What is he talking about?
Xu Ai glowered at him. He was about to spill out everything, and she couldn't bear it any longer, so she covered his mouth with her hand.
Su Xuan blinked at her.
"What's with all the BS?" Xu Ai lowered her voice and warned him, "Stop talking, or I will choke you."
Su Xuan smiled and nodded.
Now that he was acting like a good boy, she finally put down her hand slowly. She blushed when she saw everyone looking at them.
Su Xuan coughed and gave Xu Ai a doting look, then he smiled at everyone. "My girlfriend wouldn't let me spill the beans, so please lay off your curiosity. I certainly don't wish to kneel on a washing board later at somewhere you cannot see."
Everyone burst out in uproarious laughter.
Xu Ai felt she had lost all her reputation. She snuck out her hand and pinched Su Xuan on the waist very hard.
It didn't diminish Su Xuan's smile at all. He let her finish pinching him, then he held her hand and smiled while saying in a warm voice, "I've got to teach you to keep your hands to yourself." Then, he added, "At least do things to me when no one else is around, or else I'd lose face."
Xu Ai gritted her teeth. "Why are you still talking?."
"Fine, I'll stop talking." Su Xuan turned around and raised his wineglass to everyone.
Everyone laughed again.
Someone jeered, "Young Master Su, are you going to drink cross-cupped wine right now? Please don't drink it with us!"
[TL Note: Drinking cross-cupped wine is a traditional Chinese wedding rite.]
"Exactly! If he is to drink cross-cupped wine, it'll be with Ms. Xu!" someone else joked.
"A contract that worthed a few billions! So it was true, Young Master Su wanted to please his lady and was willing to throw away a few billions. We really are getting old, young people nowadays are so high-profile with their relationships; we are a few lightyears behind."
"Not just a few lightyears, I think we're a few hundred lightyears behind. Everyone seated here, who has the balls to throw away a few billions just to make their woman happy? No one but Young Master Su, yeah?"
"You're right, we don't have Young Master Su's courage!"
Everyone kept on joking one after one.
Xu Ai's face was burning, and she felt like her face was hot enough to cook pancakes, so much that she wanted to bury her face under the sofa.
"Young Master Su's got a good eye. Ai-Ai has countless pursuers at our school, but she chose Young Master Su. I never figured how Young Master Su found a way to Ai-Ai's heart, but now I figured! And not just Ai-Ai, I don't think any woman could ever reject Young Master Su's style of pursuit." Cheng Yanyan's voice came through from everyone's laughter.
That snapped Xu Ai awake and caused the heat to dissipate from her face. How did she forget that Cheng Yanyan was still here?
The laughter that filled between the partition walls suddenly came to a stop.
Although there seemed to be nothing off with what she said, if one dug deep into it, then one can fathom the weirdness in that sentence.
[TL Note: Meaning may not be conveyed - gold digger.]
Everyone seated here were veteran businessmen; how could they not hear it?
President Cheng frowned, then he gave Cheng Yanyan a look but didn't say anything.
Xu Ai raised her head slowly to look at Cheng Yanyan, and there was a welcoming and bright smile on the latter's face. Chen Yanyan sat closely next to Lin Shen, who wasn't showing any emotions on his face, or rather, was bland and emotionless. Suddenly, Xu Ai felt a stabbing pain in her heart.
What is Cheng Yanyan doing? She kept on being passive-aggressive toward me; is it because she believes that I still have deep feelings for Lin Shen? Is she afraid that I would stick around Lin Shen for three more years after three years and not back out, so she's acting like this to force me to give up?
But how would she know, I already tried to keep my distance when I heard they became a couple.
Did she want to push my buttons even more and force me to erase the past three years with Lin Shen?
Even if I wish to erase it, I must find a way to erase that from everyone's memory.
Besides, it is my memory; who gave her the right to erase it?
I did have feelings for Lin Shen, but I had tried my best to not trouble Cheng Yanyan already. What more does she want? To not show up in front of Lin Shen ever again?
She sneered in her mind, Why do I have to not show up in front of him ever again? If she thinks that I'm an eyesore, then they could choose to not show up in front of me and not vice versa. She grinned slowly at the thought of that and said, "Ms. Cheng, we're not that close, are we?"
Cheng Yanyan's smile stiffened.
