Shocking! The school heartthrob who was adopted by a wealthy family is actually a heiress!

Chapter 324 You have absolutely no confidence in yourself?
His hormones and aggressiveness were palpable.

Qin Zhao was extremely flustered. Her hand instinctively pressed against his chest, wanting to push him away but not quite.

It was just a kiss.

no big deal.

The more she thought about it, the faster her heart beat.

She hunched her shoulders, but her body instinctively recoiled when he pried open her mouth, only to stop herself by sheer willpower.

Shen Yanci raised his eyelids and saw her expression as if she was enduring something, and his heart ached with a bitter feeling.

He kissed the ground even more fiercely in retaliation.

Why play him again and again?

Why do I still not like him even though I've been pursuing him for so long?

Just as Qin Zhao's heart was pounding so hard he could hardly breathe, he suddenly stopped.

The sense of oppression and plunder disappeared along with it.

Qin Zhao's eyelashes trembled, and he slowly lifted his eyelids.

Shen Yanci's dark eyes seemed to be able to see through everything.

He silently sat back down, pressed the window shutter, and looked out.

The nightlight shone in, making my eyes moist.

Qin Zhao's heart was still racing. Her clenched fist twitched as she tried to regulate her breathing. She squeezed her fingers together: "Why...why aren't you kissing me anymore?"

Shen Yanci's voice was like an ancient well, low and calm: "Do you want to kiss me?"

Qin Zhao was taken aback; she hadn't pushed him.

Or perhaps... she forgot what she did.

Shen Yanci raised his eyes slightly, and the window slowly rose: "Let's wait until next time if you want to kiss. I have another appointment. I'll take you home first."

Qin Zhao breathed a sigh of relief and hid her fist in her sleeve: "Okay."

Shen Yanci drove her to her doorstep.

He didn't do anything more affectionate and casually said, "We're here."

Qin Zhao gripped the seatbelt and glanced at him.

She moved her lips: "What's wrong with you?"

Shen Yanci pursed his lips, his voice calm: "What?"

"It's a little weird."

There was a moment of silence inside the car, with the gauges on the dashboard ticking away.

The shadow suddenly loomed over Qin Zhao, who abruptly ducked back.

Shen Yanci placed his hand on the seatbelt buckle and paused.

He kept his eyelids closed, and light filtered through his eyelashes, casting a shadow beneath his eyes.

The shadow flickered twice, then he pressed the latch.

I couldn't remember a single word of the things I had prepared to say to ease the tension and pretend nothing was wrong.

The car was quieter now.

His face was hidden in the darkness.

Qin Zhao felt a little uneasy, and she grabbed his sleeve: "Shen Yanci..."

Her fingers curled up: "One more kiss, please?"

Shen Yanci looked at her, and she looked at him too.

The night was dark, and it was hard to tell whose expression was more sorrowful.
-
"cherish."

The words she had said four years ago flashed through my mind.

Shen Yanci looked away; his throat was terribly hoarse.

He wanted her to take the initiative, but when she actually did, he became afraid.

Four years ago, the time when she took the initiative was when she was preparing to break up with him.

"We're going to be late." Shen Yanci didn't look at her, but raised his arm and pulled Qin Zhao's hand away.

Qin Zhao's hand hovered in the air. She lowered her eyelashes and withdrew her hand: "Drive slower."

After she got out of the car, Shen Yanci turned around and drove away.

He parked his car on the side of the road, reached for a cigarette, and found his hand empty.

His hand paused, and a self-deprecating smile suddenly appeared on his lips. The car sped along, the voice assistant repeatedly reminding him, "You are speeding, please drive safely."

He let out a breath and reduced the car's speed to the maximum speed limit.

When Kuang Xu arrived, there were five bottles of wine on the coffee table, and Shen Yanci had already drunk about half a bottle.

He said, "If we're not buddies, you've already gotten what you wanted, why are you drinking?"

"I'm almost healed."

He sat down and pushed the bottle away: "Your sad expression made me feel like I was four years ago."

Shen Yanci took a swig of wine and held out his hand to him: "Can I borrow your phone for a moment?"

Kuang Xu: "What?"

Shen Yanci: "Send a message."

“I sent you a message and you looked like you’d caught someone cheating.”

"..."

Kuang Xu complained, then handed him the phone and stopped, asking, "Who are you sending this to? Qin Zhao, pretending to be pitiful?"

Shen Yanci took his phone and found Jiang Man's chat window: "You invested in Zhao Zhao's coffee shop?"

He paused for a moment, changed Zhao Zhao to Qin Zhao, and clicked send.

Jiang Man: "Dogs have such a keen sense of smell."

"Is something wrong?"

Shen Yanci typed: "Can you help me out?"

“No.” Jiang Man refused directly. “I got here because of my connections. The coffee shop isn’t expanding, so it doesn’t need that much money.”

"Qin Zhao is really amazing; he runs such a good coffee shop."

"I heard she got accepted into a PhD program in the US?"

“Of course. It was the professor who sent her the invitation. It’s just a formality, practically the same as getting approved.” Jiang Man said proudly, “She participated in a summer research program and even published a paper at a top conference.”

"That's amazing."

Do you know what the gold content is?

"That professor's lab is incredibly awesome..."

Jiang Man kept praising him, but Shen Yanci didn't read what she said after that.

Although he knew the outcome, the prominent veins on his hands betrayed his unease.

He picked up his glass, exhaled, and took a swig of wine.

Kuang Xu, puzzled, took back his phone, scrolled through the screen, and looked at Shen Yanci: "Is Qin Zhao going to America?"

Shen Yanci remained silent.

"How many years?"

Unable to get the answer from him, Kuang Xu sent a message to Jiang Man.

He paused for a moment when he saw the message: "Six years?"

After finishing his drink, Shen Yanci's eyes looked somewhat tearful with heartbreak.

"Sigh." Kuang Xu poured himself a glass of wine. "It's just a foreign country, you guys have been abroad before, haven't you?"

He clinked his glass together and joked, "Back to the ambiguous state."

Shen Yanci glanced at him.

Kuang Xu took a sip of wine: "We haven't gone yet, there's still a chance. What's Qin Zhao thinking now?"

Shen Yanci looked at the transparent glass, its prisms refracting multiple rays of light, and said in a faint voice, "I don't know."

"Don't know?" Kuang Xu put down the wine he was about to drink. "If you don't know, go ask her. What if she's not going?"

Shen Yanci poured himself a glass and held it with one hand.

"She seems gentle, but she's very decisive. Once she's made up her mind, no one can change it. She doesn't want to disrupt the peace, but if one day her decision is truly threatened, she'll handle it decisively, leaving no room for negotiation."

If she's already decided to go, laying the issues bare will only hasten her decision.

Kuang Xu looked at him: "Don't you have any confidence in yourself?"

He paused for a moment, and Shen Yanci, knowing this, asked Jiang Man why she was still asking, hesitantly, "Didn't Qin Zhao tell you about her applying for a PhD?"

The image of her resistant expression flashed through Shen Yanci's mind, and he smiled self-deprecatingly: "Kuang Xu, if a girl really likes someone, wouldn't she care if other girls appear around him?"

(End of this chapter)