Playing with Fire Part 1

Leaving UV Mall, it was just past two in the afternoon, the time when the sun was at its brightest.

Qin Fan thought of the earlier confrontation between mother and son and couldn't help but glance sideways at the man sitting next to her. He looked back at her nonchalantly.

The light through the car window was slightly dim, but Xie Yanli's bone structure was exceedingly refined and elegant. His gaze was as cold and indifferent as ever, making it impossible to read his emotions.

"Mrs. Xie, am I good-looking?"

Qin Fan snapped back to her senses, speechless.

Indeed, no matter how magnificent and handsome his face was, once he opened his mouth, he was still a dog of a man.

"Is there any part of you I'm not allowed to look at?" Qin Fan crossed her arms and huffed haughtily, "If you make me unhappy again, I'll sue you."

Xie Yanli had a strong ability to grasp the main point and immediately understood. "So, Mrs. Xie was looking at me because..."

The man's clear, magnetic voice slowly sounded in her ear,

"You were making a pass at me."

"I'm making a pass at your..." Qin Fan's ears tingled for a moment. Once she clearly understood the man's words, her dark eyes widened in disbelief. She stared at Xie Yanli and almost cursed out loud.

Fortunately, she restrained herself in time and maintained a ladylike smile. "How on earth did you arrive at that conclusion?"

What part of her pure, fairy-like face screamed 'sexually frustrated' to give him such a misunderstanding?

Xie Yanli leaned back against the seat again. When he wasn't smiling, his features were distant and cold, like a god or Buddha looking down upon all living beings. One could never imagine him saying something like 'making a pass at me'.

With this emotionless and desireless face, he said unhurriedly, "Isn't it because I haven't been fulfilling my husbandly duty to pleasure my wife in body and mind recently that Mrs. Xie is dissatisfied and thus wants to sue me?"

"Yes, it is my fault."

Qin Fan, mentally exhausted, slumped toward the car window, her cheek pressed against the glass. She said expressionlessly, "No, it's my fault."

A fairy shouldn't have descended to the mortal realm.

Qin Fan couldn't sit still. After a few minutes, she took the initiative to chat with the tense-shouldered Secretary Wen in the front seat. "Is your boss like this at the company too?"

Secretary Wen: "..."

"Huh?"

'Mrs., I don't understand, please spare me!'

"What 'huh'? Is President Xie this talkative at the company too?" Qin Fan deliberately glanced at Xie Yanli.

Secretary Wen was trembling. After hesitating for a long time, he finally squeezed out a sentence from between his lips: "Perhaps President Xie just likes talking to you."

Perhaps because he'd gotten the first sentence out, the rest wasn't so difficult. To prevent Mrs. Xie from staring at him, Secretary Wen quickly changed the subject. "Mrs. Xie, to welcome you home, President Xie has prepared flowers and many gifts for you. They're in the back seat. Would you like to go take a look?"

"Gifts?"

"Flowers?"

During a red light, Qin Fan turned her head to look at the very back row. Unexpectedly, she really did see an orange paper bag and fresh flowers in the corner.

She hadn't noticed them before.

She withdrew her gaze and looked at the man beside her, who was resting with his eyes closed without a word. She reached out a finger and poked his diamond cufflink. "Did you really get these for me?"

Mrs. Xie's voice was pleasant, but she was chattering nonstop. Xie Yanli couldn't help but rub the space between his eyebrows. He grunted in affirmation, "They're for you."

Whoa, they were actually for her.

And flowers.

'When did this dog of a man become so romantic!'

Qin Fan asked the driver to pull over for a moment, and she moved to sit in the back row.

Xie Yanli was finally quiet.

Inside the paper bag were five or six palm-sized gift boxes. Qin Fan opened them one by one. They were all the latest models from that luxury brand. She had seen them in a magazine before but hadn't had time to buy them because she was on set.

Because of the small gifts and flowers, when the Maybach drove directly to the Xie Group in Bei Cheng's financial center, Qin Fan didn't throw a tantrum. Instead, she obediently put on a mask and followed Xie Yanli from the underground parking garage straight up to his office on the top floor.

This was the first time Qin Fan had come to his office.

She was still wearing the little cocktail dress that revealed her slender long legs, and she walked back and forth in the coolly and simply decorated office in her high heels.

The originally minimalist, ascetic-style office suddenly gained a touch of enchanting scenery.

Xie Yanli sat in his black office chair, listening to the sound of her high heels. He lifted his eyes slightly. "The lounge is on the right. Go get some sleep."

Qin Fan sat down on the sofa, crossing her legs. Her peach blossom eyes curved into a beautiful arc as she deliberately drew out her tone, "President Xie, are you up to no good?"

"You don't want to sleep?" Xie Yanli didn't answer, asking her a question instead.

"I won't!" Qin Fan defied him.

"Then don't sleep at all today." Xie Yanli didn't force her, nodding in agreement.

Seeing him unscrew his fountain pen as if preparing to start work,

Qin Fan's bright eyes were filled with dissatisfaction. "With such a beautiful and sexy wife right under your nose, you still have the mind to work?"

Wasn't this an insult to her charm?

When Qin Fan was bored, she wanted to stir up trouble.

She no longer sat on the sofa. Lifting Xie Yanli's arm that was resting on the desk, she then sat down in his lap.

Her delicate, soft, and fragrant body immediately filled his arms.

Xie Yanli's other hand, holding the pen, paused. He lowered his gaze to look at the woman clinging to his lap.

"Go on, work." Qin Fan was all smiles, not afraid of him at all.

