1.14

"Qiqi, you're pretty no matter what you look or try to do." Qin Zicheng commented.

"I know, everybody says that." Through observation, Xu Jiaqi was able to find out that the man actually didn't mind someone who responded to him in a joking or sarcastic manner. Although it might only be the case for her, she still felt quite liberated for having the ability to act free.

Indeed, this frank and confident personality interested the man even more.

Their driving session had to end after a couple minutes, as the two of them passed through the elite complex's checking and stopped in front of Xu Jiaqi's home. Qin Zicheng got out of the car and walked to Xu Jiaqi's side, opening the car door and escorting her up to the entrance gates.

"Thank you for driving me home today." Xu Jiaqi thanked the man, leaning up to give him another peck in the face.

"You're quite bold," Qin Zicheng snickered, pinching the tip of Xu Jiaqi's nose.

The person in question scrunched up her nose and filed a complaint. "Do you not like it? If you don't, I'll stop."

"So far, I like everything about you. What about you? What do you think of me?" Qin Zicheng shook his head, denying Xu Jiaqi's question.

His mother said that when he wanted to court or pursue someone, he had to make sure that the opponent had some sort of amiable feelings towards him. If not, then it was best to drop the matter as to not let yourself suffer too much. Changing yourself for a partner was not necessarily a bad thing in specific cases, but excessively hiding and trying to present like the 'ideal' sensation was not great.

Also, his mother had repeatedly hammered into him that consensual agreements were necessary in order to court the other. Luckily, Xu Jiaqi seemed to have the same wants as him.

"If I didn't like you.. Do you think I would kiss you? That was actually my first kiss, if you didn't know yet." Xu Jiaqi's face started to flush as her fingers landed on Qin Zicheng's face, and the other on his arm. She trailed patterns on his skin, making him ticklish. "The Xu family's princess gave her first kiss to you. What will the prince do? Take responsibility?"

System: What a con artist! Acting so bashful like this! Lord Qin, run away!

"..That makes sense." Qin Zicheng remembered the kiss from that time and the tip of his ears reddened slightly. "..Do you think that it was too sudden? Were you uncomfortable?"

"No, I'm perfectly comfortable with it. I initiated the kiss, after all? I'm just joking around," Xu Jiaqi cheekily responded. "I'm not that old fashioned, chastity is nothing but an insignificant concept to me. It's just a kiss anyway, I don't mind. However, if in the future, we do desire to get into a deeper level of relationship.. Then it would be a different story."

Without leaving the man any chances to reply back, Xu Jiaqi already reached down to her clutch and took out a tiny remote control from it. She pressed the remote's button and it opened the gate up.

"En, you should go now." Xu Jiaqi giggled. "It's getting late. Please go back home safely. I trust that you will be able to find my personal contacts on your own, right? I'll be waiting,"

Qin Zicheng chuckled lowly, heaving a sigh as he was someone who could find out her contacts through illegal means very easily. It was his way of doing things, and he knew that others didn't appreciate it as much. Confidential information, trade secrets, blackmail, it was all a part of his deranged hobby. Since he was a child, he had a tendency to like collecting information, and it stayed up until this point of his life.

He had quite the twisted childhood, but going through that also made him more resilient and immune to all sorts of inacceptable things. Xu Jiaqi knew this, but she didn't even berate or warn him not to continue. She even encouraged his behavior. What sort of person was she?

In the first place, he hadn't planned to use his destructive abilities to harm Xu Jiaqi, so her warning would have gone to waste. Naturally, it wasn't as if he trusted the woman fully yet. He was just drawn to her from the very first time his eyes landed on the woman's figure. His natural instincts kicked in and he aligned himself with Xu Jiaqi just now.

"Bye bye, Zicheng ge." Xu Jiaqi waved as the man involved himself with his own thoughts.

Qin Zicheng snapped out of it, waving back quietly. He waited until Xu Jiaqi's figure disappeared behind the gates and walked towards the large door. After seeing the door opening and closing, with muffled sounds of chattering, Qin Zicheng went back inside his car and drove away.

Inside the house, Xu Jiaqi was greeted by one of her housekeepers. Not far away, her father was standing with a twisted expression, a frown plastered on his scary face. His name was Xu Zheng, and his conduct could almost be classified as bipolar. Xu Zheng was a strict, demonic boss for his work matters, whereas towards his own prized family, he was nothing more than a brainless doting father.

"Princess, you are home." Xu Zheng said.

"En, I'm home!" Xu Jiaqi answered with enthusiasm, approaching Xu Zheng after taking off her shoes and changing into house slippers brought to her by the servants. "Father, why are you standing here? Won't you get tired?"

Xu Zheng's breath fumed, and his expression grew even more twisted with each additional passing second.

"...Qiqi, my sweet princess, do you like that man?" Xu Zheng asked with a shaky voice. "The, the- that man in black, that's Qin Zicheng, right? Qin family's heir? My princess, does it have to be that man?! WAAAAAAAHHH!"

Unexpectedly, Xu  Zheng began to bawl loudly, hugging his precious daughter as tight as he could possibly do.

Xu Jiaqi: Ah, you peeped? Damn, old man, I'm sorry that I ruined your daughter's perfect conduct, but can you not act like this? It's very embarrassing.

System: ...You're embarrassing.