"N-No!"
Xu Yumo's face flushed all the way to the roots of her ears as she fumbled to explain herself.
"What I meant was… just an objective evaluation… from a more neutral perspective…"
Watching her squirm as if she wished she could dig a hole and crawl straight into it, He Linxi let out a noncommittal chuckle. "What's there to panic about? Even if you really were flirting with me, I wouldn't be upset."
"…"
The out He Linxi offered was smooth enough, but Xu Yumo took it clumsily.
She couldn't quite figure out how much truth lay beneath that half-serious, half-joking "I wouldn't be upset." All she could do was mumble a vague response and lower her head, redirecting her attention to the pile of LEGO pieces on the coffee table.
She really hadn't been flirting with him—because she had absolutely no idea how to flirt with a man in the first place.
If she did, she wouldn't have wasted eight years on Zhou Shiye, only to end up with the verdict of being "boring."
But at this moment, watching He Linxi sit across from her with such effortless composure, a thought suddenly crossed Xu Yumo's mind.
A man like him—high status, striking looks—surely never lacked a steady stream of admirers throwing themselves at him. Yet searching through her memory, she couldn't recall ever hearing any rumors about his romantic life.
She wasn't sure if it was because she'd simply paid too little attention to him before, or because he truly kept his private life locked up tight.
The living room fell into a silence so heavy it was almost suffocating. Xu Yumo's fingers toyed with a piece as she decided to break the nearly frozen atmosphere by voicing the question that had been nagging at her. "So… have you ever had a girlfriend before?"
He Linxi's hands paused mid-assembly.
He lifted his gaze slowly, those deep dark eyes drifting lazily to rest on her face, a meaningful curve tugging at the corner of his lips.
"Just said you weren't flirting with me. And now you're digging into my romantic history?"
"…" Xu Yumo froze, then rushed to explain, "I was just asking casually. If you'd rather not say, just pretend I never brought it up."
She genuinely couldn't figure out how she'd managed to become someone who seemed so skilled at teasing in his eyes.
He Linxi watched the tips of her ears flush pink again before casually looking away, tossing out three words in a flat tone: "Never had one."
Xu Yumo's hand stilled around the piece, a flicker of surprise crossing her face. "Really?"
"Why would I lie about something like this?" He Linxi let out a light scoff. "Or do you think every man should be like Zhou Shiye, with enough exes to fill a little black book?"
Xu Yumo was momentarily choked by his blunt remark, and the faint bitterness she'd thought she'd shed stirred weakly back to the surface.
She lowered her head, her fingertips unconsciously picking at the edge of a plastic piece, and muttered under her breath, "I just thought… with your circumstances, you must have plenty of people chasing you. How could you never have been in a relationship?"
"Just because someone chases me, I have to say yes?" He Linxi lifted his eyelids and shot her a glance. "Ever heard the phrase 'rather go without than settle for less'?"
"…"
Rather go without than settle for less.
Xu Yumo's fingers paused.
Come to think of it, wasn't she the same?
Back in college, plenty of impressive guys had pursued her. But her heart had only ever held one person—Zhou Shiye. It was so full that she'd never once considered leaving room for anyone else.
She just didn't know whether He Linxi's standards were simply too high to have ever met someone he liked, or whether his heart, too, harbored someone he could never have.
But Xu Yumo didn't dare press further, afraid of being accused again of "trying to flirt with him."
As the LEGO model neared completion, the New Year quietly crept closer.
Red lanterns went up along the streets of the capital, and the rich flavor of the holiday slowly seeped through the biting cold.
One evening, Xu Yumo was still at the company double-checking the final batch of year-end experimental data when she received a call from her mother, Gu Qin.
"Mo Mo, New Year's Eve is almost here. You can't spend the Spring Festival still drifting around in a rented place." On the other end of the line, Gu Qin's voice was as gentle as ever, but carried an unmistakable firmness. "No matter how badly things went between you and your father over starting that business, you still need to come home for the reunion dinner."
Xu Yumo gazed at the sparse lights flickering in the windows outside, a weary helplessness seeping through her chest.
She could stubbornly refuse to touch a single cent of Xu Zhengming's money, but she could never completely sever the bond of blood.
"I know, Mom. I'll come back tomorrow," she said softly.
The days back at the Xu family villa were dull and stifling.
Xu Zhengming still carried himself with the same autocratic air at home, while Xu Yumo moved through the house like a quiet ghost, maintaining a polite but distant silence through what was supposed to be a warm family gathering.
It wasn't until the fifth day of the New Year that this fragile veneer of peace finally shattered.
