YXJ - 2

He opened the door and left. Only after she was sure he was far away did Lin Wangshu hug her knees and bury her head deeply, as if she had just survived a catastrophe.

From yesterday to today, she hadn’t eaten a single grain of rice and felt incredibly weak. She didn’t want to bow down and compromise with Jiang Congxian, so she used this self-destructive behavior to express her dissatisfaction. How childish.

She lay back down on the bed. If she fell asleep, she would forget her hunger.

She slept for five or six hours in a daze, and by then, the sky outside had already darkened.

The door was kicked open.

The sound was enough to startle her awake. She opened her eyes, and before she could react, Jiang Congxian hoisted her onto his shoulder. His movements were rough, and his strength was terrifying.

Lin Wangshu struggled desperately: “Let me go, let me go!”

Jiang Congxian slapped her buttocks hard, his tone grim: “Don’t force my hand.”

This man usually maintained a gentle and refined demeanor, but Lin Wangshu knew clearly that his current fierce and terrifying appearance was his true self.

Lin Wangshu thought of Lin Yao. She couldn’t afford to offend Jiang Congxian, at least not now. After clarifying this, she stopped struggling, her heart as dead as ashes, letting him carry her downstairs.

He finally stopped by the dining table and placed her on a chair. A bowl of porridge was on the table. Jiang Congxian tapped the tabletop with his finger: “Eat it.”

Lin Wangshu bit her lower lip, not moving for a long time.

Jiang Congxian simply brought the bowl over and fed her spoonful by spoonful: “If you want to go on a hunger strike, I won’t stop you, but I can’t let you starve to death.”

When the bowl was empty and the spoon returned to it with a crisp clink, he casually placed the bowl on a nearby table: “If you die, who will I screw?”

Lin Wangshu glared at him resentfully: “Many women want to be your woman.”

He seemed to smile, his eyebrows slightly raised: “But none of them fit my size as well as you do.”

Lin Wangshu clutched the tablecloth tightly: “Shameless.”

He didn’t deny it: “Everything you have now was given to you by a shameless person like me. Without me, do you think you could still maintain the dignity of a noble lady? Lin Wangshu, while I’m still somewhat interested in your body, serve me well. Who knows when I’ll get tired? At that time, you’ll truly have nothing.”

She bit her lower lip, suppressing the urge to perish with him. Her lip was bitten open, bleeding slightly.

Jiang Congxian raised his hand, gently kneading her lower lip with his thumb, his movements gentle: “Relax, you’re bleeding.”

If others saw such a scene, they would probably be enchanted by this gentle tenderness.

Jiang Congxian chuckled lightly: “If you become disfigured, I won’t want you anymore.”

Upon hearing this, Lin Wangshu’s eyes lit up, as if she had finally found a way to escape.

Still too clumsy; she couldn’t even feign emotion.

Jiang Congxian pulled out a tissue and meticulously wiped the blood from his thumb. “I naturally won’t waste time on someone useless.”

The warning in his words was clear. He didn’t necessarily need her, but he was the only one who could protect her and her family.

She comforted herself, telling herself it was okay. Once she saved enough money and paid off her debts, she would take her grandmother and Lin Yao far away. Only by living well could she wait for that day.

Lin Wangshu hadn’t eaten for two days and was already weak all over from hunger. Eating that bowl of porridge didn’t alleviate much. There seemed to be a hint of the porridge’s sweetness on her lips, and she subconsciously licked them.

Her soft tongue brushed over her lower lip, which Jiang Congxian had touched. His eyes darkened slightly, and he straightened his upper body slightly, concealing his subtly rising desire.

“Get her another bowl.”

He said this to the man standing next to him, but his gaze remained fixed on Lin Wangshu. Her face showed some embarrassment from being seen through, but she still feigned composure, her back straight.

Jiang Congxian scoffed in his throat. She truly valued that worthless dignity more than her life, at every moment.

