Only then did I begin to understand what he meant.

A man as powerful as Zhou Xiangyu cared deeply about his reputation. If word got around that he’d won a bet only to let the girl go without a fight, the people in his social circle would undoubtedly make him a laughingstock. Besides, he had already made it clear that he wasn’t going to force me.

I turned the matter over in my head again and again. In the end, I couldn’t think of a better option, so I could only nod obediently.

The corners of his lips lifted slightly, and his mood was clearly much better.

He reached out and gave my cheek a light pinch.

“Just as I thought. Such a good girl.”

After a brief pause, he added, “And one more thing. I don’t like people calling me ‘Young Master Yu.’”

I froze for a moment before cautiously trying, “Zhou Xiangyu?”

A sharp pain immediately shot through my waist as his arm tightened around me.

I jumped and hurriedly corrected myself.

“X-Xiangyu?”

This time, he actually laughed.

It was a rare smile, and somehow, it softened the sharp, cold lines of his face, making him look unexpectedly gentle.

“That’s better. Good girl.”

For some reason, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was some deeper meaning hidden behind that smile—something I simply couldn’t figure out.

By the time I came back to my senses, I had already been brought to an extravagant presidential suite. The kind of place where just seeing the room rate would make an ordinary person faint on the spot.

Zhou Xiangyu, however, was nowhere to be seen.

Before he left, he’d only said one thing:

“Take a hot shower first. Don’t catch a cold.”

I sat dazed on the bed, the more I thought about it, the stranger it seemed.

The notorious underworld kingpin everyone talked about—the kind of man rumored to threaten people with being thrown into the sea at the slightest provocation—was now worrying about me more carefully than any family doctor ever had.

The contrast was almost impossible for me to process.

Just then, my eyes happened to fall on the liquor cabinet beside me.

Every bottle was so expensive that just looking at them made me feel like I couldn’t afford the damages if I accidentally broke one.

And suddenly, Jiang Ye’s mocking voice echoed in my head.

Too obedient. Boring as hell.

A wave of resentment and anger surged through me.

Yes, I was obedient.

So obedient that whenever I went drinking with them, I wouldn’t even dare take a sip, only to be mocked every single time for being some naive small-town girl who had no idea how to have fun in the city.

If he thought I was too obedient…

Fine.

Tonight, I was going to rebel just once and show him exactly what he’d been missing.

Once I made up my mind, I acted without hesitation.

I grabbed a bottle of champagne, popped it open, and tipped my head back for a huge gulp.

Unfortunately, my attempt at looking cool lasted all of three seconds.

I immediately started coughing so hard I thought my lungs were going to come flying out.

I didn’t get the chance to appreciate whether the champagne was actually good. All I could taste was the sharp, burning alcohol shooting straight up my nose.

My head began spinning.

And spinning.

And spinning…

Through the haze of the alcohol, I vaguely heard footsteps approaching from outside.

A moment later, the bathroom door swung open, and Zhou Xiangyu stepped out.

He frowned when he saw me, clear displeasure written across his face.

The bathrobe draped loosely over his body somehow made him look both put-together and utterly lazy, with a kind of effortless, breath-stealing sensuality that made my drunken brain short-circuit.

I stared at him blankly for a few seconds.

Then, throwing every last shred of dignity out the window, I flashed him a goofy grin.

“Hi, handsome!”

Zhou Xiangyu pinched the bridge of his nose.

At that moment, he looked exactly like an exasperated parent who had just discovered that their child had secretly gotten into trouble.

“Hsu Lian, you’ve been soaking in there for way too long. Come on, get out before you catch a cold.”

I immediately pouted.

Sure, he was ridiculously handsome, but he was also a total buzzkill.

I scooped up a handful of water and splashed it toward him.

“No way! The water’s nice and warm. If you don’t believe me, come in and see for yourself!”

Then, apparently determined to prove my point, I reached out and tried to pull him into the tub.

Unfortunately, I was the one who ended up being pulled instead.

Zhou Xiangyu lifted me effortlessly out of the bathtub, then wrapped me from head to toe in a huge bath towel until I looked like a human cocoon.

I wasn’t happy about it.

I squirmed and struggled inside the towel, grumbling my protests under my breath.

His eyes drifted toward the half-empty champagne bottle on the table.

He was silent for a few seconds.

Then a low laugh escaped him.

“So you were sneaking drinks. No wonder you suddenly found your courage.”

His gaze returned to me, amusement flickering in his eyes.

“A few hours ago, you were looking at me like I was a tiger. And now you’ve got the nerve to splash water in my face?”