"Pack up this afternoon and come with me to meet Mr. Zhao of Oceanic Trading," Xu Zhengming set down his teacup, his tone like he was assigning work to a subordinate. "His youngest son just returned from studying business in England. He's a suitable match for you in both age and background."
Xu Yumo's fingers tightened around her chopsticks, her knuckles turning a stiff white. "Dad, I've told you many times—I'm only twenty-four, and I have no plans to marry this early. Besides, Aether Technology just signed a partnership with Matrix Technology, and we're on the rise. I have a lot of work to deal with."
"That little company of yours is only doing well because of a bit of technological charity from Matrix Technology," Xu Zhengming snorted, leaning back with his hands folded. "Wanting to do R&D, wanting to be independent—that's just youthful naivety. The business world is far more fragile than you imagine. Xu Heavy Industries had serious payment collection problems on several major overseas projects last year. We have a cash flow gap right now that urgently needs Oceanic Trading's investment to fill. A marriage alliance is the best solution."
Xu Yumo looked at him in disbelief. "So you're selling me off to fill your company's hole?"
"Don't put it so crudely. In business, this is called resource integration."
Xu Zhengming took a sip from his teacup and continued his emotionless analysis: "You need to understand—the twenty-four years of luxury you've enjoyed didn't fall from the sky. The Xu family gave them to you. Now the Xu family is at a critical juncture. Our traditional heavy industry capacity must be absorbed through the Zhao family's foreign trade channels. What they can give us isn't just money—it's the entire Southeast Asian export quota. Since you've enjoyed the benefits of being the eldest Miss Xu, now the family needs you to make this small sacrifice to protect our foundation. This is your obligation. You have no right to say no."
Xu Yumo opened her mouth, but found her throat too dry to make a sound.
In Xu Zhengming's eyes, she was never an independent person, but an item on the Xu family's balance sheet—a pending asset that could be liquidated or mortgaged at any time.
That suffocating feeling of being trapped in quicksand washed over her again, heavier than ever before.
She was silent for a few seconds, then struggled to ask: "What if I could find a way to come up with a sum of money to solve Xu Heavy Industries' cash flow gap? Would I not have to go on this blind date then?"
"What could you possibly do? Rely on that little company of yours that hasn't even mass-produced a product?" Xu Zhengming laughed scornfully, as if he'd heard an absurd fairy tale.
"Give me three months." Xu Yumo looked at him steadily. "I'll come up with a solution to close the gap."
"Three months? By then, the daylilies would be cold." Xu Zhengming waved his hand impatiently, completely cutting off her hopes. "Stop daydreaming here. Go upstairs and change into something proper. We're leaving soon."
The dinner was held at an upscale private club near the villa district.
The private room was filled with the aroma of wine, and the table was all business—clinking glasses and probing conversations.
The Zhao family's son was named Zhao Yuwen. He was fair-skinned, with a pair of gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, looking refined and well-bred.
For most of the dinner, the two elders dominated the conversation, discussing their tangled web of interests. Zhao Yuwen occasionally interjected with a well-timed remark or two, seeming just as reserved as she was.
Xu Yumo sat at the table, finding the exquisite dishes utterly tasteless.
The look in Xu Zhengming's eyes as he regarded Zhao Yuwen was one of smug satisfaction—as if what he saw wasn't a future son-in-law, but a check that could bring Xu Heavy Industries back from the brink.
Finally, the dinner came to an end. Mr. Zhao set down his teacup and said cheerfully to his son: "Yuwen, the moat isn't far from here, and the night view is quite nice. Take Yumo out for a stroll. You young people should chat more—don't waste your time with us old fogies."
Xu Zhengming nodded in agreement, his tone brooking no refusal: "Yumo, go ahead. Yuwen just returned to the country and isn't familiar with how Beijing has changed these years. Show him around."
Xu Yumo's fingertips gripping her handbag turned slightly white.
She knew very well that if she publicly defied Xu Zhengming now, she'd only face endless arguments when they got home. Weighing her options, she suppressed her resistance, gave a reluctant nod, and walked out of the private room side by side with Zhao Yuwen.
Just as they turned a quiet corner, Zhao Yuwen suddenly stopped.
He let out a soft breath of wine-scented air, reached up to remove his gold-rimmed glasses, and leisurely pulled a handkerchief from his breast pocket to wipe them.
Without the lenses to hide behind, his eyes—which had seemed so refined—now revealed a lazy, irreverent glint.
"Miss Xu doesn't seem very pleased with me, does she?" He tilted his head, his tone carrying a hint of condescending nonchalance. His gaze swept over her like he was appraising a commodity waiting for a buyer.
