“Like what you see?”
Fu Shuheng lowered his gaze, watching Qin Qing’s focused profile, and made a stopping gesture to the driver.
“Not bad, I suppose.”
Qin Qing replied casually, only to notice the motorcade pulling over to the roadside.
Her eyes flickered slightly as she looked up to meet the man who had drawn impossibly close, staring straight into those deep, dangerous black eyes.
“Why has the car stopped?”
Fu Shuheng gently tucked a strand of hair behind Qin Qing’s ear with a tender motion.
“My lady seems so interested—why not go inside and take a look?”
The Platinum Palace Club was the capital’s only high-end members-only male escort venue, with impeccable privacy and clientele who were either wealthy or powerful.
All the hosts provided kneeling service—business types, muscular men, overseas returnee elites, boy-next-door types… they had everything.
Qin Qing hadn’t yet recalled the Platinum Palace Club’s role in the book’s plot.
She asked in confusion, “Go where?”
Fu Shuheng’s slender finger pointed through the car window at the Platinum Palace Club.
“Aren’t you interested in the Platinum Palace’s male escorts?”
A smile hung at the corner of the man’s lips, his tone light and casual, with no hint of displeasure detectable.
“Platinum Palace male escorts?” Qin Qing stared at the two rows of men at the club entrance and asked in surprise, “You mean they’re hosts for entertaining guests?”
She had thought they were just reception staff—though there were quite a lot of them, and their looks were somewhat above average.
Fragmented memories from the book surfaced in Qin Qing’s mind—Liu Qingyan, jealous and throwing a tantrum after seeing the male lead get intimate with another woman, had been dragged into the Platinum Palace Club by someone.
The male lead had barged into the club with his men, and upon seeing the man sitting beside the female lead, flew into a rage and got into a fight.
The brawl between the two men had caught an innocent man in the crossfire, resulting in his death.
After that night, the Platinum Palace Club vanished from the capital entirely.
A plot point brushed over in just a few lines, seemingly only there to highlight the male and female leads’ romance—Qin Qing instead felt there was something fishy about it.
“What are you thinking about?”
Seeing Qin Qing lost in thought, Fu Shuheng pinched her chin with his knuckles, turning her to face him.
“Smack!”
Qin Qing instinctively slapped the man’s hand away, frowning in complaint.
“Keep your hands to yourself!”
She wasn’t used to such closeness. It wasn’t exactly repulsive, but her body reacted in resistance a step ahead of her conscious mind.
A curve tugged at Fu Shuheng’s lips, his teasing tone laced with dangerous implication.
“Tonight will be a long one, my lady. You’ll have to endure some… exertion.”
Qin Qing understood the man’s meaning—
Tonight was their wedding night, and it would involve far more than just hands wandering.
Suppressing the unease in her heart, Qin Qing fixed her gaze on Fu Shuheng, who sat with an air of noble elegance: “We just got married, and you’re already encouraging me to hire male escorts? Don’t tell me you want an open marriage with me—each of us playing around on our own?”
“You want an open marriage?”
Fu Shuheng’s smile remained warm as ever, answering her question with another.
Qin Qing shook her head without a second thought, then nodded: “I wouldn’t mind skipping marital obligations. But if you want to sleep with me while refusing to stay faithful, I find that filthy.”
Her face was full of resistance and disgust, and the last three words carried noticeably heavier emphasis.
The amusement in Fu Shuheng’s eyes spread, and a pleasant, husky laugh escaped his throat.
“What are you laughing at?”
Qin Qing felt inexplicably irritated, sensing that the man’s eyes hid something, his depth of cunning like an old fox’s.
Fu Shuheng raised a hand to pat her head, letting out a soft sigh.
“Still just a child.”
Qin Qing’s expression cracked bit by bit.
Even in her younger days when her face was even more youthful, no one had dared treat her like this.
Fu Shuheng noticed Qin Qing was about to bristle, and pulled her into his embrace, patting her back gently.
“You look a bit pale. Close your eyes and rest for a while—I’ll wake you when we get home.”
Qin Qing, lying against the man’s chest, was enveloped in dense Malevolent Aura and instantly calmed.
She lifted her eyelids to look at Fu Shuheng: “You haven’t answered my question yet.”
The understated luxury motorcade continued on its way.
Fu Shuheng looked down at Qin Qing, who was smaller than him, and the man’s warm, steady voice sounded through the cabin.
