Chapter 37: An Encounter in a Foreign Land [7]

"Since you've arrived here, you belong to me. Why bother with such futile struggles? I had intended to send you to a good boss, but since you are so ungrateful, don't blame me for being unkind." As the madam spoke, she rose from her luxurious single sofa, stepped toward Wen Xiaorou, and traced a long, slender finger along her cheek.

Wen Xiaorou tried to push her hand away in protest, only to find she had no strength left. The suitcase she had been gripping slipped from her hand, hitting the floor with a loud clang. It was then that Wen Xiaorou realized this had been a trap from the very beginning. Her current state was undoubtedly the work of this woman; the glass of water she had been served must have been tampered with.

"You..." Wen Xiaorou shook her head forcefully, trying to speak, but her body went limp and she collapsed to the floor. Her mind, however, remained clear. A sense of despair unlike anything she had ever known washed over her. Was she truly going to be sold by this woman here in Paris? At the thought, tears began to stream down her face.

"Wen Xiaorou, I have never had any pity for those who refuse to obey." With that, the madam pulled out her phone and made a call. Shortly after, men arrived at the room and dragged Wen Xiaorou away.

"Darling, long time no see. Did you miss me?" Inside a luxury suite at the Hotel Plaza Athénée in Paris, a stranger lay sprawled across the bed in the living room, teasing the man who had just woken up.

"Get lost," Jing Nuo growled, not even opening his eyes, as he told the man on his bed to clear off.

"Get your ass up! Stop sleeping, you idiot!" Seeing that Jing Nuo had no intention of engaging, the man began cursing while tugging at his duvet.

"Get lost," the still-groggy Jing Nuo repeated, offering only those two words.

"Where is Rou-rou? What is she doing?" The man remained relentless, locking horns with Jing Nuo.

"Lin Fan, are you ever going to quit? Why are you always obsessing over my wife?" Jing Nuo, finally pushed to his limit, bolted upright from under the covers and roared at him.

"Heh! Keep lying. I heard from my mother that you two are divorced." The man winked at him with a wicked grin, looking absolutely delighted.

"Lin Fan, have you no dignity? A woman I don't even want, and you're still chasing after her?" Jing Nuo looked at his childhood friend, feeling a mix of frustration and utter disbelief.

Jing Nuo remembered the day he and Wen Xiaorou were married; this man had flown from City X to Paris in a fit of rage and had not returned to City X or contacted him for two years. The two had become enemies overnight over Wen Xiaorou. In the past, whenever Jing Nuo came to Paris for business, Lin Fan would never show his face. Yet this time, the moment he got divorced, Lin Fan appeared. He had been pestering Jing Nuo with phone calls for weeks, but this time Jing Nuo had decided to be difficult and refused to answer. Realizing that in his old friend's heart, he was not even as important as that woman, Wen Xiaorou, naturally left him feeling sour.

"But she's Xiao-rou!" Lin Fan said with a lovesick expression. The most frustrating part was that Wen Xiaorou had never paid him any mind, all because she feared Jing Nuo’s tyranny—though in reality, Jing Nuo had never done any such thing, Lin Fan had always been convinced otherwise.

"Get lost!" The moment Jing Nuo realized that after two years of not seeing this guy, the man was still obsessed with his ex-wife, his temper flared again.

"Why are you so worked up? Xiao-rou has nothing to do with you anymore," Lin Fan said, giving Jing Nuo’s backside a kick.

"Lin Fan, do you have no self-respect? How many times do I have to tell you? That woman is divorced now. Can't you just go find someone else?" Jing Nuo, infuriated, threw the quilt onto the floor and shouted at him.