Chapter 64

Chapter 64

Her ankle was caught in someone’s hand. Xia Wanzhi was so tense she hardly dared to breathe. The moment she instinctively tried to pull back, Xie Qiyan applied just a little pressure and drew her foot back again.

“Don’t move.” For some reason, there was a hint of gentleness in his rich voice.

Xia Wanzhi looked around in a panic.

This could not be Xie Qiyan.

“Are you possessed by something?” Xia Wanzhi asked bluntly. Once her shoe was on, she awkwardly lifted the hem of her dress and covered her foot, shoe and all.

Xie Qiyan replied lazily, “Possessed by your boyfriend.”

Xia Wanzhi: “…”

When they returned to the banquet, Xia Wanzhi was still holding Xie Qiyan’s arm. Only this time, the height difference between them was a full twenty centimeters, and standing beside him, she looked like a delicate little wife leaning sweetly on her husband.

Someone came over to offer a toast, probing both openly and subtly into the nature of Xia Wanzhi’s relationship with him.

Xie Qiyan raised a brow and drawled, perfectly unhurried, “My girlfriend.”

The crowd erupted into murmurs once again.

It was perfectly normal to bring a woman to a banquet, but in the past, Xie Qiyan had either come alone or brought his male secretary or male Executive Assistant. Tonight was the first time he had ever appeared with a woman, and she was actually his girlfriend.

And that girlfriend was Xia Wanzhi, who had only recently broken off her engagement with the Zhou Family.

Under the table, Xia Wanzhi pinched his arm.

Now it was really over.

Her innocence was done for.

Xie Qiyan seemed to have no sense of pain at all. She had pinched him so hard, yet he still looked completely unaffected.

“Use a little more strength,” Xie Qiyan said softly, leaning down slightly by her ear.

To everyone else, this was naked flirting.

Upstairs, Jiang Baichuan saw the scene, sucked in a breath, and hurriedly covered his eyes.

He really couldn’t bear to watch.

Xia Wanzhi’s round eyes widened even further.

This time, she was genuinely furious.

She let go of him, snapped a coquettish curse under her breath, and abandoned Xie Qiyan to preen like a peacock all by himself.

Finding a quiet spot, Xia Wanzhi stood on the deck at the bow and took several deep breaths before finally calming the restless heat coursing wildly through her body.

The sea breeze carried over a damp, salty scent. Xia Wanzhi’s gaze went a little unfocused, and her ankle still seemed to retain the warmth of Xie Qiyan’s palm.

What decent man just casually put shoes on a woman like that?

Even now, she still hadn’t fully processed it.

Pressing a finger to the philtrum beneath her nose, Xia Wanzhi desperately wished she could return to dry land right this second.

The sea wind at night was strong. After standing there for quite a while, Xia Wanzhi was chilled by the proud, unrestrained breeze. Just as she lifted the hem of her dress and was about to head back, a woman in a swaying red gown walked toward her.

Xia Wanzhi didn’t know her and assumed she was just passing by.

But this passerby arrogantly blocked her path, curled her lips, and asked, “Are you really Elvis’s girlfriend?”

“No,” Xia Wanzhi said, refusing to accept this inexplicable hostility.

She didn’t know this woman, and she didn’t know any Elvis either.

“I don’t care if it’s true or not. A bankrupt heiress isn’t worthy of him.” The woman reached out to block Xia Wanzhi’s way, then stretched those old-witch red lips into a smile. “I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Sun Xiao, Elvis’s classmate and business partner. Let me offer you a sincere piece of advice: stay away from him.”

“Who you are has nothing to do with me. I don’t know any Elvis or Elvira or whatever. You’ve got the wrong person. If your eyes don’t work, get them treated. If your brain doesn’t work, you should really get that treated too.” Xia Wanzhi had finally managed to sort out her own feelings, only to have this damned woman stir her into irritation all over again. So she simply stopped suppressing her true nature and let loose with a rapid-fire barrage right to the woman’s face.
“What did you say? You savage woman!” Sun Xiao had probably lived abroad for a long time. The first half came out in Chinese, but by the second half, she was so furious that she slipped into English. As she spoke, she grabbed Xia Wanzhi by the arm and yanked.

