The heartless beauty is addicted to being licked by a seemingly obedient and loyal dog.

It's not that I don't want Song Yunqi.

On the contrary, he had been craving it for a long time.

From the time Song Yunqi turned fifteen, her delicate face gradually lost its childlike roundness, revealing the clear and sharp features of a young man. Lu Jinci knew he couldn't wait any longer.

But he held back.

He didn't want a momentary thrill; he wanted Song Yunqi to belong to him completely, body and soul, to willingly come over and hand over himself.

Lu Jinci can afford to wait.

Song Yunqi can go out and make his own way in the world, start a company, and be his aloof CEO; Lu Jinci won't interfere.

He could even allow Song Yunqi to temporarily forget who he was working for and let her run wild for a while. As long as he still held the reins, that was enough.

The car was parked downstairs at the apartment building.

The light from the streetlamp shone through the car window onto Song Yunqi's face. He unbuckled his seatbelt and placed his hand on the door handle.

"Thank you, I'll go upstairs now."

He pushed open the car door, one leg already out, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Lu Jinci had also unbuckled his seatbelt.

Song Yunqi turned her head, her brows slightly furrowed.

"No need to see me off, I can walk by myself."

Lu Jinci, however, got out of the car on his own, walked around the front of the car, and the hem of his black jacket swayed slightly in the night breeze. He had one hand in his pocket, his posture as casual as if he were going home.

"Aren't you going to invite me up for a seat?"

He asked with a smile, his tone sounding like a joke, but he was already standing on the steps and showed no intention of leaving.

Song Yunxi glanced at him.

"Let's do it another day, it's too late today."

"How late is it?"

Lu Jinci raised his wrist to look at his watch; the dial reflected a small patch of cold light under the streetlight.

"It's only a little past ten o'clock, can't you even have time for a cup of tea?"

As she spoke, she stepped onto the stairs and stood side by side with Song Yunqi, turning her head to look at him, the smile on her lips still lingering.

"Or are you hiding something in your room that you don't want me to see?"

Song Yunxi remained silent for a moment, sighed, and turned to walk into the building.

Lu Jinci followed behind him, their footsteps echoing one after the other in the lobby, creating a soft echo in the empty space.

The elevator arrived, and Song Yunxi pressed the floor button. The two stood silently in the car, Lu Jinci with his hands in his pockets watching the floor numbers jump up one by one until the twelfth floor.

With a ding, the elevator doors opened.

The motion-activated lights in the corridor turned on, illuminating a passageway covered with a gray carpet.

The two walked one after the other, less than two steps apart. Just as Song Yunqi was about to unlock her door with her fingerprint, she caught a glimpse of a figure crouching in the corner of the wall.

The person was looking down at their phone, the light from the screen illuminating a sharply defined profile. Their brows were slightly furrowed, and their thumb hovered over the screen, as if they were debating whether to make a call.

Hearing the noise, the other person looked up.

It turned out to be Shen Chonglu.

The moment their eyes met, Shen Chonglu's eyes lit up.

He stood up from the ground. He didn't know how long he had been squatting at the door. When he stood up, his body swayed slightly, but he quickly reached out and held onto the wall to steady himself.

Song Yunxi frowned, her voice clearly showing displeasure.

"What are you doing here?"

Shen Chonglu opened his mouth, but before he could utter the word "master," he suddenly realized that there was another person standing behind Song Yunxi. He quickly swallowed the rest of his words and changed his tone.

"Sir, I was in such a hurry this morning that I forgot my coat."

As he spoke, his gaze passed over Song Yunxi's shoulder and landed on the man behind them.

Wearing a black jacket and dark trousers, he was about the same height as me, standing there with a relaxed posture, but his eyes were sharp.

The man's gaze swept over him, as if he were looking at something he wasn't sure was worth looking at again.

Shen Chonglu was also sizing up the other person.

Song Yunxi brought someone home late at night. At this time, with this kind of relationship, who could it be? Several thoughts quickly flashed through his mind, each one unpleasant.

Could it be another bed partner that Song Yunqi is keeping? Didn't we agree that she would only support him? It's clearly written in black and white in the contract.

Damn, what a sexually frustrated slut.

Didn't I just feed them this morning?

Thinking of this, Shen Chonglu's expression changed.

The joy I had just felt vanished, replaced by undisguised hostility.

The corners of his mouth still held a slight upward curve, but the smile had cooled, and the light in his eyes became deep and sharp, like a wild beast that had seen its own kind intrude into its territory, with all the hairs on its body standing on end.

Lu Jinci reacted before Shen Chonglu.

Watching the young man's expression change from surprise to wariness, and seeing the thin layer of hostility in his eyes, she already knew what was going on.

He subtly withdrew his gaze, turned his head to look at Song Yunqi, and asked in a calm tone as if he were asking how the weather was today.

"Yunqi, who is this?"

He paused for a moment, then added, "Judging from what he said, he spent the night here last night."

It's not a question, it's a statement.

Song Yunqi's expression remained unchanged.

He pushed open the door, and the motion-sensor light in the entryway turned on, illuminating a small patch of the floor with a warm yellow glow. He then stepped aside to make room for the doorway.

