Lin Chu never expected this. She had been quite pleased with the working environment at Lin Yi since everyone got along well. She never imagined that their mood would turn sour when Yan Beicheng appeared tonight.
However, Lin Chu was unbothered. The few people that she was referring to were from the other departments. She had no issues with the people from the public relations department. They probably did not come and ask about this because they have yet to hear about the rumors. On the other hand, perhaps they had already heard about it but felt that it was none of their business. After all, not everyone cared to gossip. Hu Yuesha did not rush over because she was devoted to Wei Zilin. She did not care about Yan Beicheng.
Lin Chu waved her hand as though she wanted to put this matter aside. She turned to Zheng Yuntong and said, "We"re going out to the sea tomorrow to have some fun. You should come with us. President Wei is taking a.s.sistant Shen along so you don"t have to worry."
Lin Chu was originally worried that Zheng Yuntong would feel awkward if she came along. After seeing the situation here tonight, Lin Chu realized that Zheng Yuntong would be caught up in this mess if she left her behind. Zheng Yuntong would not be able to enjoy herself either.
In the end, Zheng Yuntong contemplated for some time before she said, "I"ll come along."
Zheng Yuntong had trouble making up her mind last night, but she was more excited than Lin Chu on the following day. She had even woken up earlier than her.
Both of them wore their swimsuits underneath their regular clothes. They brought their sunscreen and their other necessities along before they left.
Last night, Yan Beicheng had reminded Lin Chu to wear her swimsuit today. Her face burned when she recalled that.
She saw Yan Beicheng sitting on the sofa in the hotel lobby when she arrived there. It was a rare sight to see him dressed so casually. He merely wore a simple white short-sleeved cotton t-s.h.i.+rt and a pair of long khaki pants. His long limbs were bent as he sat leisurely there with his legs spread open. He could not stretch out his long legs properly since the sofa was unusually short.
He was currently wearing a pair of dark green aviator sungla.s.ses and holding his cell phone in his hand, but Lin Chu could not see what he was looking at.
It seemed as though he had noticed her approaching him. When he raised his head in a relaxed manner, he saw that Lin Chu was really walking over here. The corners of his lips immediately pulled up into a warm smile that could melt the snow. He removed his sungla.s.ses at the same time.
He did not care about the people around him when he stood and strode toward Lin Chu and held her hand.
Zheng Yuntong had rushed over to introduce herself to Zuo Qiu long ago. She was not a shy person and also preferred to talk to strangers than to stay here and act like the third wheel around Yan Beicheng.
"Did you sleep well last night?" Yan Beicheng pulled Lin Chu over. He lowered his head and kissed her lips gently. He did not care if anyone else was watching them.
Lin Chu"s warm lips quivered slowly. She was about to answer his question, but Wei Zilin and Shen Zongyi had appeared.
Wei Zilin sneered at Yan Beicheng rudely, but Yan Beicheng"s expression remained unchanged. He held Lin Chu"s hand in his calmly. It was impossible for her to shrug him off even if she wanted to.
The six of them got into a car and drove to the pier together. Yan Beicheng owned the yacht. He would go out to the sea to fish and such when he came here for holidays during the winter.
When they had parties, he would only invite Qi Chengzhi and the others if they were not busy. He had never brought any of the riff-raff women onto the yacht before.
Once they boarded the yacht, the captain of the yacht was in charge of steering it. Yan Beicheng took Lin Chu into the cabin immediately.
Zheng Yuntong and Shen Zongyi were not complete strangers. After all, they worked in the same company. She rushed over to chat with Shen Zongyi. Wei Zilin was left with Zuo Qiu.
Zuo Qiu felt extremely stressed. He wished that Lin Chu had invited two more of her female colleagues. He felt left out now. Worse still, it felt very weird now that he was alone with Wei Zilin.
Zuo Qiu turned to Wei Zilin and glanced at him tearfully, but Wei Zilin only sneered and said, "Why are you looking at me? Don"t you know that it"s weird for two men to act all lovey-dovey with each other?"
He left on his own right after he said that.
Zuo Qiu was left speechless.
Yan Beicheng dragged Lin Chu into the cabin and pushed her up against the door just as he closed it behind her.
"Yan…" Lin Chu had just opened her mouth, but Yan Beicheng sealed her lips up immediately. He had forced his way into her mouth aggressively. He acted in an impatient and imposing manner. Lin Chu did not realize that she was trembling violently because of that.
