Chapter 2: Daring to Dig Up the Earth Above the Tai Sui
The high-pitched singing stopped. Lian Li exited the room, the evening breeze lifting a few strands of hair from her forehead.
The warm orange lights of the courtyard illuminated the vermilion corridor. Lian Li walked leisurely down the path, her mobile phone buzzing with a message.
She stopped and tapped to open WeChat to check it.
It was from Jin Yan Ting’s Assistant.
Miss Lian, Mr. Jin had an urgent matter and left early. Please enjoy yourself, someone will escort you home later.
Lian Li replied and put away her phone.
She stood on the white marble steps, gazing into the distance. The night sky was desolate, the firmament a deep, dark hue, like thick ink that had been spread out.
“Lian Li?” a voice suddenly called out.
Hearing the sound, Lian Li shifted her gaze to the speaker. She recognized him as Young Master Zhao Lizheng from the Zhao family.
He was dressed in decadent luxury, his face full of drunkenness, and he was smiling at her.
A strong smell of alcohol wafted over, and Lian Li subtly raised her hand to cover her nose.
Zhao Lizheng lewdly teased, “I’m hosting a gathering next week, will you come perform a piece?” This beautiful girl was well-built and hot, indescribably fiery. He had coveted her for a long time.
“An orchestra’s performance fee is very high,” Lian Li maintained a distant demeanor.
“Money is easy to talk about,” Zhao Lizheng said with a playful smirk, “Whatever Eldest Young Master Jin offers, I’ll double it for you.”
A hint of cunning flashed in Lian Li’s eyes, and she calmly asked, “Double it, really?”
Zhao Lizheng thought she had caved, and his face lit up with triumphant glee, “Of course! I always keep my word.”
“Then please, Young Master Zhao, cut off your own legs. I will perform for you when you pay the fee.”
“You…!”
Zhao Lizheng, having been tricked, was furious, but he licked his dry lips and inexplicably started to laugh.
“Lian Li, a wise person knows when to adapt. Young Master Jin will abandon you within a month, why not come with me now.”
Lian Li didn’t want to waste words with a drunkard and started to walk away.
“I’m telling you, don’t push your luck!” Zhao Lizheng shouted, raising his voice.
A young master with his pride and arrogance could not tolerate being ignored by a woman.
As Lian Li brushed past, Zhao Lizheng reached out and grabbed her shoulder. Before he could touch her, Lian Li quickly extended her leg and unceremoniously kicked his kneecap. With a ‘thump’, the sound of a body falling was accompanied by a scream.
“Ah!”
Zhao Lizheng fell down the steps, his knees hitting the hard ground with a heavy thud, causing intense pain in his bones.
He lay there in disarray on the withered, beautiful petals, and heard Lian Li’s innocent and terrified voice:
“Oh my, what should I do? I thought it was a mouse?”
“No, are you blind!? You can’t even tell the difference between a mouse and a person!” Zhao Lizheng was burning with rage, struggling to get up.
The night wind’s chill pierced his skin, exacerbating the pain in his wrist. Lian Li tried to leave, but her wrist was grabbed.
Coincidentally, it was the injured hand.
Lian Li frowned and turned to retaliate, but unexpectedly, a person walked up from behind and effortlessly twisted Zhao Lizheng’s hand off her wrist.
Lian Li turned her head and saw a tall, slender man standing by the begonia tree. He had high brow bones, narrow phoenix eyes that slanted slightly upwards at the corners, and a faint halo seemed to emanate from him. He possessed an extremely aggressive handsomeness.
A single glance made one feel an overwhelming sense of pressure.
She was slightly stunned, forgetting the pain.
Jin Shi Yue slowly released his grip, and Zhao Lizheng stumbled back two steps before managing to stand steady.
“Zhao San, did you drink your brain away? You dare to stir up trouble under the Tai Sui’s head.”
Jin Shi Yue’s profile was partially hidden in the dappled light and shadow. As he spoke, his Adam’s apple bobbed, his voice carrying a casual, mocking tone that sent shivers down one’s spine.
