"Nervous?"
The man's hoarse, magnetic voice resonated next to Fu Yan’s ear.
"Are you crazy? This is the Huo family house…"
Avoiding him, she shivered involuntarily, her fingers tightly clenching the sofa cover.
Her flushed cheeks stirred the man behind her into a wild frenzy.
The constant footsteps outside the tea room indicated that many people had returned for the Huo family banquet tonight.
Fu Yan was constantly worried that someone would burst in at any moment.
She dared not make a sound, yet the man seemed intent on teasing her, wearing her down bit by bit, almost making her cry out loud.
The man's profound profile was reflected in the glass, his eyes filled with a touch of playfulness, taking in her panicked expression.
"What are you afraid of?" The man's lips curved in a smug smile, clearly satisfied with her reactions.
Not until someone nearby called for the old master did he tighten his grip on Fu Yan’s waist and hurriedly finish.
The man swiftly departed, leaving Fu Yan to collapse under the weight of the ordeal.
Directly in front of her was a mirror, convenient for primping and the like. Fu Yan saw her own face, flushed as though she had applied rouge, her clothing a disheveled mess. Meanwhile, the man standing behind her, Huo Ming Zheng…
His attire impeccable, genteel, and handsome.
In the line of Huo family grandchildren, he came second, surpassed by an older cousin. But the latter was the genuine prince of the Huo family, his power overwhelming and by all means, not someone to be trifled with easily.
The man's gaze landed on the finger marks on Fuyan's waist, abandoned his handkerchief, lit a cigarette, and slowly exhaled a puff of smoke.
The jade ring on his left thumb emitted a faint luminescent glow, cold as ice, a rare breed of dragon jade from the northern parts of Myanmar.
"I heard you've been looking at cars recently, do you want me to buy one for you?"
"No need, I can buy it myself." Fuyan put her clothes on, clenched her fingers, and did not look at the man's expression in the mirror.
She knew he was mad, just now he had tormented her in different ways, this sentence was simply fuel to the fire.
"So, you really plan to cut all ties with me?"
Fuyan kept her head down, remained silent while fingering the buttons on her top, her fingers turning pale from the pressure.
"Fuyan, you have truly grown." Huo Ming Zheng sneered.
His gaze shifted away from her waistline, after a few puffs, he extinguished the cigarette.
Fuyan kept her head down, rose up from the ground, and rushed to the bathroom to tidy up.
The doors of the tearoom opened and closed again, she knew Huo Ming Zheng had left.
After a while, when the blush on her face had completely subsided, and she was sure that there were no visible marks left on her body, she stepped out from the restroom.
By the time she reached the dining room, most of the people had already arrived.
For the Huo family's feast, returning people filled three large round tables, it was lively, but nobody took the initiative to speak with Fuyan.
Fuyan did not want to deal with the Huo family members either, she kept her head down and searched for her seat.
"Where have you been? I've looked for you for ages, and you didn't answer your phone." Mother Song Qingshuang approaches and holds her hand, glaring at her discontentedly.
Fu Yan subtly pulls her hand back and whispers, "I didn't hear it."
In fact, she had, but Huo Mingzheng didn't allow her to answer. He disliked being disturbed in such matters; it would make him angry, and he would make it even more difficult for her.
As Fu Yan takes her seat, she hears someone from the main table say, "Second Brother, your sleeve is wet."
Fu Yan hears Huo Mingzheng lightly laugh, "It got dampened by water just now."
She wasn't sure if she was being overly sensitive, but she felt as though Huo Mingzheng glanced at her after saying those words.
She raises her head guiltily to look.
A small portion of the sleeve on Huo Mingzheng's right hand was wet, but it's not that noticeable because his clothes were black.
She remembers that he was holding her up with that hand earlier, his breath warm as he nipped her ear and told her that she was made of water.
Fu Yan's cheeks burn an intense red.
Huo Mingzheng takes off his suit jacket and drapes it over the back of the chair. Others are chatting with him; he responds absent-mindedly and no one dares to criticize him.
