Chapter Summaries

Xun Yuan attended dinner with Yun Tang and Harbor City’s young heirs, where Zuo Tingyue joined them and shared soup with her. Later, Xun Yuan saw a woman beside Zuo Tingyue at a club and heard how the woman had once helped him; the chapter ended with Xun Yuan calling her impressive.

• Xun Yuan covered for Yun Tang when Jiang Yulin asked where she had gone, and Yun Tang soon returned to the private dining room.
• Jiang Yulin revealed he had taken rare Da Hong Pao tea from his father, and the group waited for Zuo Tingyue before eating.
• Zuo Tingyue sat beside Xun Yuan, who served him chicken soup; after he called it good, she stopped speaking to him for the rest of dinner.
• Xun Yuan recognized the restaurant’s Capital-style cuisine and found its older owner familiar, though she could not place him.
• Xun Yuan drove Yun Tang to a club, where they spotted a woman in white sitting beside Zuo Tingyue.
• Yun Tang told Xun Yuan how the woman had once helped Zuo Tingyue and criticized her ambition, but Xun Yuan said she thought the woman was impressive.

At a gathering, Xun Yuan watched Ye Wenyin try to win Zuo Tingyue’s attention, then went home separately from him. After resting and visiting her maternal grandparents, she received Zuo Tingyue’s late-night call to come downstairs and left with him to go abroad for a diving trip.

• Xun Yuan declined to sing while Ye Wenyin sang a love song and asked Zuo Tingyue whether he liked it, but he remained aloof.
• Ye Wenyin asked Zuo Tingyue about joining the ballet company in Harbor City, and he told her to speak to Chu Xu.
• Xun Yuan and Zuo Tingyue briefly spoke outside while waiting for their rides, then Xun Yuan went home with a designated driver.
• Xun Yuan rested, handled overseas matters, contacted Special Assistant Cheng and an old acquaintance, and visited her maternal grandparents.
• Zuo Tingyue called Xun Yuan late at night and told her to come downstairs because he was going abroad to dive.
• Xun Yuan packed a few clothes and went to the black Bentley waiting outside, where Zuo Tingyue was working.

Xun Yuan traveled with Zuo Tingyue to Sydney for a diving trip, then spent the day exploring the city while he worked and slept. After watching the opera “Guys and Dolls,” she returned to the hotel, leaving her thoughts about love unclear.

• Xun Yuan fell asleep during the journey, and Zuo Tingyue carried her onto the plane and continued working beside her.
• Zuo Tingyue left the airport in a separate car, while Xun Yuan rode to the hotel with an assistant who was not Special Assistant Lin.
• In Harbor City, Yun Tang and Special Assistant Lin spent the night together.
• Zuo Tingyue returned to the hotel after being away overnight, and Xun Yuan learned he was exhausted from staying up all night.
• Xun Yuan explored Sydney with a young driver, watched “Guys and Dolls” at the Sydney Opera House, and tipped him generously before returning to the hotel.

Xun Yuan spent the day with Zuo Tingyue in Sydney as he arranged for her to join him at a golf meeting and then took her to lunch. The chapter ended with them sharing dessert by the sea.

• Xun Yuan returned to the suite and teased Zuo Tingyue for neglecting her while he worked.
• After Zuo Tingyue left during the night, his assistant collected Xun Yuan and drove her to a golf club.
• Xun Yuan watched Zuo Tingyue play golf and kept him company while he discussed a collaboration with Peter.
• Zuo Tingyue ended the meeting early to take Xun Yuan to eat, and Xun Yuan clarified to Peter that she was not his wife.
• Zuo Tingyue took Xun Yuan to Quay, where they ate lunch overlooking the ocean and shared dessert.

During their trip from Sydney to the Great Barrier Reef, Xun Yuan and Zuo Tingyue’s teasing turned into a cold rift, which persisted despite Jiang Yulin’s attempts to intervene. After several days at sea, Zuo Tingyue sent Xun Yuan gifts to make peace, but she confronted him about his intentions.

• Xun Yuan helped Zuo Tingyue with business in Sydney, then went to a nightclub, where she kissed and teased him after he arrived to take her away.
• Zuo Tingyue took the sleeping Xun Yuan by plane and cruise ship toward the Great Barrier Reef; when she woke, she apologized tenderly, but he pushed her hand away and she left the deck.
• Jiang Yulin and Lou Jing joined them at the reef, where Xun Yuan kicked Jiang Yulin into the water before diving among the coral.
• Jiang Yulin urged Zuo Tingyue to give way to Xun Yuan, but Zuo Tingyue dismissed him, and the pair remained estranged during three days at sea.
• Zuo Tingyue sent Xun Yuan a coral ornament and pearls, but she questioned what the gifts meant and confronted him at his room.

