Chapter 2: Behind Closed Doors

Meng Ying let out a soft hum, sounding like a kitten. Xu Dian’s movements paused slightly before he turned, lifting her onto the billiards table. She blinked slightly and saw the man leaning over her, propping his arms on either side. He looked at her with a faint smile, a trace of moisture still on the corner of his lips.

Meng Ying blushed, leaning back on her hands. Her long legs encircled his waist.

“What are you doing?” he asked hoarsely, his voice tinged with amusement.

“What do you think?” she teased, her slender fingers tracing his cheek.

The man lowered his gaze, watching her hand roam across his face. His eyes followed her fingers until they brushed his ear. He flinched slightly, dodging her touch.

Meng Ying tried to pinch his ear again, but he suddenly leaned in, tilting his head to kiss her. Meng Ying’s heart raced. She tilted her head as well, her body heating up as she responded to his kiss. In the dizzying moment, the man caught her hand, pulling it down. Her fair wrist hung loosely at her side as she let out a soft sound, wrapping her arms around his neck the next second.

Xu Dian opened his eyes, their depths icy. The corner of his lips curled as his fingers firmly gripped her chin, tilting her face upward. He nibbled her ear, sending a shiver through Meng Ying.

Half-opening her eyes, she quickly surrendered, closing them again in a daze.

In confusion.

She softly asked, “Why do you like touching my ears, but I can’t touch yours?”

Xu Dian chuckled lowly. “What do you think?”

Meng Ying instinctively shrank back, avoiding him. But the man pursued relentlessly, and soon, the question was forgotten.

Two hours later.

Meng Ying, drying her hair and wearing a nightgown, stepped out. The spacious living room was quiet, with Xu Dian, fully dressed, leaning against the sofa. He wore silver-rimmed glasses on his nose, his long legs crossed, flipping through a tablet. Meng Ying paused for a moment, then glanced at herself. After such an intense moment earlier, he remained perfectly tidy, as though the one who had pinned her down by the thighs and dragged her back moments ago wasn’t him.

She hung the towel, walked to the sofa, and sat beside him, leaning over to peek at the tablet.

His slender fingers hesitated for a moment before continuing to scroll. On the screen was a message from his assistant.

His assistant’s last name was Qiu.

Assistant Qiu: “President Xu, are you sure you want to invest in this interstellar project?”
Assistant Qiu: “I know you want to support Yang Tong, but the rights to the interstellar franchise are extremely expensive. Moreover, the current state of domestic sci-fi technology can’t support this film.”

Seeing this, Meng Ying abruptly withdrew her gaze, picked up her phone, and opened her chat with Liu Qin.

But when the chat opened, she didn’t know what to type.

Her mind went blank.

Yang Tong was the top actress of Hua Film. All her resources had come from Hua Film’s investments over the years, practically elevating her to the A-list with money. The interstellar novel was notoriously difficult to adapt, requiring immense money and effort. Yet Xu Dian insisted on investing in it for Yang Tong, even at a potential loss. Meng Ying’s fingers trembled slightly.

Then, she let out a bitter laugh.

She curled her legs up, like a baby, fiddling with her phone but not sending any messages, just aimlessly scrolling. The man beside her was distant and cold. When they weren’t being intimate, he exuded an air of abstinence. His shirt buttons were always done up to the very top, though in recent years, she had occasionally seen glimpses of his more uninhibited side.

When he loosened his collar, even just sitting there with a casual smile, he was captivating.

Everyone wanted to know what the president of Hua Film looked like.

Well, he looked like this—this man, who had been the talk of the university eight years ago for breaking the hand and foot of a lecherous assistant professor in the finance department with one hand.

That was also when she first fell for him. Back then, she was at the campus gate, and he was wearing a white shirt and black trousers, gripping the professor’s hand and towering over him, stepping on his head. The professor’s screams made everyone’s skin crawl.

The anguished cries echoed through the air.

Afterward, he kicked the professor aside, removed his glasses, and slowly wiped them clean. Noticing her gaze, he glanced up and sneered, “What are you looking at, classmate?”

From that moment, Meng Ying was smitten. That one look ensnared her for eight years, and she couldn’t escape. Later, she looked into his background and discovered it wasn’t a secret. Xu Dian, the young master of the Xu family of Lidou, was every girl’s dream.

But his status was too high.

So high, she didn’t dare to dream of reaching it.

A hand slid over her shoulder. The man leaned closer, his eyes lowering as he looked at her phone. “What are you typing?”

The faint scent of his cologne wafted over. Meng Ying turned her head to glance at him as his fingers casually undid two buttons on his shirt. “Hmm?”

Meng Ying shifted, burrowing into his embrace. He chuckled softly, letting her snuggle in, his lips curling with amusement.

A second later, he swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “Stop burrowing. Aren’t you tired?”

“Didn’t you just tell me to stop earlier?”

Meng Ying froze mid-motion. The next second, she wrapped her arms around his neck and sat on his lap. Xu Dian leaned back against the chair, one hand slipping beneath her clothes, the other steadying her waist. He tilted back slightly, his eyes locked on her face.

She lowered her head, her long hair cascading down. A few strands brushed against her nose, her forehead gleaming under the light. Slowly, a red earring peeked out from behind her hair. His gaze shifted to her ear.

And lingered.

After a moment, he leaned closer and kissed her earlobe. Meng Ying shivered, her hands clutching his shoulders. She swallowed hard, wanting to ask him so badly.

Why do you favor Yang Tong so much?

But in the end, she didn’t ask. Instead, she whispered, “I had a magazine shoot with Yang Tong today.”

Xu Dian raised an eyebrow, his movement pausing briefly before he tilted her chin up. In a faint voice, he asked, “Oh? And?”

“She’s a bit taller than me,” Meng Ying muttered. She wanted to mention that both of them had worn black dresses for the shoot and worried about the inevitable comparisons when the magazine came out. But instead, she gave this unrelated answer.

Xu Dian removed his glasses, spinning them slowly between his fingers. He chuckled. “But you’re fairer than her.”

“Does that answer satisfy you?” His laughter, rich and teasing, tickled her ears. She wanted to turn and kiss his thin lips.

But she didn’t. She merely smiled. “Mm, I’m satisfied.”

He laughed again.

Women were so easy to please.

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