Lu Lefeng covered his face and turned away, while 008 let out a silent, piercing shriek.
Bro, you really don't know how to read the room. Even if she's a phoenix alpha from a mud nest, she still earned her way into Lianbang Junxiao through real exams.
People like that are usually obsessed with saving face—too proud to lower themselves, yet coveting the splendor of Shangjing. They embody the perfect blend of poverty and pretension.
One wants looks, the other wants money—both sides know the deal without saying it out loud.
But tearing away that veil of pretense all at once? That proud, haughty female alpha is bound to fly into a rage!
008, meanwhile, was finding bitter amusement in the situation, projecting a virtual caricature of Jiang Buli as a Japanese soldier. The little grunt stood alone at the front lines, pulling the pin on his own grenade while howling at the heavens:
【Tell my ma—I ain't no coward!】
Unlike Lu Lefeng's worry, 008 had thoroughly analyzed its host's data before binding with her.
Rong Xuanyu came from Weimian No. 332, a Xia Sandeng Weimian. She was sent to a high-risk Level 3 Gaodeng Weimian as cannon fodder the moment she was recruited.
A thousand hosts were deployed to that Weimian, yet fewer than twenty returned alive. And even those survivors didn't make it—some went mad, some died. The only true survivor was Rong Xuanyu. One could only imagine the bloodshed involved.
008 believed its host must harbor a deep hatred for those capitalists who looked down on ordinary people as if they were ants.
Rong Xuanyu didn't even glance at the card in Jiang Buli's hand. She stood up on her own, leisurely stretching her back.
When she'd been half-reclining, she gave off an impression of easygoing good humor. But the moment she stood, the 188-centimeter-tall female alpha's presence pressed down on him like a physical weight.
Jiang Buli wasn't short by any measure, but standing face-to-face with Rong Xuanyu, he found himself cowed in presence.
A smile played at the corners of the female's lips, her brows and eyes bright and clear. She gazed at him directly, her every movement languid and unhurried, as if his earlier rudeness hadn't bothered her in the slightest.
Her peaceful gaze wrapped around him like warm spring water. For a moment, Jiang Buli inexplicably felt as though he were being indulged by a mature elder.
Yet the fact that she was younger than him kept giving him the constant feeling of being toyed with.
He ground his teeth, his glare fierce and hostile, like a provoked little beast.
His fingertips gripping the black card had turned pale. Just as Jiang Buli was about to give up, a sudden force seized his wrist.
The female alpha suddenly leaned in, looking at him with a soothing gaze. Instead of taking the card directly, she made this slightly overstepping gesture.
Rong Xuanyu took it with her other hand, raised the black card to her lips, and pressed a light kiss to it. Then her smile widened, her eyes shimmering with rippling light:
"Happy to oblige."
What? Jiang Buli was momentarily dazed, then his gaze turned cold as he suddenly understood her meaning.
【Dance with me, and this card is yours.】
【Happy to oblige.】
008 wailed in its cracked, rasping voice: 【Aaaah! Give me back my host who rises unstained from the mud, pure and unpretentious, unbending before poverty, unyielding before force, refusing to bow for five bushels of rice… GAAAH!】
Rong Xuanyu's head throbbed from its noise. She casually shoved it into Xiaoheiwu, and her ears finally found peace.
Jiang Buli wasn't the only one wearing a sour expression—Lu Lefeng's face had also imperceptibly darkened. Though he was fairly quick to accept it. He'd known Rong Xuanyu's nature all along; this was simply to be expected.
At the end of the day, they were the ones being overly sentimental. Rong Xuanyu's goal had been clear from the start—money.
They were simply dazzled by her appearance, repeating the same mistake without learning their lesson.
Weary of a life drowning in materialism, they'd always yearned for feelings untainted by any impurity.
A wake-up call slammed into both their heads. Lu Lefeng lost all interest, curling his lips in a mocking smirk as he let himself collapse into the plush booth seat, boneless as he made a "go right ahead" gesture.
Someone who attracted butterflies and bees yet remained clear-headed throughout—better not to provoke such a person.
Falling in would only lead to a dead end.
Rong Xuanyu had a proper sense of what it meant to be a kept lover. The moment she received the signal, she immediately turned to her benefactor, letting her hand hanging at her side tentatively brush against his fingertips.
