Chapter 5: Guan Yizhou Is Here!

Pu Rou's tone gave nothing away. "Mm. Quite a coincidence."

"Let's go. He's upstairs."

The top floor of the Glorious Club was another world entirely. Whatever soundproofing they'd used, the silence was so absolute it set her nerves on edge.

Pu Rou's heels clicked down the corridor, each step jarringly loud.

The private room door stood open. Jiang Zheng tossed down a pair of straight flushes. "Oh—company's here?"

All four looked up.

Jiang Ling walked in first, Pu Rou trailing behind him. Her skirt swayed with each step, the whole of her like a little pink flower.

Before Sheng Kuang could react, she spoke first, soft and sweet—"Husband"—and only then smiled around at the others in the room.

Fu Xu set down her tablet and came over. "Hi, Pu Rou!"

Pu Rou gave her a warm smile. "Hello, Sister-in-law."

Cheng Muqing was a man besotted with his wife. The moment Pu Rou walked in and called Fu Xu "Sister-in-law," she shot straight to the top of his good books.

"Pu Rou, sorry to crash your gathering with friends." He rose to greet her. "Sheng Kuang mentioned you were here too—we were too curious to stay away."

Only on the elevator ride up had Jiang Ling mentioned that someone upstairs had brought along a lady friend. As for who these people actually were, Pu Rou hadn't the faintest idea.

Thankfully, Sheng Kuang spoke up in time. "Pu Rou, this is Cheng Muqing. Fu Xu is his wife."

"Jiang Zheng."

Jiang Zheng waved at her. "Hello there, Little Sister-in-law."

Sheng Kuang's friends were a different breed entirely from those idle young masters downstairs. Pu Rou let out a quiet breath of relief.

A man extended a hand, knuckles clean and defined. The watch at his cuff caught the light with a cold metallic glint.

"Come here."

Pu Rou went to him obediently, sliding her hand into his and settling into the seat behind Sheng Kuang.

"Do you play?"

From the cards on the table, it was a game that had swept the tables in recent years. Pu Rou didn't care for brainwork and had never taken to it.

"Not really, no."

She sat behind him, jasmine drifting faintly under her nose.

Sheng Kuang steadied his breathing without a flicker of change. "Then draw for me."

The other three at the table hooted in unison.

Jiang Ling mimicked his tone, drawing it out. "Th~en~ dra~aw~ for~ me~"

Jiang Zheng: "Don't you have hands?"

Cheng Muqing: "Wife, come draw for me too~"

Pu Rou couldn't take the teasing. Pink climbed her cheeks fast. Sheng Kuang swapped seats with her, settling in behind her.

Pu Rou's hands were slender and fine, like fresh scallion stalks. A strand of glittering stones circled her wrist.

Fu Xu came over to draw for Cheng Muqing too—but a wedding ring sat on her left hand.

Only then did it hit Sheng Kuang: after they'd signed the papers, his schedule had been back-to-back, and he hadn't prepared a single thing a wedding ought to have. This girl had held her tongue about all of it.

Pu Rou seemed to be enjoying some beginner's luck—her draws were explosive. Double kings, double bombs, two straight flushes. Even she startled when she finished arranging her hand, turning to look at Sheng Kuang.

She met a pair of eyes that were half-smiling.

"My wife seems to bring me good fortune."

He said it to the others, but his eyes never left Pu Rou.

Her face went red. She ducked her head like a quail.

Jiang Ling was the first to crack. "Do all men turn into this after marriage?"

Cheng Muqing: "Into what?"

Jiang Zheng: "Sticky and disgusting."

Fu Xu launched into her classic matchmaking pitch. "You two shouldn't stay single forever. If you find someone suitable, settle down—it's so much better."

Jiang Zheng and Jiang Ling laughed it off.

"Play, play."

Pu Rou only knew the basic moves. Now and then, when it was her turn, the hand behind her would press down on hers, guiding her fingertips to a better set of cards.

Sheng Kuang's hand was a beautiful man's hand. Long, dry, the tendons clean beneath the skin.

Pu Rou stared at that hand, her thoughts wandering. She remembered last night—this same hand had been exceptionally nimble, exceptionally good at kneading.

She swallowed, pressed her lips together.

Before long, Sheng Kuang noticed Pu Rou was playing at random—she wouldn't move until he reached out and guided her hand onto the right card.

The pattern was plain as day. She was doing it on purpose.

Sheng Kuang gave up pretending. He leaned back in his chair and slanted a look at her.

Pu Rou turned her head, and their eyes met in perfect, unspoken understanding.

That glance was all silk and honey. He'd originally planned to keep things polite and proper with his new wife for a while longer.

Plans, it turned out, changed faster than circumstances.

Pu Rou tossed down her last card.

Sheng Kuang stood. "That's it for today. I still haven't shaken off the jet lag."

The others grumbled loudly. "What's the rush? Pu Rou's only played one round."

She stood too. "It was lovely meeting everyone. We'll do it again another day."

Sheng Kuang nodded, picked up Pu Rou's bag with easy gallantry, and led her out.

Their footsteps fell one after the other, her heels striking against his eardrums.

In the descending elevator they stood side by side, perfectly proper. It went straight to the parking garage, and still they walked one behind the other.

Sheng Kuang hadn't brought a driver. He drove a low-key Maybach S480.

Pu Rou lifted her skirt hem and slid into the back seat first.

Sheng Kuang came around the other side. She'd barely shut the door when the cool juniper scent of him swept over her, head to toe.

Breath tangled, lips and tongues locked. Sheng Kuang hauled her onto his lap and drank her in. Pu Rou went soft all over; he couldn't taste enough of her.

Pu Rou had never realized that kissing alone could send her heart racing until she lost herself. She'd dated plenty of men, and in those intimate moments she'd always felt like an outsider watching them drown—bored by their abandon.

Now it was her turn to drown.

"Sheng Kuang… I can't wait."

His fingers dug into her skin, the pressure beyond his control, though a thread of reason held. "There's nothing in the car."

Pu Rou panted softly. "…It's a safe day."

There was no such thing as absolutely safe, but Pu Rou didn't care. Marriage and children were already part of her plan.

He'd gone and picked up a modern-day Daji. The string in Sheng Kuang's mind snapped clean through. He abandoned all gallantry and tore at her dress.

He'd known this pink dress was asking to be ripped from the start.