Those words struck right at the heart of the matter.
Xu Jingshuang felt an inexplicable tightness in her chest.
Because he was telling the truth. Her father could force through an arranged marriage, and the Rong family could settle on this union—at its core, it was simply the crushing weight of power. She seemed to be taking the initiative, but in reality, she was still passive.
Marriages between prominent families were never about mutual affection.
But knowing something was one thing; accepting it was another. All those goading tactics she had prepared felt like punching cotton in front of this man.
And yet it left her feeling stifled.
She was about to speak again when her wrist was suddenly seized.
The man’s palm was warm, yet his grip was astonishingly steady.
Xu Jingshuang’s breath hitched. She instinctively tried to pull her hand back, only to find she couldn’t break free at all.
The next second—
He exerted a bit of force.
Her entire body was forced half a step forward. Her high heel caught slightly on the edge of the carpet, throwing off her center of gravity, and she tumbled onto his lap without warning.
A crisp, woody scent mixed with a faint trace of tea rushed toward her—restrained yet all-encompassing, leaving no room to escape.
This was the first time she had ever been this close to a man.
The man’s thighs were firm and powerful; even through the fabric, she could feel the hard muscle beneath. The moment she landed on him, her body instinctively went rigid.
Rong Jingchen wrapped one arm around her waist.
That slender waist was barely a handful. His fingertips pressed in slightly, pinning her firmly against him. Then he raised his hand, his fingertip gently lifting her chin, forcing her to look up at him.
The girl before him was indeed beautiful—her peach-blossom eyes tilted slightly upward, her long lashes thick and curled, her lips full. At this moment, they were pressed together nervously, and her true-red lipstick made her skin look as white as congealed cream.
Yet such striking features were set in a small face. She was entirely trapped in his arms, like a cat that had wandered into a lion’s territory—fur bristling all over, yet her body impossibly soft.
Xu Jingshuang swallowed nervously.
She wanted to get up.
But her waist was held tightly by the man, leaving her unable to move.
She was forced to tilt her head slightly, her chin still hooked by him—an ambiguous posture. Suddenly, she didn’t dare keep looking at him.
“Is Mr. Rong trying to take advantage of me?” Her voice trembled faintly at the end.
The man looked at her and let out a low chuckle.
“Didn’t Miss Xu want to talk?”
His deep voice brushed past her ear, neither too heavy nor too light.
“Why are you the one getting nervous now?” His gaze fell on the girl’s reddened eye rims. Those eyes clearly held fear, yet they still glared at him stubbornly.
“You came in here—you should know the consequences.” He tilted his head, his thin lips brushing against her ear. “I’m not a good man.”
As the words fell, his fingertip gently pinched her small earlobe.
The skin there was soft and delicate, with no piercing. The pale, tender flesh was lightly rubbed by his fingertip, and in an instant, it flushed a thin layer of red.
It felt like an electric current struck her ear. Xu Jingshuang couldn’t hold it back and let out a soft whimper.
Very short, very faint, carrying an unfamiliar softness.
They both froze at the same time.
Xu Jingshuang’s face instantly burned. She had never been treated like this by a man in her entire life.
The eldest daughter of the Xu family, the most pampered heiress in Beicheng—wherever she went, people held her up and coaxed her. Who would dare touch a single finger of hers? Let alone press her onto their lap and pinch her earlobe—such rude, boundary-crossing behavior.
She should slap him. She should call him a scoundrel. She should stand up and slam the door on her way out.
But the tingling numbness spreading through her body left her weak and unable to move.
A thin mist of tears began to cloud her eyes, but she bit down hard on her lower lip, forcing the moisture back before it could spill.
Rong Jingchen watched the woman in his arms, a subtle shift passing through his gaze.
Moments ago, she had been a sharp-tongued little fox, spitting out threats one after another, as if she wanted nothing more than to bite him. Now, she had suddenly turned into a pitiful rabbit, eyes red-rimmed, stubbornly refusing to let a single tear fall.
It wasn’t as if he had never seen a crying woman before.
Quite the opposite—he had seen far too many. Those who begged him, those who feared him, those who tried to soften his heart with tears—every single one of them had only annoyed him.
But the person before him was different.
She was holding back, stubborn yet fragile, looking like she was begging to be teased, yet somehow making it hard for him to keep pressing forward.
He released his grip on her earlobe and turned her averted face back toward him. “Feeling wronged?” The playfulness in his tone had faded considerably.
Xu Jingshuang looked away, her voice muffled and thick with a nasal twang: “None of your business.”
Rong Jingchen’s fingertip remained pressed against her chin, feeling the faint tremor beneath his touch.
