Volume One, Chapter 113: Who Seduced Whom First?

“Whether I’m hopelessly deluded or not, what does it have to do with you?”

Sang Wan spoke softly. “Mr. Lu...”

Lu Jinnian’s smile stiffened.

From behind them came Lou Ye’s voice. “Senior...”

Lu Jinnian turned and saw Lou Ye standing at the entrance to the banquet hall.

As though Lu Jinnian were invisible, Lou Ye fixed his eyes on Sang Wan. “Come here. Let’s toast Old Jiang.”

“Okay.”

Sang Wan answered at once, and without another glance at Lu Jinnian, she turned and walked away.

He had failed to probe Sang Wan’s attitude toward Lou Ye.

And so he had no way of knowing what identity Sang Wan had come with today.

Rolling Lou Ye’s address for her in the back of his throat, Lu Jinnian seemed to relax a little.

Sang Wan brushed past him.

Lu Jinnian turned. “Wanwan...”

Senior.

Wanwan.

Even a fool could tell which was nearer and which was farther.

Lu Jinnian’s meaning was unmistakable.

Yet Sang Wan did not even pause. She moved forward with graceful poise and came to stand beside Lou Ye.

The words on the tip of his tongue froze there because of her indifference.

When Lu Jinnian looked up again, he met Lou Ye’s gaze head-on.

It was smiling.

It was mocking.

A light, careless glance brushed across his face.

Lou Ye’s forearm rested across Sang Wan’s waist.

And Sang Wan herself showed no sign of anything unusual.

Lu Jinnian froze.

Lou Ye smiled as he withdrew his gaze, then wrapped an arm around Sang Wan as if no one else were there, walking with her toward Old Jiang at the main table under the watchful eyes of the surrounding guests.

Lou Ye and Sang Wan were toasting.

Conversation rippled through the banquet hall.

Every remark about what a perfect match they were, made in heaven and born of talent and beauty, reached Lu Jinnian’s ears in full. His face darkened to a livid, iron-gray.

“Honey...”

Lin Chaochao looked over with wounded eyes.

She had only gone to the restroom, and when she returned, Lu Jinnian was gone.

She searched the room and had just seen him speaking with Sang Wan.

Only she could not tell who had been tempting whom.

“Did you manage to get Mrs. Cheng to talk when I told you to keep her company?” Lu Jinnian asked before she could speak.

Lin Chaochao’s face fell at once. “...No.”

She had smiled until her cheeks ached, but the wealthy ladies had acted as if they did not even see her, never taking up her conversation.

She could talk with the actresses, but after only a few words they had inevitably steered the topic to when she and Lu Jinnian planned to marry, looking at Lu Jinnian with eyes that seemed to carry hooks.

How could Lin Chaochao not understand?

She kept her distance, preferring silence to speaking with them.

The others were young ladies who had come with elders from their families. Though they were about her age, each one held her chin high as if their nostrils pointed to the sky.

It was as though there were a wall between them and all the women present, and no matter what she did, she could not blend in.

And then there was Sang Wan, who became the center of attention wherever she went.

Lin Chaochao felt she was simply ill-fated with today’s banquet.

Lu Jinnian frowned. “Go inside.”

He sighed inwardly, unable to help thinking of the past.

Sang Wan had come from a far humbler background than Lin Chaochao, yet in occasions like this, she had never been intimidated.

Even if the ladies did not know her at first and ignored her, Sang Wan would always find a way to slip into their circle.

By the end of a single banquet, some were asking Sang Wan to do their facials, while others wanted to know whether she played cards.

To those who did not know better, it would have seemed as though they had been close sisters for years.

And when he occasionally ran into vexing problems that he had not yet found a solution for, Sang Wan would quietly sound things out among the wives’ circle and then give him fresh ideas and directions.

In the blink of an eye, major troubles became minor, and minor troubles vanished altogether.

But Lin Chaochao...

Seeing Lin Chaochao return to the banquet hall and head toward the young ladies her own age, awkwardly and earnestly trying to fit in, Lu Jinnian’s brows furrowed so hard they seemed ready to crush a mosquito.

When the luncheon ended, the guests split into several groups.

Some were related by blood or marriage and left after offering birthday wishes.

Others had come with a purpose, hoping to expand their contacts or secure a collaboration.

