Chapter Ninety-Two — It Came So Quickly

"What do you mean by that?"

Under the soft background music, Si Nan brought Lin Xiaowen to a relatively quiet corner. The moment they sat down, she could not wait to question him.

"Why did you say that? Do you really want people to misunderstand you that badly?"

Faced with her hushed rebuke, Si Nan showed no sign of displeasure. Instead, he stopped a passing waiter and thoughtfully ordered a glass of orange juice for her.

"You’re not feeling well, so you can’t drink. Have some orange juice and get a little vitamin C."

The juice in the crystal glass was clear and golden, with a few fresh, plump fruit pieces suspended in it. Anyone who saw it would have felt their mouth water, yet Lin Xiaowen did not even spare it a glance.

Si Nan ordered a glass of red wine for himself, crossed one leg over the other, and sat beside Lin Xiaowen. He swirled the clear liquid in his glass, seemed dissatisfied, and set it down again.

"I’m asking you a question. What exactly are you trying to do?"

Lin Xiaowen turned toward him, frowning at this man who was becoming more and more impossible to read.

Since entering the club, all she had seen were only two kinds of people.

One kind carefully avoided Si Nan, their eyes as though they were dodging a plague.

The other kind, like President Yang just now, spoke endless compliments and pleasantries, yet the look in their eyes gave the impression that they were merely forced to flatter and make social niceties.

So Lin Xiaowen became even more certain that a person like Si Nan was the sort no one would naturally like, not even his business partners.

"I did not say anything wrong, nor did I deliberately mislead anyone."

Si Nan glanced at her and went on.

"You are indeed one of the Si family. By asserting my claim, I only meant I do not want anyone else making moves on you. And you’d best behave yourself too, and remember your place at all times. I do not want to push away one and then have to deal with another right after."

"What nonsense are you spouting?"

Lin Xiaowen was almost furious enough to burst. When she thought of how, at the entrance, some young master from who-knows-which family, or some fresh-faced heartthrob from some company, had stared at her for quite a while, it had been Si Nan who first noticed and sent the other man a glance as cold as an arrow. Only then had that man awkwardly withdrawn his gaze.

From that moment on, Si Nan had kept an arm around Lin Xiaowen’s waist, as though afraid she might be stolen away.

She could not break free, nor could she make too conspicuous a scene in public, in a place like this.

So she could only stiffen her body and allow Si Nan to lead her around, exchanging strained smiles with several people who, despite brief introductions, she still could not tell apart.

"Whether I’m talking nonsense, you know in your heart." Si Nan had barely finished speaking when Lin Xiaowen was about to retort, but he leaned back against the sofa, lifted his eyelids, tipped his chin slightly, and said with a faint smile, "They came pretty quickly."

At those words, Lin Xiaowen’s heart gave a violent jump, and she instinctively looked toward the entrance.

Cheng Yishu was dressed somewhat casually today. Though not in his private clothes, it was not as ordinary as a T-shirt and jeans either. Yet it was certainly not something carefully styled.

Black casual trousers without any ornamentation. A white undershirt. A black casual blazer. White sneakers.

And yet, even in such a simple outfit, among the group that had just entered, he was still so conspicuous that Lin Xiaowen recognized him at a glance.

Compared with Chen Kai beside him, who wore a smiling face and talked smoothly and endlessly, Cheng Yishu at this moment looked more like he did when appearing on a program or in an interview.

It was worlds apart from the Cheng Yishu who, in private, would act spoiled and domineering with her, full of different moods and expressions.

Lin Xiaowen remembered Cheng Yishu once explaining to her that in front of a camera, or when there were many people around, he preferred to say less and do less, because he never knew which of his actions might be magnified without reason and deliberately twisted.

To him, that would bring endless trouble. It was, in his view, one way of protecting himself in the entertainment world.

Only Cheng Yishu did not know that this way of protecting himself was even more pleasing to the fans who loved him.

Si Nan had been watching Lin Xiaowen’s expression all along. He saw the fleeting joy the moment she spotted Cheng Yishu, then the disappointment and helplessness that followed, and finally the loneliness that settled there.

To Si Nan, every one of those changes was a mockery—mockery of himself, making him see just what a vile, heartless man he was, one who would stop at nothing to achieve his aims.

"Shall we go over and say hello now?"

Si Nan leaned closer to Lin Xiaowen and reminded her in a kindly voice. "Otherwise, I’m afraid our sudden grand entrance might be too much for that inexperienced kid to handle. He might even make a fool of himself."

"Si Nan!"

Lin Xiaowen turned and glared at him sharply. "I’m warning you, you’d better remember what you said. After tonight, you are absolutely not to target Yishu again, or I will not let you off!"

Faced with this little woman’s utterly nonthreatening warning, Si Nan very much wanted to laugh. In the end, however, he merely nodded slightly and said softly, "A promise is a promise."

Suppressing her ragged breathing, Lin Xiaowen’s eyes darkened again and again. When she turned once more to look toward where Cheng Yishu had been, she found that he was no longer there.

At that moment, Si Nan rose to his feet and extended a hand, saying, "We should wrap this up quickly. If it gets too late and Ranran is alone at home, I won’t be at ease."

Lin Xiaowen’s eyes were suddenly filled with hatred. She pressed her lips together tightly and looked at Si Nan, who still had a smile at the corner of his mouth.

"…First of all, I, Yang, would like to thank all of you here. Thank you for gracing me with your presence and taking time from your busy schedules to attend this little wine reception of mine… Everyone here is a busy person in the business world or the film and television industry…"

President Yang’s speech was neither salty nor bland, and no one could truly listen to it. Still, for the sake of the host’s face, they had no choice but to gather in the center of the hall and listen to his awkward address.

Faces among the crowd showed either faint confusion or cold, mocking smiles. They were all watching him—the former standout of Shanghai’s once most formidable electronics and technology circle—struggling embarrassingly to recite with flair the lines he had specially paid someone to write for him.

"Can you dance?" Si Nan asked softly in Lin Xiaowen’s ear.

Lin Xiaowen froze, then answered in a cold voice, "No."

Si Nan smiled lightly and asked again, "Really no?"

Lin Xiaowen drew in a breath, just about to flare up, when Si Nan said again, "Then… how about we let that red-hot star Cheng Yishu perform a piece for us in public? They say his dancing is extraordinarily good. Look around—so many ladies, heiresses, and wealthy wives here. If Cheng Yishu were to go onstage, how many patronage-holders’ eyes would he catch? Maybe by then you wouldn’t even need to do anything. Someone would be eager to pour money into him and push him up."

"Si Nan…"

Lin Xiaowen turned in fury, her raised hand caught at her side by Si Nan.

Cheng Yishu was a born dancer. Lin Xiaowen would never forget the first time she searched online for his concert and saw him on that dazzling stage, dancing confidently to the music with such brilliance.

Cheng Yishu was such a proud, arrogant man. He belonged only to the stage, only to the screen.

How could he possibly, for anyone or anything, dance in a place like this for a group of people with unclear motives, like a street performer?

For him, that would be an utter humiliation, and something he would absolutely never do.