Chapter 17: I Am a Normal Man

As the car pulled away from the Theater, the car windows rolled up.

The strong arm around her waist tightened continuously, forcing Zhu Yuan to lift her upper body and press against the man's firm, scorching chest.

The palms Zhu Yuan had pressed against the seat back were already damp; forced back into the corner of the car, she nervously called out Sheng Yu's name.

"Sheng Yu, they can't see us anymore!"

Her voice was trembling in her urgency, tense and hurried.

Yet Sheng Yu did not let her go.

Instead, the moment she was forced to lift her upper body, he leaned down to match her movement, his nose brushing against her neck as if by chance; the slick sweat on her skin carried a hint of sweetness.

His hot, humid breath was pressing and stifling.

Just as Zhu Yuan made a move to struggle, Sheng Yu's hand suddenly clamped onto her chin.

She abruptly met a pair of eyes with red-rimmed corners, filled with a dangerous aura; an unprecedented panic made her instinctively resist, and she raised her right hand to push hard against Sheng Yu's chest!

But she was no match for Sheng Yu; the moment her palm touched him, she was countered and pinned down by him.

"Ah!" Zhu Yuan cried out in pain.

Perhaps it was this cry of pain that caused Sheng Yu's movements to pause.

He lowered his gaze to study her face, seeing the flush from before fade away, her small face turning pale, her brows furrowed in pain, and tears shimmering in her eyes.

"What's wrong?"

He had used some force, and he knew very well that even if she were delicate, she wouldn't be in this much pain.

Zhu Yuan couldn't care about the pain; taking advantage of his distraction, she hurriedly pushed him away, huddled tightly in the corner, clutched her aching right arm, and subconsciously reached for the car door.

"Do you not want to live?" Sheng Yu went to grab her right hand, but suddenly realizing something, his large hand clamped directly onto the back of her neck and pulled her back.

The car was still moving; if she opened the door and went out like that, her small frame would be shattered instantly.

Seeing the look of total resistance on Zhu Yuan's face, Sheng Yu let her go and said indifferently, "What did I do to make you so guarded?"

He hadn't done anything, but if she hadn't cried out in pain just now, would he have stopped?

Even teenage girls nowadays understood such things; how could she not?

Sheng Yu had been aroused just now.

Sheng Yu lowered the car window on that side and lit a cigarette. "I am a normal man. You were too immersed in your acting just now; it is only natural that I had a reaction."

Zhu Yuan realized she had been impulsive just now, thinking only of escaping this place and completely forgetting the car was still in motion.

She took a deep breath to steady herself. "We were both just acting; I didn't take it to heart."

"That is for the best."

Sheng Yu took only one puff of the cigarette before stubbing it out, then turned his head, his gaze sweeping over her right hand. "I will ask you one more time, what is wrong with your right hand?"

"Nothing is wrong; I was just faking it." Zhu Yuan kept her head down, thinking about how to get out of the car.

"Then your acting skills are truly masterful." Sheng Yu sneered.

He held the lighter he had just used to light the cigarette—a small, matte-black lighter—turning it back and forth between his fingers, and said out of the blue, "You were beaten when you went back to the Zhu Family last night."

When they were at Sheng Tang, he had grabbed her right hand, and she had been perfectly fine then.

If any accident had happened on the way back, the Bodyguard would have told Situ, but in reality, nothing had.

That meant something must have happened at the Zhu Family.

Zhu Yuan was slightly stunned; she hadn't expected Sheng Yu to guess it right away. This man's mind was too sharp, to a terrifying degree.

"Go to the hospital." Sheng Yu tapped the touchscreen to send the voice command to the front, signaling Situ.

Zhu Yuan quickly sat up straight and called out to the front, "There's no need. I have medicinal wine at home; it will be fine if I just rub some on."

After speaking, she shrank back into the corner.

Her rejection was obvious; from the moment he let her go until now, she hadn't looked at him once.

Sheng Yu toyed with the lighter, a cold, mocking curve at the corners of his lips. "Situ, take her back."

