Can I Look at You for a Lifetime?

Jiang Yulin would not let it go. After asking Zuo Tingyue, he asked everyone else.

Someone in the room laughed at him.

"Young Master Jiang, what does it matter to you whether she's beautiful? I almost thought you were showing off your daughter."

The speaker was Lou Jing, Second Young Master Lou, who belonged to the same circle of privileged young men.

"Get lost. Where would I get a daughter that grown-up? Stop talking nonsense."

Jiang Yulin cursed at him.

Second Young Master Lou's smile was careless and teasing.

"So your tender feelings for a beauty are overflowing?"

Jiang Yulin said, "Cut the crap."

After a pause, a hint of seriousness entered his expression.

"Xun Yuan isn't like other women."

"She's worth it."

The room fell silent. Lou Jing offered no response to Jiang Yulin's words, his expression hovering between a smile and no smile. There was no telling whether he believed him.

Jiang Yulin did not care what he thought, either, and merely tossed out one last remark with easy nonchalance:

"Give it time, and you'll understand what I said today."

Zuo Tingyue sat expressionless, a cigarette between his fingers. Smoke curled around his brows and eyes, veiling them in a haze that kept anyone from glimpsing his emotions.

Jiang Yulin sent Yun Tang a message.

"Bring Xunxun over to hang out."

It was already very late by the time Xun Yuan finished her work and came over with Yun Tang.

They were still at the club, playing pool for very high stakes.

Xun Yuan heard someone beside her say that each ball was worth six figures.

Yun Tang was very enthusiastic. This was not her first time watching them mess around, and she would bet on who would win in the end.

Xun Yuan had little interest at first, but Zuo Tingyue was going to play.

Both Jiang Yulin and Yun Tang asked her whom she was betting on.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Her gaze swept over Zuo Tingyue and the other man, both members of the same circle. For no particular reason, she believed Zuo Tingyue would win. She was simply that certain, inexplicably confident in him.

Her gaze lingered longer on Zuo Tingyue, and everyone thought she would bet on him to win. Instead, she casually backed his opponent.

"Are you sure, Xunxun?"

Yun Tang asked whether she was certain, unable to resist secretly watching the crown prince's expression out of the corner of her eye.

"I'm sure."

Xun Yuan nodded.

Perhaps it was her imagination, but Zuo Tingyue seemed to glance their way.

Once the match began, Xun Yuan's gaze remained on Zuo Tingyue.

He rolled up his sleeves at an unhurried pace, exposing a length of forearm. His suit jacket had been taken off and casually set aside, and the top button of his white shirt was undone, leaving his finely shaped collarbones faintly visible. He gripped the cue and bent slightly, his neck and back forming an elegant curve. As he took his shot, veins stood out along his exposed forearm and hand, his muscles swelling with a sense of power ready to burst forth.

Xun Yuan's heart stirred. It was hard not to let desire cloud her mind.

Shot after shot, he never missed. He was exceptionally steady, with the kind of composure that came from having everything in hand.

Yun Tang lightly poked Xun Yuan's arm and whispered:

"You should've bet on the crown prince. Now you're watching a duck already in your grasp fly away."

Xun Yuan's gaze clung to Zuo Tingyue, unwilling to miss a thing.

He always had what it took to eclipse everyone present, whether in looks or presence. Wherever he was, he occupied the seat of honor, and that was not merely a matter of status.

His power and privilege were inborn; others could not catch him even on horseback.

At that thought, Xun Yuan lowered her eyes, an unreadable emotion in their depths.

"Tingyue won."

Jiang Yulin's words roused Xun Yuan. When she looked up, she was already no different from her usual self.

Without warning, her gaze met Zuo Tingyue's. His eyes were calm and held little emotion, betraying no sign that he had just won a match. Remaining unassuming in victory was a refinement etched into his bones. He nodded to his opponent, then steadily set down his cue and accepted a handkerchief from a bodyguard, wiping each finger with casual indifference.