"Isn't President Xie a Bodhisattva who remains unperturbed even with a beauty in his lap? Even with a female demon in your arms, you shouldn't have a reaction, right?"

The fabric of Qin Fan's dress was silky smooth. It was a cocktail dress with a very short hemline. When she sat, the hem would slide up to her upper thigh, but she wasn't behaving, deliberately grinding against him.

Xie Yanli closed his eyes, his thin lips curling into a slight arc. "Mrs. Xie, be careful. Playing with fire will get you burned."

Qin Fan wasn't afraid of him at all.

She refused to believe this phony prude Xie Yanli would do anything improper in the office. Feeling emboldened, she winked at him. "Oh, I'm so scared of President Xie's threats."

Yet she shifted slowly in his lap a couple of times.

Through the thin fabric, she could almost feel the firm, powerful muscles of his legs, and the heat was naturally considerable.

Xie Yanli didn't move. He met her provocatively raised red lips with an inscrutable gaze.

When Qin Fan had had her fun teasing him and was feeling a little drowsy, she suddenly heard a knock on the door.

"Yanli." Pei Jingqing had always been in the habit of entering directly after knocking.

Secretary Wen tried to stop him. "President Xie, President Pei is here!"

Pei Jingqing looked at Secretary Wen in surprise. "I can't go in?"

How could Secretary Wen dare to say no? "Please, come in."

'It's been a while, even if President Xie and Mrs. Xie were being lovey-dovey, they should be done by now.'

'Besides, with President Xie's temperament, he probably wouldn't do anything at the company.' So he opened the door for Pei Jingqing with an easy mind.

Pei Jingqing's handsome and refined face showed a hint of suspicion, but when he saw Xie Yanli sitting at his desk with the same indifferent expression, he returned to normal.

"Your chief secretary, is he not feeling well today? Give the man a day off if there's nothing wrong."

"You might be a robot, but he's still a normal person."

As Pei Jingqing spoke, he started walking toward the desk.

On the surface, Xie Yanli remained as calm as ever, but if he were to lower his eyes, he would see the fair and graceful female body that had slipped under his desk.

Two minutes earlier.

Qin Fan had been sitting on his lap. After hearing the voices outside, she had propped her hands on the edge of the desk to stand up.

Who knew that after just two steps, the sharp, thin heel of her shoe would suddenly sink into the carpet.

Caught off guard, Qin Fan let out a low cry of surprise and stumbled, falling against the side of the man's lap.

If anyone saw this, she wouldn't be able to clear her name even if she jumped into the Yellow River.

The sound of the door opening was heard.

Meeting the man's half-smiling eyes, Qin Fan made a swift decision, kicked off her high heels, and deftly bent down to slip into the spacious area under the desk.

Now, she straightened her skirt, looked up innocently at the man in the office chair, pointed to the high heel stuck next to his leg, and mouthed with her red lips: The shoe isn't hidden well.

The delicate, slender silver heel was particularly conspicuous next to the black desk; anyone would see it just by looking down.

Xie Yanli slowly retracted his gaze. He didn't pick up the high heel as Qin Fan had indicated. Instead, he looked at Secretary Wen, who had followed Pei Jingqing in. "Bring in two cups of coffee."

Qin Fan, completely bewildered, tugged at his pant leg:

'I'm hiding here, and this dog of a man, Xie Yanli, is planning to have a long chat with someone? And drink coffee? Why not have a couple of glasses of wine while you're at it!'

Xie Yanli glanced at her casually, his thin lips curved in an indolent smile.

This made Pei Jingqing look at him a couple more times. "What are you smiling about?"

Xie Yanli didn't answer. "What is it?"

Pei Jingqing was Pei Feng's older brother. It was less that Xie Yanli was close to Pei Feng, and more that Pei Feng had followed him and Pei Jingqing around since childhood.

Xie Yanli and Pei Jingqing were the true close friends, having been classmates from kindergarten all the way through university.

For the past two years, Pei Jingqing had been on business trips abroad, developing overseas markets. Xie Yanli had originally planned to arrange a get-together in a few days to welcome him back, but he hadn't expected him to show up on his own.

Pei Jingqing knew his personality and couldn't be bothered with pleasantries. "I only found out after I got back that my parents arranged a marriage for me."

"I'm getting engaged to Cheng Xi next month."

"Congratulations." Xie Yanli felt another tug on his suit pants and replied perfunctorily, his mind on two things at once.

"Congratulations? Why don't you say 'my condolences' instead?" Pei Jingqing frowned. "Cheng Xi is after you. I'm just taking the bullet for you."

Although he had been abroad, he was crystal clear about matters back home. He leaned back in his chair. "I don't care, you have to help me with this."

"The girl has had a secret crush on you for ten years, and now she's marrying your good friend. This is blatant revenge."

And to top it off, he hadn't been home for two years, so he had no idea how Cheng Xi had managed to convince his dear parents.

'A ten-year secret crush?'

Qin Fan's beautiful dark eyes widened into round cat-like orbs. She tugged hard at Xie Yanli's suit pants in shock.

'No wonder this dog of a man didn't explain the 'White Moonlight' thing. So after all this time, this really is his White Moonlight!'

'For ten years!'

Xie Yanli finally shot Qin Fan a look—a warning look, of course.

His refined brows furrowed slightly, his eyes carrying a faint warning.

This made Qin Fan furious.

'He dares to glare at me.'

Qin Fan was so angry her chest heaved. The embroidered butterfly on the edge of her strapless top, near her collarbone, rose and fell with her breaths, looking as if it were about to take flight, lively and captivating.