Chapter 755: Pushing the Limit
"Shen Anyu, you… don't you dare mess around!"
The office door slammed shut, and the sharp crack echoed the frantic beat of Ling Qingcheng's heart. A jolt of pure panic shot through her.
She marshaled what little composure she had left to scold him, but the heat flooding her cheeks and the tremor in her limbs betrayed the facade of the powerful president. In every conceivable way, Ling Qingcheng found herself utterly powerless before Shen Anyu.
In terms of standing, she was Hangzhou's wealthiest woman, one of the city's top ten magnates, and the President of the Ling Group. Her status was nothing short of prominent. She was the renowned iron lady of Hangzhou's business world, a decisive and formidable woman known for her vigorous style.
But Shen Anyu was the heir to Yanxia's Shen Clan. Next to a behemoth like that, the Ling Group was less than an ant, a grasshopper facing a colossal tiger.
If it were only a matter of background, Ling Qingcheng wouldn't have been quite so flustered. She had previously faced the relentless harassment of Yu Guanxiong, the profligate second young master of Yanxia's Yu Clan, and had managed to handle him with polite indifference, even giving him the cold shoulder with practiced ease.
The moment she saw Shen Anyu, however, her mind was dragged back to the events of the previous night.
He had… he had scooped her up from behind, his arms hooking beneath the bend of her knees, lifting her as effortlessly as one might a small child, and carried her right to the mirror.
In that single, humiliating moment, President Ling's dignity, her strength, her assertiveness, her intelligence, her very integrity—it had all evaporated into thin air.
When they had parted ways earlier, she had managed to feign composure, putting on an air of someone who could handle the situation. But the second she returned home, she had been so consumed by shame that she'd paced her living room for hours, the memory making her want to curl into a ball on the carpet and simply disappear.
How could she have let him do that? She was there to treat his injury, nothing more.
'It was all his fault,'she told herself, a desperate mantra.'Yes, it was all Shen Anyu's fault for being so damn overbearing.'
It wasn't her fault. She just had to stay far, far away from him from now on.
But now… at this very moment, inside the president's office, it was just the two of them. He had actually come all the way to the Ling Group's headquarters to find her.
"Shen Anyu, don't mess around! We can't betray Yaqian again…" Ling Qingcheng finally broke free from his grasp, her voice a panicked whisper. She tried to inject it with righteous indignation as she stumbled backward.
As Ling Qingcheng retreated, Shen Anyu advanced.
She took one step back; he took one step forward.
She fled, he chased. There was no escape.
After just a few steps, the small of her back pressed hard against the cold, unyielding surface of her mahogany desk. The coffee cup beside her rattled, sending ripples across the dark liquid. A Parker pen rolled off the edge and clattered to the floor, but not before its nib left a spatter of inky dots across a stack of documents, staining the clean paper like a blemish on her orderly world.
A faint smile played on Shen Anyu's handsome face as he closed the distance with unhurried grace. He looked down at Ling Qingcheng, who was now bracing herself against the desk with both hands, her beautiful face pale with a mix of fright and fury.
He lowered his head, his lips hovering just above the exquisite, jade-like skin of her neck. He blew a soft, warm breath against her, and the sensation sent a chill down her spine. His voice was a low, magnetic hum.
"Qingcheng, you're already my woman. Even if Zhang Yaqian knew, she wouldn't refuse. If you don't believe me, we can make a bet. How about it?"
Shen Anyu's smile was sincere, his gaze open and disarming. His peach-blossom eyes seemed to crackle with a playful electricity, gleaming with a light that pulled her in.
[Ding! Detected Destiny Heroine Ling Qingcheng's favorability +1. Plundering +3000 Destiny Value!]
Ling Qingcheng felt her head spin, caught in the gentle, affectionate pull of those eyes. She sighed inwardly. As much as she hated to admit it, she had well and truly fallen for him. Shen Anyu held a fatal attraction for her in every aspect, but unfortunately, their circumstances were entirely unsuitable.
"I don't want to hurt Yaqian," she said, taking a deep breath and forcing a cold mask onto her features. "Young Master Shen, with your status, looks, and abilities, countless women would throw themselves at you. Why bother with me? I've already given you my most precious possession. I have nothing more to give."
