Chapter 3: Yesterday Was Very Cute

Gu Yan emerged from the private room, her face still flushed with heat.

She did not stop walking, her spine held straight, her high heels tapping against the thick carpet to produce muffled sounds.

"Miss!" Xu Yuan, who had been waiting at the corridor corner, hurried up to meet her, her eyes behind thin-rimmed glasses filled with a relieved urgency. "You finally came out."

Xu Yuan was an assistant personally chosen by Gu Laoyezi after Gu Yan returned to the country; she was a few years older than Gu Yan, meticulous and thorough in her work, and most importantly, capable of holding her own in any situation.

Although, most of the time, she only needed to be responsible for following behind this little ancestor to clean up the aftermath.

At this moment, Xu Yuan's gaze swept quickly over Gu Yan. Good, her dress wasn't disheveled, her makeup wasn't smudged, it was just...

Why was there a faint red tint on her cheeks?

It wasn't rouge; it was something seeping out from beneath her skin, like fine white porcelain stained by the glow of sunset, spreading all the way to her earlobes, making the tear mole at the corner of her eye look even more vivid and alluring.

The lipstick on her lips seemed to have been rubbed off a little, the color not as perfect as when she went in, but instead possessing a bit of... an indescribable, glistening charm.

Xu Yuan's heart skipped a beat.

Gu Yan ignored her probing gaze and walked straight ahead, her voice a bit stiff: "Let's go."

Xu Yuan followed immediately, asking in a low voice: "Miss, are you alright? That person inside..."

"What could possibly be the matter?" Gu Yan interrupted her, her tone carrying a lingering annoyance. "Just an upstart who doesn't know the rules."

An upstart? Xu Yuan was silent.

Someone who could sit in the top-floor private room of the Universal and casually pull out one hundred million to bid on a trinket could hardly be an "upstart."

But she was tactful enough not to ask any further.

This little princess of the Gu Family had a polarized reputation in their circle.

On one side was her excessive beauty; having been held and protected since childhood, she possessed a noble air born of being pampered and spoiled, making her the focus wherever she went.

On the other side was her excessive willfulness; she dared to snap at anyone when her temper flared, and she had to have whatever she wanted, yet Gu Laoyezi doted on her like the apple of his eye, so no one could do anything about her.

Like today, clearly having suffered a small loss at someone else's hands, yet still forcing herself to keep up appearances and refusing to show weakness...

This was the first time Xu Yuan had seen it.

The two walked to the elevator entrance, where the metal doors were as clear as a mirror, reflecting Gu Yan's slightly flushed cheeks and somewhat ragged breathing.

She stared at herself in the reflection, pursed her lips, and raised a hand to tuck the slightly curled hair behind her ear.

Her movements suddenly paused.

She turned her head, facing the polished elevator door, and her fingertips lightly brushed her left earlobe.

It was empty.

Xu Yuan noticed it too and reminded her in a low voice: "Miss, your earring..."

Gu Yan lowered her hand, the unnatural flush on her face seeming to deepen.

She gave an "un" sound, her tone a bit flat: "It might have fallen off."

Xu Yuan recalled that just now at the auction, that pearl earring had swayed lightly against her cheek, making the lines of her profile look even more exquisite.

It was a pair of antique pearls that Gu Yan was very fond of; they were quite old and worth a fortune, but more importantly, they were rare.

"Should we go back and look for it?" Xu Yuan asked. "Or I could contact the people at the auction house..."

"No need." Gu Yan interrupted her, her voice returning to its usual languidness, carrying a hint of indifference. "It's just an earring."

She strongly suspected it had fallen inside the private room, but how could she possibly go back in there to look for it?

The elevator door opened with a "ding."

She walked in first, her silhouette slender, her red dress like fire.

Xu Yuan followed her in and pressed the floor button.

In the mirrored elevator car, Gu Yan lowered her eyes slightly, looking at her empty left earlobe.

She bit her inner lip lightly.

If it's lost, then it's lost.

