Zhou Ruo An paced back and forth inside the room, his leather shoes making dull sounds against the carpet.
Several times, he walked to the door only to turn back again. In the end, he stopped in the center of the room, took a deep breath, and forced himself to calm down.
He closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the agitation in his gaze had already been suppressed. Walking to the door, he raised a hand and knocked three times, neither too hard nor too lightly, but enough for the people outside to hear.
Sure enough, a bodyguard’s voice soon came from outside. “What is it?”
Zhou Ruo An’s voice was low and steady, still carrying the bearing of someone accustomed to authority. “I need a cup of coffee.”
“Vice President Ruo An seems to have forgotten his situation.” The voice outside was cold and hard. “You’d better settle down.”
“Zhang Qiang, isn’t it? I remember you.” Zhou Ruo An seemed to be leaning against the door, a cigarette between his lips. His pace of speech did not change, though his voice became slightly muffled. “You’ve followed my uncle for three years. You got married last year, and your wife is pregnant now.”
The breathing outside the door clearly hitched.
“And the one beside you.” The crisp click of a lighter sounded through the door. “He’s all alone with no attachments, except that he owes several hundred thousand yuan in gambling debts to an underground moneylender.”
Every one of those pieces of information, each striking directly at a weak point, had come from Lin Yi. Ever since learning that Zhou Ran Ming had seen through Zhou Ruo An’s identity, he had immediately begun investigating the leverage that could be used against everyone around Zhou Ran Ming, all so Zhou Ruo An would have one more trump card capable of turning the tables at a critical moment.
After a long silence, the voice outside was no longer as forceful as before. “We’re only following orders…”
“None of us are good people. I only want a cup of coffee.” Zhou Ruo An cut him off. “After all, I’m still Shengkai’s vice president right now. Who can say for certain whether I’ll keep this position or not?”
Zhou Ruo An never forgot a slight. If he did not fall from power later… it was only a cup of coffee.
The two bodyguards exchanged a glance. Zhang Qiang asked, “Vice President Ruo An… what kind of coffee would you like?”
The fingers holding Zhou Ruo An’s cigarette tightened, but he forced his tone to remain indifferent. “Have Uncle Zhong, the Third Branch’s butler, prepare it. He knows my preferences.” Then, as though it were an afterthought, he added casually, “Mocha, with an extra serving of hot milk.”
＊
The buffet area occupied a corner of the banquet hall. The lights there were off, leaving the illumination faint and the shadows heavy. The old butler was directing the waiters as they arranged pastries when the short shadow before him was suddenly swallowed by a tall figure.
He turned his head slightly and looked at the man in a black suit standing behind him.
“Make me a cup of coffee.”
The old butler withdrew his gaze and lightly flicked at nonexistent dust on his clothes. As though he had not heard, he continued speaking to the waiter. “Check the glasses in the champagne tower again. There mustn’t be any fingerprints.”
Zhang Qiang frowned and reached out to grab the old butler’s arm. “I said I need a cup of coffee!”
Only then did the old butler raise his eyes. His gaze was calm as he looked at the other man, his tone unhurried. “I was invited here to help manage Fourth Young Master’s engagement banquet, not to make coffee for you.”
The bodyguard impatiently tightened his grip. “The coffee is for Fourth Young Master.”
The old butler’s expression changed slightly. “…He asked me to make coffee for him?”
“Yes. Mocha, with an extra serving of hot milk,” the bodyguard repeated impatiently.
At those words, the old butler’s eyelid twitched sharply, and the handkerchief he had been holding trembled almost imperceptibly. He remained silent for a moment before saying in a faintly complaining tone, “I’m already so busy here, and Fourth Young Master still has to make trouble for me.”
He turned toward the coffee machine and asked as though casually, “Where is he now? Once it’s ready, I’ll take it to him.”
The bodyguard refused. “No need. Make it now. Once it’s done, just give it to me.”
Uncle Zhong lowered his eyelids and said no more. In the brief silence, the sound of the coffee machine seemed exceptionally clear, while the rich aroma of coffee gradually spread through the air.
When the bodyguard turned and left with the cup, Uncle Zhong’s gaze followed his back the entire way. Only after the man disappeared around the corner of the corridor did he slowly slip a hand into his pocket, his fingertips touching the cold surface of his phone.
＊
Third Miss sat in a European-style high-backed chair in the corner, her scallion-green velvet gown strikingly conspicuous among the roomful of splendid clothes. A slender champagne flute rested between her fingers. The wine inside had not moved by even a fraction, while droplets of condensation slowly slid down the glass and dampened her lace glove.
