After telling her assistant outside the door to wait two minutes, Xia Zhi hung up the phone.
She crouched down in front of Xie Ning again, but her high heel accidentally stepped on the hem of her gown. Already unsteady on her feet, she ended up kneeling down directly.
Her hands instinctively reached out to grab something for support, and they landed right on the man’s thigh.
Hmm…
It was a perfectly ordinary physical contact, but in this situation…
For Xie Ning, it was lethal.
Xia Zhi quickly withdrew her hands, feeling both awkward and apologetic.
“…I didn’t mean to…”
“…Mm.”
The man’s eyes shimmered with moisture as he deliberately turned his face away, forcing himself to shift his focus.
Xia Zhi didn’t linger either, preparing to help him straighten his pants.
That man Tang Yun was truly impatient. In just those two or three minutes, he had already undone Xie Ning’s zipper more than halfway.
For some reason, Xia Zhi felt a bit nervous.
A man’s pants zipper… she had never touched one in her entire life.
Not daring to look directly, she also turned her face to the side, aimed in the right direction, and reached out her hand.
Uh…
Xie Ning’s entire body trembled violently.
“Where… did you touch?”
“Huh?”
Xia Zhi’s voice was already tinged with a sob.
How could she have so precisely touched the one place she absolutely shouldn’t have?
Now she was truly mortified.
The look Xie Ning gave her was filled with clear suspicion and accusation.
It seemed to ask, ‘Did you do that on purpose?’
Or perhaps, ‘I trusted you so much, thinking you were a decent woman, but it turns out I was sending a lamb into the tiger’s den.’
It could also be interpreted as, ‘I never expected you to look so innocent but actually be this… lustful.’
Thus, without the man saying a single word, Xia Zhi managed to embarrass herself to the point of… reddening eyes.
She was on the verge of crying from shame.
Seeing her wanting to explain but not knowing how to begin,
Xie Ning frowned and closed his eyes again.
“You… watch what you’re doing…”
Xia Zhi flushed from her eyes all the way to the roots of her ears.
“…I… I know…”
The private room, decorated mainly in dark tones, was already more suggestive than other places.
At this moment, it was eerily quiet, with only the sound of the man’s heavy breathing audible.
Only dim yellow strip lights were on in the room, pitifully overwhelmed by the dazzling neon lights from outside the balcony.
The seductively handsome man lay half-dressed on the carpet, his upper body leaning against the sofa behind him.
The radiant and beautiful woman knelt beside his legs, extending a pair of trembling hands.
She helped him zip up the remaining half of the zipper.
Carefully, avoiding even the slightest contact with the fabric.
But the more careful she was, the slower the process became.
Little did she know that such caution was, for the man, another form of torment.
Xie Ning tightly shut his eyes, his thick, curled eyelashes trembling uncontrollably.
His right hand, resting at his side, clenched his palm fiercely.
Finally, the button was fastened.
Both of them let out a deep sigh of relief.
Having tackled the most difficult part—the pants—things like the shirt now seemed like child’s play to Xia Zhi.
She had to lean closer, quickly straightening Xie Ning’s crumpled shirt.
Just then, something unexpected happened.
From behind, in the direction of the balcony, came a sharp gasp.
“Oh my god, my lady, what are you doing?”
Xia Zhi froze in place.
She turned around in a panic and saw her assistant, Sisi.
Clearly, Xia Zhi was helping, and it was Xie Ning who had actively sought her assistance.
But the current scene didn’t quite look that way.
From Sisi’s perspective:
A disheveled man—though his face wasn’t clear, his physique and aura made it obvious he was a handsome guy.
This handsome guy was pinned to the carpet by her young mistress, his hands tightly gripping the jacket at his sides, not daring to resist.
And the young mistress had lost all control, kneeling beside his legs, having undone his white shirt until only one button remained…
It was just too intense!
Sisi covered the lower half of her face, filled with regret.
She shouldn’t have worried about Xia Zhi getting into trouble and slipped in from the adjacent private room to check.
She should have been under the car, not inside it.
Interrupting her benefactor’s good time—would she get fired for this?