Xu Ai took over the wineglass in Su Xuan's hand, and she tilted her head back and gobbled down the entire glass of water. Then, she put down the wineglass and uttered slowly word by word, "There seems to be a misunderstanding, everyone. I didn't come with my boyfriend tonight; I actually came with my senior from university, Lin Shen. I hold five percent shares in Senior Lin's company. I, as his special assistant and shareholder, came to the wine party with him. I didn't expect to see you here, Ms. Cheng."
Cheng Yanyan's face changed.
Xu Ai watched as her face turned livid, then she continued on, "I've known Senior Lin since I started university, and I got a part-time job at his company afterward. Because Senior Lin blocked all of my luck with love, I didn't have any other men around me besides him. Ms. Cheng, you said I have plenty of pursuers, but I guess I just haven't spotted them yet." She paused and laughed, "But Ms. Cheng, you are the flower of the Foreign Language School, you for sure do have plenty of pursuers. However, I wonder why you settled for Senior Lin? Did he charm you with a contract that was worth a few billion? Measuring my corn by your own bushel, aren't you?"
Cheng Yanyan's face slowly turned ghastly white.
"I don't know whether my boyfriend has good taste or not, but I do know one thing. That is, as his girlfriend, I would be friendly in a situation like this, rather than acting passive-aggressively against someone and making everyone feel uncomfortable." Xu Ai finished talking and stood up, then she took her handbag and decided to leave. "My apologies, I don't believe I should be at a place like this; please excuse me."
Everyone saw her getting up to leave, but nobody said a thing.
Su Xuan grabbed her. "Hold on, I'll drive you back!"
Xu Ai stopped walking.
Su Xuan reached to get his jacket and hung it on his arm casually. Then, he smiled at the confused crowd. "She was angry at me today, so I had no choice but to ditch Billion Suns to make her happy, haha. How could I let go of a huge amount of money otherwise? You must think too highly of me!"
Everyone stared at Su Xuan.
Su Xuan smiled at President Cheng. "Perhaps your beloved daughter hasn't fully adapted to society, President Cheng. You must bring her to more wine parties like this in the future."
President Cheng's expression slightly changed.
Su Xuan turned to look at President Yang and the others as he apologized, "Please continue, I guess I have to make an early exit tonight. My sincerest apologies. Dinner's on me next time!"
"Take care, Young Master Su and Ms. Xu!" President Yang and everyone else nodded.
Su Xuan hauled Xu Ai out of the partition and headed to the exit.
The whole space was silent for a moment after they left. Suddenly, Lin Shen stood up and stepped outside the partition without a word.
Cheng Yanyan also stood up hastily to chase after him.
"Yanyan!" President Cheng shouted fiercely.
Cheng Yanyan stopped. She looked at President Cheng and saw his grim face and the harsh gaze that she had never seen before. Her eyes reddened. "Daddy!"
"We're going home!" President Cheng warned.
Cheng Yanyan nodded and didn't dare to follow Lin Shen anymore. She didn't expect the mellow-looking Xu Ai to say something like that in front of everyone. It was like slapping her across the face multiple times. She had never felt so wronged like this, yet she couldn't find a way to refute.
President Cheng turned to the crowd to apologize. "I am very sorry, everyone. I have spoiled my daughter too much. I will have to take her home now, and I will offer my most sincere apologies another day."
"No worries!" Everyone nodded.
President Cheng and Cheng Yanyan left together.
After these people had left, President Yang and President Chen looked at each other and felt what happened today had left a weird taste in their mouths…
"Young Master Su's girlfriend is quite impressive. Anybody know her background?" someone lowered his voice and asked.
President Yang shook his head.
President Chen also shook his head.
"Nobody did a background check on her?" the man asked again.
President Chen glowered at him. "Who dares to do a background check on Young Master Su's girlfriend? Do you want to die?"
The man almost choked.
"It's getting late, let's get ready to leave!" President Yang stood up and smiled at everyone. "Check the news if you ever wish to know anything about Young Master Su; don't attempt to find things out in secrecy. In case you get in trouble." He then said to President Chen, "If it weren't for you, Cheng Daming wouldn't be on Young Master Su's blacklist from now on."
"Why does it have anything to do with me? His daughter is the one who doesn't know any better!" President Chen countered, "I, for one, think Ms. Xu is easy to get along with; she's lovely and polite. Cheng Daming didn't teach his daughter well. Bringing her to an event like this; who else would be embarrassed but him?"
