"Are you looking down on my investment, or have you found someone willing to pay more?" Xiao Anjing asked with a smile.
Lan Yu gave a bitter smile. "If I could find a sugar daddy richer than you, would I be cornered by loan sharks like this? Thank you for bailing me out just now. It's getting late, you should go back."
"Then what exactly happened?" Xiao Anjing had no intention of leaving now that he was here. He put down the envelope and said, "If you're truly in trouble, you can take this money to tide you over."
Lan Yu insisted on not taking it. "I'll handle my own problems. Take this check back. The two hundred thousand you said you'd help me repay, I'll pay you back. If you don't trust me, I can write you an IOU."
As she spoke, she started searching around the house for a pen and paper, but despite being in her own home, she couldn't remember where she had put them.
Xiao Anjing stood up, grabbed her arm, and roared in frustration, "Who said you need to write an IOU? Sit down! What happened?"
His roar pushed Lan Yu to the brink of collapse. She looked at him blankly and said, "I've never started a company myself. A friend wanted to partner with me to open a media company. She had experience working in a media company and said she would handle the preparations for starting the company while I raised investment. But she... without my knowledge... absconded with all the funds prepared for the company and disappeared..."
As she spoke, she slumped to the floor, bursting into tears.
Xiao Anjing listened to her broken account and understood roughly what had happened. He asked calmly, "What's her name, what did she do before, male or female? I can send people to help you find such a swindler!"
"She's female, and she's not a swindler, she's my best friend," Lan Yu said, wiping away tears. "No need, I already told you not to meddle in my affairs."
Xiao Anjing shook his head, amused and exasperated. Since he had encountered this and knew about it, how could he not get involved?
He put his hands on his hips and looked down at her. "Are you out of your mind? Just because the person who cheated you out of money is your best friend, you won't pursue it. I'm getting involved in this matter!"
Lan Yu tearfully took a slip of paper from her pocket and showed it to him, saying sadly, "She must have been in trouble too, otherwise she would never have done this."
Xiao Anjing unfolded the crumpled note and saw written on it, "Yu, I have an urgent matter and need to go into hiding for a while. I can't contact you, and you shouldn't look for me. The company can't open for now, I'm borrowing the funds prepared for the company, and I'll pay you back later. Take care."
Lan Yu saw him angrily tear up the note and couldn't stop him in time.
"What are you doing? I wanted to keep this note!"
"You believe this nonsense written on it?"
"She said clearly that she did it because she was in trouble, and she would pay me back..."
Xiao Anjing pulled her up from the floor and asked, "How much money did she abscond with?"
"One million," Lan Yu said, startled by his demeanor.
"And that includes the two hundred thousand from the loan sharks earlier?"
Lan Yu nodded. "She borrowed it in my name."
"What kind of plastic best friend is that?"
"It's not like that. She and I have known each other since childhood. She must have encountered something she couldn't tell me about. She wasn't like this before..."
"Where did you descend from? Have you ever eaten human food?" Xiao Anjing pulled her, making her shut up and listen. "Borrowing loan sharks in your name is clearly trying to get you killed! Absconding with all your money behind your back and leaving just a note like that, don't you find it ridiculous? She wants to continue to gain your sympathy so you won't report her to the police!"
"You don't understand. When I was at my most sad and distressed, she was the one who stayed with me and guided me. Without her, I don't know what foolish things I might have done in my most desperate moments..."
Xiao Anjing asked, both exasperated and amused, "And for that, you're willing to sell yourself for such a best friend!"
Lan Yu felt he didn't understand her best friend but was making such definitive judgments, and even looked down on her. She said defiantly, "Yes, I don't mind selling myself."
"Then sell yourself to me."
Before she could react, Xiao Anjing aggressively leaned in and kissed her lips.
Lan Yu froze completely.
He mistook her panic for consent and, agitated, pushed her onto the sofa in the room, which could be sat or slept on, and leaned over her.
Lan Yu struggled wildly in fear, but Xiao Anjing, as if possessed, held her hands down. "Instead of selling yourself to that kind of place, why not sell yourself to me alone."
As he spoke, he unbuttoned her clothes and branded her shoulder with a passionate kiss. He found that she had stopped struggling, closed her eyes, and except for a slight tremble, seemed willing to let him do as he pleased.
He had never lacked women, but now he couldn't control himself. He just wanted to possess this woman, to make her submit, and he felt utterly insane.
Lan Yu stopped resisting because she had resigned herself to fate. She had lived a very simple life since childhood.
Her world consisted only of dance and ballet. As a child, her ballet teacher discovered her talent, and she began learning ballet.
On her path to learning dance, only her mother accompanied her. From apprenticing to enrolling in a professional institution, and then being assigned to a ballet troupe after graduation, everything went smoothly.
She also went through puberty, but her mother shielded her from all suitors. Their mother and daughter had only one goal: to make her a top ballet dancer.
Later, when she started working at the ballet troupe, male colleagues pursued her. Her mother still objected, feeling she shouldn't date someone from the same company. However, Lan Yu herself had no feelings for that male dancer.
It wasn't until she met Xie Qining that she completely fell for his romantic pursuit. She stopped listening to her mother, gave up her dance career, and resolutely married into a wealthy family.
She endured the unbearable life in the wealthy family for love, but Xie Qining still betrayed her, betrayed their love.
She had actually lost all hope long ago. It wasn't until she met Xiao Anjing that she felt he was slightly different from other men.
But she was wrong again. He was no different from other men in what he desired!
Then she would give herself to him. Once she gave herself to him, she could also completely give up...
Xiao Anjing had never been so out of control. When he withdrew from her, his reason gradually returned. What had he done to her?
How could he do such a thing to a frail and lonely woman, to ravish her so coldly and cruelly?
He kissed her tear-filled eyes and asked in a gentle voice, "Are you alright? I..."
Lan Yu, holding back tears, pushed him away and turned over to get up. He held her, unwilling to let go. He didn't know what to say to express his feelings at that moment, and kissed her smooth back with infinite tenderness. "I was provoked by your words just now and lost control... I've never been like this with women..."