【Cheng Xin abruptly raised her head, staring into Xie Jing’s dark eyes in disbelief.
Her small face, already lacking color, turned even paler. Yet Cheng Xin still struggled to maintain her last shred of composure. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“No, you do.” Xie Jing pressed her relentlessly, his gaze fixed unwaveringly on her profile.
Only when he saw Cheng Xin’s eyes reddening and tears beginning to gather did Xie Jing finally restrain his imposing manner. He slowly stepped in front of her and lowered his gaze. “Just as you suspected, Cheng Xin, I’ve fallen for you.”
Cheng Xin instinctively looked up. Meeting the burning intensity in his eyes, she quickly turned away again. “Enough. I don’t want to hear any more.”
“That’s why I couldn’t control myself that night.” Xie Jing refused to let her avoid the subject.
“I told you to stop talking, Xie Jing.”
Cheng Xin raised her head and looked directly into his eyes. “Don’t you think you’re being ridiculous? We were once legitimately engaged, yet you refused to marry me no matter what. Now that I’ve become your younger brother’s wife, you’re telling me you like me?”
“Ah Yan is already gone…”
“So what?” Cheng Xin’s voice rose, though she stubbornly refused to let her tears fall. “Xie Yan is your biological younger brother. That’s an undeniable fact. For that reason alone, even if I eventually decide to start over, it could never be with you.”
“That night, tonight—I’ll pretend none of it ever happened.” Cheng Xin’s expression and voice gradually regained their calm. “From now on, let’s avoid seeing each other as much as possible.”
With that, Cheng Xin took two steps backward.
Just then, a taxi happened to notice the two people standing by the roadside and pulled over.
Cheng Xin immediately stepped forward, opened the rear door, and got inside.
Xie Jing was left standing alone, watching the taxi disappear decisively into the night.
After standing there for an unknown length of time, a faint, mocking chuckle escaped his throat. Raising his head, he looked toward the bright moon hanging in the sky.
“You’ll come to see me… Cheng Xin.”
After Cheng Xin made her position clear to Xie Jing, he stopped appearing before her.
Relieved, Cheng Xin devoted all her attention to Xie Yan’s game development studio. When Mother Xie asked how things were going with the man she’d introduced, Cheng Xin simply said they were still talking.
That was technically true, but their conversations never went beyond the boundaries of friendship. Fortunately, the man was a gentleman who never brought up inappropriate subjects. Most of their exchanges were simply casual conversations between friends.
Cheng Xin was quite satisfied with her current life. Every day, she traveled between home and the studio. When she became busy enough, she didn’t have time to think about Xie Jing, much less Xie Yan.
The studio was gradually getting back on track. From then on, Cheng Xin would only need to oversee its overall direction.
But just then, something unexpected happened.
First, their business partners terminated their contracts without explanation. Then problems arose with their intellectual property rights. Finally, even their funding was obstructed.
But the funding for Xie Yan’s game studio came from the Xie Family Business. How could…
The moment that thought occurred to her, Cheng Xin’s heart jolted.
She sat frozen in place.
Over the following days, Cheng Xin and the senior student who helped manage the studio ran from place to place with the others, desperately trying to resolve the problems.
Apart from Cheng Xin, the others were repeatedly pressured into drinking heavily during business meetings.
Unfortunately, their efforts were still a drop in the ocean.
New problems kept emerging, and the employees were growing increasingly unsettled. If things continued like this, the studio would probably have no choice but to shut down.
Looking at the people sprawled across the studio, exhausted and asleep after several days of running around, Cheng Xin clenched her fists.
An inexplicable fury surged through her chest.
At nine that evening, she hailed a taxi to the Xie Family’s Ancestral Residence without a second thought.
Using her fingerprint, she unlocked the villa’s front door.
Only then did Cheng Xin realize that the entire first floor was deserted.
The lights in the dining room, kitchen, and other areas weren’t even switched on.
Only a single floor lamp illuminated the living room.
Xie Jing sat alone on the sofa, drinking red wine.
Without caring about anything else, Cheng Xin walked straight up to him and demanded, looking down at him, “You did all of this, didn’t you? What exactly will it take for you to stop?”
Xie Jing raised his eyes.
Seeing Cheng Xin’s body trembling slightly as she struggled to suppress her anger, his fingers tightened instinctively around his wineglass.
He casually set the glass aside and slowly stood.
After meeting Cheng Xin’s gaze, his eyes drifted downward again, settling on her lips.