In that split second, too many thoughts raced through Sisi’s mind.
…
As for Xia Zhi, seeing Sisi’s unmistakably suggestive and mistaken gaze, her pride and shame completely shattered.
Xia Zhi immediately withdrew her hands, flustered as she tried to stand up and put some distance between herself and Xie Ning.
But once again!
Her high heels betrayed her again, catching on the cumbersome evening gown.
Not only did she fail to stand up, but she ended up lunging toward the man.
“Ah…”
Xia Zhi gasped in surprise, hurriedly bracing her hands against Xie Ning’s chest to steady herself.
This time, there was no fabric barrier between her hands and his skin.
On Xia Zhi’s hands were meticulously crafted manicures, adorned with sparkling diamond fragments.
As she pulled her hands back, the tips of her nails grazed the man’s skin.
The diamonds were cold and sharp, while the man’s skin was hot and fragile.
Ugh…
Xie Ning arched his body, a tear of pain welling up in the corner of his eye.
The scene was just too bewitching and beautiful, and Xia Zhi instinctively didn’t want her assistant behind her to see it.
She quickly grabbed the tasseled blanket from the sofa and draped it over Xie Ning’s face.
Xia Zhi stood up, feigning composure as she turned to face her assistant.
“I’m fine, don’t worry…”
Sisi licked her lips awkwardly, her gaze involuntarily drifting toward the man by the sofa again, and she lowered her voice to ask,
“Dear young mistress, are you two finished, or haven’t you started yet?”
“No!”
Xia Zhi was furious with embarrassment but couldn’t explain.
After all, she had already touched places she shouldn’t have, and accidentally brushed against others she shouldn’t have…
She simply reached out directly, right in front of Sisi, and quickly buttoned up Xie Ning’s shirt.
At this point, she couldn’t worry about whether she might touch him again.
She just wanted it done quickly.
Once she finished, Xia Zhi assumed the haughty demeanor of a wealthy young lady and coldly instructed,
“Have someone take him downstairs, to… my car…”
“Sure thing~”
Sisi replied with a smile, crossing the private room to open the door.
Outside, the hotel manager was waiting with several tall security guards.
He must have already known what had happened, because as soon as the door opened, he began apologizing nervously.
Xia Zhi waved her hand, not wanting to hear the manager’s excuses.
Sisi immediately called for the security guards to come in and help Xie Ning up,
arranging as she spoke, “Let’s take the staff elevator down…”
At that moment, the tasseled blanket fell from Xie Ning’s head, revealing his face.
Everyone else already knew it was him, so there was no surprise.
But when Sisi saw him, she gasped in shock,
“Xie… Ning?”
Xia Zhi was also surprised, “You know him?”
With so many people around, it wasn’t the right time for a chat.
Sisi first helped escort Xie Ning downstairs via the staff elevator along with the hotel security.
Xia Zhi had originally been unwilling to take the pitch-black staff passageway, but she glanced down over the railing and saw Pei Yuhuan lingering like a persistent ghost, still guarding the stairwell entrance…
The young lady condescended to enter the shabby staff elevator.
By the time she came down, Xie Ning had already boarded her protective vehicle and was lying in the back row.
Sisi was waiting below the vehicle, her face full of concern.
“Xia Zhi, Xie Ning… is he alright?”
Xia Zhi shook her head, offering her a reassuring smile.
“Don’t worry, he’s fine.”
Sisi breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good…”
Xia Zhi asked curiously, “How do you two know each other?”
Sisi replied, “Xie Ning and I are practically neighbors—we grew up in the same alley…”
“Huh?”
A look of pure, naive confusion rose on Xia Zhi’s face. She expressed her shock with disbelief.
“Sisi, doesn’t an alley only have one household?”
“How could that be! Even if not fifty households, there are at least twenty or thirty…”
Sisi looked exasperated, seeing the genuine doubt in Xia Zhi’s eyes.
“…Goodness, why am I even explaining this to you rich people…”
Realizing she had said something wrong, Xia Zhi immediately shut her mouth.
“Let’s get in the car first. His condition is quite serious.”
“Mm.”