The Best I've Ever Seen

Jiang Yulin entered first, and he caught sight of Xun Yuan on the sofa at a glance.

"Xunxun, you today-"

Taking in the scene before him, Jiang Yulin was startled, the words on his lips stopping of their own accord as his posture grew somewhat stiff, remembering the young master who had come along with them.

In the dimly lit private room, a young man full of youthfulness and a cold, alluring woman sat together on the sofa, very close to one another, and visibly, that man was somewhat restrained, nervous, and even shy.

Damn, what a disaster.

Xun Yuan, seeing Zuo Tingyue appear in the private room, was dazed for a fraction of a second, but that emotion was merely the spark of an instant, fleeting away, and coming back to her senses, she was still herself.

It was just really coincidental.

Xun Yuan casually put down the book in her hand and finished what she was saying:

"Get out."

Her voice was cold, and even her tone hadn't changed, extremely steady, her facial expression as indifferent as ever.

At that moment, Yun Tang, who had been singing, also stopped, and seeing the newcomers, her heart tightened in secret.

She silently signaled everyone in the private room to go out.

Zuo Tingyue's expression had been faint ever since he walked in, and looking closely, his brows were weary and listless as he headed straight for an empty spot and sat down, not saying a word. He was still wearing the suit from the banquet, his posture upright, noble, and unrestrained, placing himself amidst the debauchery while looking casual and lazy.

Two extremely contradictory feelings existed in him, and that contrast was captivating.

With him not saying a word, everyone in the private room unconsciously lowered their voices, not daring to disturb him. With him around, no one dared to act rashly.

Yun Tang and Jiang Yulin huddled together, speaking in low voices as though plotting something.

Xun Yuan sat in her place without moving, merely quietly summoning a waiter to order a glass of vodka.

She slowly drank the liquor in her glass, cup after cup, until she felt the alcohol rising to her head, hovering on the verge of drunkenness.

Time quietly slipped away, and right at that moment, Zuo Tingyue stood up, preparing to leave.

The split second he turned back, he lifted his eyelids, his gaze as flat as could be, sweeping over the crowd with a casual, indifferent motion.

At that single glance, Xun Yuan understood in a second.

Zuo Tingyue's figure disappeared behind the door, and Xun Yuan paused, turning to bid farewell to the person beside her.

"I'm leaving."

"Xunxun, you're leaving too?"

Yun Tang asked from behind, and Jiang Yulin blocked her.

"This is their business. Were those abs nice?"

Yun Tang cast him a sidelong glance, snatched up her clutch, and likewise walked out of the private room.

Jiang Yulin cursed under his breath.

Outside, Yun Tang saw Special Assistant Lin, Lin Sheng, Zuo Tingyue's special assistant. He had a composed and aloof air, holding a burning cigarette between his fingertips, his profile refined and blurred in the smoke.

Yun Tang asked: "Why are you here?"

Hearing this, Lin Sheng turned around, and upon seeing that it was Yun Tang, he gave a faint smile.

"Miss Yun."

He addressed her with polite detachment.

"Why can't I be here?"

Lin Sheng countered.

Yun Tang frowned. "Weren't you and Zuo Tingyue coming together? He left."

The implication was that since he had already left, why hadn't Lin Sheng left.

Lin Sheng laughed in spite of himself, and Yun Tang's logic seemed right enough.

"I didn't come with the boss."

Even if he had, at a time like this, there was no need for him to tag along.

The smoke was somewhat choking, and Yun Tang had a slight cold the past couple of days with an uncomfortable throat, holding back and coughing a few times.

Lin Sheng raised an eyebrow and stubbed out his cigarette.

"I'll be leaving first. Miss Yun, take care."

Lin Sheng parted ways with Yun Tang and vanished into the sea of people. Yun Tang looked at his retreating figure, frowned, and headed home.

The underground parking garage.

