Night had fallen, yet Su Nian remained awake.
After her shower, she had amused herself for a while with the Barbie doll, then wandered about the room exploring every corner. Everything struck her as delightfully novel even the piano was soft pink. She sat down before it and pressed a key.
Do!
The note rang out, clear and bright. It was perfectly tuned. Wary of disturbing the household, however, she lowered the lid gently back down.
“Why did you stop playing?”
His voice carried that familiar, teasing lilt.
Su Nian had not locked the door she had not even latched it. She had stayed awake precisely because she was waiting for him. The Old Master might remain unaware of the true nature between them, but Su Nian knew exactly where she stood. She rose from the piano bench. “I did not wish to wake anyone.”
Zhou Beiming did not step closer. He merely leaned against the wall, arms folded across his chest, long legs crossed at the ankle, looking utterly at his ease. The girl stood before him clad in a modest pink nightgown long sleeves, hem falling well below the knees, concealing everything beneath.
What dreadful taste, he thought, fighting a smirk. I should very much like to peel it off her myself.
“There is no one here,” Zhou Beiming said, his eyes glinting with mischief. “We may do whatever we please.”
Su Nian shot him a soft, reproachful glance. He was incorrigible his mind always turned to exactly one thing.
“Play something for me,” he said.
Su Nian reseated herself and began playing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. It was a simple tune, and her fingers moved with practiced ease. After all, she had been raised from childhood as an investment her father had spared no expense investing in her education. She held certificates in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. She had chosen this piece chiefly because it was short; she was growing tired, and had papers to write tomorrow.
The final note faded away. Zhou Beiming heard the distinct lack of enthusiasm. He straightened to his full height tall, broad-shouldered and strolled over at an unhurried pace. “Is that all you know?”
Su Nian sat perfectly upright. “What would you care to hear?”
He reached out and tilted her chin with his fingers, stroking it playfully as one might stroke a favored pet. “Shall I play anything I ask for?”
Su Nian lowered her gaze. “If I know it, I shall play it.”
Zhou Beiming watched her demure expression. In the past, her meekness had never struck him as anything out of the ordinary. But seeing her behave so submissively in front of others… it rankled him.
“Never mind,” he muttered. “I have heard better music from a cotton gin.”
Su Nian offered no retort. Let him think what he liked.
The longer he looked at her, the deeper his frown grew. “Why must you be so obedient?”
Was obedience a flaw? For someone like her, compliance was the surest way not to be cast aside. Zhou Beiming, who regarded people as playthings to be commanded at will, would never understand.
Su Nian kept her eyes lowered, steering the conversation elsewhere. “Shall we sleep now?” She spoke as if reciting protocol.
Silence stretched above her.
She unclasped the priceless jewelry and set them before him. She could not afford to lose them. Her family certainly would not compensate for any loss she would be paying for them for the rest of her life. The bracelet, the earrings, and the necklace all three laid neatly upon the piano keys. The pink-and-white porcelain keys made the gemstones look heavy, mature, and strangely out of place.
Su Nian sat very still. The air in the room seemed to grow heavier by the second.
Abruptly, a jarring, discordant clatter burst forth. Zhou Beiming had stepped behind her and pressed both hands hard down across the keys, boxing her in between himself and the instrument.
“How about right here?” His voice dropped thick and low against her ear. “You play… and I shall do as I please.”
It was plainly meant to torment her. Su Nian’s fingers twisted nervously together. She yielded as she always did. “Do as you wish.”
Her lack of resistance drew a short, incredulous laugh from him. “So pliant, are we? Then let us see you play properly. I would hear Wedding in a Dream.”
With those words, he swept the jewelry casually aside. The gemstone necklace, heavy and unwieldy, tipped precariously over the edge. Su Nian reached instinctively to catch it but his elegant hands, treating priceless gems as mere trifles, closed firmly around hers. Their fingers laced together.
Clatter.
The fortune worth thousands of kilograms of banknotes hit the floor with a dull thud.
Su Nian’s gaze darted anxiously toward it but Zhou Beiming was already leaning over her. He lifted her effortlessly from the bench, curled one hand about the nape of her neck, turned her face to his, and pressed her back against the soft pink piano. He kissed his way from the hollow of her throat upward, hot and claiming. Su Nian found no purchase, her slender hands splaying flat against the keys. Chaotic, dissonant notes scattered wildly beneath her palms. Not a single bar of Wedding in a Dream remained in her mind.
Her nightgown slipped away with practiced ease. Zhou Beiming was indifferent to whether she played or not.
Then, in an instant, everything stopped. His passion froze, the air itself holding its breath.
He spoke, his voice flat and devoid of warmth. “You are bleeding.”
Su Nian, already dizzy and breathless with desire, felt her mind reel as though struck by a thunderclap. Her face burned scarlet from her throat to her forehead. It was not due yet not until next week. She had showered scarcely half an hour ago and there had been no sign. How could it have begun so suddenly?
Zhou Beiming stood rigid.
Su Nian’s head hummed wretchedly. Her voice was barely audible. “I am sorry… I did not expect it so soon.”
Zhou Beiming collected himself, his expression darkening. The air between them turned awkward and stifling. Su Nian’s face burned hotter still. She dug her fingers nervously into the soft, textured trim along the piano’s edge.
Suddenly, the world tilted. She found herself swept effortlessly up into his arms.
Su Nian gasped. “What are you doing?” Surely he could not still intend to
“Tonight…” she began, summoning courage to refuse.
One sharp, warning glance silenced her. She sank back into meekness. Very well. Do as you please.
Zhou Beiming carried her into the bathroom, kicking the door shut behind him with one heel. He set her down atop the vanity counter. She recognized this position had been in it many times before, in his apartment, in every room where they had left their marks upon one another. Su Nian parted her legs instinctively.
Zhou Beiming’s dark eyes widened in confusion. Then realization struck and his expression shifted into disbelief. “Su Nian!” The name came out gritted through teeth.
She winced, stung and confused, her composure fraying. “What exactly do you want from me?”
He glowered at her, furious then paused. The storm in his eyes softened, his expression losing some of its severity. He reached out and flicked her forehead gently with his knuckle. His tone was gruff but markedly gentler than before.
“I am not some deviant pervert. I am trying to find something to manage this situation with!”
Su Nian realized with a jolt that she had completely misunderstood him. His coarse way of speaking had only added to her embarrassment. Her face flamed so hotly she felt it might catch fire. She scrambled down from the counter. “I shall go out and buy some myself.”
Zhou Beiming caught her by the back of her nightgown like one scooping up a stray chick, hauling her back. “And go how? Like this?” His gaze swept over her witheringly. “Do you intend to convince the night watchman you are two years old?”
He scoffed at the absurdity, then spared himself the trouble of bending and hooked open the cabinet door beneath the vanity with one foot. It stood empty nothing prepared. Zhou Beiming dug into his pocket, drew out his phone, and speed-dialed a number. “Axuan, go and buy ”
He broke off abruptly. His gaze drifted downward, resting on Su Nian’s lower half. The realization of what exactly he was sending another man to purchase twisted uncomfortably in his chest.
Su Nian, feeling herself scrutinized, pressed her knees instinctively together.
Zhou Beiming ended the call without warning. He looked up at her, his tone stripped of all warmth and command. “What… kind do you need? I shall go myself.”