Volume One, Chapter 69: The Scoundrel

Jiang Wan was just about to give up her seat when the girl sitting on her other side stood up and said, “Mr. Shen, you sit here. I was just about to head to the restroom.” Shen Xinghe didn’t stand on ceremony. He nodded and took the seat.

The moment he sat down, Jiang Wan, caught between the two men, felt an inexplicable sense of being trapped, as though needles pricked her seat.

But Shen Xinghe was entirely absorbed in the game. He raised his right hand and declared loudly, “Now we have witnesses. Everyone who’s ever been in a relationship, bend a finger!”

Just as everyone turned to Lu Wenzhou for confirmation, the seated man bent his thumb.

Lu Wenzhou’s tacit admission surprised everyone. Who would have thought Shen Xinghe had really never been in a relationship?

Amid the sighs and exclamations, nearly everyone bent a finger.

Shen Xinghe had been feeling self-satisfied just a moment before, but now he suddenly realized, “Why do I feel like I just insulted myself?”

As he finished, he nudged Jiang Wan’s elbow.

“Your turn. Start from you.”

“I…” Jiang Wan looked at her right hand with one finger folded down. “I own a great company.”

“Come on, all you wage slaves, bend a finger!” Shen Xinghe stood up excitedly to supervise. “Let’s see who dares break the rules!”

As soon as he finished, protests rose from the crowd.

“We all have great companies, just like President Jiang,” someone retorted. “But Mr. Shen and Master Lu, you two own more than just one company, don’t you?”

“That’s right, exactly!” someone chimed in.

“It’s Mr. Shen and Master Lu who should bend their fingers.”

“What do you think, President Jiang?”

“Mm.” Jiang Wan nodded, agreeing with the crowd.

Shen Xinghe’s expression changed at once. “Alright, alright, so you’re all united against us, excluding the two of us!”

He gritted his teeth and bent a finger, pointing at Lu Wenzhou. “Come on, dear nephew, say something to wipe them all out!”

In an instant, he shifted sides, now forming an alliance with Lu Wenzhou.

However, Lu Wenzhou ignored him and simply said, “I lived in England for two years.”

“Hey, coincidentally, I studied in England too,” an employee in the crowd said, then added, “But it has to be exactly as Master Lu said: England, not any other country abroad, and it has to be over two years!”

Most people bent a finger, including Jiang Wan.

Xia Nuan, sitting nearby, happened to notice. “President Jiang, didn’t you also study in England? Didn’t you—”

Before she could finish, Jiang Wan had already bent her index finger, ignoring the man beside her, and gave Xia Nuan a gentle smile.

“Not quite two years. I dropped out.”

As her calm words fell, the man beside her suddenly stiffened.

Lu Wenzhou was about to look up at her, but Jiang Wan had already averted her gaze, her expression calm and unreadable.

Instead, it was Shen Xinghe who became agitated, stamping his foot. “You traitor! Can’t you be on my side for once? If you were in England, you were in England—why add a time limit? Don’t you know your uncle travels all over the world?”

Reluctantly, he bent a finger and signaled to the next person.

“Heh, I’ve got a big one,” the next woman grinned mischievously, raising her left hand to show off a wedding ring. “I’m married! Aside from me and President Jiang, everyone here is single.”

At that, the room erupted into noisy chatter.

Shen Xinghe stared in disbelief at Jiang Wan. “Wait, Jiang Wan, you’re really married?”

He glanced at her left ring finger, where a simple wedding band looked like an ordinary accessory.

“Wow, I thought Andrew was just joking with me,” Shen Xinghe said, now more interested in gossip than the game. “Where’s your husband? I’ve been here a few days and haven’t seen a trace. Is it a sham marriage?”

His sharp tongue instantly changed the lively atmosphere into something more delicate.

Nearly two months had passed since the wedding, but Gu Huaixu remained nowhere to be seen.

No one said anything openly, but everyone whispered secretly, suspecting there was more to their marriage than met the eye.

The room fell silent.

Jiang Wan met the moment with composure. “He’s busy abroad.”

“Tch,” Shen Xinghe scoffed. “Busy, right. Men are all the same—once they have what they want, they stop cherishing it. Dogs, the lot of us.”

His remark shifted the mood again.

“Mr. Shen, you’re ruthless enough to insult yourself too?”

“It’s the truth,” Shen Xinghe shrugged, unconcerned. “I’m a man myself. Who would know better what men are like?”

As he spoke, his gaze flickered over Lu Wenzhou, and suddenly he felt a chill.

Lu Wenzhou’s dark, brooding eyes reflected the firelight, staring straight at him, as if ready to push him into the flames and melt him down.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Shen Xinghe rubbed his arms and continued to complain, “Well, if you’re so capable, don’t be a dog yourself…”

With that, he bent his finger and moved to the next person.

“I’ve never had a period.”

At the sound of a man’s voice, Shen Xinghe gave him a thumbs-up. “Bravo, brother. Finally, a point for the men!”

Shen Xinghe switched sides again, acting as if he hadn’t just been complaining about men.

All the women in the room bent a finger.

From then on, the game took a turn. The next few answers revolved around gender.

No one could escape the fate of finishing one hand and having to drink.

“I’ve never worn high heels.”

“I wear lipstick every day.”

“I’ve worn a long dress.”

…

“I’ve never shaved.”

When a woman’s voice said this nearby, Jiang Wan had only her pinky left upright on her right hand.

It stood alone, unmoved.

Yet a man’s voice, low and tinged with displeasure, drifted to her on the wind.

“You’ve never shaved?”

Lu Wenzhou’s gaze was sharp as he followed the trail of questions and answers to Jiang Wan.

He stared at her bluntly and asked.

Jiang Wan couldn’t help but turn her head, meeting his dissatisfied eyes and tracing his cold, chiseled features down to his jaw, sharp as if carved by a blade.

After a day’s growth, a faint stubble shadowed his jaw, as if to remind her: when they lived together, he had once taught her to shave.

Because of their height difference, he would lean lazily against the sink with one hand, bathrobe carelessly tied, exposing his broad chest.

The first time she held the razor to his face, Jiang Wan was so nervous her hands trembled, daring only to scrape away the foam with utmost caution.

The more clumsy and careful she was, the deeper the amusement in his eyes.

“Do you treasure me that much?” he teased, laughing as he covered her hand with his, guiding her movements along his jaw.

Inch by inch, the clean skin gradually emerged.

She focused intently, but he began to tease her.

Taking advantage of their proximity, he pecked her lips again and again, until the minty shaving foam smeared her chin.

“Hey!” Jiang Wan glared at him, exasperated. “If you keep fooling around, I won’t help you shave anymore.”

“Alright,” he replied eagerly, as if that was exactly what he wanted. He took the razor from her hand.

“Help me with something else first.”

A smile deepened in his dark eyes.

Before Jiang Wan could retreat, his large hand pressed against her lower back, drawing her into his arms with a gentle squeeze.

What began as a tentative kiss deepened, growing more possessive and intense.