Chapter 169: Suddenly Tempting

Faced with Xu Youxiang’s question, Xia Yu fell into thought for a moment before deciding to tell her the truth.

Firstly, Xu Youxiang was in no danger at all. Secondly, in future operations, the clues he left behind would inevitably accumulate, making discovery only a matter of time unless he discarded Xu Youxiang and stopped using her.

Lastly, there was also a bit of personal desire involved.

Xu Youxiang indeed had feelings for him, right?

After weighing the pros and cons and confirming there was no risk, Xia Yu made up his mind.

“It’s me,” he replied.

“So who exactly are you? Xia Yu? Or that lace girl?” Xu Youxiang didn’t understand his words.

“They’re both me,” Xia Yu said again.

“…” On the other end of the phone, Xu Youxiang covered her forehead.

So that guy was Xia Yu?

“Why didn’t you say you were An Siyao?” Xu Youxiang refused to believe it.

“Don’t let your emotions cloud your judgment—you already had suspicions, didn’t you?”

Xia Yu’s words shattered the last bit of Xu Youxiang’s hope.

No wonder she had felt a sense of familiarity around Xia Yu—it turned out they were one and the same person.

How had it come to this? Just when she had started to care about a guy for the first time, it turned out he was the mysterious figure who had always been behind her. Even more troubling was that the mysterious figure seemed to have a much better relationship with An Siyao than with her.

Originally, Xu Youxiang had already felt some affection towards the mysterious figure who had stopped her suicide and helped her rediscover happiness. But because the mysterious figure had lied and claimed to be a woman, she had suppressed her feelings.

Then she met Xia Yu, who played the guzheng, and felt a sense of closeness. Now, these two emotions intertwined, leaving her heart in turmoil.

“Explain everything clearly to me tomorrow, you transvestite pervert!” With that, Xu Youxiang hung up the phone.

Throwing the phone aside, Xia Yu lay on the bed. Compared to the emotionally agitated Xu Youxiang, he remained as steady as a rock.

He considered what conveniences revealing the truth to Xu Youxiang could bring him.

The result was practically zero.

Except for the possibility of Xu Youxiang working under him, there seemed to be no significant benefit.

Precisely because Xu Youxiang couldn’t have a major impact on him, he had chosen to tell her.

He didn’t plan to bring her directly under his wing just yet. Xu Youxiang had the potential to become a top-level cyber expert. Only after she fully developed her potential would she hold maximum value.

Before that, he needed to deal with her leg injury first—making sure she wouldn’t need an amputation. Otherwise, Xia Yu might end up losing both a valuable asset and his investment.

The next morning, after finishing his musical practice, Xia Yu met Xu Youxiang in the courtyard as usual.

Approaching from behind, Xia Yu reached out to push her wheelchair, but Xu Youxiang dodged.

“Aren’t you going to explain first?” Xu Youxiang looked at Xia Yu with an unpleasant expression.

“I didn’t expect you could trace things back to me. As a reward, I’ve already told you everything.” Xia Yu reached out and ruffled Xu Youxiang’s hair, praising her, “You did really well. How did you find out?”

Xu Youxiang handed her phone to Xia Yu, showing him the secretly recorded video.

He had assumed that since she came to listen to light music, she must have had good manners. He hadn’t expected there were people who secretly filmed others.

In the video, he had been playing “Fran’s Old Wolf” as well, but at that time, he hadn’t yet acquired the intimidation skill, so his performance lacked that distinctive feeling. His technique was also slightly inferior compared to his competition performance.

But this wasn’t a big problem. He could easily explain it away by saying he wasn’t in good form that day. He could even temporarily fool Xu Youxiang. However, she would likely find more evidence later if she remained suspicious.

Just like how An Tianfeng could uncover secrets of his senior executives if he wanted to, once there was suspicion, the exposure of secrets was only a matter of time.

“I had just started to suspect, and you immediately called me. Do you have surveillance on me?” Xu Youxiang asked again.

“That’s a secret,” Xia Yu answered.

“Why did you lie and say you were a woman?” Xu Youxiang changed the topic.

“The greatest art in the world is men dressed as women.” Making a joke that Xu Youxiang wouldn’t understand, Xia Yu then explained seriously, “Because you were a bit resistant before.”

“So you’re saying it’s my fault?” Xu Youxiang raised her eyebrows.

“My mistake, my mistake.” Xia Yu reached out again, ruffling Xu Youxiang’s hair.