Zhao Lizheng’s eyelids twitched violently, his mind instantly clearing, and he was astonished.
He quickly put away his unsavory behavior and said with great trepidation, “Brother Shi Yue!”
Hearing the words ‘Brother Shi Yue’, Lian Li’s heart tightened, and she finally remembered who he was.
Jin Shi Yue, Jin Yan Ting’s younger brother.
She had almost no contact with him.
The last time they met was two years ago on a private yacht in the port area.
At that time, he was wearing a floral shirt, a cigarette between his lips, hands in his pockets, leaning casually against the railing. Amidst the crowd, he casually glanced over.
He looked like a dissolute and wicked young master.
His features were similar to Jin Yan Ting’s, but his style was completely different.
Jin Shi Yue’s sharp black eyes casually swept over Lian Li, who immediately lowered her gaze, adopting the posture of a well-behaved, model student, as if she weren’t the little leopard who had just fiercely kicked down an adult man.
Lian Li’s hands began to tremble inch by inch. She pressed down on her hands.
Don’t shake, don’t shake.
You’re doing great…
She kept her head down, not looking at the two men. She heard Zhao Lizheng grit his teeth and apologize, followed by the sound of receding footsteps.
In the quiet courtyard, only the girl and the flowers remained.
Lian Li exhaled the breath she had been holding in her throat.
She lowered her eyelashes and rolled up her sleeve to check her injury.
Her wrist was visibly red and swollen, the joints aching terribly, making her entire arm feel weak and useless, as if it were about to be crippled.
Lian Li felt like she was turning into a modern-day Yang Guo.
She walked out of the main gate of the siheyuan, but the driver hadn’t arrived yet.
Within the Second Ring Road, it was difficult to get a taxi at this hour.
While waiting, Lian Li went to a 24-hour convenience store at the corner of the next street.
The convenience store had no medicine, only food.
She bought ice cream and rice balls. The ice cream was to temporarily soothe the burning pain, and the rice balls were to fill her stomach.
As it was about time, Lian Li came out of the convenience store and walked back along the street. At this hour, there were few cars within the Second Ring Road, and all of them were luxury cars.
A Hongqi L9 with tinted windows drove out from the hutong entrance and stopped smoothly beside her.
In this prime location, the dark car looked like a lurking beast.
A person got out of the driver’s seat. It wasn’t the old driver uncle, but a young man with a clear and handsome face.
“Miss Lian,” Li Ye respectfully opened the car door for her.
Lian Li leaned halfway into the car before realizing a man was already sitting inside, his eyes closed, resting.
He was leaning against the seat, the lines of his brow bone and nose bridge forming a distinguished profile. His chiseled, handsome face exuded a languid laziness.
Upon seeing who it was, her pupils widened slightly.
The person Jin Yan Ting sent to escort her was actually Jin Shi Yue!
If life had a progress bar, Lian Li would definitely fast-forward it to before she got into the car.
Unfortunately, there was no rewinding.
The interior of the car was spacious, with fine leather seats. Lian Li sat up straight, almost leaning against the car door.
As the car slowly merged into the traffic, time seemed to slow down.
The enclosed carriage was silent, with a faint scent of wine in the air, mixed with an unidentifiable subtle fragrance, and a hint of tobacco.
Her wrist throbbed with a fine, sharp pain, and she couldn’t spare any attention for the mysterious scent.
Her fingertips trembled, and Lian Li used her right hand to press down firmly on her left.
Jin Shi Yue lazily raised his eyelids, his dark eyes deep, his gaze slowly falling on her hand.
Outside the window was the brilliant and colorful city nightscape.
The car drove smoothly, and the pain made Lian Li unable to focus her thoughts on worrying about the man beside her, whose presence was so strong.
Li Ye, steering the wheel, suddenly stopped the car at an intersection.
Lian Li was confused.
Had they arrived so soon?
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