The door opened.
Wen Xi did not turn around.
She lay on her side with her back facing the door, wrapped tightly in the blanket, only a small section of her damp hair exposed.
The room was so quiet she could hear her own heartbeat.
Thump.
Thump.
Heavy and frantic, as though it were about to leap out of her chest.
She heard footsteps entering the room, unhurried and steady.
Then came the rustling sound of fabric brushing together. A belt buckle lightly struck against something, producing a faint metallic sound.
The bathroom door opened and closed.
Water began running.
Wen Xi kept her eyes shut, her fingers never loosening their grip on the blanket.
Her breathing was shallow—so shallow she could barely feel her chest rising and falling. Curled beneath the covers, she resembled an ostrich burying its head in the sand.
The sound of running water lasted for a long time.
Or perhaps it had not actually been that long.
But to her, every second stretched endlessly, like a rubber band pulled tighter and tighter without knowing when it might finally snap.
She could hear her own teeth lightly chattering.
Not from cold.
From nervousness.
Every inch of her body, from head to toe, was wound taut like a string stretched to its limit.
Then the water stopped.
Wen Xi’s heart instantly lifted into her throat.
Small sounds came from the bathroom—the rustle of a towel, the opening and closing of drawers.
Her ears uncontrollably followed every noise. Her mind was a complete mess, incapable of coherent thought. All that remained were instinctive fear and unease.
The footsteps approached the bed.
Wen Xi quickly shifted onto her side, turning her back toward the other half of the mattress.
She curled up her knees, shrinking herself into a tiny ball beneath the blanket, pulling it all the way to her chin so that only her tightly shut eyes and half of her pale face remained visible.
The mattress sank on the opposite side.
Her body stiffened instinctively.
One corner of the blanket was lifted, cool air rushing in and making her shiver.
The next second, an arm reached around her waist from behind and pulled her over without warning.
Caught off guard, Wen Xi was flipped onto her back.
The overhead light stung her eyes, making her squint. Before she could react, a tall figure had already leaned over her, enveloping her entire body in shadow.
At last, she saw Fu Linfeng clearly.
Fresh from the shower, his hair was still half-wet, several damp strands hanging over his forehead. The meticulous sharpness he carried during the day had softened slightly, replaced by something far more dangerous.
His bathrobe hung loosely around him, the collar wide open to reveal a lean, firm chest.
Under the dim yellow light, his eyes appeared especially deep, like a bottomless well.
Wen Xi was trembling all over.
Fu Linfeng noticed.
Supporting himself above her, he lowered his gaze to study her face.
Her eyes were wide open, reflecting the overhead light—bright, watery, like a little deer cornered with nowhere to run.
Her lips were pressed tightly together. Her chin quivered faintly. That clean, bare face was filled with tension and fear.
He looked at her silently for several seconds before finally speaking. His voice was lower than it had been during the day, carrying an indescribable huskiness.
“Your first time?”
Wen Xi froze briefly before nodding rapidly.
Her throat felt blocked by something. She could not force out a single word.
Fu Linfeng did not speak immediately.
His gaze lingered on her face for a moment, as though evaluating whether she was telling the truth.
Then he tilted his head slightly. The corner of his lips moved almost imperceptibly.
Not a smile.
More like confirmation.
“I’ll be gentle.”
The four words were spoken calmly.
Before Wen Xi could react, he lowered his head.
His kiss landed lightly against the corner of her forehead, as soft as a feather brushing across skin.
Then her brow.
The tip of her nose.
Her cheek.
Slowly trailing downward in an unhurried rhythm.
When his lips brushed against her earlobe, Wen Xi reacted as though shocked by electricity, her shoulders jerking violently.
“Relax.”
His voice lingered beside her ear, so low it was almost a whisper.
At some point, his hand had already slipped beneath the blanket. The moment his fingertips touched her collarbone, Wen Xi’s breathing abruptly halted.
That gauzy nightgown offered almost no barrier at all.
His fingers slid slowly along the curve of her shoulder, hooking beneath the thin strap and gradually pulling it downward.
The sound of fabric slipping away was especially clear within the silence.
Wen Xi shut her eyes tightly, her eyelashes trembling violently.
She could feel his gaze lingering on her body like invisible flames, heating every patch of skin it touched.
She wanted to retreat.
But there was nowhere to go.
His body itself was a cage, trapping her within this tiny world.
His kisses fell again, this time no longer gentle probes.
His lips trailed down her neck and paused briefly at her collarbone before his teeth grazed lightly against it.
It did not hurt.
Yet her entire body shuddered violently, a muffled sound trapped between her clenched teeth.
His palm settled against her waist, scorching hot. Every brush of his fingertips against her skin sent tiny tremors rippling through her body.