His voice was slightly hoarse. “I thought you would know.”
Cheng Xin stared at him in disbelief.
He was insane.
Xie Jing was nothing more than a stubborn madman.
She desperately wanted to remind him that he was Xie Yan’s biological older brother. How could he bully her like this after Xie Yan had passed away?
But she’d already said those things before.
Clearly, Xie Jing hadn’t listened to a single word.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have deliberately created all these problems to force her into coming to see him.
Cheng Xin clenched her fists tightly.
After an unknown amount of time, her hoarse voice finally sounded again.
“Is it…”
“Will you let go once you’ve had me?”
Xie Jing’s entire body trembled.
He had only just turned his head when someone’s lips pressed against his.
Xie Jing was easily pushed backward onto the sofa.
His wine-flavored lips were kissed clumsily, without any particular rhythm.
Once his initial bewilderment passed, Xie Jing almost instinctively reached up to cradle the back of Cheng Xin’s head and returned her kiss deeply.
Their mouths met in an intimate exchange, and Xie Jing felt his heartbeat accelerating uncontrollably.
Even his fingertips began to tremble.
Just as they were becoming completely lost in the kiss, a sharp pain suddenly shot through his lip.
The metallic taste of blood spread through his mouth.
Cheng Xin had bitten his lip hard enough to draw blood.
After a momentary pause, Xie Jing kissed her again, pressing forward with renewed intensity.
His movements were so forceful that it seemed as though he wanted to swallow her whole.
When the prolonged kiss finally ended, Xie Jing stopped.
Lowering his gaze, he looked at Cheng Xin, who was breathing unevenly in his arms.
His eyes resembled a boundless midnight sea, concealing turbulent waves beneath their surface.
Without hesitation, he swept Cheng Xin into his arms and carried her upstairs.
The night gradually deepened.
No lights were switched on in the bedroom. Only the pale moonlight slipped through a gap in the curtains, quietly spilling across the bed.
Cheng Xin felt a large, burning hand gripping her ankle tightly.
An indescribable sense of being overwhelmed rose within her like waves surging higher and higher against the shore, one after another.
Cheng Xin wanted to escape, but her shoulders remained firmly restrained, leaving her unable to break free.
For a moment, she felt like a reef along the coastline, battered relentlessly by wave after wave, without end, water splashing everywhere.
“Cheng Xin… Cheng Xin…”
At the moment she was completely overwhelmed, she heard Xie Jing murmuring her name beside her ear again and again, his voice filled with longing.】
*
Early the next morning, Cheng Xin opened her eyes in her little rented apartment, feeling wonderfully refreshed.
Even while brushing her teeth, she couldn’t quite suppress the smile tugging at her lips.
After making all those dumplings just for a little vinegar[1]creating an elaborate setup for a particular desired payoff jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3734876_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3734876_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, she’d finally gotten a taste of what she wanted last night.
These Little Bedtime Dramas really were the perfect stress reliever for an overworked employee!
Look at that! Even going to work no longer felt exhausting or miserable.
She felt like she could keep dedicating herself to the company for another fifty… Ahem, five years.
Fifty years was far too long.
No matter how handsome Xie Jing was, he wasn’t worth that much dedication.
Five years would do for now.
After all, Jisheng Group’s employee benefits were pretty good. At least for the next three to five years, Cheng Xin had no intention of putting herself through the trouble of changing jobs.
And today was Friday!
Another long holiday was just around the corner.
Wonderful!
While Cheng Xin was enjoying herself, the atmosphere was rather different in the President’s Office on the twenty-eighth floor of Jisheng Group.
Executive Assistant Qin Feng knocked and entered to report the day’s work schedule.
However, when he caught sight of the dark circles beneath President Xie’s eyes, his heart instinctively gave a little jolt.
What was going on?
Had President Xie not slept well?
He distinctly remembered that President Xie maintained a very healthy daily routine.
Perhaps he really hadn’t slept properly.
Qin Feng felt that President Xie’s expression was even colder than usual today, as though he were forcibly suppressing some irritating matter.
Afraid of becoming an innocent target of his displeasure, Qin Feng delivered his report even more cautiously than usual.
The moment he finished, he hurried out without daring to linger.
As soon as Qin Feng left, Xie Jing closed his eyes and leaned back against his chair.
He raised a hand and massaged his aching forehead.
What on earth was going on?
He’d known that the dream version of “Xie Jing” would eventually go further, but everything that happened in last night’s dream had been far too much.