“Qin Qing, in the Fu family’s marriages, there’s no infidelity and no divorce. I married you, and there will only ever be you.”
“I have a physical reaction to you, and you have something you want from me. We have a long lifetime ahead to get to know each other.”
Fu Shuheng suddenly lowered his head, closing the distance between them.
Their breaths intertwined, and with just a little more closeness, their lips would touch.
“I’m not young anymore. Marrying you wasn’t to have a decorative ornament—we need to fulfill our marital duties. Do you understand?”
How could Qin Qing not understand?
She’d never done it herself, but she’d certainly seen others do it!
It was just… this wasn’t something she was familiar with. It wasn’t within her area of expertise.
Qin Qing’s silence stretched too long, and Fu Shuheng mistook it for reluctance. He softened his voice, carrying a hint of gentle coaxing.
“Don’t be afraid. I’ll give you time to prepare. After marriage, everything I have is shared with you. As long as you don’t cause a death, you can do whatever you please in the capital.”
Do whatever she pleased?
A strange feeling suddenly rose in Qin Qing’s heart—this sensation of being… indulged was unfamiliar and odd.
She raised an eyebrow slightly, her tone playful: “It seems I have no reason to refuse your advances.”
Advances?
Lord Fu rarely showed a stunned expression, but it quickly returned to normal.
“I can’t think of a reason for you to refuse either.”
His voice carried a smile, each word crisp and clear, as if rolling off the tip of his tongue.
Qin Qing extended her hand. “Then… a pleasant cooperation?”
Fu Shuheng looked at her earnest expression and wrapped his palm around her smooth, delicate hand.
“A pleasant cooperation—”
A satisfied smile rose in both their eyes. There was no tender affection between lovers, yet there was a warmth of fate destined between them.
It was a bond that belonged to those with special constitutions—able to lock onto each other at a single glance, an inseparable tie.
At the Fu family’s old estate.
The solemn iron gates slid open silently, and the motorcade drove in swiftly and steadily, heading straight for the depths, not even stopping at the main building.
The motorcade came to a halt in front of a grand, luxurious Chinese-style villa.
Yao Jin got out, opened the rear door, and lowered his voice:
“Cousin, we’ve arrived.”
Fu Shuheng carried the sleeping Qin Qing out of the car, his leather shoes grinding against the bluestone slabs, the sound muffled and low.
“Mhm…”
As they passed the courtyard pond, Qin Qing let out a soft hum.
She seemed to catch the crisp fragrance of the water lilies, her nostrils twitching slightly, her expression adorable and obedient.
Fu Shuheng stood in the temperature-controlled courtyard, stepping on the moonlight as he slowed his pace, taking twice as long as usual to carry Qin Qing into the house.
When Qin Qing was placed on the bed, her fingers curled unconsciously, clutching Fu Shuheng’s sleeve.
She murmured vaguely, “Don’t run…”
Having left the embrace of the Malevolent Aura, her brows furrowed slightly, her expression displeased.
Fu Shuheng let out a soft chuckle, kneeling on one knee by the bedside, prying Qin Qing’s fingers apart one by one.
Qin Qing suddenly turned over, her face rubbing against the spot where he had just been, her nose sniffing the lingering Malevolent Aura.
The unintentional little gesture softened Fu Shuheng’s brows and eyes.
He leaned down and placed a very light kiss on Qin Qing’s cheek.
After kissing her, his expression froze for a moment.
“Knock, knock—”
The bedroom door was rapped twice.
“Cousin, Grandfather is looking for you.”
Yao Jin’s voice came from behind.
Fu Shuheng bent down to pull the blanket over Qin Qing, glanced at the temperature in the room, then turned and left.
Outside the door.
“What happened?”
Fu Shuheng’s cold, emotionless eyes locked onto Yao Jin’s pale face.
Yao Jin’s knees bent, and with a thud, he dropped to the ground.
“Brother, I was wrong!”
The moment he knelt, Fu Shuheng looked down at him expressionlessly, scrutinizing him from above.
“What did you do?”
A look of shame crossed Yao Jin’s face as he slowly lowered his head.
“I’m sorry—”
Fu Shuheng grabbed him off the ground with one hand and slammed him hard against the wall.
His voice turned icy in an instant, every word laced with frost: “Qin Qing was right. You have a Bloody Calamity coming today.”