The porridge was brought up, and Lin Wangshu ate it with refined grace, holding the spoon.

Jiang Congxian leaned slightly, resting his face on one hand, his gaze on her lips.

A woman adorns herself for the one who appreciates her. She never wore makeup at home. Her long hair was casually tied into a ponytail, and even without makeup, she was elegant and beautiful. Her lips were a light cherry pink, turning red when kissed roughly.

He didn’t know what she ate to grow up like this; her whole body was incredibly soft.

The porridge was a bit hot, and Lin Wangshu blew on it in small sips to cool it down. The white ceramic spoon, holding the porridge, entered her mouth. Her lower lip brushed against the bottom of the spoon, softly flattening. Occasionally, some melted rice paste, white in color, would stick to the corner of her lips.

She ate slowly, even the porridge she chewed deliberately.

Jiang Congxian watched silently as the spoon went in and out of her mouth, waiting patiently.

After finishing the bowl of porridge, Lin Wangshu wiped her mouth with a tissue.

Jiang Congxian raised a hand, signaling the two men standing behind him to leave first. The door opened and closed, leaving only the two of them in the vast house, which was extraordinarily quiet.

Jiang Congxian asked her: “Are you full?”

Lin Wangshu’s tone was distant: “Yes.”

Jiang Congxian took off his watch and casually tossed it on the table: “Good, being full is good. That way you’ll have the strength to scream.”

He put his arm around Lin Wangshu’s waist and placed her on his lap. The girl was light; at 1.68 meters tall, she weighed just over eighty pounds.

“Where did all that food go? Why are you still so thin?”

Lin Wangshu remained silent, her lips tightly pressed, displaying a tragic sense of going to her death.

Jiang Congxian chuckled, his gaze moving from her eyebrows to her chest, the lines rising and falling with her breathing. Just looking at it made his mouth dry. “So it all went here.”

Lin Wangshu averted her gaze, not wanting to hear his vulgar and indecent words.

“Such a pure person, why do you sound so slutty in bed?” He didn’t care about her silence, lowering his head to kiss her earlobe, his laugh low and slow. “You made my bones melt.”

________________________________________

When Lin Wangshu woke up, she was already in the bedroom. She wasn’t sure how long Jiang Congxian had held and tormented her last night. She had fallen asleep partway through, exhausted. He wasn’t a man who cherished women, and he wouldn’t let her go just because she fell asleep. Not until his desires were completely sated. His desires seemed stronger than an average person’s; usually, Lin Wangshu would wake up with sore back and legs the next day.

She changed her clothes and went downstairs. She had class today and needed to go to school. Jiang Congxian had assigned her a driver, but she had never used him, always taking the bus. She didn’t want to owe him anything.

Her father had no talent for business. After her grandfather passed away, he, as the eldest son, inherited the family fortune and company, but it was losing money every year. The once admirable business empire had nearly lost half its assets in his hands in just twenty short years. But a lean camel is still bigger than a horse.

Lin Wangshu had grown up living in a woven fairy tale. At the age of six, she was sent abroad to study cello. She returned to China every year but never stayed for long. She yearned for a life as free as the wind, loved blue skies and the sea, believing that one should explore the spring, summer, autumn, and winter of this world.

But now, she was trapped in a cage.

Buses were hard to come by here because few residents chose to travel by bus. Finally, a bus arrived, but Lin Wangshu was still a few hundred meters away. She ran, desperately waving, afraid it would drive off. The bus glided forward slightly, as if the driver had seen her in the rearview mirror, and kindly stopped by the roadside, waiting a moment longer for her.

Lin Wangshu boarded the bus, panting, and thanked the driver while holding onto the handrail. Good-looking people always received some preferential treatment. This stop was close to the main station, so there were many empty seats on the bus. Lin Wangshu found an empty single seat and sat down.

Her phone showed a message from Xun Ya, who had just sent it.

