Chen Zhi's mind raced as he tugged his collar up, covering the scratch.
"It was too chaotic backstage last night. A scalper sneaked in to grab autographs, and I was accidentally injured when the security guards tried to stop him," Chen Zhi lied smoothly, even starting to complain. "Su Man called the police right then and there. The guy is probably still eating a boxed lunch at the station right now."
Pei Ningxue quietly watched his performance.
"Is that so."
"Then this scalper is quite romantic, specifically scratching inside people's collars."
Chen Zhi didn't change his expression. "Well, they are scalpers, they'll do whatever it takes for an autograph."
Pei Ningxue laughed out of anger. She stared at Chen Zhi's flawless face.
"Chen Zhi, do you really think I'm that easy to fool?"
"I don't think you're easy to fool. It was something I promised her," Chen Zhi sighed and admitted directly.
Hearing this, Pei Ningxue gritted her teeth, her chest heaving slightly in anger.
"Fine, then what does it mean for you to be sitting here right now?"
The emotions she had suppressed all morning could no longer be contained.
"CEO Chen deals with a myriad of affairs every day, aren't you tired from working non-stop? Taking my car to pick up another woman's guest singer, tossing and turning in a hotel all night... and then having me pick you up at the airport early in the morning?"
The more Pei Ningxue spoke, the more aggrieved she felt.
She had returned to Beijing on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. Deep Space Technology had just secured financing, and all the complicated financial coordination and administrative approvals were placed entirely on her shoulders. She stayed up late every night reviewing financial statements, dealing with investors, and liaising with the heads of other companies.
And what about Chen Zhi?
For another woman, he threw in tens of millions of dollars, flew to Changsha in person to keep an eye on things, and booked a hotel room.
Who exactly was the boss of Deep Space Technology?
Chen Zhi looked at her slightly reddened eyes and didn't argue back.
He reached out, grabbed Pei Ningxue's waist, and pulled her whole body over.
Pei Ningxue let out a cry of surprise. She instinctively reached out to push against Chen Zhi's chest, but her wrists were pinned down by Chen Zhi with one hand and pressed against the seat.
"Are you crazy! Lao Zhao is still in the front!"
Pei Ningxue lowered her voice, her ears instantly turning completely red. No matter how much she usually put on the airs of a bossy female CEO, deep down she was just a college freshman who hadn't even graduated yet.
"The partition is up, the soundproofing is great," Chen Zhi leaned close to her face. "You ran to Daxing Airport early in the morning and stayed up half the night tracking my flight, just to interrogate me in the car?"
Pei Ningxue struggled twice but couldn't break free at all.
Her previously cold and arrogant aura instantly dissipated.
"Let go! Who wants to interrogate you!" She turned her head, looking at the car window beside her. "Go find whoever you want, do you really think I care..."
Before she could finish her sentence.
Chen Zhi pinched her chin, turned her face back, and directly lowered his head to block her lips.
Dealing with someone like Pei Ningxue, who had high offense but low defense, reasoning was useless.
Pei Ningxue's eyes widened, and a couple of whimpers escaped her throat.
Her fists pounded on Chen Zhi's shoulders twice.
But her resistance was extremely weak, and after a few seconds, her strength grew lighter and lighter.
In the end, her fingers were just weakly gripping the fabric of Chen Zhi's coat, and her whole body went completely soft.
A few minutes later.
Pei Ningxue pushed him away, panting.
She wiped her lips resentfully, the corners of her eyes glistening with obvious moisture.
"Do you know any other tricks besides this one?"
Seeing that she was still unyielding, Chen Zhi didn't say a word and pressed down on her again.
This time it was longer and more intense than before.
Pei Ningxue pressed her hands against his chest. From resisting at the beginning, she was completely swept into his rhythm by the end.
The temperature inside the car continued to rise.
After a long while, the two finally parted.
A glistening thread lingered between them as they pulled away.
Pei Ningxue leaned against the car window, panting heavily, her cheeks completely flushed.
She finally mustered up a bit of strength and forcefully pushed Chen Zhi away.
"Don't touch me." She turned her face to the side, her voice carrying an obvious sob. "You still have someone else's nail marks on your neck."
Chen Zhi let her go.
He leaned back against the seat, looking at Pei Ningxue beside him.
"Ningxue, I owe you a lot," Chen Zhi said, his tone full of guilt.
Pei Ningxue didn't speak.
The car drove smoothly along Beijing's ring road.
After a long time, Pei Ningxue finally turned her head back.
Her voice was hoarse.
"Do you know what makes me the most angry?"
"It's not about how much money you spent," Pei Ningxue took a breath. "Nor is it about you going to Changsha to keep her company for two days."
"It's when you were in that live stream."
"Watching her cry on stage, watching her hold that trophy." Pei Ningxue paused. "At that moment, your mind was completely filled with her."
"In that moment, you didn't have me in your heart."
Chen Zhi didn't argue.
Because she was right.
On this issue, any explanation would be pale and feeble.
Chen Zhi sighed.
"Pei Ningxue."
"Mhm."
"I can't promise you that I will only have you in my heart every single moment."
"But I can promise you this." Chen Zhi stared into her eyes seriously. "When this game of chess with Deep Space Technology reaches its end, among the people standing by my side, you will definitely be there."
Pei Ningxue looked up.
Her eyes were still red, but she forced her tears back, not letting them fall.
"I don't need to stand by your side."
Pei Ningxue bit her lip, staring at him intently.
"I need you to not treat me like a tool."
Coming back to work on the fifth day of the New Year, working overtime for free, and even letting him use her full-time driver.
She was perfectly willing to do all of these things.
But what she feared was that Chen Zhi really only saw her as a useful CFO. A pawn used to manage the company and deal with capital. Once her value was squeezed dry, she would be kicked to the curb.
The car fell silent again.
After a few minutes of silence, Pei Ningxue's tense shoulders slowly relaxed.
She felt that her words just now were too harsh, or rather, in this kind of emotional tug-of-war, she was always the first one to concede defeat.
As long as Chen Zhi gave her a way out, she would take it without hesitation.
Pei Ningxue shifted a little closer to Chen Zhi.
She reached out and took the initiative to hold Chen Zhi's hand.
Chen Zhi flipped his hand to wrap hers in his palm, holding it a little tighter.
Pei Ningxue rested her head on Chen Zhi's shoulder.
"Am I too easy to coax?" Pei Ningxue let out a self-deprecating laugh.
Chen Zhi didn't continue the topic, but instead reached out and stroked her hair.
"You didn't sleep well last night, get some more rest."
Pei Ningxue closed her eyes. After tossing about all morning and experiencing such emotional ups and downs, a wave of sleepiness was indeed washing over her now.
She adjusted into a comfortable position.
"We're not going to the company," Pei Ningxue mumbled with her eyes closed. "Lao Zhao, head straight back to Wanliu Residence."
In the front, Lao Zhao didn't make a sound. The car smoothly changed lanes at the next intersection.
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
