The Guide to Rising to Power: The Ultimate Schemes of a Green Tea Beauty

Shen Yao was genuinely terrified, and deliberately amplified her fear to the extreme. The lingering fear that had accompanied her for so long seemed to be materialized and brought to an end with this scene.

Fang Yunci looked at her suddenly pale face. Her usually bright eyes were now filled with pure fear, so real.

In a corner of his heart, something seemed to prick him lightly, not with pleasure, but with a strange, stagnant feeling.

Almost subconsciously, Fang Yunci withdrew the uncomfortable image from his phone screen.

Then, he reached out and gently pulled her into his arms. His palm pressed against her slightly cool back, as if trying to warm her icy spine with his own body heat.

"As for your career," he said again, his tone much softer than before, "with me here, you can go wherever you want."

"Opportunities, resources, and stepping stones will all be laid out for you. All you need to do is walk up to them."

The man's gaze was locked, trying to firmly grasp her eyes again—there was fear trembling, struggle tearing at her, and wavering as his words struck a nerve.

He delivered the final blow.

"You know what to choose. One year for a lifetime of freedom and a bright future. Don't you really want this deal?"

The room fell into a deathly silence.

Shen Yao lowered her eyelashes, as if she were having an internal struggle.

After a long silence, she looked up and said, "Okay."

When those words escaped Shen Yao's lips, a throbbing, pulsating feeling spread through her veins, causing Fang Yunci to momentarily lose his composure.

He lowered his head and gazed at her without any obstruction.

Those eyes were like a lake shrouded in the misty rain of Jiangnan, crystal clear yet unfathomably deep, reflecting his image as if he were the only focus of her world.

That's the feeling. Exactly the same as when I saw her save her cousin Xie Yunzhou at the Shanghai Summit.

Unlike most people, although he had a harmonious family, his parents and relatives were more like strangers to him, with whom he needed to maintain relationships. He learned all the social etiquette and was gentle and polite to everyone, simply because it was the most correct and effortless way to survive.

With Fang Yunci's status, it's inevitable that people will try every means to curry favor with him, and all sorts of women will be presented to him as gifts without his knowledge.

He glanced at it only, a smile playing on his lips, and waved his hand, the meaning couldn't be clearer—go back to where you came from.

Only this girl seemed to understand him from birth. Was she even aware of this unspoken understanding herself?

She was still young, yet her vitality was so tenacious and so bright; her soul was a flickering flame. Fate had not been kind to her, but it was precisely those wounds that gave her an inherent vulnerability—a vulnerability that could provoke malice.

Fang Yunci leaned down and precisely captured her lips.

Cold—that was his first impression. Her lips were soft, slightly moist, and not very warm, like petals in early spring.

Shen Yao's body tensed abruptly, and she closed her eyes. The man's lips explored her, forcefully taking over her breath, his high nose bridge gliding across her cheek as they caressed each other.

To be my lover? Don't even think about it.

He wouldn't be able to easily extricate himself from this quagmire of pretense and deceit without dragging her into this entanglement of passion, life and death.

After an initial instinctive stiffness, she seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then her tightly closed lips loosened slightly.

A warm, soft touch quickly brushed against his lips, then he flinched, trying to pull away. It wasn't a gesture of pleasure, but rather an unconscious invitation, drawing him in to capture it, to confirm it.

Fang Yunci was slightly taken aback, and an indescribable pleasure quietly spread down his spine.

He originally only wanted a light kiss, just enough, but now, a mere touch was no longer enough.

The man tightened his arms suddenly, lifting the girl off the sofa and slamming her down onto the coffee table.

Shen Yao's back pressed against the cool glass, and her body trembled slightly. Her long, seaweed-like hair spread out, rippling with a lustrous, flowing ink color, like a witch suddenly awakened in mythology. She wanted to curl up, but this shrinking seemed like a silent invitation, enticing one to press deeper and deeper into that space between the cold and the burning heat.

The man lowered his head and kissed her again.

Just as his lips and tongue were lingering on the ground, a sob, tinged with tears, mixed with the faint lingering sound of his name, seemed like an unconscious murmur when one could not bear it any longer, gently scratching his eardrums.

The sound was so soft and fragmented, as if it would dissipate into the air at any moment, which only made people want to hold on tighter and listen more clearly.

Fang Yunci paused in his movement of burying his face in the crook of her neck. This call was too magical, instantly opening up an unknown, surging floodgate within his body.

In a daze, he seemed to no longer be the station manager Fang in the luxurious mansion, but had turned back into the little boy who sat alone in the empty old house many years ago.

On the stone table was a fruit plate with several plump, white-and-red peaches that emitted a sweet fragrance.

Bored, he picked up the biggest and prettiest peach at random.

The peach's skin is covered with a layer of fine fuzz, and it feels cool and smooth to the touch.

He took out a clean handkerchief embroidered with his name that he always carried with him, dipped it in the clear water in the celadon bowl next to him, and began to slowly and meticulously wipe the peach again and again.

The movements were initially graceful and patient.

But for some reason, looking at the tempting red blush on the peach, he suddenly felt a surge of inexplicable irritation.

This peach is so beautiful, so perfect, as if it's silently showing off something. Could it be... that someone else coveted it? Touched it?

This thought made him very unhappy.

The wiping motion suddenly became more forceful, almost roughly rubbing the delicate skin, as if trying to wipe away some non-existent stain.

The peach trembled slightly in his hand.

The skin was so juicy it seemed like it was about to burst out, the skin was red from being rubbed, and even cracked, with glistening water droplets seeping out.

The little boy stared at the teardrop on the peach and suddenly stopped. The inexplicable irritation in his heart was suddenly replaced by a strange emotion mixed with pity and regret.

Yes, it is ultimately just a peach, a fragile peach that needs to be carefully protected.

Why am I getting so worked up over a piece of fruit?

He sighed, his movements softening again as he gently brushed away the water droplets from the peach with his fingertips.

But even though he moved more gently, Peach seemed to cry even harder, and more liquid seeped from the wound, wetting his fingertips and carrying a sweet scent...

Fang Yunci snapped out of his brief daze, his senses once again being occupied by the tactile sensations of reality.

The girl's long eyelashes were wet with tears and stuck together, her small nose was red, and her slightly parted lips were slightly swollen.

He stopped what he was doing, raised his hand, and gently wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes with his fingertips. Shen Yao slowly opened her eyes, which were misty with tears, and looked at him blankly, as if she didn't know where she was.

After a long while, it seemed as if she finally recognized him. Her eyelashes trembled, and new tears rolled down her cheeks. The corners of her mouth turned down very slightly, almost in a wronged manner.

Seeing her like this, Fang Yunci felt an overwhelming pity and confusion.

"Yao Yao".

"You cry when it hurts, and you cry when it feels good. What am I supposed to do?"