His legs were on top of hers and he wrapped them within his own. He trapped her arms in his and enveloped her in his embrace.

Despite wearing a nightgown, she could still feel the scalding heat transmitting from his skin.

Her cheek was pressed against his satiny skin and she felt his incredible warmth.

Since her arms were also locked by him, she had nowhere to place them. All she could do was align them stiffly by her side, as though she was bound by an invisible rope.

Qi Chengzhi curled his lips on top of her head. He grabbed her hand and placed it on his waist, whereby his firm yet flexible muscles were able to sense the softness of her hands. Unable to restrain his emotions, he wrapped her even tighter in his embrace.

In her hazy morning slumber, Song Yu felt a hand crawling up her body. It began its journey from her belly up and her skin began to feel cold.

Her breast felt warm and slightly sore, as if someone was grabbing it. Her lips were parted open and a warm tongue entered into her mouth. Her breathing was difficult. Coupled with the disturbance, she was no longer able to continue sleeping.

She stretched her hand out subconsciously and touched against a smooth, warm chest. She opened her eyes abruptly and saw a familiar sight - that of Qi Chengzhi pressing his kisses onto her. On the previous occasion, though, her clothes were intact, but as of then, her nightgown had been raised up to her neck. Her body felt hot from being touched and her breathing became stifled almost involuntarily.

"Qi Chengzhi…" She opened her mouth and her face was frighteningly red.

He trailed his kisses from the corner of her lips to her neck, then continued heading down past her nightgown. His body forced its way in between her thighs, enabling her to feel his erection with the utmost clarity.

"No! This is too fast!" Song Yu was rather terrified. With both her hands, she pushed on his shoulders. If things continued as before, she was afraid that she might not have the strength or the determination to turn him down.

"I"m not ready yet! Qi Chengzhi, you said you wouldn"t…"

Qi Chengzhi looked up abruptly, revealing the blazing fire of his intimidating eyes. They burned Song Yu"s eyes, skin, and cheek to the point of soreness. As a result, she trembled and did not dare to look at him.

"Please, let go of me first," Song Yu muttered softly and pushed down on his shoulders, despite being rather scared.

If he kept on persisting, she felt that would be unable to refuse him firmly.

She did have feelings for him, even until then.

She straightened her nightgown immediately. For her to be naked in front of him so suddenly, she found it indescribably embarra.s.sing and her whole body was feeling warm.

"But I"m already like this. You need to help me." His exceptionally hoa.r.s.e voice contained a touch of unbearable desire.

He twitched ever so slightly and it immediately elicited an intense gasp from Song Yu. He knew right then that she had felt it.

Song Yu pulled herself back. Her gaze s.h.i.+fted down involuntarily from his face; his "tent" was even more erect as compared to that of the previous night.

She originally thought that last night"s incident opened her eyes. The memory of his astonis.h.i.+ng size was not yet erased from her memory. Just shortly after - on the next morning - a much newer impression of it was imprinted in her mind.

"Help me." He leaned to her and rubbed his smooth lips against her ear.

Song Yu"s face was so warm that she had virtually lost all sense of reason. Her lips trembled as she asked, "How… How should I help?"

Qi Chengzhi gave her a sudden kiss and slid his hand down her arm. Gripping her hand, he guided her into his pants. The sounds of her trembling breaths echoed right beside his ear.

Song Yu was in the kitchen preparing a sandwich for breakfast. Her right hand trembled because his heat still lingered there.

She lifted her trembling hand and smelled it. The strong scent of his male hormones was still present.

He had asked her to help him relieve himself and after the deed was done, he had a gratified and pleasurable expression on his face. Song Yu felt an abnormal, shy anger. A knife - which she used to cut the crusts off of toast - was held in her hand, but her shy yet angry expression made it seem like she was holding the knife to murder someone.

In the end, she pressed the knife down in fury and sliced off the crusts with force.

Qi Chengzhi was fairly calm despite being the main culprit. He had already changed into a fresh set of clothes and the ones he wore the night before was left with Song Yu, so she could help him wash them.

He opened the television and surfed through the channels, treating the place as though it was his own home.

Song Yu brought over the sandwiches and some freshly brewed coffee for him. His gaze s.h.i.+fted instantaneously from the television to her body. His penetrative and possessive gaze made Song Yu"s hair stand on end.

Seeing him dressed so prim and proper in his tailored suit, he looked like a model who was owned only by those who were very successful.

Song Yu could not deny that he was the one man who had the most character when wearing a suit.