"Are you wearing it underneath?" Yan Beicheng pressed his warm lips against hers. His breathing sounded strained when he spoke. His deep voice was quivering, and it was very unstable.
The temperature of his body seemed to be higher now than ever.
The cabin was not s.p.a.cious, but Lin Chu did not have enough time to look around when Yan Beicheng dragged her inside. Yan Beicheng had trapped her in his embrace. She could not see anything else but him.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could catch a glimpse of each side of the room. She wondered if this cabin seemed unusually small simply because Yan Beicheng was here with her.
Yan Beicheng had previously stayed in her house for a while. She had thought that it was a rather s.p.a.cious house, but she felt as though the area had shrunk when Yan Beicheng stood there. She felt the same way in the hotel room last night.
Lin Chu could not tell whether this cabin was s.p.a.cious or not. She merely felt that Yan Beicheng took up most of the s.p.a.ce when he stood here. His presence was simply too dominating. It was impossible for her to keep up with anything else.
Yan Beicheng realized what was going on when he noticed that Lin Chu"s face was suddenly bright red. He kissed her while his hand stroked the smooth material that was unique to swimsuits.
Lin Chu was stunned. Her mind went completely blank for a moment. There was an extremely embarra.s.sed look in her eyes when she grabbed his hand and said, "Yan Beicheng, you…"
Yan Beicheng paused and stopped his roaming hands. His lips were still pressed against hers, but he remained still. Lin Chu wanted to hide, but she had nowhere to go. She kept her lips against his and said, "Not here."
Lin Chu"s earlobes burned and turned bright red when she rubbed her lips against his. The reddish hue was spreading past her collar.
Yan Beicheng felt as though the flames of desire were raging in his heart, especially when he heard Lin Chu say that. She was not rejecting him at all. Rather, she merely stated that the location was unsuitable.
He noticed that her head was bowed and her cheeks were flushed, but she did not look entirely uncomfortable.
"Not here," Yan Beicheng echoed. There was a distinctly cheerful tone in his hoa.r.s.e and strained voice. He could feel the vibrations between her lips when he forced his way into her mouth. His entire body tingled violently.
"I told you that I"d take this seriously. I"m not going to do it while we"re outside as well," said Yan Beicheng.
Lin Chu"s eyelashes fluttered. His lips were still pressed against hers all this while. She breathed cautiously because she was too afraid to let her guard down. Her breath would surely escape from her mouth if she spoke. They could smell each other"s breath with how close they were now.
Lin Chu always hated the smell of other people"s breath, no matter who they were. The stories of beautiful women with sweet-smelling breaths were nothing but lies.
However, she did not feel this way about Yan Beicheng. She did not think that his breath was foul-smelling, but perhaps that was because she liked him. She initially found kissing to be unhygienic. She even felt this way when she was with Cheng Ziming. On the contrary, this was never the case with Yan Beicheng. She loved it when he kissed her, and she loved kissing him as well. She liked the sensation of touching him.
However, she felt self-conscious as well. She was worried that her breath would smell bad if she exhaled when they spoke.
When Yan Beicheng was pressed up against her, she felt too embarra.s.sed and uncomfortable to speak.
As she pondered, she heard Yan Beicheng say, "Since you"re already wearing it, will you let me see it?"
Suddenly, Lin Chu"s face was so hot that she thought it would fall off. She knew what a swimsuit looked like and felt fine when she had to wear it when she went swimming. Nonetheless, she had to remove her clothes before him now and reveal the skimpy swimsuit to him. This made her feel like she was not wearing anything. She was unable to bring herself to do this.
Lin Chu blushed and shook her head. She refused to agree to his request.
Yan Beicheng knew that she would never agree to it because of her character. He said, "Let me feel it then."
Lin Chu glared at him at once. "You… You…"
She complained for a long time before realizing that he was a rascal who would remain unbothered no matter how many times she scolded him. Lin Chu was at a loss for words.
"You… Take your hand out!" said Lin Chu bashfully.
"You should let me feel it for myself if you"re not going to let me see it," said Yan Beicheng. He kissed Lin Chu without giving her a chance to resist.
In the end, he nearly touched every inch of Lin Chu"s body, but Yan Beicheng did not feel any better. His hands yearned to caress her, and he found it was becoming harder and harder to restrain himself now.
