Chapter 18: Leave One on Your Neck

Shi Ran’s back was pressed against the car door.

Chu Jinchen’s right arm was stretched out, his hand pressing against the car window beside her.

She glanced up.

The lighting in the car was dim, but she could still see his smiling black eyes.

Her lips parted slightly. Just as she was about to speak, Chu Jinchen reached out with his other hand.

She turned her face away to avoid it.

But there was too little room to move so there was no avoiding it.

Shi Ran pursed her lips and moved her hand at her side.

Just as she was about to make a move, he placed his slightly cold palm on the side of her neck and rubbed the artery with his thumb till she felt some tingling and numbness.

She stiffened.

When they first met, Chu Jinchen had done something similar in the bathtub.

He had almost crushed her wrist then.

‘And now…?’

Shi Ran’s body tensed up warily.

If Chu Jinchen moved again, she would fight back.

The stroking stopped.

Her gaze sharpened.

In the next moment, Chu Jinchen retracted his hand.

Shi Ran looked over, puzzled.

All she could see was his thumb which had turned red.

It was blood.

“You didn’t even see the blood on your neck?” Chu Jinchen raised his eyebrows and said casually.

Suddenly, he laughed and said teasingly. “What did you think I was going to do?”

“Nothing,” Shi Ran said while maintaining her usual expression.

“Oh?” Chu Jinchen raised his voice, his obsidian black eyes landing back on Shi Ran’s fair neck.

He continued in his deep voice. “You left a mark on my neck last time. Courtesy demands reciprocity. Should I leave one for you, too?”

Of course, Shi Ran wanted to refuse.

If this was the period of the Supreme Alliance, she would have punched him and taught him a lesson.

But this was in the book.

This man was the biggest villain in the book. He had a powerful background and was petty and vengeful.

She could not afford to offend him now.

As her thoughts raced, she suddenly turned around and exposed her neck to Chu Jinchen. “You can leave one.”

Her attitude was so forthright that it would have raised the eyebrows of some people.

As Chu Jinchen approached, his warm breath landed on her tender neck, causing it to tingle.

The temperature in the car rose. The heat spread from her neck and stained her snow-white earlobes red.

His breath got closer and closer.

Shi Ran’s eyes flickered as she secretly grabbed the corner of her clothes. Actually, she was not as calm as she appeared.

When she was in the Supreme Alliance, it was not that no one wanted to introduce men to her, but it was simply because she had no interest then.

Therefore, the only time she had been so close to a man was when they were fighting.

What happened last time in the bathtub was merely an accident. At that time, she was drugged so her mind was muddled.

But now…

Her nose was filled with the mint scent of the man.

The man’s soft black hair brushed against her chin from time to time, tickling her.

The man’s breath was already on her neck so his lips would be on her skin any second.

“Haha.”

A muffled laugh escaped Chu Jinchen’s throat.

He pulled away suddenly and returned to his seat, his eyes filled with amusement.

Shi Ran frowned slightly.

Chu Jinchen was deliberately teasing her.

Realizing this, Shi Ran actually felt relieved.

Chu Jinchen rested on his driving wheel, his hand supporting his chin as the street lamp outside the window shone on his face, revealing a faint smile on his face.

“There are no more than fifty top hosts in the Jade Hunter Nightclub and they’ve all signed indentures so even if they die, they can only die in the Jade Hunter Nightclub. They simply can’t leave.”

Shi Ran was surprised.

Chu Jinchen actually knew what she was thinking.

She had originally thought of bringing Qi Le away from the Jade Hunter.

‘Isn’t it just about money? It’s not like I don’t have any.’

But when she looked into Qi Le’s eyes, she could not say it.

It would have been the ultimate insult to Qi Le if she’d said anything about financially supporting him or giving him money.

“Liao Feng is nothing compared to the boss behind the Jade Hunter Nightclub. With your abilities, dealing with Liao Feng won’t be a problem. But the boss of the Jade Hunter… not for the time being.”

‘For the time being?’

