Chapter 75: Don't say I'm taking things by force, I gave you a choice

After the man's voice fell, there was no movement outside the door.

Silent and still.

In the dark environment, Zhu Yuan counted the seconds in her heart; in the end, she could not resist the man's silent pressure, and she cursed him as a madman in her heart.

Unwillingly, she turned on the living room light, unlocked the door, and gripped the doorknob.

Before she could even pull the door open, the man's large hand had already pushed it open a step ahead of her.

His tall, upright frame approached, pressing down like a towering mountain.

Zhu Yuan subconsciously stepped back, but her waist was circled by a powerful hand, forcing her to press against the man's chest.

"Why don't you keep pretending?"

He lowered his voice, which carried a trace of anger; she could clearly feel the vibration of his chest, which made her ears buzz.

She kept her eyes open and spouted nonsense: "The living room light suddenly went out just now; I wasn't pretending not to be home."

Sheng Yu stared at her face, too lazy to expose her.

The fabric of her dance outfit was very thin and form-fitting; her chest was pressed against his embrace, heaving with her breathing.

The man lowered his eyes to look with a deep gaze, his throat sliding, "What are you doing?"

Sensing the man's gaze shifting, Zhu Yuan used both hands to push hard against his chest, wanting to separate the two of them.

But the more she pushed, the more her body pressed against him, to the point where the scenery at her chest nearly spilled out from the neckline.

"Sheng Yu!" she called his name urgently, wanting to stop him.

She still had to record a dance video, and she was afraid the man would suddenly lose control; if that happened, she would have no energy left to dance.

Zhu Yuan was so anxious her eyes turned red, "I am dancing!"

The scene of him watching her dance from downstairs through the gauze curtains flashed through his mind, her graceful dance movements lingering in his head, and his voice could not help but soften a few degrees, "Is your sprained foot healed?"

But his voice did not soothe her; instead, it made her increasingly nervous, "Doctor Qiao Mai gave me an ointment; it works fine."

Sheng Yu's gaze passed over her and landed on a tube of ointment on the table, and he gave a light sneer, "Don't you have some ancestral medicinal wine? Do you look down on these ointments?"

"The medicinal wine was bought too, it's not ancestral." Zhu Yuan corrected him.

She inevitably got bumps and bruises when rehearsing plays, so she kept medicinal wine at home; it came in handy when she got hurt.

While speaking, without paying attention, Sheng Yu took off her coat.

Revealing the dance outfit underneath.

It was a cheongsam-style garment, though the skirt was made of draped, fine gauze, so it didn't reveal much leg skin; however, the upper body was extremely form-fitting.

Even though it was a simple, elegant light blue, it looked exquisite and enchanting on her, becoming a different kind of temptation.

Sheng Yu's palm could not help but tighten around her waist, his fingertips rubbing against her waist, a shadow brewing in the depths of his eyes, "You intended to wear this outfit to record a dance video and then post it online for so many people to see?"

Zhu Yuan frowned slightly; she was well aware of the man's intense possessiveness.

Realizing he might try to stop her, she suddenly raised her voice: "This is my job!"

"Must you dance it?"

Zhu Yuan stubbornly said nothing.

Sheng Yu knew this stubborn temper of hers had flared up again, so he pulled her tightly into his arms and leaned down to whisper in her ear: "You can dance, if you want."

Zhu Yuan had just let out a breath when she heard the man say domineeringly: "Dance in front of me; dance for me to see first."

"No!"

At the thought of dancing alone for Sheng Yu, Zhu Yuan felt an indescribable sense of shame, and she refused without a second thought.

But just as she finished speaking, a damp, hot sensation suddenly came to her earlobe, and a scorching breath poured into her ear, "Then don't dance."

The fingers wrapped around her waist slowly climbed upward.

"Sheng Yu, don't be like this!" Zhu Yuan panicked and pressed down on his hand.

Sheng Yu backhanded her hand into his palm; he was one meter ninety tall, and Zhu Yuan was not even one meter seventy; her hand was too small for him, and he could easily wrap it up.

Being wrapped like this, there was an indescribable feeling.

Sheng Yu retorted: "Like what? Don't say I'm taking things by force; I gave you a choice."

Could this even be called a choice?

Between dancing and doing it, did she have a choice?

