Chapter 21: You are playing with fire, do you realize that?

Nan Xing felt as if she were burning, completely engulfed in flames. The desire surging within her had reached a point of no return.

Suddenly, she collided with something hard. The cold sensation emanating from the person before her offered instant solace. It was like finding a spring in the middle of a desert, and she couldn't help but lean into it.

"Mmm, so cold... so comfortable."

Nan Xing reached out with small, boneless hands, winding them around him like vines.

When the woman suddenly threw herself at him, Li Beitien’s brow furrowed in deep disgust. Just as he reached out to pull her away, Nan Xing looked up. Her eyes were red-rimmed, and she was muttering incoherently. Her peach-blossom eyes were shimmering with moisture, and tears clung to the corners of them. Seeing that it was Nan Xing, a sharp pang of pain pierced deep into Li Beitien’s heart.

In her muddled state, Nan Xing seemed to recognize a familiar face. She let down all her defenses and, unable to control herself, pressed her lips against his. Li Beitien tilted his head slightly, causing her kiss to miss its mark. Dissatisfied, she punched his chest, whimpering with coquettish grievance.

Li Beitien’s face turned icy. He shot a fierce glare toward the direction of the restroom, then changed his motion from pushing her away to wrapping his arms tightly around her waist. Sensing something, he scooped her up into his arms and headed straight for the presidential suite on the top floor.

"What the hell? What is going on here?!" Bo Qijin’s eyes widened, stunned by the rapid succession of events. He trotted eagerly behind Li Beitien, desperate to see what would happen next.

Li Beitien had no time for him. The woman in his arms was burning up, and he had to resolve this as soon as possible. As the elevator doors opened, Li Beitien strode toward the suite, scanned his fingerprint while still holding Nan Xing, and the door clicked open. With a loud *bang*, the door slammed shut, leaving Bo Qijin cruelly locked outside.

"Hey, hey! You really are one for chasing tail and ditching friends, you old Li!" Bo Qijin grumbled, his teeth aching with frustration. He stood outside, panting, one hand on his hip and the other braced against the wall. Having chased after Li Beitien the whole way, he was exhausted. Still, he couldn't help but wonder about the woman he’d caught a glimpse of outside the restroom—she had seemed to glance at him with a strange, lingering look. What was that about?

After resting for half a minute, Bo Qijin peeked through the peephole, but saw nothing. He slumped at the door, lit a cigarette, and couldn't wrap his head around Li Beitien’s bizarre behavior. Could it be that the reason the "iron tree" had never bloomed was because he was into this sort of thing? *You snake! I give you my heart and soul, and you keep secrets from me—you’ve hidden this deep!*

After a bout of grumbling, Bo Qijin pulled his phone from his pocket and opened his pinned WeChat group.

There were seven people in the group, including himself. He found the one nicknamed "Seven-Seven" and sent a friend request.

[Little Seven, it’s Brother Six. I’m at Beixin today. Please approve.]

The message was sent, but it vanished into the void.

Meanwhile, inside the presidential suite, Nan Xing’s phone buzzed in her pocket. Consumed by desire, she paid it no mind; all she wanted was to find that coolness again to lower her feverish temperature. So, when Li Beitien emerged from the bathroom with a damp towel, a flurry of warmth immediately latched onto him.

The woman’s soft, supple body rubbed against him like water. At some point, she had shed her outer clothes, leaving her porcelain shoulders half-exposed. Her breath, hot and ticklish, brushed against him as her slender, pale fingers fumbled blindly over his chest, anxiously working to undo his shirt buttons.

Li Beitien froze, his breath ragged. "Nan Xing, do you know what you’re doing?"

"Mmm, I want... I want you to..." She stood on tiptoe, pressing clumsy, frantic kisses against his cold lips. Her eyes were veiled in a misty haze, and driven by the alcohol and the drug, she voiced her desires with bold, unadulterated honesty.

"You’re playing with fire, you know that?" A low, husky voice rumbled above her. Li Beitien grabbed Nan Xing’s shoulders, his own body already betraying signs of a reaction. "Nan Xing, look clearly at who I am."

Nan Xing’s face was flushed, her alcohol-soaked eyes clouded with mist. Her dark hair fell loosely around her face, and she smelled of fragrance. She mumbled with alluring lips, "You... you are..."

This only made Li Beitien’s headache worse. To make matters worse, Nan Xing’s hands remained restless, rudely and domineeringly undoing his buttons, pulling his shirt hem from his belt, and tracing the firm, powerful muscles of his abdomen.

"Mmm, eight-pack abs. You have such a great body." As she spoke, her small hands moved toward his metal belt buckle.

Li Beitien’s breathing grew scorching hot; he was at his breaking point. His large hand slid down her back to her waist, and he pulled her firmly against him, whispering into her ear with a magnetic, gravelly voice, "Behave. Don't make trouble."

But Nan Xing couldn't hear him; she continued to ignite the flames. Li Beitien’s brow furrowed deeply. If this continued, things would spiral into a situation he couldn't control. With a resolute heart, he scooped her up and carried her into the bathroom.

He turned on the shower, and icy water poured over them from head to toe. Nan Xing was soaked, her long hair plastered to her face, and her curvaceous figure was laid bare before the man standing in front of her.

Li Beitien had never claimed to be a saint. He looked down at Nan Xing, his gaze burning with intensity.

After ten minutes under the cold water, Nan Xing’s consciousness slowly returned, and she began to shiver violently. As the water stopped, she wrapped her arms around her trembling body and looked up, dazed. Li Beitien’s tall, imposing frame came into view.

At the moment their eyes met, a flash of shock crossed Li Beitien’s face, immediately replaced by overwhelming awe. The girl before him had washed away her strange, ugly makeup, revealing a face devoid of any artifice. Even without a trace of powder, she was breathtakingly beautiful. Her skin was as white as snow, her eyes were limpid and shimmering, and her pupils were as dark as stars. The faint flush from the alcohol added an infinite charm to her appearance.

If he had to find a metaphor, her beauty was like a flame in the depths of the dark night—mysterious, arrogant, and incomparable.

She had been disguising her beauty all this time!

"My head hurts so much... What... what happened?" The girl’s uneasy, trembling voice broke the silence. Hearing this, Li Beitien furrowed his brows slightly. "You forgot everything?"

Nan Xing: "..." Was there something she was supposed to remember?

Under Li Beitien’s meaningful gaze, Nan Xing bit her lip and carefully retraced the events. She had snuck a drink when her fifth brother wasn't looking, but that drink was tainted. Then, those disgusting men, Zhang Biao and his cohorts, had cornered her in the restroom, intending to assault her. After that... she had met Li Beitien.

Now, Nan Xing was certain that the drink had been linked to Zhang Biao. She clenched her fists.

"Remember now?"

The low, magnetic voice sounded, and Li Beitien tossed a towel at her. Nan Xing nodded. Seeing several of her own lipstick marks on Li Beitien’s collar, her face flushed red, and she wished she could crawl into a hole and disappear on the spot.