When Cheng You finally reacted, he belatedly understood: “What’s his relationship with that girl?”

“Ex-girlfriend.”

Cheng You was drinking and immediately spat it out. Damn, seriously? Playing this big? It’s over, he’s going to get strung up and beaten.

“Boss Sheng, why didn’t you remind me earlier?”

“I did, just now.”

“Ah, I thought your eyes hurt.”

Cheng You’s girlfriend sat helplessly beside him, covering her forehead. How did she end up with such a foolish boyfriend?

Xu Sui stood in the pro area, center-left of the stage. Being close, she basically couldn’t hear clearly when others spoke. Li Yang put a hand on her shoulder, leaning to her ear and shouting:

“My sweet darling, are you tired? Want to get a drink—”

Before he could finish the final “yeah,” Li Yang felt intense masculine hormones approaching. A brute force grabbed his hand on Xu Sui’s shoulder, yanking him away abruptly.

Someone behind retreated and bumped Xu Sui. The silk scarf she’d been playing with on her head fell off. Cold air from the vent blew over like white gauze, dropping at Zhou Jingze’s feet.

Zhou Jingze’s tall, upright figure single-handedly restrained Li Yang’s hand, silently standing between them with a dark expression as he looked at her.

Li Yang was in pain, quickly saying: “Ow, it hurts! Handsome guy, let’s talk nicely – release your grip first.”

“Let him go.” Xu Sui frowned.

Li Yang was quite tall, but when Zhou Jingze approached, he was still a head taller. He gripped Li Yang’s wrist as dry ice spread at his feet. Zhou Jingze wore all black, his sharp features half-hidden in red shadows. His lashes swept down as he looked at her with an unclear expression:

“How did you come to this kind of place?”

Xu Sui was somewhat angry. This person not only interrupted but inexplicably restrained her friend. She stepped forward two paces, bending to pick up her scarf, looking at him word by word:

“Do I know you?”

What position are you in to control me – ex-boyfriend? Xu Sui stared directly into his eyes, really wanting to ask the second half of that question.

What cuts deepest is when Xu Sui said this in a calm tone without any emotion – that’s exactly what she did.

The atmosphere remained tense. Zhou Jingze’s expression changed. He suddenly released Li Yang, still looking at her, nodding: “Fine.”

After speaking, he pushed through the heavy crowds in the dance floor, turning sideways to leave. People in the dance floor wanted to approach Zhou Jingze upon seeing his face, but only received cold looks.

Seeing him return to his area, Xu Sui followed his path with her gaze. VIP section – he sat back down. People beside him immediately made space. He picked up a glass from the table, touched it lightly, took a sip with his Adam’s apple bobbing, then casually began talking with others.

As if what just happened was merely an insignificant interlude.

Xu Sui withdrew her gaze. It really was just an interlude. Li Yang’s expression faintly showed excitement as he leaned to her ear, shouting loudly: “Sweetheart, still playing?”

Currently, Xu Sui had no interest in continuing to play. She shook her head: “A bit tired, let’s go back to drink.”

Xu Sui walked toward the bar on the other side. Looking from afar, Liang Shuang was getting cozy with a newly met man. He must have told some joke – Liang Shuang lay on the table, laughing while covering her face.

She wasn’t surprised. In Liang Shuang’s words: youth is finite, enjoy it while you can. Thinking this, Xu Sui smiled and walked over to sit on a high stool.

The bartender approached asking what she’d like to drink. Xu Sui’s elbow pressed on the menu. Just as she was about to speak, an overly pale hand with distinct capillaries held up a drink, moving it before Xu Sui.

“Baby, I’m treating you to Green Fairy,” Li Yang winked at her, releasing a string of flattery. “Such a refreshing drink should match my laurel beauty.”

When Li Yang first met Xu Sui, he was quite polite. Only after becoming familiar did he dare express his inner thoughts. He said Xu Sui had the soft, gentle temperament of southern women, but her eyes were clear and cold.

Like the laurel tree planted beside Chang’e in heaven.

Cool, sweet fragrance – visible but unreachable.

