Night.
The stars twinkled, the silver moon shone bright, and the cold moonlight spilled through the gaps in the tree branches onto the lawn, casting mottled shadows and illuminating flowers brimming with vibrant green.
In an underground parking lot, a black Bentley came to a gentle stop.
A man in a black suit, carrying a briefcase and reeking of alcohol, stepped out of the car.
Zhao Yicheng’s face was slightly flushed, his steps somewhat unsteady.
He walked toward the elevator, pressed the button for his floor, and as the elevator started up, the mild sense of weightlessness made him instinctively reach out to steady himself against the wall.
After signing the contract, he’d accompanied several Cooperation Partners for a few drinks at a small KTV.
This was also Drinking Table Culture.
If the other side was hosting and you didn’t go, wouldn’t that be disrespectful?
It would be a shame if the follow-up project they’d just discussed fell through over such a minor matter.
Ding!
The elevator doors opened once again.
Zhao Yicheng staggered out and, out of habit, made his way to his office door, turning the handle and pushing it open.
His office was spacious and bright, nearly as large as a small apartment.
Ever since Xu Yinsheng came, it had been renovated even further—now it had a massive Sofa, a small table and stools for meals, a bathroom with shower facilities, Game Equipment, and most recently, a Bedroll laid out for sleeping.
Moonlight shone in through the window, falling on a blurry yellow-and-red carpet, and sitting on it were three beautiful women, their pretty faces covered in sticky notes.
In the ghostly pale moonlight, it was quite a scene—like something out of a ghost story about a scholar taking shelter for the night!
He shook his head, looked closely, and—oh, it was Xu Yinsheng.
Hmm?
Wait.
Something wasn’t right.
Zhao Yicheng looked at the three women on the carpet and counted silently in his heart.
Two, three…
There were three Little Yin in total.
Three?
Little Yin?
Three Little Yin??
Smack!
He slapped his forehead, rubbed it lightly, then counted the three women playing cards on the carpet—one, two, three…
Still three Little Yin.
Zhao Yicheng chuckled quietly, then walked into the room as if nothing was out of the ordinary and sat down on the Sofa.
He must be drunk.
It had been years since he’d been this drunk—he was even seeing double.
Time really didn’t spare anyone.
Counting carefully, he was almost twenty-nine, in nominal age thirty, counting by fleeting years forty, counting by full years forty-one, long years forty-two… Hiss!
If he wasn’t careful, he’d be heading straight for fifty.
Looked like it was time to put his retirement plans on the agenda, and also to get married, help Little Yin conceive, raise kids…
“What a stench of alcohol, where did you go to mess around?”
Xu Yinsheng tore off the sticky notes from her pretty face, pinched her nose, and walked toward Zhao Yicheng.
“Nowhere, just had a few drinks with Cooperation Partners.”
A few drinks, huh?
Xu Yinsheng smelled the pungent odor on him—so strong it was nauseating, as if he’d fallen straight into a wine vat.
She waved her hand impatiently, “Are you going back to the Bieshu tonight or not? If not, don’t stink up the place here. Go take a shower, quickly.”
“Not going back. You don’t have a driver’s license, and I’m drunk—if we drive, it’d count as drunk driving.”
Zhao Yicheng’s face was slightly flushed.
He pointed toward the “Black-and-White Xu Yinsheng” and joked with a smile:
“Getting old is tough. Just a few drinks and I’m seeing double—and not just double, but one in white stockings and one in black stockings.”
As he spoke, a look of nostalgia appeared on Zhao Yicheng’s face.
Some things just faded with time.
But seeing Xu Yinsheng’s face so clearly now seemed to pull him right back to those years of youthful green.
“Back in High School, it was summer, you dragged me to squat on the playground, watching all those fair legs passing by. At the time, I wondered if Little Yin would be more fitting. Now I think, not bad, not bad—Little Yin really does suit me well.”
Damn, pervert.
Back then, she was still a boy in High School!
