Before Su Nian could speak, her classmate beside her nearly burned holes through her with her gaze. “You know Senior Gu?”
Su Nian looked faintly embarrassed. “We used to be neighbors.”
Back then, the Gu family had risen to wealth through technology, eventually ranking among Imperial City’s top three most prestigious households after which they had moved away to a far more exclusive villa district. Gu Yinchen had always kept a low profile; few knew his true standing.
Meanwhile, Gu Yinchen carried his tray over and seated himself beside Su Nian. His meal was plain enough: stir-fried chicken, lettuce with pork, kelp and pork rib soup, and a small portion of green vegetables. Nothing out of the ordinary. Holding his chopsticks with effortless grace, he asked, “Niannian… will you be returning to the Su family home this weekend?”
“Yes.” She offered nothing more.
The Su family was hosting a celebration banquet for Su Feixiao on Saturday. Publicly, Su Feixiao was presented as a prodigy of the brush. In truth, while she certainly possessed some talent, Su Haiping had also invested quite handsomely to secure her award.
Suddenly a chicken leg appeared atop Su Nian’s steamed rice. Gu Yinchen smiled gently, indulgent. “I remember these were always your favorite as a child.”
Su Nian stared at the golden leg. She had loved them then because there had been so little meat to go around the choicest morsels had always gone to her younger half-siblings. Now that she could buy whatever she pleased, chicken legs no longer held such allure. She hesitated, yet since she had already touched her chopsticks to her rice, returning it would have been awkward. “Thank you.”
Instead, she passed it to her classmate. “I have more than enough already.”
Her friend winked playfully at Gu Yinchen. “Senior Gu… I’m afraid Niannian’s heart already belongs to another. It wouldn’t do to accept such special treats, now would it?”
Across the room, Zhou Kang sat quietly pretending to browse his phone. In truth, he was surreptitiously snapping photos. Earlier that morning, merely driving Su Nian to the university had earned him punishment in the form of a whole basin of pitch-black sludge. Now this former neighbor slipping her chicken leg from his own bowl? Surely that qualified as a capital offense! He sent the photo off to Zhou Beiming and settled back to await the inevitable fireworks.
The meal ended. Minutes passed. Nothing happened.
Zhou Kang was clearing his tray when his phone chimed. He smirked in anticipation until he read the message. His credit card had been frozen. A second message followed from his father. He was called every kind of fool, and attached was a screenshot of a conversation. Zhou Beiming had asked his father: Is it true nothing beats dumplings for taste… and nothing beats your brother’s wife for fun?
Injustice! Zhou Kang knew the score. Three strikes and you were out. From now on, he would maintain a strictly safe distance from Su Nian.
He trudged forward with his head down and nearly bumped into a pair of white sneakers. He looked up. It was Su Nian.
Zhou Kang leaped back as though seeing a ghost. “Lady of Grace! To what do I owe this honor?”
Su Nian blinked, thoroughly confused. Why did he look as though he had seen a phantom? She needed to speak with him privately, away from ears. She took a step forward.
Zhou Kang retreated in alarm. “Stay right there!” He raised his voice. “Keep your distance!”
Su Nian frowned. “What… have I done?”
He dared not explain. If she went and complained to Zhou Beiming, his cousin would doubtless decide he had been spreading tales and double his punishment. He pointed firmly at the spot where she stood. “Right there. Speak quickly.”
Only minutes ago he had been waving like an excited ape and calling her “Sister-in-law.” Now he treated her like plague-ridden refuse. Su Nian could only marvel truly, one family, one temperament. Like Zhou Beiming, he shifted moods on a whim.
She stayed where she was. Glancing around to ensure no one listened, she said quietly: “Others do not know the truth about Zhou Beiming and me. Please… say nothing of it to anyone.”
Zhou Kang blinked. Truth be told, the entire Zhou family guarded their tongues exceptionally well. Even Zhou Kang, after graduating and taking a teaching post here, allowed no one to guess he belonged to that branch of the clan. Within the family, only Zhou Beiming’s romantic entanglements ever made news. Su Nian, however, was clearly the exception any other woman brought home by him would have been trumpeting the connection from every rooftop. After all those three words, Zhou Bei Ming, meant absolute power.
