C3 Chapter 3

Businessmen had their own agendas. Su Mengxin understood her situation, so she nodded obediently, let go of his arm, and said, “Go ahead. I’ll wait for you nearby.”

She wandered a few steps along the edge of the ballroom and looked up at the dazzling chandelier. Tango music drifted from the dance floor, where countless well-dressed men and women moved in time—some there for fun, others there to work an angle.

She was spacing out when she heard someone call her name.

“Su… Su Mengxin?” The man’s voice sounded uncertain, like he was testing the waters.

He knew her?

Su Mengxin didn’t answer right away. She turned and saw a man in a tailored suit with a mustard-yellow tie patterned with a subtle design. He was about her height.

“Do I know you?”

She honestly couldn’t place him, so she kept it simple.

“I’m Liu Qi—your fan,” Liu Qi said. “I caught your show when I was back in the States, and I really liked your hosting style, Miss Su.” As he spoke, he casually took two drinks from a passing server and swirled them in his hands.

From a distance, Loong Yufan spotted the scene and tuned out the chatter around him. His eyes locked onto Liu Qi’s movements—especially the way he subtly shifted the ring on his hand after picking up the drinks.

Loong Yufan had recently looked into a batch of rings designed to hide powdered drugs. They had a tiny mechanism: press it, and the powder would spill out.

It wasn’t exactly sophisticated, but at a party, it was more than enough to trick a girl who’d wandered off on her own—worked like a charm.

Su Mengxin faced Liu Qi and didn’t seem bothered by how familiar he was acting. He kept talking nonstop. “Miss Su, you’re absolutely radiant onstage. My little sister wants to be a host too… Could you give me an autograph? I want to take it back and encourage her.”

Faced with such a sincere request from a fan, Su Mengxin smiled. “Sure.”

She pulled a pen and notepad from her clutch and, with a bold flourish, signed her name.

Meanwhile, the two glasses of liquor kept swaying in Liu Qi’s hands.

Su Mengxin handed the autograph to Liu Qi. “Thank you—for you and your sister’s support.”

“You’ve earned it, Miss Su. Let me buy you a drink.” Liu Qi pressed one of the glasses into her hand, a faint, predatory smile tugging at his mouth.

Su Mengxin took the drink, about to clink glasses with him.

Loong Yufan strode over like a cold front. Without a word, he snatched the glass from Su Mengxin’s hand, frowned, and dumped the entire drink straight into Liu Qi’s face.

Everyone froze, stunned. Loong Yufan—usually unreadable—was actually angry, and he’d gone with the most childish move in the book: a drink to the face.

Su Mengxin stared at him, shocked. “Loong Yufan, what are you doing?”

“Who said you could drink?” Loong Yufan snapped. He grabbed Liu Qi by the wrist and drove a hard kick into him. “Don’t let me see you again.”

Su Mengxin was speechless. She’d only come to this banquet with Loong Yufan, and somehow it still turned into a mess. “Loong Yufan, don’t you think you’re being a little controlling?”

“Su Mengxin, don’t forget who you are right now.”

At that, Su Mengxin’s eyes tightened. She couldn’t help taking a small step back, a chill spreading through her chest.

She hadn’t noticed anything wrong with the drink. To her, Loong Yufan was just picking a fight—being unreasonable, impossible.

She shot him a hard look, turned on her heel, and walked away, leaving the gawkers—and Loong Yufan—behind.

Loong Yufan let out a cold snort and didn’t go after her, watching as Su Mengxin stormed out of the ballroom.

Once outside, her anger still burning, it hit her all at once: she wanted to go back home, and her passport and ID were still with Loong Yufan.

Had she just blown it?

Regret crashed over her. She’d already gone to the banquet with him, and she still managed to ruin everything. She really couldn’t keep her temper in check.

After silently scolding herself, Su Mengxin stopped in her tracks. Her anger gave way to worry as she stared, unblinking, at the ballroom exit, lips slightly parted, unsure what to do.

She caught a glimpse of Loong Yufan’s silhouette, but it vanished almost immediately.

Panic rising, Su Mengxin started to go after him to demand a few answers, but a fit male security guard stepped in front of her. “Miss Su?”

He placed her belongings into her hands and relayed a brief message. “Director Loong said to give these back to you. He said your job here is done.”

Su Mengxin was thrilled to have her things back and didn’t even get the chance to ask another question before the guard hurried off.

What she didn’t know was that the party had already erupted into gossip—people saying that after all these years, Loong Yufan had finally figured it out and was actually getting jealous. From the way it looked, he wasn’t available anymore; his heart clearly belonged to someone.

With his goal achieved, Loong Yufan kept his word and returned her things. Back at the hotel, Su Mengxin went through everything and found nothing missing. She let out a quiet sigh of relief, then searched online for a flight home, the heaviness in her chest rising again.

The trip to France had turned up nothing—no trace of Ye Zixin at all.