Chapter 21: Can't Help Wanting to Kiss You

"Oh?" Hearing this, Yuan Fengye perked up.

He happened to be sitting next to Zhu Yuan, so he leaned in and asked, "Sister-in-law, did you see clearly who exactly Yu Ge's girlfriend is?"

Zhu Yuan's heart raced in panic, but she kept a calm expression on her face as she picked up the glass of wine in front of her and took a sip. "I didn't see her very clearly, but she looked pretty from the back."

"How pretty?" Sheng Yu asked abruptly from across the table.

His gaze landed on her face, which she was forcing to remain composed.

Yuan Fengye nodded; he wanted to ask, but he didn't dare to voice it.

Zhu Yuan thought to herself that they were talking about Sheng Yu's girlfriend, and since it wasn't her anyway, she simply let go and said, "Extremely pretty, like a fairy descended to earth."

Sheng Yu lazily swept a glance at her, chuckled softly, and picked up his wine glass to drink.

As for other information, Zhu Yuan only said she saw the back, and nothing else could be asked; Sheng Yu clearly didn't want to bring it up, and in the eyes of others, he truly harbored the intention of hiding a beauty in a golden house, so they didn't dare to continue asking.

To avoid making Sheng Yu unhappy, none of the people present tonight dared to easily provoke this great deity.

After dinner, according to the customs in Kyoto, birthday gifts must be burned for a memorial birthday.

The elders burned their gifts one after another.

It was the turn of the younger generation.

However, since these were gifts that needed to be burned, they naturally couldn't be the real items; for example, Lu Huaizhan liked motorcycles, so Yuan Fengye and a few friends had someone make a motorcycle model out of paper.

After the model was burned, Sheng Yu poured a glass of wine on the ground in front of the offering table.

In previous years, he was the one who would drink with Lu Huaizhan until dawn.

Seeing this scene, Lu Family Old Madam remembered her grandson while he was still alive and burst into tears, clutching her handkerchief.

No one at the scene was unmoved.

Zhu Yuan walked to the fire basin, holding an envelope in her hand.

"What is it?" Lu Laotaitai asked, wiping away her tears.

"It's a photo of me," Zhu Yuan said honestly.

Once these words were spoken, the scene fell silent.

It was an elder of the Lu Family who spoke first: "You are still young; burning photos is unlucky."

Zhu Yuan said indifferently, "I don't have taboos about these things. Lu Huaizhan once said he wanted a photo of me as a gift. I couldn't give it to him while he was alive, so I must burn it for him."

At that time, Kyoto was entering the end of summer. Zhu Yuan had gotten up early, and because the weather was muggy, she had tied her hair into a bun at the back of her head, wearing a wide-collared short-sleeved shirt and Bermuda shorts—an outfit without any feminine charm—while helping Lu Huaizhan serve porridge.

She heard the Lu Family say his birthday was coming up, so she casually asked him what birthday gift he wanted.

A photo.

At the time, Lu Huaizhan's tone had also sounded like he was just saying it casually.

She had bent down to look at him in his wheelchair and asked him what he wanted a photo for.

Lu Huaizhan had been drinking water and choked until his face was red, saying he wanted to put her photo by his bedside to ward off evil spirits!

He was dead now and a ghost, so he didn't need to ward off evil, but his personality was too honest and he would definitely be bullied; if her photo could really ward off evil, it could protect him too.

After Zhu Yuan finished saying that, she put the envelope containing the photo into the fire basin.

The bright flames suddenly flared up a few inches.

The flickering firelight shone on the faces of everyone present.

When Zhu Yuan turned back, she met Sheng Yu's deep, piercing black eyes in the crowd. Her heart tightened, and she stood beside the others, avoiding that gaze that could pierce through a person's soul.

After the ceremony ended, the people who came to attend the memorial birthday today left the Lu Family one after another.

Yuan Fengye and the others had all been drinking and had drivers from their respective families coming to pick them up; as for the remaining Lu Family relatives and friends, the Lu Family had arranged vehicles for each of them to be sent home.

