Chapter 257: Chapter 257

Shi Nian couldn’t control herself and ran out of the room to knock on Tang Yanqing’s door.

The door took a moment to open, and Tang Yanqing, standing at the entrance, clearly wasn’t in sleepwear.

His eyes were clear, and his hair was tidy. Obviously, he used the few minutes delay to spruce himself up a bit.

Shi Nian gently shook her head, "Professor, I have something to ask you." Then added softly, "You don’t need to be so formal, I’ll just say a few words and leave."

If it wasn’t something that couldn’t be explained clearly over the phone, she wouldn’t have come to knock on his door.

Tang Yanqing glanced at Marina and Zhong Kui’s rooms, invited her in, and closed the door.

"I’ve waited a long time for you to knock on my door at night ; how could I not welcome you with a bit more fanfare?"

Even though at the M Country campus dormitory, the division between men and women wasn’t so strict, in the past, because their marriages were a barrier, Shi Nian was very cautious and never knocked on his door at night.

Shi Nian walked in, glancing at him distantly, "Professor, don’t misunderstand, I really came here for business."

Today outside the emergency center, after confronting him and watching him rush into the bathroom, she thought he was crying... Sitting in the car, she felt remorseful and was saddened, intending to get out and see how he was, but unexpectedly, a few minutes later, she saw him walking back leisurely, hands in pockets, humming a tune!

She was stunned, and instead of feeling relieved, she felt even more upset.

It turns out he didn’t care at all, and she had been overthinking everything.

Right, given his background, how could he lack female company? Changing women was as easy as changing clothes for him; the time each woman stayed with him was never long. She only happened to stay a bit longer due to the 24-hour protection job.

Maybe he had long been tired of it, just too embarrassed to say so because of work.

So after she confronted him, he was instead liberated, relaxed, and free!

Shi Nian felt an unspeakable frustration and pretended to sleep on the way back, not speaking to him the whole way.

Harboring this unspeakable little annoyance, she relayed Mrs. Luo’s words like a barrage, then deliberately explained, "I was afraid talking on the phone might not make sense, so I thought saying it in person would be better. Okay, I’m done, goodbye, Professor."

She said it and reached out to open the door, but before her hand could touch the lock, Tang Yanqing pulled her back.

She tried to break free, but he wouldn’t let her, and amidst their struggle, they stumbled against the wall.

Shi Nian, back against the wall, looked at him in embarrassment, "What do you want again? I’m done talking, and you still won’t let me go?"

Tang Yanqing stared into her eyes. Those eyes, clear and bright under the lamplight, were as captivating as crystal, making it hard for one to look away.

He took a deep breath, "But I can’t let you leave while you’re angry. You’ve been angry with me all the way here; you think I can’t tell?"

"I’m not." Shi Nian turned her head, trying to keep her face to the side, not letting him observe.

His hand softened, gently rubbing the back of her hand, "Hey, don’t be so tense, relax."

"I’m not tense." Shi Nian stubbornly denied.

"Liar." He used his other hand to hold her chin, turning her to face him directly, "Tell me what’s making you tense, then I’ll let you go."

Shi Nian bit her lip, "...I’m tense because of Rosa’s story. Such a strange case makes people tense, what’s so strange about that?"

She was so close in front of him, despite being stubborn, she was indeed too fragile to resist him... He wanted to do something bad to her, even if it was just a small success.

Like a kiss. This update is available on novelFɪre.net

His fingertips couldn’t help but move from her chin, caressing her cherry-like lips.

"If you were only tense about Rosa’s story, then why don’t you dare look into my eyes? That means the person truly making you tense at this moment isn’t the clown in the story, but—me."

Under his fingertips, her cherry lips were softer than cherry blossom, smoother than cherries... his eyes couldn’t move away from them.

Heart racing, the whole room seemed to heat up, he took a deep breath, "You’re afraid I’ll kiss you, just like last time, in the same way."

Shi Nian had just shouted, but before she could warn him, he had already lifted her hand high, pinning it against the wall. His other hand encircled her waist, and he harshly pressed his lips upon hers.

Shi Nian wanted to struggle, but her body was instead pressed more tightly against his with each movement, bringing an even worse sensation... She wanted to shout, but the moment she slightly opened her mouth, he seized the opportunity to delve deeper.

