"I can’t sleep anyway," Lin Chu suddenly said with a smile.

He brewed a pot of tea, stood up, and walked toward the TV area.

Yang Huixian was slightly taken aback, then smiled and nodded.

’Coming home at night, cuddling on the sofa to watch a movie... that should be normal for a couple. But this simple, quiet pleasure is something Lin Chu and I have never experienced.’

’Most of the time, we’re too preoccupied to watch a movie.’

Yang Huixian got up as well, walked to the sofa, and tidied up the coffee table a little.

"What do you want to watch?"

Lin Chu asked casually.

As if possessed, Yang Huixian blurted out, "Mr. & Mrs. Smith."

"Hm?"

Lin Chu glanced at her, a smile playing on his lips, but his eyes suddenly sharpened. "You seem to have been busy lately. Didn’t your Uncle Nine say he wanted to treat me to dinner last time? Tomorrow is the weekend. How about we do it then?"

Her heart skipped a beat at his words, and a sudden, unexpected panic flared up within her.

’No way, is he really that smart and perceptive?’

’I just said a movie title, and it’s like he’s already figured something out?’

"Okay, I’ll ask him, but it should be fine."

Yang Huixian agreed, her voice a little tense. Suddenly, she didn’t know what to say.

Lin Chu seemed so open and self-assured that it made her feel like the one with a guilty conscience.

Holding his phone, Lin Chu searched for a source. A moment later, he found one, and a movie appeared on the screen.

Fifty Shades of Grey.

Yang Huixian pressed her lips together and glanced at him, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. In the end, she couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

He had found it on a streaming site, so the resolution wasn’t great, but it was watchable. The movie’s picture and sound soon filled the living room.

Yang Huixian hesitated for a moment before moving closer to him.

Lin Chu glanced at her and opened his arms in response.

She leaned against him.

"In a few days, I’ll be starting my MBA. I’ll probably be back even less. Moments like this will be rare."

"The last time I watched TV on the sofa with a girlfriend was with my ex. We broke up soon after, though."

"Oh, now I remember. We watched *Xihong City’s Richest Man*."

"She asked me what the first thing I’d do if I suddenly got a billion yuan would be. I said, ’The first thing would be to break up with you.’ Day in and day out, you don’t do the laundry, you don’t cook, you don’t do the dishes, and you don’t even sleep with me properly at night, always making up all sorts of ridiculous excuses."

"And then we had a fight."

Lin Chu recounted this with a light, cheerful tone and a grin, omitting a few details, but the gist was the same.

Listening to him, Yang Huixian felt like he was hinting at something, but the implication was faint and the meaning ambiguous.

But there was one thing she understood clearly.

—If you’re not satisfied, break up.

Suddenly, Yang Huixian felt as if all her emotions had found a new anchor point: if you’re not satisfied, break up.

For any problem, any doubt—be it love or hate, curiosity or anger, lust or greed... everything could be resolved with those two words.

After all, even married people can get divorced, let alone a mere boyfriend and girlfriend.

"Is that how you’ve always solved problems?"

she couldn’t help but ask.

Lin Chu lit a cigarette and said brazenly, "Before, I was usually the problem that got ’solved’. After all, I’m a person of terrible character, a classic bad boy."

Yang Huixian: "..."

*Hiss.*

’This is a bit much.’

"I can believe that,"

she replied, her mind flashing back to the first time she met Lin Chu, and the time she was "coerced" by him at the tavern.

But being good or bad in a moral sense didn’t define a man’s charm. In fact, at certain times, it was the opposite.

"Women need three types of men: the gene provider, the emotional provider, and the financial provider."

"In an ideal world, these three things can be found in one person. But most of the time, getting two out of three is already pretty good."

"I’ve been a bootlicker, fulfilling the latter two: emotional and financial."

"I’ve also been a ’wolf warrior’—genes and finances."

