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Ambiguous Pull
Jiang Xiao swallowed nervously, eyes wide with fear as she instinctively covered her face with a book, uncontrollably leaning back until she pressed against the chair back.
In the blink of an eye, she trembled and spoke tentatively, trying to appeal to his conscience, “You wouldn’t be so angry and embarrassed by what I said that you want to hit me, would you? Let me tell you, men should not hit women, and you… that would be domestic violence, even worse.”
“Who said I want to hit you?”
In the pause, Zhou Qishen slowly knelt in front of her, effortlessly grabbing her flailing arm in mid-air and pressing it against his own knee.
“What… what are you doing?” With her movement restricted, Jiang Xiao’s breathing suddenly stopped, her hand trembling uncontrollably, and the book she held fell to the ground with a loud bang.
“Bang!”
But neither of them paid any attention to this small incident, because what mattered more at this moment was each other’s presence.
“You’re right, my concentration is indeed lacking.” Zhou Qishen admitted openly to her earlier accusations, his long, narrow eyes locking onto her like an eagle targeting its prey, deep and dangerous, filled with a fervent and intense desire.
Suddenly, Zhou Qishen grasped one of her hands firmly, slowly raising it and placing it on the left side of his chest.
The thumping heartbeat almost drowned out his deep voice, “There’s no way around it, because everything I have here is you.”
His masculine breath engulfed her, urgent and scorching like a confession, causing Jiang Xiao’s face to uncontrollably blush. Her fingers lightly resting on his chest involuntarily clenched the fabric of his shirt.
Zhou Qishen looked at her and suddenly asked an irrelevant question, “You probably don’t speak Spanish fluently, do you?”
Jiang Xiao was momentarily stunned. Spanish? What did he mean?
Following his gaze, she glanced at the fallen book cover on the ground.
She understood what he meant. Unintentionally, she had picked up a book printed in Spanish. As he had said, she couldn’t understand the words on it at all.
“Holding a book you don’t understand, continuously sneaking glances at me, observing me… Tell me, do you also have me in your heart?”
In the past, if she had been confronted like this, even knowing she was in the wrong, Jiang Xiao would have fought back. However, as the words reached her lips, she swallowed them back, turning them over in her mind, unable to say them out loud. “I…”
“Hmm?” Zhou Qishen’s eyes deepened.
Jiang Xiao’s heart trembled under his gaze, waves of emotions rising like tides. But she also understood that a wise and clear-headed man like Zhou Qishen couldn’t possibly fall for her in just a few days.
Every word he was saying now seemed more like a rebuttal to her bold statements earlier than a confession.
Thinking this, Jiang Xiao felt a mixture of relief and emptiness. Something that had just begun to bud was slipping away rapidly, elusive and ungraspable.
Her thoughts grew increasingly chaotic, and just as she felt she might be overwhelmed the next second… She hastily pressed her fingers against his forehead, pushing him back slightly and creating distance. “Enough… enough! I admit defeat. I shouldn’t have provoked you.”
In truth, her slight force couldn’t shake Zhou Qishen at all, but he still leaned back obediently, tilting his head slightly to leisurely gaze at her reddened face, a smirk of success and childish mischief playing at the corner of his mouth.
“Every time, you’re the one who makes my heart race. Now, let’s switch places, shall we?”
This smile made him come alive, completely different from his usual demeanor, exuding a playful charm that Jiang Xiao stared at in astonishment, her heart pounding faster once again.
However, his next words made her eyes widen in astonishment.
“But as long as you answer one question for me, I’ll let you off.”
Clearly, he was the one who had made her flustered each time, yet now he was turning the tables, claiming she was the one causing his unease? And he wanted her to fulfill his request? Outrageous!
Jiang Xiao was furious to the point of itching teeth, but trapped within his circle, she couldn’t escape or argue back. Helplessly, she compromised, “What question? Go ahead and ask.”
At this, Zhou Qishen’s gaze intensified, suddenly becoming serious and probing.
After a brief silence, he asked, “Why did you lie to get close to me?”
At his words, Jiang Xiao was taken aback once again. Just as she had suspected, he had never believed her amnesia story.
At the same time, she realized he wanted to break through that layer of deception.
After a moment of quiet, Jiang Xiao took a deep breath and calmly explained, “Your nephew, Zhou Wenting, was my ex-boyfriend. But he cheated on me. I approached you because…”
She paused abruptly, and Zhou Qishen timely continued, “Revenge?”
“…Yes,” Jiang Xiao bit her lip lightly.
Out of love turned to hatred, thus began her quest for revenge.
This was the most reasonable reason she could think of after leaving aside the system factor. There were two reasons why she didn’t tell the truth:
One is that she was afraid that Zhou Qishen would not be able to accept that the world he lived in was a book and would regard her as a mental patient.
Secondly, she feared that if he discovered the truth, like when she first began, the system might intervene and deal with him directly. At best, he might end up with a new system task, forcing him onto a different life path.