"You can go and have fun first. I"ll stay here for a while and go over there later," said Yan Beicheng in a strained voice. He was finally unable to hold himself back anymore.
Lin Chu knew the reason. Her face was thoroughly flushed when she lowered her eyes and glanced at him. She was reluctant to leave, but she was also worried that the man would be insatiable. She felt conflicted as she opened and closed her mouth. Finally, she fled outside without saying another word.
As she was too afraid to look for Zheng Yuntong right away, she went to the back to the end of the yacht instead. She only went over later once the billowing sea breeze had calmed her down.
Yan Beicheng came out after some time. His face looked normal and his eyes were bright and clean. Lin Chu had no idea what he was doing just now.
His eyes found Lin Chu right after he came out. There was a profound look in his eyes.
n.o.body knew where Wei Zilin had gotten the fis.h.i.+ng equipment from. He decided to go fis.h.i.+ng with Yan Beicheng since they had nothing to do while they were at sea. They were competing to see who could catch more fish.
Shen Zongyi and Zuo Qiu had nothing else to do as well, so they went finis.h.i.+ng with them.
Lin Chu sighed in relief. She went and sunbathed with Zheng Yuntong beside them. The sea breeze blew, and she would go over and see how the men were doing in their contest occasionally.
As she lay on the lounge chair, Zheng Yuntong turned to Lin Chu and whispered, "You said that we are going out to the sea, but neither President Wei nor Master Yan has taken their clothes off yet. I know that you"re used to seeing him like that, but I"ve never gotten the chance to. It"d be nice if I could just catch a glimpse."
Lin Chu could not stop herself from snorting in amus.e.m.e.nt. "You can tell them on your own if you want to see it."
"I"m too afraid and I don"t want to get fired from Lin Yi." Zheng Yuntong wrapped her oversized s.h.i.+rt around her body. She was too shy to remove her s.h.i.+rt and wear nothing but her swimsuit in front of those men.
Lin Chu did not plan to remove her clothes either. Although Yan Beicheng wanted to see her in her swimsuit, Lin Chu felt that he did not want anyone else to see her dressed like that.
Zheng Yuntong could not sit still. She lay down for a short while before she left to observe the results of their contest, but she was too scared to approach Yan Beicheng and Wei Zilin though. She was only brave enough to see how Shen Zongyi and Zuo Qiu fared.
Yan Beicheng noticed that there was only one fish in his bucket, but there were two fish in Wei Zilin"s bucket. He turned around and glanced at Lin Chu, but he could not tell if she was looking over because she was wearing sungla.s.ses. Yan Beicheng smiled at Lin Chu, but she did not respond.
Yan Beicheng turned back and exclaimed out of nowhere, "Look over there quickly!"
Wei Zilin instinctively looked over before he realized that there was nothing there. When he turned back, he happened to catch Yan Beicheng grabbing one of the fish in his bucket and putting it into his own.
Wei Zilin and Lin Chu were at a loss for words.
"Haha, that fish was really lively. I saw it jump right into my bucket," Yan Beicheng said earnestly. He did not feel guilty at all. There was an extremely honest look in his eyes.
Wei Zilin snorted, and his expression showed that he did not believe his friend at all.
This man was used to being sly because he had cheated on his exams when he was younger!
The yacht began traveling toward the sh.o.r.e in the evening when the sun started to set.
They did not return to the hotel. Instead, the yacht docked at the pier of a little island. It was not a large island by any means, one could take in its entirety once setting foot on it. There were no shops on the island, but it was filled with lush greenery and different kinds of fruit trees. They could tell that someone owned this island when they saw a villa in the distance.
The villa"s design was very modern. It was very beautiful. Lin Chu thought that the word "magnificent" was most suitable to describe it.
She followed Yan Beicheng past the gates of the villa and saw a large swimming pool that was already filled with clean water.
When Yan Beicheng noticed the direction in which Lin Chu was looking, he explained, "I own this place. I never stayed in hotels when I came here during the holidays. I"ve always stayed here and used this place for brief getaways."
Yan Beicheng and the others had caught a good amount of fish. They put all of it in the kitchen and were prepared to have fish as their main course tonight.
Yan Beicheng gave them a tour around the villa. When they noticed that there were five bedrooms in total, they wondered if Yan Beicheng had planned this in advance.