As the system prompts echoed in his mind, Shen Anyu listened patiently. Though the Destiny Plunder System was still in the process of upgrading, the notifications continued to function as usual. He knew Ling Qingcheng's favorability toward him wasn't low; after all, he had been the hero who rescued her from the clutches of Yanxia's Yu Clan, and then there was the night of their entanglement.
However, Ling Qingcheng possessed a strong moral compass. She simply couldn't get past the fact that he was involved with her best friend, Zhang Yaqian.
Shen Anyu's smile never wavered. "If Zhang Yaqian refuses," he said softly, "then I will never bother you again."
His words struck a chord in Ling Qingcheng's heart, and it stirred with a complex mix of hope and dread. Her delicate brows furrowed in thought. If Shen Anyu no longer bothered her, then…
She stole a glance at him, only to find him already watching her, a knowing smile on his lips. Her gaze darted away as if shocked by lightning, her emotions a tangled mess.
'If Yaqian doesn't agree, will I really have to draw a clear line between us?' she wondered, a pang of something she refused to name echoing in her chest.
At that moment, Shen Anyu continued, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "But if Zhang Yaqian agrees, then you'll let me do whatever I want. And you can't refuse."
Let him do whatever he wanted? And she couldn't refuse?
Ling Qingcheng froze, her mind going blank.
Shen Anyu leaned in closer, a mischievous glint in his eyes. He whispered directly into her ear, "Just like the night before."
A furious blush instantly consumed Ling Qingcheng's cheeks, her face turning so red it felt like blood might drip from it.
Silence descended upon the president's office, thick and heavy. The only sounds were the frantic thumping of two hearts and the soft whisper of their breathing, impossibly loud in the still air. The temperature in the spacious office seemed to climb, and the atmosphere between them, standing so close, grew charged and strange.
Shen Anyu raised his hand, his fingers moving as if to trace the delicate line of her fair jaw.
"Don't…" Ling Qingcheng whispered, instinctively dodging his touch. Realizing how weak she sounded, she mustered her courage and tried to scold him again. "Shen Anyu, you… don't go too far! Or else… or else I'll call security and have you thrown out!"
This was her territory. She wasn't afraid. Right? She wasn't afraid.
President Ling's mind was a muddled, overheated mess. She had completely forgotten what a few security guards from the Ling Group amounted to in the face of Shen Anyu's status and terrifying strength. She, of all people, had personally witnessed him kill Hangzhou's strongest expert, Old Qin, with a single, effortless move at the Yu Clan's banquet.
Shen Anyu merely raised an eyebrow, a smirk playing on his lips, and was about to reply.
Ding-a-ling-ling…
The sudden, shrill ring of a phone cut through the tension. The caller ID displayed a name that was intimately familiar to them both.
Zhang Yaqian.
Just as they were locked in this critical, tangled moment, the sight of that name sent a wave of pure, unadulterated terror through Ling Qingcheng. She felt like she'd been doused in ice water.
The phone continued its insistent ringing. Ling Qingcheng's brain was still frozen, completely unsure whether she should answer. President Ling, a woman normally so quick-witted and adept in the cutthroat world of business, was facing a scene like this for the first time. It felt like a wife catching her husband with a mistress, except the "wife" was her very own best friend.
Ling Qingcheng didn't dare to imagine it. How heartbroken would Yaqian be? How disappointed? Would she see them together and burst into tears, or worse, try to jump into a river or off a building?
The mere thought of it made her vision go dark.
And in the next moment, Shen Anyu did something that nearly made Ling Qingcheng's soul fly right out of her body.
He actually answered the phone.
"Qingcheng, why did it take you so long to answer?" A captivating, youthful voice, as clear and sweet as a mountain spring, flowed from the speaker. Even with a hint of complaint about the wait, the tone was full of affection, a charming mix of annoyance and happiness.
It was the kind of pleasant, pure voice that made one instinctively picture a wonderful girl on the other end of the line—an elven princess, perhaps, beautiful, kind, elegant, and pure.
For Ling Qingcheng, however, that voice—which used to be a comforting presence during her busiest workdays—was now a death knell. In this place, at this moment, it was the sound of her own execution.
What terrified her even more was that Shen Anyu was leaning toward the phone, his lips parting as if he was about to speak…
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