There were too many unstable factors, and nobody knew what consequences might arise. So, she couldn’t risk revealing the truth and instead threw the blame on Zhou Wenting, as it would be difficult to handle otherwise.
Sometimes, a well-intentioned lie was more acceptable than blind honesty.
Regardless of whether Zhou Qi believed it or not, Jiang Xiao continued to rationalize: “I heard that he secretly followed you to learn how to do business, and he respected you very much, so he was not clear-headed for a moment and did something wrong.”
After hearing her words, Zhou Qishen fell into silence. His dark eyes seemed to be filled with mist, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking at the moment.
Jiang Xiao was feeling uneasy. After an unknown amount of time, Zhou Qishen finally frowned and sneered, “It’s not a smart decision to get close to another man just to get revenge on him.”
His expression was not very pleasant, but the fact that he said this must mean that he believed her words.
Regardless of whether Zhou Qishen believed her or not, Jiang Xiao continued to rationalize, “So, I’ve confessed now…”
Zhou Qishen lifted an eyebrow, his expression cold and complex, but he didn’t press further.
While his attention shifted, Jiang Xiao quickly changed the subject, laughing nervously, “Mr. Zhou, we seem to have quite a fate. How about we try to be friends in the future?”
“Friends?” Zhou Qishen raised an eyebrow, his expression obscure and hard to read. Her thought process was too fast for him to follow what trick she might be plotting.
Jiang Xiao nodded vigorously.
Facing her hopeful and expectant eyes, he bluntly uttered two words, “Not interested.”
“Why? Haven’t we been getting along well? I really like your personality, Mr. Zhou. We could definitely become good friends.” Jiang Xiao persisted, trying to use the rapport they had built over the past few days to change his mind.
However, with just one sentence, he shut her down completely, “I’m not short of friends.”
Jiang Xiao heard the implications in his words, immediately recalling the many lies she had told since they first met in the garage. Now saying she wanted to be friends with him, standing in his shoes, he naturally couldn’t accept it.
But if they couldn’t even be friends in the future, how could she continue to gain his attention?
Just as she was at a loss, Zhou Qishen spoke again, saying something that left her bewildered, “Since things have developed to this point, I wonder if you’re interested in continuing this charade?”
“Continuing this charade? What does that mean?” A thousand possibilities flashed through Jiang Xiao’s mind in an instant, and finally, she couldn’t help but suspect: Was he addicted to acting like a husband?
But her confusion didn’t last long before Zhou Qishen began to explain, “My parents have been pressuring me to get married these past two years. I need a nominal wife to help me deal with family matters.”
“Of course, if you want to get back at Zhou Wenting, I can cooperate with you.”
Their positions suddenly shifted. Jiang Xiao listened to his not-quite-a-proposal proposal, finding it unbelievable, “Wait, you mean the two of us will just make do and really get married?”
Zhou Qishen noted her hesitation and bewilderment on her face, his eyes flickering, his tone softened, “Yes, a marriage of convenience.”
With his affirmation, Jiang Xiao was completely stunned.
This was it. The world had gone completely mad.
When she had lied about amnesia in the hospital, tricking him, she never imagined things would develop to such a bizarre extent. It was explosive. Saying things had gone completely off the rails wouldn’t be an exaggeration.
“Ding ding ding—”
A hurried ringtone broke the silence.
“I’ll be back soon.”
Zhou Qishen hung up after speaking into the phone, then shifted his gaze away from the screen, his expression slightly serious. He continued, “There’s an issue at home. I need to go over now. What just happened wasn’t a joke. I’ll give you three days to think about it.”
With that, Zhou Qishen gave Jiang Xiao a deep glance before releasing her hand, standing up and walking toward his desk.
He casually tore a piece of paper from his notebook, quickly wrote something down, and handed it over, “I’ll wait for your answer.”
Jiang Xiao took it dazedly, quickly scanning it. On the paper was a simple string of numbers, black ink on white paper, his handwriting resembling calligraphy, conveying a sense of resoluteness and confidence.
The corners of the note were not neatly cut, seemingly still carrying the warmth of a man’s fingertips.
It wasn’t a business card, but a note written just now. It must be his private number.
Jiang Xiao tightly held the note, realizing only now, after knowing each other for so long, they hadn’t exchanged phone numbers.
After a while, Jiang Xiao whispered, “I’ll think about it.”
Receiving her answer, Zhou Qishen nodded, adjusted his attire, and then left the study directly.
Jiang Xiao stood still in place, unable to regain her composure for a long time.
In a certain sense, her plan to gain popularity seemed to be going smoother than she had imagined. As long as she agreed to the marriage contract, with the relationship of husband and wife, she could just mooch off however she wanted. The mission was practically half-successful.
But she had never imagined that the unfamiliar word “marriage” would happen to her, and that she would marry the villain boss. This was too surreal…
***
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