But because there were many people today, the Lu Family's vehicle arrangements were stretched thin, and a few who were not in a hurry to leave were arranged for later.

Zhu Yuan glanced outside the Lu Family gate; unsurprisingly, the Zhu Family had not sent a car to pick her up.

"Old Madam, I won't trouble you."

"Are you in a hurry to leave?" Lu Laotaitai asked her.

Zhu Yuan said, "I have nothing to do, so I'll just take a walk; I can hail a cab outside."

Lu Laotaitai looked at her. Her grandson had already passed away, and after today's memorial birthday, this Zhu Yuan would have no further ties with the Lu Family.

"Suit yourself."

Zhu Yuan had only walked a few steps when the pattering raindrops began to fall.

Zhu Yuan cursed silently in her heart; she wasn't filming a movie, so why did this rain come just like that without any warning?

She was just about to start running when she suddenly heard the sound of a horn behind her.

A black sedan stopped beside her, and in the lowered window was Situ's face, which looked very honest. "Miss Zhu, where are you going? Let me give you a ride."

"No need, I'll be at the bus stop in a few more steps."

Situ frowned. "Don't you know? The buses on this route have stopped running."

"I'll go to the bus stop sign to hail a cab."

Situ's temple twitched; this girl was not ordinarily stubborn.

He silently glanced at the man in the rearview mirror sitting in the back row with his eyes closed to rest.

He only heard the man say coldly, "Let her be. It's about to thunder; just hope she doesn't get struck by lightning."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a clap of thunder sounded in the sky.

Zhu Yuan was quite bold, but she was specifically afraid of thunder; she could never cure this delicate habit of hers.

She had heard from her foster mother that she had been abandoned under the eaves of a closed shop on the side of the road on just such a thundery night; it was likely a shadow left from childhood.

Seeing the change in Zhu Yuan's expression, Situ knew she was afraid of thunder and took the opportunity to give her a way out. "On a rainy day, taxis might not even want to come this far."

Situ got out of the car himself to open the door for her.

Inside the open car door, Sheng Yu was leaning against the seat back, eyes closed in rest.

Zhu Yuan remembered that he had drunk quite a lot during dinner; Yuan Fengye had toasted Zhan Ge with every other breath, and since they were drinking white liquor, they were all half-drunk.

Zhu Yuan sat inside the car, her coat stained with rainwater that had seeped into the fabric.

Her whole body felt chilly, but she didn't intend to take the coat off, just making do with wearing it until she got home to change.

After the car door closed, Situ sat back in the driver's seat.

She was just about to tell Situ where she wanted to go when, suddenly, the partition in the car slowly rose under her gaze.

In the enclosed space, Zhu Yuan suddenly felt her scalp tingle.

The events that had happened in the car that day couldn't help but surface in her mind.

That day, it had truly been like an arrow on a bowstring, ready to fire at any moment.

"Am I going to eat you?"

Suddenly, a man's cold, detached voice came from within the quiet car cabin.

From her scalp down to her toes, Zhu Yuan felt a numbness, and she looked over with a half-beat delay in her reaction.

Sheng Yu had opened his eyes at some unknown moment.

Outside the car, the rain grew heavier, washing against the window glass; amidst the interweaving light and shadow, Sheng Yu's distinct, three-dimensional facial features were rendered even more profound.

He was truly worthy of being the number one divine face in the hearts of the girls of Kyoto.

Because he had been drinking, the corners of his eyes were stained with a peach-red hue, looking exactly like the way he had been that day when he forced her into the corner of the car cabin, pinching her chin with a wild, pheromone-filled intensity.

Before Zhu Yuan could speak, Sheng Yu suddenly leaned in toward her.

His warm, dry fingertips pinched her chin, his gaze landing wantonly on her face, "Are you afraid that, just like last time, I won't be able to control myself and will want to kiss you?"