Chapter 20: Wounded Pride

Lin Yiwei wiped her damp, fluffy long hair as she stepped out of the bathroom. The phone on the bed kept ringing incessantly.

She swiped the screen, and a flood of messages from Ye Anning popped up, filled with urgent questions.

Ye Anning was impatient by nature. If Lin Yiwei didn’t give her a satisfactory answer today, she would probably rush overnight to Lugang Town—

“Lin Yiwei, what do you mean? Answer me!”

“What’s going on between you and Xie Bo?”

“Why did you lie to me? I was the one who introduced you to him. Why would you do this to me?”

...

Among the texts, there was also a voice message from Chi Xiyu urging her to complete the task quickly: “I don’t have much patience. Just these couple of days—I want to see them break up and become strangers.”

Lin Yiwei put down the phone and lay on the bed, rubbing her eyes. She didn’t care that her freshly washed hair had dampened the sheets.

Ye Anning was still bombarding her with texts—

“Lin Yiwei, answer me!”

“Do you believe I’ll come to Lugang Town right now? I want a reasonable explanation!”

“Speak up! Coward!”

Reading those messages, Lin Yiwei’s heart was torn. Xie Bo was right—if she wanted to achieve her goal, she couldn’t be hesitant. Worrying about this and that would only lead to failure.

Better to just be the villain.

After a moment’s thought, Lin Yiwei sent Ye Anning her location, including the hotel and room number.

an: “What do you mean?”

Breeze: “Aren’t you coming to settle this with me? Come on, don’t just thunder without rain.”

an: “You... don’t think I’m afraid.”

Breeze: “Look at how many messages you’ve sent me, only daring to pick a fight with me. Would you be this arrogant in front of Xie Bo?”

an: “Just you wait!”

By provoking Ye Anning like this, with her straightforward nature, she would definitely rush over tonight.

Lin Yiwei’s trembling hand put down the phone. Staring at the ceiling, her mind went blank.

If Lin Xie knew she had become like this...

Lin Yiwei didn’t dare imagine his expression.

At the thought, her eyes grew wet.

She missed her brother so much.

...

Xie Bo had just finished showering and was blow-drying his hair when the doorbell rang. Opening the door, he saw Lin Yiwei standing before him.

Her long hair was tousled and hung messily over her shoulders. She was thin and delicate.

The hallway’s cold incandescent light gave her an almost ghostly, ethereal quality, accentuated by the mole on her forehead, lending her a haunting beauty.

Xie Bo’s eyes deepened, a hint of playful teasing growing as he slowly leaned closer and said, “Miss Ghost, can I help you?”

“Just now, someone seemed to be knocking on my door,” Lin Yiwei said timidly. “Xie Bo, I’m scared.”

“And?”

“I don’t want to be alone. Can I stay in your room for a while?”

Before finishing, she tried to enter, but Xie Bo blocked her path.

His upper body was bare, arms muscular and strong, a perfect display of masculine strength, standing firmly before her.

“What’s going on?”

“What could be going on? You’re just naturally suspicious,” Lin Yiwei teased him slyly. “Let me in.”

“You invited me to spend a good evening together before, and I refused. Now you’re so proactive,” Xie Bo lowered his gaze, looking into her sly eyes. “Trying to set a trap for me?”

“You’re too suspicious. I don’t know anyone here—just a weak girl. What kind of trap could I possibly set?”

A gust of wind blew through, making her sneeze.

Xie Bo lowered his arms and stepped aside to let her in.

As the door shut, he turned around, but she suddenly darted away like a cat, stumbling to the window and leaning stiffly against the wall.

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing.”

Xie Bo ignored her, picked up the hairdryer, and continued drying his damp short hair.

“Can’t sleep again, thinking about last night?”

“No!”

“Or are you hoping for something pure with me?”

“Can’t I just come to your room to spend the night?”

He let out a light snort. “Doesn’t that sound ridiculous coming from you?”

“I don’t care what you think.”

Lin Yiwei calculated the time before Ye Anning arrived—at most two hours—and then she would see them together in the same room.

She didn’t believe she could endure it.

This kind of scumbag was better off cut loose early. Lin Yiwei considered it a mercy.

She sat on his bed.

Xie Bo’s lips curled coldly. He put down the hairdryer and leaned over.

Lin Yiwei backed up repeatedly until she reached the soft headboard, with nowhere to escape.

She caught a faint scent of mint from him, reminiscent of shampoo.

He didn’t need any perfume to enhance his presence—his body exuded overwhelming masculine hormones: possessive, dominant, fierce...

“If Chi Xiyu finds out you slept with me, she’ll kill me,” she said coldly.

“If she knew how you slept with me that night, she wouldn’t just kill you,” Xie Bo pressed his nose against her cheek, saying meaningfully, “She’d tear you apart.”

Lin Yiwei glared at him, “You two grew up together. Even if she’s not your girlfriend now, can’t you at least act like childhood friends and not be such an asshole?”

