The banquet was well underway, with the award ceremony already concluded and only a few guest performances remaining.
Some guests had begun to leave their seats, and a table full of internet celebrities, including Yu Tian, had grown restless after sitting idle for the entire evening.
Several of them had already risen to smoke outside.
Xu Qin, however, remained remarkably composed, sitting still in his seat.
Yet, he seemed unable to let go of his frustration, repeatedly attempting to strike up a conversation with Shi Pengpeng.
Shi Pengpeng found Xu Qin’s eagerness somewhat odd.
After all, if his goal was to get close to Yan Jing, he should have been keeping his distance from her at this moment.
Meng Zhen’s attitude towards Xu Qin was also unusual, and Shi Pengpeng sensed that Xu Qin’s background might not be as simple as it appeared on the surface.
Intrigued, Shi Pengpeng decided to engage him in conversation.
However, at that moment, Xu Qin’s phone vibrated.
He glanced at the message, his expression subtly changing.
Without delay, he stood up and, before leaving, politely bid farewell to Shi Pengpeng.
Watching his hurried departure, Shi Pengpeng felt an increasing sense of unease.
Especially as he exited the venue, she faintly detected a subtle shift in the atmosphere around her.
It was so minute that one would hardly notice it unless they were paying close attention.
Something was off.
Shi Pengpeng pursed her lips, picked up her classic canvas bag, and followed him out.
The corridor outside was sparsely populated, with only a few hotel staff members milling about.
Xu Qin had already vanished from sight.
As Shi Pengpeng pondered which direction to take, Yan Jing and Wei Chi emerged from around the corner ahead, and the three of them collided face-to-face.
“Pengpeng,” Yan Jing’s face lit up with joy.
He had just finished dealing with a client and had been preoccupied with thoughts of her.
To his pleasant surprise, he encountered her right around the corner.
“Brother…” Shi Pengpeng instinctively called out, but immediately stopped herself as the earlier incident before the banquet flashed through her mind.
Come to think of it, she hadn’t actually responded to him yet.
Now, as he approached her, a sense of nervousness belatedly crept into her heart.
Yan Jing’s heart was pounding as well.
The feeling wasn’t as pronounced when she wasn’t around, but the moment he saw her, an intense possessiveness surged within him.
She should be his girlfriend.
Why should any outsider covet her?
With this thought in mind, Yan Jing strode up to Shi Pengpeng, grabbed her wrist without a word, and pulled her close to his chest.
Shi Pengpeng:”….”Â
‘Again? Is this rich guy just addicted to being domineering?!’
Wei Chi was adept at reading the atmosphere.
Sensing the situation, he promptly set an alarm on his phone and answered it:
“Hello, do you need me to come over? Yes, I’m on my way right now…”
As he spoke, he quickly walked away.
Shi Pengpeng: “…”
“Big brother, could you at least put some effort into your acting? At least change the alarm tone!”
Yan Jing was quite pleased with Wei Chi’s performance.
With no one else around, he tightened his arm around Shi Pengpeng, almost pulling her entirely into his embrace.
Standing a good half-head taller than her, he looked down at her with an irresistible, authoritative presence:
“Did you come to find me?”
Shi Pengpeng barely suppressed the urge to knee him.
“Brother, calm down, please let me go first…”
She pushed him, but to no avail.
She didn’t push hard, fearing she might hurt him.
He, on the other hand, had exerted all his strength.
“I won’t let go,” Yan Jing declared resolutely, his desire burning brighter, tinged with a hint of almost aggrieved irritation.
“I’m not giving you another chance to reject me…”
Shi Pengpeng:”…..”
‘Hold on, where did this ‘again’ come from?’
Moreover, she hadn’t even said she didn’t want him…
This fleeting thought caused Shi Pengpeng to pause involuntarily, as if she had suddenly caught a glimpse of a sentiment she herself hadn’t realized.
Before she could ponder further, Yan Jing continued assertively, “I don’t care. I want you to be my girlfriend, no, my wife!”
That’s right, it should be this way.
He had initially met her with the intention of a blind date, and since they had decided to be together, getting married right away seemed quite reasonable!
Shi Pengpeng: ???
She had refrained from hitting him out of kindness, and he was pushing his luck even further?!
Although Yan Jing was both pretentious and domineering, he usually knew his limits.
If his earlier behavior before the banquet was a result of being provoked by Xu Qin and acting impulsively, it could be understood.
Now that the situation had calmed down and there was no one else around to witness, his emotions should have subsided.
Shi Pengpeng suddenly realized something and, with a quick reflex, grabbed Yan Jing’s wrist to feel his pulse while standing on her tiptoes to look into his eyes.
The two were already close together, and in her haste to confirm her suspicion, she didn’t pay attention to the distance.
As she looked up, the tip of her nose brushed against Yan Jing’s lips.
Yan Jing’s Adam’s apple moved up and down, and his breathing momentarily halted.
The next second, their gazes met.
Her eyes were like ripples in the spring water, her eyelids tinged with a faint red, like petals gently falling into his heart.
His body reacted before his consciousness could catch up.
He lowered his head and kissed her.
Shi Pengpeng was taken aback.
In the moment he lowered his head, she was aware, but they were too close.
In her moment of surprise, she missed the chance to dodge.
This was their second kiss.
In the mausoleum of Bianian, Shi Pengpeng had once kissed Yan Jing to awaken him from a nightmare, feeding him her own blood from her tongue.
But the feeling now was entirely different.
Yan Jing, overwhelmed by an uncontrollable possessiveness, kissed her fiercely and urgently, wrapping his free arm around her waist and pulling her even closer.
Shi Pengpeng came to her senses and tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let go.
Instead, he turned and pushed her against the wall beside them, creating an enclosing posture.