At that moment, however, Song Yu only had four words for him: "You are an animal!"

His gaze was brazenly displaying his desire to eat her up and under that gaze, Song Yu"s hands felt weak, nearly causing the coffee cup to fall.

Within the next second, the hand which held the cup had been steadied by Qi Chengzhi"s hand. The coffee was held firmly in her hand and not a drop was spilled.

"Why are you so nervous?" His rich voice had a hint of playfulness.

His repeated teasing sent her into a flying rage. She shot him a glance and remained silent.

Since he was already half-satisfied by early morning, his mood was exceptionally good and he decided not to take it to heart. He took the coffee cup from her hands, seated himself on the dining table, and took a couple of bites from the sandwich.

After breakfast, he walked to the door with his luggage bag. Noting that Song Yu remained temperamental and was not following him, he extended his hand toward her. "Come. I"m going to the airport but I"ll send you to the office first."

Song Yu was so astonished that she forgot about her anger. She asked, "You"re really going on a business trip?"

"You thought I lied?" he asked half-smilingly, and because he knew he saw through her, he had a somewhat mocking expression.

Song Yu"s face reddened in embarra.s.sment. In order to hide it, she looked down and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

She really thought that Qi Chengzhi cooked up an excuse just to come over and stay the night.

Song Yu packed her things in a hurry, grabbed her bag, then followed Qi Chengzhi out.

Chang Lai stood in front of the Range Rover and watched as the both of them came out from the building one after the other.

Never before did Chang Lai see Qi Chengzhi expressing such an outward radiance. His carefree demeanor was happiness to the core.

Chang Lai then looked at Song Yu. Her face was still red and she would steal glances at Qi Chengzhi once in a while. Chang Lai understood immediately after seeing that.

"Miss Song," Chang Lai greeted respectably.

Song Yu flashed him a smile and sat at the back together with Qi Chengzhi.

On that occasion, Qi Chengzhi did not insist. Instead he agreed to drop her off some distance away from Chengs.h.i.+.

However, Song Yu did not rush to get off the car. She just sat there, not knowing why she was hesitating. Qi Chengzhi was running out of time but he did not urge her to go.

After a while, Song Yu looked to him and said softly, "That… your business trip. Take care of yourself."

She finished her sentence hastily. Her mind began to numb and she wanted to get off the car. She was embarra.s.sed to look at Qi Chengzhi"s pleased expression.

Just as her hand touched the door handle, she was pulled back by him. He placed his hands against the door and gave her a fervent kiss.

Upon releasing her, his lips were tainted with her lipstick and his clear eyes were now misty.

With her reddened face, Song Yu glanced at Chang Lai, who was seated in front. From the rear-view mirror, she noticed that he had long closed his eyes.

Qi Chengzhi noticed her small actions and smiled. He then sat back down, looked ahead, and his face reverted to the dignified expression befitting of Qilin"s director.

Before she opened the door and got off, Song Yu twitched her lips and wondered how Qi Chengzhi was so skilled at putting up a façade.

Chang Lai finally opened his eyes and realized how perilous his job would be from then onward. At any given time, the director would randomly do an action, as if to test how fast he reacted!

Through the rear-view mirror, he saw the lipstick on Qi Chengzhi"s lips. It was a total contrast to the latter"s austere expression.

Year-end was approaching soon, and many companies were preparing for the holidays. Some had even begun their holidays. Many construction workers had already pocketed their wages and returned home for the new year, so Qilin"s leisure hotel would have to wait until after the new year to begin work officially.

Owing to the increased pa.s.senger transportation around New Year and the fact that nearly half of the company were foreigners, they had their annual company party at Shengyue. The next day, they would officially begin the holidays.

There was nothing particularly special about Chengs.h.i.+"s annual company party. After Director Zhao"s speech, everyone ate and drank, and after that came the lucky draw.

Song Yu was never lucky with lucky draws, therefore she paid little attention to the lively presenter onstage. Instead, she was savoring her dessert leisurely.

On the table, her phone vibrated. Song Yu checked her phone, and surprisingly, it was a text from Luo Yushu.

[Miss Song, our client insisted on dragging our director to a nightclub. He didn"t want to go but he was unable to reject the invitation. Don"t you worry, though. Not a single woman is by his side now. I"ve never seen anyone as upright as our director.]

Song Yu stared at the message for a moment. She wondered why Luo Yushu would send her that message out of the blue.

