Chapter 24: Locked in the Dark Room

Tao Ranming narrowed his eyes, gripping Du Zhiye’s chin. “Jiang Yingnan is that man you talked about?” His eyes reddened, and he spoke through gritted teeth, “The man you seduced, the one you betrayed me for?”

Du Zhiye nodded, unflinching. “Yes.”

Tao Ranming’s pupils dilated. He flung her chin away and raised his hand to slap her.

Du Zhiye, staring at his lifted hand, raised her voice. “Tao Ranming, you have no right to hit me.”

He was the one who betrayed her first. If he hadn’t been unfaithful, she would never have stormed out in her car. If she hadn’t driven away that day, there would have been no accident, no forced bargain with Number 39.

Tao Ranming’s hand hung frozen in the air. He shut his eyes, swallowing his anger as he roared, “Why? Why did you betray me?”

Du Zhiye turned her face away. “You don’t need to know.” After a pause, she added, “I kept you back alone only to ask you not to speak of this to anyone.”

...

After returning from the hospital to her apartment, Du Zhiye dug out an old phone she’d used before and logged into WeChat. Bored, she tried sending Jiang Yingnan a dancing Han emoji, fully expecting it to bounce back with a red exclamation mark. To her surprise, it went through.

Startled, she sat up straight, staring at the sent emoji, momentarily unable to process what had happened.

A few seconds later, miraculously, Jiang Yingnan replied: “Where are you?”

Du Zhiye blinked, confirming she wasn’t seeing things, then sent her location. “I’m at my apartment. Are you coming over?”

Jiang Yingnan didn’t reply. Du Zhiye couldn’t decipher his intentions, but she wouldn’t give up so easily after finally restoring contact with him. Thinking it over, she sent another message: “I’ll leave the door open for you.”

Her meaning was clear—she was inviting Jiang Yingnan to her apartment.

She waited for a while, but there was still no response from him. Not daring to pester Jiang Yingnan too much—fearing the newly restored contact might be severed again by their proud young master—Du Zhiye put her phone away and took a quick shower. While applying a face mask, the doorbell rang.

Startled, she wondered who could be visiting at this hour. As she was deliberating what to take with her to the door, her phone rang with a voice call.

Glancing at the screen, she saw it was Jiang Yingnan.

Though puzzled, she answered, and his impatient voice came through at once: “Open the door.”

This time, Du Zhiye was genuinely shocked; she had never expected Jiang Yingnan to actually come to her humble dwelling. But despite her surprise, she knew to seize such a rare opportunity.

She quickly tore off her face mask and greeted Jiang Yingnan at the door with a beaming, welcoming smile, as if his arrival brought glory to her home.

Jiang Yingnan had been drinking—heavily. His eyes were tinged red, and the scent of alcohol clung to him.

Once inside, he pressed Du Zhiye against the door and kissed her hungrily, heedless of anything else. Du Zhiye, a little unaccustomed, tried to push him away, but he easily pinned her to the door. His kiss was possessive and his hands restless; before long, the two of them were completely bare to each other.

From the doorway to the bed, everything unfolded as naturally as if it were destined.

Afterwards, Jiang Yingnan rolled to the side, closed his eyes, and quickly fell asleep.

Du Zhiye watched him for a moment before calling softly, “Young Master? Young Master?”

He didn’t move, his breathing steady and even in her ear.

A surge of delight rose in Du Zhiye’s heart—her chance had come.

Pulling on a robe, she got up to fetch her phone. When she returned, she nudged Jiang Yingnan again, just to be sure. “Young Master?”