Beyond Reach - Chapter 76
Another year’s end.
Outside, sleet falls, pattering onto the ground of the front yard.
Cold and damp.
That’s how winter days are-though it’s only afternoon, the heavy clouds press low, casting everything into darkness.
On the monitor inside.
The iron gate of the front yard opens. One after another, two pitch-black sedans drive in.
Soon, a man and a woman step out, both expressionless.
Today is the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, an auspicious day to visit the temple and pray to the God of Wealth. It’s rare for the two of them to appear together.
The villa’s main door opens.
Yan Tingli’s fingers twitch slightly. With a shift in perspective, the scene in the villa’s first-floor living room comes into view.
Song Jie takes off her coat, tosses it onto the sofa, and sits down to continue reading the fortune slip she got from the temple.
She rubs it between her fingers, her expression unreadable.
Suddenly, she looks up and says coolly, “The master said this girl’s fate is quite good, able to ward off evil. She should live on the east side.”
“Renovate the music room on the third floor and let her live across from it.”
Yan Tingli, who had been about to turn off the monitor out of boredom, pauses.
His brows lift, sharp and languid.
On the surveillance screen, Yan Zecheng has no objection to Song Jie’s suggestion.
After all, letting a girl with no background move in is a trivial matter.
And they believe in these things most of all.
That very night, Yan Tingli is informed of the matter.
Yan Zecheng’s words are still dignified and proper, since he doesn’t know that the entire Yan residence’s smart system has already been reprogrammed by Yan Tingli. From his bedroom, he can easily see every corner of the villa-he’s known about this for a while.
“This child is the daughter of an old friend of mine. It’s not right for a girl to live outside alone, so after discussing with your mother, we’ll renovate your music room and let her stay there.”
A faint smile appears at the corner of Yan Tingli’s lips, and he nods readily. “I have no objection.”
Such a vast and dull cage, and yet someone is coming to keep him company-supposedly someone with very good fortune.
Then let’s drag her down with me.
A strange, secret excitement wells up inside him.
Most of the Spring Festival has passed, and after days of snow, it finally stops.
In the morning, the mist has yet to fully disperse.
It’s the first time Yan Tingli has gotten up this early.
He studies his face in the mirror.
This shell is pleasing enough, but it always attracts the kind of attention he despises.
He hopes this lucky person won’t stare at him all the time-he would find that very annoying.
On the monitor, the villa’s main door opens.
Just as he’s about to see the newcomer enter, Yan Tingli turns off the display.
He stands up and slowly straightens his sleeves.
-If possible, he’d rather see this pitiful little companion with his own eyes.
Yan Tingli hates taking the stairs.
He hates trouble, hates the hollow echo of his soles on the floor, as if conversing with ghosts.
But today, Yan Tingli wants to stand on the steps.
That way, he can see this pitiful little thing more clearly.
He descends, step by step.
He hears her voice.
Nervous, lacking confidence, pretending to be calm.
No different from the pitiful person he imagined-how could she possibly restrain him?
Yan Tingli’s lips curve almost imperceptibly.
He keeps going down.
Turning the stairs.
His gaze automatically finds its anchor and drops.
He meets the eyes of the girl standing before Yan Zecheng.
A pair of round, dark eyes, clear and clean.
Small frame, very fair skin, which seems soft as well.
Objectively speaking, a pretty girl.
She meets his gaze.
Her lashes tremble, and her eyes hold that upward, wavering look.
He’s felt the same kind of admiration from many women.
Yan Tingli narrows his eyes.
Just an ordinary person like this, and her fate is supposed to be so good?
Shi Sui.
He hears Yan Zecheng introduce her name.
“Shi Sui?”
He feels a bit of interest. Looking at her eyes, they really do resemble that white-eyed cat from years ago.
What a pity.
She’s just an ordinary, timid girl, easy to see through at a glance-she even blushes when she sees him in the elevator.
Yan Tingli judges her haughtily in his heart.
There’s someone living in the room across the hall.
Even though he’s turned off the monitor for that side, he can still sense the presence of another person’s breathing.
Light, barely noticeable, but undeniably real.
Yan Tingli thinks for a moment.
Maybe he could take a little interest in this new, pitiful person.
At dinner, he knocks on her door and calls her.
He listens to her cautious, uneven footsteps as she comes downstairs, mingling with his own.
Yan Tingli suddenly finds it rather amusing.
At any rate, it’s more interesting than riding the elevator alone.
His moods shift-sometimes even he can’t figure them out.
But it doesn’t stop him from feeling good, willing to give her the roast goose.
But those who don’t appreciate it don’t deserve to eat again.
His mood drops again.
Yan Tingli discovers that he enjoys following behind Shi Sui up the stairs every day, watching her stiff back, her head lowered, still pretending to be calm.
Like a cat with its tail tucked.
Shi Sui is even more timid than he imagined.
The room was like her sanctuary-entering, she became silent and invisible.
