"...Hnh?" Wang Lingtian caught his gaze, then turned, his eyes widened.
"When the fuck did a woman like that co to Tianjin?" His voice filled with disbelief. "And why the hell wasn't I told?"
Long Qing coughed into her fist, snapping her heel against the floor.
"Don't slam the table, stupid. You'll scare off the waitresses."
She rolled her eyes, but curiosity tugged her. What the hell had caught all these idiots' attention?
Her senses were sharper than most, a side effect of her past. She never went through the conventional route. While other girls her age sat in classrooms, she had gone straight to military academies. Genetically enhanced under her father's shadow, her body was tuned for Aether control. A colonel by nineteen, until last year's car accident left her "retired." Retired, but far from soft.
The mont she glanced toward the corner, she spotted the woman instantly.... Her gaze sharpened.
Her lips tightened as she noticed Luo Yang staring as well. A faint smirk tugged at her mouth. Without a word, she twisted her fingers under the table.
Luo Yang shivered instantly, snapping his eyes forward like a guilty schoolboy. He still had to play the part, the dutiful boyfriend of Xin Ruoling. At least in front of Qing.
The sa couldn't be said for Wang Lingtian.
He leaned back, snapped his fingers, and waved a waiter over. "You. Go invite her."
The waiter hesitated, but went. A minute later, he returned shaking his head.
"Sir… she refused. She doesn't recognize you."
The woman had only glanced over her shoulder, wide, blinking dark eyes, then, seeing no familiar faces, turned back to her glass.
For her, it was routine, a weekly ritual to keep her sanity.
That single refusal, instead of cooling Wang Lingtian, made his desire burn hotter.
He grinned. "A woman too easy to conquer is boring. One that resists? That's worth the chase."
Chen Yufeng, lounging with his golden Pagani keychain dangling from his finger, raised his brows. "Careful. Last ti I tried to hit on a beauty like that, she turned out to be my mother's friend's daughter. Complained to the old man, and I couldn't sit for a week. Don't drag into your suicide mission, bro."
Wang Lingtian clicked his tongue. "Coward."
Long Qing's eyes slid back to them. She sighed. "How about just leaving her alone?"
Wang Lingtian's gaze cut to her, lips curling in a taunt. "Why? If I leave her alone, will the Minister's daughter keep company instead? You gonna warm my bed, Colonel Long?"
The table fell silent for a second. Luo Yang's knuckles whitened around his glass. Chen Yufeng smirked into his drink.
Long Qing frowned but said nothing. She wasn't here to play with brats. She was here because she liked speed.
Racing... Winning, and freedom.
But could she stop them from playing their gas with every other woman?
It was just a bad premonition.
Long Qing felt it in her gut. Her father had warned her before she left Beijing:
"Don't offend anyone in the Qing Dynasty. No matter how harmless they look, keep your distance."
She didn't understand why. She had pressed, asked questions, even pulled strings. The only answers she got were locked doors and silence. Which ant it was real. Which ant the people hiding there… were monsters beyond even her father's reach.
And tonight, staring across the club, Qing's chest tightened.
"Too bad. Sit with criminals, and you're guilty with them too..."
Because at the very sa table sat a woman, lazily yawning over her phone. Its glow lit up her weary face: unread texts.
From Xinyue Zhilan.
"Co ho for New Year."
The woman was Wang Jiarong.
She rubbed her forehead, groaning, then dropped her head onto the table with a thump.
"New Year, huh…?" she mumbled. "As if I can?"
Her lips puffed in a half-pout, half-scowl. Inside, though, the words twisted into sha. 'How do I go back after that…?'
That day. The humiliation. Her own brother, Wang Xiao.
She wanted to pretend it never happened. But how long could she live in denial before reality forced her hand?
And if she did face it, then what?
She laughed bitterly under her breath, whispering to herself: "...For won, the world's different. Even if we're the ones who suffer, once it's exposed, we're ruined too. Sa as the man who caused it..."
Silence… is safer.
Her hand covered her face, fingers parting just enough for her blurred eyes to glimpse the bright blurry lights. For a heartbeat, she saw a mory instead, a shadow blotting the skies.
Don't think won don't dream of power, she thought, teeth clenching. We do. We just don't get to hold it.
The silhouette in her mind, the overwhelming figure in Icevale. It had marked her forever.
She didn't notice the bartender sliding a glass across the counter, didn't notice the faint ripple as powder dissolved into the amber liquid.
She sighed and took a sip... The burn of alcohol spread warm through her chest.
She picked her phone again. She pressed call, lips forming the na softly:
"…Ruixin."
It rang. Once. Twice. Three tis. No answer.
She hung up, exhaling, shoulders slumped. "… she's avoiding too."
She didn't see him coming.
Wang Lingtian.
His shoes clicked against the floor, sharp, deliberate. He tugged at his suit jacket, smirking as he stepped into her space.
