Chapter 32: The Man’s Sudden ‘Consideration’
Jin Shi Yue leaned back lazily, lifting his gaze to glance at her.
“You’re quite skilled at peeking. Was it good?”
He hadn’t asked, but the moment he did, Lian Li’s mind instinctively began to assess the scene she had witnessed.
The night was deep, and the surrounding flowering trees swayed gently in the breeze, their light rippling across the lake surface.
The man leaned back loosely in the rattan chair, his tie undone, the top two buttons of his shirt unfastened, looking languid.
A suit was best for highlighting a cool, abstinent aura, but on his broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted frame, it exuded a sense of strength and sexual tension.
Was it good?
The answer was obvious.
His narrow, elongated eyes swept over her indifferently, his dark pupils adorned with a detached air.
Lian Li didn’t want to explain and prepared to leave: “Sorry, I won’t disturb you. I’ll just…”
A playful curve formed on Jin Shi Yue’s lips. “You’re not even calling me by my name. Are you talking to the air?”
Lian Li slowly blinked her eyelashes.
If you want to change your name to Air, I have no objections.
“Come here.” Jin Shi Yue arrogantly lifted his eyelids slightly, with a hint of an imperious air. “Say it again.”
Tonight was Elder Mei’s birthday banquet; she couldn’t cause trouble.
Lian Li pondered for three seconds and took a small step forward.
“Jin…”
Lian Li suddenly remembered his words, ‘Mr. Jin, are you calling me, or are you calling Jin Yan Ting?’ But calling him by his name directly felt a bit off, so the words at her lips changed to: “Second Young Master.”
Jin Shi Yue’s gaze lazily fell upon her face, softened by the lamplight, and he said dismissively, “I don’t like the word ‘Second.’ Change your address.”
He had quite a few peculiar habits.
After a moment of silence, Lian Li said with a straight face, “Young Master Jin.”
Jin Shi Yue: “Are you calling Jin Yan Ting?”
Mr. Jin, Young Master Jin, none of them worked. Adding ‘Second’ didn’t work either. Then how should she address him?
Lian Li tentatively asked, “Young Master Yue?”
Jin Shi Yue: “It sounds unpleasant.”
“……”
So difficult to please.
Jin Shi Yue leisurely shifted his posture, propping his chin with his left hand, adopting an infuriatingly relaxed stance as if watching to see what other tricks she could pull.
Lian Li decided to throw the hot potato back at him: “According to you, how should I address you?”
Jin Shi Yue asked, as if with a hint of curiosity and nonchalance, “How do you address Jin Yan Ting?”
He knew the answer already.
Lian Li calmly replied, “It’s different.”
You are different from him.
“How is it different?” Jin Shi Yue flicked some ash, as if asking casually.
Lian Li glanced at the smooth pebble on the wooden table, then shifted her gaze to Jin Shi Yue and said, “Brother Shi Yue?”
Jin Shi Yue remained noncommittal, his eyes, deepened by the night, scanning her up and down.
After a moment, he reached for the crystal ashtray and stubbed out his cigarette.
“You call me three characters, and Jin Yan Ting one. Is that too difficult for you?”
Lian Li found it hard to process his sudden ‘consideration.’
She saw his hand cover the pebble on the table; his long, perfect fingers, with prominent knuckles, and the bulging veins on the back of his hand like miniature mountain ranges.
Jin Shi Yue slowly stood up, his long legs carrying him past Lian Li.
Just as Lian Li breathed a sigh of relief, Jin Shi Yue turned back and called out lazily, “Still not leaving? Planning to go fishing in this dark and windy night? Shall I prepare some bait for you?”
Lian Li glanced at the pitch-black lake water. The weather was so cold, the fish would be frozen to death.
Only a fool would fish here.
Lian Li looked up at Jin Shi Yue and said, “You go first. I’ll stay here a bit longer.”
“Stay a bit longer,” Jin Shi Yue’s thin lips curved into a slight sneer. “And then accidentally have an accident. I’ll be the suspect.”
“……”
Was this man made of arsenic in his past life?
Or perhaps he was the reincarnation of an arsenic spirit.
Jin Shi Yue raised his wrist to check his wristwatch. “I’ll give you half an hour.”
Then, like an old master, he sat back down leisurely in the rattan chair.
Lian Li stood for a while, her legs starting to ache. She didn’t want to make things difficult for herself and pulled over the rattan chair next to him to sit down.
Her peripheral vision caught sight of the man beside her. He was looking down at his mobile phone, his face half-lit and half-shadowed, his emotions unreadable.
Lian Li placed her hands on the sides of the chair by her legs and quietly straightened her feet, stretching her ankles.
Jin Shi Yue, holding his mobile phone in one hand and typing, seemed to sense something and cast a glance her way.
Lian Li sat there at ease for about ten minutes before getting up and following Jin Shi Yue back.
The surrounding lights were dim, and she walked cautiously along the lake.
Jin Shi Yue casually tossed the pebble in his hand up and down, then suddenly stopped, turned around, and with an elegant flick of his wrist, released the pebble. It formed a parabola in the air, finally landing in the center of the lake.
The man stopped abruptly, and Lian Li had already stepped forward, unable to halt her momentum.
Immediately, the sound of a stone hitting water, ‘plop,’ rang in her ears.
The combination of two sudden events made Lian Li’s nerves sluggish, her balance faltered, and her body uncontrollably pitched forward.
The culprit watched her fall towards him with wide eyes, showing no intention of helping.
In her panic, Lian Li instinctively grabbed Jin Shi Yue’s arm, half her face buried in his embrace.
Their intertwined figures on the ground were incredibly intimate, like lovers embracing closely.
Lian Li was completely oblivious to this.
Her face pressed against the man’s arm through the fabric, she could clearly feel his firm warmth.
Lian Li’s face instantly flushed red.
Jin Shi Yue lowered his eyelids and looked down at her: “Junior Sister, are you planning to push me into the lake and silence me?”
Lian Li quickly stood up straight, released his arm, and hastily tidied her hair.
“You startled me.” Her voice trembled slightly, but without any hint of coquetry.
Jin Shi Yue raised an eyebrow: “Then I’ll startle you back.”
“……”
Wouldn’t a normal person apologize?
Never mind, the Eldest Young Master probably never apologized in his life.
“No, thank you.” Lian Li glanced at his arm, appearing slender in his clothes but solid and strong underneath.
Jin Shi Yue didn’t miss her fleeting glance: “What, planning to cripple me next time?”
Lian Li tilted her face up, her clear black and white eyes reflecting scattered light, and asked, “Do you have paranoia?”
Silencing her, crippling her… how could he even say such things.
Jin Shi Yue didn’t deny it: “Mm, every night I dream that you’re trying to harm me.”
Lian Li fell silent.
She should be the one worried about being harmed by him.
The man’s warmth from their brief touch still lingered, and Lian Li unconsciously touched her cheek with her hand.
“I have no motive to harm you.”
Jin Shi Yue glanced at her: “Why not?”
Lian Li didn’t understand.
“For love or money,” Jin Shi Yue said concisely.
Lian Li looked at him, her eyes darting slightly, and understood the meaning behind his words.
Jin Shi Yue was very rich, and he knew she liked Jin Yan Ting… and both of them were people she cared about.
“Junior Sister, you’d better protect me.”
Jin Shi Yue said lazily, “Otherwise, if something happens to me one day, you’ll be the one taking the blame.”
Lian Li had never heard such an absurd statement in her life.
He had paranoia, thinking she wanted to harm him, so shouldn’t he tell her to get lost and stay as far away from him as possible?
Why would he ask the murderer to protect the victim?
