Chapter 2

In the spacious villa with excellent audio and video equipment, Su Tao slurped on a cup of instant noodles, satisfyingly smacking her lips.

She didn't like to cook and rarely did so except for making breakfast for Xie Jin. At night, she just cooked a pot of instant noodles and happily slurped up all the soup.

Xie Jin didn't allow her to eat junk food, so she only pretended to comply and secretly ate it when he wasn't around.

Her phone beeped with a video message from Xie Jin. It was a video of him making faces.

She had to admit that his good looks allowed him to get away with anything, even pulling off all sorts of silly faces.

The background of the video appeared to be some private club, where he never took her. His friends only knew of Su Tao's existence but had never met her.

In the past, Su Tao had felt insecure, so Xie Jin would always send her a video to comfort her whenever he went to dinner parties without her.

The video swept quickly past the faces of the people, and she couldn't see anyone clearly. But in the blink of an eye, she caught a glimpse of a pink silhouette.

When the video ended, Su Tao's face froze in shock. She took a deep breath, raised her eyebrows nonchalantly, and returned to her usual cold demeanor.

Her phone beeped again, and it was a message from her university senior, Zhang Qiguang.

"Su Tao Tao, what are you up to?"

Zhang Qiguang was a smooth talker who liked to flirt with girls. He was a true scumbag, but he was also a good person who kept his promises. He was two years older than her and the older brother of her former best friend, Zhang Xiaoru. He treated her like a little sister.

After graduation, he started his own entertainment company and had already made significant strides within a year.

"Just finished dinner. Why are you thinking of me, Senior Zhang?"

"Who else would be so heartless after graduating? Are you with that jealous boyfriend of yours?"

Only Zhang Qiguang would dare to describe Xie Jin as a "jealous boyfriend."

It was because during their school days, he had seen Xie Jin crush a boy who confessed his love to Su Tao, leaving him with an indelible trauma, and the boy would subsequently avoid her.

"No, I'm not with him," Su Tao replied.

"How is that possible? He's so possessive that he waited so long for you to graduate, and now he wants to keep you by his side every day."

"Are you willing to be bound by him and controlled by him for the rest of your life?" Zhang Qiguang asked.

Su Tao's fingers stiffened as she looked at the screen, not knowing how to reply.

Three years ago, she had indeed thought so, giving up everything and willingly being bound by him. But he didn't give her the courage and determination to keep going.

"What are you trying to say, Senior Zhang?" she eventually replied.

"When you were in school, you were the pride of our media department, and it would be a waste of your talent and expertise if you didn't use them. Come to my company and work with me. The three major shareholders have reserved a position for you."

Su Tao paused before slowly typing a few words on her screen.

"Are your company's shareholders that hasty? I only graduated six months ago, Senior Zhang."

[Zhang Qiguang: Su Taotao, why are you belittling yourself? You used to shine even down to your hair strands! Are you looking down on yourself now?]

[Zhang Qiguang: Or is it because you're jealous? Do you want me to help?] Su Tao was stunned for a moment, and lowered her gaze.

Yes, when did she start looking down on herself?

After a long silence, Zhang Qiguang sent another message.

[Zhang Qiguang: Don't rush to refuse, take some time to think about it.]

Su Tao hesitated for a moment, and seemed to have made a decision. Her fingers quickly typed two words on the screen.

[Su Tao: Wait for me.]

The screen went dark, and she was surprised to see the confident smile on the black screen.

She picked up the ramen bowl and thought about throwing it away in the outside trash can to destroy the evidence.

But she hesitated and turned back, throwing the ramen box into the trash can next to her before heading upstairs. Four years of habit are hard to break.

---

After confirming their romantic relationship, Su Tao has been living in Xie Jin's villa. Xie Jin drives her to and from school every day, turning her university life into a high school-like day school.

She actually likes Xie Jin's villa, which is luxurious and intelligent. Especially the bed in the master bedroom, which is bouncy and soft. Once she lies on it, she doesn't want to get up.

She can't get up now, sinking into a deep sleep.

In her dream, she turned into a head of Chinese cabbage.

Suddenly, a fat white pig came over and started rooting around.

She cried in her heart, please don't eat her! But it was no use. The pig's mouth was already coming towards her, with a smell of alcohol.

Alcohol?

Su Tao suddenly woke up. Xie Jin's necktie was loose, his black custom-made shirt had already unbuttoned two buttons, and his mouth, full of alcohol, was on her lips.

She pushed his chest, but pushed the wrong place, causing his slender fingers to run through her hair at the back of her head, holding her head and kissing her more passionately.

Su Tao: "..."

She kicked him with her foot.

He groaned, finally letting go of her mouth.

