Chapter 4: If I Can't Have It, I'll Destroy It

“So you think I can’t handle you?” Qiu Tianyi snatched up a rubber baton, rushed over, and started beating Cao Mang mercilessly.

Cao Mang didn’t dodge, enduring more than twenty strikes without flinching.

But Qiu Tianyi was so feeble—his body long since hollowed by wine and women—that it was he who ended up panting and exhausted, while Cao Mang was left unscathed.

He handed the rubber baton to Ye Xingmei. “Hit him as much as you like. It doesn’t matter even if you beat him to death.”

Ye Xingmei, however, took his arm and acted coy. “Brother Tianyi, why don’t you let your little sister have this bodyguard?”

Qiu Tianyi felt his bones turn to jelly at her coquettishness. “No problem, that would be his good fortune.”

Adopting the air of a young master, he looked at Cao Mang. “From now on, you’re Xingmei’s bodyguard. If you dare disobey, I’ll kill you.”

But Cao Mang remained solemn. “I only take orders from the family head.”

“Ha! Defying my command? You really have a death wish. Just you wait.” He pulled out his phone and called his father, getting straight to the point once connected.

“Dad, Ye Xingmei wants Cao Mang as her bodyguard, but he won’t listen to me. He says he only listens to you.”

To him, it was a trivial matter, but he was met with Qiu Zhenhu’s roar.

“You wastrel! I sent Cao Mang to protect you, not for you to give him away!”

“He’s just a bodyguard, isn’t he? We have plenty—”

“What do you know? There’s no negotiating. If you dare give him away, I’ll break your legs!”

The call ended abruptly. Qiu Tianyi glared at Cao Mang in frustration, then forced a smile at Ye Xingmei.

“How about you pick another? Take any of my family’s bodyguards you like.”

Ye Xingmei immediately released his arm. “Can’t even manage a simple thing—useless!”

She cast a deep glance at Cao Mang before turning on her heel and leaving.

She was beautifully dressed—a blue, asymmetrical evening gown slung across her shoulder, baring her snowy back and cut daringly high at the thigh. As she walked, her long, shapely legs, wrapped in black sheer stockings, swayed enticingly, and the taut curve below her waist was perfectly contoured. Her slender waist twisted generously as she moved, drawing every man’s gaze.

Cao Mang couldn’t help smacking his lips. If he could have a friendly “match” with this little vixen, it would be the highest form of pleasure.

Having lost face, Qiu Tianyi’s dislike for Cao Mang only grew. “I don’t need you to protect me. Get lost!”

Cao Mang said nothing, returning to the car to wait. Over an hour later, Qiu Tianyi’s men summoned him inside again.

Entering the private room, Qiu Tianyi was down to only a tie and a pair of flashy boxers.

The seductive, foxy Ye Xingmei sat across from him, a slender finger holding a cigarette as she teased him.

“Qiu Tianyi, if you can’t handle losing, don’t play. Didn’t you say you didn’t need Cao Mang’s protection?”

Qiu Tianyi flushed with embarrassment. “Isn’t that why I let him protect me? Do you dare continue or not?”

“Tch, what’s the problem?” She turned to Cao Mang. “Do you know the rules?”

He shook his head blankly, so she patiently explained.

Each side picks one person to do push-ups, but with a hostess riding on their back. First to finish a hundred wins.

Just a hundred push-ups. Cao Mang nodded in agreement, removed his suit jacket, and got on all fours to await the start.

Unexpectedly, Ye Xingmei mounted his waist, hands gripping his broad shoulders to keep from falling when he moved.

The sight made Qiu Tianyi burn with envy—he’d pursued her like a lapdog, never even touching her hand, yet here she was, straddling another man. If she’d asked, he’d have gladly let her ride him like a horse.

Annoyed, he barked, “Start!”

Cao Mang and Ye Xingmei’s other bodyguard began simultaneously. Her ninety-some pounds were nothing to him.

He moved with astonishing speed, even more shocking because he supported himself not on his palms, but on two fingers.

A hostess counted out the reps at a rapid pace, and Cao Mang quickly outstripped his opponent.

On his back, Ye Xingmei squealed with delight, instinctively wrapping her legs around his waist as if trying to tame a wild bull.

Cao Mang finished the hundred first, his shirt torn open at the back by Ye Xingmei’s clutching hands.

Not yet satisfied, she pushed off with her feet and, in a daring move, vaulted right over his head.

Qiu Tianyi, now excited, shouted, “Strip!”

That was the wager—the loser must undress. Ye Xingmei, accepting her loss, didn’t remove her gown.

Instead, with a foxy smile, she slipped off her stockings beneath her dress and draped them around Cao Mang’s neck just as he was about to stand.

Qiu Tianyi jumped up and snatched them away, inhaling deeply as if they were a treasured prize.

“Again! Let’s see you strip completely.”

Emboldened, Qiu Tianyi began to boast, while Ye Xingmei’s eyes filled with mockery.

“Let’s up the stakes. Do you dare?”

“Of course.”

“Then let’s change venues. Come with me.”

Ye Xingmei beckoned him with a curled finger and sauntered off. Qiu Tianyi scampered after her, leaving his group of friends behind.

They headed to the parking lot. Cao Mang had no choice but to follow in the Hummer. But as he got in, the passenger door opened and Ye Xingmei’s personal bodyguard slipped in.

“My code name is Bayonet.”

She was a crisp, cold beauty with a ponytail—her features no less refined than Qiu Yuru’s, with a sharp, heroic arch to her brows, and cold, almond-shaped eyes that radiated an unapproachable chill.

She wore a black women’s suit, the white camisole underneath failing to fill out her curves. In his mind, Cao Mang gave her a poor score.

After her introduction, Bayonet added, “If you follow my lady, I’ll be your plaything.”

So it was a honey trap.

Cao Mang said nothing, started the car, and fell in line with the convoy. Bayonet grabbed his right hand, placing it on her thigh.

“I’ve never been touched by a man. I’m pure.”

Cao Mang replied indifferently, “I’m not interested in flat airports.”

Bayonet glanced down, her expression shifting to anger. She drew a three-edged military dagger and thrust it toward his side.

If she couldn’t recruit him for her mistress, then he would die!

Smack!

Cao Mang swung back without warning, striking her hard on the forehead.

Bayonet’s head rang, golden stars dancing before her eyes as she slumped in her seat.

She vaguely felt Cao Mang’s hand squeezing her a few times and heard him mutter, “Why wrap yourself in bandages? Aren’t you afraid of suffocating?”

Fighting back the dizziness, Bayonet gripped her knife, trying to stab him again, but received another savage blow and blacked out completely.

The convoy stopped in front of an unfinished building, and the group disembarked and headed inside.

Ye Xingmei looked at Cao Mang as he approached. “Where’s Bayonet?”

Cao Mang replied solemnly, “She tried to seduce me. She’s unconscious now.”

The other three bodyguards immediately bristled, one of them—a burly bald man—roaring with rage.

“That’s nonsense! She’d never try to seduce you.”

He’d secretly loved Bayonet for years. How could he let another man touch her? Furious, he charged at Cao Mang, aiming to tear his mouth apart.

Slap!

Cao Mang’s hand flew out. The bald man tried to block, but he was too slow—he could only shield with his face. There was a loud crack, and he collapsed straight to the floor, unconscious.

“Useless,” Ye Xingmei spat, striding deeper into the building.

The more Cao Mang behaved this way, the more she wanted to possess him.

She’d always been possessive—whatever she fancied, she’d go to any lengths to obtain. If she couldn’t make it submit, she’d rather destroy it.