C6 Second Meeting

"Where are you?" Xiaolu demanded impatiently, her voice rising with every word. "Do you even know what time it is?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Yanxi apologized and rushed out of bed. "I'll be right there!"

She headed over to the bathroom and did her best to wash up and make herself presentable.

"Where are you, exactly?" Xiaolu asked in a calmer tone. "Just tell me and I'll send a car to pick you up."

"I'm at..."

Yanxi surveyed the unfamiliar room, which looked to be some luxurious presidential suite. Her jaw hung open.

Where the heck was this place? And what was she even doing here?

Was it possible that she hadn't dreamt up that intimate incident from last night?!

"Yanxi?"

She came back to her senses and looked at her pale face in the mirror. "You don't have to send someone to get me, Xiaolu. I can just grab a taxi."

"But..." Xiaolu's voice was now laced with worry.

"Don't fret too much, okay? This is Japan, no one will recognize me."

She wasn't even that recognizable back in China. Qin Yanxi was only a third-rate actress after all.

"Well, if you say so. Just be careful on your way."

"Yes, of course. I'll see you soon."

Yanxi ended the call and breathed out a sigh of relief. If Xiaolu found out that not only had she entered a club last night, but even got herself piss drunk to the point of blacking out...

Well she couldn't bring herself to imagine the consequences. Considering Xiaolu's streak of hotheadedness, blood might very well be spilled.

Luckily for her, she managed to immerse herself back into work without further event, and that fateful night was soon buried at the back of her mind. Over the course of the first half of the month, Yanxi and her team were busy with multiple projects.

She finally got a break one day when they managed to finish work at four in the afternoon. It was a rare occurrence, and she jumped at the opportunity to kick back and relax a little.

She was inside her dressing room tidying up her purse when Xiaolu and her assistant, Tih, suddenly barged in with a small dressing rack between them.

"Yanxi, these outfits are all sponsored by Sunshine. Try all of them and pick out two that you prefer the most."

Yanxi looked at the two women in confusion. "But aren't we already done for the day?"

"Well, technically, yes. But..." Xiaolu laughed in barely contained excitement. "Yanxi, you've garnered quite the popularity on this side of the continent! I just received a call from the president of Sunshine himself, saying your presence is required at a very important banquet later tonight."

Yanxi blinked several times, baffled by this unexpected development.

She was no stranger to this kind of call; Jin Xiaolu always got them back in China, asking Yanxi to attend dinners and other special events. But Xiaolu had always turned them down, despite the attractive commissions that were put on the table.

How come she changed her tune this time?

"I actually wanted to reject the invitation at first because I didn't think you were up for it, but then the organizers told me that a high-profile guest would also be in attendance. I'm sorry, Yanxi, but I don't care whether you feel like it or not, you must attend this party!"

"An important guest?" Yanxi echoed with a slight frown.

"It's the Young Master Tang!" Jin Xiaolu exclaimed.

"Young Master Tang?"

He was a prominent big shot indeed, especially among the upper society.

The Young Master of the Tang Sect was a formidable figure of the Japanese mafia. He held prime influence over several industries running in the country—service, telecommunication, even film and television. He had ties to almost every business entities, especially the most successful ones. And he was even more powerful within the political circles.

He had been repeatedly dubbed as a demon—just as captivating, yet just as ruthless.

At one time, a tabloid had even noted that if the Young Master Tang were angered, the whole of Asia would tremble. Thankfully, he rarely ever got mad.

Still, it wasn't hard to imagine him turning the continent—or the entire world, even—over in the palm of his hand.

The most forbidding bit of all was that no one had a definite knowledge of his background, aside perhaps that he had roots in China. There were also whispers of him having descended from a British noble bloodline. And now here he was, a key player in the socio-political jungle of Japan.

Rumors had been flying recently that he was planning to return to China, prompting celebrities and politicians to flock to him in hopes to secure a network and earn the right to borrow his influence before he left the scene. This was also why Xiaolu was prodding Yanxi to join the foray—it was an opportunity too promising to miss.

"Now go and change your clothes!" Xiaolu urged, but Yanxi still hesitated. "Listen, Yanxi. The goal tonight is not to win the Young Master Tang over. I don't really care about that. God knows that's an impossible dream to have in the first place. All you need to do is establish connections and make a good impression. We both know that this is going to pave your way to success one way or another."

Yanxi sighed and relented. Xiaolu was right. More to the point, she no reason to decline the invitation to begin with.

The venue of the even was in the grand hall of Jinluan,

and an initial sweep of the room revealed that very few guests had been invited. There must have only been twenty people or less milling around the cocktail table.

Nevertheless, the hall was resplendent with its exquisite decorations.

A string quartet was playing at one corner, the elegant tunes of their strings lulling the guests into a deep sense of ultimate decadence.

"Young Master Tang has arrived."

The announcement was quickly followed by a ripple of murmurs and whispers from the crowd.

All the heads were turned toward the main entrance as the doors of Jinluan slowly opened. The guest of honor appeared, and the people gawked in various expressions of shock, awe, and eager desire.

As for Yanxi, she was just as stunned as everyone else, but for an entirely different reason. That sinfully handsome face was... familiar to her somehow.

'Wait!' she gasped inwardly. He was that devious man from her dreams!