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

Tangtang resigned herself to driving for him, her phone ringing incessantly on the way.

She hung up and called back. After a few times, Tangtang didn't dare to hang up anymore, afraid that the person on the other end of the phone really had an emergency.

"Excuse me, I need to take this call," Tang Tang said to Fu Pingxiu.

The man leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes to rest, and didn't give her any response.

Tangtang parked the car on the side of the road and took out her Bluetooth earphones from her bag.

The call was answered quickly, and the child's excited voice burst out, "Mommy, why didn't you answer my calls? When are you coming back? Old Zheng is so disobedient, I don't want to live with him!"

"I might be a few days late going back. You can stay with Yuan Kui's father for a while," Tang Tang patiently reassured her, her voice as soft as flowing water.

The man, who had been resting with his eyes closed, had a slight twitch under his gently closed eyelids.

"Old Zheng said if you get married, I'll have a dad." The little guy on the other end of the phone seemed very excited. "Can he rollerblade? Can he swim? Can he play Go with me?"

Hearing the children's excited shouts, Tang Tang paused for a moment. "Sen Sen, I'm driving right now, so it's not convenient to talk on the phone. Can I call you later?"

They hesitated for quite a while before finally hanging up the phone.

Tang Tang breathed a sigh of relief, and when she turned her head, she saw Fu Pingxiu staring at her.

She smiled somewhat awkwardly. "It's my son's phone call."

Fu Pingxiu stared at her face for a long time without saying a word. Tang Tang's heart was about to jump out of her chest when he suddenly spoke, "Tang Kaiji actually allowed you to have a child out of wedlock?"

Tang Tang gave a soft "hmm," her fingers slowly tightening around the steering wheel. She looked straight ahead. "Because everything was going smoothly for the Tang family back then, we didn't need to please anyone, and I didn't need to do much, so they just let me be."

Her voice was soft and gentle, just like her personality—delicate, gentle, and without temper, as if she had become accustomed to this kind of life.

What sounds oppressive to others comes out of her mouth as if she's simply stating something ordinary.

The man's brow suddenly furrowed, a hint of sarcasm in his voice, "Like you? Like you having a child out of wedlock instead of getting married?"

My heart skipped a beat because of the sarcasm in his tone.

The carriage suddenly fell silent, with only the sound of their breathing and the sweet fragrance emanating from her body remaining.

Fu Pingxiu had not expected to use such a sarcastic tone, but the words were already out and it was difficult to take them back.

"Getting married isn't something I can decide on my own; it requires the consent of both of us," Tang Tang said softly as the car stopped at a traffic light. "Didn't you also not want me?"

Her eyebrows curved into a gentle arc, and she looked at him with a smile that conveyed no sense of accusation.

The man's jawline tightened, and his eyes narrowed slightly, as if he felt that the conversation wasn't over yet.

Sure enough, she continued, "You and Shen Shudie didn't end up getting married either, did you?"

Fu Pingxiu let out a soft hum, and he had reason to believe that she still had half a sentence left to say: she didn't want him either.

His face darkened a crack, and Fu Pingxiu closed his eyes to continue resting.

The car became quiet for a moment, with only the sound of the navigation system remaining.

Tang Tang glanced over to the side, a hint of a smile playing on her lips.

……

Xu Qingcheng had a dream that night. She woke up with a start, her heart aching as if it were about to burst, feeling suffocated. She pressed her palm against her heart, which was pounding rapidly and intensely; it was alive.

I slammed my palm down on my face, the dream was so chaotic I couldn't even tell what it was, but the painful feeling lingered in my body and wouldn't go away. Even when I woke up, my limbs and torso were stiff.

The space beside her was empty, so Xu Qingcheng placed her palm against it; the area beneath her palm was cool.

It was still dark, and the room was dark and quiet. Xu Qingcheng picked up her phone to check the time; it was 2:30 a.m.

She pressed her palm to her forehead. Lately, she had rarely woken up at this time. Once she did, she couldn't fall back asleep. The intense mental pressure was causing her insomnia and anxiety to the point of near collapse.

Fu Jingting was like a natural sleeping pill for her. Xu Qingcheng only recently realized that she could easily fall asleep in his arms and sleep soundly until dawn. Before, she thought it was a coincidence, but during this period, since they slept in the same bed, she had not had insomnia. His embrace and heartbeat made her crave them to the point of habit, and then become dependent on them.

This is really not a good sign.

Xu Qingcheng sighed inwardly. She turned on the wall lamp, lifted the covers and got out of bed. A sliver of light appeared on the door to the study outside.

She walked over and pushed open the study door.

"Zhou Qian, do you think I'm dead? Why did you keep this from me?" The man's voice in the room was deep and heavy, bursting forth with overwhelming anger that made everyone's head throb in the darkness.

The study light suddenly came on, outlining the man's tall and strong body. He was facing away from the door with one hand on the table, his back slightly bent and his spine taut like a wild beast poised to pounce. Power surged from every inch of his skin, and his anger seemed to burn like flames, rushing out and making anyone who saw him feel intimidated.

Hearing the noise behind him, the man turned around abruptly. His face, illuminated by the light, was brimming with undisguised rage.

The light was so bright that the cold ruthlessness on his face seemed to have been pulled from the darkest hell, full of fangs.

Unable to control his emotions, he impulsively pounced on her.

Xu Qingcheng's steps were firmly planted on the ground as she walked forward. The man in front of her was so familiar that he was a stranger, and so strange that he was a familiar figure.

Memories burst through the floodgates and surged into her mind, and Xu Qingcheng had a hallucination of seeing a Fu Jingting she had never known before.

She approached Song Xingzhi and asked him to bring her into this circle.

Song Xingzhi saw right through her intentions. He half-closed his eyes and looked at her. "What, are you planning to seduce him?"

"no?"

"It's not impossible." Song Xingzhi glanced at her and chuckled, "Be careful you don't get eaten alive."

Even if Xu Qingcheng was wary at that time, she could not back down.

Fu Jingting closed his eyes tightly, suppressing all his anger deep inside. He didn't even say another word to the person on the other end of the phone before hanging up.

"Awake?" He reached out his hand to her. "Come here."

His voice was hoarse, still carrying lingering anger that he hadn't yet managed to suppress.

Xu Qingcheng walked towards him, "What's wrong—um—"

When she got close to him, he pulled her away, seemingly dissatisfied with her slow movements, not even waiting for her to take a single step.

With his steel-like arms, he used brute force to press her against his body, as if he were crushing her bones.

He pried open her tightly clenched lips with his fingers, pressing his fingertips against her teeth. His forceful and unyielding voice rang in her ear, "Qingcheng, call out. I want to hear your voice."

His voice was like sandpaper, rough and cutting through her eardrums and into her bones. Tears welled up in Xu Qingcheng's eyes, and she trembled all over. She cried and pounded his chest, "You bad guy, you only know how to bully me!"

Are you bullying her?

Yes.

He just wanted to bully her. Only her.

A deep red glint in the man's eyes; all his plans were proceeding smoothly, yet she forcefully squeezed into his heart, like a sharp blade lying there, leaving him in a dilemma.

He pulled her into his arms, kissed away her tears, and promised her in a hoarse voice, "You can bully her back, you can bully her all you want."

His voice was indescribably tender, yet his movements were indescribably strong.

……

Fu Jingting held her all night. When Xu Qingcheng woke up, her voice was hoarse. She kicked him with her feet, angrily shouting, "Were you crazy last night?!"

"..."

The man looked at her but didn't say anything.

He was clearly upset. Xu Qingcheng frowned, crawled over, and pinched his ear. "What's wrong with you?"