“My God, that’s so tempting.”
Zhang Jun nearly got a nosebleed.
Before he could react, Liu Qingxue rushed into his arms with a heady wave of fragrance, like a moth flying into a flame. She hit him with considerable force.
Caught completely off guard, Zhang Jun was knocked onto the bed. Before he could react, her two red lips, delicate and blazing hot, were already pressed against his.
His mind went blank with a buzz.
Unable to stop himself, he wrapped his arms around her slender waist...
The sun was already high in the sky.
Zhang Jun slowly opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was a sleeping face so beautiful it took his breath away.
Liu Qingxue lay quietly in the crook of his arm, naked. Her long eyelashes, like two little fans, cast faint shadows beneath her eyes. She had a high nose bridge and slightly pursed lips, like a rose just about to bloom. Her breathing was steady and deep; she slept peacefully and soundly.
Zhang Jun’s scalp tingled, and sweat began to bead on his forehead.
He didn’t dare move, and he couldn’t bring himself to get out of bed.
Memories of last night surged back like a tide... leaving his mouth dry and his heart racing.
This woman was simply the most beautiful creature he had ever seen.
Another ten minutes or so passed before Liu Qingxue finally woke from her deep sleep.
She slowly opened her eyes and rolled them from the ceiling to the disheveled room, from the scraps of torn clothing to the face of the unfamiliar man lying beside her.
What was going on?
Was she still dreaming?
It took her a long while to gradually recall everything that had happened the day before—the drink, Gong Wei’s vicious grin, the strange sensations welling up inside her, and... the man who had burst out of the closet.
Her eyes instantly reddened.
“Gong Wei... you... you beast! You scum!” Liu Qingxue cursed furiously in her heart, her fingernails digging deep into her palms.
Then she looked at Zhang Jun with an indescribably complicated expression. He really was handsome, with sharp brows, bright eyes, and well-defined features. He was also quite muscular.
“Who are you, anyway? Why were you hiding in the closet last night? Are you a thief?” Her voice was hoarse and icy, full of wariness and hostility.
Zhang Jun took a deep breath, sat up, introduced himself, and explained why he had been hiding in the closet.
At last, he took a photograph from his pants pocket and handed it to her.
In the photo, Gong Wei held a woman with exquisite makeup and a sizzling figure tightly in his arms, kissing her luscious red lips.
“This woman is my ex-girlfriend, Ding Lan.” Zhang Jun’s voice was laced with pain.
“The lowest of the low... He made me lose my virginity without even knowing what was happening.” Liu Qingxue ground her teeth as she stared at Gong Wei in the photo. Tears poured uncontrollably from her eyes, rolling down her pale cheeks and dripping onto the disheveled bedsheets.
Seeing her tear-streaked face, Zhang Jun felt a surge of pity and protectiveness unlike anything he had ever felt before. He reached out, wiped away her tears, and said gently, “Don’t cry... I... I’ll take responsibility for you.”
Liu Qingxue was more than just beautiful. The bone-deep pleasure of last night was something he would never forget. If he could have her, he would truly have reached the pinnacle of life.
“You don’t have to take responsibility for me.”
Liu Qingxue turned her head away.
She didn’t need him to take responsibility, and she would never let some poor loser do so.
Even if he was handsome, even if last night... really had been pleasurable... She shook her head sharply, trying to banish those shameful memories from her mind.
“As a man, now that I’ve... taken your first time, I have to take responsibility—and see it through.” Zhang Jun looked at the bedsheet with a solemn expression.
Liu Qingxue followed his gaze. Her cheeks instantly flushed bright red, and shame and anger welled up in her.
She glared at him. “I told you, you don’t have to take responsibility! You... turn around!”
Zhang Jun froze. “Why?”
“I said turn around, so turn around! Why do you have to ask so many questions?” Liu Qingxue’s voice was tinged with embarrassment and annoyance as she grabbed a pillow and threw it at him.
Once Zhang Jun did as he was told, Liu Qingxue braced her aching body and struggled to climb out of bed.
She steadied herself against the bed and glared at Zhang Jun’s back—even though he couldn’t see her, she still had to glare. That bastard hadn’t shown the slightest restraint last night. He had taken her five times! It was true that she had been the one to initiate it, but... couldn’t he have shown a little self-control?
At the thought, her face grew even redder. She hurriedly bent down, picked up her clothes, and quickly put them on.
Her skirt fell into place, covering the perfect body that could drive any man wild.
Though her skirt was a little wrinkled, it did nothing to diminish her beauty.
Sunlight slanted through a gap in the curtains, bathing her in a soft golden glow.
Her long hair fell messily over her shoulders. A lingering blush remained on her cheeks, and her eyes held a mix of embarrassment, annoyance, fatigue, and other feelings too complicated to name.
She stood there like a white rose glistening with morning dew, alluring and radiant.
Zhang Jun couldn’t help turning around to look. His breath caught for a moment.
He had never seen a woman so beautiful.
The photos on magazine covers and the posters on billboards were not even one ten-thousandth as beautiful as the real woman standing before him.
And this peerless beauty, a top supermodel, had actually... spent the night with him?
A sense of unreality washed over him.
“What are you staring at?” Zhang Jun’s fixed gaze made Liu Qingxue feel uneasy, and her cheeks burned even hotter. She glared at him fiercely. “Keep looking and I’ll dig your eyes out!”
“Bang, bang, bang—”
The closet door suddenly shook with a series of thuds, and Gong Wei’s furious muffled groans came from inside.
In fact, he had woken up soon after last night began, but no matter how hard he struggled, he couldn’t break free. Zhang Jun had tied him up too tightly.
So he had been forced to listen to a night of shameful moaning.
“Zhang Jun, I’ll kill you!”
Gong Wei had been raging inwardly all night, too.
Liu Qingxue’s face instantly turned pale. She grabbed Zhang Jun’s arm. “We need to get out of here!”
Zhang Jun quickly gathered his things, and the two slipped out of the presidential suite without a sound. They raced down the fire escape and didn’t breathe easy until they had rushed out of the hotel and merged into the bustling crowd on the street.
The sunlight was a little blinding. Traffic streamed along the streets, and people came and went.
Liu Qingxue stood by the roadside and looked at Zhang Jun, her expression complicated: gratitude, wariness, humiliation, and something else she couldn’t quite put into words.
“Zhang Jun, thank you for saving me.” Her voice was much calmer now, with a distant politeness. “I hope you’ll work hard from now on and stop living at the bottom of society.”
With that, she turned and walked away without looking back.
Zhang Jun watched her disappear from view before slowly turning his gaze away.
He looked down at himself: a faded T-shirt, cheap sneakers, and all his worldly possessions in his pocket—five hundred in cash.
A deep sadness welled up in his heart.
His ex-girlfriend, Ding Lan, had cheated on him because he was poor.
Now Liu Qingxue likewise refused to let him take responsibility because he was poor.
He lifted his head and looked toward the distant horizon, his gaze gradually growing resolute.
He had graduated with a degree in Cultural Relics Appraisal, and he knew the theory by heart.
And this was Zhonghai, the capital of antiques, where the antique trade was thriving.
He had heard plenty of stories about people striking it rich overnight through bargain hunting and stone gambling. Unfortunately, it had never happened to him—but that didn’t mean it never would.
“I’ll take this five hundred in cash and try my luck on Antique Street.”
Zhang Jun made up his mind.