Chapter 253 - Tenderness

Ye Fan returned to the presidential suite at the Dingsheng International Hotel and saw Lu Xiaoman dressed in a thin silk nightgown sitting on the living room sofa, watching television.

Lu Xiaoman, hearing the noise, immediately turned her head to look and, seeing that it was Ye Fan returning, stood up to greet him, calling out “Ye Fan.”

But before she could approach him, a strong stench of blood hit her, almost making her vomit, and she stopped in her tracks.

Ye Fan took a couple of steps back and said nonchalantly, “I smell a bit too strongly of blood on me; you go back and sit on the sofa.

I’ll go take a shower.”

“I’m sorry, Ye Fan,” Lu Xiaoman said with a sense of shame.

Although she didn’t intend to repel Ye Fan because of the blood on him, her innocent experiences thus far couldn’t withstand the intense bloody stench.

Ye Fan smiled warmly and said, “No need to apologize, I understand.

Go back and sit down.”

Lu Xiaoman replied with a yes, but stood still.

Ye Fan chuckled while eyeing Lu Xiaoman’s slender figure accentuated by her close-fitting silk nightgown.

Feeling the somewhat scorching gaze from Ye Fan, Lu Xiaoman’s cheeks flushed red, and she stammered an explanation, “My clothes… were too dirty, so, so…”

By the end of her sentence, she had completely lowered her head, not only her cheeks but her ears and snowy neck were also tinged with a blush.

Ye Fan, looking at Lu Xiaoman’s shy demeanor, really wanted to step forward and embrace her, but thinking of the bloodstains on himself, he restrained himself.

“Ha-ha, I understand, ha-ha-ha, I’m going to shower, we’ll talk later.” He laughed heartily and headed to the master bedroom.

After Ye Fan went to take a shower, Lu Xiaoman calmed down and walked back to sit on the sofa.

Though facing the television, her focus wasn’t on the screen but rather lost in thought about certain concerns.

Tonight, Ye Fan’s impact on her was too substantial, far exceeding the experiences of her lifetime.

That intense smell of blood from earlier was likely due to a savage struggle that had just happened outside.

“Ye Fan, who are you?

Can I, someone so ordinary, really be with you?” She couldn’t help but question herself, feeling more and more insecure.

Ye Fan took a full twenty minutes or more to finish his shower.

Dressed in a clean, fragrant sleepwear, Ye Fan walked to the living room.

Walking toward the sofa, he casually asked with a smile, “What are you watching?”

“The Langya List, it’s quite a good drama series,” Lu Xiaoman replied, looking up at Ye Fan.

“Oh,” Ye Fan acknowledged and sat down on another sofa.

At that moment, Lu Xiaoman stood up, went over to the water dispenser, filled a cup of warm water, and brought it over to Ye Fan, saying softly, “Are you thirsty?

Have some water.”

“Mhm, thank you.” Ye Fan smiled, taking the water cup and began to drink.

Lu Xiaoman’s delicate body gently sat down next to Ye Fan, then she softly nestled against him.

After Ye Fan finished drinking the water, he set the cup aside and gently wrapped his arm around Lu Xiaoman’s lithe waist.

Both of them tacitly remained silent, quietly savoring this rare moment of tenderness.

Ye Fan didn’t know whether he would still have the chance to cuddle intimately with Lu Xiaoman after he told her the parts of his identity she was allowed to know.

Lu Xiaoman didn’t know if she would still have the confidence to snuggle up to Ye Fan once she found out his true identity.

Tonight, just silently enjoy the last peace before everything changes.

The two of them cuddled until after one in the morning before finally separating and returning to their rooms to rest.

The next morning, after Ye Fan got up and finished washing, he walked into the living room to find that Lu Xiaoman was already up, sitting on the sofa waiting for him.

Lu Xiaoman was still wearing the clothes from the day before, but they had been washed in the washing machine and dried in the dryer.

“Good morning, Sister Xiaoman,” Ye Fan greeted with a smile, “Did you sleep well last night?

No nightmares, right?”

Lu Xiaoman smiled back, “Good morning to you too.

I slept alright last night, without any dreams.”

Ye Fan looked at Lu Xiaoman’s complexion, which seemed quite lively; she must not have been unsettled by the kidnapping experience to have nightmares.

He couldn’t help but admire Lu Xiaoman’s mental strength.

If it was some other woman, they might have had trouble sleeping for a month, haunted by continuous nightmares.

“You’ll come to work with me at the company today,” Ye Fan said, worried that the Qing Wolf gang members might seek revenge on Lu Xiaoman in broad daylight, “Don’t go anywhere else for now.”

Lu Xiaoman hesitated, “But I was thinking of getting the work contract signed with Shi Sheng early today.”

She felt her luck was truly poor, so she couldn’t relax until the contract was signed.

“Haha, don’t worry.

Shi Sheng is my good friend.

If he dares to go back on his word, isn’t he afraid I’d beat him until he couldn’t even recognize his own mother?” Ye Fan said with a smile, “If you’re really uneasy, I’ll call him and have him come personally to the Emali Group Building to sign the contract with you.

It would be somewhat like imitating the ancient story of Liu Bei visiting the thatched cottage three times.”

Lu Xiaoman’s face flushed slightly, and she replied, looking down, “Alright then.

But let’s not trouble Shi Sheng to come to the company.

He agreed to let me help manage the martial arts gym because of your face; we should not be ungrateful.”

Having thought a lot last night, she knew that Shi Sheng’s offer for her to be the general manager of the martial arts gym was partly because he really needed someone to run it comprehensively, but the main reason was her relationship with Ye Fan.

Otherwise, Shi Sheng could have chosen someone with extensive experience and deep connections.

Even though she knew she got the job because of Ye Fan, she didn’t plan to turn it down.

Because she felt that if she remained content as an obscure white-collar worker, the gap between her and Ye Fan would never close, and she would always be looking up to Ye Fan, which was definitely not what she wanted.

Therefore, after deciding to take on the position of general manager of the martial arts gym, she was determined to manage it to the best of her ability.

She wanted to not only manage the gym well but also open one, two, three chain gyms and even expand them nationwide.

Ye Fan had no idea about Lu Xiaoman’s plan; in fact, he was more worried that Lu Xiaoman might refuse the position of general manager due to her strong and sensitive pride.

Now hearing that Lu Xiaoman cared about the position, he silently heaved a sigh of relief.

Driving to the company building, Ye Fan entered his office.

After saying good morning to Hu Jing, he sat down at his desk and took out his phone to compose a message.

“Your housekeeper Auntie Liao is not to be trusted; you should be more careful yourself.”

Having written the message, Ye Fan sent it to Li Zhaojun.

Although they were going to divorce in less than two months, he still felt obliged to inform Li Zhaojun about what he knew; whether she believed it or not was her concern.

Li Zhaojun was already busy in her office, a mess of papers around her.

When Ye Fan’s message arrived, she could only glance at it in haste, snorted coldly without giving it much thought, and continued to focus on her work.

About fifteen minutes later, there was a sudden urgent knocking on the door.

“Come in,” she said while approving documents.

The door opened, and her assistant Wang Siyan rushed in, exclaiming, “Director Li, something bad has happened—Ye Fan is fighting someone in the company!”

In fact, such a minor issue was not worth alerting Li Zhaojun, but since Wang Siyan knew that Ye Fan and Li Zhaojun might be cousins, she hurried to report it.

Upon hearing this, Li Zhaojun abruptly looked up and slammed her pen onto the desk; her beautiful face instantly darkened as she burst out angrily, “Ye Fan, at this point in time, can’t you give me a moment’s peace!”