Chapter 44: Alive again

He first held on to her, letting her calm down and watched her completely fall unconscious. And then bent down his knees to gently lift her up in a princess hold, carefully holding her close to him. As he set her on a sofa nearby to recuperate, he fixed her exposed breast, and tidied her hair a bit with a gentle motion. He then went to an armchair opposite her sofa, in the position he usually sat to cultivate here.

He took off his shoes, sat in lotus position and started cultivating. His cultivation base quickly started to rise as the quality and quantity of the Yin Qi lingering around him now was a lot better and abundant. He quickly reached the bottleneck of the 2nd level of Qi Refining Realm and broke through without much struggle, and went even further still.

Sui Luxiao was recuperating, and several hours passed before she woke up to see Wu Long cultivating in silence. She did not immediately stand up, lying in this position and looking at him.

She started to feel conflicted, and even regretful that she took him up on his offer as then she would not feel like this now. She was an honest woman with integrity, she never cheated on her husband in her life, and she never allowed anyone to even flirt with her. She had to agree to the treatment as it was far too important, and, at that point, it did not really matter what method she chose. So she chose to agree to his help since he was the one who seemed to know the problem best as he identified it, and he also called himself an expert, which she could trust as she knew when someone was either lying or overconfident from the decades of operating such a large enterprise as the highest decision maker. Besides, she believed that even if he made her release Yin Qi, it would only be just that, a physical pleasure that she could brush off at any moment.

She never thought of the outcome right now. She was a smart woman, and she knew that she was beginning to have feelings for him. She was shocked as she did not believe that this part of her soul was still alive, but she was not one to delude herself. There was now a dilemma before her. She had to stop the treatment, at least from him. It was the smartest and most logical thing to do to keep her integrity. But there was a part of her that screamed that she could not. It was the first time since she became a powerful and influential woman, more experienced and smarter than her youth, disillusioned with her husband and kids, that she was truly unable to make a decision. She would normally be able to keep her head cool at any times, but there was now a part of her that knew that something in her was starting to revive, and if lost, she could potentially collapse.

She stood up and went to the bathroom, as she started to clean up she first halted, seeing as he was not looking at her yet as he was cultivating, but then admonished herself and took off her drenched tights and underwear, like always not taking off the dress but just reaching under it. She looked at them in a daze for some time and put them into the laundry basket.

Recently, she had to stop the employee from taking anything out of the laundry basket and taking care of it herself. As she cleaned up, wore new underwear and identical tights to the ones she had before, and refreshed her looks, some time passed. She did not do anything in a hurry, as she knew he would be cultivating for some more time.

As he reached near the bottleneck to the 3rd level of Qi Gathering Realm he stopped cultivating to increase the base and started consolidation, which took him about half an hour.

This was the longest treatment session thus far, and since the Yin Qi released was better and more abundant it also took him longer to cultivate it. It was now nearly evening, but he already told her that this would most likely be the case when he left last time.

When he opened up his eyes he saw her sitting on the sofa opposite him, with a refreshed appearance, looking like the time they met today. But there was a complicated light in her eyes, as she was fighting herself.

“It seems you are struggling with a decision, but do not be alarmed, it is not the end of the world, and you are still the honest and upright woman you were before. You are not falling into depravity by the virtue of the fact that you are having this conflicted feeling, and you are not betraying anyone as you have been betrayed first. You are just honest with yourself, and that is not a bad thing.”

“…How do I know that I will not fall into depravity from now on if I continue?”

“You do not, as no one can really guarantee anything pertaining to the future, but I have faith in you. You are a strong woman, and will not succumb to pleasure while you are still sane, and I do not give pleasure that one cannot handle so going insane from my pleasure is impossible. The very fact that you came to a decision to stop the treatment now shows how strong your consciousness and determination are”

“…Is it okay to stop?”

“I cannot say that I am happy about not being able to give you pleasure, as I must confess that I do enjoy our little routine, but it is ultimately your decision. I cannot force you. But since I am responsible for making you feel uncomfortable with these feelings I will give you a helping hand in resolving your conflict a bit at least for now. If you decide to stop the treatment, let us make a temporary stop for now. You will still have to release Yin Qi not to regress the progress we made, but you could do it by relieving yourself as you had done recently”

She blushed slightly when she realized that he somehow knew that she started pleasuring herself from time to time after their last session. He then continued

“By now you have recovered enough for that to continue a slight rehabilitation, and thus pausing will not negatively affect the treatment. I also offer you to continue meeting up for appointments, but only for consultation, as I have to intervene if there are any changes in your condition. And lastly, I offer you my ear and words whenever you need them, as a good conversation can sometimes help you see the world from the other side. Meanwhile, you can also collect your thoughts and make up your mind”

“…”

As he finished with a gentle smile, vastly different from the seductive or charming one he used at normal times, she looked at him in silence for some time.

