Parting on Good Terms

That Valentine's Day.

The night of the fireworks.

The light in Xi Jin's eyes when he looked back.

It was the sign of a hunter locking onto his prey.

Sharp, certain, unerring.

From then on, he was like a tangle of silk threads winding around her, wrapping another loop with every step she took. No matter how often she untangled them, they snarled again, and she could never break free.

When she was seven.

He stood on the stairs, looking down at her, his voice colder than his age should have allowed:

"You have to do as I say, or I'll throw you out of the manor."

Back then, she didn't understand what a "threat" meant.

She only knew that being "thrown out of the manor" meant being separated from her mother.

She looked up and obediently said, "I'll be good. Xiaoyu will listen to young master."

When she was nine.

Xi Jin dragged her back to his room.

She was terrified.

But it was her first time in the master bedroom, and curiosity chased away her fear.

Xi Jin tossed her a book called The Little Prince.

"I can't sleep. Read to me. You're not allowed to leave until I fall asleep."

She obediently sat on the carpet beside the bed, holding the book in both hands,

"The little prince asked the fox, 'But what does "tame" meam?'"

Xi Jin, lying on the bed, corrected her. "It's 'mean.'"

She pressed her lips together in embarrassment and continued reading. "The fox said, 'It is an act too often neglected. To tame means to establish ties of bonking.'"

Xi Jin jumped out of bed and pinched her cheek. "It's bonding," he said fiercely.

When she was sixteen.

Xi Jin blocked her path beneath a plane tree by the school's back gate.

The setting sun stretched his shadow long enough to cover her entire body.

He tore a keychain a boy had given her off her schoolbag.

"You're not allowed to talk to any other boys in your class. Remember that?"

She stared at him, then answered quietly, "... I'll remember."

After that day, she deliberately avoided all the boys.

When she was eighteen.

Xi Jin was going abroad for a shooting competition. Before leaving, he called her to the deserted glass conservatory and asked casually:

"If I win the championship, what are you going to give me?"

She said, "What do you want, brother?"

He suddenly bent down and leaned close to her ear. His words made her whole body go rigid:

"I want to make love to you."

"..."

Her mind went blank. She looked at the inexplicable smile in his eyes, unable to say a word.

Growing up, whatever he said seemed to go.

She didn't even know what it meant to resist him.

She only knew that following his instructions meant less trouble.

Until the day of her birthday.

She went to Xi Family Manor to find her mother so they could have lunch together.

She ran into Xi Jin's uncle.

The man who always wore an elegant suit and looked at everyone with a touch of disdain.

"This isn't your home. This is Xi Family Manor. If you want to see your mother, arrange to meet her somewhere else. Don't be an eyesore here."

"You're already so grown up. Don't you know how to behave?"

"Do you think you can come to Xi Family Manor whenever you please?"

The man went up the stairs, muttering, his voice drifting down:

"I really don't know what my brother-in-law is thinking, raising a servant's child in the house..."

Nan Xingyu couldn't help speaking up. "My mother isn't a servant."

The man paused slightly and turned around. "What did you say?"

Nan Xingyu looked up at the powerful man, a world apart from her. Her throat tightened, but she spoke each word clearly:

"My mother is a gardener, not a servant."

The man sneered. "Is there a difference?"

Nan Xingyu stood there in embarrassment, her face growing redder and redder.

The man continued upstairs, saying, "Lowly."

Nan Xingyu stood there for a long while.

She didn't even know what she was thinking.

In fact, she always entered the manor through the back gate.

The main gate was for the masters of the house.

Just like her relationship with Xi Jin.

It could never be brought into the light.

She had never thought of truly being with him, either.

She had thought it was just one night of folly.

But afterward, Xi Jin dragged her back to his room again and again.

After he moved out, he became even more uninhibited with her.

She had been entangled with him like this for nearly three years.

Although she had just been forced to submit to him,

Nan Xingyu's desire to leave him seemed stronger than ever.

Just then, Xi Jin came over carrying fruit, bringing a fresh, sweet scent with him.

Nan Xingyu abruptly came back to her senses.

He always knew exactly when to interrupt her thoughts, as if he knew she was turning over ideas of escape.

She quickly withdrew her gaze, even breathing more softly.

She was afraid he would see the secret hidden in her eyes.

After sitting down beside her, he answered a call. The voice sounded like Mr. Xi's.

Xi Jin's father.

Nan Xingyu quietly pricked up her ears.

The gist was that he wanted Xi Jin to meet an important person, who had a daughter around his age.

What had to come had finally come.

A young master from a wealthy, powerful family would inevitably have a rich heiress for a partner.

It had just happened a little sooner than expected.