Xu Yumo paused mid-step, not turning her head to look at him. Her voice was as cold as ice. "It's not a matter of being satisfied or not. I simply have no interest in this kind of clearly priced arranged marriage."
"That's true." Zhao Yuwen let out a light laugh, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, revealing the rotten nature beneath. "After all, who in the capital's circle doesn't know how you, Miss Xu, have been chasing after Zhou Shiye all these years?"
Having her most painful scar ripped open in front of her, Xu Yumo's face suddenly turned pale, her nails unconsciously digging into her palms.
Before she could retaliate, Zhao Yuwen suddenly leaned in half a step, reeking of alcohol as he pressed closer.
He reached out, his fingertips teasingly trying to lift her chin. "But then again, I wouldn't mind picking up what Zhou Shiye left behind. After all… your face is pretty decent to look at."
"Mr. Zhao, please show some respect." Xu Yumo sharply slapped his hand away, anger igniting in her clear, cold eyes.
"Show respect?"
Zhao Yuwen wasn't annoyed by having his hand swatted away. Instead, he laughed even more wildly.
"Xu Yumo, are you still not clear about the situation? Xu Zhengming sent you here today—might as well have slapped a 'discounted sale' sticker on your forehead. You're marrying whether you like it or not. Do you think you can defy that?"
With that, taking advantage of the secluded, empty corridor, he grabbed Xu Yumo's shoulder and pressed her against the wall behind her.
"Since you're going to end up in the Zhao family's bed sooner or later anyway, why not let me have some fun first…"
Seeing him about to force a kiss on her, Xu Yumo's breath tightened. She decisively raised her hand and slapped him hard across the face.
"Slap!"
The crisp sound of the slap exploded in the silent corridor. Zhao Yuwen's head snapped to the side, his glasses nearly flying off.
Probably not expecting this seemingly soft and gentle girl to have such a tough temper, Zhao Yuwen froze for a moment, a violent rage surging in his eyes.
"Bitch! I've never been hit in my whole life. I'll fucking kill you today…"
He cursed and raised his hand, but before his fist could fall, the back of his coat collar was suddenly seized, and he was hurled like a dirty rag against the marble wall across from him.
Then two solid kicks landed on his stomach, nearly making him vomit.
"Ah!!"
Zhao Yuwen screamed in pain, his features twisting grotesquely. His face flushed red as he cursed, "Who the fuck dares to touch me?! You looking to die?!"
However, when he looked up, clutching his stomach and his nearly dislocated shoulder, all the remaining profanities got stuck in his throat, turning into a ridiculous squeak.
He Linxi had appeared in the corridor at some point, his tall, imposing figure blocking half the light from above.
He looked down coldly at Zhao Yuwen, who had slid down against the wall, his pitch-black eyes devoid of any warmth, a chilling menace pressing beneath them.
"Say that again."
He Linxi's voice was soft, yet carried a pressure that sent chills down one's spine.
"Who's looking to die?"
Zhao Yuwen was cowed by that suffocating aura. His earlier arrogance was doused like a bucket of ice water over his head, extinguished completely. He instinctively shrank back, his words starting to stutter. "He-He Linxi? What are you doing here?"
"Where I am—do I need to report to you?" He Linxi's gaze dropped, his cold eyes landing on the hand that had just touched Xu Yumo, as if looking at something utterly disgusting. "Get lost. Don't make me say it twice."
Zhao Yuwen's face flushed and paled in turns. No matter how humiliated and resentful he felt, he absolutely didn't dare to clash head-on with the eldest young master of the He family.
He gritted his teeth, picked himself up from the ground, awkwardly adjusted his crooked glasses, and shot Xu Yumo one last sinister glare before slinking away into the end of the corridor.
The corridor fell silent once more.
He Linxi withdrew his gaze, the menace between his brows quietly fading. He turned and walked toward Xu Yumo, who was still leaning against the wall, lowering his eyes.
"Are you alright?" His voice softened a few notches.
Xu Yumo's back pressed against the cold marble tiles, her fingertips still trembling almost imperceptibly. She took a deep breath, forcing down her frantic heartbeat, her voice thin and hoarse. "I'm fine… Just now, thank you."
He Linxi looked at her cashmere coat, slightly wrinkled from being tugged at, and his brows knitted again. "Zhao Yuwen's reputation in the circle has been rotten for a long time. How could you be alone with him?"
Xu Yumo pressed her lips together. The grievance that had been suppressed throughout the entire Spring Festival surged up without warning, enveloped by his clean, familiar scent of cold sandalwood, making her nose sting with emotion.
