"What Did I Do to Upset Xunxun?"

He was alone in the elevator.

Zuo Tingyue looked languid. At the sound of the elevator doors opening, he lifted his eyelids and glanced over carelessly, his gaze distant, as though veiled in mist. When he saw it was Xun Yuan, a hint of a smile entered his eyes.

Xun Yuan stepped into the elevator and reached out to press the close-door button.

"Sick?"

In the silence, Zuo Tingyue's voice was pleasing to the ear, its low, magnetic timbre sounding even sexier in the enclosed space.

Xun Yuan murmured an assent. Her throat hurt, and she had no desire to talk.

Zuo Tingyue's gaze swept lightly over Xun Yuan's face. Her lips were pale, her expression weary and listless. Illness had settled over that invariably stunning face, lending it a fragile quality that stirred pity.

For once, he asked another question.

"What did the doctor say?"

Xun Yuan held the bag of medicine in her slender fingers and switched it to her other hand.

"A fever from catching a chill in the wind."

Xun Yuan relayed the doctor's words to him, her cool voice mingled with a rasp that gave it a different feel.

Zuo Tingyue had noticed the medicine she carried. He said:

"Take your medicine properly."

Xun Yuan was irritable, her expression listless, and had no interest in arguing with him.

Being sick really was miserable.

"Got it," she answered hoarsely.

The elevator descended quickly. Xun Yuan had just finished her IV drip and worked up a sweat. Her head felt a little dizzy, and for an instant, a wave of vertigo and weightlessness swept through it.

As she pitched forward, a pair of strong arms caught her. The scent of thousand-year-old sandalwood rushed into her nose, and soon its rich, ancient fragrance enveloped her, as though intent on invading every inch of her flesh.

Gentle yet forceful.

Xun Yuan waited out the dizziness in Zuo Tingyue's arms. Still in that position, she said evenly, "I'm fine now. Let me go."

Here and now, she truly did not want any more entanglement with him. She felt awful.

Whatever Zuo Tingyue was thinking, his voice held a smile, the kind laced with a chill.

"Can't even say thank you anymore?"

Xun Yuan closed her eyes. "Thank you."

The muscles in Zuo Tingyue's arms visibly stiffened for a moment. Then he released her as though nothing had happened, even finding the leisure to smooth the creases from his suit jacket.

"Ding-"

The elevator doors opened at the sound.

Xun Yuan stepped out first. As she brushed past him, her cool, slightly husky voice drifted through the air into Zuo Tingyue's ears.

"I wouldn't have fallen even if you hadn't reached out."

Zuo Tingyue raised his brows slightly. Truly, no good deed went unpunished. What an ungrateful little wolf.

Even though what she said was true.

Even without him, she would not have fallen, but she would have been a little more disheveled.

"Heh."

A soft scoff escaped his thin lips.

Fine. He deserved it. Who told him to stick his nose in?

Xun Yuan recuperated at home for a week. Over those days, she barely went out, watering her flowers and drinking wellness tea, taking her medicine when she should and sleeping when she should, while answering work emails as usual.

It was, well, quite leisurely.

Xu Sui stayed with her for three days. On the fourth, her manager's relentless barrage of calls summoned her back.

On the eighth day, Xun Yuan received a call from Second Miss Yun.

"Xun Yuan, if you don't come out today, I'm going to Repulse Bay to haul you out."

Xun Yuan laughed. "All right, I'm coming."

After hanging up, Xun Yuan changed into a moon-white qipao and drove to the club.

Inside the private room, Yun Tang, Jiang Yulin, and the others were playing tiles. To Xun Yuan's surprise, Zuo Tingyue was there too.

He sat at the mahjong table with his cuffs rolled up, exposing the sharp bones of his wrists. The Patek Philippe watch on his wrist reflected a cold gleam beneath the brilliant white lights. His posture was languid, and he exuded a lazy, unrestrained air from head to toe. Just sitting there, with that calm, effortless composure, he was devastatingly appealing to young women.

Forever seducing people.

Scumbag.

Xun Yuan silently repeated it to herself.

Seeing her arrive, Yun Tang looked up and waved her over, delight gleaming in her eyes.

"Xunxun, save me."

Xun Yuan walked over to her and heard Second Miss Yun ask:

"Xunxun and I are a team. Can we switch players midway?"

Jiang Yulin had no objections. They were only playing for fun.

He turned his gaze toward Zuo Tingyue.

"Tingyue?"

Zuo Tingyue answered lazily, drawing out the end of his magnetic voice a little. "Sure."

Yun Tang immediately stood up and let Xun Yuan take her seat.

Xun Yuan: ...Was no one going to ask whether she wanted to?

She lowered her head to look at her tiles. All four kinds were there. An utterly lousy hand.

Zuo Tingyue: "Nine of characters."

Zuo Tingyue sat next in turn after Xun Yuan. Xun Yuan called "Pung," then discarded a one of characters.

After that, Xun Yuan claimed both pungs and chows, but never let Zuo Tingyue claim a single tile, keeping his hand locked down.

A few rounds later, Xun Yuan won on a self-draw.

They played several more games. Xun Yuan never once fed the crown prince a tile, and even seemed to be targeting him a little.

After a while, Jiang Yulin and the others all noticed something was off. Once they finished a round, they all said they were done playing.

Jiang Yulin, Lou Jing, and the others went out dancing. Yun Tang wanted to go too and asked Xun Yuan whether she was coming. Xun Yuan refused outright. She could not be bothered to move.

Zuo Tingyue did not go either. For a time, only the two of them remained in the room.

Xun Yuan went to the restroom. When she returned, Zuo Tingyue still had not left. His seat was strategically placed: to get through, she had to pass right beside him.

Xun Yuan walked calmly past him. She had not pinned her hair up today, simply tying it with a moon-white ribbon and letting it fall behind her head. It gave her a little less allure and a little more of a well-bred young lady's gentleness. Clearly, when she neither spoke nor moved, the coolness and mystery about her were even more searing.

As she passed, strands of her hair brushed ever so faintly against Zuo Tingyue. It was, well, rather ticklish.

Zuo Tingyue had not intended to do anything to her, yet just as she was about to pass him completely, he reached out and tugged her.

Xun Yuan lost her balance and toppled onto him, unable to stop herself.

"Hiss-"

Then he clamped a forceful hand around her waist and refused to let go.

"Recovered?"

The man's rich, refined, low voice sounded just above her head, pleasing to the ear.

Xun Yuan shot back haughtily.

"Can't you see for yourself?"

The corner of Zuo Tingyue's mouth moved. His fingers stroked the back of her waist, the motion slow and gentle, without a trace of erotic intimacy.

He shifted closer to her ear, his lowered voice sounding even deeper and sexier. As he spoke, his thin lips brushed her ear with the faintest of touches.

He said, "What did I do to upset you, Xunxun?"

Softened, that lovely voice was impossible not to be intoxicated by.

Xun Yuan stiffened, as though an electric current had raced through every limb and bone. An uncontrollable tingling numbness spread through her. Her body was exceptionally sensitive, and the touch at the back of her waist and the softness beside her ear caught her utterly unprepared. Her calm, composed facade crumbled almost instantly.

Her eyes stung at once. For an instant, tears nearly welled up, and a faint flush reddened the elongated corners of her eyes.

She simply did not know whether it was emotional turmoil or a physical reaction.

How could someone ask so tenderly when he didn't even like the person?

Xun Yuan finally lifted her eyes to look at him. They brimmed with watery light, the crimson tint tracing a moving allure. The gaze she tipped up toward him was charming and seductive, yet stirred tender pity.