“!!” Shi Pengpeng thought of twisting his wrist, but she promptly restrained the impulse that would have severely injured him.
Instead, she butted her head forward, colliding with his forehead.
A crisp sound rang out, and Yan Jing was finally pushed away, letting out a soft cry of surprise.
Confused, he asked, “Pengpeng, what are you doing…?”
Before he could finish his sentence, Shi Pengpeng’s cinnabar lipstick touched his lips, and a faint, sinister aura dissipated along with it.
Yan Jing felt his mind clear, and the intense possessiveness that had gripped him slowly eased.
He was somewhat dazed, his gaze falling on her lips, now smudged with lipstick, and he felt a lingering desire.
After a while, he regained his voice, “What happened?”
“You were just affected by a malevolent spirit,” Shi Pengpeng explained, wiping the moisture from the corners of her lips.
Seeing the lipstick on the back of her hand, she paused for a moment before quietly complaining, “So forceful.”
Yan Jing’s Adam’s apple moved unconsciously again.
Recalling his absurd behavior just now, he wasn’t very regretful but rather felt a bit of satisfaction.
Unfortunately, now was not the time to dwell on it.
He asked in surprise, “What kind of evil spirit is so powerful?”
He always carried a talisman, and with Shi Pengpeng present, any malevolent spirit that could affect him so stealthily must be extraordinary.
“No, it’s not something powerful,” Shi Pengpeng shook her head, her expression turning serious.
The spirit that affected Yan Jing was just an ordinary ghostly resentment.
She didn’t even need to chant a spell; a bit of cinnabar was enough to disperse it.
But that was precisely what was unusual.
Under normal circumstances, such a trivial amount of negative energy should never have been able to affect Yan Jing, and she wouldn’t have failed to detect it.
When did it start?
Recalling Yan Jing’s sudden domineering behavior, the resentment must have been there before the banquet began.
But she had specifically checked for any abnormalities at the time and found none.
Suddenly, she remembered the subtle change in the atmosphere when Xu Qin left the venue.
Could it be related to him?
But how could a live-streaming internet celebrity, who often flirted with the line, have done this?
Just as she was puzzled, her phone rang.
Seeing the caller ID, Shi Pengpeng was somewhat surprised.
It was Tan Pin.
The incident on Longevity Island had left a significant psychological scar on Tan Pin.
After Shi Pengpeng and Zhong Ziqing worked together to remove the curse from her and separated Wu Xiayu’s soul from her left eye, she had been receiving official psychological counseling.
She rarely used her phone and, although she occasionally liked Shi Pengpeng’s posts on social media, they hadn’t chatted since.
This sudden call was likely not good news.
Shi Pengpeng answered the call: “Hello, Miss Tan…”
“Miss Shi, it’s me,” Tan Pin’s voice was indeed anxious, tinged with an indescribable sense of panic as she said, “I just saw someone who should be dead…”
“What do you mean?” Shi Pengpeng was puzzled and tried to calm her down, “Stay calm, don’t rush, and tell me slowly…”
Under her guidance, Tan Pin gradually slowed her breathing and then recounted the story clearly.
Tan Pin told Shi Pengpeng that she had been deceived to a foreign country by Longevity Island.
During the transfer to a certain country, she had encountered another victim who had also been deceived.
That person was said to be a somewhat popular male internet celebrity in China, who was very tall and had an exceptionally good physique.
Tan Pin remembered him vividly because one of the guards had maliciously patted the male internet celebrity’s abs, mocking him for making money easily in China with his good looks, and ultimately, the money he earned would go to them.
He said that the man, who only sold his appearance, dared to dream of becoming a big star and deserved to fall into their hands.
It turned out that the man had been deceived by Longevity Island, who claimed that someone wanted to promote him into the entertainment industry as a star, using the excuse of attending an acting training class to lure him to Southeast Asia.
The man eventually died right in front of Tan Pin.
To say he died was not quite accurate; it was even more terrifying than death.
He was tied up, had coins placed over his face, and was then put alive into a coffin.
Perhaps Longevity Island people didn’t think Tan Pin could escape, or perhaps they intended to intimidate her.
They didn’t avoid her while doing this.
Tan Pin witnessed Longevity Island people nail the coffin shut tightly, which had a great impact on her.
Even now, when Tan Pin is haunted by nightmares, she still remembers the terrified eyes of that internet celebrity, which were visible outside the coin mask, looking at the coffin lid being slammed down on him in despair.
Due to her previous experiences, Tan Pin now dares not chat with people online and seldom uses her phone.
Today, because it was the weekend and she was bored, she decided to scroll through some short videos.
By chance, she came across the Cat’s Paw Night.
Cat’s Paw had posted many video clips from the event site, including the red carpet performances of various internet celebrities.
At first, Tan Pin didn’t pay much attention, but as she continued browsing, she suddenly saw a very familiar person.
That male internet celebrity, who had been nailed alive into a coffin and should have died in Southeast Asia.
At first, Tan Pin thought she was mistaken and refreshed the page several times.
She even specifically found the official live broadcast recording of Cat’s Paw and finally confirmed that it was indeed him.
He had a very glamorous look, and it was almost impossible to see the wretched appearance he had after being beaten in Southeast Asia.
However, those eyes, even if they were turned to ashes, Tan Pin could recognize them.
He was alive and appeared on the red carpet of Cat’s Paw.
Speaking of this, Tan Pin’s voice couldn’t help but tremble, but she still hopefully asked, “Miss Shi, do you think he might have been saved by someone else?”
Shi Pengpeng didn’t answer her question but instead asked, “Who is this person you’re talking about?”
She already had an idea in her mind, but out of caution, she needed to confirm it again.
“I just checked his account,” Tan Pin said:
“His name is Xu Qin.”