Zhou Beiming dried her hands with deliberate care. Su Nian looked away. “I can do it myself.”
She took the towel from him and quickly wiped away the dampness.
Back from the bathroom, Su Nian brought the jewelry and the pink box from Old Master Zhou over to him. They felt heavy in her arms. She was not truly his girlfriend none of this should be hers to keep. “I should return these to you.”
Zhou Beiming glanced at her burden. “Keep them for now. Return them to me the day I no longer have need of you.”
Safe as the estate might be, what if something went wrong? If they were lost, how could she ever repay such value? “They are far too precious. I am afraid I might lose them.” It was the honest truth.
Zhou Beiming seemed disinclined to entertain honesty. “If you fear losing them, keep better watch. Surely such a simple matter is within your capability?” His tone was flat, indifferent.
Su Nian knew such sums meant nothing to him. Still… “I cannot promise I shall never let anything happen. If they were gone… I could never afford to pay you back.”
Zhou Beiming’s expression remained unreadable. “If they are lost… then you shall spend the rest of your life repaying the debt.”
At his words, Su Nian’s gaze drifted away. When she grew older and less pleasing, she had little doubt he would cast her aside perhaps keep her on as a maid to work off what she owed.
Lost in thought, she watched him take the pink box from her hands and lift the lid. Inside lay White Rabbit Creamy Candies. She had half-expected something priceless indeed. Zhou Beiming seemed unsurprised. He took one and held it out. “Care for one?”
It was terribly late. Su Nian shook her head. “I’ve already brushed my teeth.”
Zhou Beiming unwrapped the candy anyway and popped it into her mouth. “Brush them again.”
Sweetness melted gently across her tongue. She had always loved these candies. Zhou Beiming watched her lips move, the candy shifting from one cheek to the other. Her mouth pouted softly, and he found it unbearably endearing. His throat worked as he swallowed. “Good?”
“Mmm.” Su Nian loved sweets. Her fatigue had long since passed, and seeing he showed no sign of sleeping, she resolved to stay awake with him a while longer. She sat at the edge of the bed, hands resting behind her on the coverlet, quietly savoring the candy while looking up at him.
Zhou Beiming was strikingly handsome pale, fair skin, features so finely wrought they seemed chiseled by the hand of God. If he remained silent, he looked like a quiet, elegant vampire. The moment he spoke, however
“Moving your mouth like that… are you trying to seduce me?”
he was nothing but a rogue.
Su Nian was merely eating. How else was one supposed to eat? She simply stopped moving her mouth altogether. “I am not.”
Zhou Beiming always twisted her words. “Playing hard to get? If you want something, say so. I hardly withhold what is mine.”
He set the candy box aside, leaned over her, braced his hands on either side of her, and covered her mouth with his own, kissing her deeply. The candy passed slowly back and forth between their tongues, melting sweetly. It was an intimacy so close and constant that Su Nian found she no longer resisted perhaps because she had long since grown accustomed to him. The candy dissolved slowly, softening until it returned to Su Nian’s mouth. When they parted, the sweet milky scent lingered warmly on both their lips.
Zhou Beiming gave a low, dark chuckle. “From now on… you shall share candy only this way… with me.”
Su Nian sometimes thought him terribly childish. Only he would share a candy like this. She nodded obediently. “I understand.”
And so the long, strange night at the Zhou household came to an end.
The next morning, Su Nian woke late. Zhou Beiming was already gone. She rose, freshened up, and heard a knock at the door. Opening it, she found the butler standing there. “Old Master Zhou requests that I escort Miss Su to breakfast.”
After the winding, endless corridors of the night before, she would not have found the dining hall on her own. She nodded. “Give me but a moment.”
She retrieved her bag inside lay the jewelry and the candy box. It took nearly ten minutes to reach the dining hall. No elders sat at the table; instead, several younger relatives were chatting animatedly about Zhou Beiming’s late-night news.
“Brother Beiming truly is something. Keeps his principal lady content at home while enjoying every pretty flag that waves outside.”
“Do not speak so confidently. It remains to be seen whether that principal lady will ever truly be welcomed within these walls.”
