Chapter 13: A Dream of Ambiguity

Tang Liyue didn’t want to sit next to Yu Mo Yuan, so she walked to the front passenger door.

She pulled on the handle, it wouldn’t open.

The driver rolled down the window. “Apologies, Madam, but the front seat is full of miscellaneous items.”

Miscellaneous items? Tang Liyue’s eyesight was perfectly fine. Through the window, she could clearly see the seat was completely empty.

They just didn’t want her to sit there, forcing her to sit next to Yu Mo Yuan instead.

Pressing her lips together, Tang Liyue hesitated. But no matter how reluctant she was, she eventually walked to the back seat and sat beside him.

The door closed, and the car started toward the villa.

Tang Liyue shifted as far as possible toward the door, as if trying to put an entire galaxy between herself and Yu Mo Yuan.

“You can relax. I won’t do anything to you.” Yu Mo Yuan’s voice was indifferent. His gaze had already left her, now focused on undoing the cuffs that had restrained him all day.

Tang Liyue couldn’t help but glance at him.

How could he say, I won’t do anything to you, with a straight face?

She pursed her lips and asked softly, “If you really won’t do anything, can you treat me like I’m invisible and just let me out of the car?”

Yu Mo Yuan lifted his eyes and curved his lips into a faint smile. “No.”

“…”

“Then… then what will it take for you to let me go?”

“Let you go?” He leaned in closer, his deep gaze locking onto hers. “Did I hit you? Did I scold you? Or did I bully you?”

“You didn’t hit or scold me…” Tang Liyue’s voice trembled as she pressed her hands against his chest, trying to push him away. “But psychological pressure is also a form of bullying!”

“That just means you’re too timid.”

“Yes, yes! I’m timid!” She mustered up the courage to glare at him. “But, Second Master Yu, can you please sit properly and stop leaning on me?”

Yu Mo Yuan glanced down at her hands.

He had been sitting properly all along, it was Tang Liyue who had unknowingly placed both hands on his chest.

Following his gaze, she froze.

Then, her face turned beet red. She quickly withdrew her hands and shrank into the farthest corner of the seat.

“I-I only pushed you instinctively as a defense! I just forgot to put my hands down! Don’t overthink it!”

“I wasn’t overthinking it,” he said casually. “But… why are your ears so red?”

“I’m hot!”

The driver in the front spoke hesitantly, “Madam, the air conditioning is set to 16°C. It’s already at the lowest temperature.”

Tang Liyue was speechless.

Her face burned even hotter. She covered her ears with both hands and shut her eyes tightly.

If she couldn’t see or hear anything, maybe she could escape reality.

Thankfully, they soon arrived. The car came to a smooth stop in front of the villa.

The moment it did, Tang Liyue bolted out like a startled rabbit, fleeing into the house without looking back.

The driver glanced at Yu Mo Yuan through the rearview mirror and cautiously asked, “Second Master, you seem quite interested in the young madam?”

Yu Mo Yuan replied indifferently, “What makes you say that?”

The driver explained, “I’ve been your driver for years, and the young madam is the first woman to ever sit in your car.”

Yu Mo Yuan, however, said, “I’m just being protective.”

Tang Liyue was indeed different from other women.

Most women did everything they could to get close to him, dreaming of becoming the second mistress of the Yu family and rising above others.

But Tang Liyue was the opposite. Even though she had the advantage of a “newlywed bridal night”, she didn’t try to use it to her benefit. Instead, she treated him like a venomous snake, avoiding him at all costs. Every time she saw him, it was as if she wanted to dig a hole and bury herself.

People always had a bit of a perverse streak.

The more Tang Liyue wanted to hide, the more Yu Mo Yuan wanted to tease her.

She was indeed beautiful, and her scent was unique. When she was scared, her eyes would glisten with unshed tears, making her look innocent and helpless, something that awakened a mischievous, darker side in him.

It made him want to bully her. To see her cry.

Was he interested in her? Perhaps a little.

But more than that, Yu Mo Yuan saw Tang Liyue as something that belonged to him.

Like a car he had set his eyes on, one of a kind in the entire world.

And a woman he had slept with? That was his possession.

Whether he was interested in her or not, it didn’t matter. He could tease and torment her as he pleased, but no one else was allowed to touch her.

Yu Mo Yuan called this feeling “protectiveness”.

—

Meanwhile, Tang Liyue had already returned to her room.

After a quick wash-up, she curled up in bed with her laptop.

She checked the job listings again, but none of the resumes she had sent out had received a response.

Lately, her classmates had been complaining in the group chat about how few job opportunities there were for foreign language majors. Nearly half of her class was still unemployed.

Tang Liyue needed money, badly. She couldn’t afford to just sit around and wait.

After much hesitation, she decided to apply for secretarial and assistant positions.

To increase her chances, she sent her resume to every single job posting on the first page.

She didn’t notice that among the listings she applied for, one was for a “CEO Assistant” position.

After finishing her applications, she turned off the lights and lay down, exhausted.

Perhaps because she was in an unfamiliar place, she felt restless and couldn’t fall asleep until late into the night.

And when she finally did, she fell into a dream…

“In her dream, she was once again wearing that ill-fitting wedding dress.”

This time, there was no Auntie Wang by her side, she was alone.

The dim lights of the villa cast long shadows as she lifted the hem of her dress and took slow, deliberate steps up the staircase.

Dream-Tang Liyue had no control over her own body. Though her mind resisted with every fiber of her being, she still reached out and pushed open the door on the right.

Inside, a man in a well-tailored suit sat leisurely against the headboard of the bed, arms crossed. His deep, night-like eyes locked onto her, unwavering and intense.

He raised an eyebrow, his tone laced with lazy amusement.

“What are you waiting for? Come and serve me.”

Tang Liyue hesitated for a moment, then closed the door behind her.

Yet, despite the dread coiling in her chest, her feet moved forward, step by step, until she stood at the bedside.

Only then did she finally manage to find her voice, her plea barely above a whisper.

“Second Uncle… can you let me go?”

Yes, “Second Uncle, Yu Mo Yuan.”

Dream-Yu Mo Yuan didn’t respond to her begging. Instead, he reached out, his fingertips brushing against her slender arm.

Slowly, they slid upward, tracing from her arm to her shoulder, then from her shoulder to her delicate collarbone.

Tang Liyue’s eyes followed his touch against her will, watching in horror as his fingers inched closer to the neckline of her dress.

Panic surged within her, and she cried out.

“No! We can’t do this!”

Yu Mo Yuan’s expression instantly darkened.

“We can’t?”

“No, we really can’t!” she pleaded.

But Yu Mo Yuan merely chuckled coldly.

“You’ve already slept in my bed. You’re already mine. Saying ‘no’ now, isn’t it a little too late?”

Before she could protest, he wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her down onto the bed beneath him.

With one swift motion, he tore open the hem of her wedding dress. His left hand pressed firmly against her smooth, bare thigh.

Tang Liyue’s heart pounded in terror. She struggled, but it was futile.

Whether in reality or in this dream, she could never escape Yu Mo Yuan’s grasp.

“Are you going to take it off yourself, or shall I help you?”

“No!”

Just then, a sudden knock at the tightly shut door shattered the moment.

A voice called from the other side.

“Liyue… Liyue!”

It was “Yu Minchuan”.

Tang Liyue’s eyes widened in shock. She turned to Yu Mo Yuan, wordlessly begging him to stop.

But Yu Mo Yuan merely let out a low chuckle.

“You belong to me. Your body can only be touched by me. Only I can say ‘no’, but you… you don’t have that choice.”

With that, he reached for the collar of her dress, “Ahh! No!”