Chapter 63: Seizing the Chance to Take Liberties

Chapter 063: Taking Advantage

Ximen Lu felt as if she had awakened from a nightmare, and as she suddenly opened her eyes, she saw Chu Fei smiling at her with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Chu Fei, what are you up to?" she demanded.

Instinctively, Ximen Lu sat up with a jolt, only to discover that her entire body was weak. Even her head spun with dizziness, and she nearly toppled over.

Chu Fei reached out and caught her slender waist, preventing her from falling.

"Let go of me! What do you think you're doing?" Ximen Lu stared at him in alarm, trying to struggle free, but her strength failed her and panic welled up inside her.

"You're so ungrateful. I went through all that trouble to carry you back here, and this is how you look at me," Chu Fei feigned a wounded expression.

"You carried me back?" Ximen Lu blinked in surprise, finally realizing she was in Chu Fei's apartment. Yet her last clear memory was of working overtime at the office. How had she ended up here?

And what did he mean by carrying her home?

At that moment, Chu Fei spoke beside her ear.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten what happened," he said with a look of exasperation.

"What happened?" Ximen Lu asked reflexively, then frowned as she tried to recall. "I remember working late at the office, waiting for you, but you never showed up. I was about to leave, and then..."

Her words trailed off. She could remember waiting for Chu Fei and growing angry, muttering a few choice words about him, then preparing to leave the office. She had a vague memory of heading to the underground garage, and the next thing she knew she was staring up at Chu Fei's lascivious grin. The rest was a blank—she'd blacked out.

Seeing her frown as she struggled to remember, Chu Fei suppressed a laugh and instead put on a helpless air. "Well, if you don't remember, so be it. But you'd better be more careful in the future. Don't risk your life for your job."

Ximen Lu stared at him, completely at a loss.

"Do you remember asking me to pick you up from the office?"

"Obviously," she snapped, her irritation flaring up. "Why didn't you come?"

"Who says I didn't? I went to the office but you weren't there. I thought you were messing with me. Lucky for you, I'm generous enough not to hold a grudge. I took a stroll through the parking garage, and that's where I found you passed out. If I hadn't, who knows what would have happened," Chu Fei lied smoothly. He'd already learned from the three kidnappers that Ximen Lu had been knocked out as soon as she entered the garage and likely didn't remember anything afterward. Afraid of frightening her, he had hurried her home and concocted this story.

"You say I fainted in the garage?" Ximen Lu's eyes widened in disbelief.

"What else? Thank goodness I found you. You're an attractive woman—what if someone with ill intentions had come across you instead?" Chu Fei said gravely.

"Look who's talking," Ximen Lu retorted through clenched teeth. Then she frowned again. "But why would I pass out?" She tilted her head, mulling it over, but couldn't figure it out.

"You've been overworking yourself. When I found you, I took you straight to the hospital. The doctor said you had a hypoglycemic episode, nothing serious, but you need to watch your health. Eat more sweets when you can," Chu Fei continued spinning his tale, pointing to the sofa. "See, I even bought you special brown sugar for postpartum care. You should have a cup every day."

"That’s for postpartum recovery! I'm not giving birth, I just have low blood sugar," Ximen Lu exclaimed, torn between laughter and exasperation. Was he trying to be funny?

Still, recalling how Chu Fei had carried her to the hospital and back, serving her with such care, Ximen Lu felt a wave of warmth. She gazed at him with gentle gratitude. "Thank you, Chu Fei. I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't been there."

"Don't mention it. We're old classmates, after all. And now we're living together—if I don't take care of you, who will?" Chu Fei laughed, secretly relieved that she didn’t press further.

"As if you’re my boyfriend," Ximen Lu scoffed, though her lips curled up in a smile.

But then her expression hardened. "I was unconscious for so long, and you carried me around. Did you take advantage of me?" she asked, fixing him with a fierce glare.

Damn!

Chu Fei nearly fell off the sofa, staring at her in speechless dismay. Could this woman be any more cutting?

"I was just joking. Look how nervous you are," Ximen Lu giggled, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "You’re so anxious—did you really take advantage while I was unconscious?"

"Ximen Lu, do you doubt my integrity?" Chu Fei protested, wounded.

"Integrity? You? You’d even go after underage girls if you had the chance," she shot back.

"Fine, say what you want. I won’t argue." Chu Fei stood and strode toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Ximen Lu asked, surprised. She was only teasing.

"Out to find a woman, of course. After hauling you around, I’m all worked up. Unless you’d rather offer yourself up?" Chu Fei retorted, slamming the door behind him.

