"Not really."
An Yao rubbed her nose awkwardly. "I just didn't want people to get the wrong idea."
Yan Muzhou: "Wrong idea about what?"
An Yao opened her mouth but found it hard to say it out loud.
Of course, she was worried about being mistaken for a romantic couple. The guests here were all prominent figures in the business world—if such a misunderstanding spread, it would only bring endless trouble and make things even more awkward for her.
Besides, from what the man beside him had said earlier, he had never, or rarely, brought a woman to social events.
So the chances of being misunderstood were even higher.
Although An Yao didn't answer, Yan Muzhou glanced at her from the corner of his eye. Combined with her hesitant demeanor, the answer wasn't hard to guess.
After walking a few more steps forward, he said evenly, "I'll say it again—you don't need to care so much about what others think. Besides, no one has ever stipulated that a man and woman attending a reception together must be lovers or spouses."
An Yao tried to argue back: "Then where did the idiom 'avoiding the melon patch and the plum tree' come from?" And those people just now clearly misunderstood."
Yan Muzhou: "This doesn't even reach the level of 'avoiding the appearance of impropriety.'"It's more like 'seeing enemies in every blade of grass'.' Those people just couldn't find a topic to talk about, and you happened to walk over."
He paused for a second, then added, "When you were little, you never cared about such trivial matters."
An Yao didn't respond, thinking to herself that when she was little, it wasn't that she didn't care—she cared even more, just in a different direction.
In the span of a few sentences, they had already arrived at the venue for the charity auction.
The seats had been arranged in advance by the staff under Yan Muzhou's charge, and An Yao's seat was right next to his, so there was no need to continue debating whether it was 'seeing enemies in every shadow' or 'being in a position to be suspected'.'
After An Yao took her seat, as the auctioneer delivered the opening remarks, her attention naturally shifted to the items up for bidding.
She had done her homework in advance, and the items she bid on were understood to be charged to Yan Muzhou's account, with the donation amount registered under Elder Yan's name.
Following the prices she had estimated beforehand, An Yao raised her paddle to secure two calligraphy paintings and a set of cloisonné enamel tea ware.
Halfway through the proceedings, An Mingshan's jade carving was displayed on the big screen.
An Yao glanced at the person beside her, still somewhat hesitant.
She had planned to bid on this piece, but hadn't decided whether to buy it and give it to Elder Yan along with the other items, or to purchase it in her own name.
She intended to observe the bidding before making a decision. Unexpectedly, just as the bidding began, Yan Muzhou beside her raised his paddle first, jumping the bid to three times the starting price.
Given that the starting price was calculated correctly, this signaled that he was determined to win this piece.
Everyone present understood this, and no one would challenge him on it. Soon, the auctioneer's gavel came down.
An Yao turned to look at him again.
Yan Muzhou stared straight ahead, his expression as calm and unreadable as ever.
That made sense. Elder Yan was a close friend of her grandfather's, and with her grandfather's posthumous work appearing at the auction, whether out of respect or filial piety, he would definitely bid on it.
An Yao pressed her lips together lightly and refocused her attention on the next item.
The auction was the final event after the summit. When it concluded, Yan Muzhou called over his assistant and instructed him to drive An Yao home.
He had other engagements afterward.
Assistant Fang led An Yao toward the door and said to her, "Miss An, Mr. Yan just asked me to get your detailed address so we can have that jade carving we won delivered directly to you."
An Yao fell silent for a moment.
Give it to her? But he had raised his paddle and called out triple the price just moments ago, and she couldn't afford that amount.
"No need."
An Yao thought for a moment, then said, "Just have it delivered to the Yan family's old residence."
"That's a bit difficult for me."
Assistant Fang smiled. "Mr. Yan instructed that it be sent to your place. I have to report back on that."
An Yao said, "Then I'll let him know first."
Although she did want that jade carving, it was more out of a desire not to let all of her grandfather's works end up scattered outside the family.
Elder Yan was an old friend of An Mingshan's. Having the piece in his keeping was, in a sense, a good home for it.
Moreover, the art collection at the Yan family's old residence was cared for and maintained by dedicated staff. It would be well preserved there, far better than following her around as she drifted from place to place.
Assistant Fang finally agreed. "Thank you for your consideration, Miss An."
An Yao took the opportunity to ask, "Does Yan Mu—does Mr. Yan have any work arrangements tonight? How many days should I wait before contacting him?"
Assistant Fang said, "Mr. Yan has a business dinner tonight. The timing is uncertain, but it should be over by eleven."
Tonight, several bosses from out of province who had come for the summit had invited Yan Muzhou to dinner—pure business entertainment. The time he'd given was quite early by the standards of urban adults.
But Yan Muzhou never went to any after-parties following business dinners. By her estimate, it should wrap up after the meal.
So, An Yao called Yan Muzhou right at eleven o'clock.