A car with four eights on its license plate was parked in the shadows of the lights. Xun Yuan stepped in her slender high heels, strolling slowly to the front of the car. Through the anti-peeping glass she could not see inside, so she tapped on the car window, but no one answered.

Then Xun Yuan knocked again, and still no one answered.

Xun Yuan's fingers grew slightly stiff, thinking, one last time; if no one answers this time either, she will turn around and leave.

When she knocked for the third time, someone finally moved.

The car window rolled down, and the person in the driver's seat tilted his head to look over, wearing a lazy, slightly weary expression, his left hand resting casually on the steering wheel with a cigarette pinched between his finger bones.

"Can't you pull the car door open?"

"Why just knock on the window?"

Zuo Tingyue cast his gaze over, his thin lips carrying a trace of an elusive smile, that pair of eyes tainted with shallow amusement as though finding her funny.

Xun Yuan's heart tightened slightly; truly, she understood Zuo Tingyue's words, and the meaning behind them was abundantly clear.

The car door wasn't locked.

So her knocking on the car window for all that time had been for nothing.

Xun Yuan couldn't save face, letting out a puff of air from her nose and giving a soft "hmph," before gathering her shawl around herself of her own accord, stepping in her high heels around the driver's side, and walking over to the passenger side to pull open the car door.

"Thud-"

The car door was closed by Xun Yuan with great force, acting as a covert display of her dissatisfaction and temper.

Zuo Tingyue chuckled, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Xun Yuan."

His deep, magnetic voice called her name, carrying a penetrating quality that went straight to the heart.

Xun Yuan's body tensed up involuntarily, raising her guard.

"What temper are you throwing?"

Zuo Tingyue took a drag of his cigarette, his tone steeped in nicotine with an indescribable hoarseness.

Xun Yuan remained silent. In her peripheral vision, she saw his smooth-lined profile, cold and indifferent, his expression lazy and weary amidst the curling smoke.

Zuo Tingyue truly lacked sufficient patience.

He was never a particularly gentle or considerate person anyway.

Extinguishing the cigarette butt in the car's ashtray, Zuo Tingyue hauled Xun Yuan into his lap with one hand in a rough motion, the cuffs of his shirt rolled up to reveal the craggy bones of his wrists.

Xun Yuan instinctively reached out to brace herself against his shoulder, her lower back pressing against the steering wheel. The car's air conditioning was set very low, and the chill seeped through, icy and cold.

"Are you mute?"

In this position, Xun Yuan's heart rose, her eyelashes trembling slightly. She raised her eyes to give Zuo Tingyue a gentle look, and then her hands shifted from bracing his shoulder to wrapping around his neck, her gaze shy.

Afterward, she leaned her lithe body forward a bit, drawing close to him and pressing a light kiss to his thin lips, a lingering and tender posture.

It was a kiss laden with the aroma of liquor, steeped in the scent of alcohol.

Zuo Tingyue watched her clumsy kiss.

"Are you very tired?"

"Coming right back from a business trip in Southeast Asia, thanks for the hard work."

She dragged out the end of her words, her cold voice lowered into a pure, sweet softness, deliberately trying to seduce him and entice him to let her off.

Zuo Tingyue gave a faint smile, seeing through her little tricks and knowing full well her display of weakness, smart and cunning like a little fox.

"Were those abs nice?" he asked.

"Hm?" Xun Yuan blinked, her eyelashes fluttering up and down, innocence clearly written all over her.

"What abs?" She feigned ignorance, intending to muddle through.

Zuo Tingyue let out a low chuckle, watching her play innocent and put on an act, his gaze deep and ambiguous.

Xun Yuan crumbled under his gaze, whispering softly into his ear: "There really weren't any, Yun Tang's the one who likes to look."

Subtly selling Yun Tang out, the alcohol had risen to her head, dyeing her eyes a brilliant, flushed crimson.

Every word she spoke carried the hoarseness of strong liquor sliding down the throat, blended with her cold tone, wonderfully captivating.

"The best I've ever seen."