29: Chapter 30 The Chaos After the Drinking

"Sometimes I really feel tired," Shen Nian said, resting her chin on one hand while her other hand mindlessly swirled her wine glass. Her gaze was slightly hazy as she watched the liquid sloshing inside.

"Especially when it's late at night and I return to an empty apartment alone. I start to wonder, is working this hard really worth it? Should I just do what others say, find a man with decent conditions, marry him, and live a stable life?"

She said this with a self-deprecating smile, then looked up at Yu Bo. Her eyes were moist, filled with intoxication and a trace of imperceptible vulnerability: "Chairman Yu, tell me, am I too headstrong?"

Yu Bo looked at her. At this moment, Shen Nian had shed her daytime sharpness and professional capability, along with her subtle provocations, and looked like a lost child, revealing true helplessness. His heart stirred slightly, and his tone was gentle: "Everyone's definition of 'worth it' is different. You chose a harder path, but you also saw scenery that others cannot see. As for being headstrong... that's not a flaw, it's a virtue. At least, in my eyes it is."

His affirmation was like a small pebble tossed into the lake of Shen Nian's heart, sending ripples spreading outward. She looked at him, her gaze becoming more focused, and also more... unclear.

"A virtue in your eyes?" she repeated in a murmur, her body leaning forward unconsciously, narrowing the distance between her and Yu Bo. Because of the movement, the V-neck of her velvet dress opened a bit more, and that expanse of full, snow-white skin and deep cleavage was presented almost unreservedly before Yu Bo's eyes, wafting over with a scent mixed with alcohol and womanly fragrance.

"Yu Bo, do you know? I've met many investors. The way they look at me is either as a project that can make money, or as a... woman with some looks. Only you..."

She paused, her voice becoming softer, laced with enticement: "Only you seem to really see me as a person. You see my ability, my ambition, and even... my insecurity."

Yu Bo could clearly smell the fragrance wafting from her, a mix of perfume, alcohol, and body heat, forming a unique and highly aggressive temptation. His breathing became imperceptibly heavier, but his gaze remained clear: "Shen Nian, you've had too much to drink."

"I haven't had too much." Shen Nian shook her head. Suddenly, she reached out, her fingertips lightly brushing against the back of Yu Bo's hand resting on the table. It was a fleeting touch, yet it carried a tingle like an electric current. "I just... said things I wouldn't dare say normally. Yu Bo, I..."

Before she could finish her sentence, her body, overcome by the alcohol and emotional excitement, suddenly swayed and tilted toward Yu Bo.

Yu Bo instinctively reached out to steady her shoulders. His hands met the delicate texture of velvet and the warm, soft, and plump skin beneath it. As if she had found support, Shen Nian did not pull away; instead, she leaned into his embrace and wrapped her soft arms around his waist.

"Yu Bo..." She buried her face in his chest, her voice muffled, tinged with sobs and dependency, "I'm so tired... and I'm so scared... scared of disappointing you, scared of messing everything up..."

With the soft, fragrant woman in his arms, the curves of her mature body pressed tightly against him, and the astonishing softness and elasticity were clearly transmitted through the thin fabric. The scent from her hair, the warmth of her neck, and those suppressed, tearful whispers were like a fire, instantly igniting the things Yu Bo had been forcibly suppressing.

His arms stiffened for a moment, then slowly tightened, pulling her closer into his embrace. He could feel her body trembling, and he could also feel his own heart pounding like a drum in his chest.

"You won't mess it up." He heard his own voice sounding somewhat hoarse, his palm unconsciously stroking her smooth back, attempting to comfort her, but it felt more like an ambiguous caress, "I believe in you."

Shen Nian looked up from his embrace, watching him through tear-blurred eyes. Her lips were exceptionally red and full from the wine, slightly parted, with her warm breath brushing against his chin. In those beautiful eyes, which always sparkled with shrewdness and calculation, there remained only hazy, watery light and undisguised... desire.

The distance was too close. Close enough to count each other's eyelashes, close enough to feel the other's scorching breath.

The string of reason, under the influence of alcohol, the ambiguous atmosphere, and the attraction of physical instinct, was stretched to its limit.

It was unclear who initiated it first, or perhaps there was no sequence at all. In the next instant, their lips pressed together.

At first, it was just a tentative touch, carrying the coolness and softness of alcohol. But immediately after, it was like dry wood meeting a raging fire; it ignited instantly, becoming intense and deep. Shen Nian's arms wrapped around Yu Bo's neck, pulling him toward her, responding passionately and clumsily, even with a kind of desperate madness. Yu Bo clasped the back of her head, deepening the kiss, plundering her breath, and drawing in the sweetness mixed with the fragrance of wine from her mouth.

The private room was so quiet that only the faint sound of lips and teeth entwining and their increasingly heavy breathing remained. The food on the table had long since gone cold, ignored by anyone. The two of them kissed passionately, as if they wanted to vent all the probing, appreciation, pressure, and the surging desire of this moment into this kiss.

Shen Nian's velvet dress became somewhat disheveled in the entanglement, with one shoulder strap slipping down, revealing a large expanse of snow-white skin. Yu Bo's suit was also pulled into a rumpled mess. But neither of them had the time to care.

It wasn't until Shen Nian let out a faint whimper due to a lack of oxygen that Yu Bo managed to regain a shred of reason and released her lips, though his arms remained tightly wrapped around her, his forehead pressed against hers, both of them gasping heavily.

Shen Nian looked at him with hazy eyes, her cheeks flushed, her lips slightly swollen, her chest heaving violently from gasping, the astonishing curves almost breaking free from their constraints. Her fingers unconsciously clutched the front of Yu Bo's shirt, her voice sounding hoarse beyond recognition: "Yu Bo... we..."

Yu Bo looked at the woman in his arms, moved by her passion, and felt a tightness in his lower abdomen. He knew that if he took another step, what would happen tonight was self-evident. And Shen Nian clearly had no intention of refusing; she was even... expectant.

However, at this moment of confusion and passion, Yin Tianxue's cold, aloof face and affectionate eyes uncontrollably flashed through Yu Bo's mind.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, most of the desire in his eyes had faded, replaced by a complex clarity and... a hint of annoyance.

He gently pushed Shen Nian away, helped her pull up her slipping shoulder strap, his voice somewhat dry: "Shen Nian, you're drunk. I'll take you home."

Shen Nian was pushed away by him, a flash of astonishment and hurt crossing her eyes, but it was immediately covered by a deeper intoxication and confusion. She looked at him, her gaze unfocused, as if she didn't understand what had happened, and just nodded subconsciously: "Okay... home..."