Xu Sui held the glass for a sip, also chewing an ice cube, her cheeks puffing and deflating. Seeing her brows relax, Li Yang leaned over to start talking:

“My sweetheart, do you know that man from earlier? You two seem to have a deep relationship. He’s totally my type – even his angry look is so damn handsome. When he grabbed my hand earlier, my shoulder touched his chest – so firm! I’m going to faint… So, can you help me get his WeChat?”

Xu Sui was drinking when she suddenly choked, coughing violently and gasping for air. Li Yang immediately patted her back thoughtfully, offering tissues.

After a while, Xu Sui finally caught her breath, taking tissues to wipe tears from her eyes: “No.”

“Why not?”

“We’re not familiar.” Xu Sui said, her eyes slightly red from coughing.

Moreover, she’d just drawn such clear boundaries. Given Zhou Jingze’s proud personality, he definitely wouldn’t acknowledge her again.

“Please, Sui Sui, I rarely meet such an appetizing man – single-lidded big handsome guy. Missing him, I’ll die of regret, and I just went through a breakup.”

“He’s straight.” Xu Sui’s tone was helpless.

Zhou Jingze really was trouble. After all these years, people still went crazy over him – even men could be attracted.

“I’m confident I can convert him,” Li Yang was confident about his appearance. He played his final trump card: “Haven’t you always wanted tickets to that movie premiere? I’ll handle getting them for you.”

She indeed really wanted those premiere tickets.

“But he’s very picky and hard to pursue. You might even get hurt by him.” Just as Xu Sui was about to say this, meeting Li Yang’s hopeful gaze, she stopped.

Shouldn’t she be discouraging?

Li Yang seemed to see her hesitation and difficulty, patting her hand: “Hey, don’t feel pressured. Just get his WeChat first – we’ll see what happens.”

Business aside, friendship remains – he’d just consider it meeting another handsome guy.

“I’ll try.” Xu Sui put down her glass, lemon slice sinking to the bottom.

Xu Sui stood up, steeling herself to walk toward the booth area. Crowds of people, red and purple lights alternating, dice-shaking sounds, conversation, illusory laughter occasionally brushing past her ears.

Zhou Jingze sat in the booth, head down, hands cupping around a cigarette, broad palms covering half his face, revealing a section of sharp, dark brows.

Gray-white smoke curled up. He held the cigarette in one hand while placing the lighter on the table. Someone leaned to speak in his ear. Zhou Jingze slowly raised his eyelids, following the other person’s gaze.

Xu Sui also looked in that direction.

Less than five meters from Zhou Jingze’s table, a group had gotten into an argument. Then a fat man grabbed a bottle and smashed it on someone’s head, glass shards flying everywhere.

Both sides immediately started fighting. Cold onlookers could only watch. Those wanting to intervene didn’t dare approach – the two groups were fighting too fiercely, fearing collateral damage.

The scene was chaotic. Security came but couldn’t pull them apart, instead getting clocked in the head.

The scene was too intense and bloody. Zhou Jingze sat in the booth looking down, playing table football. Suddenly, a glass shard flew over, hitting his forehead precisely.

The sharp glass corner struck him, creating a blood mark above Zhou Jingze’s eyebrow as dark red blood immediately flowed out. Seeing this, Cheng You and another man angrily stood up, looking ready to fight these bastards.

Zhou Jingze raised his hand, pressing them back into their seats. Xu Sui stood not far away, seeing him exchange a glance with Sheng Nanzhou. How to put it – she was too familiar with that roguish smile on Zhou Jingze’s face.

Brewing trouble, not letting anyone have peace.

Zhou Jingze stood up, yanking something off the opposite wall, then returning with two lit cigarettes in his hand. He collected two more cigarettes from the seated men, one between his lips.

Five total.

Zhou Jingze threw that thing along with the cigarettes into the fighting crowd. Within five seconds, the smoke alarm released a tremendous sound.

The smoke alarm’s sound was sharp. A group covered their ears, annoyed while searching for the alarm. Some, thinking something really happened, screamed and fled. The scene became chaotic.