The surrounding air turned into scorching waves that enveloped her. Gradually, she could no longer find the strength to resist, and even her senses began to drift away, shattered into fragments.

Finally, at the moment she was about to faint from suffocation, he released her. Air flooded in, and she weakly braced herself against the wall.

He looked at her with eyes filled with pride yet still unsatisfied, his gaze overbearing and intense.

Shi Nian reached up to fiercely wipe her lips, her other hand grasping her throat, gasping for air.

"Pro-professor, please explain yourself!"

He fixed his gaze on her, a smirk slowly spreading, revealing a perfectly hidden little canine tooth: "Explain what? Do I need to explain that I want to kiss you?"

"But I made it very clear to you today, I love that person more, I don’t love you that much!" His domineering logic once again successfully drove Shi Nian crazy.

"I didn’t object," he said, smiling provocatively, his elbow leaning against the wall as he lowered his head to meet her eyes: "But where is he now? Why don’t you call him out? You still don’t know if he truly exists or where in the world he is, so for now, you can only have me by your side."

He stared deeply into her eyes: "I promise you, once you find him, I will willingly step aside for him. But before you find him, I won’t back down even half a step."

"You!" Shi Nian couldn’t even distinguish whether the surge of emotion she felt at that moment was happiness or anger, her cheeks puffed, her face still reddening: "You’re just being unreasonable!"

He narrowed his eyes, a hint of focus, yet more of a naughty grin: "Then you’d better find him quickly... You’re expecting it, and so am I."

He leaned too close, his breath dominantly enveloping her, infiltrating her every inhalation.

Shi Nian’s mind became increasingly flustered, quickly grabbing the doorknob: "Let me go!"

She was truly angry, so he laughed and released his hand.

As she clutched the door handle, ready to open the door, he leisurely said: "Don’t you want to hear my perspective on Rosa’s story?"

Like a spell, Shi Nian’s hand froze on the door handle, unable to move. She looked back at him, her heart unwilling, yet filled with eagerness.

He smiled, raising three fingers: "I swear the next thing I’ll say is only about work, and I won’t ’bully’ you anymore."

Shi Nian took a deep breath, telling herself it was all for Rosa.

Her feelings toward Rosa had shifted from initial disgust, hatred, and opposition to gradually coming to terms. After just hearing about Rosa’s childhood story, she had quietly begun to feel compassion for this woman.

Rosa was Chinese, but her personality was typical of M Country people, fiery and flamboyant, so confident in her actions it bordered on domineering, yet it was truly unimaginable that someone like her could have hidden such a "lost year," harboring a terrifying story marked with a clown symbol.

Since she was the first to discover the clown on the windshield, and since she had the opportunity to hear Mrs. Luo’s story, she felt it was her inescapable duty.

She took a deep breath: "Go ahead."

Tang Yanqing stared intently into her eyes: "Rosa’s car accident initially seemed like a mere coincidence, but behind that coincidence lays one trap after another."

"Trap 1: If Xiang Yuan hadn’t come to seek a divorce from you that night, then Rosa’s car accident would have directly involved Xiang Yuan. Xiang Yuan might have lost Huatai Hall and been implicated in a murder accusation—but because Xiang Yuan actively sought a divorce with you, the first trap was narrowly avoided;"

"Trap 2: If you hadn’t accidentally discovered the light scattering phenomenon on the windshield, you wouldn’t have noticed the clown’s smile. Rosa’s accident might have only been seen as an isolated case, merely involving her and Xiang Yuan’s emotional entanglement, with no connection to our cases—Tong’s wife and the Kangchuan University series. But you intuitively discovered the clown’s smile, so the second trap was successfully passed;"

"Next is Trap 3: The clown’s smile is generally considered a symbol of joy, especially liked by children, so the clown’s smile left on the windshield might carelessly be seen as a prank, just like children’s doodles on a car, but few people realize the clown’s smile actually represents inner fear—so we passed the fourth level as well."

Shi Nian squinted: "You don’t mean to say that even Rosa’s car accident and the clown’s smile are somehow related to the cases we’re working on?"

Thank you 515454517 for the sparkle +2 flowers, 15007275749 for the red envelope

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sheets: Traveling Merchant

sheet: Gu Xiaochen, Linfeng Piaoying