Fearing they might get caught in the crossfire, everyone fell silent, leaving only a look that seemed to say, Good luck to you.
Even the orchestra tactfully stopped playing.
In the ensuing silence, the only sound was the click-clack of leather shoes against the gleaming marble floor.
Each step seemed to land directly on everyone’s heart.
Hua Yan walked up to Ruan Jiaqi, his suit so white beneath the lights that it was almost dazzling.
His features were handsome in a roguish sort of way, but the darkness in his expression made his entire presence seem dangerous and mysterious.
Ruan Jiaqi raised her head and met his cold gaze.
His pitch-black eyes held an innate arrogance.
Without the system’s prompts, she could only piece things together from the conversations she’d overheard. This young, handsome man standing before her was probably the younger brother of the male lead, Hua Feng.
Ruan Jiaqi was just about to greet him when the man’s long, pale fingers suddenly clamped around her throat.
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
A viciousness suddenly flared in Hua Yan’s eyes, like a frozen lake bursting into flames.
“You’re right.”
“Having someone hold leverage over you is troublesome indeed.”
His fingers tightened inch by inch around her neck, the veins on the back of his hand bulging viciously.
“Unless… that person is dead.”
He leaned closer, his breath brushing against her pale skin like a whisper from the Grim Reaper.
“If I wanted to, crushing you would be easier than crushing an ant.”
The suffocating sensation spread over her like a black tide.
Ruan Jiaqi’s brows drew tightly together in pain. She couldn’t make a sound. Her cheeks quickly flushed an unnatural red from the lack of oxygen, while clear tears of physiological distress spilled uncontrollably from the corners of her eyes, tracing broken, beautiful paths down her cheeks.
Yet the gazes of those watching grew increasingly heated and excited, silent currents of anticipation surging beneath the surface.
“Forget it, Second Brother. Just make her leave.”
Hua Yao stepped forward.
“Let’s stop bothering with her. I don’t know what got into this woman tonight. Besides, once Big Brother and Sister Yuxi arrive, she’ll only be an eyesore if she stays.”
Hua Yan paid no attention to her. His cold, stern eyes remained locked on Ruan Jiaqi, like a wolf that had sunk its teeth into its prey and would never let go until its victim stopped breathing.
He had never cared to involve himself in these petty squabbles between women.
But tonight, this woman had gone too far.
Did she really think that now that Big Brother had returned to the country, she had finally found herself a protector and could swagger around the Hua family as she pleased?
Hah. What a fool.
She actually thought she could control a man with that insignificant fling.
She should be grateful that Big Brother had been away from Shanghai for the past two years. Otherwise, given his temper and methods, her life would have been a thousand times more miserable than it was now.
Seeing the situation, Hua Yao knew that her second brother’s stubborn streak had kicked in again.
She curled her lips and couldn’t be bothered to waste her breath.
In fact, Hua Yao couldn’t understand what had gotten into her tonight. Why had she even bothered to speak up for Ruan Jiaqi?
Her original plan for tonight had been to take advantage of her girlfriends keeping Ruan Jiaqi occupied, secretly slip her pink diamond necklace into Ruan Jiaqi’s handbag, then accuse her of stealing it and publicly search her.
If everything went according to plan, Ruan Jiaqi would be utterly disgraced in front of everyone, drowning in contemptuous looks and ridicule.
And if the plan didn’t go according to plan…
Damn it.
One pink diamond necklace—gone.
Hua Yao irritably scratched at her carefully styled hair.
Not only did that woman, Ruan Jiaqi, seem to have been possessed tonight, even Hua Yao herself seemed to be in a slightly abnormal state of mind.
Whatever. If she couldn’t figure it out, she simply wouldn’t think about it.
Hua Yao went to sit far away in a corner, picked up a small fork, and began eating fruit as though none of this had anything to do with her.
……
That familiar suffocating sensation surged through Ruan Jiaqi’s chest like a tide.
Perhaps because she had already experienced death once with full awareness, she wasn’t frightened despite her difficulty breathing.
She tried to struggle, but perhaps as punishment from this transmigrated-book world, one-third of her health bar had just been cut away. The strength and vitality of this body had been affected as well, making it impossible for her to fight against an adult man.
Ruan Jiaqi remembered that dying from suffocation took only a hundred seconds.
So she remained very calm, her heart utterly still.
Instead, Hua Yan’s heart suddenly jolted when he met those clear, pitch-black eyes.
Beautiful, yet empty and devoid of light.
There was no pleading, no fear, not even the slightest trace of warmth belonging to a living person.
Her skin was so pale it was almost translucent. The lack of oxygen had stained her cheeks with an eerie cherry-red hue, while faint blue veins were clearly visible beneath her skin, like the stems of night-blooming cherry blossoms.