"You think I wanted this?" She lowered her thick, soft lashes, tugging the corner of her mouth in a self-deprecating smile, her voice carrying a faint tremor she hadn't even noticed herself. "It was my father. He forced me to come to this blind date."
"Blind date?" He Linxi frowned.
"Yeah…"
Xu Yumo sniffled softly.
Perhaps it was because this suffocating night had finally found an outlet, she couldn't help but pour everything out.
"I wanted to ask my dad for three months… Aether Technology's first batch of core technology will be up and running after the new year. As long as the first round of funding starts flowing, I can find a way to fill the overseas gap at Xu Heavy Industries."
"But he wouldn't even listen. He thinks everything I do is just playing around, and that it's more reliable to just hand me over to the Zhao family through marriage…"
As her voice trailed off, only her slightly rapid breathing remained in the silent corridor.
Xu Yumo stared intently at the clean lines of the floor tiles, forcing herself not to show weakness, yet her vision uncontrollably began to blur.
He Linxi glanced at the reddening corners of her eyes. Without offering any perfunctory words of comfort, he simply reached out and, through the sleeve of her coat, firmly grasped her slender wrist. "Let's go."
Xu Yumo looked up, dazed. "Where?"
"Somewhere we can breathe."
A few minutes later, the deep rumble of the Aston Martin's engine tore through the night.
Xu Yumo sank absently into the leather passenger seat, turning her head to look out the window. The neon lights of the high-rises stretched into long ribbons of light, flowing past the slightly fogged window into a blurry, dreamlike wash of color before her eyes.
The biting early-winter night wind poured in through the half-lowered window, sweeping away the lingering warmth and moisture on her face and gradually dispersing the suffocating weight in her chest.
The sports car sped away from the bustling, congested city center, leaving the traffic noise far behind. With a sharp turn of the front end, the car began climbing along the winding mountain road, and the city's lights sank lower and lower, like stars crushed and scattered into the deep sea.
This mountain road seemed to be the unofficial midnight racetrack of their circle.
Along the way, Xu Yumo spotted several flashy modified sports cars, their headlights streaking long trails of light across the dark mountain road.
The car finally came to a smooth stop on a flat stretch at the summit.
The moment the engine cut off, a few young men smoking cigarettes gathered around. The one in front tapped on He Linxi's window, and upon seeing who was in the driver's seat, a look of undisguised surprise flickered in his eyes. "Yo, if it isn't Young Master He! Haven't seen you out here messing around in a while. Feeling up for a race tonight?"
He Linxi didn't answer right away. Instead, he turned his head to look at Xu Yumo in the passenger seat.
The cold blue glow of the dashboard reflected in his eyes, making them look startlingly deep.
He raised an eyebrow slightly, his voice low and seductive. "Want to try it?"
Xu Yumo gripped the seatbelt across her chest. The pent-up frustration suppressed by Xu Zhengming was desperate for a violent release. Staring at the endless dark mountain road ahead, she forced out a single word: "Yes."
"Alright." He Linxi turned and made a gesture to the people outside, signaling them to follow for a round.
Before starting, he rested one hand loosely on the steering wheel and spared a moment to caution her: "There are a lot of sharp turns on this road. If you get scared midway, just say the word, and I'll slow down."
Xu Yumo straightened her back, her stubbornness rising to the surface. "I'm not that cowardly."
Yet the moment the engine let out a deafening roar and the car shot forward like an arrow released from a bow, she couldn't help but hold her breath.
The shadows of the trees on the mountain flashed past like menacing specters, and all she could hear was the sharp howling of the wind.
The tires practically grazed the edge of the mountain road, and every turn came with a spine-tingling sensation of weightlessness, as if the next second the entire car would crash through the guardrail and plummet into the bottomless valley below.
This thrill of being on the brink of death made her blood run hot, even her fingertips tingling uncontrollably.
But it was precisely under this fear that an unprecedented exhilaration followed.
The intense push of acceleration pinned her firmly into the seat. Her senses were magnified to the extreme in that moment, and even her soul seemed to lag half a beat behind.
In a daze, she felt as though the suffocating quagmire behind her was being crushed, shaken off, and ground to dust by this car, piece by piece.
When the car crossed the finish line and returned to the summit, the world around them seemed to fall back into silence.
He Linxi pressed the brake. He turned his face, studying Xu Yumo in the passenger seat under the dim, sparse moonlight.
Her face was still a little pale, her chest heaving violently from the extreme thrill. Her fingers were still digging into the door handle. Clearly still shaken, she bit her lip and stubbornly refused to show an ounce of fear.