She hated occasions like this—the ostentatious crystal chandeliers, the hypocritical small talk, and the deliberately exaggerated bursts of laughter. In the past, she would at least force out a few obedient smiles, but today the Third Branch’s madam had claimed illness and refused to appear, leaving her without even the last reason to keep up appearances.
Third Miss’s cool gaze swept across the entire hall. Among the perfumed finery and elegantly dressed guests, there was no sign of Zhou Ruo An.
Forty minutes earlier, she had caught a glimpse of him standing in a corner of the garden on the phone, his brows tightly furrowed and his expression grave.
Third Miss thought of the exceptionally troublesome lover Zhou Ruo An had mentioned. Her gaze drifted toward the bride’s lounge. Just imagining Zhou Ruo An secretly meeting his lover during his own engagement banquet, only for his fiancée to catch them red-handed and stab him several times, was enough to make her shudder.
The woman muttered under her breath, “He really never lets anyone relax.”
Setting down her wineglass, she slowly rose, avoided the lively crowd, and followed the corridor lined with dark-patterned carpet toward the rear of the mountain villa.
When she passed a corner, her steps paused slightly. In the distance, a bodyguard carrying a cup of coffee was walking quickly toward a room at the far end of the corridor.
Third Miss narrowed her eyes and instinctively slipped into the shadows around the corner.
“Vice President Ruo An, the coffee you asked for.” Holding the cup, Zhang Qiang warned through the door, “If you’re planning to use this as a chance to escape, don’t blame us for being rude.”
In the shadows, slender fingers abruptly clenched the scallion-green velvet skirt.
＊
Third Miss stopped a waiter carrying a tray of drinks and took two glasses of whisky from it. After draining the glass in her left hand, she immediately finished the one in her right.
“Third Miss…” The waiter had barely begun speaking when he saw her pour all the remaining liquor over her own dress. The expensive velvet instantly darkened with wet stains, while the sharp smell of alcohol mingled with the perfume already on her body, weaving an invisible net through the corridor.
The sound of stumbling footsteps broke the stillness of the dim corridor. She loosened the ribbon at the back of her neck, letting stray curls fall beside the reddened corners of her eyes.
After pinching the outside of her own thigh hard, Third Miss finally opened her mouth and roared, “Zhou Ruo An! Get the hell out here!”
The woman’s alcohol-laced voice pierced through the door. Zhou Ruo An started and immediately pressed himself against the door panel, listening to the sounds of shoving outside and high heels scraping across the floor tiles.
“We’re both illegitimate bastards, so why do you get to marry the daughter of a powerful family while ruining my marriage?” The woman’s voice rose and fell erratically, like a blunt knife sawing at the listener’s nerves. “Zhou Ruo An, if you want to climb to the top, then climb! Why the hell do you have to step on me to do it? Stop hiding in your shell like a coward. Come out here and explain yourself!”
Zhou Ruo An was far too shrewd not to understand by now. His eyes lit up, and he pressed himself against the door as he replied, “I’m not the one who ruined your marriage. Don’t throw dirty water on me.”
Outside, Third Miss confirmed Zhou Ruo An’s location and lifted her skirt, preparing to charge toward the door. The bodyguards stationed there were not particularly familiar with this illegitimate daughter of the Third Branch. On the rare occasions they saw her at family banquets, she always appeared quiet and obedient, her eyes lowered. They had never imagined she could be this fierce once she started making a drunken scene.
They dragged the woman backward but forgot to cover her mouth. “Zhou Ruo An, after doing so many wicked things, what else do you have to say for yourself?”
A reply immediately came from inside the room. “It’s one thing for you to make trouble with me, but whatever you do, don’t go make trouble with Miss Xu. You know her temper. She’ll break off the engagement, disgrace the Zhou family, and kill me too.”
Outside the door, everything abruptly fell silent.
Third Miss’s crimson-painted fingers hung suspended in midair, and her drunkenly hazy eyes suddenly cleared. She allowed the bodyguards to hold her arms, her scallion-green skirt dragging winding creases across the floor.
＊
Cigarette smoke slowly curled through the air. Xu Yi Han sat before the vanity, a slender ladies’ cigarette between her fingers. Her red lips parted slightly as she exhaled a thin veil of smoke. The mirror reflected her cool eyes and brows, as well as Third Miss’s slightly anxious figure behind her.
