After ninety-nine online romances, I finally met my ex in person when school started.

He lowered his head, his warm breath hitting Fu Xinghe's open collarbone.

"Professor, you can't just start a fire and then ignore it, can you? I have a short temper, and if I said I wanted it today, it has to be now."

Fu Xinghe's eyes widened in shock at his shameless attempt to shift the blame. He was the one who had been relentlessly pressuring him, so how had it all become his fault?

But she couldn't find the words to refute him. The hormonal aura emanating from Zhu Xun Chuan was too oppressive; the scent, a mixture of cologne and masculine warmth, made her dizzy.

She knew all too well how audacious Zhu Xun Chuan was. The photos of Gu Qing Han and Meng Wan Qing outside the door were proof of this man's utter recklessness. If she didn't give him an explanation today, he was absolutely capable of doing the outrageous thing of taking advantage of her on this National Museum's daybed.

Fu Xinghe's eyes flickered, her mind in turmoil. She bit her rosy lower lip, deciding to try a different strategy.

A direct confrontation is definitely not an option; we can only try to appease him for now.

"You...you close your eyes first." Fu Xinghe turned his face away, his voice barely audible.

Zhu Xun Chuan raised an eyebrow, wondering what tricks this municipal party secretary's daughter was up to, but he still cooperated and closed his eyes.

The lounge was so quiet you could hear someone breathing.

Fu Xinghe took a deep breath, gripping the sheets beneath her tightly. She slowly straightened up, her cheeks flushed crimson. She leaned forward, closed her eyes, and quickly touched Zhu Xun Chuan's cheek with her lips.

"Pop".

A very light, very quick kiss, tinged with awkwardness and obvious perfunctoriness.

Fu Xinghe recoiled as if electrocuted, leaning back against the mahogany backrest, her chest heaving. Her eyes darted away, avoiding Zhu Xun Chuan's face, as she forced herself to speak calmly.

"Okay...alright. I've kept my promise. You can get up now."

She tried to brush off this crisis, which was so superficial it was worse than what a middle school student could do, with a mere superficial gesture that could ruin her reputation.

Zhu Xunchuan opened his eyes.

He looked at Fu Xinghe, who was huddled in the corner, disheveled but trying to appear calm, and his mouth stretched from ear to ear in a wide grin.

"Professor," Zhu Xun Chuan's eyes darkened, "Are you trying to fool me like a child begging for candy?"

Just as Fu Xinghe was about to speak in her defense, Zhu Xunchuan didn't give her a chance at all.

He suddenly reached out and grabbed Fu Xinghe by the back of the head, forcibly pulling her towards him. With his other hand, he wrapped his arms around her slender waist and silenced her still-arguing red lips with a kiss.

"Well……"

Caught off guard, Fu Xinghe let out a short, muffled groan.

This wasn't the tentative, half-hearted kiss from before. It was a deep, untamed kiss, brimming with masculine primal urges and leaving no room for retreat.

Zhu Xun Chuan pried open her lips and teeth, his tongue plunging deep inside, greedily claiming her scent. His hands followed the smooth silk fabric of her cheongsam, kneading the curves of her back forcefully, pressing her tightly against his chest.

Fu Xinghe's eyes widened instantly. She tried to push Zhu Xunchuan away, slapping his broad shoulders wildly with both hands. But her strength was no match for Zhu Xunchuan's, barely more than a cat's scratch.

Soon, her resistance proved futile.

Her brain went into a state of chaos due to lack of oxygen. That tingling, electric sensation shot from her tailbone straight to the top of her head, robbing her of all reason.

Fu Xinghe's hands slowly lost their strength, eventually uncontrollably climbing onto Zhu Xunchuan's neck. She let out a soft, sticky moan and completely collapsed into Zhu Xunchuan's arms.

Time loses its meaning in this enclosed lounge.

A full ten minutes.

When Zhu Xun Chuan finally released her, Fu Xing He was completely paralyzed like a pool of spring water.

She leaned on Zhu Xun Chuan's arm, her moon-white cheongsam completely disheveled. An alluring blush tinged her eyes, and her once cool and dignified gaze was now misty, filled with a hazy, starry look, making it impossible for her to distinguish east from west.

She was breathing heavily, her fair chest heaving violently with each breath, as if it might break free from the constraints of her silk bra at any moment.

"Now that the interest has been collected," Zhu Xun Chuan reached out and wiped away the strand of saliva from the corner of her lips with his fingertip. "It's time to talk about the principal."