The white handkerchief was pure silk woven in Jiangnan, entirely handmade. He was meticulous, refined and understated in his luxury.

Xun Yuan watched his slow, elegant movements and recalled a saying: beautiful people were pleasing to the eye no matter what they did. Sure enough, even wiping his hands looked like some elegant pursuit.

She turned and headed for the restroom, afraid that one more look would let desire bewitch her and bring her reason crashing down.

She turned on the faucet, letting water flow over her fair fingers, then cupped a handful and patted it onto her face. Its icy coolness helped still her heart and focus her mind.

After repeating this several times, she pulled out a paper towel and dried her face before leaving.

Pushing open the door, she stopped short. Outside, Zuo Tingyue leaned against the corridor wall in a languid posture. His cuffs were still unfastened as they had been in the private room, his collar half-open and loose. One hand rested in his pocket, while a scarlet glow burned between the fingers of the other.

He took a drag, white smoke spilling from his lips as his Adam's apple bobbed. That single glimpse brimmed with sensuality.

His gaze drifted toward her through the thin veil of smoke, aloof and rakish.

In that single second, a phrase sprang into Xun Yuan's mind: one glance, ten thousand years.

"Had your fill?"

He spoke in a low, husky voice, with a hint of teasing beneath it.

Xun Yuan came to her senses. Had she unwittingly lost herself staring at him again?

"What if I haven't?"

Her lips curved into a charming, flirtatious smile.

"That's fine. Why wouldn't it be?"

Zuo Tingyue's lips curved, a faint smile touching his handsome face.

"If you haven't had your fill, keep looking."

Xun Yuan asked, "How long can I look?"

Zuo Tingyue replied, "How long do you want to look?"

In the dim corridor, the man's lightly teasing smile was captivating. A sudden trace of greed arose in Xun Yuan, and once unleashed, it could not be contained.

"Can I look at you for a lifetime?"

The words escaped before she could think. It was too late to take them back, and she would not have taken them back anyway.

Zuo Tingyue let out a low laugh, seemingly amused and surprised by what she had said.

"You can't be that greedy."

His words sounded like a reminder, like a warning.

Greedy?

Perhaps a little, but Xun Yuan believed she was worth it.

Did she regret it?

Never.

Her features blossomed, a smile rippling through them. Her cool voice softened and gentled, revealing a different kind of allure.

"What would count as not being greedy?"

Zuo Tingyue said nothing. The scarlet glow between his fingers brightened and dimmed.

Xun Yuan continued asking on her own, as though compromising, or perhaps simply out of pure curiosity.

"Can I win your heart if I'm not greedy?"

"Why don't you try?"

He chuckled and turned the question back on her, tossing it to the person involved. He left his meaning ambiguous and himself entirely unentangled.

Xun Yuan knew this was the kind of man Zuo Tingyue was. He was utterly cold-hearted, yet he could still tease and flirt with casual indifference.

She truly did not know what had prompted him to give her a blood transfusion eight years ago.

How hard must it be to get him to show great mercy, to soften his heart just once?

She still did not want to give up or bow her head. She still harbored fantasies and hopes about him.

I just like him. What can I do?

She smiled. "How should I try?"

Zuo Tingyue held her gaze for several seconds, then chuckled and stepped up to her. His long arm reached around her body, his broad frame leaning forward in a movement whose meaning was hard to decipher.

Xun Yuan stayed where she was, neither dodging nor retreating, her gaze warm and calm with a hint of a smile.

On closer inspection, the thumb of her left hand was pressed against the joint of her index finger, her nail turning white.

Until they were so close that she could kiss his lips simply by lifting her head.

As if by tacit agreement, neither moved. It was like a contest, like flirtation.

Their eyes met, one wearing a lightly teasing smile, the other holding tenderness in her gaze. The charged intimacy swelled wildly, until even their gazes seemed to draw silken threads between them.