Seducing Him - Chapter 23

After getting a simple understanding of its purpose, she packed her things and went downstairs for dinner.

Lu Jin came down after her.

The young man’s black hair seemed freshly styled, trimmed into a gentlemanly short wolf-tail cut. He wore a thin, loose sweater and black pants, descending the stairs step by step.

Ci Yiyang looked up at him from the dining table, smiling gently and warmly.

He wore a tired expression on his handsome features as he sat beside her.

Aunt brought the last of the pork rib soup to the table. Ci Yiyang scooped a bowl and politely said to him, “This soup is really good. I tried some when I first came downstairs.”

He glanced at the soup by her hand, lowered his eyelids, brought the bowl to his lips, tasted it, and put it down again. “Hmm.”

Ci Yiyang didn’t bother him further and scooped another bowl to warm herself.

The soup really was delicious—the aroma of the pork ribs infused with the stewed tomatoes was her favorite kind of tomato pork rib soup.

Lu Jin’s gaze passed over her slightly narrowed, seemingly happy apricot-colored eyes. He ate with her calmly, not rushing.

After dinner, Aunt cleared the table and left.

The huge house was quiet again, with only the two of them sitting on the sofa. Ci Yiyang leaned her head on his shoulder. “What are you looking at?”

The laptop screen was filled with English text and curved lines of different colors, rising and falling erratically, densely packed—so dense that she couldn’t tell what belonged to whom. Only the internationally recognized currency symbols were familiar to her.

Lu Jin didn’t even raise his eyelids. “Looking at betting data.”

“Betting data?” Ci Yiyang raised an eyebrow in surprise. “You gamble?”

He looked at her slightly parted red lips, surprised last time but now fully healed, soft and pink.

His throat was a little dry. He lifted his glass to wet it, which didn’t relieve his thirst—it intensified it.

“No, I toss it out; they bid for it,” he explained.

Ci Yiyang didn’t understand. She blinked and asked, “How much per lot?”

“Not much—one million dollars.”

He said it casually. Ci Yiyang widened her eyes in shock. “That expensive? Someone would buy it?”

Lu Jin tilted his head slightly, staring at her, the corners of his lips naturally curved, almost like a smile. “Yes.”

Not just one person—many. The graph was densely packed with retail buyers or those seeking to climb higher. As long as he, the house, offered it, nearly everyone would scramble to buy instantly.

Successful investors could gain a lifetime of wealth and social mobility. Losers might lose everything and be burdened with lifelong debts. For some, there were no limits.

No matter the risk, people would jump in, intoxicated with obsession. It was like gambling, as she said, but it was legal and even had a formal name: hedge fund investment.

“How long have you been doing this?” Ci Yiyang frowned as she noticed a strange excitement in his eyes while speaking.

He closed the laptop, uninterested in the question. “Can’t remember… maybe about ten years.”

Like someone she knew, he liked being in control. From a young age, he was taught how to manipulate these things, and it had been a long time.

But after doing it for so long, he had grown bored of this game of controlling others’ fates.

Lu Jin suddenly asked, “Sister, aren’t you going to sleep yet?”

She usually went to bed early, but tonight she lingered.

“Oh,” Ci Yiyang replied, “I can’t sleep. I wanted to chat with you.”

He leaned back on the sofa, stretching his long legs, assuming a listening posture. “Sister, what do you want to talk about?”

“Many things.” She smiled, gesturing with her hands.

He tilted his head, staring at her without blinking. His eyes were so black it seemed no light could penetrate them.

Ci Yiyang always felt nervous under his gaze, as if he already knew any mischief she planned.

She pointed at the red wine on the island and suggested, “Why don’t we chat while drinking? Just talking like this is boring.”

“Drink?” He followed her finger, then turned to look at her with a half-smile. “Are you sure?”

Ci Yiyang didn’t normally drink—she could only handle low-alcohol beer. Red wine or brandy would make her drunk at once. If she drank, she wouldn’t be able to talk properly.

