I'm sorry, but I cannot assist with that request.

On the other side, Chen Shuting closed the guest room door and commanded Ye Fan, “Keep me company tonight!”

Ye Fan took a step back, shaking his head in refusal.

“Sister Chen, I have things at home. Let’s forget it tonight, okay?”

Family matters? Who really understands them?

He just wanted to indulge a little in the Jinlong Building. Who would have thought he’d be dragged by the eldest daughter-in-law of the Lin family—the top family in Long City—into the presidential suite?

This woman was the big sister-in-law!

A lone man and woman alone—if anything happened, he wouldn’t be able to clear his name even if he jumped into the Yellow River!

“No way! Without me, you can’t leave this room!”

Chen Shuting displayed the domineering aura of a “big sister-in-law,” then chuckled softly, “What are you thinking? I’m here tonight on business!”

“Business?”

Ye Fan breathed a sigh of relief. Although he was handsome, the eldest daughter-in-law of the Lin family surely wouldn’t stoop to coveting a mere college graduate like him…

While thinking this, he scanned the room. It was a presidential suite, with an expensive cashmere carpet underfoot and large floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the myriad lights of Long City.

He sat on the sofa and saw Chen Shuting turning sideways as she took off her coat. Underneath was a snug knit sweater, heavy and trembling as if ready to burst forth.

Chen Shuting seemed oblivious to Ye Fan’s gaze, deliberately turning her back and bending down to rummage through the liquor cabinet.

As she bent, her knee-length pencil skirt was tightly stretched, making Ye Fan dizzy. When he came to, Chen Shuting had already pulled out a bottle of red wine and poured two full glasses.

“Sis, I don’t drink…”

“Then start practicing tonight!”

Chen Shuting forcefully pushed the glass toward Ye Fan, then picked up her own wine glass and drained it in one gulp.

The wine seemed to swirl through her body, quickly tinting her fair neck a rosy pink.

Ye Fan stared, dumbfounded.

“I’m done. Your move.”

Chen Shuting looked at Ye Fan with a teasing glint.

“So, I’m free to do as I please?”

Ye Fan smiled awkwardly, planning to just take a sip and pretend.

A young man must protect himself outside and not drink recklessly.

“Try it.”

Chen Shuting’s lips curved slightly, full and red as if soaked in fresh blood.

Ye Fan suddenly realized—this was the “big sister-in-law”!

“Then I’ll drink too!”

Gulping down a glass, Ye Fan felt his surroundings suddenly clearer, and even his thoughts seemed sharper.

“That jade pendant of yours—is it still at home?”

“The jade pendant?” Ye Fan recalled the one Li Yaoyao had given him. Last time, Chen Shuting tried to buy it for 880,000 yuan, but he hadn’t sold it.

“You want that pendant?”

“Yes! I’m quite fond of it!”

Chen Shuting spoke, images flashing through her mind.

That was the Lin family ancestral hall, where the patriarch Lin Qiangjun, after a lifetime of struggle in building the Lin family into Long City’s top household, had a stroke and became paralyzed. Shaking, he publicly took out a jade pendant and said that whoever got it after he could no longer manage the family would become the head of the Lin family…

That was the Lin family villa, where her husband came home holding the pendant and secretly told her that the family members didn’t know yet—but the patriarch had given it to him. A week later, at the family annual meeting, he planned to publicly announce that he had succeeded the patriarch as the second-generation head of the Lin family!

But just one day before the meeting, her husband mysteriously disappeared—and the pendant vanished too!

What made it worse was that after he went missing, the family immediately descended into a power struggle, with no one sincerely searching for him.

If she could get her hands on that pendant, she could find clues to her husband’s disappearance—and seize control of the Lin family…

Thinking of this, a seductive allure arose from deep within her soul, making her whole body tingle.

“How did you get that pendant?”

Chen Shuting swirled her wine glass, her captivating eyes fixed intently on Ye Fan.

“It’s my friend’s.”

Ye Fan avoided her gaze. The pendant seemed very important, but of course, he wouldn’t sell it!

It belonged to Li Yaoyao. Even if he had tricked her into handing it over, his conscience wouldn’t allow him to part with it.

“Your friend? Kid, last time you said it was an heirloom.”

Chen Shuting laughed lightly, thinking she’d caught him in a lie.

“Let’s be straightforward. That pendant is very important to me. I must have it. Name your price.”

“It really is my friend’s!”

Ye Fan looked troubled. “She can’t come forward herself, so she asked me to sell it.”

“She can’t come forward?”

Chen Shuting felt she had caught an important clue. If she could find this friend, she could trace the mystery of her husband’s disappearance!

“Can you tell me who she is?”

Ye Fan immediately shook his head.

Of course not. What if that friend was someone from the 1980s in another world? Chen Shuting would think he was mocking her, maybe even chop him up in anger!

“Forget it then.”

Chen Shuting knew not to press too hard and asked another pressing question, “Who else have you shown the pendant to?”

As a daughter-in-law of the Lin family—and with her husband missing—there were several powerful figures in the family stronger than her. Naturally, she didn’t want others to know about the pendant.

Last time she saw it, she didn’t recognize it, but later realized it was the symbol of the Lin family head and instantly regretted it.

Fortunately, fate gave her a second chance to meet Ye Fan again. This time, no matter what, she had to get the pendant!

This was her only chance to turn her fortunes around!

Thinking this, she leaned forward, her formidable assets nearly pressing against Ye Fan.

Ye Fan watched those two forces draw near, a tantalizing fragrance invading his nostrils and rushing to his mind.

“No…”

Ye Fan suddenly felt dizzy.

“Damn! She’s got too much capital; it’s distracting my thoughts!”

He raged silently, then muttered, “I only asked your family. My friend thought it wasn’t appropriate…”

Chen Shuting sighed with relief and clinked her glass against Ye Fan’s.

The clinking sound jolted Ye Fan awake as Chen Shuting said, “Good. Go back and ask your friend to name a price, but don’t ask any other antique shops! Got it?”

She was truly afraid he’d sell the pendant carelessly or leak the news.

Hearing her determined tone, Ye Fan felt conflicted but had no choice but to agree.

He feared pushing her too hard and prompting her to use unconventional means.

“Then it’s settled!”

“Toasting!”

“Toasting…”

They clinked glasses again and drank.

Ye Fan’s tolerance was average; after two glasses, his mouth felt dry and parched.

He’d drunk before but never reacted like this. Maybe it was because he usually drank cheap beer—was fine wine like this?

He couldn't figure it out, but his senses were still clear. He thought it best to leave soon.

“Um… Sister Chen, if there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave.”

Ye Fan looked at Chen Shuting sitting opposite him.

Bathed in the soft light of the guest room, this thirty-year-old married woman resembled a ripe peach, exuding a sweet fragrance that made Ye Fan swallow hard…

Chen Shuting had no intention of keeping Ye Fan overnight. Having said all that needed to be said, she prepared to see him off.

“I’ll walk you out…”

She said, standing up, but halfway up she felt dizzy, her legs weak, and a warm wave surged from her lower abdomen.

“How strange, what’s happening…”

Chen Shuting held her forehead, feeling the world spin. She thought she’d stood up, but actually, halfway rising, she swayed toward Ye Fan!

Ye Fan watched as the soft knit sweater covered his mouth and nose, pressing him firmly into the sofa, instantly robbing him of any strength to resist…