If not for something that came up later, she should have investigated sooner who used that black card to enter the room that day. Without finding out their intentions, she couldn’t rest easy. An Ruo pursed her lips in thought, then decided to secretly take the card first to make it easier for her to investigate later.
As she came out, she happened to run into Shen Xiaoxing, who was just entering. The man’s expression softened when he saw her, a gentle smile curving at the corners of his mouth as usual. “Up so soon?”
When she’d returned to the villa, the maid said she was tired and sleeping in her room. “I’d just lain down when Qiaoqiao’s call woke me up.” An Ruo waved the signed photo in her hand. “A relentless barrage of calls—she insisted I get this for her.”
The man glanced at it. It was a very young, handsome guy, with his flamboyant artistic signature scrawled in the bottom right corner. Recalling Zhou Mingyue’s assessment of him as an “old man” and a “low-level employee husband,” he suddenly felt a pang of jealousy.
He raised an eyebrow. “Shi Yibo—he’s a big star.” “Yeah. He’s pretty popular; a lot of girls like him.” The man asked instinctively, “Do you like him too?” “Huh?” An Ruo froze, her expression like a dumbfounded goose. “You’re his fan too.” Shen Xiaoxing stared at the signed photo in her hand. That kid really did look young, almost like a minor… He suddenly felt a bit annoyed. Did this girl go for that type of man?
“I’m not.” An Ruo explained to him, “That day, Miss Song mistakenly thought I was his fan, so she got me his autograph.” She sensed something off about his demeanor. Could this be what they called jealousy?
The man raised his brow. “Really, you didn’t ask for it yourself?” “Really, I didn’t…” An Ruo lightly bit her lip, a faint smile curving at the corners as she looked at him. “You’re not jealous, are you?” “Yeah, I am jealous.”
Surprise flickered in An Ruo’s beautiful eyes—she hadn’t expected him to admit it so bluntly. “Mrs. Shen, you’d better think about how you’re going to cheer me up.” An Ruo looked baffled. “Why do I have to cheer you up just because you’re jealous?” Was she being blamed for this?
The man’s tone carried a hint of dominance. “Because I’m jealous over you.” An Ruo’s heart raced from his overbearing CEO vibe. She deliberately suppressed the smile tugging at her lips and said softly, “Oh, then wait here—I’ll go downstairs and get a bottle of vinegar…”
She pretended to leave, but Shen Xiaoxing wasn’t about to let her get away with that teasing. He reached out, pulled her onto his lap, and gave her a fierce, lingering kiss as punishment. “Twisting my words on purpose, huh?”
An Ruo leaned against his chest, gasping for air, her cheeks flushed a rosy pink, so soft they made him want to pinch them. “I didn’t…” Her voice was like a kitten’s purr, tugging at his heart. Her lips were glossy and slightly parted, a fatal temptation for Shen Xiaoxing, who was still savoring the moment.
“Mrs. Shen, I really am jealous.” His gaze was tender as he reached up to tousle her hair. “I’m terrified that in that drama set full of handsome guys, some slick pretty boy might steal you away. What would I do then?”
He’d been reluctant from the start when she was assigned to follow the crew. Gu Chao, whether intentionally or not, had to send her on that kind of job. But seeing how much she enjoyed it, coming back every day to tell him funny stories from the set, he’d eventually let it slide.
Ever since people started commenting on his age, he’d grown insecure, afraid she might look down on him for being older. “I’m so much older than you—you won’t fall for some young hottie and dump me, will you?”
An Ruo straightened up from his embrace, her light brown eyes clear as glass beads, free of any impurity. She bit her lip gently. “Why would you think that?” “It’s just that I’m getting older and losing confidence in myself. Besides, now I…” He paused, letting out a wry laugh as he looked at her. “I wish I’d met you a few years earlier.”
That way, he could have taken care of her when she was younger, at least sparing her so much bullying and hardship. Even if his power back then wasn’t as vast as it was now, he would have fought tooth and nail to protect her, never letting her suffer a single scratch.
An Ruo hugged him back without a second thought, leaning against his chest and murmuring, “Don’t lose confidence. In my heart, you’re the best—the best Shen Xiaoxing.”
The man’s hand on her back stiffened, the softest part of his heart warming, and his nose began to sting again. “I’m not… from a good background, am I?”
Was being born into a wealthy family a good thing? But he was an illegitimate child, someone people would sneer at wherever he went.
“I don’t care about that.” An Ruo held him tighter. “You’ve never looked down on me, and these things have never been a reason to keep us apart.”
Being so firmly accepted was a feeling Shen Xiaoxing had never experienced before. He used to think no woman would ever want someone like him—a man full of hatred, blinded by vengeance—how could he ever love anyone? But since she appeared, everything he believed had changed.
So much so that now, when he looked at her expression or spoke to her, it all felt surreal. She had saved him, shown him that he still had the capacity to love! Meeting her made it worth coming into this world.
…
Over the next few days, An Ruo secretly investigated the incident in Xuancheng where a strange man had barged into her room. First, she bought a new number and posed as a customer booking a room on the hotel’s official website, using Shen Xiaoxing’s black card.
As soon as she made the reservation, a hotel customer service rep greeted her obsequiously. An Ruo played along, claiming she’d lost the card recently and asking if there had been any other bookings made with it at the hotel besides this one.
Coincidentally, the customer service rep chatting with her online was the same front desk clerk who had let the man into her room that day. She’d checked the hotel’s surveillance footage, but it had been deliberately erased. Luckily, the clerk had a good memory—the incident had nearly cost her job, forcing her to take the online customer service position. She remembered it vividly, determined to avoid a repeat.
An Ruo’s registered account was male, so the clerk mistook her for the black card holder and spilled everything over the screen. Back then, they’d tried to cover it up. When the man showed the black card and asked for her room key, the clerk had noted the card number for submission, so she knew it.
An Ruo compared the numbers, and her heart suddenly clenched. Unbelievably, it was identical to the one on the table! She closed her eyes, trying to piece together the whole sequence of events.
From the photo Yang Sisi had taken, the man’s back was tall, his build athletic, and his legs moved normally on the ground—he couldn’t be Shen Xiaoxing. But if it wasn’t him, how could he have the exact same black card, down to the same number?
Had he lost it, and someone else picked it up? But if someone else had found it, why would they sneak into her room?
Every explanation except the possibility that Shen Xiaoxing himself had entered her room with the card seemed impossible. Her mind unsettled, she closed the laptop. She needed to ask Shen Xiaoxing about this directly.
She couldn’t keep spiraling like this. As long as he admitted it wasn’t him, she would believe him no matter what. And she hoped this man wouldn’t hide anything from her.