"What did you say!"
Zhou Lu was shocked to the point of turning pale, dropping her phone to the ground with a pathetic crash, its broken pieces mixing with the heart-wrenching cries on the other end, leaving everyone trembling in fear.
"Brother Ye..."
She turned to look at the person beside her, only to see the teenagerâs face suddenly turn deathly pale, as white as a transparent sheet of paper, devoid of any color, with arms stiff and unresponsive.
He broke free from her, staggering as he ran out. As he reached the door, he tripped over a piece of equipment that had abruptly extended out, and fell heavily to the ground.
"Brother Ye!"
"Mr. Ye Xian!"
"Senior Ye Xian!"
The knees of Ye Xianâs jeans were scuffed as she half-kneeled and slid on the ground, her knees scraped and swelling red with stabbing pain, but she seemed to feel nothing, getting up to continue running outside.
On Huannan Avenue, a nanny van sped by like a bolt of lightning. Due to the excessive speed, the shadow of the car caused the air around it to tremble slightly, much like the little woman in the driverâs seat.
Her hands, clutching the steering wheel, were shaking uncontrollably, her foot on the gas pedal was equally erratic. Blood surged throughout her body, coursing backward through her veins with icy chill. Tears uncontrollably welled up, blurring her eyes; everything she sawâfrom the lights to the roads to the passing carsâwas but a hazy illusion.
No, it canât be, it definitely canât be...
He wonât be in an accident, he definitely wonât be, he definitely wonât be!
Under the signpost of Route 103 in the Capital Suburb, a group of people dressed in firefighter uniforms had erected a long yellow cordon around the accident site. The nanny van came to an abrupt halt on the periphery, the tires screeching against the ground to leave a long mark. Inside the van, the little woman looked up, and upon seeing the massive fire blazing outside, her mind went blank as if it had exploded.
The fire at the accident site extended for hundreds of meters, the orange flames dying the sky a different color, growing fiercely as if doused with fuel.
Ye Xian pushed open the car door, staring at the raging fire before her and the splattered car debris. For a moment, the world spun around her, and her ears buzzed with nothing but silence. Her narrow amber eyes lost focus.
"Sir, sir, hello, this is the accident site, the section has been sealed off, please keep your distance!"
"Sir, you canât enter here!"
"Let me go!!!"
Five or six people held Ye Xian tightly, but her frenzied, bloodshot-eyed appearance frightened them. Like a madwoman, she tore open the cordon and rushed into the accident site that stretched hundreds of meters, stumbling as she frantically searched the chaotic scene as if urgently looking for something. But in the expanse of her empty gaze was only the increasingly rampant fire, as if it were about to ignite her entire being.
"Bo Tingshen... Bo Tingshen..."
"BO TINGSHEN!!!"
Suddenly, she clutched her chest, her heart felt like it had been stabbed with a knife, suffocating her with pain, until she could barely breathe.
"Bo Tingshen, where are you?"
"Where are you? Where are you!!!"
Tears streamed down her face like broken beads, scalding hot and rolling large, blurring all her vision. Stumbling within the chaos, she cried out, her voice torn apart, "Answer me, Bo Tingshen, answer me, please?"
"If you answer me, I wonât be mad at you!"
As long as you reply, anything you want is fine, you can lie to me, you can play with me, just answer me, just live!
"Bo Tingshen, Tingshen... where are you?"
Outside the cordon, more than a dozen people were stunned by the young manâs near breakdown, his frantic appearance and tearful, heart-wrenching cries, unable to utter a word.
Ye Xian ran to the end of the cordon, and in an instant, saw the heart of the fire where it burned the strongest, consuming a car with license plate showing two overlapping Râs, the number she knew so well.
Her once-empty gaze suddenly fixed, as if pierced by a sharp sword, unfathomable.
Bo Tingshen...
Bo Tingshen, are you there?
Bo Tingshen, Iâve come to find you.
Fearlessly, she ran towards the towering flames when suddenly a deep, magnetic voice sounded from behind her, "Ye Xian!"
Ye Xianâs steps halted abruptly, as if she were hearing things. She slowly turned her face and saw the man walking toward her not too far away.
He was wearing a dark coat, slightly lifted by the winds of the suburbs, his tall and straight figure exuding unmatched elegance, standing out against the blazing orange-red inferno behind him, his features as refined and peerless as the sun itself, striking and captivating as when she first laid eyes on him.
Amidst the sky-high flames and ethereal smoke, Ye Xian had a moment of disorientation, thinking she was seeing a hallucination. But even if it was a hallucination, she rushed toward him without hesitation.