I immediately protested at the top of my lungs.

“I’m not drunk! I barely drank any!”

As I spoke, I pursed my lips and held my thumb and index finger almost together to show him exactly how little I’d had.

Zhou Xiangyu stared at the ridiculous little gesture.

In the end, he could only surrender.

“Fine. You’re not drunk. Every drunk person says exactly that.”

I glared at him.

But with my watery eyes and flushed, tear-stained face, there wasn’t a trace of intimidation in the look.

If anything, it only made him laugh harder.

Just then, Zhou Xiangyu’s phone rang.

He glanced at the screen.

Jiang Ye.

He answered without a hint of urgency.

“What is it?”

There was a long silence on the other end.

Then Jiang Ye’s deep voice came through.

“Zhou Xiangyu, give Hsu Lian back to me. I’ll give you something else in exchange.”

Zhou Xiangyu raised an eyebrow.

“You think this is a marketplace? You put her up for a bet when you felt like it, and now you want to trade her back when you’ve changed your mind?”

Jiang Ye continued trying to persuade him, but by then, Zhou Xiangyu’s expression had already turned ice-cold.

In the end, he cut him off with a single sentence.

“If there’s something Zhou Xiangyu wants, I’ll take it myself. I don’t need anyone’s charity, and I don’t make trades.”

I sat curled up beside him, listening to their entire conversation.

A bitter, almost laughable feeling slowly rose in my chest.

He had been the one who put me up as a bet in the first place.

And now he was acting as though he had every right to demand me back.

From beginning to end, had he ever once stopped to ask what I wanted?

Had he ever cared?

Thinking about everything I’d been through, I didn’t know where I found the courage.

But suddenly, I leaned toward the phone and shouted,

“I’m not going back!”

The line went dead silent.

Zhou Xiangyu seemed momentarily caught off guard.

Then he lowered his eyes to look at me, a faint trace of amusement hidden deep in his gaze.

Jiang Ye sounded just as stunned by my response.

It took him a long moment before he finally snapped, anger roughening his voice.

“Hsu Lian, what the hell is this? Are you throwing a tantrum?”

I almost laughed.

A tantrum?

If this had been before, maybe I would have cried. Maybe I would have sulked and acted hurt, hoping he would comfort me.

But now…

I was simply exhausted.

“I’m not throwing a tantrum. I just don’t want to go back to you anymore.”

After saying that, I turned my face away without hesitation.

Zhou Xiangyu watched me for a few seconds before casually ending the call.

At last, the world was quiet again.

He lifted one large hand and gently rubbed the top of my head.

“Happy now?”

I gave a small huff.

“For now.”

Zhou Xiangyu laughed out loud.

Perhaps this was the first time in his life he’d ever encountered someone who could go from crying her eyes out one second to completely changing her attitude the next.

After patiently drying my hair, he pulled the covers over me and tucked me in.

His movements were so natural and practiced that it almost felt as though he’d been taking care of me for years.

I yawned.

The drowsiness brought on by the alcohol came crashing over me like a wave.

Just before I completely drifted into darkness, I vaguely heard him muttering beside me.

“You really are heartless. You cause trouble for me and then fall asleep like nothing happened.”

I stubbornly cracked my eyes open.

“I didn’t…”

“Mm. You didn’t.”

He chuckled softly, his low voice carrying a hint of helplessness.

Then his tone dropped into something strangely coaxing and seductive.

“Then, good girl… will you help me with something?”

Half-asleep and barely aware of what I was doing, I instinctively murmured,

“Mm-hmm.”

The man’s warm breath brushed lightly across my cheek, sending an invisible current through my body and leaving me weak all over.

A strange tingling sensation spread from my fingertips, slowly making its way deep into my heart.

Under his dark, burning gaze, my already-drunken mind grew even hazier.

I was like a sleepwalker, willingly letting him pull me into a dream that was unfamiliar yet so gentle, I didn’t want to wake up.

All I could hear was the deep, slightly uneven rhythm of his breathing beside my ear.

Every low, muffled sound made my heart skip, then race wildly against my chest.

The familiar scent of cedarwood clung to him, surrounding me and filling my senses.

The warmth.

The feeling of safety.

It made me let go of every last defense without even realizing it, my entire body gradually relaxing.

I was far too sleepy to think about what exactly he wanted me to “help” him with.

Amid the hazy, intimate atmosphere, my eyelids grew heavier and heavier.

And slowly, I sank into a deep sleep, wrapped in the warmth of his arms and the tight embrace that held me close.