An Yao hadn't been back to Beiyang in so long, and hadn't been in contact with these rich young masters' circle, that she'd forgotten just how unreliable Cheng Shijia could be.
So all that fake phone-calling earlier had just been him teasing her like a kid.
And she'd actually been foolish enough to believe it, then genuinely dialed Yan Muzhou's number, walking right into the trap.
An Yao was both annoyed and embarrassed. After she realized what had happened, she said dully, "…No, it's all a misunderstanding."
But even inside the private room, the speakers were blasting fast-paced electronic music, clanging and banging, sounding especially noisy and chaotic.
Clearly, Yan Muzhou could hear it on the other end of the line too, and asked, "So where are you right now?"
"……"
An Yao let out a soft breath. "I'm at the bar Cheng Shijia opened. I came here with Yan Xuexin, just the two of us. There's a cosplay event tonight, so we came to check it out. We didn't plan on drinking much."
Hearing Yan Muzhou speak in that elder-like tone, she still almost instinctively added a few more explanations to defend herself.
But not long after she finished speaking, An Yao realized again that she had no need, and no reason, to explain anything to him now.
Yan Muzhou said over the phone, "Go home early. You two girls—don't drink in a messy place like his. I'll have someone pick you up before midnight."
"No—"
Before An Yao could even get the last word "need" out, the call was hung up.
She looked down at the ended call screen, then collapsed exhaustedly against the back of the sofa in the private room.
What on earth was all this?
She was starting to regret going out today.
When she'd been on the phone with Yan Muzhou just now, she'd reflexively felt a bit nervous, as if she'd done something wrong and been caught red-handed.
Because back in her high school years, Yan Muzhou had been something like her half-guardian, and he really had kept a tight leash on her.
It was probably in her sophomore year—once, a female classmate she was close with invited her to a birthday party over the weekend. Only after she arrived did she find out the party was at a bar, with about a dozen classmates there.
The atmosphere had gotten lively, and some boys ordered alcohol, even mixing a few low-proof sweet drinks for the girls.
Yan Muzhou had found out from somewhere, and personally came to drag her out.
Not only did he send her home with a dark scowl, he also called their homeroom teacher and the parents of several other classmates, getting the whole group scolded when they got home and forced to write self-criticism essays at school.
And just like that, Yan Muzhou became a legend in An Yao's circle of classmates.
After that incident, whenever classmates had gatherings deemed "not suitable for minors," no one ever dared to invite An Yao again.
……
Before long, the door to the private room was pushed open, and Yan Xuexin bounced in energetically, saying excitedly, "Yaoyao, at one o'clock sharp tonight there's an event downstairs—it's like a lottery draw game. Whoever gets picked can go up on stage and get up close with the cosers. We absolutely have to go join in on the fun!"
Completely the opposite of Yan Xuexin's enthusiastic state, An Yao was listless at the moment, nowhere near having crawled out of the shadow of what had just happened.
"One o'clock sharp tonight…"
An Yao looked up, and with a guilty expression, announced the terrible news: "Your brother said he's sending someone to pick us up at midnight."
"My brother?"
Yan Xuexin was stunned, blinking in confusion. "Did you tell him we came to a bar? Why would you tell him that? That old stick-in-the-mud definitely won't allow it. Even if he asks, just make up some place—say we're watching a movie at a friend's house or something."
An Yao slumped helplessly into the sofa, complaining, "How could I possibly have told him on my own?"
Then she recounted the whole encounter with Cheng Shijia from start to finish.
After listening, Yan Xuexin let out a curse word first: "…Fuck, Cheng Shijia is such an idiot."
She glanced at the time—it was already almost eleven.
They hadn't even gotten to have any fun yet, and in just over an hour, they'd be picked up and taken home by Yan Muzhou's people. What a buzzkill.
Furious, Yan Xuexin grabbed An Yao's hand and dragged her out of the private booth, heading downstairs. "Let's go give him a piece of our mind. That's just pure dumbass behavior."
An Yao stumbled along as she was pulled down.
The first floor was lively—people coming and going, drinks flowing, the rhythmic electronic music making the floor seem to vibrate. In the dim environment, lights occasionally flashed in sync with the beat.
Cheng Shijia was sitting at a front booth, smiling as he clinked glasses with someone.
Yan Xuexin knew him better. She pulled An Yao closer and pointed at him, launching into a scolding: "Are you out of your mind? You're a grown adult, and you still run to my brother to tattle!"
Under the gossipy gaze of the whole table, Cheng Shijia looked rather aggrieved, turning his head to say, "I didn't actually tell him anything."
He glanced at An Yao. "I just haven't seen little Yao in a long time. I was just teasing her, you know, catching up."
Yan Xuexin kept a stern face. "You call this catching up? We were having a perfectly good time catching up, and you ruined it all. When I get back, I'm telling all my good friends that from now on, whether we go out or throw parties, we're absolutely avoiding your place."
