Xia Liyang’s breath hitched, and she hurriedly looked away.

Trying to cover her fluster, she lowered her head, pretending to adjust the car’s navigation.

The sound of the tires and engine roared past her ears.

The slowly rising window finally cut off the outside noise.

Only the sound of her own heartbeat pounded against her eardrums.

She wasn’t sure if Lu Huaicheng had recognized her from that brief glance.

But thinking about it calmly, the chances were probably low.

After all, her sunglasses were large enough, and his glance at her had been brief.

Even if he thought her profile looked familiar, he probably wouldn’t connect it to her.

In his eyes, she definitely didn’t have the standing to be driving a Porsche.

Xia Liyang let out a small sigh of relief, glancing at the distant Rolls-Royce and thinking that she should just keep the roof closed while driving near home in the future.

Otherwise, the chance of running into him would be a bit too high.

After experiencing such a heart-stopping moment, Xia Liyang forgot to call Xu Songnian back and accelerated toward Song Jinhe’s university.

Song Jinhe was studying in a five-year architecture program and was a bit behind since she started school late, so although they were the same age, she hadn’t graduated yet.

Seeing Xia Liyang’s car parked under her dormitory building, Song Jinhe hurriedly ran downstairs: “Let’s go to the café in front to talk. Sorry, I can only spend an hour with you today; my advisor is pushing me to revise my thesis.”

“It’s fine, I’m here to bother you anyway.” Xia Liyang smiled and started to explain in detail what had happened last night as they walked.

“So you get flustered too!” Song Jinhe blinked in disbelief.

“… I’m human too.” Xia Liyang was somewhat speechless at her reaction.

“Not that, it’s just that my impression of you is that you’re always indifferent towards men; you don’t seem like someone who would be flustered just because someone touched you.” Song Jinhe waved her hand, explaining.

“Oh.” Xia Liyang paused and said slowly, “I hadn’t thought about it before; maybe it’s because I’ve never had any contact, so I’m not used to it.”

“Hehe.” Song Jinhe chuckled, not quite understanding.

Xia Liyang couldn’t help but give her a sideways glance: “What are you laughing at?”

“I just suddenly realized your innocent side is so cute.”

“……” Xia Liyang pressed her lips together, “Let’s talk seriously; what should I do next?”

“Let me think.” Song Jinhe smoothed out her smile and pondered, “Since he has already seen through your intentions, you might as well be straightforward.”

“Didn’t you say you shouldn’t confess your feelings? Besides, he’s already planning to fire me; if I act recklessly now, wouldn’t I just get fired on the spot?” Xia Liyang frowned.

“Who told you that being straightforward means confessing? What I mean is, you can be more direct in flirting, like dressing up a little nicer and exuding some feminine charm in front of him.”

“Huh? How do I exude charm?” Xia Liyang tilted her head in confusion.

“I’ll find you some tutorial videos. You can learn from them; they’re all little techniques for flirting with looks and actions.”

“… Alright then.” Xia Liyang thought seriously for a moment. “But what if I accidentally trigger his sensitive points again? I might find it hard to keep this job.”

“You said he’s satisfied with your work quality, right? Worst case, you can have Xu Songnian help you screen the interview candidates. As long as he can’t find someone better than you, I don’t think he’ll fire you. After all, he hasn’t directly asked you to leave even after discovering your intentions this time,” Song Jinhe analyzed for her.

“That makes sense.” Xia Liyang nodded slowly, her lips curving into a confident smile. “Then I don’t need Xu Songnian to help me with the candidates, because he won’t find anyone better than me.”

“Exactly! That’s the kind of confidence we need!” Song Jinhe encouraged, patting her shoulder, then changed the subject with a smile, “But when he checked your ankle, did you feel any ambiguous fluttering in your heart, like your face getting flushed?”

Xia Liyang thought carefully: “I didn’t feel any ambiguous vibes, but I did get a sense of that kind of exterior, gentle and refined yet actually a cold and ruthless big boss vibe.”

Song Jinhe: “…”

After saying goodbye to Song Jinhe, Xia Liyang realized Xu Songnian had sent her a lot of WeChat messages, asking what had happened and if he needed to help.

She quickly returned his call and briefly explained the situation.

“I really can’t believe you,” Xu Songnian sighed in relief on the other end, then lightly chided, “Can you please be a bit more considerate of your childhood friend next time?”

“Sorry, I was caught up in something and forgot to call back…” Xia Liyang smiled apologetically. “I’ll treat you to a meal later.”

“Let’s skip the meal.” Xu Songnian paused before saying, “Why don’t you come home with me during the May Day holiday? Your dad asked me indirectly the other day if you were coming back.”

“…” Xia Liyang lightly gripped her phone, saying nothing.

“Hey, your dad actually misses you a lot. You didn’t come home for the New Year, and he was so gloomy that he dragged my dad to drink all night,” Xu Songnian sighed.

“I’ll think about it,” Xia Liyang pressed her lips together. “If there’s nothing else, I’ll hang up.”

