Chapter 038: Give the Con Man a Lesson He Would Never Forget

Chapter 038: Give the Con Man a Lesson He Would Never Forget

The sudden warmth against his mouth froze Wu Chen for a beat—then he understood.

She was performing. For “Ding Ruilong’s men.”

She’d decided the tail following them all day had to be Ding Ruilong’s doing, so she’d chosen, on impulse, to kiss him—loud enough, in a sense, for the watchers to see. She half hoped they’d catch it on camera and send it straight to him.

Let that bastard choke on it.

Of course, she wasn’t the type to plant a kiss on someone just to spite another man. That she could do it at all meant Wu Chen’s worth in her eyes had already climbed high enough that kissing him didn’t feel like losing anything.

Wu Chen felt her inexperience immediately.

This was her first kiss. She’d never done this before. She had no idea what she was doing.

But he could also tell she was trying hard to seem like she did. She hated coming off weaker than anyone, hated it enough that even in her first kiss, she was determined to look more practiced than he was.

Which produced one direct result.

His mouth hurt.

A full ten seconds passed before she finally let go of his neck, sank back into the car breathing hard, took a steadying breath, pressed her lips together, and said, “Sweet dreams.”

Wu Chen looked at her for three quiet seconds before he smiled. “Sweet dreams. Drive safe. Take it slow.”

Then he turned and walked away.

In those three seconds, though, he’d been weighing something far more consequential—whether to take Li Ruobing tonight.

Physically.

Tonight had unfolded in a way he’d never tried before, but he was already better than ninety percent certain he could take things further with her before the night was out.

It was barely past seven. There were hours left to work with.

But after a moment’s thought, he let it go.

He didn’t want his relationship with her to fall into the wrong shape again. This came down to a simple question—who controlled whom.

If all he wanted was her body, he’d already gotten that more times than he could count.

But back then, that had been all he wanted, and although they’d ended up sleeping together, in her mind, she’d never been the one conquered. She’d been the one using him.

A few times, she’d even wired a small fortune into his account afterward.

An overnight fee, more or less.

And—a stud fee.

Whether she’d actually get pregnant was never guaranteed, but more than once, she’d paid up front regardless.

She’d sworn off marriage for life, but never off having a child.

She was fiercely independent, with a mind entirely her own. She’d long since decided she deserved a child, and that she should hand-pick excellent genes for it—and that once she was pregnant, her family could never force her into marrying Ding Ruilong again.

She might sever ties with her family completely as a result, but she’d walk away with an entirely new life, unshackled.

In short, what Wu Chen had done in those earlier attempts was exploit her predicament and her sheer stubbornness. He’d detonated the time bomb buried inside Huancai Fashion early, letting Ding Ruilong get his hands on the product files ahead of schedule on July 7—and making sure she knew it.

With a business crisis like that, she’d have almost no chance left of winning the bet.

At the same time, he’d shown her his own strength and ability, let her see exactly what he was capable of, and kept nudging her—brainwashing her, nearly—toward the idea that unless she had another man, ideally one who left her pregnant, she’d never escape marrying Ding Ruilong.

And she’d already been entertaining the idea of never marrying, never depending on a man, but still having a child of her own.

It fit her mindset perfectly.

Step by step, he’d steered her straight into his bed.

He’d gotten the body, yes.

But the roles the two of them had occupied throughout it all were badly warped. She became something close to a wealthy woman paying handsomely for a child; he became the pretty boy she…