Zhou Kang studied her curiously. Beautiful, nicely formed… yet in Zhou Beiming’s world, beauties with perfect figures abounded by the dozen. Why bring her home? This one… she had skill.
“Have no fear. I shall breathe not a word.” He began walking past her, then paused and looked back. “If I were you, though… I would seize every advantage now. Brother Beiming will never make you his wife.”
Many relatives had tried introducing girls to him since childhood his father maintained it was all wasted effort. At four years old, Zhou Beiming had been betrothed by his grandfather to another. If that family ever came forward… what place was there for anyone else?
Su Nian simply said softly, “Thank you.”
Her arrangement with Zhou Beiming was never real to begin with. His words troubled her not in the slightest.
Zhou Kang found himself glancing back so meek, so easily bullied. Yet today’s lessons had taught him: to harm Su Nian was to court suicide. He shook his head and strode quickly away.
Su Nian breathed easier, confident Zhou Kang would keep her secret. She spent the rest of the day working on her thesis. In the evening, Professor Chen asked her to remain behind and prepare his lecture slides for tomorrow hardly unusual. The Professor loved mahjong and loathed overtime; whatever work remained unfinished inevitably fell to his students.
By the time the presentation was ready, it was past seven. Her time of the month… Zhou Beiming would not come seeking her tonight, she reasoned. She reached for her bag to hail a cab when a message arrived.
Still at work?
From Zhou Beiming.
She replied: > Is something the matter?
His reply came immediately, offering a choice: > Shall I come inside… or will you come out?
He was outside?! Su Nian scrambled to gather her things, slung her bag and picked up the container, and hurried out.
The white sedan waited right before the gates, hazard lights flashing. The security guard stood beside the driver’s window, smoking and chatting casually with whoever sat within. Su Nian recognized the car instantly and walked over.
The guard smiled. “Young lady! Had you delayed another moment, I’d have had to ask him to leave. Not many may park here for two full hours.”
Two hours?! And he messaged only now?!
Su Nian thanked him and quickly climbed into the passenger seat. Zhou Beiming did not look at her. He extended a pack of fine cigarettes toward the guard. “I may be troubling you regularly henceforth. My gratitude.”
The guard accepted them with a knowing grin. “Female students in the Computer Science Department are few and highly sought-after. Best you stay in his good graces, young man.”
Zhou Beiming let out a low, dry chuckle. “Is that so?” The tone carried distinct notes of scorn. He rolled the window shut.
Inside the car, silence save for the soft hum of the engine. Su Nian’s heart raced. He should not have come for her at all, not while she was indisposed. She asked quietly, “Where are we going?”
Zhou Beiming kept his gaze fixed forward through the windshield. “Home.”
Whose home? They did not live together. She dared not press him.
The car pulled into the underground garage of a prestigious high-rise apartment complex in the heart of the city. This was Zhou Beiming’s residence close to his offices, where he ordinarily stayed during the workweek. Su Nian’s own apartment stood nearby as well, though far humbler.
Then she remembered. He had said they must cohabit to make their performance convincing to the end.
Zhou Beiming stepped out. Finding her sitting motionless, he turned and looked at her with those piercing dark eyes. “Must I carry you inside?”
Su Nian could scarce refuse such an offer. She hurried out and followed him inside.
No lamps were lit within; the neon city spilling through the floor-to-ceiling windows cast more than enough light to see by. It was a spacious open-plan apartment, finished in understated luxury predominantly black, white, and grey. It always felt so quiet here.
Zhou Beiming walked without a word to the living room and sank back into the sofa. He massaged the space between his brows, eyes closed. Su Nian lingered awkwardly near the entryway, uncertain why she had been brought here. If they truly meant to live together, surely some preparation was due first?
She gathered courage to speak when Zhou Beiming’s low voice commanded: “Do not stand there like a sentry. Come here.”
Su Nian walked meekly to his side. The hand that had been resting at his brow suddenly shot out, gripping her slender waist, and drew her firmly between his parted knees. His hands were large and powerful; one light tug and she tumbled forward, landing against his chest.
Breath mingled between them as he looked up at her, his gaze dark and commanding. “Kiss me.”