Volume One, Chapter 19: A Spring Dream

Jiang Yao hurriedly spoke first, “Mr. Property Manager, it’s me, sorry, we were just fooling around, haha...”
The manager hesitated.
On the phone, Miss Shen’s voice didn’t sound nearly as affected.
Still, Jiang Yao managed to send the property manager away.
Shen Zhaowu didn’t stop her; she glanced around the apartment, her eyes gradually growing cold.
She asked, “Miss Jiang, do you know how much this apartment is worth now?”
Jiang Yao had no idea.
Shen Zhaowu laughed icily. “Do you know how much these necklaces and designer bags I’ve collected are worth?”
Again, Jiang Yao didn’t know.
But she was well-versed in generosity with other people’s things.
If these things belonged to her, she would never be so generous as to give them to her colleagues.
It was precisely because Jiang Yao couldn’t have them that she didn’t want Shen Zhaowu to have them either. Even Jiang Yao herself wasn’t fully aware of these dark thoughts.
At this point, the colleagues sensed the awkward atmosphere and quickly scattered.
Only Wang Shuang lingered at the door, when Shen Zhaowu’s languid, melodious voice drifted over, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you: stealing goods worth more than thirty thousand counts as grand larceny and carries up to three years in prison, you know~”
Wang Shuang gritted her teeth, shooting Shen Zhaowu a venomous look.
She reluctantly removed the necklace, the diamond ring, and, with great pain, set down the limited-edition pink Lady Dior bag, then hurried away in her heels, thoroughly humiliated.
Withdrawing her gaze, Shen Zhaowu looked calmly at Jiang Yao.
“So, Second Brother gave you the key? When you’re not going home after work, you stay here?” No wonder when she’d heard Jiang Yao was moving to Zhujiang Road, Shen Hanchuan had looked so guilty.
Jiang Yao stammered, “Sister Chaochao, please don’t blame Second Brother. He just feels sorry for me, and, well, you don’t really need this apartment anyway, do you...?”
“Heh,” Shen Zhaowu let out an incredulous laugh, “I see you’re quite the expert at shamelessness.”
Jiang Yao didn’t understand.
She lowered her head, sniffling softly. “Sister Chaochao, what do you mean by that?”
Shen Zhaowu replied, “Because you’re both thick-skinned and utterly shameless.”
Jiang Yao’s face turned crimson.
She twisted her fingers, unable to think of a single retort.
Shen Zhaowu smiled faintly, her expression particularly sincere. “Enough, you hopeless illiterate. Even if you studied for another two years, you wouldn’t have my brains.”
Jiang Yao, who’d dropped out of middle school because she couldn’t keep up: “...” So angry, it felt like she’d been stabbed in the lungs.
Seeing Jiang Yao fuming, her face red with rage, Shen Zhaowu giggled. “Don’t be mad, I have good news for you—want to hear it?”

“What is it?”
“This apartment—I’m done with it.”
“Really?” Jiang Yao’s eyes lit up.
Shen Zhaowu nodded. “Of course. I’ve decided to sell it to you. I just did the math: it’s about seventy-two million nine hundred sixty thousand. I’ll even knock off thirty cents for you—am I generous or what?”
Jiang Yao’s expression froze. “How—how much?”
“Seventy-two million nine hundred sixty thousand. WeChat or Alipay?”
“...”
Jiang Yao burst into tears and ran away.
That night, a damp, muddy rainstorm swept through Haicheng.
Shen Zhaowu found a random hotel to spend the night; the Zhujiang Road apartment had been trashed by Jiang Yao, and she had no desire to stay there.
During the day, Zhou Jingdu’s devilishly handsome face kept lingering in her mind, haunting her like a vengeful ghost.
So like that lunatic’s style...
Agitated, Shen Zhaowu closed her eyes and drifted into sleep.
She had a strange dream.
In the dream, she was perfectly lucid. Looking down, she saw she was dressed in a maid’s outfit trimmed with bows, her long, fair legs exposed and flawless.
The skirt was so short that bending over would reveal everything.
Yet her posture was powerless—she lay draped over a desk, her delicate waist pressed tightly against the cold tabletop, sending a shiver through her, a blend of shame and tingling excitement.
If she weren’t so conscious, it might not have been so bad—unfortunately, she was completely aware!
Was this an erotic dream??
In the dream, Shen Zhaowu couldn’t move. Suddenly, she felt a chill below her, as a large, hot hand lifted her skirt. “!!!”
A second later, a man’s searing body pressed up against her.
A potent masculine scent enveloped her. She felt the sides of her dress being tugged tight, pulled forcefully to the center—then came the crisp sound of a zipper.
Oh. He was just helping her zip up.
Shen Zhaowu breathed a sigh of relief and turned to look back—only to meet the man’s unwavering, direct gaze.
—
That face. “Zhou Jingdu?!”
She was shocked. The protagonist of her erotic dream was Zhou Jingdu, that bastard??

So this wasn’t a passionate dream; it was a nightmare... Shen Zhaowu bit her lip, staring at the aloof, devilishly handsome man in front of her, her mind spinning.
“You—you, let go of me—”
Zhou Jingdu frowned impatiently at the woman putting on airs. “Didn’t you say you couldn’t zip up your dress and wanted me to help?”
“Women are so troublesome.”
Flustered, Shen Zhaowu tried to break free, but forgot she was wearing heels; her ankle twisted and she fell straight toward him.
With a tearing sound, the finely tailored black silk shirt was ripped apart.
Her face landed squarely against his firm, warm chest. Shen Zhaowu’s mind went blank. Above her, the man let out a cold laugh. “So desperate for me already?”
“I’m not...”
Staring at his bare, chiseled chest, Shen Zhaowu gave up resisting. If she could disgust Zhou Jingdu in her dream, so much the better. She stubbornly declared,
“Yes, I’m lusting after your body. So what?”
She’d expected Zhou Jingdu to retch with disgust, but instead, in the next second, his burning hand gripped her waist with rough strength, his cool scent enveloping her.
“Let’s see.” His Adam’s apple bobbed, voice hoarse and seductive as he leaned in close, “Let’s see if you’re the one left speechless, or if I can’t handle you.”
With that, Zhou Jingdu scooped her up, his powerful legs striding to the bed, where he tossed her down without the slightest gentleness.
The mattress dipped under his weight as he knelt beside her, his long, sinewy hands idly loosening his tie.
Then, the soft bed sank beneath them; he half-knelt by her side, using his body to part her legs, his large hand grazing the curve of her chest...
Shen Zhaowu’s face was burning, feeling as if smoke were pouring from her ears.
Was Zhou Jingdu always this wild in dreams...?
She murmured, “So hot...”
He seemed to chuckle, raising his face from her chest, suspicious moisture glistening on his lips. “Hot where? Hm?”
Shen Zhaowu opened her mouth—only to find the absurd dream had ended abruptly.
It was already morning.
She took a deep breath, trying to quell the turmoil inside her.
Just then, her phone rang. It was Shen Yanzhou, asking her to come home at once.
She’d meant to refuse, but her mind was in chaos, and she felt the need for a good fight. So she changed tack and agreed, “Alright, I’m coming right now.”
When Shen Zhaowu returned to the Shen residence, she saw a familiar deep black Rolls-Royce parked outside the gate...
A Beijing license plate.