Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The moment I finished speaking, Lu Xuyan hurled the entire bottle of wine against the wall.

The others rushed to restrain him around the waist, not even daring to call his name.

“He’s, uh, had too much to drink. Please don’t take it personally, Sister-in-law.”

I shrank back. The next instant, Zhou Hui-already fully committed to his new role-wrapped me in his arms.

“Yin-yin is easily frightened. I’ll take her home.”

Lu Xuyan charged over and pointed half a broken bottle at Zhou Hui.

“Just try taking her away today.”

Zhou Hui pulled a corner of his mouth upward and moved me behind him. “I’ll make up the birthday celebration another day. Don’t be impulsive.”

Unable to contain his fury, Lu Xuyan drew back a fist and swung for Zhou Hui’s face.

I stepped in front of Zhou Hui, and the expression on Lu Xuyan’s face was spectacular.

“Chu Yin, do you even know who he is? Why are you protecting him?”

“Look at me carefully.”

If not for the wounds on his hand, I truly might not have recognized him.

But so what if I did?

“I may be face-blind, but I can still recognize my own boyfriend.”

Lu Xuyan’s chest heaved. I took a bandage from my purse and stuffed it into his palm.

“I don’t know who you are, but next time we meet, call me Sister-in-law and I’ll know you’re one of Xuyan’s friends.”

A derisive laugh sounded above me, and Lu Xuyan seized my shoulders.

The next second, Zhou Hui pried his fingers away one by one.

“Enough. We’re going home. Tonight’s bill is on me.”

As Zhou Hui turned away with an arm around me, Lu Xuyan smashed every bottle of wine in the room.

I followed Zhou Hui into a brand-new Rolls-Royce Cullinan.

“Xuyan, is he your friend? Why is he so fierce?”

Zhou Hui drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and regarded me with interest.

“He used to pursue you. Don’t you remember?”

The car was spacious. I turned and buried myself against his waist, sounding aggrieved.

“You know I’m face-blind. How could I possibly tell so many people apart?”

Laughing, Zhou Hui pulled me upright, leaned over, and pinned me against the window.

Just then, the phone on my thigh began vibrating urgently.

In the past, whenever they committed to this charade, they would swap the contacts in my phone.

But today they clearly had not had time.

The screen displayed Lu Xuyan’s name.

Yet Shen Jin’s voice came through the receiver.

“Yin-yin, where are you? I’ll come take you home.”

So that was why he had kept his temper in the private room-he had planned to steal me away afterward.

Pressed against the glass, I could barely breathe. I gasped like someone drowning, only for Zhou Hui to push me down again.

He deliberately used more force, drawing an unguarded moan from me.

The other end went silent. Then Shen Jin’s composure finally shattered.

“Zhou Hui! Just try touching her!”

Zhou Hui kissed me with such determination that I had no attention to spare.

When he had me trapped in the corner, I pushed at his shoulder.

“The phone… I think someone is saying something.”

Zhou Hui tossed it into the back seat, cutting Shen Jin’s voice off at once.

“Just a nuisance call.”

I did not expose his lie. I simply sat properly in the passenger seat and smoothed my skirt.

From the corner of my eye, I thought I saw a Cayenne following us.

Unlike a spoiled second-generation heir such as Lu Xuyan, who did nothing useful all day, Shen Jin at least had a job.

He was the Shen family’s only son, and they placed enormous expectations on him.

Calling him mature beyond his years would be an understatement.

In all these years, the most outrageous thing he had ever done was probably impersonate Lu Xuyan.

The second most outrageous was chasing another car on an elevated highway.

Zhou Hui glanced in the rearview mirror and silently pressed the accelerator to the floor.

After losing Shen Jin, Zhou Hui took me to his home.

He might no longer remember, but I had been here once while I was dating Lu Xuyan.

Lu Xuyan had said one of his friends was ill and asked me to deliver medicine.

Zhou Hui had opened the door with his face flushed from fever. He had frozen at the sight of me and awkwardly pulled his coat more tightly around himself.

Looking back now, perhaps Lu Xuyan had been planning this game even then.

Zhou Hui nipped my ear and pressed me against the floor-to-ceiling window.

“What are you thinking about?”

My ear tingled. I tried to dodge, only to be caught and drawn back into his arms.

“Whether I should still make the longevity noodles.”

Zhou Hui released me with a laugh. “It’s only a birthday. Does it matter that much to you?”

“Why? Doesn’t it matter to you?”

His phone rang without pause-sometimes Shen Jin, sometimes Lu Xuyan. He ignored every call.

He lifted my leg and leaned in. “It matters. It matters so much I could die.”