Chapter 140: Settling Accounts

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Feng Chenxin had always been like this—

a man cold to the extreme.

If she had not recklessly provoked him back then, betrayed him, and lied to him so many times, he would never have treated her this way.

He had actually made her humiliate herself completely, bullying her by exploiting her weakness.

The door to the hotel suite was closed.

He had even locked it.

He had taken away everything she had on her.

She was utterly—

even if she wanted to call for help, there was no one to turn to.

“Still thinking of escaping?”

Perhaps he had seen the thoughts in Sheng Ting’s eyes.

After washing his hands, Feng Chenxin dried them with a tissue and tossed it into the wastebasket in the bathroom.

He even knew enough to dry his hands after washing them.

Yet he acted as though he could not see the moisture at the corner of Sheng Ting’s mouth.

She had never been in such a humiliating state.

Hearing the man’s deep, icy voice, Sheng Ting instinctively said, “I’m not running…”

At most, once he untied her, she would kill him!

But before she could say anything more, the man came toward her against the light, wearing the expression of someone looking at a kitten or puppy.

Feng Chenxin bent down and raised her chin with his long fingers, completely ignoring the moisture still clinging to the corner of her mouth.

“Sheng Ting, is there even one truthful sentence in your mouth?”

Forced to look up, Sheng Ting stared at the cold, sharply handsome face so close to hers. She parted her lips, wanting to explain.

But with the wetness at the corner of her mouth, she found it difficult to speak of anything. That appearance of hers, in Feng Chenxin’s eyes—

“Since you do not want to run, then I will keep you bound.”

Perhaps then she would behave herself.

The corner of his thin lips lifted, and a trace of amusement surfaced in his eyes.

“What are you going to do?” Sheng Ting’s shoulders trembled as she tried to rise and move away.

But strips torn from the bedsheet were wrapped around her ankles, tied in several knots. The instant she stood, she suddenly lost her balance.

Her body tilted backward, on the verge of falling.

Feng Chenxin frowned, but fortunately he extended his arm in time, wrapped it around her slender waist, and drew her into his embrace.

“Planning to pull up your pants and pretend you do not know me, just as you did last time?”

A hint of amusement and scrutiny mingled in Feng Chenxin’s dark eyes as he looked her over.

“Besides, you have not even pulled them up yet.”

His gaze shifted downward, landing on the black garment loosely caught around her ankle.

A soft laugh escaped him, laced with teasing and faint mockery.

The man’s tall, straight figure blocked the bathroom light. Sheng Ting was momentarily speechless.

“You!”

Her face flushed slightly—

from sheer exasperation.

“If you have the courage, then untie me.”

Her hands were bound behind her back. How was she supposed to pull anything up?

Feng Chenxin’s voice remained low and cold. “If I untie you, how am I supposed to settle accounts with you?”

His eyes held a trace of amusement. His tone was careless, and he deliberately drew out the final syllable.

Hearing this, Sheng Ting lowered her gaze, trying to evade the subject.

“Settle what accounts…?” she murmured.

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Feng Chenxin laughed in anger.

“Hah. So now you want to play innocent again.”

He should never have indulged her.

He should have thrown her onto the bed, bound her hands and feet, and tormented her until she cried and begged for mercy. Clearly, he had been far too kind.

“So you remember nothing about that night.”

“Then let me help you recall it properly…”

His voice seemed steeped in gloom, as though he intended to devour her.

“You—!”

But as her chest heaved with anger, Feng Chenxin’s deep eyes remained fixed on her face.

In that instant, the man’s cold, heavy presence swept over her, oppressive and suffocating.

Sheng Ting’s eyes trembled.

By the time she realized what the turbulent emotion in his gaze meant, it was already too late to retreat.

In other words, she had no hope of escaping him.

The moment she tried to dodge, Feng Chenxin’s expression darkened. He bent down and lifted her in his arms.

He placed her on the cold sink, her back striking the mirror behind her with a faint rustle.

When Sheng Ting tried to resist, he seized her chin and forced her head up.

She looked at him, the corners of her mouth still damp.

She was so furious that she nearly cried.

In a low, hoarse voice, Feng Chenxin spoke beside her ear.

“Sheng Ting.”

“Do not cry. You brought this upon yourself.”

“Mm…”

With her chin held firmly, she was forced to open her mouth, and tears slipped down her cheeks.

Her pale, slender legs were parted as she sat astride the sink.

The white strips of torn cloth gave way completely.

She let out a muffled sob.

Behind the man, the light and shadows were swallowed by his figure, concealing the intimate scene before the mirror.

Especially the thin garment barely caught around her ankle.

She was tormented to the point of tears, yet the man gave her no chance to recover.

Under the light, all that could be seen was the dampness at the corner of her mouth. Held in place, her lips could not close.

Every muffled sound she made was stifled before it could escape.

Feng Chenxin seemed to be taking revenge—

for the hatred he had carried throughout that night.

#

For nearly the entire night, Sheng Ting remained out of contact.

Jiang Chen waited all night as well, but the data he expected to appear on the computer never came.

“Still no word from her?”

Shen Zhaoxi realized that something was wrong.

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Given Sheng Ting’s abilities, she could not possibly have been defeated by something of this level.

Jiang Chen shook his head.

“Boss, still nothing.”

Shen Zhaoxi said coldly, “Find her location.”

“Yes, boss.”

Jiang Chen sat in the car with the laptop in his arms, his long fingers striking the keyboard.

A surveillance image soon appeared.

At the hotel, Sheng Ting had successfully approached the man and obtained the item he was carrying.

But in the surveillance footage, there was no sign of her leaving the hotel.

Where had she gone?

Could she have been trapped inside?

The last location they had traced to Sheng Ting vanished within the hotel.

They had no idea what had happened at the time.

But one thing was certain: Sheng Ting was out of contact.

Jiang Chen began to worry.

“That cannot be right. When has Sister Sheng Ting ever allowed herself to disappear without a trace?”

“Could she have encountered an opponent?”

Just as Jiang Chen was growing anxious, a figure suddenly appeared in the surveillance footage.

But the image was cut off almost immediately.

That could only mean that the other party’s counter-surveillance abilities were far superior to Sheng Ting’s.

Otherwise, there was no way they could have detected the tracker on her.

Yet after searching all the surveillance footage in the hotel—even after Jiang Chen hacked into the hotel’s internal network—they found no trace whatsoever of that figure.

How was that possible?

There was not the slightest clue.

Shen Zhaoxi’s brows drew together.

No matter how she looked at it, this did not seem like the work of an enemy.

Instead, the method resembled that of one of their own.

“Return to the First District for now, and bring Xiaoxiao to me.”

“Boss, have you figured something out?”

Jiang Chen looked at her in confusion.

“Not yet.”

Shen Zhaoxi lowered her voice.

A thoughtful suspicion passed through her cool eyes.

#

Author’s Note:

The secondary couple will not have too much page time. Their full story will be posted on Weibo and in the extras later.

This section is only meant to clarify part of the timeline, since it is connected to the main couple as well.

That is why I included a little of Sheng Ting and Old Dog Feng’s story here.

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