Xia Wanzhi frowned and instinctively pulled free. When she drew her hand back, the momentum sent her stumbling, and her lower back slammed straight into the railing.

She wasn’t afraid of water, but she was afraid of heights. The gaps in the railing were wide, and for one terrifying instant, Xia Wanzhi thought she was going to fall. Cold sweat broke out all over her.

Where on earth had this crazy woman come from?

“Who is Elvis?” Xia Wanzhi asked, her expression turning serious.

Sun Xiao gave a cold laugh. “Who else? The CEO of Xie Corporation, Xie Qiyan-the man you shamelessly latched onto.”

Xia Wanzhi gritted her teeth. “…”

So after all that, she was one of Xie Qiyan’s rotten admirers.

“Xie Qiyan, huh.” In her heart, Xia Wanzhi cursed eighteen generations of his ancestors. “Don’t know him.”

The instant she looked away, Xia Wanzhi’s gaze turned icy. She added this debt to Xie Qiyan’s account.

She had only taken a few steps when the woman left behind on the deck came after her like she was possessed, chasing her in ten-centimeter heels and grabbing Xia Wanzhi’s arm again. “You people from Beicheng are all schemers. Saying you don’t know him? I saw you go into the same room as him just now!”

“You’re not allowed to leave. Fight me. Whoever wins gets Elvis!” Sun Xiao was more than twice as strong as Xia Wanzhi. She blocked Xia Wanzhi’s path with unreasonable arrogance, clearly determined not to let her go.

Sun Xiao had only returned to the country yesterday. She had planned to use tonight’s banquet to give Xie Qiyan a surprise, only to discover that there was another woman by his side.

She had to teach Xia Wanzhi a lesson.

As if noticing that Xia Wanzhi was afraid of getting close to the railing, a sly gleam flashed through Sun Xiao’s eyes. She deliberately dragged her toward it.

“Let go of me-” Xia Wanzhi’s voice trembled. She freed her other hand and clutched the railing tightly to keep her balance.

Inside the cruise ship, Xie Qiyan had returned to the room and searched around, but Xia Wanzhi was nowhere to be found. He went back to the banquet hall and asked a waiter.

After getting Xia Wanzhi’s exact location, Xie Qiyan casually picked up two glasses of wine and went to find her. Just as his right foot stepped onto the foredeck, a gust of sea breeze hit him, sharpening his senses.

He walked forward, a flash of light reflecting off his lenses. Before he could confirm whether the person not far away was Xia Wanzhi, a terrified cry suddenly reached his ears.

With a splash, waves erupted across the surface of the sea. As someone fell overboard, a cry for help rang out-

“Ah-help-”

Shouting for help was an instinctive reaction. The moment Xia Wanzhi plunged into the sea, her mind went completely blank.

Sun Xiao froze in shock, leaning over the railing to look down. Afraid that someone might actually die, she spun around in a panic and shouted for help.

Even Xia Wanzhi herself hadn’t expected to take such a spectacular fall. As her whole body sank into the sea, she quickly held her breath, kicked her legs, and paddled hard. With a gurgle, her head popped back above the water, and she gasped for air.

Of course. The one thing she feared had happened.

Xia Wanzhi shook out her hair. She had just begun to feel thankful that she knew how to swim when, before she could fully open her eyes, a burst of water exploded beside her ear like a blast of dynamite.

Heavy, ragged breathing sounded beside her. A powerful arm wrapped tightly around Xia Wanzhi’s waist. Realizing it was the person who had jumped in to save her, she instinctively reached out and looped her arms around his neck, driven by sheer survival instinct.

The man floated with her on the sea. His other broad hand cupped her cheek, brushing away the wet seawater for her.

“Xia Wanzhi…”

The rich voice was unmistakably hoarse and trembling.