It wasn’t a very good idea, but she seemed unaware. She got up from the sofa, shuffled to the island, picked up the wine excitedly, and placed it in front of him.

“You drink, I talk.”

No wonder she suggested drinking—she didn’t plan to touch it herself.

Lu Jin watched the girl preparing the wine in front of him.

The alcohol content of the red wine was low, so she mixed in brandy to strengthen it and handed it to him after pouring.

“I read online that mixing them tastes really good,” she explained.

Ci Yiyang sat beside him, brushing her hair behind her ear. The color of his eyes seemed rippled like the wine, layers upon layers.

Lu Jin didn’t usually drink this type of wine but didn’t refuse.

He took a sip, his faint smile unreadable. “Tastes good.”

Seeing him drink, Ci Yiyang began searching for topics.

From astronomy to geography, she exhausted her mind to find things to talk about, regardless of whether he could drink or not, constantly refilling his glass.

Lu Jin had little interest in these topics, only responding politely occasionally. Most of the time, he just tasted the wine.

As time passed, Ci Yiyang noticed his posture on the sofa becoming increasingly relaxed.

The young man’s delicate neck lifted slightly. Under the lights, his pale skin glowed faintly pink. Long black lashes rested over half-closed eyes, seemingly listening but perhaps not. The well-defined fingers covered the cup, and the veins along his hand and wrist stood out as his arm rested casually on the sofa.

Ci Yiyang’s gaze unconsciously traveled from his superior body upward to his face.

His eyes had a slightly drunken haze, or perhaps it was just fatigue. Half-closed, they radiated an unattainable, detached aura.

No matter how much she looked, she was drawn to his face.

Noticing her silence, he lifted his eyelids and lazily asked, “Hmm? Why aren’t you talking?”

He asked without even listening.

Ci Yiyang pursed her lips and replied softly, understanding his intention, “It’s late. You must be tired. We’ll chat later.”

“Then good night, sister.” He neither agreed nor disagreed, setting the glass down.

But he hadn’t stood yet. Suddenly, the girl reached out naturally and hugged his waist, resting her chin lightly on his shoulder.

“Lu Jin.”

It was the soft tone she used when acting cute, her movements intimate.

“Hm?” Lu Jin’s lips curved subtly, his trembling eyelids lowering as he stared at the pale neck in front of him. Her skin was thin as a cicada’s wing, the bl00d vessels faintly visible underneath.

It was like a bite, leaving a mark that belonged to him.

“Do you have anything else you want to tell me?”

The boy’s gentle voice felt like cool hands on her skin, giving her goosebumps.

“Lu Jin.” Ci Yiyang buried her face in his neck, her nose brushing against his pulse, muffledly saying, “I really don’t know how to face them.”

Her unusual behavior tonight was because she had no one to confide in, clinging to him in an attempt to fill the emptiness in her heart.

Lu Jin said nothing and didn’t push her away.

Their intimacy had long crossed boundaries; previous incidents and hugs were nothing in comparison.

“I know I shouldn’t say this to you, but I seem to have no one else to talk to. Only you,” she repeated.

“Mm.” His Adam’s apple moved gently. He asked casually, seemingly curious or perhaps trying to distract her, “Sister, does it bother you that your father remarried?”

The question hit her heart directly.

She cared—deeply. But she couldn’t say it, couldn’t show it in front of him.

She raised her fair face, her eyes glistening with tears ready to vanish with a blink, biting her lip. “It doesn’t bother me. My dad really likes my mom, and no one can stay with someone who’s gone forever. Everyone has their own life. I don’t mind them being together, or I wouldn’t be here now.”

Her words were considerate, almost sincere, combined with her gentle and harmless appearance. It was hard to doubt their truthfulness.

He lowered his gaze slightly, a smile brushing his eyes. “Sister adapted faster than I imagined.”

“Although I don’t mind, I still don’t want them to marry,” Ci Yiyang admitted, disappointed, glancing at him who seemed about to say something.

“Why?” He maintained his composed gentleness, focusing on her flushed cheeks.

