When Song Shuangxu returned to the lobby, Chen Peiran still hadn’t left.
She’d been upstairs for nearly forty minutes, and Chen Peiran had waited the whole time.
As soon as the elevator arrived, Chen Peiran whipped around.
Chen Peiran wasn’t from Yancheng. He’d gone abroad on a government-sponsored program, and having grown up in a third-tier city, he knew nothing about the uppermost circle of Yancheng society.
During the years he’d been back in the country, Song Shuangxu had been away. He had no idea that Shu Yang, his junior from school, was actually very well connected.
Not only was she the daughter of Director Song at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she was also that Young Master Shen's Little Sister.
Little Liao rushed over. “Well? How did it go?”
Song Shuangxu shook her head gently. Little Liao’s face fell at once.
The anxious knot in Chen Peiran’s stomach loosened. He’d thought she was so capable. Turns out she was no better than anyone else.
Straightening his tie, he strode over to Song Shuangxu with his nose in the air, blocking their way.
“I told you there was no chance. You just had to go and humiliate yourself. Do you think He Tingzhou is just anybody? No matter how powerful your father is, he still has to bow his head to the He family.”
Song Shuangxu couldn’t stand men who went on and on.
“If a man talks too much, it could be a kidney problem. Kidney deficiency and a lack of yang energy can affect heart and lung function, so you end up talking more to help yourself breathe. Have you ever been to a hospital to get checked?”
Her voice was as unhurried as ever. She delivered the whole string of claims with such authority that Chen Peiran instinctively touched the area over his kidneys. A moment later, he realized what she was doing, and his face turned green.
“I’m not going to stoop to your level. When you go back, tell your senior sister she should focus on getting well if she’s sick. Why pick a fight with me? Does she really think she can beat me?”
Song Shuangxu had meant to tell Shu Yang the result later, after she’d thought about whether there might be another way.
But she hadn’t counted on Little Liao being such an efficient messenger.
Little Liao imitated Chen Peiran so perfectly that Shu Yang snapped a pair of chopsticks in half.
“When I get out of the hospital, I’ll carve him up and slice him into sashimi!”
Shu Yang had always believed in ending relationships amicably: each person went their own way, so why make an ugly, bloody scene of it?
Chen Peiran was the first man who had made her break that rule.
Little Liao was indignant. “Carve him up! Absolutely!”
Shu Yang’s will to live flared. “Ask the doctor if I can start chemotherapy sooner. Once a day—I’m in a hurry to get out of the hospital.”
Little Liao shot to her feet. “I’ll go right now!”
Song Shuangxu was at a loss. “Sit down. It’s chemotherapy, not a spa treatment. If you did it every day, even the King of Hell would have to take his hat off to you.”
“Oh.” Little Liao sat back down.
Shu Yang calmed herself. After a few quiet seconds, she suddenly pointed at Little Liao and said to Song Shuangxu, “Do you know why Chen Peiran didn’t take her with him?”
Song Shuangxu couldn’t hold back a laugh.
“Because I’m utterly loyal to you!” Little Liao said.
“You’d be better off being loyal to Chen Peiran. Go make his life miserable instead,” Shu Yang said.
Little Liao muttered under her breath as the two of them bickered. Song Shuangxu checked the time, then stood. “I have to go. It’s my brother’s birthday today.”
“Your Brother Shen Yu?” Little Liao asked, her face full of longing. “I found his photos online. He’s so handsome it hurts!”
“Yep.” Shuangxu’s eyes curved into a smile. Before leaving, she told Little Liao, “I’m leaving President Shu in your hands. Just don’t kill her.”
*
The birthday party was being held at Shen Yu’s private villa. That evening, as Shuangxu got into the car with the cake in her hands, the Shen family’s driver asked with a smile, “Did you make that cake for the young master?”
“Mm-hmm.”
When she was little, her interests changed constantly, but Shen Yu had always taken each new hobby seriously. He personally taught her to swim, ride horses, and shoot arrows.
Baking, however, wasn’t something he knew anything about, so he hired a teacher for her. Shuangxu learned the basics, but after three minutes of enthusiasm, she moved on to swimming again.
