The dinner location was a waterfront restaurant with a light show.
Floor-to-ceiling windows, titanium alloy glass shimmering with starlight, and a prime spot overlooking the Ferris wheel.
This was where Fu Shi had invited her for dinner—quite generous of him.
She had glanced at the menu prices earlier: ¥1,800 per person. Not bad. At least he wasn’t so stingy as to treat her to one of those group-buy deals for two or three hundred yuan.
Of course, even if he had bought a group deal for her, she would have eaten it.
Because she liked him. Even if he treated her to street food, she’d be over the moon.
But given how coldly he had rejected her before, the fact that he was willing to splurge on a high-end restaurant still stirred a faint ripple in Nan Yin’s heart. All the earlier grievances from being brushed off vanished.
While waiting for the food, Fu Shi’s phone kept ringing nonstop. Truly a workaholic elite, always busy. Yet, the more a man was immersed in work and exuded maturity, the more potent an aphrodisiac he became to women.
Nan Yin didn’t mind his busyness. Cupping her pretty face in her hands, her eyes sparkling, she watched intently as he dealt with various reports from his subordinates over the phone.
The man’s brow bone was truly superior, radiating a natural kingly aura.
Nan Yin was mesmerized. Her gaze, like entangled electric currents, repeatedly hooked onto Fu Shi, deepening the intensity in his eyes. After hanging up the phone, the man calmly looked at the beautiful woman who was smiling at him with a lovesick expression and said with a tight breath, “Sorry, there were some minor issues at the company.”
Truthfully, he didn’t owe her an explanation.
But out of courtesy and gentlemanly manners—since he had agreed to treat her to dinner—he didn’t want to outright give her the cold shoulder.
If there was something to address, he preferred to communicate it clearly. For instance, she really didn’t need to pursue him.
They were impossible.
Nan Yin wasn’t angry at all, nor did she complain about his busyness. Her red lips curved enchantingly as she said, “It’s fine.”
“Your work comes first.”
“I’m not that inconsiderate.”
Fu Shi’s lips twitched slightly. He rubbed the silver cutlery on the table with his fingers and said, “This time you came back… it really wasn’t for me, was it?”
Mentioning this, Nan Yin naturally had to put on a show. She immediately lowered her hands, her eyes bright as she looked at him. “Mm, you guessed right.”
“It was for you.”
“Your family is pressuring you to get married too, right? Mine is the same.” Nan Yin continued on her own, “I like your type. Can’t we really give it a try?”
Fu Shi’s lips twitched even more helplessly. Honestly, he did like her type, but he wasn’t willing to casually give away his heart—especially when she spoke so casually, as if feelings were just an everyday matter to her.
This made him even more determined to conceal his own thoughts.
“Nan Yin, we’re not suitable.” Fu Shi spoke gently, his voice low but not icy—almost like an elder offering advice. “There’s no need to waste your time on me.”
“As for whether I need to go on blind dates, that’s my own business. I can handle it.”
“After tonight’s dinner, let’s just treat each other as ordinary classmates.”
Nan Yin pursed her lips and remained silent. She wasn’t that easy to brush off.
“Is that settled?” Fu Shi, seeing her silence, assumed she agreed.
Nan Yin immediately crossed her arms, leaned back in her chair, and with a gaze that carried a startling allure, said unhurriedly, “That’s your opinion.”
“You haven’t even tried to understand me, yet you reject me so arbitrarily?”
“Fu Shi, do you have some prejudice against me?”
Nan Yin is truly clever.
No wonder she has been the white moonlight Fu Shi has yearned for all these years, but a woman who is too beautiful and too wild is indeed hard to tame.
He knows this too.
Growing up in the military compound in Nanjing since childhood, the Old Master has always trained him as strictly as his own soldiers. Whether it was starting morning drills at the army’s wake-up time from the age of three or adhering to discipline in daily conduct, he was never allowed to slack off even a little.
Later, when the Old Master was transferred to Su City and the family moved here, the environment was not as strict as in Nanjing.
But the Old Master still did not relax his discipline over him.
Thus, tempered by long-term high-pressure discipline, Fu Shi possesses ten times the endurance and exacting standards of other men.
