Chapter 142 if-Pei Line (16): Yun Zhan...please, I've never been loved.

"Yun Zhan, I'm very pretty, aren't I? You'll love me, won't you?"

"Don't you want me to be yours alone, only beneath you... to please you?"

Pei Yanxi continued to add more chips, but Yun Zhan panicked.

"Senior!" Yun Zhan covered Pei Yanxi's lips, his heart pounding wildly in his chest, almost bursting out of his restraints.

Beneath his palm, the temperature of Pei Yanxi's skin felt so real, the stunningly beautiful face before him was so clear, and the undisguised possessiveness and... a hint of pleading in her deep eyes were so sincere.

His sincerity was so great that it made Yun Zhan feel panicked.

This is a vortex.

A cage personally crafted for her by Pei Yanxi—luxurious, warm, and brimming with deadly allure...

With just a nod from her, one could fall into her trap without resistance, enjoying the unparalleled beauty of the world's most exquisite woman, blooming only for her.

Pei Yanxi is the female protagonist of this world. Her beauty is enough to drive all living beings crazy. If you waver even slightly, you can fall into this gentle paradise.

But……

She wanted to go home. Yun Zhan had done so many missions just so that he could go home one day.

There's her little house there, the plants she grows, her family and friends...

Yun Zhan's eyes wavered for a moment.

Those eyes, which had been clouded by lust and excitement, suddenly cleared for a moment, revealing a trace of detachment and pain in their depths.

Yes, she wants to go home.

That thought was an indelible mark on her soul, the only beacon she could rely on to survive here.

Complete the task, then go home...

She no longer knew whether it was an obsession or her true vision.

From the moment the mission began, going home was her unchanging course.

Even the slightest hesitation could not escape Pei Yanxi's eyes.

The smile on her face gradually faded, and her previous confidence disappeared, replaced by a fragile vulnerability that seemed almost broken.

She held Yun Zhan's hand, her lips slightly pale.

"I know……"

Pei Yanxi's voice suddenly became hoarse, even trembling slightly, as she exposed her deepest fears to Yun Zhan.

"I know you don't belong here."

Pei Yanxi, however, seemed oblivious to her shock and continued speaking in an almost pleading tone: "You must really want to go home, right? I don't know... I don't know how to keep you here."

Her gaze searched Yun Zhan's face, her expression flustered and anxious, and she nervously gripped Yun Zhan's hand.

"Do you like money? Do you like luxury cars and villas? Or something else... power, status, reputation..."

She eagerly listed everything she had, desperately displaying all her assets and value: "I can give you anything, I can give you anything..."

"The Pei family has many private jets and private ships. If you want... I can take you around the world, or... do anything you want to do."

What you have in that world, you can have here too...

As she finished speaking, Pei Yanxi's voice lowered, and a hint of fragility appeared in her usually assertive eyes. Everyone has family... Yun Zhan certainly does too. Trying to keep Yun Zhan by offering such meager material conditions? For the first time, Pei Yanxi felt that her negotiations had no chance of success. Her eyes filled with tears, and all that remained was the most humble plea.

"I'm sorry... I just want you to love me and stay with me."

She removed Yun Zhan's hand from her cheek and tightly wrapped it in her palms, as if she were clasping her hands together.

She lowered her head, gently resting her forehead against the back of their clasped hands: "I can give you so much..."

Pei Yanxi's voice came through muffledly, with a heavy nasal tone.

"...in exchange for your love...in exchange for your love for me."

That humble, almost shameful phrase, "In exchange for your love," struck Yun Zhan so hard that he felt a tightness in his chest and almost couldn't breathe.

"Senior...please don't do this, I..."

Yun Zhan looked at Pei Yanxi's lowered head and could only see the fragile curve of her slender neck and her slightly trembling shoulders.

She's showing weakness...

The ever-aloof Pei senior sister revealed her most vulnerable and fragile side to her without any defenses.

Yun Zhan's defenses were torn open by this sudden vulnerability, leaving a huge gaping hole.

She wanted to pull her hand away, to back away, to escape this suffocating vortex of emotions, but her body seemed to be nailed to the spot, unable to move.

She couldn't bear to see Pei Yanxi like this...

Just then, Pei Yanxi slowly raised her head.

Her eyes were red, and her long, curled eyelashes were glistening with moisture, but she held back and didn't let the tears actually fall.

In those shimmering peach blossom eyes, all shrewdness and sharpness had faded, leaving only a bewildered, almost innocent sadness.

Pei Yanxi looked at Yun Zhan, forcing a smile that looked more like a grimace.

"sorry……"

Her voice was very soft, with a heavy nasal tone, as if she had to use a lot of effort to squeeze it out of her throat.

"...Did I scare you?"

Pei Yanxi loosened her grip on Yun Zhan's hand, but didn't completely let go. She carefully hooked Yun Zhan's fingers with her fingertips, as if testing the waters, or as if trying to hold on.

