But how could Shen Nanci let Li Hengyan see that she was pretending? Wouldn’t that just be slapping herself in the face?
Even if Li Hengyan saw through her clumsy acting, she had to stay calm and finish the performance properly.
Shen Nanci nodded.
“You go ahead with your work. I can take a taxi myself.”
Farewell.
Take my leave.
Well then, goodbye, President Li!
Just as she turned around and hadn’t even taken two steps, her phone rang.
Shen Nanci pulled out her phone.
The caller ID on the screen showed: Fu Yunlin.
Shen Nanci thought to herself, what a coincidence—right at this critical moment, with the big boss still not far behind her.
Just as she was hesitating whether to answer, Shen Nanci suddenly felt the air around her drop several degrees.
It abruptly turned colder.
She turned her head and saw Li Hengyan beside her.
Shen Nanci: “…”
For a moment, she forgot to hide her phone.
The man stared at the three characters on her phone screen—Fu, Yun, Lin—and his expression instantly darkened. His eyes turned icy and terrifying, as if he had returned to the scene in the car earlier.
It’s over.
A storm is brewing!
That was the phrase that flashed through Shen Nanci’s mind.
It felt as if the name “Fu Yunlin” was a trigger for Li Hengyan’s emotions, easily touching his sensitive spot.
Why?
Shen Nanci’s mind was filled with question marks.
Did Fu Yunlin dig up Li Hengyan’s family grave in a past life?
Almost instinctively, Shen Nanci immediately hung up the phone. With lightning speed, she turned around, grabbed Li Hengyan’s collar, and pulled his head down.
Rising on her tiptoes, she quickly kissed him on the cheek.
As if afraid it wasn’t enough,
she tentatively kissed him on the lips.
A soft kiss.
After kissing him, Shen Nanci secretly observed.
Li Hengyan was momentarily taken aback, his eyes clearly showing a hint of surprise. But soon, that surprise, along with all other emotions in his eyes, quickly faded away.
Shen Nanci had won her gamble.
She inwardly breathed a sigh of relief for herself.
Her palms were slightly sweaty.
Li Hengyan’s inexplicable episodes were no longer a rare occurrence.
It seemed that every time he lost control, it was because of her.
And every time he regained his composure and calm, it was also because of her soothing effect.
Shen Nanci was beginning to wonder if she had truly lost her memory and cast a love spell on Li Hengyan.
…
Shen Nanci said, “I’m not going to the hospital anymore.”
As her confusion grew, she couldn’t wait any longer. She just wanted to figure out what was really going on.
If this continued, she would go mad!
She would overthink, doubt, and question everything about her life.
The CEO’s private elevator.
Shen Nanci looked at Li Hengyan, her gaze never leaving him. Her eyes were vacant yet complex.
Li Hengyan remained silent the entire way.
When they reached the CEO’s office, Shen Nanci naturally went to make coffee, just as she always did.
After bringing it over, she locked the office door.
Shen Nanci walked over to the desk. She didn’t want to keep a desk’s distance between her and Li Hengyan, as if they were discussing business matters seriously.
She was in an urgent mood now.
She wanted to know some things.
Private matters.
As Shen Nanci approached, Li Hengyan put down what he was holding. With a habitual motion, he pulled her into his arms and sat her on his lap.
Li Hengyan asked directly, “Do you have something to tell me?”
Shen Nanci nodded.
Yes.
“Yes, right now.”
Li Hengyan: “Go ahead. What do you want to ask?”
Shen Nanci got straight to the point, voicing the question in her heart, “Li Hengyan, can you tell me why you have such strong animosity toward Fu Yunlin?”
CiCi: “Do you two know each other?”
Hearing Shen Nanci call Fu Yunlin’s name, Li Hengyan felt an uncomfortable emotion stir within him—intense disgust and aversion.
He suppressed his temper.
“The young master of the Fu family—even if I haven’t had contact with him, I’ve certainly heard of him.”
Li Hengyan’s tone was somewhat cold as he pretended to know nothing and asked, “Are you close with him?”
Shen Nanci nodded.
She looked directly at Li Hengyan and said frankly and openly, “Yunlin is my old classmate, from high school. We used to have a good relationship. But after he went abroad, we lost touch.”
Li Hengyan narrowed his eyes dangerously.
With almost restrained effort, his thin lips uttered two words.
“Yun, Lin?”
Just those two intimate words caused the jealousy in Li Hengyan’s heart to ferment, bubbling up with sourness.
Bitter and painful.
When CiCi called him, it was “Li Hengyan.”
But when she called Fu Yunlin, it was “Yunlin.”
Comparing the positions of the two men in Shen Nanci’s heart, it was clear whom she favored.
Li Hengyan felt agitated.
He restrained himself, controlling his anxious anger.
But he still couldn’t hold back, his voice cold as he said, “Shen Nanci, don’t forget whose woman you are! I don’t care who you were with before or who you had in your heart.”
“But from now on, you must forget that person from the past! You can only stay by my side, with me. Whatever you want, I’ll give it all to you.”
“You can even have my life.”
“Everything I have, you can take. In return, as an equivalent exchange, I only want two things: you and your heart.”
“What I, Li Hengyan, want, I have never failed to obtain. But…”
But you, CiCi, I truly have no other way.
So, I have no choice but to take by force.
He could only take by force.
“What I want, I will never give up. Otherwise, the more you resist me, the more I will resort to any means and pay any price. Even if it makes you hate me, I will never let you escape from my side! Absolutely!”
Li Hengyan didn’t realize that by the end of his words, he had already blurred the two Shen Nancis from different times.
One was the Shen Nanci who had died.
The other was the Shen Nanci who was still alive.
He had once again confused illusion and reality.
Confused the memories of his past life and this life.
…
Shen Nanci fell silent.
She was utterly confused.
Escape?
What was she escaping from? Escaping Li Hengyan?
Indeed, Li Hengyan had an overwhelming desire for control.
And his possessiveness was no small matter.
It was somewhat abnormal and pathological.
Shen Nanci had already sensed it.
Even if she glanced at another man for too long, Li Hengyan would become displeased and “punish” her.
But she had never thought of escaping.
Why would she escape?
It was utterly baffling.
…
After a long while, Shen Nanci stared straight into Li Hengyan’s eyes and asked, “Li Hengyan, do you really like me?”
Not just a passing fancy?
Not the kind where, after the novelty wears off, you play around and then discard?
Li Hengyan replied, “I don’t like you.”
Shen Nanci’s eyes widened in surprise.
Li Hengyan sighed softly, his gaze turning sorrowful and tender as he finished his sentence, “I don’t like you, CiCi. I love you. I truly, deeply love you.”
“For a long time now.”
In his past life, he had already fallen in love with her.