The sensations had been so realistic that, after waking with a start in the middle of the night, he’d moved to another bedroom to sleep.
Yet perhaps because the bedding was different, he couldn’t fall asleep again no matter what he tried.
He couldn’t understand why he would have such a dream.
It went completely against his usual behavior and moral principles.
Cheng Xin, Cheng Xin…
He thought he needed to find out exactly who this person was.
Only then could he investigate why he kept having these dreams.
Xie Jing lowered his hand and sighed softly.
Straightening up, he immersed himself once again in his complicated workload.
Meanwhile, Cheng Xin had absolutely no idea how much trouble she’d caused Xie Jing.
As soon as lunchtime arrived, she happily linked arms with Yan Xiyue, and the two went off in search of food.
Cheng Xin had actually asked her why she wasn’t eating with Zhao Lin.
Yan Xiyue bashfully explained that although Jisheng didn’t prohibit office romances, it still wouldn’t be good for everyone to know they were having a palace servant pairing… Ahem, dating.
“Most importantly, how could I possibly abandon you, Xinxin, my precious lunch buddy? Choosing romance over friendship is absolutely unacceptable,” Yan Xiyue declared solemnly.
Cheng Xin burst out laughing.
Fridays really were different.
Even the air seemed a little sweeter than usual.
“Tomorrow’s the start of our holiday! It’s the May Day break! Xinxin, are you planning to go anywhere?” Yan Xiyue whispered as she leaned over during their afternoon slacking-off session.
“Hmm. On the fifth, I’m going to be a bridesmaid for a university friend. Other than that, I’ll just stay home and laze around.” Cheng Xin didn’t take her eyes off her computer screen.
“We have five whole days off, and you’re planning to spend four of them lying around at home?” Yan Xiyue found it unbelievable.
“You know what May Day is like. Everywhere is packed with people. I don’t like crowds. Staying home is much more comfortable.”
Cheng Xin really disliked traveling during public holidays.
It was crowded and exhausting.
Unless she was accompanying her parents, she absolutely refused to go out during those periods.
She wouldn’t even visit a shopping mall.
“I’ve seriously never met anyone as much of a homebody as you.” Yan Xiyue was helpless.
Then her eyes suddenly darted around as an idea occurred to her.
“If you’re not going anywhere during the holiday, how about coming to a bar with us tonight?”
“A few people from the office, including Sister Zhou, have already said they’re going out tonight and won’t stop drinking until they’re drunk.”
“I know you don’t usually like joining these things, but the holiday’s about to start, right?”
“Besides, Sister Zhou organized tonight’s gathering. If you never participate, you’ll seem a little antisocial.”
Yan Xiyue lowered her voice and gave Cheng Xin a meaningful look.
Cheng Xin paused.
“A bar? Sure, why not?”
She didn’t have anything better to do anyway.
Hearing this, Yan Xiyue immediately announced in the group chat that one more person would be joining their gathering.
When the others learned that Cheng Xin was coming too, they all exclaimed that this would be the most complete gathering their operations department had ever had.
They were definitely going to drink to their hearts’ content.
Meanwhile, Xie Jing, who had just finished his day’s work, finally noticed a message Shao Wenzhou had sent him two hours earlier.
In the photo, Shao Wenzhou was sitting in an airplane’s first-class cabin, with one of Xiao Zhengming’s hands visible beside him.
The accompanying caption read:
Guess where I am, buddy.
Xie Jing had no interest in playing guessing games with him.
He simply called Shao Wenzhou directly.
“Where are you flying to? Don’t tell me you’re coming to Yicheng,” Xie Jing said calmly.
Shao Wenzhou, who had already arrived downstairs at Jisheng Group’s Yicheng branch with Xiao Zhengming: “…”
Xie Jing continued, “You really came to Yicheng? Judging by the time, don’t tell me you’re already downstairs at my company.”
Shao Wenzhou: “…”
Beside him, Xiao Zhengming couldn’t hold back his laughter.
“I told you! With your intelligence, why would you try to surprise Old Xie? See? He figured everything out immediately.”
“Shut up!” Shao Wenzhou snapped, thoroughly embarrassed.
“Fine, fine! Xie Jing, you’re the smartest person in the entire world, all right?”
“Zhengming and I are downstairs at your company right now. Has the great busy man finished working yet?”
“Night’s about to fall. Come on, let’s go out and have some fun!” Shao Wenzhou urged.
“Where?”
“Where else? A bar!”
References[+]