Xia Liyang’s heart skipped a beat, and her expression froze.

Did he see through her act?

But she should not have revealed any flaws!

Could it be that he understands medicine and could tell if her injury was real just by touching it?

As she was lost in thoughts about what to do next, Lu Huaicheng lowered his weight a bit more, his large hand covering her slender ankle.

Although there was a soft leather glove in between, the sense of strength and warmth transmitted from his palm made Xia Liyang involuntarily shudder, and she reflexively pulled her foot back.

Lu Huaicheng raised his gaze slightly, looking at her with a subtle expression. “What are you hiding from?”

Xia Liyang’s heart raced inexplicably, and she struggled to think of a response. “It hurts, it hurts.”

“Oh.” Lu Huaicheng’s dark eyes remained fixed on her as his palm slowly stroked her ankle, his face maintaining an emotionless gentleness. “I’m just checking to see if your bone is dislocated. Relax.”

“…I’m relaxed.” Xia Liyang bit her dry lips, her face starting to heat up.

It was hard to tell if it was due to the precariousness of her lie or the unfamiliar warmth and sensation of his palm.

In any case, she felt the situation beginning to spiral out of control.

She simply couldn’t handle the ambiguous atmosphere she had created.

Sensing her tensed muscles, Lu Huaicheng paused for a moment, then loosened his grip on her ankle and slowly stood up.

He looked down at her flushed face and her awkward expression from above.

In fact, during the years his mother had been in the hospital, he had studied a lot of medical knowledge on his own.

So the moment he touched her ankle, he knew her sprain was fake; her desire for his concern was real.

He had seen many girls like her in the past, and among them, she was one of the more convincing actors.

She even knew how to touch the right points to evoke his sympathy.

But her skill seemed somewhat lacking; just a little probing from him sent her into a panic, like a startled rabbit, hurriedly retracting her hands and feet.

Lu Huaicheng couldn’t help but curl his lips, his gaze deepening with a hint of amusement. “It doesn’t seem serious, but since you’re in so much pain, I’ll contact the driver to take you to the hospital.”

“No, no, if you say it’s fine, then I can just go back to school and apply some medicated plaster,” Xia Liyang hurriedly shook her head, quickly dropping her pant legs.

However, the skin he had touched still had an indescribable heat, causing her to feel somewhat uneasy.

“It’s quite a distance back to school. How about I drive you?” Lu Huaicheng looked at her with a half-closed expression, his tone more like a probe than genuine concern.

Xia Liyang, who didn’t even stay at the school, didn’t dare let him give her a ride. Plus, she had already lost her composure tonight and didn’t want to be alone with him any longer. She could only stand up quickly, awkwardly smiling as she refused, “No, no, the subway goes directly, it’s quite convenient.”

“Didn’t you say your ankle hurts?” He squinted his dark eyes, poking at her blandly.

“After sitting for a while, it doesn’t hurt as much!” Xia Liyang swallowed hard, “So there’s no need to trouble you Mr. Lu; I’ll take my leave now.”

After saying that, she respectfully bowed to him and hobbled towards the door as if escaping, even forgetting her coat hanging by the entrance.

As she stepped outside and was hit by the cold wind, she suddenly remembered.

In a flurry, she turned around to grab it, but Lu Huaicheng was already behind her, holding her coat.

Xia Liyang was startled, and her foot hit the brakes abruptly.

However, she still inevitably collided with his broad, warm chest.

The clean and fresh scent from the man filled her nostrils, making her heart race heavily.

“Sorry, Mr. Lu.” She quickly stepped back several paces, creating a distance of two or three meters between them.

When she steadied herself and met his deep gaze, she suddenly realized that her earlier evasive actions seemed a bit too agile.

Her breath caught, and she awkwardly pressed her lips together.

Lu Huaicheng’s dark eyes remained fixed on her for a few seconds. Noticing her ears were almost bleeding from the redness, he casually smiled and said, “It’s fine; don’t forget your coat.”

