112: Upgrade your character design

The Peng Sisters were not overly troubled; after all, Hongtu Flight had no law enforcement authority, at least not overtly.

However, Wei Yang "advised" them to stay in their rooms until the flight arrived, to avoid unforeseen conflicts.

He said that crew members would pay special attention to their every need daily, ensuring that even confined to their rooms, they would receive service around the clock.

This was essentially house arrest, but everyone maintained a semblance of decorum.

As for what would happen to them after the flight landed, that depended on what the aggrieved party, Kong Jiamu, decided, and whether he would escalate this case concerning a Young Miss.

However, scandalous news always spread quickly.

In short, in just one day, everyone on the ship who needed to know already knew...***

Kong Jiamu was very annoyed. His slender eyes narrowed, utterly fed up.

He walked back to his room alone, his polished long boots clacking step by step on the floor. He suspected that he was paying too much attention to Pearl's every move because he had met too few people on this enclosed flight.

His mouth downturned as he mused that once the flight landed, he would immediately make an appearance in social circles, mingle among various Female Beasts, and surely forget these unpleasantries.

Thinking this, he didn't feel particularly excited... Turning a corner, he saw a figure with their back to him, earnestly gazing at a painting in the corridor.

His eyes widened slightly, and he turned his head to walk away.

"What... did I hit the mark? Regretting it?"

That detestable Female Beast stopped his steps without even turning her head.

Kong Jiamu thought it over and still felt unwilling to concede. He turned back directly, stepped forward, and pressed Tu Nan against the wall.

He completely enveloped and pressed Tu Nan into the narrow space.

His light blue eyes narrowed slightly, and he asked with a sneer, "Do you find this very interesting? Hmm?"

To tease him to this extent with a 'play hard to get' tactic, this Female Beast indeed had some skill.

But the Female Beast in his arms stared with wide eyes, showing no guilt at all. Instead, her eyes were filled with anger and... grievance?

What was she aggrieved about, damn it!

"Are you..."

The Female Beast, who had always appeared confident and charming, suddenly couldn't speak. She opened her mouth several times but couldn't utter the rest of her words.

Instead, a crystal-clear tear rolled from her wide-open eyes.

Kong Jiamu had seen plenty of Female Beasts cry.

His father's wives and his older siblings' various lovers cried hysterically in the mansion all day long.

He thought he was long tired of it.

But no one was like this one before him; apart from that first accidental tear, she looked completely like she was trying to argue with him.

Kong Jiamu, in exasperation, pushed the hair from his eyes behind his ear with one hand, giving up on scolding her.

Forget it.

He had sworn long ago never to make a woman cry in a relationship. What was he doing now?

"If you don't want to, just say so. Why go through all this? I wouldn't force you."

Kong Jiamu recalled again whether he had truly forced Pearl while under the influence of the drug last night.

After thinking it over, he still felt he hadn't done anything wrong.

"So what exactly is wrong with you?"

He was exasperated.

Tu Nan stared intently at him, her chest rising and falling. After a long while, she finally managed to control her nearly out-of-control emotions.

Feeling extremely embarrassed, she asked, "You kept telling me yesterday... to be on top. And you wouldn't let me stop... Are you...?"

Kong Jiamu's eyes widened further and further. He felt like he was listening to an Arabian Nights tale.

Finally, Pearl finished her question.

She said, "Do you think I'm really a... hussy?"

The Female Beast was extremely mortified. Her palm rested against the famous painting behind her—a replica.

"Empress Anya riding naked on horseback, very beautiful, isn't it? But after that parade, she was burned to death..."

Kong Jiamu's brain was about to crash.

"I thought we both knew that a companionship during a journey means nothing?"

This was an unspoken game among nobles, especially when it didn't involve heirs.

Moreover, Pearl looked as if she never wanted to see her husband again.

"I know..." Tu Nan's emotions calmed somewhat, as if speaking out the most shameful part had allowed her to open up a little.

"That's not the problem. I'm divorcing him once the flight lands. I mean... your attitude." Tu Nan turned her head away.

"You treated me... like... anyway, without respect."

Kong Jiamu, this playboy, finally understood where the problem lay.

He found it both amusing and poignant, and felt a touch of pity for this Female Beast.

Taking Tu Nan's hand, he cautiously asked, "It's not convenient here. To my room?"

"As long as you don't agree, absolutely nothing will happen."

He promised Tu Nan.

Tu Nan lowered her head and obediently followed him back to his room.

"Sit." Kong Jiamu pressed her onto the sofa, then went to get her a glass of ice water, while he himself mixed a very spicy drink from the bar.

Taking a sip, he pondered for a moment, then asked Tu Nan.

"What you mean by disrespect isn't about sleeping with me, right?"

After all, before that, he had asked for her opinion every step of the way.

Tu Nan held the water glass with both hands and shook her head.

Good, Kong Jiamu thought.

She didn't think he was a scumbag. He took another sip of his drink.

He didn't know he would one day have to perform such strange psychological counseling.

"So, you think those..." Even he stumbled for a moment, "positions."

"...too unrestrained?"

Tu Nan's face flushed crimson. She nodded slightly.

Kong Jiamu's eyes unfocused.

Tu Nan kept waiting for his reply and was on the verge of tears.

She said in a voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz, "It's too shameful. How could I be like that...?"

It turned out that although Pearl now seemed disillusioned with marriage and adept at controlling emotions, a real part of her inner self was still cowering in a small corner.

Her past life had still left its mark on her.

This was a Female Beast who had escaped a traditional marriage but hadn't fully entered the new world yet.

Kong Jiamu gazed at her.

"I know you were drugged, but precisely because of that, it reflects your deepest opinion of me even more."

Tu Nan dared not look up, fixated on the water glass.

"I asked Lance, and she said that drug amplifies one's true nature... So have you always looked down on me?"

Kong Jiamu drained the last of the wine in his glass.

Clink.

The glass was placed back on the counter with a crisp sound.

Walking in front of Tu Nan, Kong Jiamu gently squatted down. He looked up at Tu Nan, whose eyes were red but who was holding back tears.

"Pearl..." Taking the cup from her hands, Kong Jiamu enveloped her cold, trembling small hands with his warm, strong ones.

"I didn't mean that in the slightest." He promised firmly.

"You were just restricted for too long. By that boring marriage, that boring Male Beast, and that boring life."

Carefully observing Tu Nan, Kong Jiamu knew that deep down, this Female Beast also yearned for that passion.

"I was just following my heart." He took Tu Nan's hand and placed it on his left chest. "You can too. I've always thought you were wonderful. It's because I admire you and love you that I could be so unrestrained."

He smiled.

His magnificent face gradually enlarged in Tu Nan's eyes. Before his lips met hers, he softly invited.

"Let go of those constraints, experience the beautiful things. Feel yourself, feel me."

"You are the best, trust me."

Kong Jiamu closed his eyes and gently kissed Tu Nan.

He was afraid of scaring her away again, so he guided her with utmost care.

Thus, he didn't see the chillingly bright light in Tu Nan's eyes.

Oh... of course. Tu Nan thought, she was certainly the best.

See, isn't this Silly Peacock falling into the trap again?

Now he probably thinks he needs to save her properly.

Sigh, for the sake of getting him to agree to take that medicine again later, her sacrifice was huge.

She even gave herself such a contrasting persona.

Kong Jiamu really got off easy.