Chapter 34: Cold War

“Wait a minute.” Shi Ran knew she couldn’t hide anymore, but she didn’t want to cause more trouble.

“Get that!” She reached for the bedside table, opened it, revealing a large box of condoms with a dozen or so remaining. Just as she was about to take one, her wrist was grabbed.

Shi Ran’s eyes widened. She called out his name loudly, but didn’t dare look up to see his expression.

—

Later, he carried her to the bathroom, not saying a word the entire time.

By the time he carried her back to bed, afternoon had given way to nightfall.

She was truly exhausted. Shi Ran didn’t care about anything else; she just wanted to sleep.

But tonight, Lu Beiyan was acting like a madman, deliberately going against her wishes.

He’d been going against her wishes from the start.

He started kissing her again, but not as roughly as before. This time, it was gentle, like in the past.

But the kiss changed…

It startled her. Why was he…?

Tonight, Lu Beiyan was like a crazed Tibetan mastiff. She couldn’t play this game anymore!

“Be good.”

Lu Beiyan, who hadn’t spoken all night, finally spoke, as if sensing her fear.

Shi Ran slept for a long time. When she woke up, her first thought was that Lu Beiyan hadn’t used a condom, and she needed to take emergency contraception.

When she got up, she noticed a cool sensation down there. Lu Beiyan must have applied medicine.

Damn him.

Every so often, he’d go crazy like this, and when he did, there was no end to it.

She picked up her phone, which had been tossed on the floor. It was past nine o’clock. It would take time to get down from the Xishan villa and find a pharmacy.

She lifted the covers. Lu Beiyan’s marks were all over her body.

She put on a sports outfit. Even in the summer heat, she wore long sleeves and long pants.

She changed into a pair of athletic shoes and went downstairs. The culprit was sitting on the sofa downstairs, working on his computer.

Aunt Chen, the cook, was preparing dinner in the kitchen; the aroma filled the air.

Seeing her come down, she smiled, “Miss Shi, come quickly, dinner’s ready.”

After being tossed around for so long, Shi Ran was starving.

But she couldn’t care less, and she didn’t want to eat dinner face-to-face with Lu Beiyan.

Lu Beiyan’s gaze remained fixed on his laptop, as if he’d been inexplicably angry since that morning and was having a one-sided cold war with her.

Shi Ran declined Aunt Chen’s offer. “I’ll eat out.”

As she walked towards the door, she was stopped by the bodyguards.

“I’m going out for a bit, I’ll be right back.”

“Isn’t curfew still a while away?”

Because she sometimes had evening classes that sometimes went until after nine, Lu Beiyan had set her curfew at ten o’clock.

It was just past nine now.

The two unsympathetic bodyguards shook their heads.

They only took orders from Lu Beiyan. Shi Ran knew that even if she argued, the bodyguards wouldn’t let her leave.

She turned around angrily and walked towards the living room.

“Lu Beiyan! What do you want? You know why I’m going out!”

Lu Beiyan continued typing away at his keyboard, seemingly ignoring her.

Seeing that he still wouldn’t speak to her, Shi Ran snatched his laptop.

Only then did Lu Beiyan look up at her, his eyes like ice, making her tremble.

“Eat dinner.” He stood up. His tall figure gave off an overwhelming sense of dominance. He took the laptop from her hand, placed it on the coffee table, and led her by the hand to the dining table.

Fragrant dishes filled the table, all her favorite dishes.

Sweet and sour pork ribs, pickled cabbage fish, bitter melon…

Her stomach was empty; she was really, really hungry.

But as if she wanted to spite Lu Beiyan, she crossed her arms across her chest and didn’t pick up her chopsticks.

It wasn’t just her who was playing games; Lu Beiyan ignored her little tantrum and started eating, quickly finishing a bowl of rice.

The food smelled so good, it was torture.

But if she gave in so easily, it would be humiliating.

Thinking this, Shi Ran couldn’t stand it anymore and got up to go upstairs.

She’d buy the pills tomorrow; it shouldn’t be too late.

“Sit down.”

A cold voice stopped Shi Ran in her tracks, but she stubbornly refused to comply and continued walking.

“I heard you recently acquired a small company.”

“!”

Hearing this, Shi Ran clenched her fists, her nails digging into her flesh.

This was something she had done secretly, using money from her mother’s trust fund, without telling anyone. Even Tang Yiting didn’t know about it. Only Tang Ji was in the know, handling many things and using his name for the company.

She thought she had done it quietly and flawlessly.

How did Lu Beiyan find out?

Even Tang Ji didn’t know the purpose of starting this company.

Even if Lu Beiyan knew she and Tang Ji had started a small company, he probably didn’t know what she was up to.

Thinking this, Shi Ran smiled, turning to look at the man calmly eating at the dining table.

“Not really. Tang Ji wanted to start it; I just invested a little.”

Lu Beiyan calmly continued eating, every move calm and collected, like a god who controlled everything in the world and was fully aware of her little schemes.

It made Shi Ran feel like she was almost transparent in front of him, with no secrets at all.

This realization made her feel very uncomfortable, as if she would always live under Lu Beiyan’s control.

Now she had lost her appetite. She turned to go upstairs.

“Come here, sit down, eat.”

“Don’t make me say it a third time. Otherwise, the Shi family will know what you’re doing tomorrow.”

Shi Ran: “…!”

These words further solidified Shi Ran’s belief.

So, in front of him, she really was a transparent person.

He knew what she was doing and what she was going to do.

Suddenly, she remembered when she’d offered a high price to acquire that auditing firm; they had been adamant, refusing to sell even for a sky-high price.

But when she was looking for other companies, a few days later, the company’s director suddenly called her, saying they were willing to sell at the previously discussed price.

At the time, Shi Ran thought she was just lucky.

Now it seemed…