“You knew you couldn’t afford to provoke me, yet you still came knocking on your own.” He spoke slowly. “You should understand by now—I’m not someone you can afford to mess with.”
Xu Jingshuang sniffled, but still, that tear refused to fall.
She lifted her eyes to meet his, still red-rimmed, but the defiance in them hadn’t diminished in the slightest.
“Do you think I wanted to come here? I sat on a plane for over ten hours, exhausted out of my mind, and came straight here without even going home first.”
She paused, then continued:
“If my family had been willing to listen to reason, I wouldn’t have come looking for you at all.”
Rong Jingchen’s gaze was close enough to catch the fine glistening mist clinging to her lashes.
“You really want to break off the engagement that badly?”
“Why else would I be here?” she answered without hesitation. “What I want is one person for a lifetime, three meals a day, four seasons of peaceful living. Mr. Rong has beauties buzzing around him like bees around honey—my eyes can’t tolerate such sand.”
Rong Jingchen watched her quietly for a moment.
The anger she had expected never came. Instead, the arm around her waist slowly loosened, and the fingertip hooked beneath her chin withdrew as well.
“Understood.” He resumed his unhurried tone. “I’ll give it serious consideration.”
Xu Jingshuang was somewhat taken aback, but before she could dwell on it, two soft knocks sounded at the door.
She snapped back to reality, suddenly aware that she was still sitting on his lap. She quickly pushed herself up using the table and chair, stepping back two paces to put distance between them.
A waiter pushed the door open and bowed in a gesture of invitation: “Miss Xu, this way, please.”
This was a dismissal.
Xu Jingshuang straightened her clothes and paused at the door. She turned her head to look at the composed figure behind her, the lamplight tracing the cold, hard lines of his profile, his expression inscrutable.
She lifted her chin, resuming her usual flamboyant demeanor, her voice clear and bright: “I hope Mr. Rong will be sensible and take the initiative to call off the engagement. Otherwise, I’ll keep coming back, day after day, until we’re both thoroughly sick of each other.”
With that, she walked away without looking back.
The door to the private room closed behind her.
Rong Jingchen leaned back in his chair, slowly rotating the jade thumb ring with his thumb.
The Romance of the Western Chamber was still playing—the scene of “Farewell at the Pavilion,” where Cui Yingying clutched Zhang Sheng’s hand, weeping in utter desolation.
A faint smile slowly curled at the corner of his lips, dark currents stirring beneath his eyes.
He picked up his phone and dialed a number.
When it connected, his voice turned ice-cold in an instant: “Tell Rong Anmin to go back to the old residence and wait for me.”
“Yes, boss. I’ll arrange it right away.”
Rong Jingchen didn’t hang up. “Send me the file on Xu Jingshuang of the Xu family. All of her personal connections, her background, everything.”
The other end responded immediately: “Understood.”
After hanging up the phone, he placed it back on the table. He leaned back into his chair once more, fingers resting on the armrest, tapping lightly along with the drumbeats from the stage.
A rather interesting little fox.
How could he let her go so easily?
The Rong family’s old residence was tucked away in a hutong deep along Chang’an Street, with gray bricks and green tiles, and two old locust trees growing lush and tall. The exterior was plain, but inside was a three-courtyard compound, full of hidden wonders.
The innermost courtyard was Rong Jingchen’s domain. On the east side of the main hall, a Buddhist shrine room had been set aside, with a white jade Guanyin enshrined atop the altar, wisps of incense curling upward, serene and solemn.
Rong Jingchen knelt on a prayer mat, eyes gently closed, his left hand twirling a string of small-leaf red sandalwood prayer beads.
The faint sound of footsteps came from outside the door. Rong Anmin stood beyond the threshold, not daring even to breathe loudly.
He had been out enjoying himself just moments ago, but when he received the message, the alcohol instantly cleared from his mind, and he rushed over. When Rong Jingchen was worshipping the Buddha, no one dared disturb him lightly. He stood outside the door, anxious at heart, rapidly reviewing his recent conduct in his mind.
Those women outside—there shouldn’t be anything special about them. The casino? He hadn’t been there recently either.
But the more he failed to find any misstep, the more uneasy he felt.
After a long while, a low voice came from within the shrine room: “Come in.”
Rong Anmin took a deep breath, lifted his foot, and entered. He first took incense, lit it, and respectfully inserted it into the incense burner. After bowing in worship, he finally spoke with reverence: “Fifth Granduncle.”
The rhythm of the prayer beads did not pause.
“What do you think about your marriage with the Xu family?”