“Uh… thank you.” Xia Liyang lowered her flushed face and quickly grabbed the coat from his hands.

Unable to determine whether he hadn’t noticed her overly nimble movements or had noticed but chose not to call her out of courtesy, she comforted herself with the former.

Otherwise, she might not have had the courage to face him again.

Feeling awkward, Xia Liyang put on her coat and politely bid him farewell before hastily turning to leave.

Watching her small figure limp away towards the gate, Lu Huaicheng let out an almost inaudible snicker from his nostrils, the corners of his lips curling slightly.

He raised his long fingers and frowned as he brushed off the creases on his shirt caused by her bumping into him.

After confirming there were no traces of lipstick on it, he relaxed slightly and took out his phone from his suit pants pocket, dialing Lin Shen’s number: “Continue looking for a housekeeper for me.”

On the other end of the line, Lin Shen was momentarily stunned: “Aren’t you quite satisfied with Xia Liyang?”

“When did I ever say I was satisfied with her?” Lu Huaicheng walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge.

“Because you seemed in a good mood the day you had me draft the contract…” Lin Shen paused, seeing Lu Huaicheng not responding, and quickly added, “Sorry, I shouldn’t have speculated. I’ll get back to you about the hiring as soon as possible. Should I notify Xia Liyang to terminate her contract immediately?”

“Yeah.” Lu Huaicheng took a bottle of mineral water from the side door of the fridge, his gaze unintentionally sweeping over the production date on the bottle, causing his movements to slow momentarily.

He took another look at the neatly arranged bottles of mineral water.

Indeed, they had been reorganized according to their production dates.

He hadn’t even specified that in his request.

“What date should I calculate the payment up to?” Lin Shen continued to confirm.

Lu Huaicheng paused for a moment, then suddenly chuckled lightly as he closed the fridge door: “Until I interview a more suitable housekeeper, there’s no need to terminate her contract.”

“Ah?” Lin Shen was slightly taken aback, not quite keeping up with his changing thoughts, “Are you saying there’s no need to notify her yet?”

“Right.” Lu Huaicheng twisted the cap off the bottle, “But she doesn’t need to come for cleaning this Saturday; we’ll use that time for interviewing new housekeepers.”

“Got it.” Lin Shen nodded and cautiously asked, “Should I tell her the reason for not coming this Saturday?”

“No need.” Lu Huaicheng leisurely took a sip of water, his gaze drifting to the sofa, which still bore the slight creases from where she had sat.

With all her little thoughts, she should be able to guess the reason without him saying it.

Although he disliked girls like her, who were somewhat attractive but overly ambitious in trying to get close to him, she was indeed quite handy to have around, so it was fine to keep her for now.

…

As soon as Xia Liyang entered her home, she received a call from Lin Shen, notifying her that she only needed to clean on Thursdays and Fridays, and that her work on Saturday was canceled.

She was momentarily taken aback and asked, “Does Mr. Lu no longer need a cleaner on Saturday, or did I not do well enough?”

“It’s that you don’t need to come in on Saturday.” Lin Shen answered somewhat ambiguously.

He couldn’t disclose to her that there was a risk of her being fired, while also wanting to remind her to be cautious.

After all, the high salary from this job was quite important to her.

Xia Liyang wasn’t foolish; she quickly grasped the meaning behind his words and replied obediently, “I understand. Thank you, Mr. Lin.”

After hanging up, she lamented and flopped down on the sofa, feeling both embarrassed and angry.

Lu Huaicheng had definitely seen through her act of pretending to sprain her ankle to gain his attention.

But at what moment did he start to see through her?

Was it when he touched her ankle? Or when she forgot to maintain her limp while retreating?

Xia Liyang bit her lip, recalling the skin of her ankle that had been touched by his warm palm, which was still faintly heated.

Damn!

She should reflect on why she had been so unsettled when he approached and touched her.

Xia Liyang rolled over, staring at the ceiling, forcing herself to think calmly for a long time.