In the Huo family, he was always the beloved star.
Unlike Fu Yan.
She entered the Huo family when her mother remarried, her mother married to Huo Mingzheng's fifth uncle.
Among those of the Sun generation in the Huo family, from the eldest to youngest, known by their respective titles - from Young Master, Second Young Master, to Fifth Young Miss, one could tell they were Huo household by their titles alone. Only she was referred by the servants as Miss Fu.
"You're an outsider."
Song Qingshuang muttered into her ear.
"Old Master has always been dissatisfied with us. You moreover aren't abiding by the rules. Don't you know today is a family feast? Luckily, Old Master didn't assign blame."
Her mother had remarried, and from the start, they were seen through prejudiced eyes, especially after Huo Mingzheng's fifth uncle died, the mother and daughter were even more unwelcome.
Behind the scenes, the servants claimed that Song Qingshuang was a husband-killer and Fu Yan was a jinx.
Thus, Song Qingshuang was particularly careful to observe the Huo family's house rules.
Fu Yan had already become used to it, and she didn't really pay heed to her mother's complaints, but her mind was full of Huo Mingzheng's last profound statement.
She often glanced in the direction of the main table.
The seemingly unbreakable relationship with Huo Mingzheng sent her thoughts trailing back to two years ago.
The night she graduated from college, she got drunk with her classmates.
In fact, she had been a teetotaler before, but that day was different because the Huo family had plans to arrange a marriage for Huo Mingzheng.
Huo Mingzheng, the man she had quietly liked for many years.
Unexpectedly, Huo Mingzheng was at the bar that night too. She had had some drinks, and courage, so she stuck close to Huo Mingzheng and asked him, "Huo Mingzheng, what do you think of me?"
Huo Mingzheng brushed off her hand resting on his shoulder, and asked with a smirk, "Think what about you?"
Fu Yan never thought that she, the typical good girl, would do such a rebellious thing as questioning Huo Mingzheng, who was technically her cousin.
She tiptoed up and whispered in Huo Mingzheng's ear, "To be your woman."
Leaning against the wall, Huo Mingzheng lit a cigarette, and asked her through the smoke, "Dare you?"
Fu Yan pecked at his chin, and again fearlessly roped her arms around his neck, provocatively saying, "What about you, dare you?"
Huo Mingzheng extinguished his cigarette, giving no answer, but only a smile.
His eyes, mingling in the light, seemed as deep and cold as an abyss, and as consuming as a destructive fire.
That night, she became Huo Mingzheng's woman.
At the brink of life and death, Huo Mingzheng bit her earlobe, "Fu Yan, remember what you said tonight."
Fu Yan said a lot of things that night, she couldn't even remember which particular one Huo Mingzheng was referring to.
After that, Fu Yan did become a little scared. Provoking a man like Huo Mingzheng was dangerous.
Their relationship was secretive, which meant that Huo Mingzheng would never recognize her.
She liked Huo Mingzheng, having quietly loved him for so many years, she was reluctant to just let go.
But he had to get married and have children eventually; she heard that his old man had already selected a suitable partner for him.
He never brought it up, implicitly acknowledging her concealed status. Mistress, the other woman, Fu Yan dared not even think about it.
If this love was destined to be unequal, then she was unwilling to continue being so humiliated.
Therefore, she sent a message to Huo Mingzheng last weekend, wanting to end their distorted relationship.
Until today, Huo Mingzheng had not given any reply.
In the evening, she returned to the Huo mansion and ran into him. In the deserted corridor, she tried to bypass him with her head lowered, but he grasped her wrist and pulled her into the tea room...
Judging by his appearance, she had angered him.
Dishes were continuously served at the table, bringing Fu Yan's wandering thoughts back.
A servant brought up a fish. All the seafood for the evening had been air-transported from abroad. It was a steamed fish, splashed with hot oil. As the fish meat flipped over, a savory aroma filled the air.
Fu Yan felt an uncomfortable surge. Just as she was about to avoid this smell, she couldn't help but blurt out, "Ugh..."