Chu Jinchen sure had confidence in her.

The words seemed to remind her, but…

‘Drunk men have ulterior motives.’

“I might not be able to defeat Liao Feng. Even if I’m still in the Shi family, the Shi family and the Chenfeng Group still have differences in their level, like that of ants and elephants.” Shi Ran shrugged.

“Is that so?” Chu Jinchen raised his eyebrows, then nodded in agreement, “The old Shi Ran indeed would not be able to win.”

Shi Ran felt a chill inside, but the confused her still asked. “What do you mean?”

“You’ve succeeded in your metamorphosis now, haven’t you?”

Chu Jinchen’s words did not sound wrong at first.

However, she knew very well that Chu Jinchen was suspecting her!

Her personality was indeed very different from the original owner of this body, including how she acted the last time she fought with Shi Wenfei on Weibo.

The original owner of this body had no relationship with Chu Jinchen.

Yet, Chu Jinchen was actually able to determine that she was not the original owner of this body based on the information on paper.

Even the Shi family, who were familiar with the original Shi Ran, did not realize that she was different. They all thought that she had found someone to back her.

Shi Ran’s eyes met Chu Jinchen’s black eyes.

The man was frighteningly intelligent and alert.

How could such a man be dead at the age of 30?

Other than natural disasters or illness, she could not think of anyone who could kill this man.

She leaned back in her seat and said nothing more.

The more she said, the more mistakes she would make.

Moreover, she could tell that although Chu Jinchen suspected her, he did not intend to probe further.

“Your handwriting has changed a lot. It’s different from Shi Ran’s,” Chu Jinchen suddenly said.

Shi Ran glanced coldly at Chu Jinchen. “Caring too much might decrease one’s longevity.”

She could tell the man was just teasing her.

‘Such bad taste. No wonder he died young.’

Chu Jinchen lowered his head and laughed as if pleasure was pouring out of his mouth.

Shi Ran was speechless.

How could he be happy even when someone said he could die young.

He was definitely a pervert!

As soon as the car arrived at the entrance of Shi Ran’s apartment, she couldn’t wait to get out of the car and left without even saying goodbye.

Chu Jinchen sat in the car and waited for her figure to disappear from sight before saying calmly, “To the ancestral mansion.”

When Shi Ran returned home, she finally could relax completely.

She glanced at the document Ji Wenfeng had sent her.

It was about the training schedule for the following week.

As expected, the lineup was full.

The time soon came to a week later.

Throughout the week, Shi Ran had been going out at eight in the morning to start training at the company at nine and leaving the company only at nine-thirty in the evening.

Training included all aspects. They were all compulsory training courses for artistes.

One day, Shi Ran was called into Ji Wenfeng’s office when she had just completed her afternoon training.

“Your training these days has been going well. You’ve improved very quickly. I can’t even tell that you were so useless back then,” Ji Wenfeng said with satisfaction.

In his working state, he did not show any obsession with looks like he had when they first met.

Shi Ran sat down in the chair opposite Ji Wenfeng.

She was not surprised by Ji Wenfeng’s praise.

Since she had been an actress in her previous life, acting wasn’t difficult for her. Hence, it’s only natural for her acting to be different from the original Shi Ran’s.

“We can stop with the training for now. You’ve worked hard these past few days so I’ve prepared a gift for you.”

With that, Ji Wenfeng took something out of the drawer and handed it to Shi Ran.

It was a script.

Although it was called a script, it had actually just a few pages.

‘The Chained Palace?’

Shi Ran rubbed the dry paper with her fingertips.

In the original book, the female lead character, Shi Wenfei, had relied on this drama to win an award and successfully become an A-list actress.

At that time, the original owner of this body, the original Shi Ran, had already been sold as a slave. Hence, the female lead’s career was at its peak.

Seeing that Shi Ran was silent, Ji Wenfeng thought that she felt that she had too few scenes.

“Although it’s a small role, this is Director Guo’s television drama. You should know Director Guo Baokang, right?” Ji Wenfeng asked.