"How was it?" He Linxi spoke, a faint trace of amusement curling in his tone.
Xu Yumo took a deep breath, steadying her weakened legs, and even shot him a defiant, challenging look. "Not that scary."
Hearing this, He Linxi suddenly leaned in, reaching up to brush aside the strand of hair stuck to her forehead with cold sweat.
"Such a soft-looking little girl," he said lazily, though his voice dropped low at the end, "but such a hard mouth."
The man's cool fingertips brushed inadvertently against her skin, like a faint electric current traveling along her nerves straight into her heart.
Xu Yumo's breath caught suddenly.
Her heart, which had barely settled, immediately fell out of rhythm again.
But before she could compose herself, He Linxi had already straightened up nonchalantly and reached over to unbuckle her seatbelt.
"Let's get out."
The wind at the mountaintop was far more biting than in the city, carrying the chill of deep winter as it crept into her collar.
The moment Xu Yumo pushed open the car door and stepped out, she couldn't help but sneeze.
The car door behind her clicked shut.
He Linxi turned and pulled a large coat from the back seat, draping it casually over her slender shoulders.
Xu Yumo shrank her neck slightly at the sudden weight. The coat still carried the faint scent of his cold sandalwood, and in this vast, desolate mountaintop, it inexplicably gave her a sense of grounding.
"…Thank you." She gathered the lapels and murmured her thanks.
The engine's lingering hum echoed through the valley as the sports cars behind them gradually cut their engines and came to a stop.
"Not bad, He-ge, haven't raced in ages and you still left us all in the dust." The guy who had greeted them earlier jumped out of his car and walked over.
When he caught sight of Xu Yumo standing beside He Linxi, he was clearly taken aback for a moment before a mischievous grin spread across his face.
"Damn, the sun must be rising from the west today—first time I've ever seen you bring a girl up the mountain. The lights were too dim earlier; when I saw someone in the passenger seat, I figured it was Lu Wenjing."
He Linxi never bothered to respond to such teasing. He only gave a lazy smile, then loosely draped an arm around Xu Yumo's shoulder, shielding her from the group's meaningful stares as he led her toward the stone steps nearby.
The stone steps wound upward, ending at a viewing platform.
From here, nearly the entire city's lights were visible at a glance. The crisscrossing neon ribbons in the distance looked like a galaxy that had been crumpled and spread out, stretching endlessly through the thick night, outlining the vast and lonely silhouette of this steel forest.
A night breeze swept by, tousling the stray hairs on Xu Yumo's forehead.
He Linxi leaned one hand on the cold metal railing and turned his head to look at her. "Feeling better?"
"Much better."
Xu Yumo gazed at the boundless night view before her, feeling as though the suffocating weight that had been pressing on her chest had truly been shaken loose by that wild drive.
Even when she thought back to the scene in the club corridor, a faint smile unconsciously tugged at the corners of her lips.
"Come to think of it, tonight wasn't a total loss." She let out a soft breath, her tone unusually light. "I even slapped Zhao Yuwen across the face. With his temper, he probably never wants to see me again, let alone talk about a marriage alliance."
"He deserved it." He Linxi's voice was calm, but his deep gaze remained fixed on her wind-tossed hair. "Though, aren't you worried your father might just arrange someone else for you to meet next?"
The smile on Xu Yumo's face froze for a moment, then she lowered her lashes and looked down at the shadows beneath her feet.
Of course she had thought about that question.
As long as the cash flow gap at Xu Heavy Industries remained, as long as Xu Zhengming still needed a marriage alliance to shore up his business, he wouldn't let this go.
You can dodge the first time, but not the second.
Seeing her silent, He Linxi spoke again. "Actually, in a situation like this, you could find a way to take the initiative into your own hands."
Xu Yumo turned to look at him. "What do you mean?"
"Instead of sitting around waiting for him to set you up with those losers…" He Linxi's tone slowed, each word carrying a coaxing quality, "why not make the first move yourself—pick a suitable partner who can keep your father in check, and get married."
Xu Yumo was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help but laugh.
"Easy for you to say. Where am I supposed to find someone like that? With my personality, my circle is pitifully small. The only guys my age I know well are Zhou Shiye and Lin Yuhang, and there's no way either of them could…"
Before she could finish, the person beside her let out a very soft laugh.
Xu Yumo paused mid-sentence and looked up at him.
He Linxi leaned against the railing, standing with his back to the light, the night falling into his deep black eyes.
"What?"
His brow arched slightly, and in his low, magnetic voice, he drawled slowly:
"Am I not a familiar face from your generation?"