When he received the call, Yan Muzhou had just finished his dinner, had had some drinks, and was on his way home.
On the phone, An Yao got straight to the point, bringing up the jade carving.
"Just send it directly to Grandpa Yan. He should like this piece quite a bit."
Yan Muzhou said coolly, "What I bid for him is already enough. Consider this one your compensation for helping him at the auction tonight."
An Yao insisted on declining. "My labor isn't that valuable. If it's sent to me, I'll have to move it again when my internship ends. I'm at ease knowing my grandfather's work is with Grandpa Yan."
Yan Muzhou knew her temperament and didn't say more.
Not long after hanging up, his phone rang again.
This time, it was his father, Yan Bowang.
Yan Bowang had always been in poor health. When he took over the group from the old man back then, within just a few years, he'd handed the responsibility over to Yan Muzhou.
After his divorce, Yan Bowang had essentially stayed home to recuperate, receiving annual dividends as a shareholder without much involvement in the group's operations.
On the phone, Yan Bowang said, "Your Uncle Ji came to the summit today, and I just had dinner with him. He mentioned that you brought a young woman to the reception tonight?"
Yan Muzhou said, "Mm. It was An Yao."
"An Yao, ah."
Yan Bowang paused. "I didn't get to exchange many words with her at Mid-Autumn Festival last time. She's grown into a proper young lady now. She's not your biological sister, so you should mind your boundaries."
Yan Muzhou's relationship with Yan Bowang had always been distant, and he caught the undertone in his father's words. He asked, "Is there anything else? It's getting late. You should rest."
Yan Bowang spoke with a weighty, earnest tone: "Muzhou, you're not getting any younger. In a few years, you'll be thirty. The group keeps you busy—it's time you found someone to help manage things at home. The old man has introduced you to plenty of candidates, all well-matched young ladies from suitable families. If you've made up your mind, better to settle it sooner rather than later."
Yan Muzhou pressed his brow, not bothering to dance around the subject. He said bluntly, "I have no such plans, and I don't intend to waste time on these matters."
Yan Bowang: "For people like us, marriage is essentially part of the job."
"An arranged marriage won't take much time. If you find someone who can benefit the Yan family in business, it not only solidifies your position—it's also your way of fulfilling your duty to the family."
Yan Muzhou's tone turned several degrees colder, leaving no room for negotiation. "I've already fulfilled more than enough duty to the Yan family."
Even his current position—to him, it was merely an obligation.
Yan Bowang sighed on the other end.
Yan Muzhou didn't respond further. He said a brief "Rest early" and hung up first.
He turned his head and looked out the window at the heavy, pitch-black night.
High-rises lined both sides of the road, and the traffic flowing around him all headed in the same direction. Endless headlights converged at one point, then sped off into the distance until they vanished as tiny specks of light.
He, too, was immersed in such a suffocating night.
By mid-November, the temperature in Beiyang had plummeted, and An Yao had switched to a thick down jacket.
But this winter wasn't hard for her to endure.
She was born in Nancheng and had returned there for four years of university, so she wholeheartedly agreed that central heating should be listed among humanity's greatest inventions.
Being able to spend winter in a heated room was one of life's greatest blessings.
Since the auction last time, An Yao hadn't crossed paths with Yan Muzhou for over half a month.
The department had held three relatively large meetings, but the person seated at the head was always the group's CMO, never Yan Muzhou, the big boss himself.
Yan Xuexin had invited her out a few times, but the activities were always trips or shopping at the mall. An Yao had neither spare money nor spare time, so she declined each time.
One day at lunch, Yara brought it up again: "After the last all-hands meeting, I thought Yan would be present at every meeting from now on."
A colleague beside her said, "How could that be? Someone as busy as President Yan—showing up once is already a courtesy. Besides, didn't you say last time that just looking at him made you nervous, and you never wanted to see him again?"
Yara: "That was so long ago—I've already forgotten what that felt like."
The colleague chuckled: "That's because you never had direct interaction with him. Once the wound heals, the pain is forgotten. After that meeting, our Director Zhang forwards 'Good Luck' before every big meeting, praying President Yan won't attend."
"How can someone have such an overpowering presence?"
Yara took a sip of her drink and lowered her voice to speculate: "Do you think President Yan is only that imposing in work settings, or is he like that in his daily life too?"
An Yao kept her head down, eating her meal, silently thinking to herself: In his personal life, he's more or less the same—though he is indeed more serious and proper at the group. In private, he could still tolerate her bickering with him.
But then again, that was only because she'd dared to do so from the very beginning.
The colleague shrugged: "Hard to say. But presence isn't something you can fake."
"All I know is, if someone like him were in a relationship, he'd definitely be that dominant type of boyfriend."
Another colleague had never heard the term: "What's that?"