Cheng Shijia still wore a smile. Though he had a big business and wouldn't miss their few customers, he had only been joking with An Yao just now—no need to actually sour the relationship. He grabbed a bottle from the table, poured himself three full glasses of neat whiskey, and downed them.
"Alright, alright, I'll punish myself with three drinks as an apology, okay? Sorry, ladies. I'll buy you gifts to make up for it—whatever you want, your pick."
Whether the sincerity of the apology was genuine aside, he'd at least saved face properly.
"Cut it out."
Yan Xuexin had gotten her satisfaction, so she didn't push it further. She didn't know anyone at that table anyway, so she linked arms with An Yao and prepared to leave. "Just stay out of our way from now on—that's your good deed. Who needs your lousy gifts?"
With that, she linked arms with An Yao and squeezed through the crowd to find the cosplayers who had already come out to drink on the first floor for photos.
Before they'd even made two rounds, An Yao's phone rang—an unfamiliar number with a Beiyang area code.
The time was exactly three minutes past midnight.
Yan Xuexin glanced at it and pulled out her own phone: "Oh… it's my brother's driver, Xiao Fan. He's called me several times too, but I didn't notice."
An Yao had no choice but to answer.
Both of them knew that if Yan Muzhou's people were already at the door and they pretended to be dead, the old stick-in-the-mud would genuinely get angry, and he'd probably come find them himself.
Not worth it.
On the phone, Xiao Fan said his car was already parked in the lot outside the bar.
Yan Xuexin let out a sigh. "What a buzzkill. It's only midnight, and the place just started heating up. Forget it—we'll come out again another day. Next time, I'll make sure to pick a spot where none of my brother's acquaintances can find us."
As An Yao was led out by the arm, she was still wondering whether Yan Muzhou would be in the car.
But once she got in, she realized she had been overthinking.
When they had spoken on the phone around ten o'clock, the workaholic had been in a meeting. Since he had already arranged for someone to pick them up, there was naturally no need for him to make the trip himself.
In the car, besides the driver Xiao Fan, there were only the two girls.
Just like when Yan Muzhou had driven her home last time, Yan Xuexin also asked first, "Yao Yao, where do you live now? Over in the Economic Development Zone? I live there too now."
But this time, before An Yao could give her address, the driver Xiao Fan in the front seat spoke up first, "Mr. Yan instructed that tonight Miss An should also be taken to Miss Yan's place. Mr. Yan said it's too late, and it wouldn't be safe for Miss An to go home alone after drinking."
An Yao: "…"
She remembered how Yan Muzhou had expressed dissatisfaction with her living environment when he drove her home last time.
Yan Xuexin slapped her forehead. "Oh right, just come back with me. I have everything at my place—toiletries, pajamas, all of it. And we can keep chatting. Those few drinks just now really fogged up my brain."
An Yao looked at Yan Xuexin, then at the driver up front. Not wanting to make things difficult for the hired help, she replied, "Okay."
Driver Xiao Fan breathed a sigh of relief.
He still remembered this young woman. Yan Muzhou had a thing about cleanliness, and the only people he would have his own car drive around were Yan Xuexin and this Miss An.
Given how An Yao had spoken to his boss in the car last time, he had expected to have to persuade her for a while on his boss's behalf. He hadn't expected to complete the task so easily.
Forty minutes later, the car drove into the underground garage of Yujiang Mansion.
Seeing the sign at the entrance, An Yao recalled the name of the complex. "Hey, you live here too?"
Yan Xuexin replied, "Yeah, same building as my brother. The developer's CEO knows him pretty well, so he bought a few extra units back then. After the handover, I snagged one from him, but the layout and size aren't as good as the one he lives in himself."
"I see."
An Yao nodded.
As long as she wasn't living with Yan Muzhou, it was fine. She planned to treat him with as much composure as possible going forward, but she wasn't yet composed enough to share a space with him late at night.
Yan Xuexin's apartment had clearly been decorated according to her own taste—very girly, with the living room packed full of plush toys and figurines everywhere.
An Yao entered and changed into the new fuzzy slippers Yan Xuexin took out from the shoe cabinet.
Neither of them felt sleepy. After Yan Xuexin gave her a tour of every room, they sat on the sofa and ordered late-night takeout, kicking off a girls' night chat session.
Although Yan Xuexin was a bit scatterbrained, she had basic tact. She didn't press on about why An Yao hadn't actively reached out to hang out in recent years, but instead picked a new topic that could bring them closer.
While waiting for the food, she nudged An Yao's arm. "Yao Yao, did you have a boyfriend in college?"
An Yao shook her head. "No. What about you?"
An Yao truly had never dated. First, because she really was busy, and second, because even when she encountered suitors, she couldn't help secretly comparing them to Yan Muzhou.
The result went without saying—the young guys she met at school naturally fell far short of Yan Muzhou in every aspect.
Moreover, none of them, whether in personality or appearance, were her type.
An Yao had only ever liked one person of the opposite sex in her entire life—Yan Muzhou. If she used him as a template to judge her taste in men, she could indeed find a "Yan Muzhou" among her fellow college students.
