Resolve Three (Asking for Recommendations)

After the red taillights of the sports car vanished at the end of the street.

The tall figure lingered where he was for a moment before turning and leaving.

After that.

Over the next few days, Hu Qi never showed up at the Red Scale Club.

His whereabouts changed daily, and he did not linger at home either.

As for what exactly he was busy with, no one knew.

Chen Wu said nothing about it, only reminding him not to forget the Core Class assessment in a few days.

After all.

He had personally tested Hu Qi's strength.

At Hu Qi's age, barring any surprises, entering the Core Class was practically set in stone.

For a genius like him, whether he came to train during these last few days would not make much difference.

Night fell, and the last traces of daylight faded.

The sky turned a deep blue, speckled with faint starlight, vast and boundless.

Tianhu District was named as such because of the lake within the city.

The lake was like an enormous ribbon of black silk, shimmering with faint silver ripples beneath the caress of moonlight.

The roads along the lakeshore resembled a winding Milky Way. Cars flowed endlessly through them, their headlights linking into bright lines that gathered and scattered from time to time.

On both sides of the lake, high-rise buildings stood in rows, ablaze with lights.

Number One Mansion stood beside Tianhu Lake.

The entire residential complex had only three buildings, each more than twenty stories tall.

Unlike the cramped, confined spaces of traditional apartments.

The balconies here were spacious and open, large enough for all kinds of plants and leisure facilities.

On the balcony of one of the twenty-plus-story buildings.

A lovely, slender figure lay in a rattan chair, draped in a nightgown.

Several drinks and a fruit platter sat on the open-air wooden dining table.

The glass reflected crystalline light beneath the lamps, adding a touch of tranquility to the night.

Jiang Yu Yan held a glass of red wine and took a light sip.

She looked up at the star-filled sky, enjoying the caress of the cool night breeze, a smile blooming on her face.

"This is the life I want!"

Thinking back on the days of lavish indulgence she had enjoyed recently, she could not help feeling that her decision back then had been absolutely right.

Lu Shi might have been a womanizer with countless girlfriends, but he treated each of them fairly well.

It had only been a few days, and he had already given her this apartment worth more than five million.

Jiang Yu Yan's goals had always been clear. Love could not fill one's stomach...

As her thoughts drifted.

She could not help thinking of a certain figure.

"Suddenly losing that lapdog who fussed over me morning and night really is a little hard to get used to."

"What a pity. Wouldn't it have been better to obediently be a lapdog? Why did you have to dream of touching something that was never yours?"

In her eyes, love without money to support it was like used toilet paper—disgusting.

Being allowed to chat with her should have been enough to satisfy him.

Why not look in the mirror and see what he looked like?

A toad dreaming of swan meat.

Thinking of how he had caught her kissing Lu Shi in the car and pointed at her nose, calling her a bitch.

A chill flashed through her eyes.

Lu Shi had repeatedly gone looking for trouble with him, and naturally, she had played a part in instigating it.

For a clever woman, there were some things she simply did not need to say or do herself.

All she needed was to hint and stir things up a little.

A man whose head had been clouded by hormones would, driven by that pitiful possessiveness in his heart, willingly do it for her. Even if something went wrong afterward, it would have nothing to do with a weak woman like her.

Such tactics were child's play to her.

Just as she was thinking.

Ding-dong! Ding-dong!

Suddenly, the doorbell on one side rang.

Jiang Yu Yan frowned and checked the time.

7:28

At this hour, Lu Shi should still be entertaining clients. He could not possibly have come to see her.

After thinking it over, she got up and walked to the door.

Looking through the peephole, she saw a tall man outside in a blue courier uniform, holding a cardboard box.

The man's face was obscured by the cap on his head, impossible to see clearly. She could only make out some stubble on his chin. He did not seem young—probably in his thirties or forties.

"Who is it?"

After a moment's thought, she did not open the door and instead called out.

"Hello, Swift Express.

Is this the home of Miss Jiang Yu Yan, whose phone number ends in 8969?

There's a valuable delivery here that requires your personal signature. The sender is Mr. Lu."

The man looked at the cardboard box as if confirming the information, then explained.

Swift Express was famous for its speed and excellent service.

Usually, if an order was placed one day, it would arrive the next unless something unexpected happened.

"Could it be that Lu Shi secretly prepared a surprise for me?"

Jiang Yu Yan's heart stirred.

With that thought.

She reached out and opened the door.

As a high-end residential complex, Number One Mansion's services and security were among the best in all of Qirong City.

Identity verification was required even to enter the complex, while access to each building and floor required a keycard.

So, she did not worry that he might be someone with ill intentions.

Moreover, the fact that he could accurately recite both her name and the final digits of her phone number put what little guard she had left at ease.

Click!

The door opened.

Yet in the next instant, what greeted her was not the surprise of opening a delivery.

But a rod poking into her body.

Crackle!

As electric arcs danced.

Jiang Yu Yan had no time to react. Her body went numb, and she lost consciousness.

Unable to remain standing, she fell straight backward.

The next moment.

A figure swiftly rushed into her field of vision.

Then, a broad palm caught her by the waist.

Bang!

At the same time, the door in front of her was shut and locked.

"Uh... help..."

More than ten seconds later, Jiang Yu Yan had only just recovered from the paralysis caused by the electric shock.

When she discovered that the man from before had somehow already rushed into the apartment.

She was about to cry out.

But the words died on her lips.

Because right before her eyes, a gleaming folding knife was pressed against her face.

"If you dare make a sound, I'll kill you immediately."

The man's voice spat out icy words.

As Jiang Yu Yan was held in his arms, she looked up.

And saw the man's entire face beneath the brim of his cap.

His features were rugged, and a slanted scar ran downward from his brow bone, nearly dividing his whole face in two, lending an originally ordinary face a vicious air.

"Don't... don't kill me! What do you want? I have money. We can talk this out!"

Jiang Yu Yan's body trembled.

All color instantly drained from her lovely face.

She could not stop herself from shivering.

"As long as you don't kill me, you can have the money and me..."

As she spoke, a seductive look appeared on her face.

Her hand casually tugged open her collar, revealing a broad expanse of snow-white shoulder.

In her view, there could be no more than two reasons for him to break into her home.

Either money or sex.

If possible, she did not mind satisfying him. Compared to her life, none of that mattered.

"Heh!"

The man's gaze swept over her face, his expression unchanged.

He merely sneered.

Jiang Yu Yan was not only beautiful, but deeply calculating as well.

Her calmness and practiced tactics in the face of danger might truly have helped her escape if she had been dealing with an ordinary criminal.

Unfortunately.

Slap!

A loud slap struck Jiang Yu Yan squarely across her fair face.

Five finger marks visibly swelled up at once.

"Use your phone to message Lu Shi. Tell him to come back!"

He spoke coldly, the scar on his face appearing even more savage.

The numbness and stinging pain in her face left Jiang Yu Yan's gaze blank for a moment.

She had never imagined that a man would actually be willing to slap her.