But for Zhao Yicheng to reveal such a dark history, he had to be truly drunk.
Xu Yinsheng moved closer to Zhao Yicheng.
The man sitting on the Sofa was over 1.8 meters tall; having taken off his suit, he wore a white shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows, revealing long, sturdy arms, and now he was slightly tipsy, gazing up at her.
“Looks like you’re really drunk.”
Xu Yinsheng poked at his firm chest; Zhao Yicheng didn’t react, so she prodded his face with her fingertip.
“Seems that even being the Chairman of Bai Group doesn’t spare you from Drinking Table Culture. By the way, aren’t you being careless around me? We’re not lovers, not even boyfriend and girlfriend. Aren’t you afraid I’ll stab you in your sleep?”
Her index fingernail gleamed silver, slim and long, and she lightly pressed it to his chest, a dangerous glint flashing in her eyes.
The man kept his eyes closed, breathing evenly, seemingly unaware.
Xu Yinsheng’s fingertip slowly crept upward, closer and closer to his throbbing carotid artery—just a bit more force and she could grasp his life!
But in the end, her finger slowly lowered…
Xu Yinsheng was still afraid.
She could never muster the courage.
Just like that example in psychology:
An Elephant performs in the Circus, mighty enough to easily lift a 200-kilogram log.
After the show, the Tamer ties the Elephant to an inconspicuous Wooden Stake.
The audience is always curious, because the Elephant could easily yank out the Wooden Stake and break free, but instead, it stays obediently chained to it with a thin Iron Chain.
Someone once asked the Tamer, how can such a small Wooden Stake hold the Elephant?
What’s the secret?
It turns out, when the Elephant was still a calf, the Tamer bound it with an Iron Chain to a post.
At that young age, the Elephant didn’t have the strength to break free, no matter how much it struggled.
Over time, it got used to the restraint and stopped trying, so that when it grew into a giant, even though it could now easily snap the chain, it remained habitually controlled by it—because, in its mind, breaking free was always impossible.
Xu Yinsheng didn’t know what her own reason was.
She just knew that in her heart, she held an indescribable feeling toward Zhao Yicheng.
Fear, anxiety, or… something else.
She didn’t know if she could really finish Zhao Yicheng off—maybe she could, maybe she couldn’t.
Was this another test from Zhao Yicheng?
Even if there was a 99.99% chance—what if…
He once had the courage to gamble, but now she did not.
Perhaps, after so long as a woman, Xu Yinsheng felt her thinking had quietly become more feminine.
Her bottom line was slipping lower, she no longer had the courage she once did, and just wanted a peaceful life.
Xu Yinsheng even felt a bit estranged from herself.
With a silent sigh in her heart, Xu Yinsheng glanced at the man on the Sofa, eyes deep.
She turned to leave, when suddenly a big hand reached out and grabbed her wrist.
“Xu Yinsheng, you can’t escape. You’re mine, always.”
That’s what the drunken man said.
The next morning, when the first rays of sunlight shone through the glass window onto Zhao Yicheng’s eyes, he awoke surrounded by soft, fragrant warmth.
He opened his eyes to see a familiar little face.
Xu Yinsheng was nestled in his arms, all her clothes gone, their bodies pressed close—he could feel her warmth and subtle fragrance.
She slept deeply, her eyelashes trembling slightly.
Zhao Yicheng moved gently, holding the naked Xu Yinsheng as he sat up a little—when suddenly, he felt two more soft, warm touches beside him.
He turned his head.
He was lying on a yellow-and-red… no, a Marquee Carpet, and at some point, two almost-naked young women had appeared at his sides.
One left, one right—their faces identical to Xu Yinsheng, with the only difference being that one wore white stockings, the other black, yet either could stir the imagination.
A tender, pale arm rested across his shoulder, while a black-stockinged, beautiful leg curled at the foot of the bed.
The two girls lay lazily and enticingly.
Three Little Yin?