Half a zhang away.
Fu Siyu covered half of his face, blood instantly gushing from his nostrils.
She slowly opened her eyes.
Qi Yan strode toward her with a grim expression.
His long legs were wrapped in black suit pants, and his towering height of 1.92 meters brought an overwhelming sense of pressure.
A dazzling array of crystal chandeliers cast their light onto his golden-framed glasses, countless fleeting beams accentuating his perfect silhouette, his imposing aura innate and natural.
He stood beneath the lights, just a step away from her, his damp hair slicked back with a few stray strands falling casually over his brow, an irresistible tension about him.
His gaze, laden with meaning, swept over Fu Siyu, who lay sprawled on the ground after being punched by him.
Then, with a long arm, he wrapped it around her waist and planted a quick kiss on her lips.
“Teacher Wan, ready to come with me?”
The cool touch was like a dragonfly skimming water—there and gone in an instant.
At the same time, something cold slipped into her palm.
Wanqing looked up at him, her heart unexpectedly fluttering with a hint of timidity.
She bit her lower lip and placed her hand over his.
This man was the desperate gamble she had made by cutting off all other paths.
And she had won this bet.
The Anxin Society, which rose to power through underworld dealings, had tyrannized the capital for years, yet never dared to cross the Qi family, whose roots in Beijing stretched back centuries.
The century-old Qi family was the largest “red capital” in the capital, and Qi Yan himself could be described as someone who could turn clouds with a flip of his hand and rain with another.
As the crown prince of the imperial city’s elite, his grandfather was a military commander, and his maternal grandfather was the top authority in Beijing—truly born of impeccable lineage.
Despite being able to inherit a vast fortune, he chose to start his own business, spreading his financial empire across the globe in just four years, earning both respect and fear in the circles of the powerful and the financial elite.
In the world of fame and fortune, he was called CEO Qi, while those in the capital’s elite circles respectfully addressed him as Second Master.
Qi Yan subtly observed her reaction, his dark, narrow eyes behind the lenses narrowing imperceptibly.
“What’s wrong, Teacher Wan? Reluctant to leave this place? Don’t want to go with your brother?”
Brother?
Wanqing didn’t understand his peculiar tastes.
Last night had been the same—tears welling in her eyes beneath him, his damp fingers teasing her sensitive, flushed earlobes, forcing her to call him “brother.”
Tormented to the brink, her ears filled with the wanton sounds he wrung from her, she had no choice but to call him “brother” again and again.
But she had no time to dwell on that now. She glanced at Fu Siyu, who was clearly restraining himself.
A faint smile curved her lips.
“How could I? It’s just that there are some very important things I must retrieve. I promise, I’ll never make you wait for me again in this lifetime.”
Hearing this, Qi Yan raised an eyebrow and pinched the tip of her nose.
“Good. Teacher Wan, you’d better keep your word.”
Fu Siyu watched the intimate display between the two right before his eyes, an unprecedented jealousy surging through him.
To see his woman openly held in another man’s arms was undoubtedly the greatest humiliation a man could suffer.
Taking a handkerchief from his suit pocket, he wiped away the blood from his nose, his somber eyes fixed intently on the hand resting on her waist.
“CEO Qi, what do you mean by coming to my territory in the dead of night and openly taking my woman right in front of me?”
The punch from Qi Yan had completely sobered him.
In the capital, no one dared to openly defy the Qi family.
As the leader of the Anxin Society, with thousands of people relying on him for their livelihood, he absolutely could not afford to let these privileged princelings find any leverage against him.
Qi Yan released her, took a step forward, hands in his pockets, and stared intently at Fu Si Yu for a moment.
His gaze sharpened like a blade.
“Then I wonder, what does it mean when CEO Fu openly and brazenly lays hands on my person right in front of me in the dead of night?”
Fu Si Yu, suppressing his anger again and again, also stepped forward.
“Your person? CEO Qi, everyone in the capital’s circles knows that she belongs to me.”
The air was thick with tension, a battle on the verge of erupting.
The two men, equally matched in presence, locked eyes, their powerful auras causing the temperature in the room to plummet to freezing.
Amidst the standoff.
Qi Yan suddenly adjusted his glasses and let out a light, enigmatic chuckle.
“What a pity. From now on, she’s mine.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Fu Si Yu’s phone rang.
After the call ended, Fu Si Yu looked up again, his eyes now streaked with a web of bloodshot red.
Resentment, fury, disbelief… all mingled and swept across his face.
His hand gripping the phone turned white at the knuckles from the force, and his voice seemed to grind out from between his teeth.
“Spending 5 billion to help a smiling actress break her contract—Second Master Qi is truly extravagant!”
“Is it a lot?”
A smile curled at the corner of Qi Yan’s lips as he lowered his head and casually toyed with the tasseled earring dangling from Wanqing’s shoulder, winding the tassel around his fingertip.
“It might be a huge sum to you, but to me—”
He paused, sweeping a careless glance around the room, “it’s just a flick of the wrist.”
“Everyone in the capital knows that I, Qi Yan, love to spend money like water.”
“No need to thank me. Consider it compensation and interest for CEO Fu’s hard work taking care of my Wan Laoshi all these years. After all, some debts must be settled.”
His tone was casual, as if he were discussing a trivial matter.
Yet every word he spoke carried no hint of jest.
And when Fu Si Yu heard the word “compensation,” his temple twitched, his face flushing red and then paling with suppressed rage.
But Qi Yan had no intention of letting him off. Holding the woman in his arms, he added fuel to the fire once more.
“Also, please watch your words, CEO Fu. Wan Laoshi is now mine. Insulting her is insulting me. If CEO Fu wishes to openly make an enemy of the Qi family, I wouldn’t mind inviting you for tea at the customs office.”
Fu Si Yu’s eyes were cold and lifeless, his voice mechanical.
“Second Young Master Qi can act so high and mighty toward me only because of your family background. If you weren’t born into the Qi family, would you even have the chance to speak to me?”
Qi Yan tilted his head and scoffed, his voice dripping with disdain.
“Family background is also capital. Do you have it? You don’t, so you’re only fit to be crushed into dust by me.”
Fu Si Yu slumped onto the sofa, his face pale, unable to utter a word for a long time.
“Wan Laoshi, come home with me.”
Qi Yan carried Wanqing’s suitcase in one hand and firmly grasped her hand with the other, leading her toward the door.
At the entrance of the society.
Lying haphazardly on the ground were his defeated subordinates.
Wanqing paused, stunned. “Did you… do all this?”
“Pathetic.”
With that, he led her to a sleek black Pagani supercar parked by the roadside.
They got in and drove off into the distance.