His hand slipped under the hem of the cheongsam and touched the delicate skin on the outside of Fu Xinghe's thigh.

The scalding touch sent a shiver down Fu Xinghe's spine. Reason finally forced its way back to him at that moment.

She grabbed Zhu Xun Chuan's mischievous hand, and tears welled up instantly, swirling in her eyes.

"No... Xun Chuan, I beg you, not here."

Fu Xinghe's voice was choked with sobs. She pressed her hands tightly against Zhu Xunchuan's chest, her defenses on the verge of collapse.

"Everything I just said is true. The Fu family has extremely strict discipline, and I've never crossed that line since I was a child. My first time... must be saved for our wedding night. This is my bottom line. If you force me today, I won't be able to face anyone tomorrow."

This usually aloof and high-ranking daughter of a municipal party committee member, and the academic community's recognized ice queen, abandoned all her pride at this moment, pleading with the man in front of her in an extremely pitiful manner.

The more dignified she appears, the more vulnerable she seems, and the more it inspires the desire to destroy her completely.

Zhu Xun Chuan stopped moving when he saw the tears falling from her eyes.

He wasn't a beast, nor did he like to use force. He knew very well that if he forced a woman like Fu Xinghe, who was traditional to the core, to cross that line, it would only drive her to the brink and completely destroy the relationship.

The essence of the tug-of-war lies in forcing her to compromise when there is only a sliver of hope.

"Okay." Zhu Xun Chuan withdrew his hand and sat up straight on the daybed.

He leaned against the rosewood armrest, crossed his legs, and pointed to himself.

"I know the rules, it's our wedding night, right? I won't cross your line." Zhu Xun Chuan's tone turned cold, tinged with frustration. "But as I just said, you're the one who started this. Now you've provoked me like this, and I'm feeling incredibly uncomfortable."

He stared at Fu Xinghe with an extremely imposing gaze.

"You can decide what to do. If you can't let me walk out of this door comfortably today, I guarantee the whole school will know tomorrow that a specially appointed professor was seducing a freshman in the National Museum's lounge."

Fu Xinghe was stunned.

Seeing Zhu Xun Chuan's obviously abnormal physical condition, she knew he wasn't lying. Being forcibly interrupted in that situation was indeed extremely uncomfortable for a man.

He was indeed in the wrong. He used Gu Qinghan and Meng Wanqing as shields, agreed to the bet, but then went back on his word and held firm to his bottom line at the last minute.

But how can we make him feel comfortable without taking that final step?

Although Fu Xinghe lacked practical experience, she was, after all, an adult. Some obscure terms she had previously encountered in health and hygiene textbooks or overheard from female colleagues gossiping flashed through her mind.

Just thinking about those images made this well-read professor feel extremely ashamed and absurd.

But compared to actually losing one's innocence here, those methods seem... not so unacceptable.

The lounge was deathly silent.

Fu Xinghe bit his lip, his eyes struggling for a full two minutes.

In the end, she seemed to have made some kind of extremely difficult decision.

She slowly straightened up. Her exquisite face flushed crimson, even her slender neck was tinged with pink. She dared not look into Zhu Xun Chuan's eyes, her gaze fixed on the wood grain of the daybed, her voice trembling uncontrollably.

"I...I've heard some things about that..."

Fu Xinghe stammered as she spoke, each word sounding like a slow, agonizing torture of the dignified upbringing she had received since childhood.

"Besides the first time... I... I can help you in other ways, is that... okay?"

The moment those words were spoken, the air instantly became viscous, as if it could be drawn into threads.

The usually aloof and proud daughter of the municipal party committee actually made such a request. This intense sense of immorality and the shock of the contrast were even more devastating than simply punishing her.

Zhu Xun Chuan's heart skipped a beat when he saw her extremely ashamed yet obedient appearance, which she had no choice but to lower her head.

He suppressed a smile and pretended to be reluctant.

"Alright then." Zhu Xunchuan nodded vigorously. "Okay, then I'll trouble you, Professor."

The voice just fell.

Fu Xinghe took a deep breath. Dragging her disheveled, moon-white cheongsam, she slid off the edge of the bed.

She held onto the edge of the heavy rosewood bookcase with one hand, her knees bent.

Under Zhu Xun Chuan's ardent gaze, the specially appointed professor from Peking University slowly squatted down.