Someone shouted “Someone called the police!” making the chaotic scene even worse.

Sheng Nanzhou walked over, taking advantage of the chaos to sneak into the crowd, beat up opponents, then escaped.

Xu Sui watched Zhou Jingze take a sip of alcohol, grab the lighter and jacket from the table, walking alone to the other side. His tall figure flashed past her. Xu Sui immediately followed.

Crowds like the sea, heavy metal music exploding in ears. Xu Sui followed behind, discovering Zhou Jingze walked very fast. With his back to her, the vertebrae below his skull were prominent, revealing a section of his slender nape.

She followed Zhou Jingze all the way, seeing him go straight, turn left, exiting through a side door of the pub. Xu Sui quickened her pace, following out the side door, pushing it open.

She discovered it was an emergency fire escape outside.

Xu Sui’s eyes scanned around – nothing there.

He was gone.

She’d lost him.

Xu Sui lowered her long dark lashes, about to leave when an oppressive figure loomed over, pressing her to the wall. His knee separated her legs, pinning her. Xu Sui was completely pressed against the wall.

Intense breath, intertwined panting.

Zhou Jingze’s eyes were deep and long, emotions intense with aggression. Like prey, his eyes held undisguised desire. Xu Sui only met his gaze for less than three seconds before hastily looking away.

But the man didn’t intend to let her go.

Zhou Jingze gripped her chin with one hand, forcing her to look directly at him. His metallic voice sounded:

His scent was too familiar and possessive. Xu Sui’s breathing became somewhat unstable. The angle between them was truly too ambiguous.

Zhou Jingze pressed against her, one hand against the wall, turning her face to control her completely. His forehead almost touched her nose tip – one inch closer and he could kiss her.

Xu Sui somewhat regretted why she’d softened and agreed to Li Yang’s request. Just for one premiere ticket, she’d put herself in a passive position.

She cleared her throat, turning her face away: “My friend, Li Yang, wants to add your WeChat.”

“Didn’t you say you don’t know me?” Zhou Jingze still wouldn’t let her off.

“Give it if you want to, forget it if you don’t.” Xu Sui pushed away his hand.

Taking advantage of his unpreparedness, Xu Sui ducked under his arm. Their distance immediately widened as she retreated to the side. Motion-sensor lights turned on, suddenly brightening their vision and dispersing the previous ambiguity.

Xu Sui held her phone, pulling up Li Yang’s WeChat to edit in the dialog box: [No chance.] Just as she was about to return, Zhou Jingze blocked her path, gripping her arm to prevent her leaving.

“Don’t you want WeChat? But you have to add me first, then forward it to him.” Zhou Jingze threw his phone to her.

Xu Sui nodded straightforwardly, taking his phone and turning around to operate it. Since giving him a fake number last time, Zhou Jingze knew her little tricks. She probably would just pretend to scan the code without actually adding it. So he reached out, grabbing her ponytail with a low, light voice:

“I’m watching you add it.”

Xu Sui had no choice. Under Zhou Jingze’s gaze, she could only bite the bullet and add his WeChat. Task completed, Xu Sui immediately left the emergency fire escape.

Zhou Jingze held his phone, walking out from the side. Roadside, Zhou Jingze stood in dim lighting, thumb sliding across the screen, sending Sheng Nanzhou a message: [Come pick me up, at the intersection.]

Ten minutes later, Sheng Nanzhou appeared before him driving a Maybach. Zhou Jingze opened the car door, got in, looked down at his phone, never lifting his head again.

Sheng Nanzhou: “? Why aren’t you sitting in the passenger seat? Am I your driver?”

“Aren’t you?” Zhou Jingze answered.

“Get out, don’t you have your own car?”

Zhou Jingze still looked down at his phone: “Didn’t I tell you my car is being repaired?”

His thumb pressed the phone screen, opening Xu Sui’s WeChat dialog box, tentatively sending six dots. The next second, a huge exclamation mark appeared:

You are not yet the other party’s friend. The other party has enabled friend verification.

Zhou Jingze’s face darkened, eyes narrowing. Fine, use and discard. Xu Sui’s skills had improved.