Xie Bo laughed, a heartless rogue, “Speaking of which, our German Shepherd grew up with me too. That’s childhood friends too. Next time I’ll introduce you two; she’s even cuter than Chi Xiyu.”

“……”

Xie Bo smelled the faint scent of her body wash and reached out. Lin Yiwei pushed him away.

“Coming to my room on your own, getting into my bed, then rejecting me—that’s pretty unethical.”

She anxiously glanced at the phone time and said sternly, “No condom.”

“I can go buy one.”

“No, Xie Bo.”

His eyes betrayed uncontrollable desire as his fingers traced her jaw. “Yi Yi, what exactly are you thinking?”

...

“If I told you, would you grant me what I want?”

“Try me. You know I always indulge you.”

Lin Yiwei thought for a moment and proposed a condition Xie Bo would never agree to—

“Be my boyfriend and give up the alliance with the Chi family.”

The moment she said it, Xie Bo’s eyes darkened profoundly.

“No way. You want to marry me?”

Lin Yiwei tried to look greedy, making her words sound sincere and believable: “A girl from the bottom rung like me marrying into a powerful family like the Xie is a dream beyond reach.”

He sneered, his rough fingers brushing her jaw like petting a cat. “Yi, there’s no free lunch. The more you get, the more you pay. The upper class isn’t as easy as you think.”

After all these years of enduring humiliation and hardship, walking on eggshells every day, Xie Bo didn’t believe marrying into his family would bring her much happiness.

“You have to know, you can’t marry me.”

“Then you also have to know, I won’t do this with you anymore.”

“You didn’t say your goal was to marry into the Xie family when you took me home that night.”

Xie Bo gripped her hand, almost pinning her to the soft bed, his heavy breath mingling with hers, desire and ambiguity growing unchecked. “Now you’re playing me, Yi Yi?”

Lin Yiwei suddenly said, “Yeah, Xie Bo, I’m basically a gold digger. Catching you was a lucky accident. Playing hard to get is a necessary tactic. Do you think it’s your charm that won me over? On the contrary, if you weren’t a Xie, if you couldn’t marry me, you’d be nothing in my eyes.”

That sentence was like a switch, instantly dispelling the shadows in Xie Bo’s eyes.

He released her and tossed a soft pillow at her. “Go sleep on the sofa.”

Lin Yiwei breathed a sigh of relief and hugged the pillow to the sofa.

Since she had said such a definitive thing, he probably wouldn’t try anything intimate with her anymore.

Though it hurt his pride, it was only fair.

Besides... as he said, being the bad girl wasn’t so bad.

Lin Yiwei curled up on the sofa like a kitten, lying still, even suppressing her breathing.

Waiting. Waiting for Ye Anning to knock on the door.

The autumn chill wind seeped through the screen window. Lin Yiwei shivered and coughed lightly.

Xie Bo, already unable to sleep, opened his eyes irritably. “Noisy.”

Lin Yiwei covered her mouth, struggling to hold back the tickle in her lungs, then sneezed again and rubbed her nose. “Can’t help it.”

Finally, Xie Bo said, “Come to bed.”

“No.”

“I won’t touch you.”

“No.” The girl remained firm. “You’ll beat me to death.”

“No.”

“No.”

Xie Bo truly disliked her stubbornness.

Girls like her—bad-tempered, prideful, and hypocritical—he would have never given a second glance to before.

There were plenty of girls willing to listen to him, tolerate his temper, and not say things like, “I only like you because you’re Xie Gongzi; you don’t attract me at all...” Such outrageous nonsense.

No matter how uncomfortable, Lin Yiwei still attracted him—purely physical attraction.

A few minutes later, he got up irritably, came to the sofa, and scooped her up in his arms.

She was startled and struggled hard.

Xie Bo’s embrace was steady and strong. After tossing her onto the bed, he pulled the blanket over her like wrapping a cocoon, then lay down behind her and held her.

Lin Yiwei felt like she had fallen into a silk web, bound tightly by his threads, unable to move.

She stubbornly fought back, as if she loathed his touch.

Xie Bo lowered his voice, threatening, “Try moving again; I really won’t hold back.”

That had some effect. Lin Yiwei stayed still, letting him hold her through the blanket.

Soon, his breathing evened, warmth pressing against the back of her neck.

He had fallen asleep.

Lin Yiwei, however, struggled to stay awake, counting the seconds as time ticked by.

Why hadn’t Ye Anning come yet?

The message clearly showed the hotel room number. Ye Anning’s straightforward, impulsive nature meant she would definitely come to “catch them in bed.”

Seeing this would give her a clear view of Xie Bo’s true nature and push her away.

Then the plan would succeed.

By early morning, Lin Yiwei could no longer keep her eyes open and fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, she was woken by the sound of Xie Bo’s razor from the bathroom. Groggy, she sat up, noticing the empty space beside her and his jacket tossed carelessly on the sofa.

Ye Anning... hadn’t come all night!

That wasn’t like her.

Lin Yiwei grabbed her phone and sent her a single punctuation mark: “?”

The red notification showed that Ye Anning had blocked her.