The car stopped at the residential complex where Zhu Yuan lived; it was a place she had rented after graduating from the Theater Academy. She had signed a two-year contract for the apartment and paid a year's rent in advance, but she hadn't lived there since being taken back by the Zhu Family before the New Year.

It was an ordinary residential area, not exactly old or dilapidated, but not much better either.

Zhu Yuan pushed open the car door and was about to leave, but after a moment's thought, she turned her head to greet him: "Young Master Yu, I'm heading back now."

Sheng Yu's hand, which was reaching into the cigarette case, paused.

Young Master Yu...

The car door closed.

He pulled out a cigarette, his expression revealing a gloom that was hard to detect.

He slowly lifted his eyes to look at Zhu Yuan, who was dressed as a Republic-era female student and hidden in the dim light.

The cigarette was snapped into two pieces.

Tobacco shreds scattered.

He withdrew his gaze and picked up the IOU on the seat; the two characters for 【Zhu Yuan】 were covered by a lipstick-stained fingerprint.

A gentle evening breeze blew into the car.

A faint scent of roses drifted from the fingerprint.

After returning home, Zhu Yuan still felt shaken when she recalled the scene in the car.

Sheng Yu was too dangerous.

That night, she had a dream, dreaming again of that night two years ago when she was devoured by a man, but the man's face seemed to be shrouded in a layer of mist, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't see it clearly.

She struggled to wake up, and suddenly the mist dispersed, and she met a pair of eyes filled with a dangerous aura.

Zhu Yuan woke up in a fright.

It turned out to be a dream within a dream.

Perhaps she really had been frightened by Sheng Yu, which was why she had such a dream.

The man from two years ago and Sheng Yu were not even remotely related.

The next day, during the intermission at the Theater, she heard someone was looking for her.

She went to the reception room, not expecting it to be Lou Yi with his arm in a cast.

As soon as she saw it was him, Zhu Yuan wanted to leave.

"Wait!" Lou Yi chased after her to block her path, his bruised and swollen face becoming even clearer.

Zhu Yuan felt physically uncomfortable looking at him and took a step back.

How did he end up like this? Was he beaten by an enemy?

"Did you use something to shock me that night?" Lou Yi said angrily.

Zhu Yuan asked without changing her expression, "I don't understand what you're talking about."

"Don't play dumb with me!" Lou Yi could not swallow this insult no matter what.

"You must have used something to shock me, otherwise how could I have suddenly lost consciousness?"

"Shock you? Lost consciousness?" Zhu Yuan frowned, then realized something, and with a straight face, she worried for him, "Could it be that you have epilepsy and your brain had an abnormal electrical discharge, so you thought it was me shocking you?"

"No wonder you suddenly fainted that night. Epilepsy is no minor illness; you should go see a doctor as soon as possible."

"Bullshit!" Lou Yi said viciously, "How could I possibly have epilepsy? It was you who used something to shock me. Zhu Yuan, you have some nerve to mess with me!"

"Not only do you have epilepsy, but you also have persecutory delusions. You are truly quite ill. Go see a doctor quickly; there are no doctors here." Zhu Yuan prepared to kick him out.

This was the Theater, and she figured Lou Yi would not dare to act recklessly; she had heard the big boss behind the Theater had a significant background, and no one dared to cause trouble here.

Lou Yi was so angry his entire face turned green, "You still won't admit it, right? When I woke up that night and looked for you everywhere, I ended up being dragged into a corner and beaten up. Was it you who sent those people?"

Zhu Yuan had not expected that the injuries on his body were from that night.

She wore a helpless yet sincere expression, "Young Master Lou, you think too highly of me. If I could afford to hire people to beat you, I would have done it long ago; why would I have waited until that day?"

However, why was it such a coincidence?

She was taken into a room by Lou Yi, and right after, Lou Yi woke up and was beaten.

Besides, the Lou Family was not some small, insignificant household; it should not be difficult to investigate the truth.

But what was strange was that the Lou Family could not even find out who beat Lou Yi, otherwise Lou Yi would not be asking her like this.

Zhu Yuan suddenly thought of a possibility.

It was Sheng Yu!

He...

Why would he do that?