Ximen Lu sat there, her mouth agape and speechless.

It was several minutes before she snapped out of it, gritting her teeth as she muttered, "Damn scoundrel!"

But soon enough, a smile crept onto her lips. She glanced at the brown sugar on the coffee table, her mouth twitching with amusement and exasperation. "What an idiot. Low blood sugar and you buy postpartum brown sugar? Could you be any dumber?"

Yet even as she scolded him inwardly, she carefully stood up, picked up the brown sugar, and walked back to her bedroom.

"What a foolish woman, so easy to fool," Chu Fei muttered under his breath as he stood outside the door, then hurried away without a backward glance. He wasn't really out to find another woman—he had more important matters to attend to.

—

Night had fallen.

But Liu Ping, emperor of Shenghe and one of the most renowned figures in Kun City, was wide awake. Alone, he stood at the floor-to-ceiling windows of an opulent office atop Shenghe Tower, gazing out at the view.

He stood there quietly, a thick cigar between his fingers, his eyes unfocused as if lost in thought.

The door clicked open.

Fang Tao entered swiftly, approaching Liu Ping from behind without a word.

"Has the young master been sent off?" Liu Ping asked without turning, as if he already knew who had entered.

"Yes, Liu Shao has arrived at the airport. The plane takes off in half an hour," Fang Tao replied, casting a complicated glance at the man he’d followed for half his life. His feelings were tangled. He’d watched Liu Ping rise from nothing, driven to the brink with nowhere left to turn. Fang Tao had long foreseen this day coming, yet never tried to dissuade him, for he understood Liu Ping too well. The pride of a self-made man was not easily surrendered. He cherished everything he’d built, but his only son was his fatal flaw—he cared for the boy above all else. Liu Ping surely knew how reckless his choices were, but he went ahead anyway.

"As long as he’s gone," Liu Ping breathed a sigh of relief, then turned to Fang Tao. "You should go too."

"Boss, you know I won’t leave," Fang Tao replied with a faint smile. He stepped up to stand shoulder to shoulder with Liu Ping—something he would never have done before. But now, at this moment, he no longer saw Liu Ping as his boss, but as a friend.

"You must go," Liu Ping insisted.

"I won’t," Fang Tao replied calmly. "You saved my life. Without you, I’d have been dead more than ten years ago, and my family would never have lived so well."

Liu Ping shook his head and asked, "Fang Tao, be honest—do you resent me?"

"No," Fang Tao replied, shaking his head. "My life is yours. Whatever you ask, I’ll do it—even if it means dying for you."

Liu Ping chuckled, patting Fang Tao’s shoulder. His gaze was complex. He understood Fang Tao just as deeply as Fang Tao understood him, and knowing this, he didn’t press further—it would be pointless.

"Maybe I should have listened to you," Liu Ping said, turning to the night outside. "I was too impulsive. But you know how much my son means to me. I can’t accept what’s happened to him."

"I understand. Everyone has a moment when they lose all reason," Fang Tao nodded, fully grasping Liu Ping’s feelings.

"But my madness has dragged everyone into hell," Liu Ping said, casting a guilty glance at Fang Tao.

Fang Tao just smiled, saying nothing. Hell held no fear for him—he was a man who’d already crawled out of it once. This was merely a return.

"My, what a touching pair of master and servant," a cold, mocking voice suddenly rang out in the room.

Both men spun around. At some point, the door had opened again, and a handsome, sinister-looking young man strode inside, his eyes sweeping over them with open malice.

"Who are you?" Fang Tao stepped forward instinctively, shielding Liu Ping. The young man exuded an aura of extreme danger, though Fang Tao was certain they had never met.

"He is my master," a sultry voice sounded from the doorway. A seductive woman in a pale pink cheongsam glided in.

"Willow Painted-Brow?" Both Liu Ping and Fang Tao’s faces twisted in shock at the sight of this alluring woman. But their expressions grew even more alarmed when they saw the man walking just ahead of her. Liu Ping, in particular, fixed the young man with a venomous glare.

The young man was Chu Fei.

And from the way they entered, it was obvious—even to a fool—that Willow Painted-Brow was now following Chu Fei’s lead.

Liu Ping glanced again at the sinister youth who’d entered first. Suddenly, a horrifying realization struck him.

"You’re the ones who killed Cai Jiu and Hou Bing!" Liu Ping gasped in terror as the trio advanced, a flood of dreadful understanding washing over him.

Chapter Four delivered. Fifth update at 11 PM!