She turned her head toward the bathroom. Through the mirror’s reflection, she saw the man’s sharp jawline and slender neck.

He hadn’t shaved for a day, and stubble marked his face, a sign of his vigorous masculine hormones.

Noticing her gaze, he smiled and asked, “Did your good friend not come last night to disturb our sweet dreams?”

Lin Yiwei frowned. “Did you contact her?”

He cleaned his razor and answered disdainfully, “Do I need to?”

“Then why didn’t she show up?”

“Yi Yi, think a little. Ye Anning has no status now—not a girlfriend, not a lover. At best, she’s a pursuer I haven’t directly rejected. What right does she have to ‘catch us in bed’?”

Hearing this, Lin Yiwei realized she had been naive.

Though Ye Anning was simple, she was not foolish and knew her limits around Xie Bo.

Not to mention Ye Anning, even Chi Xiyu probably didn’t have the right to directly intervene in Xie Bo’s private life.

Lin Yiwei felt a bit broken. “If you don’t like her, why not just reject her outright? If you refuse her, then there’d be no problem!”

“Reject her? Help you complete your KPI? What benefit would I have?” Xie Bo wiped the wet razor with a tissue and glanced coldly at her. “A woman who thinks I have no charm, one who only cares about my surname—how low do you think I am to help her again and again?”

“……”

After saying that, he even took out his phone and called Ye Anning.

It rang once before she answered, her voice filled with grievance and surprise: “Xie Bo...”

He had never taken the initiative to contact her before.

The man deliberately put the call on speaker so Lin Yiwei could hear: “Nothing happened last night. Don’t misunderstand. The car broke down, so we stayed in Lugang Town for the night. We’re coming back today. I won’t touch your friend.”

Ye Anning sounded like she was about to cry. “Master Bo... I knew she was lying. I knew you wouldn’t...”

Xie Bo gave a cold laugh, his eyes locking onto Lin Yiwei’s. “Yes, choose your friends carefully. You’re so innocent, don’t be deceived by bad girls.”

“Mm, I’ve blocked her. No more playing with her!”

“Good. Bye.”

Without waiting for her to say goodbye, he hung up.

Lin Yiwei: ……

Fine, in the end, she was the only villain left.

That morning, Xie Bo went to the repair shop to check on the motorcycle repairs, leading Lin Yiwei on a leash like a dog.

Lin Yiwei was clearly unhappy. No matter what he said, she didn’t respond, her expression cold.

Chi Xiyu messaged her again—

sisi: “Did it work? Do you think they’ll break up today? What’s the situation now?”

Lin Yiwei looked down at the message, hesitating. “Sorry, Xixi, I failed. Xie Bo didn’t fall for me.”

sisi: “…………”

Those words only heightened Chi Xiyu’s sense of crisis.

Why would Xie Bo stubbornly choose Ye Anning when they looked alike?

Lin Yiwei, a nobody, didn’t care if Xie Bo played with her for a while.

But Ye Anning... her existence threatened the future alliance between the Xie and Chi families.

Chi Xiyu couldn’t allow that to happen.

sisi: “Lin Yiwei, if you can’t succeed in this, I don’t need you as a friend anymore. You understand that, right?”

Breeze: “I know.”

If she couldn’t help Chi Xiyu, she had no place in the sisterhood.

Chi Xiyu didn’t lack friends, especially friends from the lower class like her.

Breeze: “Give me a little more time. Let me try.”

sisi: “How long?”

Breeze: “Two weeks.”

sisi: “Ten days at most.”

Lin Yiwei had no room to refuse and gritted her teeth to agree.

Xie Bo pushed his black motorcycle out of the repair shop and pressed the brake to test the system.

Lin Yiwei ran over and straddled the front, wrapping her arms around him.

Xie Bo: ?

Xie Bo: “What’s this pose?”

“Just a few minutes apart, and I miss you so much.” Lin Yiwei’s hands clung to him like octopus tentacles, her head resting on his shoulder. “Don’t pay attention to Ye Anning anymore, okay, Master Bo...”

“Are you crazy?”

“Get off.”

Lin Yiwei stubbornly held on, speaking in a shy tone: “I’m at my wit’s end. The only way to make me let go is to push me away.”

Xie Bo sneered, pulling her off and kicking her backside to make her move away. “I’m testing the bike. If you’re not afraid of dying, get on.”

Lin Yiwei stuck to him like glue and hugged his waist from behind.

Xie Bo didn’t start the engine immediately but felt the tight grip of her hands around him.

“Yi Yi, being forced to hug someone you hate must feel awful.”

Through the helmet, Lin Yiwei muttered, “A little.”

Xie Bo rolled his eyes, started the engine, and drove off.

Then she said, “What I said last night was nonsense.”

“Wanting to marry me was nonsense?”

“That part wasn’t,” Lin Yiwei said sincerely. “Saying you have no charm was a lie. After that night, I wasn’t the only one reminiscing.”

The man looked down, noticing the heart rate graph on his sports watch spike like a little hill.