"Can I Be After Your Love?"

That night, Xun Yuan accompanied Yun Tang to a private karaoke room. They ordered a mountain of drinks, and by the time they finished, the table was covered in empty bottles.

Xun Yuan could hold her liquor fairly well. That night, she ran into Jiang Yulin, who had come to pick them up.

"What are you doing here?" Xun Yuan asked him.

Seeing Xun Yuan swaying as she supported Yun Tang, Jiang Yulin took Yun Tang from her and held her steady.

He answered Xun Yuan, "The owner recognized you and Yun Tang. When he saw that you'd been in the room together for ages without coming out, he called me."

He frowned at her drunken appearance. "How much did you drink?"

"Can you still walk?"

Xun Yuan's mind was clear. She waved a hand. "I can walk. Just get Yun Tang home safely."

"Come with us."

Xun Yuan waved her hand and shook her head. "No need. I've called a driver."

Looking at Xun Yuan, who seemed drunk and yet not quite, Jiang Yulin was worried, but he couldn't change her mind. He could only say, "All right. Call if anything comes up."

Xun Yuan nodded, massaged her swollen-feeling forehead, and disappeared around a corner in the corridor.

Watching Xun Yuan leave, Jiang Yulin steadied Yun Tang and messaged Zuo Tingyue to tell him what had happened, asking him to look for Xun Yuan.

When Zuo Tingyue received Jiang Yulin's message, he was discussing business at the restaurant next door.

The phone on the table flashed repeatedly as he negotiated with the president of a foreign company.

Zuo Tingyue's gaze rested on the documents in his hand, his voice cool and indifferent, devoid of emotion. "ZK Group's new energy technology is growing increasingly mature. Even without your company's involvement, its leading position won't be shaken. You haven't offered enough sincerity, Mr. Lake."

As his words fell, he looked up from the documents, his expression impassive. His incisive, ruthless gaze cut straight to the heart of the matter, as though he had no interest in the proposal before him.

Mr. Lake, seated opposite him, remained silent for a long time.

"Mr. Zuo, I can provide your company with traction battery technology."

Mr. Lake put forward his final bargaining chip.

For this collaboration, ZK Group had no shortage of funds. It had the finest technical team under its banner, and its drive motor and electronic control technologies already stood at the pinnacle of the world. Apart from this technology, there was nothing else to bargain with.

Hearing Mr. Lake's words from the sidelines, Special Assistant Lin inwardly sighed in relief and discreetly glanced at his boss's expression. He knew that this technology from EO Company was precisely what his boss had his eye on.

With agreement reached on the most crucial condition, the remaining details of the collaboration were discussed quickly and easily.

After leaving the restaurant, Zuo Tingyue checked his phone. Only then did he see Jiang Yulin's message, sent half an hour earlier.

He calmly swiped it away. Special Assistant Lin had gone to the parking lot to get the car, while Zuo Tingyue stood beneath the covered walkway, lit a cigarette with his right hand, and breathed out clouds of smoke.

"I don't need you."

"You can't cross the line, little brother."

Nearby, a languid voice steeped in drunkenness drifted to his ears on the evening breeze.

He glanced toward the voice. Within his line of sight, Xun Yuan stood with a pretty boy.

Outside the karaoke venue.

Xun Yuan waited a while, but the driver she had called couldn't make it because something had come up. She was about to call another when someone appeared beside her. Dizzy, she had to look twice before recognizing the college boy she had met at the club last time. He insisted on volunteering to take her home.

"I've called a driver. I don't need you."

Xun Yuan repeatedly declined his offer.

"Miss, it isn't safe for you to be alone so late at night. I'll wait with you until the driver comes."

College boys really did sometimes know how to play to their strengths, being attentive and gentle with older women, like a spring breeze bringing nourishing rain.

Xun Yuan shook her head. She couldn't get through to him, and it was exhausting. She leaned limply against the lamppost behind her and lazily fiddled with her phone. Its screen lit her face, making her exquisite, alluring features faintly discernible.

In the night, that hazy beauty was the most captivating of all.

Xun Yuan suspected her phone was broken. Why else would no driver accept her request?

Special Assistant Lin drove over and stopped beside Zuo Tingyue, only to see his boss walk to the cigarette disposal area beside the trash can, reach out, and stub out his cigarette.

Then he headed in the other direction, his steps leisurely, his whole bearing unrestrained and casual.

Special Assistant Lin's gaze instinctively followed him. When he saw the person opposite them, along with the man beside her, his gaze stopped.

Trouble.

Xun Yuan was wondering whether it would be inconsiderate to ask Jiang Yulin to double back and pick her up after taking Yun Tang home.

She told the college boy, "You can go now."

The college boy said, "I'll leave once the driver gets here."

"She told you to leave. Didn't you hear her?"

An icy, deep voice slowly fell beside her ear, low and frigid.

Xun Yuan wondered whether she had misheard. After all, alcohol numbed the nerves, and she had drunk quite a lot today.

But that thought vanished completely when she looked up and saw Zuo Tingyue's handsome face.

The evening breeze brushed past, a little cold. Xun Yuan pulled her shawl tighter around herself.

The college boy was somewhat intimidated by Zuo Tingyue's cold, imposing presence. After all, a fledgling in an ivory tower and a crown prince who wielded power across the business world existed on different planes.

The college boy paid no heed to what Zuo Tingyue thought and looked at Xun Yuan.

Xun Yuan only wanted him to leave quickly.

"We know each other. You should go."

The college boy nodded, turned, and left, never once meeting Zuo Tingyue's eyes.

Only Xun Yuan and Zuo Tingyue remained. Xun Yuan slowly straightened from her limp slouch against the lamppost, her legs a little stiff.

Zuo Tingyue said nothing. He walked toward her step by step, drawing closer and closer, and Xun Yuan abruptly felt a flicker of wariness.

She wanted to retreat, but held on to a stubborn breath. I can't be this spineless. I haven't done anything wrong. What am I afraid of?

Zuo Tingyue stopped before her and made no further move. His voice was indifferent. "Drunk?"

Xun Yuan said, "No."

Zuo Tingyue's tone was cold. "Then why is your taste so poor?"

Xun Yuan was speechless. What did it have to do with her?

She gathered her shawl around herself and raised her eyes to meet Zuo Tingyue's gaze, her eyes curving with a graceful smile, her voice soft. "I think my taste has reached its peak. Your looks could topple the world, Mr. Zuo. It would be hard to find anyone who could compare."

The woman's alcohol-tinted eyes gazed at him with a smile, as though drawing out fine, close-spun threads, brimming with tender affection.

Zuo Tingyue stared at her for a few seconds, then abruptly called her name:

"Xun Yuan."

Xun Yuan answered, "Hmm?"

"Shallow," he said coolly and indifferently.

It took Xun Yuan a moment to catch his meaning. The smile in her beautiful eyes never faded, her voice soft and gentle. "What's wrong with being a little shallow?"

"What else?"

"Can I be after your love?"

The woman lowered her cool, clear voice, its timbre steeped in alcohol, drifting and elusive. Like the soft mists of Jiangnan, it seeped into every crevice, surging straight into the heart.