"Uh… how should I put it? It's like a daddy type, but with a bit more strictness and a bit more controlling tendencies?"
Yara added in an even quieter voice, "The kind who'd whip you with a little leather crop at night if you misbehaved."
"…?"
An Yao's brows furrowed involuntarily at what she was hearing.
The colleague from earlier laughed again and said, "Don't knock it—if you picture President Yan's face, it's actually pretty hot. But President Yan seems so proper, I really can't imagine it."
Yara said, "That's what you don't get. The more proper someone looks on the surface, the more repressed and restrained they actually are, and that side of them… you know what I mean? Contrast is what creates the strongest tension."
An Yao rubbed her temples.
Her imagination was pretty vivid, and listening to them go on like this, she was already starting to form mental images.
She didn't want to keep hearing them privately dissect Yan Muzhou like this either. The more she listened, the more awkward she felt, so she finished her meal quickly and made up some excuse to leave early.
The cafeteria food at the company was the same few dishes on rotation, and the taste was mediocre at best. So when work wasn't too busy, they'd go out to the small restaurants nearby for a better meal.
Although none of those little restaurants nearby really suited An Yao's palate, she didn't want to seem like she wasn't a team player, so whenever someone invited her along, she'd follow.
On the way back to the group's building, she pulled her down jacket tighter around herself, and her phone rang.
The caller ID showed Cheng Shijia.
What did he want with her?
An Yao picked up. Cheng Shijia exchanged a few casual pleasantries over the phone, then said, "Tomorrow's the weekend—got time to come out for a game of cards, Yao?"
An Yao found it baffling: "You're inviting me to play cards?"
Cheng Shijia laughed and said, "It's my girlfriend who wants to play. She thinks it's boring being one girl with three guys, and after thinking it over, you're the only one I could call."
An Yao was still puzzled: "'The only one you could call'? Did you take the wrong meds or something?"
Cheng Shijia's tone turned a bit more serious, and he let out a light sigh: "There are plenty of people I could call, but if it has to be a girl, and she has to come out and play cards with my current girlfriend… that's actually a bit tricky for me. I was going to call Yan Xuexin, but she's gone abroad for a trip these past few days."
This time An Yao understood a bit. Cheng Shijia did have plenty of girls around him, but they were either women he'd had some ambiguous history with, or outright ex-girlfriends.
Still, An Yao couldn't be bothered to go, and she couldn't even be bothered to come up with an excuse to fend him off: "I don't want to go. I don't even like playing cards anyway—find someone else."
Just as she was about to hang up, she heard Cheng Shijia call out to stop her: "Don't hang up. How about this—the month after next, I've got a gallery opening, and I'm planning to invite a well-known artist to give a speech at the opening ceremony. You pick who, I'll handle the invitation and cover the costs. Then I'll set up a gathering to introduce you two. Consider it my way of making amends for what happened at the bar last time. Deal?"
"…"
Although she knew that whatever Cheng Shijia offered would come in the form of money or connections, this olive branch did land right where An Yao's heart was.
She did have quite a few artists she admired, and they weren't easy to meet in person.
Among them was a renowned poster designer whose work style was the direction she was considering for her thesis topic.
If she could meet him in person and exchange ideas about his creative inspiration or insights, An Yao wouldn't have to worry about her thesis anymore.
An Yao hesitated and asked, "So besides me, who else are you planning to invite? Do I know them?"
Cheng Shijia: "Not decided yet, but it's definitely someone you know or have met before. Probably either Xiao Yinan or Zhou Zhiyue. I'll ask which of them is free tomorrow."
Both of these people he mentioned were friends in their circle. An Yao had indeed met them a few times back in high school when she went out with Yan Muzhou.
So she said "Oh" in response: "Alright then, just send me the address."
Cheng Shijia, though he had no sense of propriety, at least kept his word.
That very evening, he proactively messaged An Yao to send him the information about the artist she was looking for, fulfilling his promise.
The next day, An Yao also kept her word and arrived at the club Cheng Shijia had mentioned on time.
Compared to the other entertainment venues he ran, this club had a much more proper style.
The lighting was bright, and the overall decor leaned toward classic elegance—like a tea house prepared for business meetings among older big shots.
This club was also membership-based and did not receive unfamiliar guests.
An Yao gave her name at the entrance and was respectfully led by a waiter to a private room on the second floor.
When she pushed open the door, the other three were already seated around the card table.
An Yao looked closely and unexpectedly saw Yan Muzhou.
After the waiter helped her hang up her coat and left, closing the door behind him, her gaze met Yan Muzhou's, and she couldn't help but ask first: "Why is it you?"
Cheng Shijia and a young woman with long wavy hair sat facing each other, and the only empty seat was the one across from Yan Muzhou.
Yan Muzhou set down his teacup. Unlike her surprised tone, his voice was very calm as he glanced at her and asked in return: "Who else should it be?"