People gathered in twos and threes, and the atmosphere smoothly shifted from banquet to business reception.

By the time Lu Jinnian reached the reception room, many people had already arrived.

“...Lot Three already ended up in the hands of the Lou family. Young Master Lou, you should stop competing with us for Lot Nineteen. It’s such a small piece of land, surely you wouldn’t think much of it, would you?”

“Exactly. The capital is a huge cake. Young Master Lou should try a different flavor.”

Lot Nineteen was the area where Old Town Lane was located.

Its advantage was obvious: the location was excellent, and whether one built residences or mixed-use apartment buildings, it would be a project that guaranteed profit.

Its disadvantage was equally obvious: the site was too small.

Not to mention the other real estate companies in the capital, even the people gathered here probably did not have enough strength to fight over it.

Lou Ye looked nonchalant. “Even a small piece of meat is still meat. If I can’t make a braised pork chop, are you saying I’m not allowed to chop it up and make a bowl of minced pork rice?”

Everyone: ...

“Mr. Lou, construction on Lot Three is about to begin, isn’t it? What have you changed your withdrawn design plans into this time?”

Someone brought up Lot Three.

Lou Ye seemed to perk up. “You are all in for a rare privilege today. You are about to witness the largest science museum complex in the country.”

A science museum complex?

Lu Jinnian suddenly looked up.

That was clearly his idea!

The thought that the Lou family had plagiarized it barely rose to the surface before Lu Jinnian forced it down himself.

He had indeed thought of that, but only in passing. He had never mentioned it to anyone.

Not even Lin Chaochao.

Then there was only one possibility.

Lu Jinnian raised his eyes again and saw Sang Wan.

And Lou Ye, who had half-turned toward her while speaking.

Although there was still a gap of half a seat between their bodies.

Looking at Lou Ye’s warm eyes and Sang Wan’s serene, lovely profile, Lu Jinnian had the strange sensation that the air itself had turned sticky with glue.

Lou Ye kept calling her senior, but the way he looked at Sang Wan was clearly not the way a boss looked at a subordinate.

It was...

the way a man looked at a woman.

Another pair of eyes surfaced in Lu Jinnian’s mind.

Outside the dormitory building for female students at Imperial University, where Lou Ye had bounced a basketball as he walked farther and farther away, then turned back to look at him.

Cold.

Arrogant.

And... a spark of icy fire.

As though the slightest retreat on his part would cause those sparks to gather all at once.

And then, with a boom, erupt into a sky-high blaze.

The two pairs of eyes merged together and settled onto the Lou Ye of this moment.

Lu Jinnian’s heart surged with waves, and an unaccountable panic rose within him.

Even he could not say where that panic came from, or where it was headed.

Before the reception had even begun, several collaborations had already been settled.

A few of them had been arranged by Old Jiang himself.

“Rather than saying this is a birthday celebration, it would be more accurate to say that everyone has simply found an excuse to gather... I’m old now. You young people should have some fun.”

The sky darkened.

The reception was in full swing.

With Old Jiang’s departure, the liveliness in the banquet hall rose to a new peak.

Lu Jinnian hesitated between leaving and staying.

Then he saw Lou Ye say something, and Sang Wan rise to her feet, take his arm, and walk out with him.

Today, Sang Wan wore a long black evening gown.

From the front, she was breathtaking, her figure alluring beyond measure.

From the back, she was even more devastating.

Every movement of hers shimmered with grace.

Lu Jinnian stared fixedly at Sang Wan’s receding figure.

For some reason, it overlapped with the fleeting silhouette in his memory.

Similar.

Yet not quite.

His eyes narrowing slightly, an absurd thought suddenly sprang up in Lu Jinnian’s mind.

That night at Nightfall, the woman Lou Ye had held in his arms—just who... was she?

Eager to find out, Lu Jinnian could not even spare the time to greet anyone beside him.

He set down the champagne flute in his hand and rushed outside.

“Honey...”

Lin Chaochao hurried after him.

All she could see was Lu Jinnian’s figure stopping at the doorway.

And the Maybach that roared away into the distance.

“Honey, what’s wrong?”

Lin Chaochao stepped forward and hooked her arm through Lu Jinnian’s.

In the night, his face looked frighteningly grim.