Chapter 377: Chapter 376: Mental Rejection...

Shen Chen clutched his glass, slowly draining the wine.

Jiang Baiyi wore a grim expression, feeling utterly helpless.

Both of them were his brothers. He couldn’t blame either one, nor could he take a side. For a moment, he found his frustration shifting toward Xu Su.

’It’s true what they say,’ he thought. ’A beautiful woman is nothing but trouble!’

Xu Su, whom Jiang Baiyi had just secretly branded a femme fatale, was being held firmly in Zhou Mochen’s embrace, his hand clasped around her waist.

The thin silk comforter had long since been tossed to one side, leaving the two of them lying on the large bed.

Xu Su lay on the bed, her head turned to the side, her face slick with sweat.

The lights were out. In the pitch-black room, where one couldn’t even see their own hand, Zhou Mochen’s vision was surprisingly sharp.

The moment Xu Su bit down on her lip, his fingers pinched her jaw, forcing her to release it. "...Don’t bite yourself."

His voice was impossibly gentle. Anyone who heard it would praise him for being so thoughtful and attentive.

Only Xu Su knew what a sanctimonious devil he was.

He was a master of sweet-talking and coaxing, but his actions were utterly depraved.

After falling for it a few times, Xu Su had learned to treat his soft, gentle coaxing as background noise.

’You couldn’t trust a single word that came out of his mouth!’

Her expression was a mixture of strained tolerance and near collapse.

Her eyes welled with tears, catching fractured slivers of light in the darkness.

Zhou Mochen watched her silently, a strange and inexplicable anger rising in his heart.

’He wanted to torment her even more...’

His hand tightened slightly as he took a deep breath.

When it was all over, Xu Su was panting, her breaths as rapid as if she were starved for air.

Zhou Mochen wrapped an arm around her shoulders, gently patting her back to soothe her. Once her breathing had evened out, he cupped her chin and tried to kiss her again.

Xu Su turned her head, dodging the kiss.

The kiss landed on her chin. Zhou Mochen paused. "What’s wrong?"

His voice was husky in the aftermath, his hot breath brushing against her ear.

Xu Su flinched, trying to pull away, but he held her trapped in his arms with nowhere to escape.

The room’s lights flicked on. Zhou Mochen looked down at the woman in his arms, lifted her chin again, and rained a flurry of soft kisses upon her.

Xu Su pressed her hand against his chest and gave him a push. "That’s enough. We’re done for tonight."

"Just once..." Zhou Mochen grumbled, displeased. "Have you forgotten? The rule you set was no more than twice a day."

’How dare he be the one who’s unhappy!’

Xu Su glared at him, furious. "You were deliberately holding back just to torment me tonight, weren’t you?" She put more strength into her hands and shoved him away. "What are you upset about this time?"

He’d been sullen the entire way home, and the moment they got back to the room, he’d dragged her straight to bed...

Faced with her accusation, Zhou Mochen’s expression didn’t so much as twitch. "I wasn’t," he said innocently. "This is just my normal performance."

’Normal performance my ass.’

’If this was his ’normal performance,’ was she really so fragile that she’d be completely wiped out after just one round?’

’What on earth was he holding a grudge about? He refused to talk about it and just resorted to these kinds of tricks!’

Xu Su sat up and pulled on her nightgown. She shakily got out of bed, shrugging off Zhou Mochen’s hand as he reached out to steady her. She sneered, "If that was your ’normal performance,’ then I can’t handle it. From now on, let’s make it once a month."

With that, she ignored the sudden change in Zhou Mochen’s expression and walked into the bathroom to clean up.

When she came out, Zhou Mochen was sitting on the bed, staring at her with pleading eyes. "I was wrong. I promise I’ll be gentle and considerate next time. Your feelings will be my top priority."

Xu Su stood by the bed, staring at his handsome face, barely managing to suppress her anger. She took a deep breath. "Zhou Mochen, you can’t bully me in bed."

"I admit I was a little rough, but it’s not like I was bullying you." Zhou Mochen looked as if he’d been gravely wronged. "You were clearly..."

"Shut up!" Xu Su clamped a hand over his mouth, cutting him off. Flustered and angry, she said, "If I say it’s bullying, then it’s bullying! No rebuttals!"

Zhou Mochen grabbed her by the waist, pulled her onto the bed, and hugged her close. He kissed her forehead. "Susu, don’t be shy. Tell me, did you really hate what I did just now?"

"..." Xu Su fell silent for a moment, an emotion she couldn’t name welling in her chest. She said in a low voice, "I don’t like the feeling of losing control."

"Why not?" Zhou Mochen asked with a smile. "I can follow my heart and submit to you, so why can’t you lose control for me? Even if it’s just losing control to your own desires. Your reaction clearly showed..."

Xu Su looked up and glared at him.

Zhou Mochen stopped speaking and met her gaze. His eyes were calm, without a hint of frivolity. "You shouldn’t feel ashamed for losing control. We share the most intimate of relationships. I love every side of you, more and more each day."

Xu Su pressed her lips together and buried her face in the crook of his neck. "You were so rough just now..."

Zhou Mochen hummed softly, stating with certainty, "Rough... but you liked it."

"...Bullshit!" Xu Su hated his confident, victorious tone. She pinched him out of frustration and said righteously, "I admit, I liked it physically, but I rejected it mentally."

"Rejected it mentally..."

Zhou Mochen repeated her words, his hand on her waist slowly tightening its grip. In a low voice, he said, "I’ve never heard of anyone rejecting that feeling. Why do you? Is it because *I’m* the one giving you this experience that you don’t like it?"

Xu Su blinked. It took her a long moment to understand the meaning behind his words. Meeting his dark, stormy eyes, she let out a laugh born of anger.

She laughed aloud and nodded, playing along. "That’s right. You’re absolutely correct."

’You’re absolutely correct...’

Zhou Mochen ground his back teeth, the sound barely audible, but he forced himself to hold back, telling himself she was probably just saying it out of anger.

But then again, her reaction in the moment hadn’t been a lie. She had truly been resistant, repulsed. Was it, as she claimed, that she hated losing control? Or did she simply hate him?

Her instincts rejected him, so subconsciously, she was repulsed by every sensation he gave her...

No matter how sweet her words of appeasement were, deep down in her bones, she hated him.

The moment the thought surfaced, it felt as if ten thousand needles were piercing Zhou Mochen’s heart. A dense, overwhelming pain washed over him, so intense he felt he would go mad right then and there.

As for Xu Su, she had only said it out of anger. But after the words were out, she suddenly realized his idea might actually be right.

In her past life, she had loathed herself. She’d hated Zhou Mochen, and by extension, she’d hated the version of herself that he had "conquered" in bed...

And that was the literal meaning of it—conquered in bed.

Young Master Zhou had specialized in the carnal arts. Since he couldn’t win her affection no matter how hard he schemed, he was determined to at least get a physical response from Xu Su to soothe his obsessive heart.

Every time they were in bed together, it felt like an ordeal for Xu Su. She resisted, from the bottom of her heart, a deep-seated resistance to surrendering beneath him.

This resistance was embedded deep in her soul and had carried over into this life. Even though Xu Su was now certain she liked Zhou Mochen, and even genuinely craved his body, she still resisted the feeling of losing control because of him.

’If she lost her reason, would that even be her anymore...?’

Recalling the events of her past life, Xu Su covered her burning face, silently cursing Zhou Mochen for being so inhuman. She had no idea that the man lying beside her was the one who was truly on the verge of losing control.