“It has nothing to do with me,” Xu Yi Han said indifferently. Smoke blurred her face until only the faint red of her lips remained visible in the mirror.
Through the vanity mirror, Third Miss studied the legendary woman who had sent her ex-husband to the ICU, her brows drawn tight. “Zhou Ruo An is your fiancé. He has someone else outside, and that person is extremely troublesome—fierce and unreasonable.”
The corner of Xu Yi Han’s mouth lifted slightly, her tone calm. “I know. He is quite troublesome.”
Third Miss abruptly rose from the chair, her skirt sweeping up a gust of air. “You know?”
“Mm.”
“If you know he’s fooling around outside and can’t even wipe his mouth clean afterward, why aren’t you going to settle accounts with him?”
Xu Yi Han slowly turned around. The smoke dispersed, revealing the faint mockery in her eyes. “Do you have a grudge against Zhou Ruo An?”
Third Miss raised a hand and adjusted her fluffy curls, her tone cool. “You could say that.”
“If you have a grudge, settle it yourself.” Xu Yi Han lazily flicked away some ash. “Don’t come here serving me that green-tea act.”
Having just been called a green-tea bitch, Third Miss’s face reddened. She gritted her teeth before finally blurting out, “Your fiancé has been locked up, and he’s waiting for you to save him.”
Xu Yi Han’s narrow brows lifted slightly. At last, a trace of interest appeared on her face as she asked unhurriedly, “Who locked him up? Why was he locked up? Where is he being held?”
“He’s locked in the reception room at the back of the mountain villa.” Third Miss sighed. “As for everything else… I don’t know.”
Xu Yi Han stared at her for two seconds, then suddenly let out a soft laugh and rose to walk toward the window. With a light flick of her fingertips, ash fluttered downward, and she did not care in the slightest whose expensive clothes downstairs might be dirtied by it.
“But this still has nothing to do with me.” Her voice in the spring sunlight seemed soaked in ice water.
Third Miss looked at the woman’s back and said in a low voice, “You may have no feelings for Zhou Ruo An, and you can refuse to save him, but don’t you think this is the perfect opportunity to make everything bigger—and worse?”
Xu Yi Han slowly turned around, sunlight gilding the edges of her wedding dress. “What opportunity?”
“You stabbed your ex-husband, and then you beat the hell out of your fiancé. Once that reputation is thoroughly ruined, who would dare marry you? The worse your reputation gets, the less those families looking for a marriage alliance will dare set their sights on you.”
Xu Yi Han suddenly burst out laughing. “You know I don’t want to marry?”
“I’m a member of the Zhou family. How could I not know that you failed to break off the engagement and your family put you under house arrest? Besides…” Third Miss brushed her fingers over the fresh green velvet of her skirt, her voice low and faint. “Anyone can tell from your expression that you’re utterly disgusted by all of this.”
Xu Yi Han turned and leaned against the window frame, the cold metal pressing against the exposed skin of her lower back. She took a drag from her cigarette and slowly exhaled. “You’re right.”
Within the smoke, the woman’s smile suddenly came vividly alive. “Why shouldn’t I make this performance even more spectacular? Let everyone say, whenever they mention the Xu family’s daughter…” She deliberately drew out the words. “That she’s a madwoman.”
She walked forward two steps and said almost jokingly, “Then I suppose I’ll go save my dear fiancé.”
Third Miss’s eyes lit up. “How are you going to save him?”
The woman lowered her eyes, her rather plain face filled entirely with coldness. She crushed the cigarette hard into the ashtray, gathered up her skirt, and strode quickly toward the door. With one hand on the doorknob, she looked back, sunlight scattering tiny golden flecks through her eyes. “Naturally, with great fanfare.”
The instant the door opened, she grabbed the fire extinguisher in the hallway. Before Third Miss could react, there came a tremendous bang.
The fire-safety glass shattered. Xu Yi Han’s pale arm reached into the fixture and pulled out the fire axe, shards of broken glass still clinging to it. She casually shook the axe, and fragments of glass fell with a series of crisp clinks against the marble floor.
“Holy shit…” Third Miss’s mouth fell open as she watched Xu Yi Han carry the axe downstairs, the train of her wedding dress sweeping over the debris strewn across the floor.
“Sister Han!” Third Miss suddenly chased after her, her green skirt fluttering like a leaf in the wind. “If you don’t want a man…” She panted, her eyes shining astonishingly bright. “Would you consider me?”