“… Why are you helping me?”

She eventually asked, puzzled by how sincerely he treated her.

“I must confess, I am slightly puzzled about that as well. This is not a completely normal behavior to me as I prefer not to interfere, or if I do, not so directly.

I approached you not knowing what you were like or what your situation was, and had a purpose, that was to resolve the problem with your son as well as try and get all the ingredients I need all in one go, since it was convenient. ｎｏｖ𝚕．𝚌ｏｍ

At the same time as those goals, I had a thought of seducing you if your man did not deserve you, or punishing you if you turned out to be as corrupt as your son, but I never expected to find … well, you.

As I decided to help you I did a little more than the treatment while we were here. You were wondering why I asked you that we keep our appointments in this office and why did I ask you to not change the way you dress yourself, right? I have achieved my purpose in doing so now, so I can tell you now.

You lost your identity as a woman right here in the office, first by that desk over there where you receive reports and read notes, and then even more by that window you look at the employees at, and then on the armchair here where you meet people strictly for business you sealed the coffin on it. So I made you regain your womanhood here, in the place you lost it. The heart that is beating and flutters slightly right now is the heart of a woman. But it is also the heart of a competent and confident leader. The two are one and the same, and regaining your woman self could not happen anywhere else for you to not start to resent the businesswoman self. Which is also a part of you and not supposed to be resented.

Your clothes are a part of your daily life and routine, and they facilitated the feeling of this being the same life of working in this office. It is also very helpful towards the rebirth of your womanhood. Your clothing choice is very feminine, but not to please the eyes of someone else since you lost interest in that and not for business as you disdain doing so, but a subconscious choice, one that signifies the desire of your woman self to be reborn and embraced by you again.

And if I am completely honest, I do like how you dress, and was hoping to always see you as stunning as when I saw you first.

Now that you have regained your lost half, you are whole and alive again. Thus the confusion. But that basically means that you do not need me to help you anymore, as you are already awake, and now, aware.

Even if I were to leave, if you just continue on this path you will, albeit more slowly, but fully recuperate, as well as be alive again. You might also start pondering about your life and what you want to do, and if there are any changes you want to make. But here I am, not leaving and offering to continue, or at least conversations to ensure that everything goes well and to try and steer you in a certain direction.

I admit, I am fascinated by you, and I started to genuinely care. I genuinely want you for myself, but I am not one to force women to do what they do not want. Besides, I cannot give you what you sought from a man before, to be yours completely and only be with you, as I am not someone who will be faithful to one woman. And despite that I can guarantee to love you better than anyone out there and treat you as the most precious woman in the world when I am with you, and make you happy. But it is ultimately your choice. Thus I give you space and time to think by yourself. However, I am not certain of what you choose, and I am quite persistent and greedy. So here I am, trying to convince you to make choices that I believe are right, quite selfishly so.”

He replied, with first a puzzled, then sincere, and then pondering look on his face, finishing with a slight chuckle at his own shamelessness.

She looked at him in a daze, as he was basically quite blatantly pursuing her. She was, no doubt, surprised, first at his revelations on his motivations and initial attitude, then on his reasoning for his requests regarding the place and her clothes, and finally at the realization about her woman self.

But that surprise paled in comparison to his now naked confession. He wanted her. This made her surprised, puzzled, happy, flustered, doubtful, scared, unsure, flattered, conflicted and feel a flurry of other emotions at the same time.

They sat there, looking at each other in complete silence for some time.

“… I see, I..I…”

She struggled to say something after some time, still in a daze and confusion.

“It is okay, take your time to think, I will not urge you and make you hurry. You do not have to give your answer now, today or even this week. I said I am persistent, not impatient.

I just have to remind you that I will always be here when you want to talk, ask something or anything else. I also have to tell you that whatever your answer will be, it will not change that I want to help you, or bring you any consequences from my side.

And lastly, your honesty and integrity are not compromised by considering my words, as you are well aware that your current relationship is not sustainable and quite harmful. You just were not in the right place to ponder on it before, but now you are, and you also have more options of where to go in your life from here on.

I know that there is a lot on your mind now, so I will leave you for now not to become a pressure or distraction” he said in a gentle tone.

He knew that despite being honest with her, he was still very unfair in pursuing her in these circumstances, where she was vulnerable and he was the only stable looking option in her arsenal, but he wanted her too much, and he never considered himself a good person.

As he stood up, took his ring he left on the sink that she then left for him on the table before him and left Sui Luxiao’s office, she sat there for a long time, thoughts and emotions flashing through her eyes. But despite her confused and dazed state, there was now an undeniable air of life around her, as she was alive again.