Peeking out, she saw Jiang Cheng sitting alone on the sofa in the huge living room, making a phone call.
Moreover, he only had a bath towel loosely wrapped around his lower body, leaving his upper body completely bare.
The morning light filtered through the gaps in the curtains, falling upon him and outlining the smooth yet powerful lines of his muscles. Droplets of water hadn't dried yet, reflecting tiny glimmers of light on his firm chest and abdominal muscles.
Holding the phone in one hand, his expression was focused and aloof as he discussed matters that sounded profound and impressive.
The visual impact was too strong; Xu Yan froze at the doorway for a moment, her cheeks uncontrollably heating up.
"...All agreements are drafted through offshore law firms to ensure legal risk isolation. 'Starry' will only be one of the 'potential investors' behind these SPVs' anonymous funds, with no direct controlling interest or signing rights..." Chen Xueer's voice could be faintly heard through the receiver.
Jiang Cheng seemed to sense her gaze. He looked up toward the doorway and caught Xu Yan's dazed, blushing expression.
Seeing Jiang Cheng beckon her over, Xu Yan's heart skipped a beat.
She pursed her lips, suppressed her awkward emotions, and walked over, feigning composure.
The closer she got, the more intense the aggressive male pheromones and visual impact became.
Jiang Cheng covered the phone's microphone and mouthed the words: "Where's Shen Shuang?"
Xu Yan also lowered her voice: "She went to school first."
She paused, glanced at the tightly closed master bedroom door, and whispered even more softly: "What about Chu Ran?"
Seeing her look, Jiang Cheng understood. A faint, almost imperceptible smile touched his lips as he answered frankly, "She's exhausted and is sleeping."
The words were ordinary, yet they felt like a feather lightly tickling Xu Yan's heart.
Exhausted... Thinking back to those sounds from earlier, Xu Yan's face grew even redder. At the same time, however, a corner of her heart felt strangely relieved.
At least Jiang Cheng wasn't avoiding her, and... right now, they were the only two here.
Just as she sat down on the sofa next to Jiang Cheng, she heard him add another sentence into the phone.
"...Remember, the core of all operations is 'invisibility.' The funds, the traces, and even any potential... collateral risks must be cleaned up. Don't let anything we shouldn't touch get on us."
Xu Yan looked at his sharp profile and the movement of his Adam's apple as he spoke. That bit of relaxation from before mixed with a more secret, restless thought.
Jiang Churan was asleep, Shen Shuang was gone... and...
Thoughts of mischief and revenge surfaced again, mixed with an impulse to break his mask of composure.
She quietly and bit by bit moved closer.
Seeing that Jiang Cheng was still focused on the call and didn't seem to notice her small movements, her courage grew.
Her fingertips, carrying a slight chill and a hint of a tentative tremble, first lightly touched Jiang Cheng's forearm, which was resting casually on the sofa's armrest.
Jiang Cheng's muscles tightened for an imperceptible moment, but he didn't move or look at her, acting as if he hadn't noticed.
Xu Yan's fingertips slid extremely slowly up the lines of his arm, passing the firm forearm and reaching the more sensitive skin on the inside of the elbow.
She unconsciously held her breath, her heart beating like a drum.
Just as her fingertips were about to touch deeper.
Jiang Cheng suddenly moved.
Instead of pushing her away, he suddenly reached out with his other free hand—fast, accurate, and ruthless.
He grabbed the back of her neck with irresistible force and pressed her whole body down!
"Mmph!" Caught off guard, Xu Yan let out a low cry. The world spun before her eyes, and by the time she reacted...
Her cheek was already pressed against his firm, hot skin.
On the other end of the line, Chen Xueer seemed to hear a faint noise and paused. "President Jiang?"
Jiang Cheng's gaze fell heavily on Xu Yan's face, which had instantly turned beet red and was filled with shock and embarrassment.
Into the phone, his voice remained steady without a hint of emotion, though it seemed a bit deeper and raspier than before:
"It's nothing. Continue."
While listening to Chen Xueer continue her report on the subsequent risk control and exit mechanisms, he used the hand gripping the back of Xu Yan's neck.
With a sense of punishment and unquestionable authority, he applied slight pressure, "fixing" her more firmly in place.
A roar like a dragon's instantly sounded, and Xu Yan couldn't help but let out a gasp.
No way?
That's not what they say on the internet.
She had worried before that Jiang Cheng would be exhausted being caught between her and Jiang Churan.
But now, it clearly wasn't the case...
Xu Yan even started to doubt if the two of them had done anything in there at all.
Otherwise, how could he... She wanted to protest, but her mouth opened and closed; she didn't dare make too much noise, feeling like her face was about to catch fire.
In the living room, only Chen Xueer's methodical report remained, along with a silent "punishment" full of tension and conquest quietly taking place.
"Mm..." Jiang Cheng let out a comfortable sigh and then continued, "The idea of nested three-layer SPVs is fine, but for the capital path of the final layer injecting into the domestic entity, add another Hong Kong re-export trading company as a buffer. It'll have higher compliance."
Hearing Jiang Cheng say this, Chen Xueer looked approving. "President Jiang, did you go for further studies? I feel like you're becoming more and more professional..."
This was actually thanks to the 'Business Insight Passive Skill' he had obtained from Zhu Yan.
Seeing Xu Yan grimacing and moving her head seriously until her eyes were spinning, Jiang Cheng replied, "Not really. But for me, whenever I encounter an unfamiliar field I haven't touched, I really want to dive deep. I just progressed without realizing it..."
After saying this, Jiang Cheng couldn't even help but reach out and give Xu Yan's perky buttocks a slap... then he added, "That's about it. Anything else? If not, I'm hanging up. I want to do some more morning exercise..."
"You're exercising? No wonder I felt your breathing was a bit unsteady just now..."
Jiang Cheng chuckled. "Yeah, morning exercise. I'm warming up right now..."
Hearing the words "warming up," Xu Yan's body visibly stiffened.
When she was teasing Jiang Cheng earlier, it was because she thought Jiang Churan was still in the bedroom and Jiang Cheng likely wouldn't do anything to her.
But at this moment, the dragon's roar was simply too loud.
Xu Yan was a bit unsure... she wanted to sneak away while Jiang Cheng was on the phone, but the moment her head moved, she was pressed down again.
A muffled "Mmph" finally caught Chen Xue's attention.
There was a pause of a few seconds on the other end of the line, and then Chen Xueer's voice came through faintly: "Morning exercise is a good thing. But President Jiang, this 'warm-up' of yours... sounds like it's quite draining? You should be careful to arrange your 'exercise volume' reasonably."