“Zhang Yue and the others said there’s a super handsome waiter tonight, serving in the lounge…”
“Really? How handsome?”
“I don’t know… By the time I got there, he was already gone. They didn’t tell me earlier…”
“Probably afraid you’d make a move~”
…
Xia Zhi and Bai Jiyue chatted about gossip as they left the banquet hall and headed to the third-floor ladies’ lounge.
For regular dinners and cocktail parties, the lounge would be fully equipped with cleaning tools, comparable to a small dental clinic and makeup studio.
After all, young ladies always had to stay fragrant when out in public.
After freshening up and reapplying her makeup, Xia Zhi walked to the doorway and spotted Pei Yuhuan from a distance.
He was waiting at the stairwell on the third floor, asking a girl who had just come out about Xia Zhi.
Xia Zhi wasn’t very good at hiding her emotions, nor did she care to.
Whether she liked or disliked someone, she made it clear.
Tonight was Pei Yuhuan’s birthday, and she didn’t want to end the evening on a sour note.
Just as she was wondering how to handle the situation, Bai Jiyue came out.
“Rere, why are you standing here?”
Xia Zhi pointed toward the stairwell. “Yueyue, could you get rid of him for me? Just tell him I’ve already left.”
“Sure~”
Bai Jiyue shrugged indifferently, not asking why, and walked toward Pei Yuhuan.
Xia Zhi, meanwhile, turned around, pushed open the door to the emergency stairwell, and went up to the fourth floor.
The fourth floor was entirely private lounges. Since the Pei family had booked the entire hotel for the night, it was unusually quiet upstairs.
Xia Zhi pushed open a random door, planning to rest for a while and avoid the departing guests downstairs.
As soon as she turned on the light, she was startled by the scene before her.
The lounge wasn’t large, but it was covered in luxurious thick carpet, with a set of black leather sofas placed in the center.
At that moment, a person was half-lying on the sofa facing the door.
A young man, dressed in a waiter’s uniform.
He was tall, and even though he was reclining with his head tilted back, his long legs and striking proportions were impossible to miss.
He somehow managed to make the plain white shirt and loose, straight-cut black pants look both sensual and restrained.
The man’s eyes were closed, but his features alone made it clear he was exceptionally handsome.
His face was flushed with an inexplicable redness, as if he had a fever or was ill.
But as Xia Zhi’s gaze traveled downward, she immediately realized he wasn’t sick.
His hands were tied behind his back, and his body was squirming restlessly—clearly, he had been drugged.
Xia Zhi stood at the doorway, momentarily unsure how to react.
In that split second, the man opened his eyes and looked straight at her.
So stunning…
That was Xia Zhi’s first thought.
The man’s features were already exquisite, but his eyes were the finishing touch, as if meticulously painted by God himself.
With black hair and dark eyes, his lips appeared especially red and full.
His thick, dark eyelashes were clearly visible even from two or three meters away.
His gaze was like the richest ink, pooled in an unfathomably deep abyss, threatening to drown anyone who met his eyes.
What made his face utterly bewitching was a vermilion-red mole beneath his left eyelid.
Yet, his expression was cold, his eyes devoid of any warmth.
The fusion of extreme allure and icy detachment created an eerily seductive aura.
A peerless beauty.
Xia Zhi thought this must be the super handsome waiter Zhang Yue and the others had mentioned.
As for why he had been drugged and tied up here, she hadn’t had time to consider that yet.
“Mmm…”
The man let out an inexplicable sound.
Immediately after, he bit down hard on his own lips.
The hotter his breathing grew, the colder his gaze toward Xia Zhi became.
“Get out.”
This guy is way too fierce!
Xia Zhi was taken aback for a moment, glaring at the man with an accusatory look.
It’s not like I’m the one who tied you up here, why are you yelling at me…
When had she, the young lady, ever been treated like this? She turned around and was about to open the door to leave.
Her hand had just touched the doorknob when it moved downward on its own.
Someone was outside, trying to open the door to come in.
It must be the person who drugged him.
Xia Zhi glanced back at the man on the sofa.
He was all prickly, like a small beast protecting itself. As a victim, he seemed quite pitiful and helpless.
So, Xia Zhi decided not to hold it against him and casually helped him lock the door from the inside.
Of course, that was as far as she would go.
After locking the door, Xia Zhi walked past the sofa without even glancing sideways and stepped out onto the balcony.
Xia Zhi often came to this hotel. She attended many large and small banquets throughout the year and was all too familiar with the place.
On the fourth floor, the private lounges usually shared a balcony between two rooms.
She could enter the neighboring room from the balcony and leave quietly.
Xia Zhi was a bit curious and planned to go out and see just who was so despicable as to drug the man.
But to her surprise, that person actually had a key. After fiddling with it a few times, they quickly opened the door and came in.
A frantic male voice rang out in the private room,
“My dear Xie, the campus heartthrob, you’ve finally fallen into my hands…”
Huh? The voice sounded a bit familiar…
Xia Zhi stopped and peeked inside through the glass window.
She actually knew this person.
The man who entered was Tang Yun, whom she had just seen at the banquet downstairs.
Tang Yun was also a rich second-generation heir. He had attended the same high school as Xia Zhi, one grade above her.
But this guy had a bad character and was notorious in their circle.
He spent all his time hanging out with a bunch of rotten playboys and had no interaction with Xia Zhi and her friends.
It was said that after graduating high school, Tang Yun didn’t go abroad but stayed in S City for university.
Every now and then, he would stir up some scandalous news, playing all sorts of dirty and disgusting tricks.
He was bold too. Look at him now, daring to do such a vile thing like drugging someone at the Pei family’s banquet. He really was rotten to the core.
In the brief moment Xia Zhi took to look, inside the private room, Tang Yun was already impatient.
His eyes were practically glued to the man. After closing the door, he immediately pounced toward the sofa.
Spouting disgusting words, he began groping the man on the sofa.
…
Xia Zhi turned her face away in disgust, afraid of dirtying her eyes.
She wasn’t some overly kind saint who would draw her sword to help others in trouble… only to end up causing trouble for herself.
But she couldn’t just stand by and do nothing either.
Xia Zhi retreated to the corner of the balcony and called her assistant, telling her to immediately find the hotel manager and bring people up to the fourth-floor lounge.
The assistant, who was on standby downstairs, immediately agreed, saying she would bring people up right away.
Having done this much, Xia Zhi felt she had done her part.
She hoped that fierce-looking handsome guy inside could hold on for two more minutes.
Thinking this, Xia Zhi prepared to leave.
But just then, she heard Tang Yun call out a name.
“…Xie Ning, I like you so much, just give me a chance… I definitely won’t treat you badly…”
“I really do like you… be good… I’ll give you an apartment tomorrow…”
Xie Ning?
That Xie family son who had been living outside, the one she intended to protect.
It couldn’t be such a coincidence, could it…
Xia Zhi then… retreated again.
Just in time to hear Xie Ning’s reply.
The hoarse voice added even more charm to the already magnetic tone, like a deep massage for the eardrums.
Xie Ning spoke with unsteady breaths,
“Alright… first help me… take off the handcuffs…”