Xi Jin had only just turned twenty-one.

She wanted so badly to know what came next that, without realizing it, she leaned toward him.

Her mind was full of the thought that he might be entering a marriage alliance.

She even felt a secret trace of relief.

Then Xi Jin's cool gaze swept over her, carrying the hint of a smile that wasn't quite a smile.

Only then did Nan Xingyu belatedly freeze.

The corners of his lips lifted slightly, and he tapped the screen with a fingertip.

The voice on speakerphone rang out at once.

"Make time in your schedule, and pick up President Jiang's daughter while you're at it."

Xi Jin glanced at Nan Xingyu and answered, "Okay."

His voice was as light as a feather.

Perhaps it was her imagination.

But why did Nan Xingyu hear a trace of sadness in it?

The two men went on to talk about work.

Nan Xingyu didn't understand, so she automatically tuned out their conversation.

The word "end" kept circling in her mind.

After he hung up.

A warm palm suddenly settled on the back of her neck, carrying its familiar warmth.

Xi Jin's fingertips kneaded her neck on and off, neither too gently nor too hard.

As if reminding her, You can't escape.

"Come straight back after class on Friday. You're not allowed to go anywhere. Be good and wait for me at home."

Nan Xingyu muttered unhappily, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Keeping a beauty hidden away in a gilded cage?

She didn't want him controlling her like this anymore.

She didn't want to be someone who could never be brought into the light.

And she wanted even less to wait for him like a fool while he went to pick up President Jiang's daughter.

"Jealous?"

"No."

Xi Jin gave a cold snort, gripped her chin between his thumb and forefinger, and turned her face toward him.

"I'm having dinner with another woman. Why aren't you jealous?"

Nan Xingyu was a little annoyed. "Do I have the right to be jealous?"

Xi Jin said stiffly, "I want you to be jealous."

"..."

Nan Xingyu stared at him for two seconds. "I'm just a nobody. I have no right to be jealous over you, young master."

"If you want me to let my father know about our relationship,

"that's fine too."

Nan Xingyu immediately pulled his hand away. "Are you crazy?!"

Her heart raced, and her eyes were full of fear.

She didn't dare imagine it.

If Mr. Xi found out, what would become of all her mother's years of diligent work?

The servant's daughter who seduced the young master.

A mother who failed to raise her daughter properly.

That filth would utterly drown her mother.

She couldn't let her mother suffer such humiliation.

Xi Jin leaned close, his black pupils like bottomless pools, holding her firmly in their gaze as his fingertips caressed her face.

"Don't you want to end our secret relationship?"

"Can't we be together openly?"

Nan Xingyu pushed hard against his chest. "No!"

Be together openly?

How could that be possible?

How would Mr. Xi ever allow someone like her to stand beside Xi Jin?

Her mother would retire and return to her hometown after another six months.

She couldn't take that risk.

"Why not?"

Xi Jin's expression grew colder. He was very dissatisfied with her reaction.

Nan Xingyu could see that he was already angry. If she went against him, she would be the only one to suffer.

Her tone softened, and she invoked that immovable mountain to hold him back. "Your father won't agree."

Xi Jin's icy gaze softened a little. After a few seconds of silence, he said,

"Is that what you're worried about?"

He took her hand, lowered his eyes, and kissed it, then pressed it against his cheek.

"Xiaoyu, I want to be with you. No one can stop me."

"No."

Nan Xingyu pulled her hand back, her voice pleading, her eyes reddening a little.

"My mother is still at the manor. Please don't stir up trouble. I'm begging you."

"I can't let people gossip about her because of me."

Xi Jin pulled her onto his lap and wrapped both arms around her waist.

He sniffed at her neck, full of possessiveness, as though marking what belonged to him.

"If we don't make our relationship public, my father will arrange a marriage alliance for me."

He nipped her neck lightly. He didn't bite hard, but it made her whole body shudder.

"Is that what you want?"

Nan Xingyu raised both hands and feet in agreement.

If Xi Jin entered a marriage alliance, he would stop hounding her.

She and her mother could leave without trouble, too.

But she wasn't stupid.

She definitely couldn't say what she really thought.

She could only pretend to be sensible, her voice soft. "Brother, I don't want you to enter a marriage alliance, but there really can't be a future for us."

"Why can't there be?"

Displeased, Xi Jin pinched her waist, making her flinch.

"The gap between our statuses is too wide. In the future... in the future, we..."

She met Xi Jin's increasingly cold gaze, her voice growing quieter until it was almost inaudible.

"Can we part on good terms?"

"Nan Xingyu."

Xi Jin's gaze darkened completely, his voice full of violence. "Are you begging to be fucked?"