Mrs. Fu, please be mindful of the appropriate boundaries.

Fu Pingxiu sat in the car, squinting at the woman in the photo. "Is she Tang Tang?"

Zhou Qian hurriedly replied, "Yes."

The man's lips tightened, and his cold, sharp face sank even deeper.

He closed his eyes briefly. "How old is the child?"

"The information says she is four years and one month old."

The man's brow furrowed deeply.

The timing doesn't match.

Zhou Qian asked him, "Should I go to Jincheng?"

Fu Pingxiu pursed his lips tightly; this was a crucial moment. "No need. Finish this task first, then you can go. Including this Tangtang, I need all their records from the past six years."

……

Fu Jingting drove home, and Xu Qingcheng watched him quietly.

The man clicked his tongue lightly. "It's none of my business."

Xu Qingcheng glanced at him, "Maybe it's the result of your fleeting affair."

"You haven't had any news yet?" Fu Jingting's eyes were fixed on her stomach. "This isn't just a fleeting affair."

"..."

Xu Qingcheng was momentarily speechless, her face flushing hot as she muttered, "Why are you dragging me into this?"

After a moment's hesitation, she couldn't resist her gossip, "Is that child my older brother's? Did they know each other before?"

"I don't know. Most children look like that, so it's hard to say whether they look alike or not. It's just a photo, so it's not very clear." Fu Jingting recalled his older brother's expression... which was quite intriguing.

"That's true. Just looking at the photos, I think the child looks more like the mother." Xu Qingcheng nodded. "My brother wouldn't do something so absurd."

Fu Pinxiu gives people the impression of being calm and collected, so it seems unbelievable that he would have an illegitimate child. If we're being honest, it's more convincing that Fu Jingting would be the one to do this.

Fu Jingting stopped the car and saw her give him a casual glance.

The man hissed, reaching out to grab the back of her neck. "What kind of look is that? What are you thinking?"

"I wasn't thinking anything." Xu Qingcheng pulled his hand away. "Are you feeling guilty?"

She pushed open the car door and got out, walking straight into the villa, feeling inexplicably a bit choked up.

Oh, is she angry?!

Fu Jingting locked the car and the back door. Watching her walk with such an imposing air, he chuckled, grabbed her wrist, and asked, "What's got you so angry?"

"When did I get angry?" Xu Qingcheng puffed out her cheeks, denying it.

"You don't call this being angry?" Fu Jingting chuckled, poking her face with his finger. "It's puffed up like a frog's."

"You're the one who's like a frog," she snapped, her eyes sweeping over him with a haughty look that said, "Don't try to change the subject, I'm not easy to coax."

Looking at her cute face, Fu Jingting felt his heart burning. You might think he's crazy, but the way she acts coquettishly and domineeringly towards him makes him feel incredibly at ease, as if the blood in his veins is boiling.

He pulled her into his arms, ignoring her struggles, and held her tightly in his embrace. A low laugh echoed in his chest. "If you give me another sideways glance, like you were just now, looking up at the sky like that."

Xu Qingcheng was stunned, then suddenly pushed him away, both amused and exasperated. Her voice softened involuntarily, "Are you crazy? I didn't do anything like that!"

"No? Then who was that just now? Their face screamed 'I'm not easy to please'?" He teased her, a smile on his face, as if he had her little temper completely under his control.

Xu Qingcheng suddenly chuckled, "What's wrong with me being hard to coax?"

"Are you easy to coax?" he asked back, lifting her chin to kiss her. "It's okay if you're hard to coax. When you're angry, you need to be given a chance to make up with you."

His lips pressed against hers, his voice filling her mouth, and Xu Qingcheng's body went limp. She wrapped her arms around his waist and tilted her head back to receive his tenderness.

Such soft and ingratiating words seemed like something she would never expect to hear from Fu Jingting, but when he said them, she felt her heart slowly and completely succumb.

The man's hand landed brazenly on her buttocks, pressing her forcefully against himself.

Across the street, the window of a black sedan rolled down a crack, and the cool air rushed onto my face, making my suffocating chest feel like I could finally breathe in a breath of air.

The fresh, green scent of spring plants wafted in, and it seemed to carry the sweet, coquettish laughter of a woman.

As sunlight and darkness took turns, the oppressive blackness crushed the light, leaving only a bluish-black hue in the sky.

The black sedan was thus hidden in the shadows cast by the plants and completely ignored.

The man's gaze shifted from their intertwined lips, his sharp eyes appearing bloodshot as if they had been ripped apart.

The face was tinged with shadow, exuding a deep and cold aura. The man pressed his left fist against his forehead. "Drive."

As the car slid off, the streetlights suddenly blazed on, and a ray of light shone into the car, clearly revealing the tattoo at the base of the man's clenched thumb.

A city.

Deeply etched into the skin and flesh, it has accumulated weight and color.

"What if I can't coax you?" Xu Qingcheng was a little breathless from the kiss, so she leaned lazily against Fu Jingting's chest, letting him support her, with a sly smile in her eyes.

Fu Jingting looked at her, knowing she was being playful, but he was unusually serious. "Then keep coaxing her." Coaxing her until they're old.

Xu Qingcheng laughed out loud, "That's really unoriginal."

"What else? Give me some advice." He hugged her even tighter.

"Why do you have to make someone angry before you try to appease them? Just don't make them angry in the first place."

"So you're angry?"

"I don't know. Don't ask me, ask yourself."

This question is like the chicken-or-egg debate; you'll never get a definitive answer.

The two stood in the courtyard of the villa. As dusk fell and the streetlights came on, Xu Qingcheng found it quite amusing that they had been discussing such a trivial matter for so long. The key point was that... she didn't find it particularly boring.

"I don't want to continue this discussion with you," Xu Qingcheng pushed him away, pouting at him, "I'm so hungry."

Fu Jingting absolutely adored her like this. The man chuckled softly, "Perfect timing, I'm hungry too."

"Aunt Wang is off today. I thought we'd be eating at my parents' place tonight," Xu Qingcheng muttered. "I'm craving fish, spicy and sour fish. I should buy some ingredients before coming back."

The two chatted as they entered the villa. Xu Qingcheng kicked off her high heels and asked, "What would you like to eat?"

Suddenly, she was lifted up and let out a cry as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "You scared me to death!"

The man's eyes burned with a sinister fire. The moment Xu Qingcheng saw it clearly, her heart trembled. His deep voice seemed to penetrate to the very bone, "I want to eat you."

Xu Qingcheng gently patted him, "Put me down, let's cook first."

All sounds and movements were as limp as water, seemingly both resisting and welcoming.

He placed her on the dining table, kissed her, and began to undress her, handing her his phone. "Tell him what you want to eat."

The call had already been made, and the phone screen displayed Yu Shinan. The dial tone echoed in her mind. Xu Qingcheng's hands trembled slightly. Most of her clothes had been removed, and her pants were thrown on the ground. The coolness of the stone tabletop mingled with the heat of her body. Her legs were pushed forward, and her feet landed on the edge of the table.

Suddenly, her phone rang with a "hello," which made her almost drop it. Xu Qingcheng's eyes welled up with tears, her body felt hot, and she was nervous. Every pore on her body stood on end.

The man's hand rested on her thigh, and Xu Qingcheng felt a tingling sensation on half of her body. She bit her lip and tried to sit up, but he pressed her knee down and pushed her forward, causing her to fall back onto the table. A soft groan escaped her lips, and she quickly put an arm over her mouth and bit her arm.

He did it on purpose.

She knew he did it on purpose.

He was deliberately trying to torment her.