"But after all that, I chose to be the wolf. Of course, Ms. Yang, you can make your choice too,"

Lin Chu said with a beaming smile.

At that moment in the movie, the male lead was spanking the female lead. Her expression was a mixture of pain and faint pleasure.

Yang Huixian fell silent.

She didn’t think Lin Chu was just being glib; she actually agreed with what he was saying.

"’Ms. Yang’... those two words sound a little harsh."

she said, her voice a little low.

But Lin Chu couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

"Then what do you want to be called? Baby? Darling? Or how about ’little beaker’? Hm? Does that word sound harsh? Or does it please you?"

At that moment, Yang Huixian felt a fire ignite inside her once again, the small flames beginning to burn.

And at that very moment.

Lin Chu’s hand suddenly wrapped around her neck. The pressure wasn’t heavy, but it was just enough to hold her firmly in place.

His lips descended upon hers.

...

"Your dad brought all sorts of women home since you were a child. Watching that, you must have hated him, right? That’s the seed of darkness planted in your heart back then, your first impression of men."

In the throes of passion, Yang Huixian suddenly heard Lin Chu utter those words.

She froze completely, as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped over her head.

This was the deepest darkness in her heart, something she had once told Lin Chu.

But she never expected him to bring it up at a time like this.

’That psycho!’

The worst part was, he was still moving as he said it.

"I can understand. You have a deep-seated distrust of men, yet you crave unconditional love from one."

Lin Chu paused for a moment. Then, just as she was once again lost in a haze of desire, he suddenly spoke again.

Yang Huixian felt like she was going crazy.

It was like a form of torture.

This wasn’t a well-rehearsed performance like before, and it certainly wasn’t cosplay. It was the purest form of physical pleasure and mental anguish.

Her entire body and soul were laid bare before him.

That intense insecurity was mixed with the scorching heat of his body.

One half was an iceberg, the other was a roaring fire.

"The kind of love you crave really does exist. Someone will love you unconditionally. But if you ever find that person, you’ll definitely lose them. You don’t deserve it."

Lin Chu continued to twist the knife.

Speaking such heart-wrenching words in such a tender, loving voice, even Lin Chu felt like a pervert.

But it was like a surgeon performing an operation. The sharp scalpel had to quickly cut away the rotten tissue, letting the crimson blood flow, before new flesh could possibly grow back.

"I’m not a good person. I’m a bad person. But I’m not a rotten one."

"I accept you. I see your darkness, I see your wounds, and I don’t want them to fester. Who doesn’t have a bit of rotten flesh on them?"

"Be a true alpha female, go fuck up this world. That will be your greatest achievement. I’ll even allow you to betray me."

Lin Chu said, his breathing heavy.

He felt like some kind of sex-performance artist at that moment.

’What’s *Fifty Shades of Grey* compared to this?’

Yang Huixian let out a sharp cry, like a fish that had just been pulled ashore, completely unable to struggle any longer.

Tears streamed uncontrollably from the corners of her eyes, completely blurring her vision.

...

"What have you been hiding from me?"

Lin Chu’s "punishment" continued. He patted her cheek and asked with a gentle smile.

Yang Huixian’s pupils contracted. An unspeakable fear bloomed in her heart.

’On this matter, I really did cross the line.’

"Did you investigate me?"

"Did you do it yourself?"

"Or did you have your Uncle Nine do it?"

But Lin Chu’s movements were gentle as he stroked her hair, his voice so soothing it could put someone to sleep.

"I... I did it myself."

Yang Huixian swallowed, her voice trembling as she spoke.

"You’re forgiven."

Lin Chu said nonchalantly, kissing her on the forehead.

Yang Huixian stared at him with wide eyes, feeling the tears start to flow uncontrollably again.

"Alright, don’t cry. If you absolutely have to apologize, I don’t want to hear ’I’m sorry.’ I want to hear one word."

’Huh?’

She was confused.

"Daddy."

...

...