Xu Tingxia's "Thank you," as delicate as a mosquito's whisper yet infused with a heartbeat-stopping sincerity and dependence, brushed against Lu Chen's heart—already honed to acute sensitivity and strength by the appearance of the Heart-Hunting Chart—like the softest feather.
He surveyed the young woman before him, her cheeks flushed vivid as March peach blossoms with extreme shyness and unbidden excitement; her breath caught in her throat, and her generous chest rose and fell in waves… This picture of pure innocence, and yet her lips curled into a smile brimming with tenderness and confidence that he simply could not resist.
"It was nothing," Lu Chen said, his voice clear and calm yet imbued with an irresistible magnetism and warmth. He reached out slowly, in a gesture full of pitying affection, and lightly ruffled the silky strands of Xu Tingxia's hair—slightly mussed by her nerves, and scented faintly of jasmine.
His movement was so natural, so intimately familiar, as if they were longtime lovers with every unspoken thought shared between them, free of artifice, yet charged with a heady undercurrent of… flirtation and… indulgence.
Every fiber of Xu Tingxia's being felt as though struck by a jolt of electricity—her body freezing in place. Her heart, already racing from Lu Chen's earlier rescue act, thundered like a startled fawn as his sudden, suggestive touch sent shockwaves through her chest, nearly bursting from her bosom in its frantic beat.
She could feel the heat of his broad, warm palm pressing against her flesh, each pulse surging like a flame both commanding and gentle, flooding into her limbs until even her slender legs, encased in sheer crystal stockings, trembled with physiological reaction.
Her alabaster skin burned crimson with embarrassment and unanticipated excitement, reddening her face like a ripe apple's blush. She dared not look up at him again; instead, she bowed her head, her mind blank with mingled panic and sweetness—as if she longed to crawl into a crevice and vanish forever.
Lu Chen could almost hear the tumult of emotions roiling within her—sweet as honey yet threaded with a naïve maiden's bashfulness and bewilderment.
He… he actually patted my head?!
His hand… it's so big… so warm… so… reassuring…
Why is my heart beating so fast… so uncontrollably…
Is this… is this what it means to like someone? Have I… really fallen for him?!
But… we haven't known each other long… and… and he wasn't like this before…
Yet… yet now he's so… so captivating… so… intoxicating…
If… if he could protect me like he did just now… then… then I… I'd do anything… I'd be willing to do anything…
A devilish yet compassionate smile curved Lu Chen's lips—part seducer, part savior. He knew that Xu Tingxia, now marked as an "A-grade potential prey" on his Heart-Hunting Chart, had been utterly won over by his dramatic rescue and that teasing head-pat. Her pristine innocence had been forcibly… captured by his blend of dominance and tenderness.
He did not mind indulging in this moment—sampling the unique sweetness of this "little white bunny" before formally adding her as the most radiant, most devoted bud on his Peach Blossom Chart.
"Xiaxia," he said softly, "that Zhao Yuhang is nothing but a spoiled clown who thinks his family's money entitles him to behave any way he likes. If he ever dares to harass you again or lay a hand on you, don't be afraid or stay silent—just tell me."
A profound calmness underpinned his words, as if Zhao Yuhang—once the arrogant "crown prince" of the Feichi Group—were nothing more than an insect he could crush at will. His dark eyes, fathomless as the sea yet glittering with an ice-cold light, and the aura of power radiating from his every pore—born of his triumphs over Jiang Wanxing and Wang Hai—left Xu Tingxia feeling as though her very soul was being drawn into his mysterious, potent vortex.
Her eyes, wide with admiration and love, shone like twin stars as she gazed unwaveringly at the young man whose face, pale from over-activating the Heart-Hunting Chart yet glowing with an inner force, held her in thrall. Her voice trembled with unspeakable determination and reliance:
"I—I trust you, Lu Chen."
Those six simple words became the strongest, sweetest pact, binding two souls from parallel worlds—souls that might never otherwise have crossed—together in that instant.
The atmosphere in the office shifted, charged with their unspoken rapport and the nascent tendrils of mutual attraction.
Golden rays of late afternoon sunshine streamed through the vast glass curtain wall like the gentlest of golden veils, bathing Lu Chen and Xu Tingxia's entwined figures—and their burgeoning, innocent romance—in a dreamlike glow.
Colleagues around them, still stealing glances from the corners of their eyes, now looked at Lu Chen with a mixture of envy and resentment that mingled with their earlier shock, fear, and awe.
Why him? Why could this seemingly unremarkable young man not only win Jiang Wanxing's special favor and close a thirty-million-dollar deal, but also so easily capture Xu Tingxia—the office's acknowledged "flower," the epitome of purity and grace?
Had the world truly gone mad?
Just as the office's atmosphere grew ever more delicate with envy and intrigue—
Lu Chen's brow suddenly furrowed.
His sharpened senses, heightened by the Heart-Hunting Chart, detected a chill of jealousy, dissatisfaction, and wicked plotting emanating from a nearby private office. It was Wang Hai.
An amoral viper who'd already bared his vulnerability by his own arrogance. Lu Chen's lips curved into a smile as cold as millennia-old ice, edged with a hellish sharpness.
He knew this small-time schemer was likely hatching another dark conspiracy in secret—but for Lu Chen, a man of much grander concerns, Wang Hai was no longer worth a moment's thought.
At this moment, he had something far more important—and infinitely more interesting—to attend to.
Bending his head, Lu Chen gazed at Xu Tingxia's flushed, expectant face, still nestled against his chest, and murmured in a voice thick with invitation and promise—hearable only to her:
"Xiaxia, to thank you for your… special concern today, and to celebrate that 'insignificant' little order I just signed with President Jiang… tonight, let me take you to dinner, will you?"
Her heart, already pounding wildly from his chivalrous rescue, thundered anew at his softly suggestive invitation, threatening to burst free of her chest. Her cheeks burned brighter than a ripe apple's blush. She buried her head deeper against his not-so-broad, yet in this moment infinitely comforting and warm chest, and with a voice as soft as a mosquito's whisper—yet brimming with anticipation and shyness—she gave a tiny "Mm."
That almost inaudible sound struck Lu Chen like a bolt of pure electricity, flipping some hidden switch deep within his soul and igniting every nerve in his body with fire.
He could feel it: the delicate curves of her bosom pressed to him, supple yet resilient like the finest jade, warmed by her racing emotions. And above all, the pure girl's heart within her, fluttering with joy and hope.
Lu Chen smiled—a smile brimming with unshakable confidence and the power to command all. He knew that tonight would be another sleepless night, filled with unknown delights and thrilling adventure.