Night had fallen, the rain had stopped, and in the bustling, neon-lit city, Lai Hui looked up; the sky seemed like a punctured black hole. She laughed, what a bad metaphor? Who could have the power to poke a hole in the sky? The laugh was fleeting; her gaze met Zhou Yuqian’s figure, and her smile froze at the corner of her mouth. When Zhou Yuqian, dressed in a gray custom suit, stood before her, her face was already adorned with a coquettish smile. “Darling!” she said sweetly, taking Zhou Yuqian’s arm, walking together out of the parking lot and into the grand banquet hall. Amidst the clinking of glasses, the scent of perfume, and the murmur of conversations, Zhou Yuqian exchanged pleasantries with the gentlemen and socialites, while Lai Hui’s smile remained unchanged. The gentlemen, beneath their polite exteriors, eyed her with lust, while the well-mannered socialites looked at her as if they had swallowed a fly. Lai Hui mocked them silently: if you want to hide it, don’t let me see it. That pretense was merely out of respect for Zhou Yuqian; so what if she noticed?
Midway through the banquet, Zhou Yuqian had already left her side, and she surveyed the crowd with disinterest. The gentlemen and socialites were just cloaked in money, no different from thieves and prostitutes at heart. Lai Hui sneered, they looked down on the poor, not knowing that the poor who earned them their wealth were thousands, if not millions, times more innocent. After her silent mockery, she reflected, when did she become so cynical? She subdued her smirk, and among the well-dressed crowd, a figure suddenly caught her eye, causing her to pause, her gaze fixed on that figure.
Majestic and handsome! Lai Hui had once stolen these words to describe someone, someone who had long become a stranger to her. The person turned with a glass in hand, their eyes meeting hers. Those eyes, clear as a spring. She was thunderstruck… Then, a big word flashed in her mind – “Flee,” she hastily looked away, lifting her long dress, where to flee? The balcony? The garden? There was only one truly safe place.