"I...I just..."

Pei Yanxi seemed to be organizing her thoughts, her gaze shifting slightly before finally settling on a point in the void, as if recalling an unpleasant past: "...No one has ever loved me."

She spoke these words softly, yet they precisely pierced the softest spot in Yun Zhan's heart.

Pei Yanxi gave a self-deprecating laugh, a laugh filled with bitterness and desolation.

"I don't know... how to love someone."

Her gaze refocused on Yun Zhan's face, her clenched palms pressed against her chest: "I only know that I should give her what she likes. Give her money, give her the best material conditions... I thought that was the best way."

Pei Yanxi's words contained no accusation, nor did she tearfully recount her past. Instead, she used a calm tone, almost as if stating facts, to dissect her barren and desolate emotional world.

Her domineering and controlling nature stems from her "clumsiness" and "ignorance" due to a lack of love.

A look of emotion and reluctance gradually appeared in Yun Zhan's eyes...

Pei Yanxi carefully observed her expression, where the deepest scheming in her heart was perfectly intertwined with her outward vulnerability.

Finally, with her misty eyes, she looked pitifully at Yun Zhan and softly added, "Can...you teach me?"

She plunged the knife called "showing weakness" deep into Yun Zhan's heart.

"Waaaaah, so behind that suffocating possessiveness and controlling nature of my senior was such a barren and clumsy heart." 21 cried her heart out.

“Yun Zhan... Senior sister wasn’t born knowing how to plunder; she just used every primal method she knew to fight for it because she had never possessed it before. She can’t live without you.”

With tears streaming down her face, even Yun Zhan felt sorry for her, let alone Yun Zhan.

Yun Zhan closed her eyes; her heart... was in complete turmoil.

Going home... this once crystal-clear goal, at this moment... was blurred by the tears in Pei Yanxi's eyes and her humble plea.

Looking at the stunningly beautiful face before her, her eyes streaked with tears, and watching her carefully hook her fingers around hers, a corner of her heart suddenly crumbled.

An unprecedented tenderness and affection surged forth like a flood bursting its banks, almost engulfing her entirely.

She wanted to hug her.

I want to tell her that love is not an exchange, not a giving, but...

But then what?

He gave up the chance to go home, stayed in this world that didn't belong to him, and taught her what love is.

And then what? Can they really have a future? Will they regret it for the rest of their lives in the dead of night because they gave up their obsession with going home?

Countless questions clashed fiercely in Yun Zhan's mind, giving him a splitting headache.

Yun Zhan could no longer bear Pei Yanxi's expectant yet vulnerable gaze. Her long eyelashes cast a shadow under her eyelids, isolating her from everything outside.

After a long silence, Yun Zhan took a deep breath and spoke in a hoarse voice:

"Let me think about it... Senior, I will really think about it carefully."

This form of address carries a hint of deliberate distance, and it is also Yun Zhan's last struggle.

"Give me some time, let me think it through, okay?"

Yun Zhan's voice was soft, with a hint of pleading: "After all, going home... has always been my insistence. I don't know what the point is of giving it up... Giving up something you've persisted in for so long isn't something you can do overnight. Perhaps I need some time to get over it."

These words were tantamount to admitting her wavering.

She no longer used "completing the mission" as an excuse, but faced the balance in her heart. On one side was "going home," and on the other side, it goes without saying... was Pei Yanxi.

Upon hearing this, Pei Yanxi's heart, which had been hanging in mid-air, finally settled down.

She knew she had achieved her goal.

Yun Zhan relented.

Yun Zhan was no longer the indestructible transmigrator who only wanted to leave. She began to hesitate, to weigh her options, and to consider her future.

That's enough.

Pei Yanxi breathed a silent sigh of relief, and her tense nerves relaxed.

Pei Yanxi knew that saying anything more at this moment would be superfluous and would only scare away the bird that was about to be lured away.

She raised the back of her hand and casually wiped away the last trace of moisture from the corner of her eye.

That pitiful look vanished instantly, replaced by a gentle smile filled with understanding and tenderness.

"good."

She nodded, her voice returning to its usual gentleness, though still tinged with a hoarseness from crying, making her sound especially heartbreaking.

"I won't pressure you, think it over carefully..."

Pei Yanxi finally released Yun Zhan's hand completely, took half a step back, and created a safe and comfortable distance.

This gesture was full of understanding and consideration, as if she weren't the one who had just been humbly begging and pressing her.

Taking a step back to advance is her best hunting technique.

Now that the bait has been swallowed, all that's needed is to give the fish some room to struggle, and then slowly and gently tighten the invisible line.

She looked at Yun Zhan's still tightly closed eyes and furrowed brows, his gaze deep and intense, and silently thought:

Yun Zhan, no matter how much time you need, I will wait.

But you can only ever be mine.