Chapter 4 – He’s the Living King of Hell in the Capital

Just as they reached the entrance, they saw Li Hanye carefully and gently placing Si Tiantian into the back seat of the Si family’s car.

His gaze clung to her, so focused it was as if he were etching her appearance into his very bones.

Gu Yazhi watched, heart pounding in fear—as if one more glance might give her a stye—then scrambled into the car from the other side, crawling in with both hands and feet. She didn’t even dare to breathe too loudly, doing her best to lower her presence.

Si Tiantian sat on the plush seat, and even the pain in her ankle seemed to have lessened a little. She waved at Li Hanye somewhat shyly, her cheeks still slightly flushed.

“Thank you, Mr. Li. I’ll head home now.”

“Mm,” Li Hanye responded with a soft grunt. His tall figure stood rooted to the spot, and his deep, unreadable eyes followed the black Bentley as it slowly disappeared into the sea of city lights.

He lifted his hand—his fingertips seemed to still hold the softness of her skin and the lingering scent of her hair.

Si Tiantian.

He silently mouthed her name. His eyes grew even darker, swirling with emotions no one could decipher.

The car door slammed shut with a bang, cutting off the noise of the outside world—and that overwhelming presence of his.

Gu Yazhi could no longer hold it in. She lunged forward, grabbed Si Tiantian’s arm, her eyes wide with excitement and burning with gossip. Her words spilled out like rapid fire:

“Tiantian! My dear Tiantian! Confess now for leniency, resist and suffer the consequences! What on earth just happened? Who is that man with the aura of a god? Even Yan Chengyang acted like a quail in front of him—he didn’t dare let out a single peep! When did you get involved with someone like that?!”

She shook Si Tiantian wildly, curiosity practically spilling out of her glowing eyes.

Si Tiantian, slightly dizzy from the shaking, rubbed her temple helplessly and tried to calm her down.

“Zhizhi, calm down. Calm down.”

She frowned slightly, carefully replaying the heart-pounding events from earlier and selectively choosing the parts she could safely share.

“It was outside in the hallway. I accidentally bumped into him and twisted my ankle. After that, he… brought me into their private room.”

She deliberately left out the parts that felt far too intimate—like being in his arms, or that overwhelming sense of possessiveness that made her feel like she couldn’t breathe.

“You bumped into him? That’s it?” Gu Yazhi raised an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced.

She leaned in closer, scrutinizing every tiny expression on Si Tiantian’s face.

“The way he looked at you was definitely not that simple! That look—tsk tsk—was like he wanted to swallow you whole, bones and all.”

“No way, no way. I have to look into who that man is. Anyone who can make Yan Chengyang act like a grandchild is definitely not some nobody in Beijing.”

Saying that, Gu Yazhi efficiently whipped out her phone, her slender fingers tapping away at lightning speed as she began to search.

Si Tiantian’s heart suddenly lifted into her throat too. She also desperately wanted to know—who was that man?

The one who gave off such a suffocating presence, but whose eyes carried an inexplicable… softness?

His appearance was like a stone thrown into an ancient, undisturbed well, stirring up endless ripples in the calm lake of her heart—still and quiet for over twenty years until now.

Gu Yazhi muttered under her breath, “Let’s see… someone who can make Young Master Yan bow his head… Capital city… surname Li…”

The glow of her phone screen lit up her face. Her expression, which had been full of curiosity and excitement just moments before, gradually froze as the information loaded—first turning to shock, then sheer disbelief, and finally utter, jaw-dropping astonishment. Her mouth hung so wide it looked like it could fit an entire egg. Even her breathing seemed to hit the pause button.

“Oh… my… god…!”

She gasped sharply, her hand trembling so badly that her phone nearly slipped from her grasp. Luckily, she caught it just in time.

Then she clutched Si Tiantian’s other arm in a death grip, her voice shaking as if she’d just seen a ghost:

“Tiantian! Tiantian! We—we might’ve accidentally messed with the living King of Hell!”

“What’s wrong with you?” Si Tiantian jumped a little at her friend’s dramatic reaction. “You scared me.”

Gu Yazhi’s over-the-top behavior only made Si Tiantian even more uneasy. She leaned over to look at Gu Yazhi’s phone screen.

Displayed boldly at the top were three large characters: Li Hanye. The font was bold and heavy, as if each stroke carried the weight of a thousand pounds.

Beneath it was a string of titles and background information that made one’s heart race just from reading.

“Sole heir of the Li family in the capital… Current head of the Li Group…”

Gu Yazhi’s finger quivered as she pointed at the text, her voice shaking and nearly crying:

“He’s the real crown prince of the capital! The one they call Master Han! He’s the kind of man you only hear about in rumors—cold-blooded, ruthless, never hesitates to strike. They say when he stomps his foot, the whole capital trembles! Online they call him cold, cunning, with endless power—the man standing at the top of the golden pyramid of the city! And… and…”

Gu Yazhi quickly scrolled down the screen, desperately trying to dig up more.

“Look, look! There’s tons of terrifying info and legendary exploits about him online, but—did you notice? Not a single photo! Not one clear shot of his face! That level of mystery—how scary must he be?! Tiantian, you bumped into him and he didn’t throw you out on the spot? Girl, your ancestors must’ve blessed you!”

Si Tiantian stared silently at the cold, intimidating text on the screen.

Phrases like “Ice-faced business overlord,” “The untouchable taboo of the capital elite,” “Corporate crocodile,” and “A walking money-printing machine”—each one struck her like a heavy hammer, smashing into her perception of reality.

It was him. So it really was him.

The man whispered about in the capital like some deity, known only through elite rumors and business legends. Distant. Untouchable. Li Hanye.

Her mind flashed back to those dark, unreadable eyes of his that seemed to see straight through her—to that overwhelming aura that no one could resist, and the searing heat of his fingertips when he touched her skin.

The descriptions online… they did seem to match him—portraying him as a cold, untouchable emperor-like figure.

And yet… not entirely.

Because in her mind, what stood out more clearly was the way he looked at her—with an intensity bordering on obsession. That low, magnetic voice whispering “be good” by her ear…

That terrifying, oppressive aura didn’t feel that cold and cruel.

At least, not when it was directed at her.

What she had seen and felt from him was something else—unyielding, yes, but with a trace of… awkwardness. And a kind of gentle confusion.

That contradiction stirred something deep within her again—those subtle ripples in her heart began to spread once more, a kind of unfamiliar, trembling chaos… sweet and terrifying all at once.