Xu Jingxi was nearly lured and deceived by Liu Huaiying to the second floor.
The private room had a clean and elegant air, with a luxurious yet understated decor, yet it was filled with a group of young men and women who didn't love to sleep at night.
Someone sighed, "Qiqi left?"
"She's asleep, let's not talk about her," Liu Huaiying replied nonchalantly.
He pushed and pulled until she took a seat on the sofa, seemingly determined, same as Chen Ruoqi was about her.
She noticed by the floor-to-ceiling window for the first time, Xu Jingxi who was slightly tipsy from drinking, leaning against the bar.
He had a whiskey glass in hand, the deep amber liquid was gulped down his throat in a swift motion.
Someone was humbly pouring him more whiskey, treating him like an ancestor.
He didn't notice her presence, busily skimming a file after tearing open the cowhide envelope.
He must be discussing business.
Liu Huaiying too passed a glass of liquor to her, "Have a drink."
She took a sip, spicy enough to make her want to croon in discomfort, delicate enough to bring tears to the corners of her eyes.
Liu Huaiying 'tsked' twice, laughing that she could just down it as if it were a soft drink.
She asked if it would get her drunk.
"Pshaw, this is tribute liquor, purely brewed grain alcohol, it won't get you drunk. Could I possibly harm you?" he retorted.
If it wouldn't make her drunk, what was the use? Had he never tasted hardship in his life?
"Just so you don't get drunk. Who could stand your confused babbling?"
Leh Ying stomped on his foot, not wishing to, but Liu Huaiying didn't feel a thing. Taking it as a form of flirtation, he chuckled as he pinched her cheek.
"I actually hope you get drunk, and forget to lock your door at night. Then I can slip into your bed in the middle of the night."
"Been soaking with you for so long, what's wrong with lying together?"
Liu Huaiying must've gotten drunk, his voice quite loud, getting increasingly indecent, and almost everyone in the private room heard him.
Including the always superior Xu Jingxi, who was chatting with someone else, not lifting an eyebrow, showing no emotion, not even glancing over.
It was unknown whose driver knocked on the door, standing in front of them wearing a pair of white gloves, waiting very respectfully at the entrance without saying a word.
Turning around again, Xu Jingxi had already vanished, leaving behind only an empty whiskey glass on the bar, the crystal cup clean.
It turned out to be the Xu family's driver.
Outside the door, the driver followed behind Xu Jingxi, offering him a mobile phone: "Your mother called to look for you, she's asking why your phone is switched off."
Xu Jingxi rubbed his sore neck, turning around, "What's up?"
Driver: "You haven't been home in a long time, and today is Winter Solstice."
The favored son was in the prime of his youth at 28, what he played with mattered not, the Xu family wouldn't interfere.
But he was the best card nurtured by the Xu family, and unexpectedly, in recent years, he had gone into business, playing with finance; the one who controlled CITIC Capital from behind the scenes, shunning the limelight, was none other than Xu Jingxi.
In the past two years, he had invested all his assets into Goldman Sachs and Black Stone. With a venomous eye, he bet everything on these foreign banks, each move a checkmate, and now CITIC Capital held a seventy percent stake in these banks.
The favored son who had played power games, took to the business world with ease, and his methods, firmly above capital.
He chose to go into business, and Mr. Xu couldn't really control him.
Living in Forty-Nine City, he didn't like staying home either—today a hotel, tomorrow abroad, the day after offline.
-
The second half.
Leh Ying came out of the game, standing in the courtyard.
Late at night, the wind whipped sharply through the air.
Looking up, she saw Xu Jingxi leaning against the door of the Mercedes-Benz G Class, the driver with white gloves draped a black coat gently over him.
He was on the phone, truly a busy man.
The person on the other end of the call was perhaps a family member, someone he didn't much care to deal with, yet he responded politely.
His imposing figure was immersed in the snowy night, an unlit cigarette trapped between his elegant fingers, the man himself bland and flavorless.
She thought of a line of text: like the wind, not fond of taking root.
The cigarette was nestled at the edge of his well-defined lips, and with one hand, he fished a Cartier black enamel lighter from his trouser pocket, failing to spark a flame on the first try.
Leh Ying approached, and under his raised eyebrow, she boldly took the lighter from him, flipped open the cover, and struck the turbo.
The flame jumped up, lighting up the beauty's icy fox-like eyes.
By the door of the Mercedes-Benz G Class.
The beauty's long hair fluttered with the wind, she stood on tiptoes, hands cupped to shield the lighter, helping him light his cigarette.
Xu Jingxi drawed on the smoke, leaning towards her slightly, his clear and superior face partly cast in the shadow of backlighting. The tip of the cigarette glowed between them, flickering softly, as his gaze, cool and calm, began to lift.