"Well, well… sitting here all alone, drowning in cheap liquor?" He leaned an elbow against the table, eyeing her up and down. "A beauty like you deserves better."
Wang Jiarong stiffened. "...Not interested."
"Not interested?" His grin widened, hungry. "Co now. Won who say that are always the most fun."
He chuckled, signaling the bartender with two fingers. "Bring another round. Stronger this ti." His eyes glinted, sliding back to her. "You'll feel better with soone to keep you company. Trust ."
Wang Jiarong's vision blurred faintly, but she forced her hand steady on the table.
"I said no," she whispered, though her voice shook.
Lingtian's smile didn't falter. He leaned closer, lowering his voice."Sweetheart, this is Tianjin. My city. You don't say no to ."
Wang Jiarong's face twisted for a mont, then smoothed into a smile. Her dark lashes lifted as her gaze locked on his. "Then… that ans you'll do anything for ?"
The sudden shift made him blink. Those eyes, dark, faintly drunk, but burning with a quiet fire, held him in place.
He nodded, lips curling. "At your service."
Her smile deepened. "Good. Then how about… scram off for ?"
The words hit him like a slap.
Lingtian froze, speechless. The bartender coughed awkwardly behind the counter, but before the tension could settle, Lingtian's face darkened.
"You bitch-" he spat, hand snapping out to seize her wrist.
But her hand moved faster.
Her body didn't feel steady tonight, her blood still heavy with alcohol and stress. And yet… right now, she was smiling.
Her fingers closed around the glass.
CRASH!
The sound split the club as she slamd it against his skull. Shards exploded, amber liquor mixing with the sudden trickle of blood running down his temple.
Gasps erupted from the nearby tables.
Wang Lingtian staggered, one hand clutching his head, eyes wide in stunned disbelief.
"Y–You… you dared?!" His voice cracked between disbelief and fury.
For a second, silence.
CRASH!
Then chairs scraped, tables shook, and a chorus of angry voices erupted.
"Lingtian!"
"Shao Wang-are you okay?!"
"She hit him? That bitch hit him?!"
The group of young heirs who had been lounging with him just minutes ago surged forward. Chen Yufeng shot up, knocking over his drink."Holy shit, she actually dared-!"
Zhao Yichun stumbled in with his diamond-studded jacket, chewing his gum so hard it snapped."Fuck! She cracked a glass on his head, this is our turf, no outsider pulls that here!"
Behind them ca Tang Wei, calm but sharp-eyed, gesturing to the shadows. Instantly, half a dozen bodyguards pushed forward through the crowd, suits bulging where weapons might be hidden.
The nightclub's music stuttered, then cut entirely... Every eye turned toward the table.
Wang Lingtian staggered, his palm pressed to the cut on his head. For a second he looked stunned. Then his lips curled back into a snarl.
"You slut… you dare!" His voice shook with rage.
The heirs fanned around him, shouting.
"Boss, say the word, we'll drag her out!"
"She doesn't know who she's ssing with!"
"Break her legs!"
A few patrons had already scrambled out the door, whispering, terrified.
Wang Jiarong sat frozen, her hand still tingling from the impact. The room spun faintly, the alcohol, the noise, the flashing lights, but through it all, she felt only one thing.
A hollow confusion tugged at Jiarong's lips.
'Why did I do that…?'
She had just caused a ss. A real one. And for so reason, that made her want to laugh and cry all at once.
Her eyes darted around, searching desperately for so way out as the circle closed in. Suddenly, she shouted:
"Wait! Do you even know who I am?!"
The nightclub froze.
Wang Lingtian barked out a laugh, blood dripping down his temple. "What the fuck does that have to do with ?! Who the hell are you?!"
Wang Jiarong's face fell. '…Doesn't it work like this in dramas?'
The crowd surged forward. Chen Yufeng was first. Wang Jiarong panicked.
"Ugh! Go away!" She shoved him with both hands. He tumbled back, swearing as she bolted for the door.
"Grab her!" voices roared behind.
Outside, the valet was nervously instructing guards. His forehead dripped sweat, these cars were worth more than the damn club. The last thing he expected was to nearly die of fright when a woman in heels ca tearing toward him, a mob behind her.
"Give it to !" Wang Jiarong snatched the key from his hands before he even realized what was happening.
She dove into the golden Pagani, slamming the doors shut and fumbling at the console.
"H-How the hell do you start this thing-?!"
From outside, Chen Yufeng pounded the window, shrieking, "That's my car, you psycho-don't you dare-!"
VROOOOM!
The Pagani roared to life, flas spitting from the exhaust. In her panic, Jiarong floored it. The hypercar leapt forward, smashing into the front of the Bugatti with an expensive crunch.
She reversed wildly, clipping Chen Yufeng's leg.
"AAAAARGH! MY LEG! SHE BROKE MY FUCKING LEG!"
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