Su Nian recognized all of them names and faces committed to memory from her notes, met briefly the evening before. Their conversation halted as she appeared. Zhou Kang, Zhou Beiming’s younger cousin, greeted her with a teasing grin. “Little sister-in-law? Why does Brother Beiming not escort you to breakfast? Surely he did not spend the entire night away from home?”
The butler, observing all with practiced neutrality, pulled out a chair for Su Nian. She sat down calmly. “I do not know.” And it was true she had fallen asleep while he was bathing.
Her voice was soft, devoid of sharpness. Zhou Kang found her lack of reaction dull. “Oh? And you do nothing to keep him in check?”
Su Nian sipped her porridge slowly. “He is hardly a child.” And she was hardly in any position to discipline him.
Zhou Kang felt as though he had walked into soft tofu there was simply no getting a rise out of her. He had heard his aunt Zhou Yunhe was utterly undone last night by a single childish retort rebound. Evidently the rumor was true.
Su Nian had a small appetite. Finishing her porridge and a pastry, she stood. “Please enjoy the rest of your meal. Excuse me.”
As she rose, Zhou Kang stood too. “Are you bound for A University?”
She nodded.
“I shall drive you it is on my way.”
“The Old Master has already arranged transport for Miss Su,” the butler interjected.
Zhou Kang paid him no mind. He stepped up beside Su Nian and reached for her bag. “Why stand on ceremony? Besides… I should very much like to get better acquainted with my little sister-in-law.”
Su Nian’s heart rose into her throat as he lifted the bag. It held easily hundreds of millions in value. Zhou Kang was already walking toward the door; terrified to linger even a moment behind, Su Nian hurried after him.
At the entrance, Zhou Kang was suddenly shoved stumbling back inside. A man stood holding a cup of dark, steaming liquid its surface scarcely rippling despite the force with which he had pushed Zhou Kang aside. “With me here… when was it your turn to escort her?”
Zhou Kang struggled to regain his balance. Su Nian, close beside him, snatched her bag back instantly and clutched it to her chest like a robbery victim reclaiming her only possession.
Zhou Kang paled at the sight of Zhou Beiming. He had fully expected his cousin to be gone already. Then he forced a bright, unconcerned grin. “I assumed you had gone to the office… little did I know you were lingering to see your lady off…” His gaze fell to the dark liquid in the cup. “What is that? Black coffee?”
He leaned forward curiously, only for Zhou Beiming to kick him casually aside. A single cold word: “Scram.”
Zhou Kang knew better than to protest and backed away at once. Whatever that beverage was, it looked toxic enough to be fatal merely inhaling its fumes.
Zhou Beiming walked over to Su Nian, brought the cup to her lips. “Black sugar and ginger tea. Made especially for you by Aunt Zhang.”
Black sugar tea? Su Nian clutched her bag tighter and peered into the cup. The liquid was inky black, like calligraphy ink. The name alone told her Aunt Zhang was someone who knew exactly what she was doing though she had never imagined it might look quite like this. She looked up uncertainly at Zhou Beiming. His face remained impassive. “Must I feed you myself?”
“No need.” Su Nian shook her head, slung her bag over her shoulder, accepted the cup, and drank the dark contents in one unprepared swallow.
It was cloyingly, thickly sweet sticky on her tongue. She nearly gagged. But Zhou Beiming stood watching, his dark eyes heavy with unspoken pressure. She forced the urge to retch back down. “Thank you.”
Zhou Beiming watched the cup empty before taking it back. He set it casually on the table, then turned his cold gaze upon Zhou Kang, who was craning his neck to watch. “Care for a cup too? There is plenty more in the kitchen help yourself.”
Zhou Kang stared at the black residue coating the bottom and shook his head until the room blurred. “No no thank you. I have eaten quite enough.”
Zhou Beiming turned the cup slowly in his hand, his gaze dropping to trace with icy precision the faint stain of red lipstick upon the rim. “Then perhaps you should first disgorge whatever it is you have swallowed. Should you fail to drink every last drop from the kitchen… I shall have them pry open your skull and pour it directly inside.”