The Wen and Shen families held their grand wedding.
All of Kyoto buzzed with the news — a handsome groom, a beautiful bride. Even Shen Xuan, always icy and composed, seemed to carry a faint smile, one that left anyone who caught a glimpse of it thoroughly dazzled.
“Rare to see you smile.” Her bridesmaid Chang Xue carried the bride’s small handbag, teasing her with a grin, as if she could read right through her.
Shen Xuan lifted the hem of her dress, heels clicking, and shot her a glance without answering, walking toward the waiting black sedan.
The wedding, with its endless stream of guests arriving and departing.
Had finally reached its end.
The car’s interior light was on.
Shen Xuan didn’t get in right away. She stood beside the car, looking at the man with a cigar between his teeth. After a whole night of festivities, Wen Zeli no longer looked as immaculately put-together as he had at the start — his suit jacket now draped over one arm, his shirt collar open, hands on his hips as he talked with someone, that wicked glint in his eyes.
Visible even from this distance.
Clearly plotting something no good.
Chang Xue followed her gaze, sighing appreciatively — the eldest Wen son hadn’t lost a bit of his charm over the years.
Shen Xuan said nothing, looking away. Seeing this, Chang Xue smiled and opened the car door for her. “Get in first — you’ve been standing all day.”
Shen Xuan made a small sound of acknowledgment.
She bent down and settled into the car; the dress was cumbersome, and Chang Xue helped her in. Once the door closed, Shen Xuan sat upright for a few minutes before finally kicking off her heels.
Her dress hung low, hiding her bare feet. She closed her eyes to rest.
Before long.
The door beside her opened.
The man’s low laughter drifted in — still carrying on with someone outside. After a while, the door shut with a bang, and the faint scent of cigar smoke and alcohol filled the space beside her.
Shen Xuan opened her eyes and looked over.
Wen Zeli, cigar between his teeth, was tapping at his phone. Sensing her gaze, he lifted his eyes and glanced at her.
This was the first time all day the two of them had looked at each other in such a quiet setting.
The corner of Wen Zeli’s mouth curved up. “Not asleep?”
Shen Xuan’s eyes stayed flat too. She made a small sound.
Wen Zeli raised an eyebrow.
Then didn’t ask anything further, turning back to his phone.
Shen Xuan paused for a few seconds, then closed her eyes again.
Her fingernails, resting against the fabric of her dress, pinched it lightly.
The car was warm.
The air held nothing but the scent of her perfume and the cigar in his mouth. She was about to raise a hand to tell the driver to go, when a WeChat notification chimed beside her.
She opened her eyes to look.
Wen Zeli squinted at the message. A few seconds later, he pushed the door open and stepped out.
A second later.
He came back, one hand braced on the roof of the car, leaning down to look at Shen Xuan for a moment. Then he knocked on the front seat and said to the driver, “Old Xu, take Director Shen home.”
With that.
He straightened up. The door closed.
The car fell into silence, only the overhead light still on.
Shen Xuan glanced at the rearview mirror.
Old Xu glanced at it too.
Looking at Shen Xuan’s icy expression, he forced a smile. “Director Shen, shall we head home?”
Shen Xuan looked away.
“Yes.”
Her answer came out flat.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the tall figure of the man climbing into another black Hummer, one hand braced on the window frame, talking on the phone. Her own phone buzzed at that moment too.
She picked it up.
A WeChat message.
Lan Qin: 【Happy wedding.】
Shen Xuan paused.
She typed back.
【Thank you.】
The black sedan finally pulled away, heading toward the new home Shen Xuan and Wen Zeli would share — a European-style villa in central Kyoto. The interior had been arranged entirely by Wen Zeli’s side.
Shen Xuan hadn’t asked about any of it — she was, in fact, seeing the house’s appearance for the very first time right now.
The entire house.
Aside from two celebratory couplets pasted on the door curtain.
Had no other decoration to speak of.
There were wedding candies in the living room, but they sat on a plain black-and-white coffee table, hardly festive at all. No wedding photos hung in the living room either. Old Xu helped carry the bags inside.