It was just an earring.

... It's just, it's a pity about that pearl. It matched her dress today perfectly.

——

Gu Yan soon forgot about this little interlude and slept until the sun was high in the sky.

Sunlight stole in through the gap in the curtains, slanting across the young woman's brows and eyes on the bed, soft and exquisite.

Perhaps because she had been shone upon for too long, the young woman's brow furrowed slightly, and she rolled half a turn while hugging the quilt, reaching out in a daze to feel for the water glass on the nightstand.

Her fingertips touched a cold, hard object.

She opened her eyes.

The morning light fell softly on that Jade Guanyin, lustrous and translucent, with a kind and benevolent expression.

It stood quietly at her bedside.

Gu Yan woke up instantly and sat up.

Beside the Guanyin, a pure black card was pressed down. There were no patterns, no signature.

There was only a line of silver-gray characters, the strokes powerful enough to pierce through the paper:

"Little Rose, you were very cute last night."

The handwriting was sharp, its edge restrained.

Rose?

Her?

Gu Yan gripped the card, her fingertips applying slight pressure.

Who?

That man in the private room?

The phone rang abruptly; it was an unfamiliar number.

She stared at it for two seconds, pressed answer, and remained silent.

A low chuckle came through the receiver.

It was like a cello string brushing against the tip of her heart, a slight vibration, tingling and numb.

"A gift." The man's voice came through the radio waves, clearer than last night and more direct, tapping slowly against her eardrum. "Do you like it?"

Gu Yan gripped the card: "Who are you?"

"As long as you like it." The other party did not answer, the hint of a smile still lingering in his tone. "Also, that auction house from last night now belongs to you."

"What?" Gu Yan did not understand.

"The paperwork is already done. It is in your name."

The man spoke in an understated tone.

"When you are bored, you can go play with it."

"You can even take it apart for fun."

The call hung up, and a busy signal followed.

Gu Yan held the phone, looking at the "gift" worth one hundred million in front of her, and that card.

Sunlight fell upon the jade, refracting a cold, dim light, reflecting off her somewhat dazed face.

Take... take it apart for fun?

When Gu Yan went downstairs holding the black card, the family's head butler, Zhong Bo, was directing people to change the flowers in the living room.

"Zhong Bo," she handed the card over and tapped the line of text with her fingertip, "who sent this thing?"

Zhong Bo took the card, and after just one glance, his expression became somewhat complicated.

"Miss, it was... sent over early this morning by Mr. Shen's people. Along with that Guanyin statue, they said it was a... gift for you."

"Mr. Shen?" Gu Yan frowned, running through the prominent Shen families in Jingcheng in her mind, but she couldn't match the name. "Which Mr. Shen?"

"Shen Yanhui, Mr. Shen."

Gu Yan's mind went "buzz."

How could it be this Mr. Shen?

Shen Yanhui, known to everyone in Jingcheng, known to all.

His black-gold empire spans the globe; he is ruthless, cold-hearted, holds a high position, and possesses monstrous power. He is the current head of the Shen Family.

More importantly, a century-old household like the Shen Family, a family of great wealth and status, is simply not something their Gu Family can compare to.

She had never met him and had always assumed he was a pot-bellied, bald, old man.

A man's sharp-featured face flashed through her mind, along with eyes as deep and calm as a well. Especially when he got close, the scent on him was intoxicatingly pleasant.

He was clearly an excessively handsome man, growing exactly to her aesthetic tastes in every way.

Except for his attitude of deliberately teasing her, which made her annoyed.

Gu Yan gripped the card, feeling somewhat unable to fathom it.

He intercepted her bid, then gave it to her as a gift.

This Mr. Shen is truly bored.

Forget it, forget it; since he sent it, what is there for her to agonize over? Happily accepting it is the right thing to do.

"Zhong Bo, go get the Guanyin from my room and place it by the garden pond..."

She paused, "Never mind, just put it in the shrine and offer it up."

Whether one believes or not is another matter, but one must have a heart of reverence.