Her slightly parted lips had lost their color, resembling soft yet withered petals, yet there was a chilling beauty to her appearance on the brink of death.
Like a beautiful corpse.
Hua Yan had no idea why such a bizarre thought suddenly appeared in his mind, but the fingers around her neck instinctively loosened.
Air—fresh, sweet, and painfully cold—rushed into her lungs.
Like a fish finally thrown back onto shore, Ruan Jiaqi coughed violently, gulping down breath after breath.
The spectators all looked astonished.
That was it?
For these shameless spectators, this was terribly disappointing.
They had all heard about Hua Yan’s methods of punishing people. Even the King of Hell himself would probably pale in comparison.
Yet he had made an exception for this woman?
Even Hua Yan himself was momentarily stunned.
He lowered his eyes and stared thoughtfully at his right hand, the slippery, icy sensation of her skin still lingering on his fingertips.
An indescribable feeling lingered in his heart.
In a corner nearby.
Qin Ziyan’s gaze was practically glued to Ruan Jiaqi’s flushed cheeks.
That fragile beauty, the damp redness at the corners of her eyes, was like the most seductive poison, and a greedy darkness flickered in his eyes.
“Ah Yan, calm down. Why bother arguing with a woman?”
He only dared to approach after Hua Yan had let go, pretending to smooth things over. Yet his nakedly lecherous gaze crawled over Ruan Jiaqi’s delicate figure like a spiderweb.
“Miss Ruan, your clothes have gotten all messed up. Why don’t I take you to a room so you can change into something clean and rest for a while?”
As he spoke, he reached out as though intending to support her.
Ruan Jiaqi stepped backward, avoiding that greasy, rat-like face.
“No need.”
But Qin Ziyan refused to take no for an answer. His smile carried a hint of intimacy that left no room for refusal.
“Then I’ll drive you home.”
Ruan Jiaqi turned away coldly.
“I said no.”
Her damp eyes still held traces of tears, and her delicate face was pitifully beautiful. Qin Ziyan’s heart itched with desire.
Especially when he remembered that she was a woman Hua Feng had slept with, his impatience only grew.
“I’ll take you home. Don’t be so polite.”
Qin Ziyan smiled smugly, convinced he was the epitome of gentlemanly charm, and reached out to grab her.
Thinking about what was about to happen, Ruan Jiaqi’s thick lashes cast a small shadow beneath her eyes. She swiftly grabbed a table knife and clenched it tightly in her hand.
“Stay away from me.”
He had no idea that her reaction was only feeding the man’s twisted sense of accomplishment.
Qin Ziyan smiled smugly.
“Miss Ruan, why are you so nervous? It’s not like I’m going to eat you. Relax…”
Before he could finish, a cold flash sliced cleanly through the air.
Two wealthy women screamed, and the scene instantly descended into chaos.
The flirtatious smile on Qin Ziyan’s face froze and twisted in an instant. He clutched his forearm in agony.
Blood seeped steadily through his fingers.
Qin Ziyan stared at Ruan Jiaqi in disbelief, unable to accept that a nobody, a discarded rich man’s wife, had actually dared to cut him with a knife!
He flew into a rage and cursed furiously.
“You little bitch! Don’t know what’s good for you, do you? You really think you’re somebody? Get back here! Don’t run! Let’s see where the hell you can run to!”
Only an idiot would obediently stand there.
Ruan Jiaqi turned and ran.
She rounded a corner and suddenly slammed headfirst into a broad, solid chest.
A cool, snow-like scent instantly enveloped her.
The first thing she saw was a pair of brown men’s leather shoes.
A dark-gray suit with subtle patterns, pressed without a single wrinkle.
A hand wearing a platinum watch, its knuckles long and sharply defined.
The man’s physique was exceptional. A solemn, murderous aura emanated from him, carrying an authority entirely different from that of a spoiled heir.
He was more like a predator who had occupied the highest echelons of power for far too long.
It was a kind of animalistic ferocity that, even wrapped to the utmost extent in human civilization and immaculate clothing, could never be completely concealed.
An unfathomable danger, abyss-like and impossible to read, combined with a fatal allure that made one’s legs go weak at a single glance.
Ruan Jiaqi slowly raised her head, only to abruptly meet a pair of deep, razor-sharp black eyes.
Her breathing stopped for several seconds, as though something had pierced straight through her heart, pinning her completely in place.
Ruan Jiaqi had never imagined that she would see him again under circumstances this unbelievable.
Everything around her felt like a surreal dream.
And now, that dream finally had a name.
A Traveler’s Sorrow, a Reunion with an Old Friend.