Xie Jin covered his lower body, pain on his face as he lay down on the bed.

Su Tao felt sorry for him, "I was dreaming just now, about outwitting a criminal."

Xie Jin relaxed a bit, opened his deep eyes, and gritted his teeth. "Nice excuse, Xiaotaozi. Did you kick me so hard because you don't want a baby?"

Su Tao's face froze. She avoided his gaze, sat up, and prepared to get off the bed. "I'm on my period today, I'll go sleep next door."

He grabbed her wrist, pulled her back, and hugged her tightly, lying down together.

"I won't touch you, just sleep."

"Xie Jin." Su Tao called out softly, "I have something to ask you."

"Sleep, let's talk tomorrow."

Su Tao closed her mouth.

He wasn't a good listener, nor did he care about what she said or needed. He only needed someone who would never question him and always listen to him.

Maybe it could be Zhang Tao, Wang Tao, or Li Tao.

After coming to a realization, Su Tao breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't as important to her as she had previously thought, and perhaps it would be easy to part ways. ---

Su Tao always woke up to the first ray of sunlight and enjoyed the quiet time of the early morning. Most of the time, she stayed in the villa, curled up on the window seat with a pillow, reading a book. When it was almost time, she would go to the kitchen to make breakfast.

She wasn't a great cook, only able to fry eggs, toast bread, and heat up milk. So Xie Jin ate the same breakfast almost every day. When she was in school, Su Tao sometimes bought other breakfast foods or snacks from outside to relieve the monotony.

But Xie Jin never seemed to tire of it and ate to his heart's content every day. When Su Tao placed the hot milk on the table, he hugged her warm body. Every day, he had to find Su Tao and hold her in his arms before he felt at ease.

Suddenly, he noticed something and stretched his foot to pull out the trash can from under the table. A cup of instant noodles was lying peacefully inside.

He narrowed his eyes and looked at her with a dangerous air, his voice still hoarse and lazy from just waking up. "Little Peach, did you steal my instant noodles again?"

Su Tao's spine stiffened, but then relaxed. "Yes."

"Yes?" Xie Jin didn't expect her to be so brazen and ignore his question. "What does 'yes' mean?"

"Yes, I'm answering your question. I ate instant noodles," Su Tao replied, looking directly at him.

Such blatant provocation! If he didn't put this little girl in her place, he wouldn't be able to show his face for a day!

"Little Peach ..."

Xie Jin didn't finish speaking before Su Tao leaned over and sniffed him, wrinkling her brow. "Didn't you take a shower yesterday?"

Xie Jin was taken aback and suddenly realized that he hadn't. Was he being rejected?

Just as his anger was about to erupt, Su Tao grabbed his hand with her small, cold hands and led him back to the bedroom, pushing him to wash up. Xie Jin, whose anger had inexplicably dissipated, was locked in the bathroom. He sighed and turned on the showerhead.

Su Tao turned and went into the closet to match the suit and tie that he was going to wear today. The closet was filled with the scent of sandalwood that she had been using to calm Xie Jin down. But it seemed to have little effect.

However, Xie Jin seemed to like the smell and had been using it all the time.

After matching his clothes, Su Tao changed into her own outfit for the day. She wore a beige shirt, white wide-leg pants, and light-colored high heels that made her look more professional and mature.

Xie Jin came out of the bathroom and saw Su Tao, who had already changed. He hesitated for a few seconds and frowned slightly.

"Why aren't you wearing a pink dress today?"

Su Tao handed him his shirt and put the tie around his neck, whispering, "I don't like it."

"You look good in it, and I like it when you wear pink," Xie Jin said seriously, looking at her.

Su Tao didn't know why Xie Jin liked her in pink. Although she was indifferent to the color, she would dress up according to his preferences.

However, after finding out that Qin Xuexi liked pink, Su Tao developed a resistance to the color.

She couldn't bear being a substitute for someone else.

The first time she heard the rumors in the company, she asked him if he liked Qin Xuexi and if she was just a substitute.

Xie Jin simply told her to listen to him and not to listen to other people's gossip or let her mind wander.

His blunt response only fueled her doubts, which grew stronger over time.

Eventually, she was too tired to keep wondering.

"Xie Jin, I have a question for you." Su Tao brought up the topic that he didn't let her talk about last night.

"Change your clothes first."

As soon as he said that, Su Tao wanted to tighten her tie so much that she could strangle him.

Suppressing the urge to commit a crime, Su Tao calmly changed into one of her six high-end pink pencil skirts that Xie Jin had bought for her.

Xie Jin looked satisfied with her in her pink outfit. He finally gave her the chance to ask her question. "Go ahead."

"If I resign, how many days in advance do I need to submit my resignation letter?"