Since then, Yan Tingli no longer found himself bored enough to wonder what such an ordinary person did in her room every day.
But.
Why was Shi Sui only so cold to him?
She would smile at the aunt.
Smile at her classmates.
Smile at everyone.
Why wouldn’t she smile at him?
She tried so hard to please Song Jie, to make her happy.
But what about him?
Yan Tingli felt puzzled.
His chest felt uncomfortable, as if something was stuck there.
He wanted her to smile at him.
The thought came suddenly, and as soon as he wanted it, he voiced it.
Then, she smiled.
Dimples appeared faintly on her cheeks, her eyes were bright, and her pink lips resembled a blossom.
So close, Yan Tingli caught that elusive, indescribable scent on her again, always faint but lingering.
It was bewitching.
He frowned, quickly returning to his room.
Looking at the change beneath him,
his face grew dark with anger.
Many years ago, Yan Tingli had witnessed Yan Zecheng having an affair with a woman.
Right in the study of the villa, he was reading behind the bookshelf when they burst in, kissing passionately, oblivious to everything.
Stockings torn, clothes falling to the floor.
Wet, squelching sounds, lewd whispers, and a heavy, greasy smell all tangled together.
Utterly disgusting.
He thought.
But now, Yan Tingli recalled Shi Sui’s soft, plump, pale-pink lips, her snow-white skin, and the way she, thinking no one noticed, would twirl and bounce around the living room-beneath her skirt, those evenly-shaped thighs.
He wanted.
But wanted what?
Yan Tingli gripped himself, closed his eyes.
His breathing grew heavier.
By the time he came to, he’d already thrown the tissues into the trash with a sullen, cold face.
Human nature, Yan Tingli thought.
At this age, to have no desires at all would be against biology.
Shi Sui was just a timid, double-standard, easily seen-through ordinary girl.
She liked to show her true, lively side only where she thought he couldn’t see.
Yet in front of him, she always donned the quiet, obedient mask.
But still, she smelled so good.
Was it because of the milk? She drank it every day.
Her skin seemed to glow with a healthy, vibrant pink.
There was a flourishing vigor on her, like the crisp air of a morning at peak oxygen-one deep breath left you clear and awake.
Yan Tingli snapped back, staring at the mess of wrong answers and tangled thoughts on his test paper.
Then at Shi Sui, sleeping soundly and carelessly on the sofa.
Even as he leaned down in front of her,
she didn’t stir at all.
He stared at her cheek, lowered his head.
Suddenly, a thought sprang up-he desperately wanted to bury his nose in the curve of her neck.
Then, sink his teeth into her skin, to taste… what exactly did she taste like?
Would he bite into plump, overflowing juice?
As the price for tutoring, Yan Tingli got the milk she made him-and a cheap black thermos cup-her own, clearly inexpensive.
The milk tasted awful.
His picky tongue instantly detected the industrial saccharin, and the cup gave off an indelible plastic smell.
But since she made it, Yan Tingli reluctantly refused to waste it.
Still, the milk did nothing.
It couldn’t capture a hint of Shi Sui’s scent.
Perhaps he ought to check what shower gel she used.
Then maybe he could use it to comfort himself.
Yan Tingli immediately felt disgusted.
How was this any different from Yan Zecheng, who thought only with his lower half?
Until a girl’s snow-white skin, in the darkness, appeared before his eyes from top to bottom.
His brain felt filled with mud.
All that was left was dense, crawling-
Desire.
He wanted to bury himself in it.
Why did it have to be Shi Sui, of all people?
This question, Yan Tingli mulled over constantly on that stuffy, power-out night.
Looking at his fingers, he thought nastily, if only it was her body instead.
Like a beast marking its territory in the animal world.
So why, why Shi Sui?
Yan Tingli opened his eyes, not realizing the confusion already showing in them.
He searched through books on psychology and logic.
Exhausted every line of reasoning, and finally arrived at a word that felt unfamiliar.
Like.
Yan Tingli had heard this word in the flirtations between Yan Zecheng and his mistress.
He found it revolting, hypocritical.
But he’d also heard it in the whispered conversations between Song Jie and Yan Congjin.
He found it suffocating, oppressive.
Neither matched what he felt for Shi Sui.
Yan Tingli tried to find another word that could capture it precisely.
Possess.
Yes, he wanted to possess Shi Sui, to own her.
Yan Tingli still weighed it over.
Shi Sui was just an ordinary, timid person.
Why should he go to such lengths to claim her?
Why didn’t she ever think of possessing him instead?
All these questions tangled together into a hopeless ball of yarn.
For the first time, Yan Tingli couldn’t find a way out.
Day after day, he thought.
His mind wanted, his body wanted.
If only Shi Sui would sleep with him-this outrageous thought suddenly burst into Yan Tingli’s mind.
She did like his looks, didn’t she?
The next moment, he clicked his tongue.
Pathetic.
But his body protested.
Self-pleasure was no longer enough to satisfy him.
When, when will I finally be able to sleep.