The man marched toward her in grand strides, she flew into his arms like a bullet, pushing him back a few steps from the impact.
Embracing his waist tightly, she felt his warm, solid chest, his urgent and heated breath, his scent the most familiar and comforting, and she immediately broke down crying like a child who had lost and then found a great treasure, "Wuuu scared me to death, you scared me to death... I thought you were gone, you were gone..."
"Baby, baby donât be scared, Iâm here, Iâve always been here."
The ultimate heartache and excitement blended on Bo Tingshenâs handsome face, holding the little woman in his arms so tightly it seemed he wanted to meld her into his very being, his expression frantic yet utterly satisfied, "My baby is still here, how could I bear to leave?"
No words, no emotions could express how he felt seeing her calling his name, rushing into the fire without a second thought.
His Xianxian cares for him deeply, and he was falling madly in love with his Xianxian too.
How could she be so wonderful, how could she torment him so?
"Wuuu!"
"Wuuu wuuu wuuu..."
Ye Xian, traumatized greatly, curled up in his arms like a small abused animal, and Bo Tingshenâs heart nearly shattered from her crying. He kissed her deeply on the top of her head, forehead, eyes, and when he saw the swelling redness around her eyes, he kissed away every tear that fell, even his deep eyes turning slightly red, "Xianxian, Xianxian donât cry, thereâs no need to be scared, Iâll always be by your side, never leaving you."
His fiery kisses, tender confessions, and gentle sighs pulled her taut nerves back, dispelling the extreme fear bit by bit.
Heâs real, truly Bo Tingshen.
Heâs okay... heâs okay...
Ye Xian buried her face in his chest, unable to stop her tears for another ten minutes, soaking his thick coat thoroughly.
Pang Kai, while directing the hired personnel to clear the âaccidentâ scene behind the cordon, couldnât help but shed a few tears himself.
He didnât think Ye Xian, who usually couldnât get anything right but was number one at making the CEO angry, would dash into a fiery inferno for the CEO at a critical moment. With such a raging fire, to go in was akin to a death wish?
It turned out the CEO was this important to her.
This is the power of love!
Truly moving!
But to witness such a scene, they owed big thanks to his superb acting today; it would be unfair if this yearâs Oscar nominations didnât include him, given his outstanding performance!
"Baby, stop crying. Your tears are breaking my heart. Iâm standing right in front of you safe and sound, arenât I?"
Bo Tingshen gently patted her back, lowering his head to claim her soft whimpering lips, just as he was about to cradle her face and deepen the kiss, Ye Xian abruptly pushed him away.
Having gone through such intense fear, joy, and release, a wave of grievance and anger suddenly surged up within her, and she attempted vehemently to push him away.
But held so tightly, she couldnât move him an inch.
"Whatâs wrong?"
Bo Tingshen looked at the charming and captivating little woman in front of him with a puzzled expression, gently brushing aside the disheveled bangs on her forehead.
Ye Xianâs eyes were blazing with anger, "You deserve it! Deserve it even in death! Who asked you to go abroad with your childhood sweetheart? Go again if you dare!"
Bo Tingshen suddenly burst into laughter, his lips curved high with a resonant laugh, not knowing how happy he was. His smile was exceptionally attractive, ten thousand times more than in the revolving restaurant, yet to Ye Xian, it was an eyesore.
He had just laughed at that pretty woman in the restaurant in the same way! This big jerk, with his deep scheming mind...
"Fake, all of that is fake."
"... What? Whatâs fake?"
Ye Xian was stunned, staring at him dumbfounded.
Bo Tingshen found her bewildered expression irresistibly cute and couldnât help but try to kiss her while holding her face, but unfortunately, she pushed him away again.
Ye Xian grabbed his tie seriously and earnestly, pressing him for answers, her eyes bright and intense, "Explain clearly! Whatâs fake?"
Bo Tingshen leaned forward, his tongue lightly touching his jaw, incredibly pleased to see her jealous look, "The childhood sweetheart is fake, the meal is fake, the chat is fake, going abroad is also fake."
"???" Ye Xian was even more bewildered, "Youâre lying! Then smiling so happily at her, and renting out the place for her, is that fake too?"
"Smile? Do you know I called you all night without getting through, I even had murderous thoughts, it took a great effort for me to force out that smile."
Ye Xian: "?" So it seemed it was still her fault?
"I rented the place because I was afraid someone would recognize you."
Ye Xian: "..." How was this even believable? How did he know she would go?
"Then why did you fake it?"
"What do you think?"
