Volume One, Chapter 39: Must He Torment Her This Way?

“There’s nothing to be angry about. When we were kids, every time you wanted to go to an internet café to play games, you’d take me along and tell your parents we were going to the library together,” Xu Zhi said with a faint smile. “It’s not the first time.”

Liang Muzhi was silent for a moment before saying, “It wasn’t just about coming here with Chen Jing. Back in the summer, didn’t we all agree that after the opening, we’d come together? Besides, I did feel I owed you something, and wanted to make it up to you.”

Xu Zhi thought that his explanation only made things sound more suspicious. Her disappointment in him had already grown so faint, she barely felt it anymore—what lingered was a deep weariness toward this so-called friendship.

But considering Xu Heping, and her own company’s situation, she knew it wasn’t the right time to fall out with Liang Muzhi.

Liang Muzhi also realized his words sounded like a feeble excuse. He turned his face aside, thought for a moment, and said, “There’s a virtue in being obedient. Just now, it was because Chen Jing asked me if I liked good girls, and that’s why I answered like that. Don’t take it to heart.”

Xu Zhi nodded. “I’m not bothered.”

Even if she were, it wouldn’t do her any good. Recognizing this brought her a strange sense of relief.

She seemed genuinely unaffected, but he still felt unsettled, unable to pinpoint the source of his discomfort.

“Shall we go skiing later?” he suggested. “There are a few slopes here—we could spend a few days.”

Xu Zhi considered it, then agreed. Once they got to the ski resort, perhaps she could go find Yang Xue.

Liang Muzhi left her room, gently shutting the door behind him. Suddenly, he realized the strangeness he’d sensed earlier—when Xu Zhi spoke to him now, it was as if she wore a mask, utterly false.

Xu Zhi was always polite to everyone, but as one of her closest friends, he knew she did have a temper. Now, even that politeness was turned on him. She no longer showed him any real emotion.

He went and sat on the living room sofa, feeling a twinge of regret about being so careless with his words at dinner. But he was Liang Muzhi—he would never show such regret.

Footsteps interrupted his thoughts. Chen Jing sauntered over, sat herself right on his lap, wrapped her arms around his neck, and leaned in for a kiss. “What’s wrong? Got something on your mind?”

“No.” Liang Muzhi’s hand slid around her waist, and he brushed her lips with his own. “Go get ready—we’ll be going skiing soon.”

“But I’ve never skied before,” Chen Jing said.

“Xu Zhi and I can teach you.”

“Great, I’ve got two private instructors!” Chen Jing beamed, clearly delighted.

Liang Muzhi suddenly thought how easy it was with someone like Chen Jing—so easy to please. Xu Zhi, on the other hand, was becoming less and less likable these days.

Chen Jing, in her happiness, clung to him for another kiss.

Liang Muzhi kept his wits about him. “Xu Zhi’s still here, you know.”

“She’s eating in her room, she won’t come out…” Chen Jing’s tongue slipped into his mouth before she finished.

Liang Muzhi was drawn in, hand tightening at the back of her head, deepening the kiss.

Xu Zhi had just taken her meal out of the paper bag. There was no trash can in the bedroom, so she decided to leave and throw the bag away. As she reached the door, she heard noises outside.

“In broad daylight—aren’t you ashamed?” It was Liang Muzhi, teasing, his voice deliberately low, but still audible through the door.

“You know you like it this way. You don’t care for good girls…” Chen Jing suddenly squealed, “Ah! Don’t touch, it tickles…”

Liang Muzhi laughed and asked where it tickled.

Xu Zhi retreated from the door to her desk, but even that didn’t feel far enough—she moved to the window.

There, the sounds were barely audible.

She looked down and realized the paper bag in her hand had been crushed to tatters without her noticing. Her fingers were clenched so tightly around it that her knuckles had turned white.

She thought she had truly given up, that she no longer felt pain.

But it still hurt.

She didn’t know why Liang Muzhi treated her this way. Sometimes she wondered if he hated her. Otherwise, why insist she stay in the presidential suite as well? Did he have to torment her like this?

She had an impulse to storm out and say she’d book another room, but quickly suppressed it.

Liang Muzhi would be angry. He was too controlling—when he brought friends out to play, everyone followed his arrangements.

It wasn’t that she feared his anger, but she was considering Xu Heping’s advice: aside from seduction and servitude, there was a third path—currying favor.

If she endured the humiliation and pleased this young master, maybe she could win a lifeline for her family’s business, maybe through him, the Liang Group would finance Xu Heping’s project.

In the living room, Liang Muzhi and Chen Jing didn’t get carried away for long. He pressed Chen Jing’s hand away as she tried to slip it under his T-shirt. “You’re too loud—Xu Zhi will hear. Enough, if we keep going, I won’t be able to stop.”

Chen Jing knew how to tease, and he did feel himself losing control.

“Then don’t stop,” Chen Jing kissed his cheek, “We’re here to have fun, aren’t we? Whatever we do is fine.”

Last time in that Hong Kong hotel, she hadn’t managed to win this man over—it had been a blow. Over time, she’d come to notice something odd about the relationship between Liang Muzhi and Xu Zhi. Who would believe that she was just a non-blood-related ‘little sister’? Liang Muzhi always called Xu Zhi by her nickname, but addressed her with her full name. He’d get upset over Xu Zhi, sometimes brooding for days. That was a dangerous sign.

She didn’t like Xu Zhi either, found her insincere—what childhood friend? Whenever Liang Muzhi invited her, she’d come running—didn’t she know the man already had someone?

She admitted she was provoking Liang Muzhi on purpose, also staking her claim in front of Xu Zhi, separated by just a wall. After all this, could Xu Zhi really keep staying here?

Liang Muzhi gave her a light pat on the hip. “Xu Zhi and I promised to go skiing. You’d better go change—didn’t you say you couldn’t wait to try your new ski outfit?”

Thinking of the ski gear Liang Muzhi bought her, Chen Jing immediately jumped off his lap and ran to the master bedroom. “Okay, I’ll get changed right away!”

Liang Muzhi couldn’t help but laugh.

As he drew back his gaze, his eyes lingered a moment on Xu Zhi’s door.

Chen Jing had indeed been a bit loud just now. He wondered if Xu Zhi might have heard…

Xu Zhi was so innocent, he felt that letting her hear those sounds was a kind of defilement.

This was absurd; it must never happen again. He berated himself for his lack of self-control.

Chen Jing was so different from Xu Zhi. He imagined if Xu Zhi ever dated, she’d be the passive type—she was just too obedient.

He suddenly remembered when they were little, Xu Zhi once had an especially strict tutor who assigned an outrageous amount of homework. Xu Zhi had to stay up late to finish it, and once, when she told him about it, her eyes were rimmed red, looking so aggrieved.

Liang Muzhi had just scoffed, “She’s a tutor. If you can’t finish her assignments, don’t do them. What can she do to you? If you’re unhappy, just get a new one. Honestly, you don’t always have to be so obedient.”

Xu Zhi had pouted, “I’m not like you. I have to be good.”

Liang Muzhi frowned. “Why do you have to be?”

“If I’m not, maybe no one will want me,” Xu Zhi’s voice was barely above a whisper, “But you’ll always be forgiven.”