"What do you want?" he asked.
Time and again, she encountered him by chance, but with her tricks, she could never outplay Xu Jingxi's profound thoughts.
A simple four-word phrase revealed the exclusive, mature machinations of a man.
Gazing into his rarefied eyes, looking at him so closely, his skin's texture seemed unfairly good.
In the flashy night, our damp gazes met; Leh Ying would often recall later the instant he inadvertently lifted his eyelids to notice her.
One sentence, "What do you want?"
What should she want, indeed?
"Only what you can give," she said.
He removed his cigarette, "Coming to me for such petty gains."
She understood that what Xu Jingxi had—status, resources, and an extensive network—were things she could never attain in her lifetime, no matter how hard she tried.
She put away her lighter and spread Xu Jingxi's solid palm open.
An accidental touch, his hand was burning hot. A brief contact, Leh Ying's fingertips shrank, her nervousness causing her to quickly retract them.
"Greed has no good end," he said.
Xu Jingxi paused, then smiled lightly, "King Zhou of Shang received a precious pair of ivory chopsticks. He needed matching bowls, tables, and even a palace, and beauties to serve him."
The typical imperial greed for more and more. She laughed, "A sovereign has the right to be greedy, I certainly do not."
Truth be told, back then Xu Jingxi might have thought her forward for seeking affection from the start, somewhat unappreciative.
She was too self-aware, aware to the extent that Xu Jingxi found her unconventional.
"It's useless to give it to you."
Leh Ying was unruffled, "I could use it to walk a better path."
Taking advantage of his height and build, his gaze upon her carried a hint of condescension, "Quite straightforward."
"Even if I pretended, my flimsy words would be seen through by Mr. Xu at a glance. We're all adults here; there's no need for pretense."
He was too shrewd, and besides, Leh Ying never considered herself to be a person of lofty pride.
"You couldn't pretend even if you wanted to," Xu Jingxi commented with a voice full of low magnetic charm.
Was he laughing at her naivety?
Indeed, in front of Xu Jingxi, her schemes were transparent; he saw right through her.
"I know who you are. Just by bearing the Xu name, it's like a universal passport everywhere you go," said the girl with a twinkle in her eyes.
He chuckled lightly, pressing his finger against Leh Ying's tender lips, "Want a taste?"
His blatant directness could have been worse, yet his refined and candid behavior didn't come across as vulgar; it was as if he were saying, "This is who I am, Leh Ying, and I'm not worried that you'll find me lacking in grace."
He was so indifferent, challenging, "Want to bet?"
Leh Ying gripped his trim arm tightly, leaning into him, and just as she was about to touch his thin lips, she closed her eyes.
The thick, moist breath of the man was inching closer; Leh Ying felt as if a hole had been torn open in her heart, stuffing it so full, she couldn't describe what she felt at that moment.
The scent of him was too dominant, too intense; heat flushed her cheeks. Should she be more reserved, not so forward? After all, she didn't know how to kiss.
Yet she wondered if his lips, pale pink, would feel hot and soft against hers.
Want a taste?
But in half a second, Xu Jingxi's hand gripping the cigarette pinched her waist fiercely, its burning heat searing into her skin, pushing slightly to create distance between them.
"Leh Ying, your sincerity is lacking," he said, his voice cool, detached from the heated atmosphere of intimacy, purposely preventing her kiss. He was not impulsive.
The blue-white smoke from behind them wafted to Leh Ying's exposed neck, leaving her skin feeling annoyingly sticky, and in the end, they didn't kiss.
Opening her eyes, she saw Xu Jingxi's composed gaze. He was looking at her too, his hand already removed from her waist and resting on the hood of the car.
"What kind of sincerity would satisfy you? Surely you're not lacking a girl like me to alleviate your loneliness on a soft bed, are you?" she said.
Yes, Leh Ying got the wrong idea.
But essentially, she wasn't that far off. In front of the powerful Xu Jingxi, what more could she offer him?
Such a man, if not celibate or sexually impeded, only lacked desire, emotion, tenderness.
Was he lacking a girl like her to be a cook and a nanny?
Yet she dared not say the words "sleep with you"; Xu Jingxi was not short of girls throwing themselves at him. If she behaved like the others, wouldn't that be too cheap?
Xu Jingxi gave her a glance that seemed to see right through her, his voice steady, "Why not dismantle them and rise up? Liu Huaiying will give you a chance."
Seizing the mood, Leh Ying's hand moved up to adjust the man's open collar, "I really want to know what kind of person you take me for, Mr. Xu."
After sharing strong drinks and locking gazes, his peach blossom eyes harbored a restrained sheen.
His noble upbringing allowed for a response that at least gave the young lady a way out with some dignity.
"Tell me, what kind of person should I take you for?"