150 Castle of Love

After a long silence, Yin Xiaoya asked timidly and haltingly, "Am... am I being kept by you now?"

After a brief moment of silence, Xiao Yao nodded and said, "You could look at it that way."

"Can I still take it back?"

"The money has already been transferred to your card. Wanting to take it back—it's too late!" A smile played at the corners of Xiao Yao's mouth, but his tone was very serious. "From now on, you are my woman, Xiao Yao's woman. You will never be able to escape for the rest of your life."

Gathering her courage, Yin Xiaoya asked, "Will you marry me?"

"My current thought is that I won't get married before I'm thirty-five," Xiao Yao said, not wanting to prevaricate and speaking the honest truth. "Who can predict the future? I cannot guarantee that I will definitely marry you... but I can at least guarantee to take care of you for the rest of your life, ensuring you never have to worry about food or clothing."

Although somewhat disappointed, the sincerity in Xiao Yao's words still gave her a trace of comfort. "No one can guarantee the future. Keep me, then; I accept."

"But I want to tell you that I'm not doing this for the money. Whether you believe it or not, this is what I truly think. If you ever grow tired of me, I will leave quietly and will certainly never cling to you." Yin Xiaoya's expression was dead serious.

Xiao Yao said imperiously, "Don't even think about it. The day you become my woman, you will never even dream of leaving for the rest of your life."

"Every woman has the day when she grows old. Without the bond of marriage, when my looks fade, who knows what you might be thinking?" Without waiting for Xiao Yao to reply, Yin Xiaoya continued, "You've already given me security, and for now I don't want to think about the future. As long as we are happy when we're together, that's enough."

Having forced Yin Xiaoya into this relationship by such means, Xiao Yao felt a twinge of guilt toward this silly yet genuine good woman.

He knew that the reason Yin Xiaoya had agreed so readily was because of her hidden affection for him, rather than purely for the fifty million on the card.

Driven by this lingering guilt, he felt he should make it up to her as much as possible. "How about we go shopping right now? When we get tired of walking, we can catch a movie—or if you have any other ideas, that's fine too."

"Great! Having a rich tycoon foot the bill and feeling like I can buy whatever I want must be super amazing!" Yin Xiaoya was not the overly sentimental type; the previous worries and anxieties were cast to the back of her mind in an instant. "I'd love to experience that. Let's set off right now!"

After the Taikoo Building was renamed, its commercial spaces enjoyed soaring popularity, with a dozen new international first- and second-tier luxury brands moving in. Hand in hand with Yin Xiaoya, Xiao Yao first strolled through the luxury boutiques inside the Taikoo Building.

Yin Xiaoya thoroughly enjoyed the unrestrained thrill of shopping. Wandering around for two consecutive hours, she still appeared full of vigor.

Xiao Yao usually had the least patience for accompanying a girlfriend shopping, but today he mustered up boundless patience, smiling and keeping her company the entire time while offering professional opinions from time to time.

After all that time browsing, Yin Xiaoya tried on countless garments, shoes, and various accessories, but in the end, she decided to buy only eight items in total, big and small. Among those, three were purchased purely because of Xiao Yao's strong recommendation.

All eight pieces of clothing, shoes, and bags combined came to less than two hundred thousand yuan. Had it not been for the three relatively expensive items that Xiao Yao strongly urged her to get, Yin Xiaoya wouldn't even have spent one hundred thousand yuan after wandering around for so long.

Even though Xiao Yao was footing the bill the whole time, Yin Xiaoya still couldn't bear to buy overly extravagant luxuries.

In Xiao Yao's eyes, she seemed to enjoy the process of choosing far more than actually owning them.

Emerging from the Taikoo Building, they moved on to the International Mall. After another two hours of browsing, Yin Xiaoya finally concluded her shopping trip with complete satisfaction.

Xiao Yao checked the time; it was just half past five. "Are you hungry now? Shall we grab dinner first, or see the movie before eating?"

"I ate too much at lunch, I'm not hungry at all right now. Let's go watch the movie first," Yin Xiaoya said, still glowing with excitement.

"Then how about we go to the cafe upstairs for a hot coffee and a light afternoon tea to tide us over, book our tickets online, and then head to the movie?" Xiao Yao suggested.

After practicing cultivation, Xiao Yao possessed immense physical stamina. Though his body didn't feel tired after walking around for hours, his mind was somewhat exhausted. He found it rather incomprehensible that Yin Xiaoya, with her delicate and slender frame, possessed such abundant energy.

"That sounds good. Walking around for so long has made me a bit tired; resting for a while first is fine too." Yin Xiaoya thought having a cup of hot coffee to regain her strength sounded rather nice.

At six o'clock, the two of them stepped into a couple's private box in the cinema.

Xiao Yao had chosen a romance film. Although he had no impression of either the lead actor or actress, as long as the movie's atmosphere was sweet enough, it would be worth the price of admission.

At the very beginning, the two of them sat holding hands. At some point, however, Xiao Yao's right arm had moved around her waist, half-embracing her against his chest.

When the first intimate scene appeared on the cinema screen, Yin Xiaoya instinctively looked up into Xiao Yao's eyes.

Xiao Yao happened to lower his gaze to look at her at the exact same moment.

In that instant, the entire world seemed to shrink down to just the two of them!

Yin Xiaoya's heart hammered wildly against her ribs. She longed for it, yet wanted to escape; just as she gave a slight twist of her body, Xiao Yao's arms clamped around her with overbearing firmness.

Xiao Yao's breathing grew somewhat heavy, and as his head slowly lowered, his burning lips pressed down... (omitting 500 words here).

When the movie ended, Yin Xiaoya's hair and clothes were somewhat disheveled. She glared at Xiao Yao and chided, "You're too overbearing! My clothes are all wrinkled now. How do you expect me to face people in a little while?"

"Let's tidy ourselves up before we leave. Don't worry, nobody will be able to tell," Xiao Yao said, running his fingers through Yin Xiaoya's long hair with a gaze full of doting affection.

Having gone months without tasting the pleasures of the flesh, Xiao Yao's internal fire was running somewhat high.

Had the environment been different and his willpower not quite so formidable, Yin Xiaoya probably would have been thoroughly claimed by him right then and there.

Emerging from the cinema, the two of them returned once again to Xunweizhai.

It was the same private dining room as at noon. Xiao Yao pushed the door open himself, and as Yin Xiaoya stepped inside, she let out an immediate gasp of astonishment.

The private room was still the same room, but it had been transformed into an ocean of flowers. Thousands of red and blue roses blanketed the entire space, which, combined with pink balloons and decorative silk ribbons, turned the room into a veritable castle of love.

"It's so gorgeous! I feel like I can't even breathe!" A scene straight out of a romance drama had materialized right before her eyes. Yin Xiaoya felt she was the happiest person alive—so happy she was practically swooning.