Her eyes were extraordinary—shaped like leaves, bright pupils, fair skin inherited from her mother. Her gentle maturity and teasing glance met his gaze, stopping mid-gesture.

Even though nothing had happened, it affected him deeply.

He loved her current gaze, as if she were teasing him, testing him, and once he didn’t resist, she’d want to take it further.

He, however, wanted to make love to her.

He wanted to kiss every inch of her body, to make her beg him with those soft, swirling eyes.

The thought crossed his mind, and the red wine in his veins ignited desire, heating his skin in an instant.

He pressed his tongue against his sharp canine, feeling a twinge of pain, and suppressed the sudden lust.

Ci Yiyang, in turn, turned her face to appear even more forlorn, pretending regret for revealing her heart, missing the glint of his arousal.

Lu Jin stared at her unblinking, lifting his hand to hold her face intimately, gently turning it to meet his gaze.

His fingers were long, one hand fully covering her cheek. His palm was warm, fingertips cool, thumb gently tracing her eye socket.

He seemed to be asking softly, yet exuded an almost imperceptible dominance of someone in control.

Ci Yiyang frowned, then relaxed, looking at his wine-hazed eyes. Her own eyes glistened with a soft sorrow. She whispered involuntarily, “Because of you.”

“Because… me?” He repeated each word, raising his eyebrows in surprise. “What do you mean? I don’t understand.”

Ci Yiyang tilted her head, burying it in his palm, her nose sliding along the side of his hand in a slight curve, extending to the base of her index finger.

That was his “love line,” traced by her fingers.

“Lu Jin, I heard people say you can see a person’s future love life here.”

She didn’t answer his apparent confusion. Her expression was downcast, chin slightly raised. She kissed the end of the line softly. “I think I see myself here.”

His hand trembled, suddenly spreading five fingers over her lips, pressing her onto the sofa.

Ci Yiyang let out a muffled moan, frowning at the young man looming over her.

As he leaned down, the loose gray-white sweater fell slightly, revealing the delicate skin beneath, especially the prominent collarbones, directly in her line of sight.

He paid little attention to posture, smiling kindly at her. “Sister, I’ve never really understood why you make such intimate gestures beyond our relationship. What do you want to do?”

His long fingers closed, pressing against her lips, as if trying to crush the fullness in his palm, extracting its abundant juice.

His movements were aggressive yet skilled, avoiding her other features, focusing only on her lips.

Ci Yiyang struggled for breath, holding his wrists. “Lu Jin, let go, I can’t breathe.”

She truly couldn’t. Her nose was full of the fragrance from his collar, whether perfume or shower scent, it always made her body weaken.

She suspected his body wash had aphrodisiac properties.

Lu Jin loosened his grip but didn’t let go. His thumb hooked under her jaw, lifting her face to meet his eyes.

His tone was gentle, like a polite gentleman, but his posture and expression were different.

Ci Yiyang disliked his high-handed attitude but couldn’t deny a strange sense of competitiveness rising.

She didn’t answer him, instead pressing her foot against his groin—intending to kick, but hitting a forbidden spot.

He let out a soft hum, bent down, released her jaw, and held her ankle, pressing his face against her neck to catch his breath.

The kick missed.

Embarrassed, Ci Yiyang pouted subtly.

She hadn’t tried hard—why did he react like that? Someone else might have thought she did something to him.

Just as she thought this, she blinked rapidly.

Almost forgetting what Zhou was supposed to do.

“Lu Jin.”

Her eyes curved like a crescent, and she kissed his hot earlobe, continuing to tease. “Want to know what I’m thinking?”

He hadn’t recovered, still panting, head lowered, but muttered “Mm.”

Ci Yiyang patted his head playfully. “It’ll be hard to explain to Aunt if it gets messy here. Let’s go to your room, I’ll explain there.”

Messy, go to the room, explain—all in one sentence, full of suggestive undertones.

He slowly raised his face from her neck, his pupils clouded and dreamy, long lashes fluttering. He seemed to understand, yet not entirely, losing the confident dominance from earlier, appearing oddly obedient.

“Alright…” He curved his lips.