"How come a clever man like Cheng Daming raised such a stupid daughter? Does she not know to watch her mouth in front of Young Master Su?" someone sighed, "Young Master Su only has to give a command to make sure his daughter never shows up at future wine parties."
Someone laughed at the mention of that, "Haha, I thought Young Master Su sure had a way with his words. He specifically told Cheng Daming to bring his daughter to more wine parties in the future. But would Cheng Daming dare to take her out when he told him that? Even if he would take her out, who would have the guts to invite her?"
"Not just his daughter, I don't even have the guts to invite him from now on!" Someone shook his head while laughing.
"We must be extra-vigilant if we don't wish to get on Young Master Su's blacklist. Empyrean only has to move a few fingers if they want someone to get fed, and it also only has to move a few fingers if they want someone to starve." Someone sighed, "By the looks of it, he cares deeply for his girlfriend. Let's try not to offend her in the future."
Everyone grinned and nodded, then they proceeded to leave. The party was over.
Xu Ai was dragged outside of the guildhall by Su Xuan. Once she was outside and finally breathed in the fresh air, she tried to shake off his hand.
Su Xuan held on tightly to resist her force.
Xu Ai stopped walking and glowered at him. "You want me to stomp on your foot again?"
"Mm-hmm," Su Xuan crooned, then he asked her, "It's still early; let me take you to grab some late-night food, then I'll drive you back."
Xu Ai shook her head. "Nope!" She was already fed up with the anger; what late-night food would she eat?
"How about I drive you back to school?" Su Xuan asked as he dragged her to the parking lot.
"I don't need you to drive me!" Xu Ai didn't want to go back to school, because she would inevitably think about Lin Shen. It was his and her school, also Cheng Yanyan's.
"How about I drive you home?" Su Xuan seemed to have read her mind.
Xu Ai shook away his hand as hard as she could. "None of your concern!"
Su Xuan still didn't let go of her hand. He frowned slightly and said, "How is it none of my concern when your face is completely livid? Who was the one that said I am her boyfriend? Isn't it a boyfriend's duty to drive his girlfriend to where she needs to go?"
"Su Xuan, you are a grown-up, can you stop acting so childishly?" Xu Ai stared at him.
Su Xuan's beautiful brows slightly moved. "I am a grown-up, and I know I should get a girlfriend, but I have no experience and don't know how to get a girl. I do seem childish in this aspect."
Xu Ai was shocked. She stopped walking to look at him. What did he mean by that?
Su Xuan looked at her face and sighed, "Am I really that much of a failure? You seem like… you aren't aware that I'm pursuing you?"
Xu Ai's eyes opened wider and wider, then she stomped on his foot all of sudden and raged. "Do you think you're doing a good job at pursuing someone?"
His method of pursuing someone is by bullying them?
Pursuing someone Su Xuan-style?
Just kill me already!
It is painful being pursued by him!
"Mm-hmm," Even though she stomped on his foot very hard, Su Xuan still didn't let go. He looked at her and told her in a serious voice, "Xu Ai, I am pursuing you, but perhaps my method… hmm, is a little off, which is why you are upset. Perhaps I should improve my methods…"
"Shut up!" Xu Ai cut him off.
Su Xuan closed his mouth like a good boy, but he looked at her with his gentle eyes.
The lights at night were like mirrors, and his beautiful eyes were like mirrors inside mirrors, making her image reflect even clearer and brighter.
Xu Ai had countless emotions to vent out, but under his gaze, she was like hardened lava that could not erupt. A second later, she shifted her gaze and covered her forehead. "You are not allowed to pursue me," she warned.
Su Xuan couldn't help but laugh. "So you're telling me, your shop is no longer open for me before I even entered the door?"
Xu Ai's fingers twitched. What a stupid metaphor.
"I know where you should be tonight." Su Xuan dragged her toward his parking spot suddenly.
"Hey!" Xu Ai struggled, but she couldn't overpower him, so she could only be dragged helplessly. "Where are you taking me?"
Su Xuan didn't talk; he just kept on walking.
Xu Ai was angry. "I'm going back to school!"
Su Xuan ignored her. A brief moment later, they were in front of his car. He opened the car door, pushed Xu Ai inside, buckled her seatbelt, then closed the door. He entered the car from the other side quickly and drove off.
His movements flowed so smoothly and cohesively, making Xu Ai feel like she had no choice but to listen to him.
Xu Ai still had no clue where he was going after they drove off for some distance. She could only sit on the passenger seat in silent anger.
