Exhaling heavily, she lifted her dress and approached them. Perhaps too focused, her noise didn’t disturb them.
Close enough, she could hear them conversing in English. The woman’s tear-stained face looked angry, gripping her dress tightly. Though she couldn’t see his face, she imagined his expression was cold and indifferent.
Tossing her hair back, Ou Xueman spoke in a measured tone, “I don’t mean to interrupt your intimacy, but I’d rather not witness an R-rated scene. Please make way and let me pass, and you can continue.”
Both looked at her in surprise; in his eyes, she saw shock and unfamiliarity.
A bittersweet sensation burned in her heart. He didn’t recognize her; to him, she was now a stranger, and she had always been insignificant. Why was she still hoping he would recognize her?
Carrying this sadness, she walked past him, giving them a suggestive glance before heading back to the venue without looking back.
She lightly passed in front of him, her familiar, elegant fragrance surprising Di Xihuang. He tried to recall its source but couldn’t. Perhaps it was her ambiguous gaze that rekindled his interest. He told the woman beside him, still in shock, “Wait for me in the car,” and followed Ou Xueman toward the venue.
Initially, he hadn’t planned to attend the cocktail party, but with Ou Wen unable to come and his goal to break into the Chinese mainland market from SZ city, he felt he had to. Just as boredom set in, a dazzling black figure caught his eye—a seductive face and graceful figure radiating allure. His first impression was that she was a kept mistress of a wealthy businessman, which made him look down on her.
However, when he overheard others discussing her and learned her surname was Ou, that she was a powerful businesswoman with a formidable company in SZ city, he was impressed by her low profile and rarity at such events.
Su Zhanbo invited him to speak on stage, and he tried to find her in the crowd but couldn’t, leaving him with an unexpected sense of disappointment.
He didn’t know how to handle this unfamiliar emotion, so he chose to ignore it. Disturbed by disappointment and losing the desire to stay, he was about to leave when he saw Huang Tianli drinking alone in a corner.
The cocktail party continued as he scanned the room searching for her. Seeing her smile among the crowd was like a passionate rose in bloom, catching everyone’s attention. Yet, a hint of subtle sadness lingered like a thin cloud over the moon.
Ou Xueman sensed his gaze and turned to see him approaching. Her heart stirred, and she tried to conceal her turmoil, raising her glass in greeting before escaping in the opposite direction.
However, a slightly cold hand caught her. Turning back in shock, she met his cold yet perfect face, and he whispered, “May I have the honor of sharing a dance with President Ou?”
This night felt like a replay of their past, with his words identical to before. He took her waist to the dance floor, and the waltz was the same as years ago. The people in the ballroom made way for them, surrounding them like stars around the moon.
His long fingers held her delicate hand while his other arm encircled her slim waist. His tall figure was like a solid wall, his broad chest a harbor – the man she once believed she could rely on.
Half-leaning in his embrace, she looked for unusual expressions on his cold face. Beyond the coldness, his obsidian-like eyes revealed a hint of conquering desire and mockery – a man’s desire to conquer a woman.
Would he conquer her? This surprised Ou Xueman. At her status, she wondered when she had sparked his interest. Considering his romantic history, this was nothing; conquering women was like a game to him, and she was merely his new entertainment.
The music played softly, and his dance skills impressed her even more. Under his lead, she twirled gracefully, her waist swaying, her dress flowing, her hair flying. In gentle movements, she resembled a budding flower; in swift moments, their bodies merged, sliding and spinning. The lights cast sparkling fragments upon them. Their coordination was perfect and harmonious, their dance magnificent, earning applause from the venue.
This feeling was too familiar, momentarily immersing her in past memories.
Lowering her eyes to conceal her emotions, she balanced her inner turbulence, the distancing smile returning to her lips.
“President Di, you’re not here specifically because of the garden incident, are you?”
Di Xihuang was slightly stunned. Moments ago, she had been observing him warily, her eyes reflecting intoxication and infatuation, like being lost in a beautiful memory. But that moment passed quickly as she masked her emotions again.
He was impressed to see a woman remain so pure in a world full of money and desire. He had encountered many women who compromised their integrity for wealth and power, but Di was different. The only other woman he had seen with such clarity of spirit he had destroyed, and she was irreplaceable.
He doubted such purity could exist anymore. The woman before him appeared seductive, and he suspected her purity was a facade. He wanted to conquer her, to strip away her dignity and expose her true self.
A cruel smile crept across his thin lips, causing her to shudder as memories of their past encounters flashed before her. She instinctively wanted to escape, but his hand on her waist held her in place.
“President Ou,” he said, his voice low, “how can you leave your dance partner midway?”
“President Di, this is surely not just about inviting me to dance,” a faint smile on her face. “If it’s about what happened in the garden earlier, you can rest assured, I, Ou Xueman, am not a gossip. Besides, with your reputation, President Di, another scandalous story is just another page in your romantic history.”
The depth in his eyes had receded, replaced by playful mockery. “President Ou knows me so well. What an honor. Are you also one of my past romantic encounters? Do we already know each other?”
A dim emotion seized her. A bitter smile formed on her lips as she whispered, “Of course I know you, but you haven’t recognized me.”
Her voice was too soft for him to hear clearly. He only caught the word “know,” which surprised him. “Do we really know each other?”
Suddenly, she felt exhausted, no longer having the energy to engage with him. Lifting her slightly darkened face, she said, “Of course I know you, President Di. Aren’t you constantly featured in financial and entertainment sections of newspapers, magazines, and websites?”
Di Xihuang was taken aback by her response, then broke into a light laugh.
“President Di, I’m a bit tired. Excuse me,” Ou Xueman politely said.
“Tired? Then let’s go to the garden.”
President Ou seems quite fond of that garden,” he said, pulling her out of the venue amid the shocked gazes of everyone present.
Ou Xueman had to almost run to keep up, thinking, “Doesn’t he understand ‘no’? He’s so domineering.”
Just as she was about to protest, she felt the scenery blur as he pulled her into his embrace. He lifted her chin, and an ambiguous atmosphere spread around them.
“President Ou, are you in such a hurry to leave because you have a rendezvous?” His handsome face showed no tenderness, his lips curling in subtle mockery as he approached her.
Her anger surged; he was accusing her of having a secret lover. However, she wore a seductive smile, as if inviting him to join her. “No, but…” she deliberately paused.
Di Xihuang showed no interest in her unfinished sentence. Her smile indicated his success; she was just like other women. Yet a sense of disappointment arose in his heart—why feel disappointed when this was what he wanted?
Lost in thought, a sudden pain shot through his back as she threw him over her shoulder and slammed him to the ground.