Zhu Yuan resignedly closed her eyes, "I'll dance, I'll dance, but you cannot come a single step closer to me while I am dancing."

The man let out a low laugh.

"You promise me!" Zhu Yuan was not at ease without hearing his answer.

Sheng Yu looked at her like a cat with its fur standing on end, half-smiling, and he released her hand, saying with rare good temper: "As you wish."

Zhu Yuan hurriedly broke free from his embrace, and she pointed to the sofa, "Young Master Yu, sit there."

Sheng Yu's expression darkened upon hearing this "Young Master Yu," but he still obeyed her and walked over to sit on the sofa.

Afterward, with a cold face, he watched her go to the room to find a silk scarf to wrap around her wrist to cover the gauze on the back of her hand, then pick up her phone to open the camera function, and walk over hesitantly to set the phone on a natural-wood storage rack behind him.

The sofa was only so tiny, and as she raised her hands to place the phone, her faint body scent made the man feel restless; he grabbed her waist and pulled her into his arms without a word, "Are you going to dance or not?"

"Dancing... I'll dance right away." Zhu Yuan struggled to climb up.

With her heart pounding in her throat, she ran quickly to the opposite side.

The music began to play.

The man sitting on the opposite sofa stared with deep eyes at the woman's swaying waist and slender hands; the silk scarf wrapped around the back of her hand fluttered around her like a dancing butterfly.

Her bare feet revealed a pinkish-white tenderness, appearing and disappearing amidst the white fine gauze.

Sheng Yu struck a lighter and lit a cigarette; the curling smoke rose, blocking the man's eyes, which were as dark as the deep night.

Even though Zhu Yuan kept telling herself to just pretend Sheng Yu didn't exist, or to just treat him as an ordinary audience member.

But the man's highly aggressive gaze made her nearly miss a dance step.

Once the dance ended, her heartbeat was faster and more intense than it had ever been after any dance.

The blood in her body surged like a rushing flood, startling her into a state of helplessness.

Sheng Yu turned to the side, raised his hand to take the phone off the shelf, and stopped the recording.

He then handed the phone to her, his voice only a few shades deeper than usual, sounding no different than normal.

"Don't you want to see how you danced for yourself?"

Zhu Yuan didn't think much of it and walked over, but before her hand could touch the phone, she was pulled forward by the man's other hand gripping her wrist.

Her body fell into the man's embrace.

The man's chest was hot and damp; it seemed he had broken into a sweat.

A hoarse voice fell into her ears, "You danced very well; I liked it very much."

With her burning earlobes and surging blood, Zhu Yuan struggled in a panic, but Sheng Yu was like a wolf that had finally caught its prey—how could he let her escape?

Zhu Yuan suddenly cried out in pain.

Sheng Yu paused his kissing, turned his head to follow her gaze toward her ankle, and saw that the ankle, which hadn't looked like much before, was now red and swollen.

His expression turned cold immediately, "Didn't you say you could dance?"

Zhu Yuan didn't dare betray Doctor Qiao Mai, "It must be because I was too nervous just now and didn't land steadily."

"Nervous about what?" The man stared at her with dark, gloomy eyes.

Zhu Yuan looked at him silently.

A flicker of light seemed to pass through the darkness in Sheng Yu's eyes as he picked her up and placed her on the sofa, "Where is the medicinal wine?"

Three minutes later.

Zhu Yuan watched in a daze as Sheng Yu skillfully rubbed the medicinal wine onto her ankle.

How could he be so practiced at this?

Sensing her gaze, the man raised his eyes and looked at her.

Although Zhu Yuan dodged her eyes quickly, her confusion was still captured by the man.

He said dismissively, "When I was twelve, Sheng Hongyao broke my legs and locked me in a room, forbidding doctors from treating me, which caused the bones to set crookedly. Later, I had to have them broken and reset, and no one was allowed to help me with the medicinal wine."

Zhu Yuan frowned and pursed her lips.

The man's voice turned cold as he mocked, "What, do you want to pity me again?"

However, Zhu Yuan shook her head.

She looked at Sheng Yu and said sincerely, "No, I think you must have been very brave back then."

As soon as she finished speaking, the air around them seemed to freeze instantly.

"What did you say?" Sheng Yu's jaw tightened abruptly, his cold, sharp gaze fixed on Zhu Yuan's face, the veins on the back of his clenched fist straining and trembling.