She could feel his patience.
He was waiting for her to relax.
Waiting for that tightly wound body to slowly soften little by little.
But she could not do it.
When his fingers brushed lightly against the side of her waist, a tingling sensation spread instantly through her body. Wen Xi tensed sharply, curling instinctively as a broken little sound nearly escaped her throat. Her breathing immediately fell into chaos.
“Don’t hold it back.”
His deep voice drifted from above, carrying the faintest trace of huskiness.
Wen Xi did not answer.
She merely kept her eyes shut, biting her lip tightly while unconsciously clutching the bedsheets beneath her fingers.
Then came the pain.
Her body tightened instinctively, a suppressed cry escaping her throat, weak and broken.
Fu Linfeng stopped moving.
Bracing himself above her, fine beads of sweat had already appeared near his temples. His breathing was noticeably heavier than before, yet he did not continue.
He lowered his gaze to her.
Her small face was scrunched tightly together. Tears had already slipped from the corners of her eyes, sliding along her temples and disappearing into her hair as her entire body trembled faintly.
Reaching out, he gently wiped away the tears with his thumb.
The movement was surprisingly light.
So light it hardly seemed like something a man like him would do.
“Does it hurt?” he asked in a low, hoarse voice.
Still biting her lip, Wen Xi nodded.
The tears seemed to break free completely after that, pouring out uncontrollably. She desperately tried to hold them back, yet the harder she resisted, the more they fell until her face was soaked with tears.
Fu Linfeng said nothing more.
He lowered his head and kissed her lips.
It was the first kiss of the night to land there.
Unlike the earlier touches filled with testing and control, this kiss was unexpectedly gentle.
His lips pressed slowly against hers with almost patient deliberation, gradually coaxing apart the teeth she had clenched so tightly.
At the same time, his fingertips brushed lightly over her shoulders and waist in slow, patient movements, making tiny tremors spread through her body until even her thoughts became disordered.
Little by little, Wen Xi’s attention was pulled away.
Within that long kiss, her rigid body slowly relaxed, like ice gradually melting beneath warmth.
The pain remained.
But it no longer felt as sharp.
In its place came a strange sensation.
Like waves surging up from deep within her body, one after another—warm and overwhelming.
She could not describe it.
Numbing.
Dizzying.
Something that made her want to escape while simultaneously pulling her deeper into it.
Without realizing it, her fingers loosened from the bedsheets and gripped his arm instead.
She heard sounds escaping her own lips, fragmented and broken, sounding almost like crying—and yet not entirely.
Wen Xi’s consciousness gradually became blurred.
She no longer knew whether she was crying or gasping for breath. She only knew that her body no longer seemed to belong to her.
It was controlled by someone else.
Pushed toward a boundary she had never reached before.
That boundary stretched endlessly farther away—
Farther.
Farther—
Until—
A burst of white light exploded behind her eyes.
Her entire body trembled violently, tightening to its absolute limit before suddenly collapsing limply against the bed, her breathing chaotic and uneven.
Yet Fu Linfeng did not stop.
He merely adjusted his position slightly and pulled her gently into his arms.
Wen Xi buried her face into the soft pillow, fingers clutching tightly at the blanket while her uneven breathing muffled against the fabric, leaving behind only faint sounds drifting through the air.
That entire night, it felt as though he intended to take her apart, crush her completely, and piece her back together again.
Again and again.
Wen Xi no longer remembered how many times it had happened.
Twice?
Three times?
Four?
At some point, her consciousness had begun fading. Her body felt submerged in warm water, soft and powerless.
Every time she thought it was finally over, those hands would cover her once more and drag her into another rising tide.
By the final time, she lay limply across the bed, black hair scattered messily around her. A thin layer of sweat coated her back as she curled weakly in place, unable to summon even the strength to move.
By the time Fu Linfeng finally stopped, pale dawn light had already begun appearing outside the windows.
He rolled onto his side beside her, his breathing rougher than usual, chest rising and falling steadily.
The room fell silent once more, leaving only the intertwined sounds of their breathing.
Wen Xi remained motionless.
She no longer had the strength to move.
Her body felt as though it had been dismantled and assembled all over again. Every joint ached with exhaustion.
Her consciousness slowly drifted away like sand slipping through fingers.
She vaguely heard the man beside her get up and walk toward the bathroom.
She heard water running again.
Heard footsteps returning.
But all the sounds seemed muffled behind a thick curtain of water, distant and indistinct.
Then the blanket was pulled back over her body.
She felt someone tucking the edges around her gently.
The movements were light and casual—not quite caring, more like an unconscious habit.
Wen Xi no longer possessed the strength even to open her eyes.
Right before her consciousness sank completely into darkness, only one thought remained in her mind—
One million.
Worth it.