"Hah!"
With a sharp, explosive exhale, Hu Yifei's open palm struck the reinforced wooden training dummy squarely in its center. The solid timber cracked with a deafening splinter, scattering jagged shards across the rubber mats.
Adrian Li's brow twitched slightly as he watched the splintered timber tumble to the floor. 'The woman truly lives up to her reputation as a force of nature. If that palm strike had landed on an ordinary human chest, pulverized ribs and crushed internal organs would be the absolute baseline.'
"You seem to be carrying a rather heavy temper today, Yifei," Adrian noted, stepping across the training floor with an easy, measured stride.
"It's nothing," Yifei deflected quickly, wiping a light sheen of perspiration from her forehead. "The UFC tournament is approaching. I simply need to sharpen my form."
"Do not try to brush me off," Adrian smiled, closing the distance between them. Before she could step back, he caught her right wrist, sliding his fingers down to clasp her hand firmly in his own.
Given the hours she invested into martial arts conditioning every day, one would expect her palms to be covered in coarse, hardened calluses. In reality, her skin was remarkably fair and porcelain-smooth, possessing a jade-like warmth that belied the devastating force behind her strikes. Even Adrian's own hands bore faint calluses between thumb and index finger from firearms training, making her pristine skin an intriguing biological mystery.
"Tell me. What is genuinely troubling you?" Adrian asked, his voice low, steady, and commanding.
Yifei let out a long, deflated sigh, her fierce posture slumping. "Guan Gu suddenly packed his bags and returned to Japan... and Youyou went with him."
Everyone in the building had understood that Sekiya was Japanese and that his ancestral obligations would eventually draw him back across the sea. Yet his sudden departure in the wake of Lu Ziqiao and Chen Meijia absconding with the rent money had struck the apartment like a seismic shock. In the span of a few short months, the tight-knit social fabric of their daily life had unraveled into ghosts.
"The moon has its cycles, and human relationships have their seasons," Adrian comforted her softly, his thumb gently brushing across the back of her knuckles. "A rental apartment is inherently transitory. People arrive, lives intersect, and paths diverge. Moving on is the most natural outcome in the world."
Yifei exerted a subtle burst of strength to pull her hand back, but Adrian's grip was like forged iron—gentle, yet entirely unyielding. Realizing she couldn't break free without instigating an all-out physical brawl, she allowed him to hold her fingers.
Over the past weeks, she had crossed paths with Adrian nearly every time she entered the facility. With her sharp intuition, she was far from blind to his intentions. While her heart still harbored complicated, lingering feelings for the cowardly Zeng Xiaoxian, being pursued by a tall, handsome, extraordinarily wealthy, and refined aristocrat like Adrian stirred a dangerous flutter in her chest.
'Compared to Adrian,' she couldn't help but acknowledge with quiet frustration, 'Zeng Xiaoxian is simply too indecisive to ever take a real step forward.'
"In truth, you should consider moving out as well," Adrian suggested smoothly. "No matter how fond your memories of that rental unit may be, it is not a true home. A fiercely loyal, sentimental person like you will only suffer watching the rooms grow cold."
"I... I need to think about it," Yifei hesitated.
Ever since the betrayal by Ziqiao and Meijia, an overwhelming mental exhaustion had weighed on her shoulders. Now, with Sekiya and Tang Youyou gone, the sprawling suite housed only herself, Zeng Xiaoxian, and her younger brother, Lu Zhanbo.
Lin Wanyu had departed for Milan half a month earlier, ostensibly to pursue haute couture fashion design.
In reality, the romance between Lu Zhanbo and Lin Wanyu had always been a doomed literary trope—the gentle, bookish scholar and the untouchable billionaire heiress. Zhanbo craved a predictable, grounded hearth surrounded by familiar faces and domestic routine. Wanyu, born into the colossal fortune of the Lin banking dynasty, possessed the restless freedom of someone who had never known material scarcity. She had happily joined Zhanbo on wild expeditions to the Sahara or the Bermuda Triangle, but the moment domestic settling and marriage were mentioned, she had fled across the globe. In Wanyu's lexicon, the traditional cage of domestic marriage was a concept meant for other women.
Adrian had initially considered ordering his operatives to intercept Lin Wanyu before her departure at the airport, but Number Eight had urgently reported the presence of three elite private security specialists trailing her movements. The Lin Group was an American-registered multi-billion-dollar titan commanding assets on par with Shengxuan Group; abducting their sole heiress off the street like Gu Li or Qu Xiaoxiao would have ignited an international diplomatic firestorm. Adrian had wisely held his hand, keeping discreet surveillance on her in Europe while waiting for an angle to compromise her personal detail.
"As it happens, I own a fully furnished, vacant luxury apartment situated adjacent to your university campus," Adrian offered, his dark eyes studying her reaction. "If you are willing, you are welcome to move in."
Without its central cast, the Love Apartment complex was merely an ordinary, hollow concrete block. Keeping Yifei tethered there served zero purpose.
"No," Yifei shook her head immediately, her pride flaring. "I prefer to pay my own way. Living on charity is not my style."
"You misunderstand me," Adrian laughed softly. "I had actually intended to liquidate that specific property on the secondary market. If you inspect the premises and find them suitable, you may purchase the deed from me directly at fair market valuation."
Yifei considered the proposal, finding the terms far more palatable to her dignity. "That sounds far more reasonable. I will arrange a time to view it."
'Though before making any final decisions,' she resolved silently, 'I still need to consult with Zeng Xiaoxian.'
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Give me powerstones.
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