Why do I have such bad luck?
When she had feelings for Lin Shen, she always fantasized about him turning back to look at her and treating her nicely. But no matter what she did, her feelings remained unrequited and pursuing after him took a lot of hard work. However, now that Su Xuan was pursuing her, it made her feel pained. Who pursues someone like that? This is close to murder.
If she used that kind of method to pursue Lin Shen, Lin Shen would probably have had her murdered.
Her heart ached at the thought of Lin Shen. Perhaps Lin Shen got angry for the way she told off Cheng Yanyan earlier? After all, she kind of slapped Lin Shen's ego as well when she gave Cheng Yanyan the verbal slap across her face.
Even though she could bear and tolerate Lin Shen for all those years, it didn't mean she also had to bear and tolerate his girlfriend.
Su Xuan focused on driving and didn't make another sound.
Xu Ai was so entangled in her thoughts and stopped wondering where he was taking her.
An hour later, Su Xuan stopped the car and stepped out. He walked to the passenger side and opened the car door. He reached his hand to Xu Ai and said, "We're here."
Xu Ai was shocked when she glanced outside. "You brought me to this place?"
Su Xuan nodded, then he dragged her out of the car and locked the car. Then, they entered the bar.
This bar was the same bar that Sun Pinting and Xu Ai frequented. Earlier today at the hospital, Sun Pinting had asked if she wanted to go to their old bar, but she refused. She didn't expect Su Xuan to take her here.
She was way too familiar with this place. With that being said, she had no objections now that they were here.
There was no place other than this that was better suited for her current state of emotions.
People came up to greet them as soon as they entered the bar. People who knew them were dumbfounded when they saw Su Xuan holding Xu Ai's hand.
"Give me a glass of the liquor that I deposited here." Su Xuan looked at the waiter and kept on dragging Xu Ai to a seating area.
The waiter took his order and immediately left.
Xu Ai pursed her lips and finally shook away his hand.
This time, Su Xuan did not hold on to her hand tightly, so she shook away his hand very easily. Then, he leaned against the seat to stare at her, who was sitting across from him. "Let's negotiate now. You are still prejudiced against me, which must be rectified in time, or else it isn't good for the future of our relationship."
Xu Ai rolled her eyes. "I don't want to rectify anything, nor do I want to develop a future in a relationship with you."
Su Xuan arched a brow. "You really don't want to rectify your opinions about me?" He paused and then asked again, "You really don't want to develop a future in a relationship with me?"
Xu Ai nodded heavily. "No!" She then emphasized, "I really don't."
Su Xuan didn't speak. He relaxed his body and leaned back against the chair.
Xu Ai lifted her head to glance at him, then she waved at the waiter. "I want my usual. Just give me my usual drink."
The waiter nodded, and just as he was about to get her drink, Su Xuan chimed in, "You don't have to. She won't be drinking that."
Xu Ai scowled, "Su Xuan, stop pushing my limits. Why do you care what I drink!"
Just then, the waiter who Su Xuan sent away earlier came over with a drink in his hand and placed it in front of Su Xuan courteously.
Su Xuan grabbed the drink and stood up. He walked in front of Xu Ai and literally looked down his nose at her, then he uttered slowly, "If you don't get drunk from this drink right here, then I promise there's nothing to rectify and nothing to develop in the future."
Xu Ai froze.
Su Xuan raised his hand and lifted her face before pouring the glass of liquor down her throat.
The familiar spicy liquor entered her esophagus, and the burning sensation almost made her tear up.
Xu Ai's eyes widened as she stared at him and suddenly realized what he was doing. She reached out her hand to smack him away.
Su Xuan held her hand still and restrained her, and he didn't let her move or dodge. He held the wineglass steadily and watched her as she finished the entire glass. And, as a habit, he then shook the wineglass to make sure the very last drop was gone and let go of her. He put down the wineglass and grinned. "Spicy?"
Xu Ai was seeing stars. She wanted to speak but was too nauseous to do so. She wanted to hit him, but she was seeing double and triple; Su Xuan's images spun around her, and she didn't know where to land her fist. A moment later, her body gave out, and she collapsed and passed out.
It was as if Su Xuan was waiting for her to faint. He caught her in his arms easily and wiped away the wine stain at the corner of her mouth. Then, he turned to the shocked waiter at his side and said, "Go to Cloud Nine and open a room; we're staying here tonight."