"Be... be your woman?"
Shen Yuyan’s heart trembled intensely as she stared blankly at Zhu Fei, her mind completely blanked out for a moment.
Even Zhu Fei’s recent gesture toward her and their current intimate pose, which she had momentarily completely overlooked.
"Mm, that’s right, to become my, Zhu Fei’s, woman."
Zhu Fei smiled warmly, raising his hand to brush away the stray hair beside her eye, his tone undeniably confident.
"Zhu... Zhu Fei, don’t you think this is a bit sudden?"
Once again feeling Zhu Fei’s intimate actions, Shen Yuyan shuddered and finally snapped out of her daze.
But as her senses returned, what flashed through her mind was Gu Youlan’s image, which was as close to perfection as possible.
Thinking back on the occasions Zhu Fei had met with Gu Youlan, a faint, unexplained sigh arose in Shen Yuyan’s heart.
"Sudden? Is it? Why do you say that?"
Zhu Fei’s smiling expression faltered slightly as he looked at Shen Yuyan, somewhat puzzled.
Though he knew his actions were somewhat abrupt, Shen Yuyan’s reaction still took him by surprise.
Shen Yuyan nodded slightly, calmly freeing herself from Zhu Fei’s hands, her beautiful eyes complex as she said to him:
"Zhu Fei, if I agreed to you, what would happen to Gu Youlan from before? And, most importantly, are you sure you really like me? Or is your decision now just because you’re moved by what happened before and don’t want to leave any regrets for yourself?"
Perhaps feeling that her questions had been a bit too sharp, Shen Yuyan paused slightly and finally let out a soft sigh:
"Zhu Fei, at this point, I don’t want to hide from you any more, yes, I, Shen Yuyan, do indeed like you. You’ve helped me, rescued me, protected me multiple times. To say that I don’t have any feelings for you, that I don’t like you, would obviously be a lie."
"But, you should know that I, Shen Yuyan, am not some naive little girl unaware of the ways of the world. I have my own principles when it comes to relationships."
"Whether you say I am obstinate, or I can’t tolerate any flaws, I have always believed that a relationship is always between two people. I don’t want my past actions to spoil what I’m seeking and hoping for in a relationship. It was so in the past, and it will remain so in the future."
After pausing again, Shen Yuyan finally said, "Zhu Fei, I’m sorry, maybe I am being too willful. I hope you can forgive my persistence."
After hearing Shen Yuyan’s heartfelt confession of her feelings, Zhu Fei, despite his vast experiences, could not help but give a wry smile.
Because, undeniably, Shen Yuyan’s words had hit close to his heart.
Setting aside the misunderstanding with Gu Youlan, just her analysis of his feelings was correct.
As for his feelings toward Shen Yuyan, to say there were romantic emotions between them, it did seem they hadn’t reached that stage yet.
What existed, perhaps just as Shen Yuyan had said earlier, was more of being moved, the reason he wanted her to be his woman.
On one hand, it stemmed from a man’s instinctive desire to possess a good woman, and on the other hand, he didn’t want to miss out on Shen Yuyan and end up with regrets.
After all, counting every encounter, they had only met three or four times, and each meeting wasn’t lengthy.
To say he truly fell for Shen Yuyan in such a brief period of time seemed to be missing something.
And this, perhaps, was the real reason why Shen Yuyan refused to be his woman?
Thinking about it, Zhu Fei’s gaze had unconsciously become firm.
What Shen Yuyan didn’t know was that Zhu Fei was also an extremely obstinate man, or rather, very persistent.
Once he decided that he wanted Yu Yan to be his woman, he would never abandon his pursuit halfway, nor would he give up easily.
If you, Yu Yan, want to use time to prove something, fine, then I, Zhu Fei, will give you that time.
He believed that the day would eventually come.
With that thought, Zhu Fei didn’t care what Shen Yuyan might think. Instead, he reached out again and firmly wrapped his arm around her slender waist once more.
Before Shen Yuyan could fully react, Zhu Fei whispered in her ear, "Yu Yan, I won’t give up easily. I hope that when that day comes, you won’t reject me again."
After he spoke, Zhu Fei smiled and quickly released his hold around Shen Yuyan’s waist, simply watching her with a cheerful expression.
A flush quickly spread across Shen Yuyan’s face, and she cast an annoyed glance at him.
However, perhaps even she hadn’t noticed that Zhu Fei’s candid, domineering words had inexplicably filled her heart with sweetness.
A touch of delight mixed with shyness, along with a pinch of vexation not even she could quite explain.
"Right, Sister Shen, regarding the earlier matters, don’t you have something you want to ask me?"
Having come to an understanding about Shen Yuyan, Zhu Fei didn’t linger on the previous issue. He was not one to dwell on one problem, so he shifted the topic.
His reference to Shen Yuyan also reverted back to the original address of Sister Shen.
Gradually, Shen Yuyan seemed to adjust from the previous matters.
Upon hearing Zhu Fei’s words, she could not help but feign irritation and roll her eyes at him, then she said:
"Do you think I’m some clueless young girl who likes to nag and pry into everything? Everyone has their own secrets. Since you didn’t tell me before, naturally, I assumed it wasn’t time for you to explain."
At this point, a sly smile appeared on Shen Yuyan’s face and she said:
"However, now that you’ve brought it up, you’d better explain it properly to me. The situation afterward and that matter about cultivation, what exactly is going on?"
Seeing the cunning smile in Shen Yuyan’s eyes, Zhu Fei couldn’t help but silently criticize her in his mind. She was doing this on purpose, definitely on purpose. She was surely retaliating for his actions just now.
Although Zhu Fei thought this, he did not hide anything verbally. He chose to share some information that Shen Yuyan could comprehend and went over it with her in detail.
After he finished speaking, Zhu Fei saw Shen Yuyan deep in thought and didn’t disturb her. Instead, he quietly sat next to her, waiting for her to "absorb" the news.
Time ticked away slowly...
After more than ten minutes, Shen Yuyan finally snapped out of her contemplation, exhaling deeply.
She smiled at Zhu Fei and then said something he could never have anticipated.
"Alright, Zhu Fei, I’ve pretty much figured out everything you just told me. Next, I need to go to the office for work. Come with me."