Chapter 1: Chapter 1 The Strange Man in the Dim Room
In the dimly-lit hotel corridor.
Ye Shu, dragging the long train of her wedding dress, ran frantically forward, stepping over the rose petals scattered on the red carpet, her gait stumbling.
Behind her, the sounds of men and women entangled in heavy breathing persisted endlessly.
Downstairs, guests bustled about.
The engagement party was imminent, yet her fiancé was in the throes of passion with another woman.
Ye Shu felt this was the most humiliating day of her life.
Her veil was removed, and the trailing skirt of her wedding dress was ruthlessly torn to shreds.
Ye Shu's footsteps quickened, wishing she could sprout wings and fly away from this heartbreaking place at once.
As she passed the corner of the staircase, Ye Shu stumbled and tumbled down.
She closed her eyes in pain, thinking she would fall in front of the guests in the most embarrassing pose, becoming Jin City's most disgraceful would-be bride in history.
However, that didn't happen.
Ye Shu found herself crashing into a pair of warm arms.
"I'm sorry!" Ye Shu instinctively tried to move back.
But the other person pressed down on her, like a trapped beast, growling, and pushed her into a dimly lit suite.
Ye Shu's forehead hit the edge of the bed, the severe pain almost knocking her unconscious.
Before she could grasp the situation, she was wholly pinned within his embrace.
No matter how she struggled, it was to no avail.
The dim yellow light flickered, casting shadows on his tumultuously handsome face.
The night... turned a page, accompanied by Ye Shu's fear and humiliation.
The next day.
When Ye Shu woke up, the man's figure had long since disappeared from her side, leaving only a familiar light sandalwood scent lingering in the room.
She sat morosely at the head of the bed, scratching her disheveled hair, her thoughts complex.
The man's resilient eight-pack abs, his perfect long legs, thin lips, sexy Adam's apple, each image overlapped, each frame making her cheeks flush and her blood rush.
These images clung to her mind, refusing to fade away.
Ye Shu's ears, for some reason, had already turned red.
Ah, a moment ago, she was the victim of infidelity.
The next second, she became a party to infidelity.
Ye Shu, you're really down on your luck.
Ye Shu lit a slim cigarette, staring absently at the curling smoke, and muttered to herself low in her heart, "Gu Zuocheng, one for you, one for me, we're even now.
From now on, you take your sunny path, I'll walk my solitary bridge, and let's not interfere with each other's lives."
Ye Shu stubbed out the cigarette in the ashtray, rolled over, and prepared to get out of bed.
But something suddenly brushed against her thigh.
Ye Shu frowned, looked down, and saw a men's wristwatch, glittering gold and eye-catchingly ostentatious.
Ye Shu recognized it—it was an exclusive custom-designed wristwatch by the Earl.
The Earl was a darling of high society, extravagantly priced, suggesting that last night's man must be wealthy and noble.
Ye Shu twisted the watch around, her gaze suddenly fixed.
The 'Shaochen' character on the watch was glaringly conspicuous.
In all of Jin City, the only one bold enough to have 'Shaochen' engraved on a personal item was Sheng Shaochen, the Sheng Family Patriarch.
Ye Shu's heart skipped a beat, her thoughts racing.
Sheng Shaochen, Jin City's number one ascetic male deity, rumored to have a severe fear of women.
Yet he was the dream lover of countless young girls in Jin City.
Unexpectedly, she had slept with him.
Ye Shu laughed at herself mockingly, always hoping for a grand and stirring wedding.
Now, did this count as having her wish fulfilled?
On the day of the engagement party, not only did she catch her fiancé cheating, but she also shattered the myth-like rumors of Jin City's abstinent Sheng Shaochen... his supposed fear of women.
More importantly—Sheng Shaochen was her fiancé Gu Zuocheng's own cousin.
She wondered, what expression will Gu Zuocheng have when he finds out she slept with his cousin?
Could this be considered poetic justice?
Inside, Ye Shu felt a wave of not-so-righteous pleasure surge.
Casually, she slid the golden watch onto her slender wrist.