If only she could be a bit more proactive.
He wasn’t incapable, after all.
Yan Tingli was gradually beginning to resent Shi Sui’s restless presence under his very eyes.
She had Zhou Xuyan now, and Zhou Xuyan could touch her wantonly, get close to her.
Even lead her astray, taking her to all sorts of messy places.
She was utterly disobedient.
She didn’t want his control; the moment she turned away and returned to her room-
Yan Tingli wanted to lock her up.
This villa had always been just him roaming about, living in peace.
It was she who suddenly broke in, shattering the equilibrium.
Why shouldn’t he be allowed to control her?
And why, on what grounds, could Shi Sui leave just because she said so?
She said she wanted to return to Hang City for university.
He despised Shi Sui deeply.
Shi Sui, such an ordinary person.
Why couldn’t she turn around and want to possess him instead?
It didn’t matter.
Just a momentary cognitive dissonance-once she was gone, he’d return to normal.
But as Yan Tingli stared at the empty white wall before him-
Aside from all the monitors and lifeless AI, this villa was like a vast, hollow prison.
Yet, in the conventional sense, a prison was a place inmates couldn’t escape.
But he was the one who didn’t want to leave.
Shi Sui was like a bird that had barged in.
She rested there, oblivious and unaware, and then wanted to fly away immediately.
How could things be so easy?
Yan Tingli’s heart could no longer calm down.
There were thousands of ways he could make her stay.
Seduction, or deception?
But none of those had happened; Shi Sui had walked right into his net of her own accord.
-She must have also wanted to possess him.
Yan Tingli’s chest heaved, filled with a satisfaction he had never known.
He didn’t know where this swelling emotion came from, or what it signified.
He simply categorized it all as-
He was happy.
Her lips were even softer than he had imagined.
Her tongue, like syrup, never enough no matter how much he sucked.
He wanted to devour Shi Sui.
He bit her tender skin with his teeth.
That tender flesh he’d once gone crazy for, he licked and sucked over and over again.
When Shi Sui’s hands ran over every inch of his skin,
Yan Tingli felt every cell in his body stretch out in pleasure.
It seemed that Yan Zecheng’s genes had indeed passed on to him.
But Yan Tingli didn’t feel disgusted at all now.
Because what he wanted to do was even more revolting.
Shi Sui was naive, easy to entice.
She was fascinated by his looks and the character he displayed.
It was all just on the surface.
He had been pretending, fitting in perfectly, for many years.
What was there to like about such a mediocre exterior? Yan Tingli scoffed.
But in the end, she still liked him.
Yan Tingli didn’t like Shi Sui.
He wanted Shi Sui to like him, like him so much she couldn’t leave.
Shi Sui was a little liar, inside and out.
She looked obedient, but was actually rebellious.
She loved sleeping with him, and was never satisfied.
In her benefactor’s home, she had slept with their son.
Sometimes, when Yan Tingli thought about it, he couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
There was an odd sense of satisfaction, too.
They were a perfect match, both lids to the same pot-neither of them people of great virtue.
But after having Shi Sui,
He still wasn’t satisfied.
His chest felt like a black hole, expanding endlessly, always needing more to fill it.
But now, what Shi Sui gave him was no longer enough.
She would only respond passionately to him in bed.
At all other times,
Shi Sui did not need him the way he needed her.
She was always surrounded by flies.
So many men asked her out, and some even dared to pursue her.
Yan Tingli didn’t realize he was losing control.
He kissed her backstage.
Shi Sui thought it was because of last night, but it was nothing of the sort.
He just wanted to kiss her in front of that junior brother, to leave a mark that was uniquely his.
Shi Sui actually dared to get angry.
She wanted to change her university application, and had already mailed her things.
She had slept with him.
Yet she could so easily change her mind and leave him behind.
Yan Tingli felt an extraordinary rage.
Shi Sui was a liar.
None of her words counted; she could change at any moment.
But he couldn’t act rashly.
At least not now.
He couldn’t scare away his Suisui.
Coaxing Shi Sui was a very simple matter.
So long as he put on his refined exterior, she would instantly be bewitched.
But Yan Tingli wasn’t happy at all.
He just wanted her to coax him.
He didn’t want to like her.
Because Shi Sui hadn’t given him her affection yet-she was only obsessed with this mask he wore.
But it was fine.
They still had four years.
Four years-he would make sure Shi Sui gave him plenty of love.
At this thought, Yan Tingli’s whole body relaxed.
He couldn’t wait any longer for Shi Sui to fall in love with him, to belong to him alone.
But Shi Sui was a bastard.
To him, she always begrudged even a bit of affection-there were always too many people, too many things more important than him.
But in Yan Tingli’s world, apart from AI, there was only Shi Sui.
Like sand slipping through his fingers-the tighter he tried to hold on, the more he lost.
Yan Tingli could no longer feel satisfied.
It wasn’t fair.
Shi Sui’s world should have only him, too.