"Come in and we'll talk."

The three people went into the house.

Song Yunqi bent down and took out two pairs of guest slippers from the shoe cabinet. She placed one pair next to Lu Jinci's feet and kicked the other pair in front of Shen Chonglu.

Shen Chonglu followed him into the house, changed his shoes, and stood between the entrance hall and the living room without going further in.

His gaze lingered on Lu Jinci for a moment before returning to his face, a smile returning to his expression. That smile was much more natural than before, but the wariness in his eyes hadn't completely dissipated.

"Sir, won't you introduce it to me?"

Shen Chonglu was still bothered by Lu Jinci's presence, but he tried his best to appear nonchalant, as if he were talking about something unimportant.

"Who is this gentleman?"

Song Yunxi was already sitting on the sofa, adjusting the air conditioner temperature with the remote. Hearing the question, she didn't even look up, simply giving a curt "Oh."

"My elder brother, Lu Jinci."

Elder brother.

Shen Chonglu's face instantly broke into a smile. He turned to face Lu Jinci, bowed slightly, and acted as respectfully as if he were meeting an elder.

"Oh, it's you, brother. Good evening."

His voice was clear and bright, carrying the unique vigor of youth, with a slight upward inflection at the end, giving people just the right amount of warmth.

"My name is Shen Chonglu. I'm sorry to bother you so late at night. I'll leave as soon as I get my things, so as not to take up any more of your time."

Lu Jinci stood in the center of the living room, still holding the car keys in his hand.

He watched as the young man in front of him went from a hostile expression to a beaming smile, the change of expression faster than turning the pages of a book, and the corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily.

He casually stuffed the car keys into his pocket and nodded slightly in response.

Shen Chonglu didn't care about the other party's coldness. After all, Song Yunqi had the same attitude towards him. After greeting him, he turned around and walked towards the bedroom with light steps.

Lu Jinci watched his figure disappear through the bedroom door, then glanced at Song Yunqi on the sofa.

Song Yunqi was pouring tea. Hot water flowed from the spout, splashing tiny droplets at the bottom of the cup, and steam rose in wisps.

His expression was calm, as if it were perfectly normal for Shen Chonglu to appear at his doorstep in the middle of the night.

In the bedroom, Shen Chonglu looked around but couldn't find his coat.

"Where did it go?"

He clearly remembered that he had placed it at the foot of the bed when he left in the morning, so how could it be gone?

After thinking about it, I guess when I was tidying up this morning, I stuffed the sheets, duvet cover and coat into the washing machine all at once.

So he turned and walked towards the balcony.

The washing machine was an all-in-one machine built into the cabinet. Shen Chonglu opened the door and sure enough, he saw the bed sheets he had washed that morning still lying inside the washing machine.

It's a good thing I came tonight, otherwise Song Yunxi might not have even noticed if the place had gone bad.

Fortunately, it's a washer-dryer combo, so it won't smell bad even after a day. The sheets and duvet covers were fluffy and dry. He rummaged through them and finally found his coat among a pile of fabric.

He pulled out his coat, shook it out, and threw it on the sofa. Then he pulled out the sheets and duvet cover one by one, shook them out, folded them neatly, and put them in the dressing room.

In fact, Shen Chonglu came uninvited today with ulterior motives.

The coat was just an excuse; the real question was whether something would happen after he took it. But now that the older brother was sitting in the living room, he couldn't very well lure his younger brother into the bedroom in front of his older brother.

That would be outrageous.

This is my future brother-in-law; I can't afford to offend him.

"Found it, it's in the washing machine."

He smiled, a clean and polite smile, picked up his coat, and waved it at the two brothers in the living room in a charmingly obsequious manner.

"Then I'll be going now, so as not to disturb you."

As she spoke, she gave Lu Jinci a bright smile, and before leaving, she turned back to look at Song Yunqi on the sofa.

Song Yunxi held her teacup, not looking at him.

Shen Chonglu looked away in disappointment, left silently, and the door closed gently behind him.

The living room fell silent.

The air conditioner's display screen was lit up with blue light, and the set temperature was 28 degrees Celsius. Warm air was blowing out of the vents, blocking the coolness that was drifting in from the balcony.

Song Yunqi placed the teacup on the coffee table and pushed it towards Lu Jinci.

"It's getting late, you should go back and get some rest too."

Lu Jinci did not move.

He sat down on the sofa, picked up the cup of tea, and fiddled with it in his hand.

"You two have a good relationship?"

Song Yunqi leaned back on the sofa, one leg crossed over the other, her posture much more relaxed than at the Lu family mansion.

"generally."

"He seems very familiar with your house."

Lu Jinci turned his head and glanced at him, his gaze lingering on his face for a moment.

Why did he go to your master bedroom to find his coat? How was he allowed into your master bedroom without permission?

Song Yunxi didn't want to answer. She picked up the remote, turned on the TV, and randomly changed a channel, letting the TV screen and sound fill the silence between them.

Lu Jinci, who had been ignored all along, was a little angry. He slammed the teacup down, and the bottom of the cup hit the glass with a soft sound.

"Why aren't you answering? Did you two sleep together last night?"