“Wait.” Xu Songnian called out to her, hesitating for a few seconds before asking, “So, do you really want to continue as the housekeeper?”

“Yeah, I can’t just give up halfway.” Xia Liyang paused. “But you don’t need to help me with the candidates. I can handle it myself.”

“That’s not what I meant; I just think…” Xu Songnian’s tone grew a bit awkward, as if he was searching for the right words.

“What?”

Xu Songnian was silent for a few seconds before asking somewhat out of the blue, “What do you think of Lu Huaicheng as a person?”

“He’s quite difficult to deal with,” Xia Liyang replied bluntly.

“… Anything else?”

“What else is there?” she asked in confusion.

There was a moment of silence on the other end, then Xu Songnian’s tone turned casual again, “Nothing, you go ahead and do what you need to. I’ll hang up.”

“Oh.” Xia Liyang put down the phone somewhat puzzled and opened the door of her Porsche.

However, when he mentioned whether she would return home during the May Day holiday, she still preferred to stay in Jiangcheng.

She had no doubt that her dad was thinking of her.

After all, after her mom left during the divorce, it was her dad who worked hard to raise her.

But her dad was terrifyingly stubborn in some ways.

When she wanted to apply for the Chinese Language and Literature program at Beicheng University, he absolutely refused and insisted she study science to inherit his legacy at the Brain Science Research Institute.

His reasons sounded grand: that it was hard for liberal arts students to find jobs, that future salaries wouldn’t be high, and it even escalated to not being able to create value for society.

But she felt those weren’t the real reasons he opposed it.

The true reason could only be her mom, Ms. Li Qingying, a well-known writer from a liberal arts background.

He didn’t want his hard-raised daughter to follow in the footsteps of his ex-wife, who had abandoned their family.

During the college entrance examination, Xia Liyang had no say and could only apply for Molecular Biology according to her dad’s wishes.

But in college, she achieved financial freedom through writing novels, and when preparing for graduate school, she changed her major on her own.

Although she eventually succeeded, it infuriated her dad, and they had a huge fight. She directly left for Jiangcheng with her suitcase.

Her dad didn’t stop her and even poured oil on the flames by saying if she left, she shouldn’t come back.

And she was just as stubborn as he was; after getting her master’s degree, she really never returned.

In Xia Liyang’s eyes, she hadn’t done anything wrong; she just wanted to pursue her dreams.

Moreover, her desire to write novels had nothing to do with her mom.

She didn’t even want to acknowledge her as her mother.

Xia Liyang’s expression darkened as she started the car.

Since she wouldn’t have to clean at Lu Huaicheng’s house this Saturday, she went to the local cheapest clothing market and bought a few unbranded but stylish and good-quality clothes, preparing to replace her plain outfit of a sweatshirt and sweatpants.

She still wouldn’t dare to let her hair down when meeting Lu Huaicheng.

Even if she thought the chances of him recognizing her were slim, she couldn’t help but feel anxious.

After returning from the market, Song Jinhe sent her the tutorial videos she had promised.

While sorting through her new clothes, Xia Liyang opened her phone to take a look.

The woman in the video passionately explained how to attract men with one’s gaze.

Xia Liyang was stunned, completely unable to understand.

She couldn’t help but stop what she was doing and watch it again carefully.

This time, she finally understood, but it seemed that learning it wasn’t as easy as Song Jinhe had said.

The smiling gaze was manageable; she just needed to slightly curve the outer corners of her eyes.

But what on earth was a seductive gaze?

Xia Liyang squinted and made faces for quite a while but still couldn’t grasp the feeling.

In the end, she only remembered a few things she could do.

Anyway, when she went to his house next week, she would try it out first.

Feeling somewhat exhausted, Xia Liyang tossed her phone aside and continued organizing her clothes.

. …

As May approached, the weather warmed up considerably, and the air had taken on the scent of early summer.

On Tuesday, after dinner, Xia Liyang changed into a French retro knitted top and high-waisted jeans, deliberately highlighting her straight, slender legs and narrow waist.

She put on a light, sheer makeup look, applied a moisturizing lip balm, and tied her hair up in a loose ponytail.

Worried about exposing her financial situation, she didn’t dare to use any luxury brand perfume but instead chose a citrus-scented hand cream to apply on her wrists and neck.

Before heading out, she noticed that the lights in Lu Huaicheng’s house were on.

It seemed he wasn’t too busy with work that day and had returned quite early.

Since that was the case, there was no need for her to sneak around to the back door of his house; after all, she wouldn’t run into him.

Xia Liyang thought to herself as she walked directly through the path in the middle of the community, arriving at his house seven or eight minutes earlier than expected.

Fearing that arriving too early might annoy him, she simply stood outside the gate of his courtyard, took out her phone, and revisited the tutorial video Song Jinhe had sent her.

While she was focused on the video, trying repeatedly to master the most difficult seductive gaze technique with her head lowered, she suddenly heard a familiar, clear voice above her head, “What are you so focused on?”

Xia Liyang’s breath caught in her throat, and she quickly looked up.

She met the meaningful gaze of the tall man behind the gate.