He’d thought nothing of it at first.
But somehow, seeing Shen Xuan standing there in her wedding attire in the middle of that living room, he suddenly felt — wasn’t this house decorated a little too carelessly?
He glanced instinctively at Shen Xuan.
Shen Xuan turned her head and said to Old Xu, “Could you take my luggage upstairs, please?”
Old Xu made a small sound and hurried up the stairs with the bags. Only once he’d gone up did Shen Xuan slowly bend down, kick off her heels, and slip into a pair of slippers instead. Then she followed him upstairs — the second floor had just two rooms, a master and a second bedroom, facing each other, both the same size.
Old Xu nearly put the luggage in the wrong room, but the red bedding in one of them gave it away just in time.
Once the bags were set down, he said to Shen Xuan, “Director Shen, I’ll head out now.”
“All right.”
Once his footsteps had faded, Shen Xuan sat down on the edge of the bed, leaning against the headboard, scrolling through her phone. Lan Qin’s message had already been pushed further down the list.
But still visible.
Right alongside it sat a muted high school class group chat.
Shen Xuan hadn’t opened that group in a long time.
She tapped it open.
Inside.
Everyone was consoling Lan Qin.
On the very day of her wedding, consoling her husband’s ex-girlfriend, Lan Qin.
And the last few messages sat there boldly, unhidden by anyone — almost as if left there deliberately for Shen Xuan to see.
【The Shen family’s rich and powerful, so of course the Wens chose them — but Lan Qin, Wen Zeli’s been devoted to you for years. Even if Shen Xuan marries him, so what? She’ll never win his heart.】
The Lan family was a minor one in Kyoto.
The Wens, seeking a strategic marriage, naturally had no interest in the Lans — so even though Wen Zeli had carried deep feelings for Lan Qin, he’d still chosen to marry into the Shen family, taking Shen Xuan as his wife.
Within their social circle.
Romances cut short by arranged marriages were nothing unusual.
Not exactly news.
But the eldest Wen son’s case drew far more attention than most.
Because the woman he’d married, Shen Xuan, was the head of the Shen Group — with an older brother above her, a younger brother below her, and various male relatives from side branches of the family.
And yet none of them had her level of skill.
She carried an entire conglomerate on her own shoulders.
Kyoto had no shortage of powerful women, but Shen Xuan was the fiercest of them all — icy, ruthless in her methods, a reputation well established throughout the circle.
She wasn’t an easy person to get along with either.
Not in the past.
Not now.
Plenty of people disliked her, including her old classmates.
And so.
Now that she was married, plenty of people were eager to kick her while she was down.
As for Lan Qin.
She was the woman practically every man in their circle idolized.
Her phone chimed.
A message from Chang Xue.
All screenshots.
Chang Xue: “You should really leave that high school group chat. Everyone’s talking about you, saying Wen Zeli will never love you, saying that once some time passes, he and Lan Qin will definitely get back together. These people are seriously out of line.”
Chang Xue: “You need to keep a firm grip on Wen Zeli, don’t let these people have their laugh at your expense, sweetie.”
Chang Xue: “I know what you’re really feeling.”
Shen Xuan asked: “What am I feeling?”
Chang Xue: “Not telling.”
Shen Xuan stayed silent for a few seconds.
Then typed back: “You think I like Wen Zeli?”
Chang Xue didn’t dare reply for a moment.
A few seconds later.
She sent back a message in a rush.
Chang Xue: “Wen Zeli just went to see Lan Qin off at the airport! Just now, straight from the wedding venue!”
Shen Xuan paused.
She sat up straight, got out of bed, walked to the window, pulled back the curtain, and looked out at the countless lit windows across the city, the image of Wen Zeli’s back as he’d pushed open the car door flashing rapidly through her mind.
A long moment passed.
She recorded a voice message and sent it to Chang Xue.
“I know.”
Chang Xue went quiet on the other end for a few seconds. You definitely didn’t know.
Right.