After a tense exchange aboard the cruise ship, Xun Yuan and Zuo Tingyue stayed apart, though he later carried her back to her office when she got drunk. At Yun Tang’s birthday gathering, Xun Yuan admitted their conflict went deeper than the gifts, and the chapter ended with Zuo Tingyue offering her a ride that she refused.

• Zuo Tingyue rebuffed Xun Yuan’s attempt to test his feelings, and his assistant arranged for Jiang Yulin to deliver the gifts to her.
• Xun Yuan stayed with her maternal grandparents for several days, then told Jiang Yulin she might sell Zuo Tingyue’s gifts and donate the money.
• After Xun Yuan got drunk at the club, Zuo Tingyue steadied her and carried her to the lounge in her office.
• Xun Yuan attended Yun Tang’s birthday gathering, where she told Yun Tang that the dispute with Zuo Tingyue was only a pretext for a deeper problem.
• When Xun Yuan’s phone died after the party, Zuo Tingyue offered her a ride in his Bentley, but she refused and said she would find a designated driver.

Xun Yuan rode home with Zuo Tingyue, only to discover that he lived on the ninth floor of her building. Their argument in the elevator ended when Zuo Tingyue closed the doors and kissed her.

• Xun Yuan accepted a ride to Repulse Bay with Zuo Tingyue and the driver.
• Zuo Tingyue followed Xun Yuan into her building and revealed that he lived on the ninth floor.
• Xun Yuan cursed at Zuo Tingyue and challenged his right to tell her what to do.
• When the elevator reached the ninth floor, Zuo Tingyue pressed the close-door button instead of leaving.
• Zuo Tingyue lowered his head and kissed Xun Yuan.

Xun Yuan and Zuo Tingyue resumed their charged rivalry, while Yun Tang grew closer to Special Assistant Lin and faced a family-arranged blind date. The chapter ended with Xun Yuan running into Zuo Tingyue at the restaurant and signaling that she wanted his help avoiding an invitation upstairs.

• Xun Yuan bit Zuo Tingyue's lip after he had bitten hers, and they agreed they were even before going upstairs together.
• Special Assistant Lin took the drunken Yun Tang home, cooked noodles for her, and she found herself drawn to his domestic side.
• Xun Yuan delivered the restored relic, then met Yun Tang, who explained that her parents had arranged a blind date for her.
• Yun Tang went to meet her date while Xun Yuan waited nearby at the restaurant.
• Xun Yuan encountered Special Assistant Lin, Zuo Tingyue, and their business partners, and she gave Zuo Tingyue a pointed look when a partner invited her upstairs.

After Zuo Tingyue summoned Xun Yuan, he took her to dinner and then brought her to his hotel suite, where she joined him and his staff. He gave her a signed agreement transferring the proceeds from a lucrative project, leaving her to decide when to accept it by signing.

• Xun Yuan left the restaurant to meet Zuo Tingyue, and he took her to eat after learning she had not had dinner.
• Zuo Tingyue watched Xun Yuan eat until she told him he was making her self-conscious, prompting him to laugh.
• After dinner, Xun Yuan returned with Zuo Tingyue to his hotel suite, where his corporate staff were working.
• Zuo Tingyue handed Xun Yuan the contracts from their Australia project, then showed her an agreement giving her the project's proceeds.
• Zuo Tingyue told Xun Yuan she could sign the gift agreement whenever she wished.

Xun Yuan accepted Zuo Tingyue’s document, but saw it as security that also made clear the limits of what he was willing to give her. After a nightmare about her dead father left her unable to sleep, Zuo Tingyue comforted her by drawing her into an intimate embrace.

• Xun Yuan accepted the document from Zuo Tingyue and privately reflected that he offered her money and power but not anything more.
• Xun Yuan dreamed of her father giving her a treasured gift, then relived the violence surrounding her mother’s death and woke in a sweat.
• Xun Yuan learned Zuo Tingyue had returned from work at two in the morning and admitted she had dreamed and could not sleep.
• Zuo Tingyue tenderly touched Xun Yuan’s face and asked why she was crying; she insisted she was not.
• Zuo Tingyue lifted Xun Yuan into his arms and kissed her, beginning an intimate encounter as autumn rain fell outside.