He never easily opens his heart, nor does he lightly choose to accept without reservation a woman he cannot control.
Because the sense of responsibility ingrained in his bones tells him that if he commits, it must be for a lifetime—he does not play with women.
Nor does he want to waste a woman’s time.
Clearly, Nan Yin is the kind of unstable factor that would make him stray beyond the strict, high-pressure lines of his self-discipline.
Once involved, if she were to misbehave, cheat, break up, or play him, any of these could push him to the brink of losing control.
Fu Shi is accustomed to controlling what he can, but things beyond his grasp, he will not easily attempt.
Afraid that he might ultimately lose his composure and go mad.
“Not exactly,” Fu Shi pulled his thoughts back, not wanting to belittle a girl.
“It’s just that I think we’re not suitable.”
Nan Yin smiled. “How do you figure? Isn’t it just prejudice against me?”
“Oh, I don’t blame you. Back in high school, I helped my uncle collect loan shark debts, acting like a little delinquent. It’s normal for you to be prejudiced against me.”
After all, back in Su Zhong, there were too many people prejudiced against her.
Fu Shi was just one more.
“But that prejudice is false. I don’t have any boyfriends.” As Nan Yin spoke, she suddenly stood up. She truly is beautiful.
Her face, illuminated by the crystal chandelier, was enchanting, captivating, like a poisoned rose, stirring turbulent undercurrents in Fu Shi’s eyes.
Even though his brain calmly analyzed her situation, and his cortex warned him that Nan Yin was opium,
a man-eating flower,
that he must not be easily provoked by her, or the consequences would be unimaginable,
his body completely defied his brain’s control. His throat unconsciously tightened, and his eyes darkened as he watched the woman step closer to him.
She moved like a water snake, swaying her figure as she walked up to him.
Raising a hand, she placed one on the table and the other on the edge of his chair, encircling his tall frame.
The atmosphere suddenly grew tense with ‘undercurrents.’
“So, your prejudice against me makes you unwilling to give it a try with me?” Nan Yin leaned down, looking at his handsome face, completely unafraid of his cold, piercing eyes.
To be honest, Fu Shi is the kind of man who seems intimidating from afar—too cold, too domineering.
Young girls wouldn’t dare meet his gaze,
afraid of being scared to tears.
But Nan Yin isn’t afraid. On the contrary, she particularly enjoys looking into Fu Shi’s eyes. His gaze has a natural kingly air, pitch-black without a hint of impurity,
and not a trace of weakness, only the deep-sea-like power hidden within.
It’s utterly captivating.
Fu Shi didn’t expect her to be so direct. Silently staring at her face, he suddenly gave a slight tug at the corner of his lips and said, “Well, as long as you know.”
“I don’t take just any woman.”
A refusal that showed no weakness, so direct it left him a bit embarrassed. He thought those words would be enough to dismiss her.
But she didn’t seem to care at all…
The woman’s bright red lips curved into a gentle smile. “It’s fine.”
“Take your time. I’ll chase you, and you’ll see what I’m like.”
“Sorry, I was too impatient.”
“Tonight, I won’t tease you. Let’s eat first—I’m starving.” Nan Yin withdrew her fair, delicate arm and returned to her seat. Her nearly perfect, pretty face showed no trace of grievance.
Only a defiant challenge and absolute determination.
Yes, absolute determination.
It was only when Fu Shi frowned and looked into her eyes that he belatedly realized how much the ambition hidden in her gaze stirred his heart.
She really was just like she had been in high school—unconventional and unforgettable.
Fu Shi averted his gaze, trying hard to suppress the small ripple she had stirred within him.
He picked up his phone and checked his email, hoping work would distract him from the tremor in his chest.
Nan Yin sat obediently across from him, quietly watching his handsome face, utterly captivated.
After about five minutes, the exquisite dishes were served.
The food looked, smelled, and tasted perfect.
Nan Yin was truly hungry. She picked up her knife and fork and began to eat first. Fu Shi put down his phone and silently joined her for the meal. The scene was quiet and harmonious.
It was during this very harmonious moment that Fu Shi thought she wouldn’t cause any “trouble.”
But halfway through the meal, the woman’s foot reached over.
She had deliberately taken off her high heels and was now rubbing it against his ankle.