Volume One, Chapter 101: An Air of Calculated Scheming Wafted Forward

Miss Du?

When Lou Ye reached the doorway of the elegant suite on the top floor, he saw a lovely young woman with excellent looks and poise seated by the window.

She wore a cream-colored modernized cheongsam, and looked like a refined young lady stepped out of an old painting of court women, presenting her most charming profile toward the door.

The moment he entered, he could see her serene, graceful gaze upon the garden outside the window.

It was the kind of scene that practically reeked of calculation.

Lou Ye paused, gave a casual sound to announce his presence, and only then stepped inside.

“Mr. Lou!”

As expected, when Du Qingyan looked over shyly, her big eyes, framed by contact lenses and eyeliner, carried the timid, startled look of a deer in the woods.

Lou Ye immediately felt annoyed.

Countless question marks rose in Du Qingyan’s heart.

The rumor in those circles was that over the years, the society ladies rejected by Mr. Lou had ranged from gentle little flowers to formidable career women; their styles were all different.

The bright, elegant kind like Miss Shao Sixth was probably the closest to his taste.

Everyone had thought a match was almost in the making, but in the end, even with the engagement approaching, it still fell through.

The ladies’ analyses had grown into a compendium nearly as thick as an imperial encyclopedia, and the final conclusion was this:

Could he possibly like the dainty, foolish, sweet-beauty type?

Whether it was true or not, they would know once it was tested.

The Du family had been granted a single matchmaking appointment.

So early that morning, Du Qingyan had burned incense, bathed, and spent two full hours having her stylist and wardrobe consultant transform her into exactly this kind of startlingly innocent beauty.

But Mr. Lou... did not seem impressed.

Uneasy, Du Qingyan looked toward Lou Ye as he sat down across from her, her heart racing.

Lou Ye spoke lazily, “You’re not suited to a cheongsam.”

Knowing a man of his standing would surely dislike his elders arranging a blind date for him, she had thought at least he would go through the motions. But was he really starting to nitpick so soon?

Du Qingyan’s cheeks turned faintly pink.

Lou Ye’s scrutinizing gaze slid down from her face and stopped at the folding fan resting by the edge of the table. “You ought to wear floor-length evening gowns with plunging necklines in all kinds of colors. Black is elegant, white is pure, red is radiant...”

He rattled off a string of vivid shades and styles, then frowned. “When you wear modern Chinese style, it drags out a sort of petty, provincial air in you. Not flattering.”

Du Qingyan’s eyes lit up, then lit up again.

The “be poised, be coy, be ladylike” self-suggestion she had repeated eight hundred times on the way here vanished to the horizon.

“Mr. Lou, you really understand me!”

Her stylist had said the same thing—that her features were broad and elegant, and that she was best suited to glamorous, commanding gowns that showed neck, face, and curves.

She had not expected Lou Ye’s eye to be even sharper than her stylist’s.

Her stylist and she had only developed that kind of tacit understanding after years of coordination.

But Lou Ye had seen through it at first glance.

“Mr. Lou, you really have excellent taste!”

Du Qingyan looked at Lou Ye with shining eyes.

Her whole heart full of pink bubbles, she heard him say, “Right? My boyfriend says the same thing!”

Male... boyfriend?

Pop.

Pop-pop.

The pink bubbles in her heart burst with a crackling sound.

Du Qingyan stared blankly. “Y-you... boyfriend?”

“Yeah...”

Lou Ye’s expression remained calm. “Want me to introduce you sometime?”

Du Qingyan was on the verge of tears.

She had been shocked yesterday when her family told her she would be meeting Mr. Lou today.

She had been thrilled last night in the group chat with her fake best friends.

And now she felt as though lightning had split her open from head to toe.

For a moment, she did not know what to say.

Anyone could tell this was a blind date arranged by the elders of both families. Whether it succeeded or not was another matter; at least meet first and see.

What if they hit it off?

She had spent the entire morning dressing herself, and had mentally rehearsed countless times what to say, what expression to wear, what tone of voice to use if she met Lou Ye.

But the moment he saw her, he had given her one “Miss Du,” then another remark that she looked bad in modern Chinese dress.

And then: boyfriend.

Three sentences, and he had blown her to pieces.

“You, you...”

She did not dare curse Lou Ye.

Nor did she dare blame the Lou elders who had arranged for him to come on a blind date.

Du Qingyan’s face went white, then red, then green again. She failed to form even one complete sentence before turning and running off, tears clinging to her lashes.

A phone rang.

Lou Ye turned his head and glanced at Du Qingyan fleeing out of the courtyard gate.

Then he answered slowly, “Hello?”

“Brother, you really went on a blind date? Aren’t you afraid of my sister-in-law...?”

“It’s already over!”

“???”

On the other end, Jiang Huai paused, then unconsciously glanced at his watch. “You were in there for only a few minutes, and it’s already over?”

“Got a problem with that?”

Lou Ye’s voice was languid.

Jiang Huai laughed. “Not at all. So how many lines this time?”

“Two? Or three? I don’t remember...”

Lou Ye complained irritably, “When you go on a blind date, do you chat with the girl while keeping count in your little notebook of how many sentences you’ve said?”

“All right, all right.”

Jiang Huai laughed. “That Miss Liao last time—you’d been inside ten minutes, and in five sentences you made her cry so hard she said she’d avoid anyone with the surname Lou for the rest of her life. This time... you broke another record!”

While they ate and talked, it was already two in the afternoon when they left South River Tower.

He had nothing else to do, and going to the company would not let him see Sang Wan anyway.

Lou Ye chose to go home.

The elevator stopped on the nineteenth floor. He opened the door with practiced ease, head lowered.

Then he froze.

On the rug in front of the living room sofa, Xu Yiyi was hugging a bag of chips and petting a cat.

Something seemed to be playing on the television, a variety show with a crowd of people all talking over one another.

Their eyes met, and Lou Ye suddenly felt that today’s meeting with Du Qingyan had not been entirely without gain.

At the very least, he had learned something from her.

For example, that little bit of unspeakable cunning.

Catching the cat that leaped into his arms, Lou Ye casually introduced himself. “Hello, I’m Sang Wan’s underground lover, the one she can’t acknowledge in the light of day.”

Since they were on the same side, there was no need to be too formal.

Xu Yiyi wiped the crumbs from the corner of her mouth, then straightened the cushion on the sofa, looking delighted and honored. “Hello, I’m the best friend who already knew about this long ago!”

They exchanged a knowing look. Lou Ye released the cat and said, “Fine, then carry on.”

He turned and closed the door.

Lou Ye left as quietly as he had come.

At exactly six o’clock, Sang Wan got off work on time.

As she stepped out of the elevator, she unconsciously glanced toward the main door.

She did not see Lu Jinnian or Little Mu.

Before she could fully relax, she spotted Madam Ke standing beside the steps.