Chapter 35

She watched him as he clenched his fists tightly. However, she continued to look up at him. Not a trace of shame could be seen on her face.

She stared straight at him, as well as at a certain part of his body. She was filled with curiosity. She had already done so much to excite him. Would this man still be able to exert self-control?

He wouldn’t be, right?

She needed to direct this question to Yu Weiwei, who knew a lot more than she did.

“You’re a young girl. How can you be so shameless at such a young age?” Shen Chi criticized Xu Zhaomu once more.

Her anger and fury erupted.

“You’re the one who acted shamelessly first.” Xu Zhaomu argued with a reddened face.

She had asked him to leave. Yet he had continued to dry her hair. Who had been more shameless?

“Know your place!” Shen Chi harrumphed coldly with a stiff expression. He shot an icy glance toward her as he stormed toward the door.

Xu Zhaomu didn’t know if she could be considered the winner. However, she still hadn’t managed to kiss Shen Chi.

As Shen Chi walked out of Xu Zhaomu’s room, Shen Shihan just so happened to walk by one floor below. He looked up and caught sight of Shen Chi’s unsightly expression. His clothes were rather disheveled and not a single button remained on his shirt.

A normal person would logically assume that Shen Chi had forced himself on Xu Zhaomu.

Shen Shihan was a normal person. So he assumed that that was the case.

“Ahem, ahem.” Shen Shihan coughed lightly. He lowered his head and intentionally made a detour.

Shen Chi shot a nasty look at him. Their eyes met by accident. He glared disapprovingly at Shen Shihan, before walking off to his own room without saying a word.

Shen Shihan retrieved a few items that he’d been looking for in the living room and returned to his room as well.

The moment Shen Chi returned to his own room, he went straight to take a cold shower. This was the second time he needed to take a cold shower in the past few days.

If this holding back continued, it would be detrimental to his health.

He threw a punch at the damp walls of the shower cubicle. He really wanted to beat Xu Zhaomu up. How could she be so shameless at such a young age?

Just a few minutes ago, she had been staring at him with burning passion and desire, with a captivating, intoxicating smell.

Did she think she was still a ten-year-old girl? Did she think this was a harmless joke?

The more Shen Chi thought about all this, the more annoyed he became. His cold shower lasted one entire hour before he was finally able to compose himself.

After stepping out of the bathroom, he at last noticed the unanswered calls on his phone. There were calls from his father, from Li Beiting, and…from Bai Man.

After staring at the screen for quite some time, Li Beiting called again just as he was about to put his phone down.

“Shen Chi, Shen Chi, you must have forgotten your duties. The hall was in an utter mess, but you actually left without saying a word. I called you so many times, but you didn’t pick up.”

“Weren’t you there?” Shen Chi replied indifferently.

“There are some things that I can settle, and there are other things that are beyond my reach. Bai Man came over to talk to me, and she kept asking me about your whereabouts. How was I supposed to answer her?”

“Li Beiting, are there some instances when you don’t know how to lie?”

“……” The corners of Li Beiting’s lips twitched. “I’m being serious right now.”

“I’m also being serious.”

“You’re impressive.” Li Beiting conceded defeat. “What are you planning to do about that Zheng Lin? She is Bai Man’s biological cousin. You should be clear about her relation in this. You should be even clearer than I am.”

“Give her a taste of her own medicine.”

“Didn’t Bai Man call you to plead on her behalf? Your heart must have melted after a beauty like that begged you for mercy.” Li Beiting chuckled.

“Li Beiting, your words appear rather excessive.” Shen Chi lowered his voice.

“Okay, okay, okay. I won’t speak about it anymore. What about Zhaomu? Is she all right? Was she frightened?”

Shen Chi sneered. “Do you really think she was scared by that Zheng Lin? You’ve underestimated Xu Zhaomu.”

The moment Shen Chi recalled the things Xu Zhaomu had done in the bathroom, his anger started to brew once again.

“But, Shen Chi, your reaction tonight was quite exaggerated. Fortunately, Xu Zhaomu is only a little girl. Otherwise, what would Bai Man think about that?” Li Beiting was explaining what he’d really thought about the situation.