On the other end of the phone, Luo Yushu looked dumbfounded as Qi Chengzhi held the former"s phone and seemed to be typing something.

Moments earlier, Qi Chengzhi simply told him, "Lend me your phone for a second."

The phone had yet to be returned to him.

After sending a message, Qi Chengzhi typed another one: [Jian Yi"s hugging another woman by the way!]

Qi Chengzhi read the text a couple of times and felt that it was a bit too deliberate, so he cleared the message and did not send it.

With a cigarette between his lips, he looked around him. The client really did request a girl for him and the most popular one no less. Her name was Manfei or something like that, but still, he declined.

Manfei"s original intention was to throw herself all over him. After all, only few clients were as handsome and as charming as Qi Chengzhi. Manfei was clever; she knew that if she would get some benefits even if she slept with him for just one night.

However, Qi Chengzhi"s stern face was very intimidating and before she could throw herself onto him, she retreated in embarra.s.sment and fear.

Whether intentionally or otherwise, Qi Chengzhi proceeded to hint at her. "There, that guy, he"s the manager of our company"s engineering department. He"s got a great future ahead of him."

With that, Manfei went over and sat beside Jian Yi.

Qi Chengzhi did not know how Jian Yi acted under normal circ.u.mstances but taking into account his relations.h.i.+p with Qi Chengyue, it was certain that he would not simply fool around in Qi Chengzhi"s presence.

Qi Chengzhi squinted. Luo Yushu - who had been observing Qi Chengzhi from the beginning - felt a s.h.i.+ver out of nowhere. He felt that his director"s expression was incredibly terrifying.

Right when that thought popped up, Qi Chengzhi looked over to him abruptly. Luo Yushu was given a ma.s.sive shock and he nearly jumped up from the sofa.

"Did I just catch him red-handed looking at me?"

The cigarette was still clipped in Qi Chengzhi"s lips when he called Luo Yushu over.

Luo Yushu felt a quiver coming over him and he went over while trembling in trepidation. He tested the waters. "Director?" 

Qi Chengzhi returned the phone and said, "When you hear me say "Sorry" later, take a picture from here."

He then paused for a moment and squinted. "Make sure the picture you take is of a much broader area."

"Much broader area? How big should the area be?"

Luo Yushu looked down at his phone which was shoved back to him and looked up again. He saw Qi Chengzhi get up and walked forcefully over to Jian Yi, as if it was entirely not random and abnormal.

Even though Jian Yi was slightly surprised to see Qi Chengzhi, the latter pretended as though he did not see anything. That was precisely Qi Chengzhi"s style - he appeared to be minding his own business and his actions did not raise anyone"s suspicions.

Qi Chengzhi lifted his hand, as if to take the cigarette from his lips. Midway through, he elbowed Jian Yi all of a sudden causing Jian Yi to b.u.mp against Manfei and press her against the sofa.

He took the cigarette from his lips and said plainly, "Sorry."

Luo Yushu"s quick-wits led him to snap a picture of Qi Chengzhi immediately, and it was only natural that Jian Yi was in the frame.

Then, Qi Chengzhi placed the cigarette between his lips and sat back down with Luo Yushu.

Luo Yushu looked at Jian Yi with sympathy. "What did this fella do to offend the director? Could it be that his relations.h.i.+p with Miss Qi did not receive the director"s blessing?"

Jian Yi got off of Manfei immediately. He looked over to Qi Chengzhi with a tensed face and squinted eyes.

Qi Chengzhi took the phone from Luo Yushu without glancing in Jian Yi"s direction.

"Hehehe, you look so gentle but you"re actually aggressive." Manfei giggled crisply and threw herself on Jian Yi.

He frowned and pushed her away somewhat roughly. He sat somewhere else by himself, far from anyone else and watched Qi Chengzhi with a gloomy expression.

Manfei fell backward on the sofa after being pushed. She sat back up with an embarra.s.sed and unhappy expression. First, she was rebuffed by Qi Chengzhi; next came Jian Yi"s unsympathetic rejection. Her face turned into ugly shades of blue and white but she did not seek Jian Yi out anymore. She decided it was better to sit there and ignore everyone.

As for the rest of the girls, they were glad to see a deflated Manfei but no one dared to approach Qi Chengzhi or Jian Yi for fear that they, too, would turn out like Manfei.

Not long after Song Yu placed her phone down, she received another message. It was also from Luo Yushu. When she opened it, it was a picture.