Wei Zilin, Shen Zongyi, and Zuo Qiu naturally took one room for each of themselves. Zheng Yuntong"s thoughts short-circuited when she noticed that Yan Beicheng"s gaze had landed on her. She had no idea what that meant, but she turned to Lin Chu and stammered, "I… I want my own room too!"
Zheng Yuntong lowered her head and ran just as she finished speaking. She picked a room randomly, pushed the door open, and dashed inside. It was not long before she retreated immediately. Her entire face was bright red as she said, "a.s.sistant Shen, I"m sorry! I"m so sorry. I entered the wrong room."
She ran off at once. Fortunately, there was no one in the next bedroom. Zheng Yuntong did not come back out after she went inside.
Lin Chu knew Yan Beicheng"s intentions. She did not want to pretend that she was unaware. She obediently followed Yan Beicheng to his bedroom.
Those were her thoughts, but Lin Chu panicked when she actually stepped foot inside the room. She felt as though she could not stand anymore. Her arms and legs felt awkward no matter how she positioned them while her face turned red regardless of where she looked.
This was particularly obvious when she saw that king-sized bed in the center of the room the moment she walked inside. Her entire body seemed to be burning up now.
The villa was huge, but the bedrooms were not as ma.s.sive as what they had imagined. Lin Chu had not seen the other bedrooms, but she still felt that this one was more s.p.a.cious than the rest.
"We"re staying in the master bedroom," Yan Beicheng explained as though he could read Lin Chu"s thoughts.
Lin Chu looked somewhat distracted, and she merely gave a brief reply. Her gaze did not land on the bed because she was too afraid. She simply looked around at the other areas. Yan Beicheng was thinking about the fact that Lin Chu would be staying here tonight. She would also be sharing his bed. He was so excited that he did not even care about eating anymore. His eyes sparkled as he gazed at Lin Chu.
Lin Chu felt as though her cheeks were on fire when Yan Beicheng stared at her. She could not stay here any longer. She frantically said, "Stop staring at me!"
"Why can"t I stare at you when you look so beautiful?" Yan Beicheng"s eyes seemed to be smiling. His black pupils looked like they were ablaze. "When I see you standing in my bedroom like this, it feels like you"re going to start living with me. I really hope that we"re not just going to spend one short night together. I truly want you to be there in every moment of my life. I want your shadow to be present in every detail and every corner of my life."
Suddenly, Lin Chu found it hard to control herself when she noticed that he was looking at her in such a gentle manner. She was terrified of becoming soft. If that happened, she would agree to move to Ding City and live with him in the future at this instance.
"I… I"m going to prepare dinner first!" Lin Chu blurt out. She turned around and left.
Yan Beicheng did not go after her. He merely stared at Lin Chu"s silhouette as she anxiously fled. He smiled as affection filled his gaze.
Lin Chu went to the kitchen to prepare the fish that they had recently caught. When she went to the fridge to find the other ingredients, she noticed that there were other types of local seafood such as crabs, scallops, sea snails, and lobsters there. Aside from that, there were also lemons and both Asian and Western condiments. The fridge was certainly well-stocked.
"Miss Lin, these items were just delivered this morning. They"re all fresh," explained Zuo Qiu as he appeared at the doorway. He was worried that Lin Chu did not know that.
Lin Chu obviously knew that Yan Beicheng did not decide to bring them to the villa at the very last minute. If this was a last-minute decision, nothing would have been prepared in advance. Although no one had stayed in the villa for a long time, she noticed that it was immaculately clean. Just by looking at that, she was certain that Yan Beicheng"s staff had come over to get everything ready beforehand. She was not shocked when she discovered that the fridge was filled with fresh ingredients.
Zheng Yuntong came over to her then. She decided to prepare food with Lin Chu in the kitchen.
Yan Beicheng and the three others had caught ten fish in total. Lin Chu divided them into four portions. She would grill three fish, steam two, and braise another three of them. Fortunately, these fish were not too big. It might seem like there was a lot of fish at first, but it was actually just the right amount once they were cooked. The last fish was the biggest one. She would fry it and serve it with a sweet and sour sauce later.
Lin Chu asked Zuo Qiu and Shen Zongyi to help her shuck the scallops before she had to steam them with some gla.s.s noodles. After that, she steamed the crabs, fried the sea snails with chili, and baked the lobsters with pasta.