Bo Tingshen raised his fine ink-like eyebrows, brushing a finger over her nose, "Of course, to provoke you, my little fool."
"Provoke me?"
Ye Xian was dumbfounded, then suddenly had an epiphany.
Wait, when Jiang Wen suddenly called her to shoot a commercial, he stayed up all night and went on a date with some childhood friend, coincidentally under her building, could it be that all of this was his deliberate setup? Just to provoke her?!
"Why did you do this!"
Before Ye Xian could get angry, the man reprimanded her, his voice low and deep, as if she had committed an enormous mistake, "Why do you think? I like you so much, Iâm going crazy from liking you, yet you, my little fairy, keep torturing me, not giving me an answer, just how long do you plan to drag this out?"
"..."
Ye Xian was intimidated by his imposing demeanor, inexplicably feeling a bit guilty? Clearly, she was the one questioning him!
"Who, whoâs dragging you? When you confessed to me before, how was I supposed to know my own feelings, whether I like you or not..."
"If you donât like me, who do you intend to like? You can only like me!"
Ye Xian was scolded and realized the topic was getting more and more off-track, almost to her grandmotherâs house, "Wait, werenât we talking about why you set up a scheme to provoke me?"
"Because I couldnât wait any longer, I couldnât stand being just your superior any longer, couldnât stand you giving me no response, couldnât stand only fantasizing about you in secret, unable to speak the true words of my heart to your face!"
Ye Xian was stunned by his words, her cheeks slightly flushed, "..." How could this person speak such shameless and goosebump-inducing words so smoothly?
"And you think you can deceive me?"
"Youâve deceived me so many times, whatâs so wrong about me deceiving you once?" Bo Tingshen rested his forehead against hers, gently rubbing, the love in his eyes almost spilling over.
Still angry, Ye Xian turned her head away, "But this trick is too infuriating! Too sinister!"
Did he know that seeing him smile so happily, so thoughtfully at another woman, made her so mad she almost cried?
Bo Tingshen exhaled warmly on her fair face, making her flush red and white, "Baby, I was wrong, I promise this is the last time, the only time I deceive you, but even this time wasnât my idea, it was Shangguanâs."
"Shangguan Yunli?"
Ye Xian frowned, just as she thought! How could he do such a childish and ridiculous thing, turns out there was a puppet master behind the scenes!
"That person always coming up with such lousy tricks, why would you listen to him!"
"Heh~" He laughed softly, nuzzling against her milky-scented neck, as if helpless, "I had no choice, driven to madness, grasping at straws."
When he was being aggressive, Ye Xian felt a bit angry, but seeing him like this, she stuttered, feeling shy, "All, all this just to get me to agree to you?"
"Yes."
"Then I..." Ye Xian bit her lip shyly, inadvertently seeing Pang Kai directing people to extinguish a fire in the distance.
"Here, here, clean up thoroughly, donât leave any traces!"
"?"
Pang Kai can command firefighters?
Wait, such a major car accident happened, the Rolls Royce totaled into ashes, how did the CEO and Pang Kai manage to come out not only unscathed but also clean and pristine?
She had been too shocked earlier, lost her head, now she came to her senses...
"This car accident, was it also a trap you designed to deceive me?"
Bo Tingshenâs body stiffened, Ye Xian sensed it sensitively, her expression suddenly changed, her amber eyes almost spitting fire as she struggled hard to push him away, "Bo Tingshen! You bastard, you even deceived me about this! Let go of me! I hate you to death!"
Bo Tingshen, seemingly prepared, tightened his grip on her, his gentle eyes not seeming false in their depth, "I worked so hard to get you, and now you want me to let go? Wishful thinking!"
"You..."
"Youâre despicable, shameless, and low!"
She pounded on him wildly, enraged, biting his chest with all her might unlike before when she only pretended, this time using all her strength to vent the earlier sadness, not expecting the man to gasp in enjoyment, murmuring into her ear, "Feels so good, my little Xianxianâs bite feels so good on hubby."
"?!"
Ye Xian let go of her teeth, embarrassed and angry, "Whoâs hubby! Let me go!"
"Donât even think about it."
Bo Tingshenâs dark eyes curved, mischievously pecking her forehead, "Now answer me, do you like me, are you willing to be with me?"
"I donât like..."
"If you dare refuse me, Iâll jump into the fire right now!"
Bo Tingshen looked at her with a grim face, Ye Xian frowned, "Youâre still threatening me?"
Bo Tingshenâs smile deepened, "I wouldnât dare, Iâm afraid if I jump in, youâll follow to mourn your husband."