Chapter 1
Chapter 1
In truth, there had been signs all along.
Lu Xuyan disliked being intimate with me, and if I said more than a few words about work, he would frown.
But the man in front of me never did.
When he saw me approach, Shen Jin closed his laptop and slipped a hand beneath the hem of my nightdress, his breathing turning uneven.
I draped myself obediently over his shoulder and swayed against him.
“Your birthday is tomorrow. Have you decided how you want to celebrate?”
The hand at my waist froze, and Shen Jin looked up at me.
Tomorrow was Lu Xuyan’s birthday.
But if he hadn’t lied to me-if he truly was Lu Xuyan-why would that matter?
I gazed at him with perfect innocence. Shen Jin’s Adam’s apple bobbed, and his desire abruptly faded.
“Same as always. I’ll invite a few friends over.”
I wound my arms around his shoulders again and leaned closer, my voice blurred and breathless. “There’s a birthday present right here. Don’t you want to unwrap it early?”
Shen Jin did possess some self-control-just not very much.
When we were both spent, I deliberately lay across his chest and called out Lu Xuyan’s name.
The hand holding his cigarette paused. He stroked my hair, his emotion impossible to read.
“Yin-yin, go to sleep.”
I slept deeply that night, and it was already afternoon when I woke.
With his back to me, Shen Jin was on the phone. “I know. I’ll bring her.”
I wrapped my arms around his waist from behind and asked lazily, “Who are you talking to?”
His hand jerked, and the phone fell to the floor.
I clung to him and kissed him, pretending not to see Lu Xuyan’s name glowing on the screen.
Lu Xuyan’s friends were excellent actors.
Yet when Shen Jin entered the private room with an arm around my waist, surprise still flickered across their faces.
The real Lu Xuyan sat in the middle of the sofa, laughing softly with a long-haired girl in his arms.
At the sight of us, he pressed his tongue against his cheek, looking inexplicably annoyed.
“Sister-in-law is as beautiful as ever.”
The words came through gritted teeth, but I found them pleasing enough. I tucked myself closer into Shen Jin’s embrace.
“It’s all thanks to the birthday boy.”
Crack.
Lu Xuyan crushed the glass in his hand.
The room went silent, and the girl in his arms flinched.
Zhou Hui, who had not spoken until then, rose to smooth things over.
Zhou Hui had an excellent figure, which made him the easiest to recognize.
“I reserved a bottle of good wine as my birthday gift to Brother Lu.”
I quickly straightened. “I’ll go get it.”
The bottle had been stored at the club long ago, and it took the staff quite a while to find it.
As I returned with it, I happened to hear my own name.
“Brother Xuyan, Chu Yin’s face blindness is that severe. Why do you keep stringing her along?”
With me absent, Lu Xuyan’s friends had stopped pretending.
Fine cuts still marked Lu Xuyan’s hand, which hung loosely over his knee.
“Because it’s fun. She believes anyone who claims he’s Lu Xuyan. Don’t you find that amusing?”
Come to think of it, he had been the one to pursue me.
We first met at a showcase performance by the university drama club.
He discovered my secret-that I was face-blind-and offered to act opposite me.
Tall and long-legged, he drove a Cayenne around campus every day with outrageous swagger. The girls chasing him could have formed a line all the way to the new campus.
I had been overwhelmed by his attention, while he had tied a red cord around his wrist with an utterly sincere expression.
“Yin-yin, this way you won’t mistake anyone else for me.”
Many years had passed since graduation, and that red cord had vanished long ago.
After speaking, Lu Xuyan glanced at Shen Jin in the corner.
“A whole month, and she still hasn’t noticed. Shen Jin, you’ve really got talent.”
“But your girlfriend looks like she’s close to figuring it out. Shouldn’t we switch back?”
I had never known Shen Jin had a girlfriend.
In the corner, Shen Jin pinched a cigarette between his fingers and shook his head.
“I’m afraid that won’t work. Yin-yin is still waiting for me to come home for dinner.”
Lu Xuyan sneered. “Shen Jin, have you grown addicted to the role?”
“Don’t forget whose girlfriend Chu Yin actually is.”
My hand had just settled on the doorknob when someone suddenly covered my mouth from behind.
I turned and saw Zhou Hui.
He held two wineglasses by their stems in one hand and looked down at me.
“Don’t rush in. Can you actually tell which one is your boyfriend?”
He took the bottle from me, turned sideways, and pushed open the door while shielding me completely from view.
“What is it this time? Who are you planning to pass off as Chu Yin’s boyfriend?”
I dug my nails into my palm. When, exactly, had this game begun?
Neither man answered. Zhou Hui lifted the bottle and poured, the dark red wine sliding down the wall of the glass.
“Why don’t we let Sister-in-law choose for herself?”
Lu Xuyan tapped the table. “Zhou Hui, do you think this is funny?”
Shen Jin tugged at his tie and cut him off.
“I think it’s a good idea. What’s wrong with putting the choice in Yin-yin’s hands?”
“Whoever she leaves with is her boyfriend.”
Lu Xuyan’s temper flared, though I had no idea where his confidence came from.
Without the red cord, why was he so certain I would still choose him?
I pressed down on the cold handle and pushed the door open.
The tense atmosphere vanished in an instant.
Every gaze in the room locked onto me.
My eyes drifted across the crowd.
When Lu Xuyan and I had first started dating, he loved teasing me like this.
He said the lost, bewildered look on my face was fascinating.
But if he truly found it so entertaining, why was his injured hand clenched so tightly?
Shen Jin sat in the corner, holding an unlit cigarette between his fingertips.
I had indeed promised to cook for him tonight and make him a bowl of longevity noodles with my own hands.
But whether he was “Lu Xuyan” was now for me to decide.
Wineglass in hand, I walked very slowly.
Under both men’s stares, I went straight to Zhou Hui, who had only been watching the spectacle, and raised my glass.
“Happy birthday, Xuyan!”