[Xun Ya: I overslept again. If they call roll later, remember to answer for me. I’ll be eternally grateful!!]

Xun Ya was Lin Wangshu’s classmate. They took the same large elective course, though their majors were different. Xun Ya was in the history department, but because they had a few classes together and Xun Ya was naturally outgoing, she was one of the few people Lin Wangshu could genuinely talk to at school.

She replied with “Okay.”

After the bus stopped at several more stations, people gradually boarded, and the empty seats slowly filled up. A woman holding a baby was being squeezed by people who boarded later.

Lin Wangshu looked up after replying to the message and saw this scene. She stood up and offered her seat: “Please, have my seat.”

The woman repeatedly thanked her and sat down with her baby.

Lin Wangshu was wearing a white chiffon dress today. All her clothes were bought by Jiang Congxian according to his preferences and aesthetic. Lin Wangshu actually didn’t like this pure, ladylike style of dressing.

Someone pressed close behind her. Lin Wangshu instinctively moved to the side, but the more she moved, the harder the person squeezed. She wondered, the bus didn’t seem that crowded yet.

She looked back and met the man’s greasy, yellowish face. He was also looking at Lin Wangshu, his smile lewd and repulsive. A few days ago, she had incidentally heard girls at school talking about perverts on buses who took advantage of crowds to rub against young girls. She didn’t expect to encounter one herself.

Lin Wangshu hugged her bag and tried to move aside, keeping as much distance from him as possible. The man was an old hand, knowing that these young girls, not yet out of school, were timid and wouldn’t dare to yell. The more she dodged, the more he encroached, his hand about to reach under her skirt.

His wrist felt a sharp pain, twisted backward, and dislocated with a “crack.” He screamed for mercy: “No, no, no, I’ll never dare again.”

His shout drew everyone’s attention on the bus. The man’s dislocated hand hung limply. A distinctively jointed hand released his wrist.

Xu Jingyang said coldly: “Get lost.”

Just then, the bus stopped at a bus stop, and the man scrambled off the bus.

Lin Wangshu thanked him: “Thank you.”

His face flushed, not a trace of his intimidating aura from before. The man was 1.87 meters tall, and his white hoodie was the same color as Lin Wangshu’s dress. Standing beside her, the handsome man and beautiful woman made an unexpectedly good pair.

The pregnant woman to whom Lin Wangshu had given her seat chuckled playfully: “Your boyfriend is very handsome.”

Xu Jingyang’s face turned even redder. He didn’t refute, just looked at Lin Wangshu. The latter smoothed her skirt, explaining calmly: “He’s not my boyfriend. This is our first time meeting today.”

The bus’s announcement system reported: “Beinan University. Passengers wishing to alight, please queue orderly at the rear exit.”

Lin Wangshu politely thanked the passengers who made way for her, then stood by the rear door.

After getting off the bus, Xu Jingyang quickly followed her: “We’ve met before, last year at Xun Ya’s birthday party.”

Hearing the name Xun Ya, Lin Wangshu reacted slightly.

Xu Jingyang smiled: “I’m from the history department, a junior. So I guess I’m your senior.”

Lin Wangshu greeted him with a “Hello, senior,” and said nothing further.

She was well-behaved and polite, but always gave off a faint sense of detachment. Every time Xu Jingyang saw her, he was reminded of a snow lotus, a plant that grew in extremely cold weather. Beautiful, yet always with a sense of distance, cold and aloof.

Among the male students at school, Lin Wangshu was the most talked-about girl. They all said that whoever could win her over would be truly impressive. She maintained basic politeness with everyone but never became overly close.

Xu Jingyang had seen her several times at school. She would be carrying a white cello case, her long hair tied in a ponytail, with slightly curled ends, and a fair, graceful neck that made it hard to look away. No matter the occasion, her shoulders and back were always straight. Some people’s temperament is innate, and her pride was also innate.