In the picture, Qi Chengzhi was seated and smoking a cigarette. His expression seemed impatient, like he despised being in such a place. Beside him was a man pressing down another woman on the sofa.

Song Yu looked closer and realized that the man on top of the woman was Jian Yi!

She shook her head and smiled bitterly. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Jian Yi used women to secure his future but what would he get by playing around with some girl in a nightclub?"

Her gaze s.h.i.+fted again to Qi Chengzhi. His cold expression made him look refres.h.i.+ngly clean in such a filthy place. With a cigarette in between his long fingers, he seemed to be in his own world and completely at odds with such a rotten place.

She had the sudden thought of wanting him to come back as soon as possible, she did not want him to stay there and be touched by all those women, since he would be soiled if they touched him.

Song Yu found it hard to restrain the thirst in her heart. She searched for Qi Chengzhi"s contact and clicked on the messaging feature

Although it was always Qi Chengzhi who took the initiative, she never really said anything in clear-cut terms to him. She was merely on the receiving end of Qi Chengzhi"s step-by-step coercion.

Despite saying that she had yet to think it over, in reality, did it not mean that she was yielding after making a show of resistance?

The truth was that deep down, she liked him!

Ever since Qi Chengzhi went on the business trip, she did not contact him and neither did he contact her.

It was almost New Year"s Eve and she decided she had to at least send him a text!

Song Yu looked at the empty text-input box. She thought for a moment and entered a sentence. 

[You busy? Don"t smoke so much.]

Qi Chengzhi was holding Luo Yushu"s phone and looking at the pictures. The more he looked, the more pleased he became. Luo Yushu took a great picture from that angle, as it made him look very self-contained.

Of course, Qi Chengzhi felt that it was all because of his faultless figure.

He patted Luo Yushu on the shoulder encouragingly. "You did well. You"re a promising one for this year"s best employee award."

Luo Yushu was overwhelmed by the kind words.

In the midst of admiration, Qi Chengzhi felt his own phone vibrate in his pocket.

He took his phone out and noticed that it was a text from Song Yu. He turned happy almost immediately and returned Luo Yushu"s phone. Since Luo Yushu"s job was done, Qi Chengzhi sent him on his way.

Qi Chengzhi walked out of the room with his phone in his hand and leaned on the wall of the outside corridor. Then, he opened the text.

After reading it, he instantly put out his cigarette.

He exhaled the puff of smoke that was held in his lungs, then began typing quickly. 

[With the client. Bored. Have you eaten? Did you miss me these few days?]

His thumb hovered over the send b.u.t.ton for a long time but he decided to delete the whole text. Replacing everything with a cold "Mm" he then proceeded to send it out.

Song Yu mustered up a lot of courage just to send a short text but all she received was a single word reply. She was disappointed and slightly apprehensive.

"Did he change his mind after going on the business trip?"

Song Yu found his coldness a bit hard to bear. She did not know what he was thinking at that point, so she did not reply his text and simply placed the phone onto the table.

Deep down, Song Yu was reserved and pa.s.sive. Had it not been for that, she would not have kept her feelings from Jian Yi all those years and waited until she had the courage to confess to him.

With Qi Chengzhi"s cold "Mm", whatever courage that had been fired up within her was extinguished once again.

Qi Chengzhi leaned on the wall for a long time but had yet to receive a reply. He had an intense frown as he stared at the message. The screen display locked itself a couple of times. He turned it on and left it to lock again by itself. There was still no text from her.

After some thought, he decided to call her.

Song Yu ate some cake but found it tasteless, and all of a sudden, she felt disgusted with the sweetness of the cake.

She was about to have a drink of water when the phone rang. Once she saw Qi Chengzhi on the screen, she felt inwardly angry, so she did not make up her mind on whether to pick up the phone or not. She simply stared indecisively at the phone.

"You"re not picking it up?" Ruan Danchen saw Qi Chengzhi"s name on the screen and raised an eyebrow at Song Yu.

Song Yu frowned and refused to pick up. She turned to Ruan Danchen and asked, "Tell me, I sent him a message, two sentences, and he only replied me with an "Mm". Why"s that?"

If it were any other guy, Ruan Danchen would say that the man was disinterested, impatient, and distancing himself to enable an automatic breakup.

However, since it was Qi Chengzhi, Ruan Danchen dared not used the same reasoning.

"I think you shouldn"t think so much. He looks like someone who doesn"t talk very much, right? Do you text him often?"

"Actually, no, I don"t." Song Yu shook her head.