In the end, she concluded that it was because she had never had any intimate contact with a man before.

So, in essence, it was just unfamiliarity.

But upon closer thought, she had often been close to Xu Songnian in the past.

Especially just after graduating from high school when Xu Songnian suddenly became infatuated with romantic art films, buying a large number of Blu-ray discs and inviting her over to his house to watch them from time to time.

He insisted on sharing the same couch with her.

The outcome was that she often ended up dozing off out of boredom while watching, waking up to find her head resting on his shoulder or leaning against his arm.

Then she would wake up to his helpless questioning: “Are you allergic to romance? How can you fall asleep during such a touching scene!”

At that time, the distance between them was much closer than the distance between her and Lu Huaicheng today.

Xia Liyang frowned and changed her conclusion to: It was due to not having any intimate contact with strange men in the past.

Since that’s the case, if she interacted with Lu Huaicheng a few more times, she should be able to overcome her current problem, right?

However, she definitely couldn’t use the same trick to create the persona of a strong and innocent girl anymore..

After all, her intention to get closer to him had already been exposed, and he had even reminded her about it by canceling her cleaning duties on Saturday.

She could only think of other ways to flirt with him that wouldn’t turn him off.

Otherwise, she would likely end up being kicked out.

Xia Liyang sighed, sitting up and looking out at the illuminated garden villa through the floor-to-ceiling window.

Whatever it was called, Jiangwan Villa should be renamed to Demon King’s Castle.

After all, it housed a man as difficult to deal with as a demon king.

….

The next day, noticing the nice weather, Xia Liyang drove her convertible sports car, planning to meet Song Jinhe to discuss their next strategy.

As soon as she reached Jiangwan Avenue, Xu Songnian called her.

“Is something up?” Xia Liyang pressed the speakerphone button.

“Did the boss’s part-time housekeeper quit?” Xu Songnian’s tone was laced with teasing lightness.

“I didn’t quit.” Xia Liyang was momentarily taken aback, then quickly realized, “Did his assistant ask you to help recruit a part-time housekeeper again?”

“… Yes.” Xu Songnian paused for a few seconds, asking her, “So are you going to get fired?”

“Not yet.” Xia Liyang frowned, gripping the steering wheel tightly.

She had initially thought Lu Huaicheng was just giving her a warning, but now it seemed he was seriously considering letting her go.

He just needed to find someone else as suitable as her.

“What’s going on? Didn’t you do a good job cleaning?”

“Maybe I touched on something he doesn’t like.” Xia Liyang sighed helplessly, preparing to vent to him when she suddenly caught sight of a Rolls-Royce Phantom turning onto the street in her rearview mirror.

Instinctively, she quickly glanced at the car’s license plate.

It was the same number she had seen in front of the school library before.

Oh no, this was most likely Lu Huaicheng’s car.

Xia Liyang’s nerves tensed, and she hurriedly pressed the convertible roof button: “I’ve got to go, I’ll call you back.”

“Eh? Wha—”

Before Xu Songnian could finish his sentence, she cut him off.

The automatic roof took about 30 seconds to close completely.

Meanwhile, the Rolls-Royce behind her clearly changed lanes, intending to overtake her.

Because she had been on the phone, her speed wasn’t fast, and she couldn’t immediately accelerate or change lanes to pass the cars in front of her.

Seeing the front of the Rolls-Royce catch up to the back of her car, Xia Liyang quickly fished her sunglasses out of the glove compartment and put them on to cover most of her face.

At the same time, she raised her hand and removed the hair tie from her high ponytail.

Her long hair cascaded down like a waterfall, obscuring her facial features.

Her palms were slightly sweaty as she gripped the steering wheel, pretending to be calm while staring straight ahead.

Just as the Rolls-Royce pulled alongside her Porsche, Xia Liyang, holding on to the hope that Lu Huaicheng wasn’t in the car, stole a glance at the back seat through the half-raised window.

But she happened to lock eyes with the man’s dark, deep gaze.