In the car, Shen Wanci blinked her red-rimmed eyes, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Just now something fell into her eye, she looked at the mirror for a long time but couldn't find it. She rubbed her eyes with tissues until the area around them was red, but the feeling of having something stuck in her eye didn't ease.

Finally, Bo Jingzhou couldn't bear it anymore and forcefully turned her face around.

The man leaned in close, his warm breath tickling her face. When Shen Wanci opened her eyes, she could see his attractive and sexy lips right before her.

This scene, which appears sweet and ambiguous to outsiders, is simply torment to Shen Wanci now.

She stayed up all night last night, her complexion wasn't good. She specially put on a full face of makeup this morning. When she rubbed her eyes just now, she didn't remember, later when she saw the eyeshadow and eyeliner on her hand that had smudged, she remembered, but by then Bo Jingzhou was already approaching.

Now, he had been staring at her face for almost five minutes.

Shen Wanci couldn't help but nudge him, pressing her voice down and asking, "Can we?"

"Mmm," he replied, "Is it still hurting?"

Shen Wanci blinked her eyes, and since there was no longer a foreign body sensation, she shook her head.

I thought Bo Jingzhou would let go of me soon, but he didn't. Instead, he leaned in closer, as if he was going to kiss me.

Shen Wanci tilted her head, "Jian Weining."

The man frowned, "You like her? You keep calling her name even when you're kissing me."

Shen Wanci raised her chin, motioning him to look across. "Your ex-lover looks like she's about to cry. Are you sure you want to kiss me in front of her?"

The voice was light and upbeat, clearly taking a playful and amused stance.

Bo Jingzhou turned back and sure enough, saw Jian Weining standing across the street. She was biting her lip with a wronged expression as she watched them. When their gazes met, it was as if he had found his anchor. Tears instantly streamed down her face.

The street wasn't wide, so Shen Wanci could clearly see her face: "Tsk, she's crying. If she were born in a certain aunt's heyday, she would definitely be the darling protagonist. Tears falling from between her eyelids, not even a trace on her face, yet heartbroken to tears, her features didn't fly around in disorder."

Bo Jingzhou glanced at her, "So you're saying all this because you're jealous that she cried better than you?"

He retreated back to his position, rolled up the car window, and said, “Although you crying is quite unsightly, I didn't find it disgusting. Don't belittle yourself so much.”

Shen Wanci sneered in anger, "That's because you have blind eyes and mistake pearls for fish eyes."

Bo Jingzhou didn't speak. He simply snapped the parasol down, right in line with Shen Wanci's eyes that were blurred by tears.

The weather isn't hot right now, she didn't even sweat after working all day, so she didn't use waterproof makeup. Plus, she rubbed her eyes before, that's why it looks so bad.

The man raised an eyebrow. "Black Pearl?"

Shen Wanci ignored him, took out a makeup remover wipe and wiped her face. The car in front turned its head and drove past Jian Weining without stopping for a moment.

She glanced in the rearview mirror, meeting Jian Weining's resentful gaze.

……

Night falls.

After sending his guest off, Nie YuCheng turned back and came into the hall. Too tired to go upstairs, he simply sat down and ordered a bottle of strong liquor.

He was already slightly intoxicated earlier, and now after just two cups, he couldn't hold on any longer. He supported his temples with his hands, closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep.

Deafening rock music filled the air, while sexy women in glittering outfits danced jazz on stage. The scent of alcohol mingled with perfume, sending adrenaline surging through everyone's veins.

A familiar voice cut through the music and reached his ears: "Yu Cheng..."

Nie YuCheng slowly opened his eyes, and saw Jian WeiNing standing in front of him. She was wearing a long black dress, with nothing but a watch on her body. Perhaps because of her years of dancing, even just standing there, she stood out among the crowd of women in heavy makeup and revealing clothing.

Jian Wei Ning sat down on the chair beside him: “Are you unhappy because Wan Ci has been getting closer to Jing Zhou recently, so you’re drinking your sorrows away here?”

Ever since she saw Bo Jingzhou and Shen Wanci together under the Nie family's house that day, she had someone keep a close eye on them. She found out that whenever Shen Wanci went to the Nie family, Jingzhou would definitely be there.

Nie Yucheng frowned, “What do you want to say?”

Jian Weining smiled and leaned closer to him, her low voice laced with a seductive tone. She held a white pill in her hand: "If it weren't for Jingzhou and Wanci sleeping together back then, they wouldn't have gotten married. Have you ever thought about what would have happened if you had slept with her? If you had, she would have married you."

Nie Yu Cheng looked at her, perhaps at the pill in her hand, his eyes unreadable, a darkness swirling within.

"Now that they're divorced, everything's back to square one. You just need to find a way to get her to take this medicine, and she'll be yours. From then on, everyone will call her Mrs. Nie, not Mrs. Bo."

“...”

Despite the noise all around, there was a profound silence between them.

Jian Nie Yu Cheng didn't speak. Jian Wei Ning continued to provoke him: "Yu Cheng, Wan Ci doesn't love you, or she may have never loved you. Those seemingly loving actions are just a kind of worship of excellent people during adolescence. This is your only chance, are you sure you don't want it?"

Shen Wanci's eyes held no trace of affection, which Nie Yucheng knew better than anyone.

Jian Weining was right, this might be his only chance, his only opportunity to get her.

He reached out and took the pills from her hand.

Jian Weining’s scheme worked. He smiled faintly and said, “It's already late at night for Wanci, she’s in room 309. Don't you think this means heaven itself thinks you two are meant to be?”

Floor three, room 309.

Apart from Shen Wanci, there were three other women. They were all her college roommates. After graduation, they went their separate ways. Two of them returned to their hometowns to develop, and one went to Haishi.

Since it was a rare occasion that we were all finally together, we decided to get drinks after dark.

Xu Ke said most sentimentally, "I thought we would never see each other again in our lifetime. After all, the four of us are spread out in all directions—east, west, south, and north. It's a rare occasion for us to get together like this, so we must drink until we're tipsy."

Shen Wanci knew her behavior after drinking wasn't good, so she always held back. "You three can just get drunk, I'll take you to the hotel. You can't all pass out here and become corpses, right?"

"It's nothing, isn't it said that Ye Lan is the safest club in all of Kyoto? Anyway, our designated hotel is just upstairs. We can just have a waiter take us up later."

Darkness only offers relative safety, and even facing the elite, I am powerless.

She didn't say anything about this, feeling rather down. She had decided not to get drunk, so she dodged their persuasion to drink whenever possible.

Yang Mengchen, who had been silent all along, shook his head and offered Shen Wanci a glass of wine. "Wanci, I'm a little drunk. Let's have this drink and leave first. When Xu Ke and Rui Xi get drunk, we'll come down and pick them up."