Shen Chi had stood up for Xu Zhaomu in public. He’d even carried her out with everyone watching.

Bai Man was a woman. She probably didn’t feel too good about that.

Fortunately, Shen Chi had watched Xu Zhaomu grow up. She was simply a younger sister to him.

“Do you think she’ll get jealous over Xu Zhaomu?” Shen Chi glanced out of the window lazily.

“Definitely not. Bai Man is not an unreasonable woman,” Li Beiting replied.

“Li Beiting, let me give you a warning.” Shen Chi suddenly switched his tone of voice. He spoke coldly and sternly.

He recalled Xu Zhaomu’s bottle of bust-enhancing essential oil as well as the nonsensical magazines that frequently appeared in her bag. Of course, he was really angry about what had happened that evening.

“Hmm? What?” Li Beiting could not recall what he had done to provoke this guy.

“Watch over Yu Weiwei. Don’t let her lead Xu Zhaomu astray!” Shen Chi’s voice possessed an irrefutable sense of solemnity.

He knew that Yu Weiwei was not someone who was easy to deal with. She was inseparable from Xu Zhaomu, and the two of them were constantly getting invested in questionable things.

“……” Li Beiting’s lips twitched again. “Isn’t your Xu Zhaomu the one leading Yu Weiwei astray?”

“I have already warned you. Do as you deem fit.” Shen Chi hung up the phone coldly.

“Hey!” On the other end of the call, Li Beiting felt exasperated.

Shen Chi tossed his phone onto the table and muted it. He wasn’t going to pick up any other calls.

Xu Zhaomu for her part felt completely fine, as though nothing had ever happened. Her mood swings came and went very swiftly.

There wasn’t much she could argue with Shen Chi about. During the past eight years, she had already cried herself to sleep multiple times because of their arguments. Thankfully, she was psychologically strong.

She touched the back of her head. It was still a little painful. She had no choice but to change the gauze herself.

After changing the dressing, she started to pick out clothes from her closet. She rummaged through her closet, but she was unable to find an outfit that she was satisfied with.

In the past, Shen Chi would always take her to the mall to buy clothes, or he’d buy clothes for her.

She had never been dissatisfied with what he’d picked out. But now, she realized that all the clothes that Shen Chi had bought for her were plain in color. All the styles and shapes were too conservative.

How could she wear these clothes out on a date?

Xu Zhaomu hated them.

The only pretty outfit she owned was that miniskirt. She had bought it without Shen Chi’s knowledge. She decided to wear it secretly the next day.

She had originally worn it for Shen Chi to see. In the end, he’d treated it as if it was beneath contempt.

It was not surprising that he felt this way. She had discovered on the night of the dance that he spent his time surrounded by many beautiful and seductive women. Xu Zhaomu was sure that there was nothing he hadn’t seen before.

After spending a long time choosing her clothes, Xu Zhaomu read Luo Yanli’s letter over again and again.

She really liked the line, “The yearning I have for you is like the full moon, from dusk to dawn.”

Although Xu Zhaomu was an incompetent, mediocre student, she knew the phrase “yearning for you is like the full moon” had originated from “the lord’s yearning was like the full moon, slowly diminishing in splendor”. [1]

As for the words from dusk to dawn, someone had once explained those to her. Your name is Xu Zhaomu—Xu as in promise and Zhaomu as in from dusk to dawn.

To be honest, Xu Zhaomu felt that this date with Luo Yanli would help her become a person who was a little more cultured, at the very least.

She was truly a person who thirsted for knowledge. She had an eagerness to learn.

The next day, Xu Zhaomu took her own sweet time trying on outfits in her room. She stood by the balcony. Once she saw Shen Chi’s car leave the villa, she took out her miniskirt with great satisfaction and paced around in front of her mirror admiring herself.

******[1] Line from a Chinese poem. To explain it more comprehensively, the man’s longing was so deep that his complexion turned sallow, just like the diminishing splendor of a full moon.