The boy's spirits were low, head bowed toward his toes. When touched, he curled his fingers back sharply, his whole body radiating rejection.
He was the one who'd asked to dance, and now he was the one refusing to cooperate. Rong Xuanyu couldn't quite understand it—were kids these days really so fickle?
Since she couldn't figure it out, she stopped trying. At least she rather liked this prickly kid, and she was happy to put in the effort to coax him.
She raised a hand and ruffled his fluffy, soft black hair, the motion so natural that Jiang Buli had no time to react.
Jiang Buli's pupils contracted sharply. He slapped her hand away from his head with a sharp crack and snapped, "Who said you could touch me?!"
"Know your place." With that, he strode directly toward the dance floor.
Oh ho. She'd forgotten—her role wasn't the pure white moonlight, but the tool.
Rong Xuanyu wasn't bothered in the slightest. She followed along with ease, showing great enthusiasm for playing the part of a gold-digging kept lover.
She ambled along like a leisurely old man, glancing left and right. When she saw Jiang Buli pause at the edge of the dance floor to observe, she stuck close to his side and pressed in to admire the graceful dancing as well.
From behind, the female Alpha stepped aside and pressed close against the slender-waisted, long-legged young man, her sleeves carelessly rolled up, revealing a section of elegantly muscled forearm.
Shoulder against shoulder, back against back, shadows flickering in the dim light—an endless intimacy spread between them.
Perhaps the scene was too striking, for people near and far began whispering among themselves.
"Who is that? How have I never seen him before?"
"Not sure. Seems like he came in with Young Master Jiang. Probably from a well-off family."
Hearing this, the speaker sounded disappointed: "Well-off family… I was hoping she'd be a female escort so I could take over once Jiang gets tired of her."
…
Overhearing these speculations, Lu Lefeng, who had rushed over to watch the commotion, burst out laughing. He had to admit—when it came to presence, Rong Xuanyu really could fool people.
Looking at her from afar, not only was there not a trace of country-bumpkin air about her, she even outshone every young master and miss present.
Beside her, Xu Weiyan was instantly reduced to nothing.
Thinking of this, Lu Lefeng sighed again, lamenting how poor his brother's eyesight was.
Suddenly, a wave of exclamations came from the front of the crowd. Lu Lefeng snapped back to attention and stood on his tiptoes to peer toward the center of the dance floor.
A spotlight shone down from above. The female Alpha bent forward, back straight, right foot stepping back, and performed an elegant shoulder-touch bow before Jiang Buli.
"Sir, may I have the honor of this dance?"
Shrieks rose and fell around them, and many young Omegas blushed deeply.
"Oh my god, is that some old aristocratic etiquette? She makes it look so captivating."
"Oh Lord, I'll never say classical etiquette class is boring again. I was ignorant! I was shortsighted!"
…
Receiving no response for a long time, Rong Xuanyu was starting to sweat.
Tsk. She'd been so busy coaxing the kid that she'd forgotten to ask what dances were popular here.
Seeing that the next dance was about to begin, Rong Xuanyu fished out the court dance rituals of the Xihuan Weimian from her memory and used them as a desperate stopgap.
Hearing the "laughter" rising louder and louder around her, Rong Xuanyu felt her heart sink like ashes.
Something in the procedure must have gone wrong.
If it were just her, it wouldn't matter—but kids this age had thin skin and couldn't take ridicule.
Rong Xuanyu's mind raced. She'd already planned how to slip away along the wall and how to distance herself from Jiang Buli, when suddenly a faint coolness covered her hand.
She looked down in surprise. The fingers resting on hers were pale and slender, knuckles slightly prominent, skin as fine as white jade.
Rong Xuanyu said nothing. Her gaze traveled slowly upward, landing on the young man's face, which was trying so hard to appear composed.
Fine strands of hair fell loose from his forehead. Jiang Buli pressed his lips together, his eyes darting away, still speaking in his usual cold tone:
"What are you looking at me for? Aren't we supposed to dance?"
To preserve the young master's dignity, Rong Xuanyu forced herself not to laugh.
So fierce.
—If one ignored the flush that crept almost to the collar of his shirt.
From that moment, Rong Xuanyu suddenly glimpsed a pearl hidden beneath a hard shell, one the world had never discovered.