The favored have nothing to fear

"What were you calling for?"

He asked carelessly, his thin lips against her ear, their barely there contact sending a shiver through her skin.

"You didn't answer me."

Xun Yuan spoke softly and slowly. Listening closely, there was clearly some dissatisfaction in her voice, a little girlish petulance.

"How didn't I?" Zuo Tingyue gently squeezed her palm. "How am I supposed to answer?"

The favored had nothing to fear.

Xun Yuan thought of that saying. How did it not suit Zuo Tingyue? He was the one who truly had nothing to fear, brimming with confidence.

Xun Yuan gave a soft huff, turned her wrist, and took his hand in her palm. Rather than being gentle, she pinched him hard.

Zuo Tingyue had not expected it. The corners of his lips curved, and his thin lips moved. "Did I upset you?"

Xun Yuan replied, "No."

She was simply having a fussy moment, feeling out of sorts and looking for trouble.

Night soon descended on Shen City. Large-scale construction had begun in the late 1980s, and the city bristled with high-rises, never sleeping through the night.

Xun Yuan had slept for so long that afternoon that she was not the least bit sleepy that evening. She tugged at Zuo Tingyue, wanting to go out and see the sights.

"Are you coming?"

"You're really not coming?"

"If you don't come, I'll ask Special Assistant Lin to drive me."

Xun Yuan kept talking beside Zuo Tingyue, full of energy.

Zuo Tingyue did not turn his head. He reached an arm back and pulled her in front of him, his gaze sweeping over her, his voice audibly low and cool. "You're going out in that?"

Xun Yuan knitted her brows and looked down at her clothes. She wore a white spaghetti-strap dress, a very casual, at-home style that she used as a nightdress. It was not revealing, but it was rather inconvenient.

"I'll go change."

Xun Yuan slipped out of his arms, went into the bedroom, and changed into a qipao.

The black G-Wagon sped along Shen City's broad roads. Xun Yuan wanted to take a look at Shennan Avenue.

"So I'm your chauffeur now?"

The words left Zuo Tingyue's cool, thin lips, languid and aloof.

Xun Yuan tilted her head and smiled at him. "Not at all. This is clearly mutually beneficial."

Zuo Tingyue scoffed. Mutually beneficial, his ass. Who had insisted on coming out?

He smoothly turned the steering wheel, changing course toward Shennan Avenue.

Xun Yuan watched him turn the wheel, one hand resting on it. Blue veins rose over the sharply defined bones and tendons on the back of his hand. His cuff was undone, exposing his prominent wrist bone and a small stretch of forearm. The roadside lights flashed past, brushing his deeply set brow just so.

Male beauty dazzled the eyes.

A man with looks and presence turning the wheel one-handed really was ridiculously handsome.

Unexpectedly, Xun Yuan remembered the innocent-looking woman sitting in the passenger seat of his Cullinan during their chance encounter that day.

Her lashes trembled, and she immediately withdrew her gaze from him.

Don't think about it, Xun Yuan.

Perhaps even she herself had not realized that things she had once paid no mind to could suddenly emerge from the depths of her heart at some moment, like a hangnail. It did not hurt much, but it left a faint discomfort.

Don't think about it, Xun Yuan.

She was not someone who could not let things go.

The car entered Shennan Avenue. Beneath the night sky, this iconic avenue of Shen City glittered with neon, its prosperity and splendor plain to see.

Streetlights on either side came faster than the eye could take in. Zuo Tingyue drove her past Dongmen Old Street, Caiwuwei, Huaqiangbei, Futian CBD...

The brightly lit towers, the avenue with Shen City's most dazzling nightscape-she thought it was lovely and said softly, "Zuo Tingyue, it's so beautiful here."

"Is it as beautiful as you?" Zuo Tingyue's voice was low and resonant, his answer lazy and casual.

Xun Yuan pressed her lips together in a smile. "I'm being serious."

"Isn't Harbor City's nightscape beautiful enough?"

"And you saw plenty of high-rises and neon during all those years abroad."

Xun Yuan said, "That's different."

How could it be the same?

She had seen plenty of towering buildings and worlds of glittering extravagance, but she had been too busy before: busy establishing herself abroad, busy with the stock market opening, busy with mergers and expansion. Occasionally, she would steal a moment from her work to think about what had happened eight years ago. She had almost never had time to stop as she did now and leisurely admire the scenery around her.

Zuo Tingyue did not ask why it was different. They sped along Shen City's roads, and by the time they headed back, neither knew what time it was.

In the middle of the night.

Wind and rain sounded in waves. Thunder exploded across the sky, and a dazzling white flash of lightning abruptly lit the room for an instant. In the darkness, Xun Yuan's startled eyes were visible, panicked and vulnerable.

Thunder and torrential rain came one after another. Xun Yuan remembered that rainy night again, blood soaking both her hands, bloodied water streaming endlessly beneath the downpour, as though she were falling into an abyss.

She reached for the person beside her but found nothing, belatedly remembering that he was still dealing with work.

Xun Yuan looked ill. She forced herself not to think about those things, ignored her violently pounding pulse, and took a deep breath as she leaned out of bed to switch on the bedside lamp.

The light came on. She got out of bed to have some water; her glass was on the table on the other side.

Clatter.

Xun Yuan failed to hold the glass firmly, and it fell to the floor. Her hand instinctively curled.

Suppressing the emotions in her heart, she crouched to pick up the broken glass.

Just then, the faint sound of the door opening came, and the next second, Zuo Tingyue appeared in the doorway.

Xun Yuan looked up woodenly. His tall, straight figure stood there, his posture far from formal, even languid and casual. Backlit, his handsome features blurred in the dim light and shadows, yet he was so reassuring.

Zuo Tingyue glanced over, seeing Xun Yuan crouching with her hand outstretched, as well as the pile of broken glass on the floor.

"Don't want your hand anymore?"

Cold words were the first thing out of his mouth, without the slightest gentleness. The word gentleness had nothing to do with him.

His voice brought Xun Yuan back to herself, but she did not speak immediately.

She did not want to admit that the moment she saw him suddenly appear before her, her emotions had become impossible to contain.

Fortunately, the light was faint, and he could not see her damp, reddened eyes.

Zuo Tingyue walked over, pulled her up from the floor, and drew her into his arms. Her feminine fragrance wafted toward him. He lifted her lowered chin, his gaze dark.

There was a hint of tears in her eyes, their corners still slightly flushed, and the panic in her bright eyes had not entirely faded.

Zuo Tingyue frowned, switched on the light, and asked quietly, "Were you crying?"

Xun Yuan shook her head and said, "No."

She explained, "The sudden thunder startled me. It was a physical reaction."

It was not, in fact. The more she tried to conceal it, the more she gave herself away.

Zuo Tingyue did not dwell on the question. He carried her to bed and tucked her under the covers.

Xun Yuan found something to say. "Why did you come over?" Wasn't he still working?

"You were making a lot of noise in here," he said mildly.

Xun Yuan said, "My hand slipped. I accidentally broke the glass."

"I saw. The cleaner will take care of it tomorrow."

When Zuo Tingyue finished speaking, Xun Yuan murmured an acknowledgment. In fact, her movement earlier had been instinctive. Once she came to her senses, she would not have picked up broken glass with her bare hands.

"Have you finished your work?"

Xun Yuan asked. She was a little talkative tonight.

Zuo Tingyue regarded her with smiling eyes, a half smile on his lips. "What do you think?"