“Let go, you pervert!” Xu Youxiang symbolically pushed him away twice before falling silent.

After tidying up her slightly disheveled hair, Xia Yu pushed her wheelchair, strolling around.

“Does An Siyao know about this?” Looking up, Xu Youxiang gazed at Xia Yu’s face. The bright sky hurt her eyes slightly.

“She doesn’t know. And don’t tell her either,” Xia Yu replied.

Xu Youxiang sneered slightly and commented, “She trusts you so much, yet you’ve kept it hidden from her so thoroughly. You’re truly a playboy.”

[“Certain conditions met, Xu Youxiang’s bonus increased to lv3”]

The bonus increase represented a rise in trust and intimacy. Xu Youxiang had now reached lv3, just like An Siyao.

Looking at the prompt in front of him, Xia Yu sighed at women’s hypocrisy.

She was clearly overjoyed inside but still pretended to be resentful.

Putting the reward aside for now, Xia Yu explained to Xu Youxiang, “You know An Siyao’s personality. I don’t want to invite any trouble.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll help you keep it a secret from her.” A smile appeared on Xu Youxiang’s face. Suddenly, she felt that An Siyao wasn’t unbeatable after all.

She continued, “Why did you approach An Siyao this time? Not satisfied with spiritual communication, are you trying to pursue physical pleasure? If so, you’ve miscalculated. An Siyao is extremely loyal to ‘him’ and won’t pay attention to you.”

“Yeah, yeah. After all, not everyone is as fickle as you.”

“You pervert, who are you talking about! I’m not fickle at all. I just thought you were a woman…” Xu Youxiang suddenly stopped mid-sentence, realizing her explanation had inadvertently admitted her affection for Xia Yu.

She should have clarified that she had no feelings for Xia Yu at all.

She had also let slip her feelings when Xia Yu was with An Siyao yesterday.

“Cough, compared to that, did you play the new game released last month?” She changed the subject.

“Like Cyberpunk?” Xia Yu picked up the topic.

This made Xu Youxiang both relieved and disappointed at the same time.

At a moment like this, shouldn’t he take the opportunity to say some sweet words? Why are you really talking about games!

She became somewhat annoyed: “Just go away. Go find your An Siyao. An Siyao even told me she was a bit scared of you. I almost died laughing.”

Her mockery hit a sensitive spot for Xia Yu. He grabbed Xu Youxiang’s face.

“I came here this time, also to help you.”

“To talk about guzheng with me? Or to play the xiao for me?” Xu Youxiang grabbed Xia Yu’s hand, preventing him from succeeding.

“If everything goes smoothly, after this conference, I can find a way to treat your legs.”

Hearing this, Xu Youxiang was momentarily stunned. Seizing the opportunity, Xia Yu broke free from her grip and pinched her face.

“Really?” Xu Youxiang didn’t resist anymore.

“There are still twenty days left. If things don’t go smoothly, I’ll think of other methods.” Although he felt that the world-class competition might elevate An Siyao’s fame to meet the task requirements, Xia Yu couldn’t be certain.

The awkwardness on Xu Youxiang’s face disappeared. She looked up at Xia Yu: “Crouch down.”

“What for?” Xia Yu looked at Xu Youxiang warily but still crouched down.

He suspected Xu Youxiang might want to retaliate for pinching her face.

He spread his legs slightly forward and backward, so even if Xu Youxiang suddenly pushed him, she couldn’t knock him over.

Xu Youxiang placed her hands on his shoulders. As Xia Yu wondered whether to strike first, she exerted force and hugged his head into her arms.

“Thank you.”

A faint fragrance entered Xia Yu’s nose.

Before he could react, Xu Youxiang released him and, shaking her wheelchair, quickly rolled toward the villa.

“I’m tired. Don’t talk to me!” Xu Youxiang hadn’t expected herself to be so bold. She felt her face burning with intense embarrassment and hastily fled toward the villa.

Standing there, Xia Yu touched his forehead with his fingers, watching Xu Youxiang’s retreating figure.

This girl actually knew how to be flirtatious.

Knowing that talking to Xu Youxiang now would only make her furious, Xia Yu turned and left after watching her enter the villa.

An’s driver took him back to Liu Manman’s villa.

In the car, he opened the reward notification for Xu Youxiang’s bonus reaching lv3.

He hadn’t expected such an unexpected pleasant surprise this time.