Lu Qian sat in the passenger seat of a flashy sports car.
The engine roared wave after wave, making quite the spectacle on the road.
He spotted the figure standing by the security booth at a glance.
That figure also looked toward the sports car.
The moment her face came into view, Lu Qian cursed under his breath.
Wasn’t this the girl from the plane?!
The guy with bleached hair in the driver’s seat was Chi Yu’s cousin—Chi Mingyu.
He and Huo Xiaoyang attended the same school in Los Angeles.
Both were textbook idle rich kids, even having someone else attend classes for them.
Chi Mingyu had an even sharper eye for women. He rolled down the window and whistled, “Little white rabbit’s lost.”
Lu Qian couldn’t pull him back. “…”
Kid, just wait until your cousin beats your ass.
After Xia Shuran vented with that shout, the sports car happened to drive over.
Without waiting for Chi Yu’s response, amid Chi Mingyu’s teasing voice, she hung up the phone.
Chi Yu, a man accustomed to being fawned over by women, had his call hung up on for the first time.
He stared blankly at Xia Shuran’s WeChat avatar, expressionless.
He had searched desperately and found nothing, thinking he’d missed her forever—only to meet her again.
Summer in the north was scorching to begin with. Furious and overheated, Xia Shuran felt like smoke was about to pour from her seven orifices.
The sports car stopped at her feet.
The bleached-haired guy in the car swept his gaze over her with such blatant, playful scrutiny—as if beautiful women were nothing but objects in their eyes.
Xia Shuran was already at her boiling point. Her face was deathly pale, her eyes like a vengeful ghost’s, locked dead onto the bleached-haired guy’s face. Her voice squeezed out from her throat:
“Try looking around like that again.”
Chi Mingyu laughed, about to say this chick’s got some fire, when he saw the girl with the pure, obedient face pull a knife out of her bag and raise it at him.
“Holy shit.”
Xia Shuran radiated murderous aura under the streetlight, saying coldly, “Go on, keep looking if you dare.”
Chi Mingyu flinched in fright, and Lu Qian quickly covered his eyes.
“So sorry, so sorry.” Lu Qian apologized with a placating smile.
Chi Mingyu was still squirming under his hand. Lu Qian had no choice but to whisper something in his ear.
Chi Mingyu froze instantly. When he looked at Xia Shuran again, the lecherousness was gone from his eyes—replaced entirely by shock, and even a hint of admiration.
“I’m sorry, sister-in-law, I’m sorry.” Chi Mingyu immediately started apologizing, repeating it several times.
Lu Qian tentatively asked Xia Shuran, “Want us to give you a ride up?”
Lu Qian got out of the car and opened the rear door for Xia Shuran.
Chi Mingyu snapped back to reality only after Lu Qian punched him, hastily tearing his gaze away from where it had been “glued to Xia Shuran.”
He called out to someone, “Uncle He, we’re heading up.”
“Got it.” Uncle He watched the sports car speed off.
Halfway up, they encountered a limited-edition pink Ferrari.
In the driver’s seat was a young man in a uniform. According to Chi Mingyu, that was Chi Yu’s assistant.
He was driving fast, in a hurry.
It was 9:20 now—she had arrived an hour early.
Chi Yu hadn’t expected the girl to come this early. He’d originally arranged to wait for her at the foot of the mountain at 9:30.
Now he’d urgently called his assistant to drive up and fetch her.
On the way, Xia Shuran exchanged names with them.
Lu Qian asked her age.
After learning it, he laughed and said, “I knew she was a little sister. We’re all the same age—you’re early October, A-Yu and I are both July, just days apart. He’s a Leo, I’m a Cancer.”
Xia Shuran thought to herself, who asked about Chi Yu?
The bleached-haired guy was Chi Yu’s cousin.
The bleached-haired guy and Huo Xiaoyang were December and November respectively.
So they were all the same age after all.
Then why did they keep calling him “Yu-ge” like that? Anyone listening would think Chi Yu was years older than them.
Chi Mingyu was bursting with curiosity about Xia Shuran.
What methods did she use to win over his cousin?
Badass, sister-in-law!
But he said nothing—he had no way to ask, and it was better to keep a good impression in front of his sister-in-law anyway.
He only bragged when the road got particularly twisty, boasting about his first-place win in the afternoon’s street race.
Xia Shuran couldn’t understand at all—did they have some kind of grim reaper quota to fulfill by racing on a mountain road?
Did they have a death wish?
Lu Qian turned to Xia Shuran and said, “A-Yu isn’t with us.”
Xia Shuran: “…” Who the hell asked about Chi Yu?!
“Right, my cousin isn’t with us. He prefers shooting.”
Even more dangerous… Xia Shuran let out a low, mocking scoff.
Xia Shuran said darkly, “I have no relationship with Chi Yu.”
“Oh, sister-in-law, don’t be shy. Isn’t my cousin great? I’m so jealous of him—every time he shows up, the girls treat us like we’re invisible.”
“Ever since I was a kid, my dad’s been comparing me to him, scolding me for being useless. The worst part is, we were all still asking our families for money, but my cousin went from prince to emperor first.”
“Who can handle that? Sometimes I wish my dad and my uncle were—”
Lu Qian shot him a glance. “Chi Mingyu, if you die, I’m not collecting your body.”
“Pfft, hahaha, I said too much, said too much. You didn’t hear anything, right?”
The car wound through the twisting mountain roads and finally reached the summit.
The villa estate was so vast it resembled a private castle.
Xia Shuran, caught up in her personal emotions, didn’t bother to take a closer look.
The car pulled into the underground garage.
Faced with over a thousand luxury cars of every make and model, even the well-traveled Xia Shuran was stunned.
She followed the two of them out of the car and took a glass elevator up to the first floor of the villa.
What met her eyes was expensive carpet spread over light gray marble, a spiral staircase reaching toward the ceiling, and an exquisite dome…
Through the tall floor-to-ceiling windows, Xia Shuran noticed the lively backyard.
At its center was a massive swimming pool.
Directly ahead, a popular new-generation band was playing electronic music, as if hosting a livehouse show.
A large number of beauties in bikinis were frolicking by the poolside.
Colorful lights swayed in the water as bunny girls carrying champagne weaved through the crowd.
Xia Shuran spotted Huo Xiaoyang, Xu Yanxi, Chen Feifei…
All sorts of games were underway, and most people looked lost in a haze of indulgence.
But Chi Yu was nowhere to be seen.
“Sister-in-law, are you looking for my brother?”
“Yu is on the top floor. You can go find him.”