Still, the tradition of her making a cake by hand every year—especially for Shen Yu’s birthday—had carried on.
Shuangxu hadn’t been back to Yancheng for five years. She hadn’t appeared in public, and now, with her return, the rumors that had long been buried were being dug up again.
For the past few years, she’d been overseas and hadn’t come back for Shen Yu’s birthday. This year, she had no reason to avoid it.
In the days since her return, she hadn’t paid any attention to what people were saying. Today, she’d made up her mind: whatever strange looks she got, she would pretend to be blind.
The three-story French-style villa blazed with light, illuminating the night sky. Crystal chandeliers glittered, and the sweet scent of champagne drifted through the crowd.
A pair of twins stood talking near the entrance. One wore a red dress, the other a blue one. When they saw Shuangxu, they looked her up and down.
Shuangxu took off her coat and handed it to a servant. There were so many people that she couldn’t see Shen Yu anywhere.
Several men stood chatting with drinks in their hands by the bar. Yue Zifeng wore a flashy pink shirt, one elbow propped on the counter. When he noticed everyone looking toward the entrance, he glanced over casually while sipping his cocktail—and froze.
Every young woman who came to the party was dressed to the nines and heavily made up, each vying to outshine the others. Shuangxu’s makeup was very light, yet she was effortlessly beautiful.
She had a classic oval face and delicate features. Her looks were naturally striking, but her clear, innocent eyes made even that hint of glamour seem pure.
Yue Zifeng had always said she had a pair of eyes that made people want to protect her.
Even the ballroom’s crystal chandeliers seemed to favor her, wrapping her in satin-soft light. She wore a black off-the-shoulder cocktail dress. Beneath its fitted skirt, one slender ankle came into view, perfectly proportioned, the strap of her high heel fastened around its delicate bones.
Yue Zifeng’s eyes lit up. “Well, look who it is! Little Shuangxu!”
He set down his glass and strode over, pulling her into a big hug. “It’s been years, and look how beautiful you’ve grown.”
He was Shen Yu’s childhood friend and had watched Shuangxu grow up.
Seeing him made Shuangxu feel close to home. Carefully protecting the cake with one hand, she smiled and let him hug her. “Brother Zifeng.”
“Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve seen you? You went abroad and stayed for years. You graduated and still didn’t come back. Didn’t you miss your brothers even a little?”
Shuangxu shook her head without a trace of remorse. “No.”
“You heartless girl,” Yue Zifeng said. “You must have missed your brother, at least.”
Shuangxu smiled but said nothing.
A man beside them came over with his drink. “Come on, Little Sister, give me a hug too.”
Yue Zifeng smacked him away. “Get lost. Who do you think you are? You think you’re worthy of hugging Little Sister? Shen Yu will beat you to a pulp when he gets here.”
Everyone knew how precious Little Sister was to Shen Yu. The man wasn’t offended. “Just wait. If he’s going to beat anyone up, he’ll start with you.”
Shuangxu carried the cake to a table. There were already seven or eight cakes on it, each more elaborate and gorgeous than the last.
Her blueberry mousse looked far too plain among them, like a guardhouse at the entrance to a luxury villa complex.
She had just set the cake down and was about to walk away when she heard a hushed conversation.
“So that’s her. You’d never guess…”
“Of course you wouldn’t. Who would write ‘shameless’ across her face?”
“She looks pretty innocent…”
“You’re the innocent one! She’s a real schemer. She knows the Song Residence looks down on her because she’s an illegitimate daughter, so she’s been clinging to the Shen family. The moment she gets the chance, she tries to latch on to Shen Yu.”
Shuangxu pretended not to hear and turned to leave, but the woman in red kept going.
“An older brother and Little Sister getting involved. Disgusting.”
“Ah… Shen Yu doesn’t seem like that kind of person…”
“How do you know what kind of person he is? Think about it. Why else would he keep an unrelated young woman by his side? Maybe that’s just what he’s into…”
It had taken Shuangxu years to learn not to care about other people’s opinions. But she couldn’t stand hearing them talk about Shen Yu in that contemptuous, filthy tone.
She turned back, walked up to the twins, and looked at them quietly. “Into what?”