Yan Xuexin admitted frankly, "I've dated a few, but… each one had their own peculiar quirks. I'll tell you about them one by one once the delivery arrives."
An Yao smiled. "Sure."
Yan Xuexin smiled too. "My love life has always been pretty rocky. But you've never dated anyone at all—just like my brother. You two are both eternal single veterans."
An Yao's smile faded. After a moment, she asked, "Wasn't your brother introduced to someone a few years ago?"
Yan Xuexin said, "He was introduced to quite a few. My grandfather alone set him up with several. But he never took a liking to any of them, or maybe his mind was never really on romantic entanglements between men and women."
An Yao: "That's true."
She couldn't even imagine what Yan Muzhou would look like in a relationship or marriage—someone so cold and rigid.
Even the blind date prospect she'd known about four years ago, in the scenes An Yao imagined, would probably just be a couple who treated each other with polite respect, perhaps even only a marriage in name, with no interference in each other's private lives.
The delivery arrived quickly. Yan Xuexin had ordered hotpot—the pot, induction cooker, and ingredients all delivered together.
The two of them sat on the floor mats by the coffee table, eating and chatting about Yan Xuexin's romantic history over the past four years, talking well into the middle of the night.
Only one day remained of the National Day holiday. With no pressure from her illustrations, An Yao slept in naturally in the guest bedroom at Yan Xuexin's place.
When she opened her eyes, it was already close to one in the afternoon.
She'd slept through both breakfast and lunch.
An Yao lay in bed and sent Yan Xuexin a message, but there was no reply for a long time.
She was probably still asleep.
After waiting a bit longer, An Yao was too hungry to bear it. She washed up quickly and, with her hair a complete mess, went out to find something to eat.
Before she even reached the kitchen, she heard a beep from the direction of the front door lock.
Had Yan Xuexin already gone out?
An Yao padded toward the door in her fuzzy slippers. "I thought you were still in bed."
The door pushed open. She looked up and realized the person wasn't Yan Xuexin at all—it was Yan Muzhou.
The man was wearing a casual sporty jacket, as if he'd just come back from exercising. In his hand, he carried a bag—a thermal food bag with a restaurant logo printed on it.
Yan Muzhou's tone was light, his voice low: "Only the two of you would sleep until the afternoon and still not be up."
"…"
An Yao instinctively wanted to change clothes and fix her bird's-nest hair.
But she raised her hand, then lowered it again.
So what if she'd just woken up without combing her hair and was still in pajamas? He'd seen her like this before, and besides, she'd already washed her face and brushed her teeth.
An Yao: "It's a holiday anyway. Sleeping the whole day is perfectly reasonable."
Yan Muzhou let out a light scoff, catching the lingering smell of alcohol and hotpot in the air. "You should keep a regular schedule even on holidays. And, go to bars less often in the future."
"I get enough sleep, and besides, what era is it now? Bars are pretty safe too."
That familiar feeling was back…
An Yao couldn't help but reflect—why on earth had she ever liked this type of person before.
"I'm not coming in."
Yan Muzhou didn't continue arguing with her. He raised his arm to place the bag of food on the shoe cabinet, but as he glanced down, he found there was no space at all.
"Come over and grab it. I brought you two something to eat."
The small space on top of the shoe cabinet was piled with the two girls' bags, along with all sorts of Yan Xuexin's odds and ends.
Although Yan Muzhou had the code to her apartment and lived just upstairs, he wouldn't just drop by without letting them know first.
Even though she was his sister, she was still a young woman.
This time, it was because both girls had been drinking the night before, and Yan Xuexin hadn't answered his calls that morning, so he came to check if something was wrong.
He'd played a round of golf with some business partners that morning and had his assistant pick up lunch on the way over—otherwise, Yan Xuexin would definitely have just ordered some random takeout with An Yao to get by.
But judging by the current situation, aside from the smell and general state of the apartment being unacceptable to him, the two of them were probably fine.
"Oh, coming."
An Yao was hungry, and her stomach conveniently growled a couple of times as she walked over.
Just as she reached the doorway, she didn't watch her step and tripped over the doormat. She stumbled and lurched forward, right toward Yan Muzhou.
Fortunately, even though he was holding a thermal bag in one hand, he was strong and quick to react. He caught her and steadied her by supporting her arm to help her regain her balance.
The food containers were well-sealed, so despite the sudden closeness, An Yao didn't catch a whiff of the food. Instead, she was hit with the faint, deep scent of sandalwood from him.
After she straightened up, Yan Muzhou's hand was still on her forearm.
Even through the fabric of her pajamas, she could feel the warmth radiating from his palm.
An Yao felt a bit flustered and pulled her arm back, raising her hand to touch her forehead.
It seemed her forehead had bumped against his chest just now too.
Yan Muzhou let out a low "tsk," withdrew his hand, and looked down at her. A low, teasing voice reached her ears: "A grown woman like you, and you still manage to trip over your own feet walking two steps."
"…No one said grown-ups aren't allowed to trip."
An Yao looked up and shot him a glare that lacked any real force.