduct.
As she got into the car, Chen Zhuyue knew that after tonight, everything would be different.
That man would, in this way, thoroughly enter her life, take over everything about her—including her body.
Half an hour later, the Mercedes entered the villa district and stopped at Villa No. 1.
Chen Zhuyue knew this place—only the rich and noble could enter; without power or influence, you couldn't get in, and without money, you likewise couldn't get in.
"Secretary Cheng, then… how do I go up?"
Being new to this place, Chen Zhuyue was cautious and restrained, but she remained calm.
Whether in the car or on the road, she kept her composure steady.
"Just go in. Follow all instructions."
Secretary Cheng drove the car away, leaving the villa district.
Chen Zhuyue stood in the night before the villa in her thin dress, lost and uncertain. Beneath the streetlamp, light poured down from above, making her look as delicate as a blooming magnolia—fragile, easily broken by the wind.
A withered flower was still a flower, but in the end, it would fall into the mud.
And mud was filthy.
Zhao Linye's brows shifted slightly, and his low, deep voice rang out from within the courtyard: "Come in. Go up to the third floor."
"O-okay."
Chen Zhuyue was startled, realizing that Zhao Linye had already seen her.
She didn't look around but walked forward instead. The door opened automatically before her, and she went all the way up to the third floor.
She didn't see Zhao Linye.
Hesitating, she stopped in her tracks. Suddenly, all the lights on the third floor went out.
She froze, not daring to move recklessly, and tested the waters: "Chairman?"
In the darkness, the sound of shoes landing on the floor came like the steady beat of drums—neither hurried nor slow, approaching her. Chen Zhuyue's breath tightened abruptly.
She couldn't see anything, but she knew the footsteps were coming from behind her, step by step, like some abyssal beast awakening, silently yet instantly enveloping her entirely.
A hand landed steadily on her shoulder. Chen Zhuyue's body tensed suddenly. Just as she was about to speak, Zhao Linye's voice rang out calmly: "Do you know what it means, now that you've entered this place?"
His large hand was slightly cool as it rested on her shoulder, and her heartbeat quickened involuntarily.
His breath was equally close at hand, a wisp of it brushing past her ear like a flame, scorching her skin and spreading rapidly through her limbs and bones.
In the darkness, when the eyes cannot discern objects, hearing and touch become the most acute senses.
Chen Zhuyue closed her eyes briefly. When she spoke again, her voice carried a slight tremor: "I… know."
"Tell me."
"To offer myself."
Chen Zhuyue said it with a sense of throwing caution to the wind. "Although this world has already achieved equality between men and women, from an overall perspective, women are still the weaker side. Their bodies, compared to men's, are destined by nature to be weaker. So if a woman wants to rise, to climb upward, there are only two paths."
At this point, her words paused.
Zhao Linye listened, then spoke again: "Which two paths?"
"Through her body, or through her ability."
The moment she finished speaking, all the lights on the third floor came on.
Chen Zhuyue instinctively closed her eyes. Before she could open them, Zhao Linye's hand slid down, settling on her waist that was slender enough to be encircled by one hand. His tone was deep—a signal, and even more so a guide: "Your body is indeed quite fine."