Shen Xuan hadn’t known Wen Zeli had gone to see Lan Qin off — and had chosen to do it on their wedding night, no less.
She let the curtain fall closed, returned to the bed, grabbed her pajamas, and went to shower. When she came out, she lay down; the blanket was silk, soft and cool, but Shen Xuan didn’t fall asleep right away.
Earlier, when she’d opened the closet.
She’d found only her own clothes inside.
Thinking back on it now.
That other bedroom next door, the same size as this one.
Must have been the one Wen Zeli kept for himself.
She tossed and turned for a long while.
Before gradually drifting off to sleep.
The next day, Shen Xuan woke at her usual hour; the unfamiliar room left her briefly disoriented, until she caught sight of the bright red blanket.
She sat up.
Glanced at the empty space beside her on the bed.
The stillness of the room told her everything.
Wen Zeli hadn’t come back to the room.
After washing up and getting dressed, she went downstairs. The room next door had been empty too, she noted. Sounds drifted from the kitchen; the housekeeper poked her head out and caught sight of Shen Xuan.
“Good morning, Director Shen,” the housekeeper said at once.
Shen Xuan paused, looking at her. The housekeeper smiled. “Breakfast’s ready. Let me know if it’s to your liking.”
Shen Xuan came back to herself.
She walked to the dining room, pulled out a chair, sat down, and picked up her chopsticks to eat.
After breakfast.
The housekeeper busied herself nearby, tidying up, sneaking glances at Shen Xuan now and then.
Miss Shen’s reputation for being icy and cold certainly held up — she really did seem that way.
Having married into the Wen family, and yet still called “Director Shen” instead of “Mrs. Wen.”
Clearly.
The eldest young master couldn’t be bothered to care.
Old Xu had mentioned it was the young master himself who’d instructed everyone to address her as Director Shen.
Shen Xuan had nothing scheduled today; she sat on the sofa reading a magazine. Her phone buzzed with emails, all addressed to “Director Shen.” She paused, looking up.
Just then.
Footsteps sounded outside the door.
The tall man walked in, his shirt rumpled, hair a little disheveled too, a hint of redness in his eyes from having stayed up all night — he looked somewhat cold, carrying a faint air of distance.
Shen Xuan watched him quietly.
Seeing her, Wen Zeli seemed to remember something too. He toyed with a cigar between his fingers, the corner of his mouth curving into a faint smile. “Sleep well last night?”
Shen Xuan set down her magazine.
Hands clasped together in front of her, she said, “Fine.”
Her posture.
Was a negotiating posture.
The kind that put people on edge.
Wen Zeli smiled, walked over, and tossed the now-extinguished cigar into the ashtray. As the two drew closer, the faint scent of her perfume reached him.
While he carried the sharp, unmistakable smell of alcohol and nicotine.
Wen Zeli tugged at his collar. “Good, glad you slept well.”
Shen Xuan, looking at the man now blocking the light in front of her, swallowed back the negotiating words already on her lips. Wen Zeli watched her and asked, “Something you want to discuss with me?”
He sat down on the edge of the coffee table, casually pushing aside the stack of wedding candies, and raised an eyebrow at her.
Shen Xuan glanced at the candies.
The words she’d thrown back at Chang Xue last night flashed through her mind.
You think I like Wen Zeli?
She lifted her eyes to look at him, her tone flat. “No.”
Wen Zeli laughed lightly, crossing his long legs, humming. “Good, no need then. Director Shen striking that negotiating pose of hers has me a little worried.”
With that.
He stood, scooping up his jacket. “I’m going to get some sleep.”
Shen Xuan: “All right.”
He’d taken a couple of steps when he suddenly stopped, turned back to look at her, and said with a smile, “Oh, right — forgot to report in. I went to see Lan Qin off last night.”
“You don’t mind, do you, Director Shen?”
Shen Xuan looked at him silently for a moment.
After a long while.
She said, “I don’t mind.”
Author’s note: Half-Cut Cabbage here: genuinely doesn’t mind.
Wen Zeli: …oh.